Beneficiary Stories.
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The following is a postcard from Chi Nguyen, GlobalGiving's In-the-Field Representative in South Africa, about her recent visit to Green Shoots Education Services.
On Valentine's Day, I was able to meet with Jo, Mark, and Wilbur from the Green Shoots Education Services team and was very much impressed with what they have achieved thus far. The online math program they have implemented in their partnering schools allows both teachers and students to receive immediate feedback, gifting them with the ability to assess, adjust, and reinforce or change current methods in teaching and learning. |
I was able to witness this exact phenomenon during my visit, as I quietly observed a computer lab full of children. Dressed in pink, white, and red for Valentine's Day, these children stared intently at their computers, stopping here or there to jot down a few things in their notebooks for scratch paper. Wilbur walked around the room, monitoring each child's progress and what they jotted down in their notebooks to take note of their problem-solving methods - something that the computers cannot necessarily track - to better understand the mental processes the children go through so that he may provide a comprehensive evaluation to their teacher and so that he may better assist the teacher in his instructing methods. As I watched from the back of the room, a boy (top left, in the white shirt) suddenly pumped his fist in the air with a loud, "Yes!" and the biggest smile on his face. He had just completed a set of math exercises and had received positive feedback from the program - a good score, a score that he could be proud of, a score that gave him self-confidence and motivated him to do even better.
Since they are a technology-driven organization, Jo was able to pull up the child's scores on her tablet immediately and show them to me and I saw, indeed - he had achieved a near-perfect score.
Earlier on in the day, Jo and Mark were able to show me data tracking the improvements in passing math scores term over term, year over year, throughout every school they work with. With a number of schools improving as much as doubling or tripling their passing percentages, the numbers speak for themselves.
They have a very clear vision of what they are trying to achieve, and are a team of ex-teachers who are very well-organized, extremely passionate, highly intelligent, and strikingly well-meaning that deserves a significant amount of support from us, donors, and corporate partners!
I would recommend this organization to my family and to corporate sponsors in a heartbeat..
Since they are a technology-driven organization, Jo was able to pull up the child's scores on her tablet immediately and show them to me and I saw, indeed - he had achieved a near-perfect score.
Earlier on in the day, Jo and Mark were able to show me data tracking the improvements in passing math scores term over term, year over year, throughout every school they work with. With a number of schools improving as much as doubling or tripling their passing percentages, the numbers speak for themselves.
They have a very clear vision of what they are trying to achieve, and are a team of ex-teachers who are very well-organized, extremely passionate, highly intelligent, and strikingly well-meaning that deserves a significant amount of support from us, donors, and corporate partners!
I would recommend this organization to my family and to corporate sponsors in a heartbeat..
Teachers' Stories.
Increasing opportunities in a rural community through Maths
A Teacher's perspective
A Volunteer's Story.
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Lukas Gafner with his wife Madeleine, came from Switzerland to volunteer with Green Shoots. Here are his thoughts about his time with Green Shoots “I had the great opportunity to work nine months for Green Shoots as a volunteer. For me it was a great experience and it was an honour to work such a great team. The staff at Green Shoots is very passionate about what they are doing. And I think they’ve found an effective way to have a huge impact where it’s desperately needed. |
To be honest, in the beginning I was a bit sceptic. Coming from Switzerland I was used to the fact, that everything is well organized and structured. But I had my doubts about how things would be in South Africa, especially in schools and their computer labs.
I then was positively surprised when I saw the first class in a Green Shoots computer centre! Green Shoots actually created a class room atmosphere in those labs, where the learners can learn and interrogate with each other. Every learner can do their exercises in their own pace and the teacher can support them individually. The teacher does not have to worry about the computers because there is an assistant who is there to help, if help is needed. Since everything is marked by the computer, the teacher can see immediately witch questions most of the kids didn’t understand and discuss these problems later in class. The computer is not the main focus anymore; it is more a tool like a notebook or a blackboard to assist the teacher and the learners, so that they actually can achieve in maths.
Since all kids are doing their maths exercise on the Green Shoots Maths program, Green Shoots can actually track every single learner and can analyse the learning improvement of every single one.
I could support Green Shoots in different ways. Back in Switzerland I was working for several years in the R & D Department in a Swiss company, through that I was able to help them to implement some project management structures. I was also able to help them with the data processing and could develop a data analysis tool for them.
It was a very interesting time for me and I could also learn a lot myself. The thing that impressed me the most was the mind set of all those people working for Green Shoots. It’s not about making the big money or building up their influence. It’s about people! Their aim is to provide every child with quality education and they’re doing it with great passion, energy, endurance and their whole heart.
Last but not least I want to take the opportunity to say THANK YOU!
Thanks to all at Green Shoots for having me at the office and in the schools. It’s been such a huge blessing to me to be able to work with you guys, learning from you and just spending time with you! You’re such a great team and I will definitely miss you! Keep on doing the great work!
You’re awesome, guys!
Lukas
I then was positively surprised when I saw the first class in a Green Shoots computer centre! Green Shoots actually created a class room atmosphere in those labs, where the learners can learn and interrogate with each other. Every learner can do their exercises in their own pace and the teacher can support them individually. The teacher does not have to worry about the computers because there is an assistant who is there to help, if help is needed. Since everything is marked by the computer, the teacher can see immediately witch questions most of the kids didn’t understand and discuss these problems later in class. The computer is not the main focus anymore; it is more a tool like a notebook or a blackboard to assist the teacher and the learners, so that they actually can achieve in maths.
Since all kids are doing their maths exercise on the Green Shoots Maths program, Green Shoots can actually track every single learner and can analyse the learning improvement of every single one.
I could support Green Shoots in different ways. Back in Switzerland I was working for several years in the R & D Department in a Swiss company, through that I was able to help them to implement some project management structures. I was also able to help them with the data processing and could develop a data analysis tool for them.
It was a very interesting time for me and I could also learn a lot myself. The thing that impressed me the most was the mind set of all those people working for Green Shoots. It’s not about making the big money or building up their influence. It’s about people! Their aim is to provide every child with quality education and they’re doing it with great passion, energy, endurance and their whole heart.
Last but not least I want to take the opportunity to say THANK YOU!
Thanks to all at Green Shoots for having me at the office and in the schools. It’s been such a huge blessing to me to be able to work with you guys, learning from you and just spending time with you! You’re such a great team and I will definitely miss you! Keep on doing the great work!
You’re awesome, guys!
Lukas