AP in Haiti – Day Three: Movement in Math and a Community

How do you start a movement?  That is the question of the day. I may not have the answer but I do have an answer.

Today in Camp Marie we met with the leadership council and heard their story about a vision for the community.  A vision of change, a vision of a community that can not only support itself but be a place where others will see the power in what they built and want it for their own communities.  The vision started by connecting with community members and sharing the vision and see who would partner in this idea of what the Camp Marie community could become.  After several years of recruiting families they established a leadership council (Called “Coredeba”) and sought out partners to facilitate the types of improvements they had in mind (enter 410 Bridge). Through that partnership and the power of the community they created a water system that provides drinkable water to the community and beyond. The coolest water station they showed us was the one that was completely disconnected from the efforts of 410 Bridge (pictured). The community saw that an additional water station was needed to provide closer access to a part of the community, the leadership council organized the effort, and the need then became reality. The vision was to create a community that through its love for each other would create a better life for those within it and inspire those around it. This water station was evidence that this vision is becoming reality.

Another cool part of the day was teaching an impromptu math lesson. The initial plan was to just observe a math classroom, but school was out for the day so that children could come to the school for their pre-Easter Break examinations. After hearing about my predicament, one of the council leaders told Franston (my translator) that he would round up some kids. I then asked Franston who would be teaching the children a math lesson and he said, matter of factly, “You.” The next few minutes (as children of all ages were pouring into the room) were frantic, but Franston and I were able to create a math lesson where children would build towers using the two-sided counting chips I had brought.  They would stack them until they fell and report how many chips tall the tower was before it fell. This became a data set that we used to talk about minimum, maximum, and median. To reinforce the meanings of the words and connect them to the context of the towers we used body movements to correspond to each vocabulary word.  We stretched as tall as we could to represent maximum, got as close to the ground as possible for minimum and did a crouch for median. Not the best lesson but one where all could be engaged and some vocabulary would be introduced/reinforced in a memorable way.  I wish I could have observed a classroom but this was a fun alternative.