Joy2theWorld International Christian Academy received word to lock our doors along with all other Private and Government schools in Ghana on Monday morning at 5:30 A.M.! Of course, we rushed to the schools and made phone calls all day. It was required and a good decision by the Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo . But a sad day with so many unanswered questions.
We wouldn’t let a pandemic keep us away from teaching our students! Time to turn lemons into lemonade! I texted the staff to meet on Friday…and they should come with creative ideas! We still had use of the bus, think! think! think!
And they were very creative! They came up with the decision to deliver library books and homework assignments at all the bus stops! It would be our way to reach out and provide education …learning experiences all around! Teaching our students that nothing (!) will stop us from reaching our students! We are unstoppable!
Teachers arrived on the next Monday, working independently in their empty classrooms. All keeping their distance and using the hand sanitizers to be careful. They prepared assignments and all children from Nursery to P6 had work to do! Little ones had pages to colour and numbers to trace. Primary had math assignments. And upper Primary had thought provoking essay assignments to complete.
We pleaded with the parents to share their smart phones so that children could do their daily school work on Whatsup. Each class had their own platform and the teachers sent videos and had actual back-and-forth conversations over assignments.
With subjects such as “the bowel system of the body” (P6) which led to some funny moments (!) to math assignments (square roots) and regular/irregular adjectives! Back and forth with the teachers responding and occasional disagreements between the students!
Some students even “pranked” the teacher! Caught! Red handed!
The kids are adjusting well with this (of course) and are having fun!
Tuesday, Ben and Daniel (Daniel taking photos) delivered homework assignments and library books. Aaron drove the tricycle delivering books to homes in far reaching areas. Yes, there are roads and areas that even our bus cannot travel safely.
Friday, these same school homework warriors picked up library books and assignments, handling them carefully with gloves and masks. Wiping down the books before replacing them to the shelves kept books cleaner than usual.
Week 1 was a success! Monday, we head into Week 2…
Hats off to my great team!
