Projects/Reading Writing Skills Kenya

Primary XO Curriculum for Kenya

Introduction

A curriculum based on early primary basic skills in Reading and Writing using the activities in XO.

Address:

Hands for Charity

Off Thika Road

Along Kasarani Mwiki Road at Seasons Stage

Erik Masabule c/o Theresa Okello

+254 734-771-385

Project Members

Education:

• Mary N. Omoto (Team Leader)

Phone no. : +254 721-409981

Graduate Student: Business Administration

Tasks:

• Ensure that the really needy schools are identified and appropriate bookings are made before the schools reopen.
• Provide a sense of direction for group members to follow.
• Ensure that the required feedback is obtained and at the required time from both the teachers and technical crew.
• Send the required information or feedback to the facilitators of the project.
• Ensure that the stated syllabus is thoroughly covered and completed under the stipulated time.
• Ensure that order is maintained in the group, such that every member is effectively performing their tasks.

• Stephanie Namusisi

Profession: Teacher in Primary Education Makini Primary School

• Mable N Nalyanya

Profession:Approved Teacher Guidance and Counseling Certificate

• They will give the current curriculum of education and advice us on how to formulate the project based on it.
• They will be responsible for teaching the children and counseling them in areas that they could experience difficulty.
• Giving instructions on how to use and safety precautions to be observed while using the xo machines to the pupils.
• They will keep a record of reception and performance of the pupils and give the group leader feedback as to how the learning process is progressing.

Technical

• Joel Sawa

Student: Jinja Secondary School A Level

• Sylvia Tabitha Lukulu

Graduate Student: Public Relations Management

• Dorothy Sanda Omoto

Student: US International University International Relations

• The technical crew responsible for setting up of the xo machines in the classrooms before the lessons begin.
• Will teach the teachers at the schools on how to use the machines, in order for them to take over the teaching once we leave.
• Responsible for any maintenance or repair of any broken machines.
• Ensure the smooth running of lessons, that order is maintained at all times by assisting the teachers to settle down the children.
• Assist the teachers in installing any teaching aids that could be required for instance, photos, videos, voice recordings and also new

software.

Number of Laptops: 10

Loan Length: <plz review these dates and include specific year>

August 25th - December 15th (9) August 25th – March 15 (1)

Objectives

1. Formulation of the XO laptop project based on the Kenyan curriculum of primary school education to facilitate a more effective way of teaching.
2. To teach children between the ages of 6 – 14 years basic reading and writing skills taking advantage of the engaging exploratory aspects of the XO laptops which will act as teaching aids.
3. To personalize learning such that pupils learn independently each with their own xo machine
4. Encourage the learning process to continue among the pupils without necessarily having a teacher around.
5. To improve pupils’ overall performance in English and other subjects
6. Encourage innovation among children through the exposure to a wider world of information and resources.
7. Work hand in hand with local community leaders to ensure the effectiveness of the project thus its overall success.

Plan of Action

1. Formulation of xo laptop project based on the Kenyan curriculum of primary school education to facilitate more effective teaching of reading and writing skills in the English subject ensuring that it does not interfere with learning but goes hand in hand with it.
2. English is the language used in all the XO activities that we will engage the pupils to use such as: chat, write, reading, games and browsing and therefore through these, the pupils’ general performance in the English subject will be improved.
3. To improve grammar and build more on vocabulary through the use of the dictionary within the xo.
4. To teach proper spelling and pronunciation of words with the use of voice recordings.
5. To facilitate for more practical lessons to keep the pupils more alert in class with the use of visual aids such as photographs, language games, diagrams and video recordings using the xo machines.
6. To improve students’ technological communication skills as they will learn to browse the net and communicate with each other with the use of the xo machines.
7. To work hand in hand with local opinion leaders such as the village elders and chiefs within their respective communities to identify the most needy schools that would benefit from the xo laptop project.
8. To involve local leaders, village elders and chiefs in the creation of awareness on the importance of education especially for the girl child.
9. To discourage child labor, and promote education among children in Kenyan villages and slum dwellings through working together with multi-national companies that employ children encouraging them to employ adults instead.

Primary XO Activities Lesson Plan

Needs

1. The current methods are not engaging the students in learning to their potential
2. Learning stops when students leave the classroom. The XO offers the opportunity for ongoing learning at any time
3. Students have access to limited information and cannot develop skills needed to participate in our current globalized world
4. The Kenyan curriculum limits learning. This opportunity will expand the learning horizons and change the conservative rigid nature of Kenyan culture
5. According to our current curriculum, education is mostly theory. In practical learning, with hands-on activities, math games and more personal application of writing students will learn more and better.
6. In most schools there are limited teaching materials. This will assist the teacher to teach in a better way

Monitoring/Sharing of deliverables

October Field Work

After much delay due to several problems we had, the Hands Of Charity Mathematics, Reading/Writing and HIV programs have finally taken off simultaneously in Keongo Primary School, a school with a pupil population of about 850 located in Keongo Village, Kericho District, Rift Valley Province, Kenya.

The mood in the school was jubilant. On Wednesday 16th October 2009 I spoke initially to the School Head Mistress, Mrs. Koech, about the program, and she could barely contain her excitement when she had that we were hoping they accepted to have the few XO laptops we have used to aid in teaching their children. Initially she was worried about what costs they were going to incur, but I assured her that there was nothing to worry about, that we would cater for all the costs. All they had to do was to give us some supervised time with the children. I was asked to start the following afternoon.

Blog of field work [1] http://hoclaptop.blog.com/

FUNDING: Small Solutions is holding fundraising events to support this project and provide funds mentioned in this blog. (Sandra Thaxter October 23rd 2009)

• We will report our progress through email to OLPC/Sugar Community and will create a project blog.

Project Significance

• XO project will benefit from support and documentation.

Benefits to the OLPC/Sugar community

1. There shall be willing people to work together with the Sugar community and with the XO computers in our local schools here in Kenya thus ensuring the realization of the One Laptop per Child goal.

Benefits to the community in Kenya

1. Computer literacy among children thus fostering a positive educational development.
2. Empowered children will have the capability of teaching others on the use of the XO computers in their educational activities.
3. A decrease in cases of child labor within local farms therefore having more children enocouraged and supported by their parents to attend school especially the girl child.

Time Span

• The proposed time span will be from September to November (the third term in the Kenyan school year).

Month: 8th September 2009 to 27th November 2009

Implementation Plan.

1. The implementation of this project shall take place within Mbita District in Nyanza province of Kenya.
2. The XO computers will be used for this project at Chrisco academy, a primary school within Mbita district.
3. We shall train the teachers within the school, on how to use the XOs so as to work together with them in teaching of the children that they themselves are more familiarized with, and the children will feel much more comfortable working with us, together with their teachers.
4. We expect to teach at least forty children per class from eight classes, beginning from class one to class eight. The children will be sharing one XO computer per four children. The XOs will be rotating each shool day such that every class gets a particular day to learn with the use of the XOs.
5. The learning process will be taking a normal class lesson which is a duration of forty minutes. Extra classes will take place on Saturdays and when school hours are over, that is from five in the evening to about six, that is two extra hours.
6. We shall work hand in hand with the government Ministry of Education departments to develop the curriculum before schools reopen, to ensure the smooth running of education with the use of XOs with the current education curriculum.

School Curriculum

• The first lessons of implementation in the school will be used to teach the learners on how to use and handle XO laptops.
• Discussion and chatting using XO laptops will be intergrated to exchange knowledge and ideas between learners.
• The group will download information from wiki on various topics as adviced by specialists to be used by learners in different sessions as guided by the participants in our group.

Learning Activities

• Using the activity on the XO to type classwork information

• Taking and viewing videos and photographs

• Recording and listening to stories

• Drawing of educative diagrams

• Chatting among the classmates with the use of XO

• Use Wikipedia to find definitions, Meaning of words and phrases

• Using games of to practise further applications of the XO

The Primary Read and Write Curriculum