Melissa Goo – Science
The 2016 Teachers Across Borders workshops in Southern Africa occurred throughout July. The Science and Maths teams met in Johannesburg, South Africa; some members for the first time and others reconnected with colleagues from previous years. I was a new member of the Science team who had no expectations, no preconceived notions and no understanding of the journey I was about to embark on.
I had no knowledge of TAB-SA prior to an email sent to me by a colleague that simply stated, “This sounds like you!” With the intention of recommending other science educators that I know I scheduled a meeting with the TABSA director, Yunus Peer. By the end of the meeting I was considering my own options to join the science team. My personal mission statement is centered on making the largest positive impact on education that I can within my lifetime. This opportunity fit with my mission perfectly!
The weeks prior to leaving for South Africa were filled with closing the school year and preparing for students that would be arriving the day after I returned. Colleagues and family in Hawaii were generously supportive but I feared that after three years away from teaching science, I would not measure up to the extraordinary talent that would make up the rest of the team. Participating in the workshops required skills that all educators use every day, improvisation, content knowledge, flexibility, passion, and energy. We all practiced our best educational skills to share with the teachers in the workshops, all the while learning that teachers everywhere have one thing in common; love of the students we teach. Each workshop intensified my belief that educators the world over do what they do to improve the life of their students. We are the gateway to a better world through the education of the next generation.
Professionally this was the most challenging teaching experience I have ever had. I have often stated that I could teach science without a textbook or special resources. I bragged that we were surrounded by science and didn’t need fancy laboratory equipment. After four weeks of workshops with exceptional educators on our team, I can see that it is completely within our grasp to teach science using the resources around us.
As we traveled and participated in workshops in South Africa and Swaziland, we supported each other, learned about the priorities in two far away countries and developed relationships with teachers who struggled with similar pressures and desires. We discussed students who didn’t want to do homework, didn’t always come to class and didn’t want to study. We all took away teaching skills that we hadn’t had before the workshops and an inspiration to return to school with a renewed enthusiasm to share our skills with students.
I left home concerned that I wouldn’t measure up; that I wouldn’t provide an experience that the teachers attending the workshops would consider worth their time. Feedback from the workshop participants was overwhelmingly positive. Whether they were attending during their winter break, traveling long distances from their family, or leaving students during exams, they left refreshed, enthusiastic and with new ideas. I returned with a new confidence in my ability to teach, new skills to share with other teachers and an understanding about the importance of our profession. Teachers are the shapers of our future and the locksmiths of potential. Although we shouldn’t need to travel thousands of miles to understand this message, sometimes we need to go to the ends of the earth to reinforce what we know in our heart to be true.