My 1st week at Cathedral School for Boys

Musa Mathye is a Global Teachers Institute Future Leader who is set to graduate in April 2020. His Action Based Research project will focus on Student empowerment through technology. He plans to investigate how technology is used to maximize learning and how is it integrated with the curriculum. He will conduct a survey on the use of technology in the classroom and will have a questionnaire where both the learners and teachers rate the effectiveness of the technology being used for learning.

Located in San Francisco, CA, Cathedral School for Boys is an independent elementary school for boys in grades K-8. Our Mission is to provide an excellent education through intellectual inquiry and rigor that is centered in the Episcopal tradition and is respectful of and welcoming to people of all religious traditions and beliefs.

It has been a43d6e74b-1143-41d9-8cb9-7576e8c967df great first week at Cathedral School for Boys, the teachers and the learners have been very welcoming and hospitable. To help me settle into the school for my first week the teachers invited me to visit their classes and asked me to share more about South Africa with the learners, the classes I have visited range from kindergarten to eighth grade.

The teachers use a reflection sheet as a tool for reinforcing good behavior and an excellent school culture. During the different lunch intervals, different learners from different grades take turns to say grace and giving thanks to the kitchen staff as well as the PE coaches. They do this with minimal assistance from the teachers. I am now able to greet and introduce myself in Spanish.

My highlights for this week have been teaching the kindergarten class and having them dance, sing, and practices an exercise that I do back in South Africa during sports with my learners. The second-grade teachers have impressed me by being able to remember that Avuxeni is a Xitsonga word and it means good morning, they have even added it to their daily plan. I have enjoyed the morning advisory sessions with Miss Goggin, hearing the school’s hymn song and meeting most of the staff and having great conversations with them.

I have shared a lot about South Africa from the food, diversity of the languages and the nine provinces. In the 8th-grade math class, I have taught the foil method as well as ways of simplifying the method when it confuses the learners. Each day this week I have stayed behind after school to help in the Volleyball practice and offer advice on the techniques that can help the learners improve their performance.

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