I was placed with Anna Maria Kandara at A.I. Steenkamp Primary School in Katatura. Right away, it was clear that Mrs. Kandara and myself were a wonderful match. It has been great getting to know her. I was surprised after I saw what all we needed to write about in this paper, because I had already had conversations with her about almost all of the topics we needed to cover.
She has a pretty amazing story. She identifies herself as being a member of the Damara tribe, however she says that there has been a lot of mixing in her family so it is difficult to say which tribe she belongs too. Born and raised in a small village in Riemvasmaak, South Africa (near Kakamas), she didn’t come to Namibia until she and her family were uprooted and moved to Northwestern Namibia during apartheid times. She grew up with her mother and her sister; her father died in a car accident when she was 6 years old. Her mother and sister were moved to Namibia in 1973. At this time she was finishing up college in South Africa and white South Africans let her finish school before they moved her. After moving to Namibia she met her husband whom she had four children with (2 girls and 2 boys). Their daughters are now married, however neither of her sons are married yet. They both still live with her, which is nice, since her husband passed away a little over a year ago. She is so open and willing to share her story, just like Uanee said many people here are.
She is one of the kindest people I have ever met. She loves her learners and you can tell in everything she does! Not only does she not believe in or practice corporal punishment, I have never even heard her yell at her kids. We have had numerous conversations about all the violence that our kids see in this culture. She explained to me one day that corporal punishment really contradicts exactly what we are trying to teach our kids. Punishing a child for hitting another child by hitting them doesn’t teach anything. It just teaches them that it is okay to use physical violence to solve problems rather than using words. She made it very clear to me that for her that is not an option.
When I asked her what her teaching philosophy was she responded with, “I teach what I am.” She cares deeply for each one of our students and I see it in the way that she knows all of her students’ names, which is not common at Steenkamp. Many teachers don’t make an effort to get to know their students at all, but she is the opposite. She recognizes that not all students are going to get straight A’s and she is dedicated enough to figure out the strengths that each one of her students does have.
It is clear that she believes everyone has something to bring to the table and she praises her kids when they do well on things whether it is schoolwork, athletics or showing kindness to their peers. Her goal as a teacher is to give them something that they will be able to take with them and use throughout their lives. She told me that teaching is her passion. She retired in 2010 and it only took her six months to realize that she needed to go back to school to teach in order to live her passion.
It was quite interesting when I asked her what she liked to do in her spare time, because it was similar to what I like to do. She said that she spends time doing needlework for herself and also really enjoys knitting, as do I. We also talked about the large role that religion plays in her life. She is a Christian woman who is extremely strong in her faith. This is another aspect of her life that I can identify myself with.
I agree with almost all aspects of her educational philosophy. Building relationships and using positive reinforcement are both at the heart of my educational philosophy as well. It is very nice to get to work with someone who is as passionate about teaching as I am and really just wants the kids to learn. We also agree that student successes should be celebrated no matter how big or small. The only piece of her philosophy that I don’t necessarily agree with is that learners should be grouped based on how they do on their standardized tests. She feels that it is more beneficial for all of the “low” learners to be together in one group, however I feel that having students of all different levels in a classroom is more beneficial for everyone’s learning. I do see that with the way the educational system is set-up it is extremely difficult to differentiate instruction when you only end up having your learners for about 25 minutes.
As far as our backgrounds go, I grew up in a suburban area and she grew up in a very rural area. Similarly, I grew up with one sibling, however I did have, and still do have both of my parents. Getting to know Mrs. Kandara has been amazing! I have learned so much from her and feel that I have grown as a teacher getting to work with her.
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