Math Workshop

Zambians readily admit that math is a weak area for most people in this country. I've heard them talk about this many times. One of the Namwianga teachers and I came up with an idea to start attacking this problem.

Michele Broadway and my daughter Sara are math teachers in the U.S. Michele teaches at Brentwood Christian School and Sara teaches at a middle school in Tulsa. A few months ago, they agreed to prepare a workshop for secondary math teachers in the area. I invited all the math teachers and student teachers from Namwianga's satellite schools and from the government schools in Kalomo to come to the Mission on Friday for a two-hour seminar. Twenty-eight teachers from nine different schools participated.

Michele and Sara did a wonderful job with their presentation. They began by describing math anxiety and tracing its causes. Then the rest of the time they had the teachers involved in games and activities to show them how to make math fun. The teachers loved the workshop and were thrilled to get handouts and materials that they can take back and use immediately. One of them said, "Why didn't you do this for two days instead of two hours?"

Hmm. Maybe next year. I'm already thinking about how we could get a grant to pay for food and materials so we could do just that.