Ministry of Education Schedule change

Today is day 5 of our 7-day cycle. It is my busiest day where I teach 7 of the 8 school periods. I have 5^th period free, yay! This is the day my poor Math 11 class is with me for periods 1,2, and 3 – that is 3 consecutive periods. There are 3 Math 11 teachers and we all have the same schedule for these classes, so we schedule tests on this day when possible. We can spend the first period reviewing the topic(s) and then administer the test in periods 2-3. Today is not a test day since we had one last week. We will complete the trigonometry unit and then  the ‘Check Your Progress’ at the end of the unit. The trig unit is not very extensive, covering tangent, sine, and cosine and how they can be used to determine lengths and size of angles in right triangles.

Our term schedule changed due to upcoming national elections on Nov 27. The Ministry of Education decided they want all schools closed before then since so many are polling places.  This shifted the exam start dates by 2.5 weeks (earlier) and now we are struggling to update our lesson plans accordingly. The remaining units are not very extensive but still a lot to cover by the end of October. The other units we will cover this term are statistics, probability, transformations, and vectors. Yikes!

And that is just Math 11. I have 8th and 9th grade physical science and 8th grade computer studies to also adjust.

On a positive note, we had a rain shower yesterday and it was glorious. I can’t remember the last time it rained in Otjiwarongo. I think it has rained twice in the year I have been here but not for long, not consecutive days, and within an hour there was no evidence of it. I hope this year will be different and will put an end to the years of drought.

Here are some updated photos of my room. No major changes but a glimpse of my world.

All for now with all my love,

Ellen