Support Teachers to Educate 200 Children Monthly

Dear friends,

We all would agree that teachers require support. Just like grape vines need trellises to bear the weight of the fruit produced during harvest, so do teachers who produce the fruit of education need support to ensure learning and teaching  do not succumb to the burdens of schooling, parental challenges, administrative expectations and student behaviour challenges.

This is why Acres of Mercy created the position of an Education Support Officer to coordinate school- wide teacher and student support.

The various kinds of support given to teachers during the last three months beginning June have included:-

1. Curriculum support- Teachers are supported to plan for lesson delivery, resource identification and mobilization and lesson reviews.

2. Supporting teachers to achieve the set school goals namely; student mentoring, parental involvement and supporting literacy achievement especially in reading and comprehension

3. Supporting teachers on linking home and school

4. Supporting teachers in alternative forms of discipline

With this support teachers are better able to focus on achieving overall school improvement goals as they feel supported.

By supporting collaborative work, the teaching staff are able to achieve congruency in delivering of agreed upon goals.

In the period from June 2019, this program received slightly over $36 to support its work. We believe with more support we can even do better and achieve more with regards to teacher support and professional development in ways that will have lasting impact in the achievement of students within the school.

Thank you for your continued support and will look forward to seeing many more partners come on board to support this work.

Dear friends, partners and colleagues,

In April 2019 we had a three-day staff training that covered the following topics: -

1. Conflict management
2. Achieving Congruency in Pursuing the School Vision
3. Personal Development Goals

During this period, teachers identified three major goals to improve student’s learning outcomes.

The goals included: -

1. Student mentorship to motivate students and support them during their time at school
2. Improved the level of Parental Involvement in their children’s learning
3. Improving students’ fluency in reading and comprehension

We made a decision to have a full-time teacher mentor whose main job description is to support students in and out of class. The teacher makes home visits, mentors the students to set and stay on task with meeting their set goals. The role also involves ensuring that teachers are getting support in engaging with the students with the aim that all students in school are learning. This involves a lot of counselling and alternative discipline methods.

To equip teachers in de-escalation strategies, we conducted a Conflict management training where 11 teachers and a volunteer attended. This training continues this month of June.

Our staff turnover rate measured for the same period last year dropped from 43% in 2017/2018 to 23% in 2018/2019. This is a marked improvement from previous years and indicates that more and more the support the teachers are getting are allowing them to stay employed with us. The organization is looking to have a Day Care Centre that will allow for lactating female staff to resume teaching at the school after their maternity leave. The planning is underway and once completed will be posted as a project on GlobalGiving upon approval by the Board.

A better remuneration plan is also currently being developed so as to allow the organization retain its staff during government recruitment seasons. The government plans to recruit additional teachers and mostly get their teachers from the ones currently employed in the private sector giving them better terms.

How do we sustainably finance our teaching costs? This is the main question we are now grappling with, and invite you our partners to share from your experience how we can implement such a strategy.

I trust that with our continued partnership we will be able to keep our current crop of teachers. in the coming months we will need help in meeting our increased direct teaching costs in salaries, which has gone up and $400 in monthly recurrent giving would cover the shortfall.

Thank you for supporting the teaching and learning at Acres of Mercy by giving to the most important people in learning- our teachers.

Dear Friends and partners,

Let me thank you all for being there, offering support both moral and financial to help us serve children better. This stilll remains our drive for the year 2019. 

We are in the third month of the year and still seeing teachers committed to nurturing, protecting and giving children a firm foundation.

The following are excerpts of what the teachers have been doing with the limited resources with the children: Let's call them Continuing Change Stories

Growing George*

George is in class 5, Grade 5 equivalent at Acres of Mercy Learning Centre. He is one of those energetic, constantly-buzzzing around children. You know, the ones we call hyperactive. His teachers, through constantly being encouraged, counselled, trained have been able to develoop the patience and grace to say the following about him. "George has matured, and now even asks for permission to go out." For George this is a remarkable show of growth and maturing. As his teacher Madam Serah puts it, "Previously he would just walk out of class to go out to play. He now takes coorrection positively. You can see the change in his school work. Whereas he used to do all his subjects in one exercise book, though he had one for each subject, he now is better organized, and does each subject in its own notebook. He even takes notes, something he previously struggled wiith. George is learning everyday to follow the school routine and is less combative with his fellow classmates.

Asked what she and the other teachers did to inspire this change, Md. Serah has this to say. "Teacher counselling as well as advising has greatly contributed to the change."

This is remarkable in a country where such students experience countless sessions of corporal punishment to "straighten" students out. 

Our teachers have embraced alternative routes to discipline and the fruits are evident. They are  realizing the benefits of a non-combativ, safe, learning environment for children. Even though there are challenges and iit takes extra work, our staff arre willing to work on these.

Your support is needed to ensure we do not lose these committed teachers.  Let's bring in friends on board, re-commit or consider giving recurrently so we can still reach children no matter their background because every child deserves an education, quality education. The investments we make in their support would have far reaching ripple effects into the future.

Thank you for making it happen, and let's make it happen again and again for the 125 children we currently serve by supporting teachers to impacct children in class and out of class, through sports and club activities. 

You can continue to give through our GlobalGiving page here https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/teachers-biggest-change-factor-in-children-education/

Dear Friends and Partners,

The year has come to an end and in the words of one of our teachers, "It's been a good year!" I trust you would agree. Teachers started with the main goal of doing and becoming better that they had been in 2017.

From the teachers' perspective the following were highlights of their work in the classrooms.

The discipline level of the school improved to 75% from 60% last year. This is due to better engagement with the students and increased involvement at the school, which can be attributed to teacher trainings completed in April 2018 and July 2018. 

Throughout the year staff morale increased and teamwork grew. Demotivation as a result of delayed salaries was at the lowest as staff were paid on time. 

There were a few lows. Teaching resources were always not sufficient, especially reference books such as dictionaries, atlases, and maps. Teachers also had to deal with negative feedback from colleagues within the school zone who looked down upon the vision and mission of the school. 

Thank you for making the year a godd one!

in 2019, the main focus of teacher development will be around the following areas: -

1. Rich Teaching for Poor Students (Engaging All Students)

2. Incorporating technlogy in teaching

3. Using Makerspaces to teach

4. Improve on Timely Remuneration for our teaching staff

5. Have Better Teacher Support in and out of class 

Let's join hands together again in 2019 to make it a better year,  together.

On behalf of the teachers, Board and children- Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year

Dear friends and partners,

This September I would like to share real teacher stories about their experiences at Acres of Mercy Learning Centre.  I do this as a way of preparing to celebrate our teachers and teachers in general in the next two weeks when we celebrate World Teachers Day on October 5th.

Reflective Teachers, Growing Teachers, Growing Students

Teacher M "In the past three years, i have been with Pre-school children. In my first year, I had  a challenge. I was expecting to deliver the perfect lesson as I planned it. As the days went by I learnt the importance of accepting and learning from my own mistakes...It made me create room for mistakes where learners amke mistakes and learn from their mistakes rather than let the mistakes demoralize them... Through being honest about my mistakes and imperfections, I can noow form a stronger connection with the learners and form strong strong relationships with mystudents in order to create a better learning environment"

Teacher E "Many are the times I feel so encouraged...I look at the way the students do their work independently, compared to the times I used to push them...Teachers , [sic] colleagues,  also encourage me through their support, correction and words of encouragement...Whatever I do, I do because I believe that all learners can learn no matter what through all support.."

Teacher L "I have learnt a lot through the learning meetings we have been having...The new Competency Based Curriculumn has made learning and teaching in Pre-School so enjoyable.."

These and more are stories being told through committed practice of our teachers. They are not without challenges, but through consistent practice and teamwork they are being overcome. Below is one such story re-told.

We admitted him in the middle of last term. He was a troubled teenage boy, bearing the scars of a brutal period in the Kenyan public schools. Our public schools are violent places for differently abled children. This boy had a chip on his shoulder and soon after joining the school he was out to prove himself...he wanted so much to be respected, to be valued, to be loved.

His first infraction was to declare that he could beat all the teachers (female) within the school. We called in the parent, thankfully the father came. What emerged was a student disrepectful to women, in constant conflict with the mother as he sought to be loved, to be respected. Perhaps he had been projecting and needed a little careful intervention.

There has been marked change in the boys' level of discipline, thanks to the efforts of a caring and understanding teacher.

Friends, your investment in these teachers are yielding results one day at a time. Thank you for your continued support. Acres of Mercy has an 11 team teaching team, three volunteers.

Our goal in the next 12 months is to retain 12 teachers at an average monthly salary of $220 a month per teacher. We are  also working on different ways to motivate our staff, in the words we speak, in the trainings, in finding ways they can progress in their careers as mentioned by facilitating increments in remuneration and other teacher benefits so they can continue to invest in our children for a better society whilst living too. To this end our Board is aconsidering a strategy to provide these in a sustainable way.

Your ideas on how to do this in sustainable ways are needed and are welcome.

Get in touch via email- acresofmercy@gmail.com 

Visit our facebook page www.facebook.com/acresofmercy

Consider increasing recurrent giving for this project through involving friends, colleagues and families.

Once again, I celebrate your partnership, friendship and trust. Thank you!