Today we got packed lunches (orange bananas…yum) because we
were heading across the river to Kimanjo Primary School, Kimanjo Secondary
School, and Ngbolo. Alex and Colleen went to Ngbolo, Annelies, Kate, Nancy, Dayton,
and I went to Kimanjo Primary, and because the secondary school is close by
(about a 5 minute walk), Dayton, Kate, and I walked over to the secondary
school. Our plan for the day was to get feedback about community conservation
day so that we could make next year’s even better (if that’s possible J) and to discuss
conservation by reading The Lorax by
Dr. Seuss. I was a little worried about reading the picture book to the high
school students since they are high school students, but Nancy said that it
would be okay since the Kenyan students are rarely, if not never, exposed to
books being read aloud in class.( Besides, The
Lorax is an awesome book and it’s a great book for anyone, regardless of
age.)
The students had really great answers for our questions
about community conservation day (1. What was your favorite part of the day? 2.
What did you learn? 3. What is one activity from the other schools that you’d
like to do here?). The Kimanjo Secondary students had worked especially hard to
host the event at their school (cleaning up the schoolyard, placing rocks and plants
around the yard to make it more beautiful, helping place tables and chairs,
etc), and actively participated throughout the day. A lot of the students said
that their favorite part was the dance and music. It was also so awesome to
hear that the students learned more about conservation. One student wanted to do “Animal Actions” in
class, which is Dayton’s favorite game (apart from “More or Less” of course).
We next read The Lorax.
Dayton was inspired with the idea of reading the text in parts. Kate read the
part of the Once-ler, Dayton was the lorax, and I was the narrator. It worked
out really well, and it was a lot of fun. I think reading in parts is here to
stay.
We next had a discussion about the book. We first began with
basic plot-oriented questions to make sure that the students had understood the
story, and if not, to recap the story so that they could understand. Because the
words were made up, the students understandably were confused about the
Once-ler and the Lorax (they first thought that the Once-ler wanted to protect
the trees), but they definitely understood the main point and heart of the
story. We asked them what ‘greedy’ meant, and it was interesting because they
associated greed with food (this had happened in another primary school as
well). Being greedy was eating more than you needed; we clarified that greedy
was also taking more than you needed, whether that was food or trees.
Dayton and Kate pointed out that the message of “don’t cut
down trees” was not as clear-cut and black and white as it seemed. It was
interesting because when asked the question, “Was the Once-ler being greedy
when he cut down one tree?” One student said “yes,” because the tree wasn’t
replaced, and another said “no,” because it wasn’t in excess. Both answers were
valid, because there isn’t necessarily a correct answer to this question, and
both showed that it was ultimately up to the students to decide for themselves.
At what point is it greedy to cut down a
tree? For what purposes should the tree be used? How can we take responsibility
for our actions, such as cutting down trees? These are important questions with
multiple answers, and ones we hope that our students will be able to think out
and act upon on their own.
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