Two-Way Learning

I teach two different cohort groups, #21 and #23. My schedule is 4:30pm-6:30pm and 6:45pm.-8:30pm. I actually teach cohort #23 first. There are thirty-one pure Samoans in this class were as in the other class, there are eighteen pure Samoans.

The ladies pretty much all wear colorful two-piece long dresses called puletasi. I do not know if their one piece has a different name. However I will say…probably. The men wear a wrap…now this is so cool! Their attire is called “ie faitaga”. I am so curious to know what if anything is under their ie faitaga…like boxers, briefs, shorts or nada! No worries I won’t ask them. Haha The men’s shirt usually has some kind of print as well…sometimes it matches their wrap, or it is an aloha shirt. All in all my students definitely represent their culture well through their attire.

Cohort #21 is my chatty group because they know each other outside their cohort. I have two sisters who sit next to each other. [that says a lot]  Some of students went to grade school with each other. Some of them work together at the same school. All of this to say….I get to practice my classroom management when this group arrives! Oh This group is ALL women. Ya know women can be chatter boxes..[was that bias to say?] Boy this group talks, talks, talks! At least it pertains to the subject at hand. However, they joke a lot, a lot of side bar comments. I’m in Am. Samoa, so I recognize their culture does center around talking/oral. [like S. Americans] So they are still listening and following the major topic at hand although they are quietly running their mouths with their neighbor or when they are shouting across the room. Hahaha

Cohort #23 has approx. nine men. The most I have ever had in one class [collegiately]! I was internally happy about that because we need more males in elementary education. I also think one of them will soon need to be put in his place. Today I got a wink from him while I was across the room. He did it on the sly. GOSH~ Can we just all learn please? Bad Tone, Tone. Overall, this group is more reserved than #21. They are more intense yet still lovable to teach. My men are so soft spoken. To be so large, physical, Samoan men are gentle giants. However, I still wouldn’t make them mad!

They take cooperative learning to a whole other level! Think about it…Their culture centers around community building. We have no problem working in groups and if you don’t approach it this way, they will do it anyways. I instantly was taught this yesterday. We did the visual life rope activity [Nichelle Boyd knows this]. I wanted them to complete the activity individually; however, one group thought we must complete this together. Another group saw my point, but wanted to do it together. What do you think I said…Of course. See they had their task card, the directions were clear; however, doing a task individually instantly went against how they normally complete tasks! Yes I totally knew this. However, I did not see that my activity conflicted with their beliefs. Man oh man…two-way learning is awesome!

Activity: select 5 social studies themes that best represent you [create a visual using words, phrases, pictures, sentences, whateverahs and be ready to present]

So the “you” changed to “us”. I learn quickly…we won’t be doing much individual work! hahaha