. . . I'm Amanda Eskildsen, middle school science teacher at Los Robles Magnet Academy in East Palo Alto, CA. This summer, I have an incredible opportunity to travel to East Africa as part of Pivot Academy Rwanda 2017.
I love everything about teaching science, including managing multiple student project teams to compete in District and regional science fairs. I've had great opportunities during past summer breaks to teach in Ethiopia and Malawi. But on my teacher's salary, the Pivot Academy 2017 project is only possible if I receive donations to support travel, accommodations, etc. I need to raise $4,600. So, I will appreciate it if you can contribute and also share my story. (Donations are tax-deductible.) I also welcome questions and ideas at: aeskildsen@ravenswoodschools.org
About Pivot Academy Rwanda 2017
From late June through early August, I'll be the California member of a team of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Computers instructors led by Deb Semmler, an AP Physics and Engineering teacher who has been a nominee for a Global Teacher of the Year Award. The team will travel to Rwanda and deliver a hands-on, problem-based STEM/ICT program for nearly 40 teachers and 600 first-year students at five high schools in a rural area about 90 minutes from the capital of Kigali. We'll train teachers to use an online Learning Management System (LMS) with lessons aligned to the national curriculum and inspired by International Baccalaureate standards. I'll also visit "feeder" schools to make recommendations about how to better prepare students for what's to come in high school. I look forward to sharing a lot of what I'm learning in an innovative training program for science educators in California.
Building on Past Successes!
We were able to plan this amazing project through Mothering Across Continents (MAC), a nonprofit that has been making a difference to education in Rwanda since 2011. This is the third year that teacher/team leader Deb Semmler is traveling to Rwanda; a lot of Rwandans call her "Mama Science." In 2015, Deb visited two all-girls high schools and met with Rwandan education officials to explore what STEM programs would be meaningful to Rwanda's goals for competency-based STEM education. In 2016, Deb and a returning Biology teacher named Connie Wood piloted Pivot Academy with 150 students at "Byimana," a STEM-focused rural high school for more than 800 girls.
The Big Picture - Future Expansion of Pivot Academy
When you help me participate in Pivot Academy Rwanda 2017, you're doing something even bigger. Rwanda has moved beyond the genocide of 1994 but is still a poor country. Rwanda doesn't have enough managers, teachers and high school students with STEM and ICT practice working on real problems. Pivot Academy Rwanda 2017 is designed to start with first-year high school students this year (in Rwanda, that's 10th grade), continue and become more challenging in the second year (11th grade), and culminate with meaningful social enterprise project ideas in the third and last year of high school (12th grade). Pivot Academy is also designed to be replicated. Observers will join us from Rwanda, as well as Burundi, South Sudan and Zambia. And we hope (depending on funds) that Computer Studies graduate Jean-Marie Nshimiyimana will facilitate the introduction of nearly 100 Tablets so that teachers can access lesson plans in the online LMS that we'll introduce!
Thank you in advance for helping me and Pivot Academy Rwanda 2017.