So, I had my first ‘class’ today! Actually they just call me Ed. Being my name and all it seems like a good thing to call me. I really enjoyed it, sooo good to be finally interacting with the kids in the classrooms. We started off just with a game of football for them to get to know me a bit and me them, then after a break for tea we went upstairs and started a class session.

I am with class 9 and we are exploring HIV, malaria and obesity as relevant diseases, the students’ relationship to those diseases and social, lifestyle, geographical and economic factors (not as absolutes but also the interaction between these factors) that affect that relationship, and how those factors change over time. This lead to a discussion about puberty, at which point we focussed the discussion more on HIV as a disease that they were entering a higher-risk demographic of, as well as other STDS, and explored their understanding of the transmission of those diseases.

The topic is not over, we will develop our understanding of puberty and change over coming sessions. The session was really good for me to highlight what seemed to be some of the main issues that appear to me to promote or hinder a safe and comfortable learning environment for the students to explore issues that may be concerning them, of interest to them, or that relate to their lives. I’m looking forward to exploring this, as well as developing a framework for planning that defines a concept route but that can be easily reactive to the important issues of the students, without disruption to the framework workflow, which I feel is important in maintaining respectful and productive learning environments.

I know I am going to learn and do so much here, and today’s session got me really excited about all the trials and tribulations to come!