Use Water Wisely!

We Californians are always being warned of the water shortage, especially in So Cal, and people are advised to cut water usage by running sprinklers at night, turning off faucets, etc. Even my title "Use Water Wisely" is stolen from my 5th grade poster competition to encourage students to conserve water. Oh, California! This is how I now have to get, use, and conserve my water:

1. I put a bucket under my roof to collect rain water.
2. Water is poured with a pitcher into the "inside" bucket, leaving out any bugs, leaves, or dirt that made their way in.
3. An old shampoo bottle (1/3L)serves as my "shower" to best control the flow's amount and aim.
4. I usually leave about 1/8 of the bottle full to effectively wash some underwear.
5. Rwandan women--and myself--bathe in the saloon/living room so that AFTER bathing, we use the water on the floor to CLEAN the floors.
6. On hair washing days, I double the amount of water I use (up to almost 1L!) but am very controlled, keeping it in a bucket. Once my hair is clean, I use the same water to wash like 3-4 shirts. Then wash the walls and/or dishes and/or toilet.

Ok, so to be fair if I were cooking daily (I eat at school for lunch and with friends for dinner) I'd use much more water, but with this method I survive on like 1 liter per day (washing hands or random utensils adds up, too!)

PS I won the poster contest in my 5th grade classroom, continuing to the school district or something. But I cheated. My mom drew the poster, I just colored it in. (ah! I feel much better now that's off my chest! Does my 5th grade teacher read this?)

Grades in Rwanda

First of all, our grades are done by hand. So in the first trimester I had my little print out of all my students (9 classes, 400 students), complete with little scribbles, crossing outs, side notes, and a pronunciation guide (can you imagine trying to call out names like: Ndasengirumva, Umugwaneza, Irakizamugisha, or Nyiransabimana say them: ...oh, gosh, never mind!) Then I was shamed when all the students want to see their grades and condescendingly look at my scrappy grading sheet. But that was the least of my problems.

After weekly writing assignments, reading each of my 400 students' papers individually and giving out grades for all of them, we were asked to prepare grades before finals. Of course. No problem! But because I teach each class for 2 hours a week, the grades have to be out of 20. Oh. Alright, I can understand its a different system. I get it. And I have to give each of my classes' grades to a different teacher: Each class has a teacher that collects the grades from the other teachers, hand copies the students' grades onto one master sheet per class, then gives THAT to the secretary to type into the school's ONE computer. Right. NO mistakes, I'm sure...

Then, after finals, we have to finish administering tests (different tests for each class, as the kids are allowed to take the test with them when they finish writing their answers onto the provided papers) so that kids can't cheat, we have until Monday to turn in our final grades. I was so ready! 20 point scale! Done! I had my classwork numbers added to my exam numbers, averaged out, calculated, and changed to a 20 point scale, hand written for each student, and given to the appropriate teacher. Oh, but they didn't tell me is 20 points for CLASSWORK and 20 separate points for FINAL EXAMS. ARGH! My students already lost or gained points in my changing scales, "translating" numbers, and doing weird math things to it!

So, unfortunately, some of my grades, well like 99% of them, were WRONG on students' report cards. I'm only totally embarrassed, but the KIDS are haranguing me about what the proper grade should be, and "Teacher! What's wrong with my marks?!" when can they be fixed? how will you fix them? and on and on! And I don't blame them! I'd be totally upset if my grade was lower than what I actually earned in any class!

This trimester I'm ready. I've planned out how many quizzes to give to fit the 20 point scale, when to give them to best prepare students, and just be on top of my game! 5 quizzes this trimester, 4 points each, no problem. Until they just asked for the first quarter of the trimester grade reports. Sigh. Really? So my kids have just one quiz, tongue twisters (graded on pronunciation, capacity to adjust with my help, volume, presentation, and composure). 4 points. So I had to readjust my scaling. Again. Wow.


The good news is that the kids just think I'm a funny American and are pretty forgiving. Teachers must think I'm totally incompetent. And at the end of the day I'm still laughing... at myself!