Milka is our school lead educator in Saint Mary's Primary in Mogotio, Kenya.

School Lead Educator

Potato Guy is one of the best programs we have to teach students how to drag-and-drop. Drag-and-drop is an important desktop skill that students need for almost every other subject we teach, like graphics and videos.Since grade one had already reviewed their latest specialties, I decided to have them practice with Potato Guy, because they could use more practice before the next specialist visits Saint Mary’s school.Princess, a grade one student, was the first student that was happy with their work, and she called me to see. Princess became the teacher of her class.She wanted everyone to know how to dress up the Potato Guy. She asked the others “nani hajaelewa?” (Does anyone need help?)

First Grade Practices Drag-and-Drop - Saint Mary's School Lead Educator Reviews Basic Digital Skills with Class One Students

Grade one students in Saint Mary's school practiced their drag-and-drop skills this week to prepare for their next specialty. One student was pleased and helped me to teach her class.

First Grade Practices Drag-and-Drop

Saint Mary's

Nelly Cheboi is a celebrated social entrepreneur, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/nelly-cheboi/?sh=179de9a85764" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Forbes 30 under 30</a> honoree, and<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/14/world/education-technology-recycling-kenya-poverty-cnnheroes/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> CNN Hero</a>. After growing up in rural Kenya and lifting her family out of poverty, she focused on her community.

CEO | CNN Hero | Forbes Under 30

Every Thursday, we all gather around on Zoom to share stories from the classroom. Every educator writes a story to share from their week about student achievement.

Classroom Stories | TechLit Africa

Stories From The Classroom

Potato Guy (KTuberling)

Schools in Kenya just returned from a short holiday. Over break, we came up with new styles of teaching to help students learn better. I told my students to come up with a simple project. Everyone in class was to come up with their own ideas.Most students drew things they had already drawn before, like trees and houses. Oriana, a 5th grader, drew a beautiful landscape. Because she was the first student to draw something like that, other students really admired her work.The other students were asking her, “how did you do that?” Oriana promised to teach them how to draw landscapes in their next lesson.

Beautiful Landscape from Saint Mary's Student | TechLit Africa

Oriana, a 5th grader in Saint Mary's school, drew a beautiful landscape and inspired the rest of her class to be more creative. Next class, they will be taking notes.

Inkscape

Graphic Design

Beautiful Landscape from Saint Mary's Student

<h2>Creating Digital Art</h2>For a while now, we have only been teaching graphic design to fourth graders and up. For lower classes we had our students use Potato Guy, an application to learn drag and drop skills. For Potato Guy the goal is to dress a potato.I had always wondered how young is too young to introduce our students to Inkscape. At the moment we thought fourth graders were the youngest.&nbsp;So today we decided to experiment with second graders. They are about eight years old. <h2>The Youngest Artists</h2>I was particularly impressed with Allan, a second grader who drew a person wearing a green shirt and white pants. His design was so detailed with black hair, brown skin, one white shoe and the other shoe was barefoot. Of each of the colors, he had to pick the specific colors from the color wheel.Most students had no problem using Inkscape. Now I am excited to try Inkscape with even the youngest of our students.

We tried to teach 8-year-olds to use Inkscape, a vector editing program. They impressed us with their creativity and how quickly they learned to create digital art with Inkscape.

We tried to teach 8-year-olds to use Inkscape, a vector editing program. They impressed us with their creativity and how quickly they learned to create digital art with Inkscape.

8-Year-Olds Creating Digital Art

<h2>Oriana Loves Videos</h2>Oriana, a Grade 5, Group B student, in Saint Mary's seems to love video production so much. Every time she entered the lab, she opened OpenShot, our video editing application, by herself. I have been seed her do this several classes in a raw, which is a record for video production.<h2>Becoming Well-Rounded</h2>I wanted her to gain in all lessons, so I told her the importance of the other lessons like Audio Production, Coding and Graphic Design. I did not want her to be left behind in other lesson that could also be useful.After I told her the importance of other subjects, she promised to become more well-rounded, which is perfect. The next class I will be coaching and observing to make sure she has not been left behind and she balances all&nbsp;the lessons.

A 5th grader in Saint Mary's really likes video production. Every time she comes to computer class, she immediately opens OpenShot, our video editing application. I'm advising her to become well-rounded, because I'm worried she'll be left behind in other subjects.

A 5th grader in Saint Mary's really likes video production. Every time she comes to computer class, she immediately opens OpenShot, our video editing application. I'm advising her to become well-rounded, because I'm worried she'll be left behind in other subjects.

Well-Rounded Digital Literacy | TechLit Africa

Open Shot

Video Production

Well-Rounded Digital Literacy

Njeri, a class 4B pupil, made her whole class enjoy their coding lesson with Scratch today. When Evens was teaching grade 4 to code with Scratch. Since it was their first time coding and it was an introduction, they were not very active, so we did not expect much from that class.Then the next day, which was Wednesday, Evans saw the same class again, which was grade 4. I wanted them to do coding and scratch again so that they will remember what they learned. &nbsp;On that day there were some changes compared to the previous day. They were listening carefully and they also showed improvements.Njeri was the first student to make real progress with Scratch in grade 4. Surprisingly, she became the teacher in that group. Every student shouted her name, “Njeri, Njeri, kuja nionyeshe.” which was good and amazing.

Scratch Coding Specialist Educator Evanso Rotich Visited Saint Mary's Primary This Week To Teach Coding | Grade 4 Makes Progress

Grade 4 in Saint Mary's learned to code with Scratch this week. Their student teacher for the day, Njeri understood the lesson very well.

Grade 4 Starts Coding in Saint Mary's Mogotio

Scratch

Software Engineering

Grade 4 Starts Coding

One day this week, a Class 2 student was trying to unlock a level in Super Tux Kart, but I realized she didn't know how to progress from one level to the next.So I sat with her to teach her how to win keys and move to the next level. When I was in the process of teaching her, she kept asking me, “hizi kifuli ni za nini”,&nbsp;then I went on answering her question. I explained to her in kiswahili so that she could understand better.The next day, which was on Tuesday, the girls came to me and said she wanted to try the game. She was playing on the previous day, then the girl put the game on herself and started playing.Surprisingly the girl unlocked all the levels that were there then he called me, “Teacher Nimefungua kifuli zote.” I was like wow, this is great!Then I requested the rest of the pupils to clap for her so that she can do better than that the next session. The girl was very happy and excited. She was telling other kids that, “kumbe nawafunza”&nbsp;in the next lesson.

Primary School Students Play Games to Unlock Levels and Share Progress with Friends | Learning To Play and Overcome Challenges in Computer Classes

I helped one girl play games in Saint Mary's today. After learning to progress through levels in SuperTux Kart, she taught her friends.

Sharing Computer Games in Saint Mary's

SuperTux Kart

There was a boy in Class 7, Group B by the name Lin Ekaru. During the video production session where Allan was teaching them an introduction to OpenShot, Lin was struggling very hard to learn.Then the second day, the boy came to seek permission from me so that he can join the other pupils who were being taught in the next lesson by Allan. Then I let the boy in, so that he can improve in video production and perfect it.Surprisingly&nbsp;the boy ends up teaching other students on how to drag the video, divide the screen and to create an account. Everybody was shouting his name "Lin! Lin! Lin! Kuja nionyeshe hapa.”

Class 7 Student in Saint Mary's Primary School Takes A Second Try at Learning Video Editing with OpenShot and Becomes Start Pupil in Computer Class

A Class 7 student struggled in an introductory lesson this week, but after asking to join another group for a second try, he became the star pupil.

Second Try at Video Production

<h2>Introducing Tiezo, Grade 3</h2>Teizo, a grade 3A student, made the video production class great today for other students who were seeing it as hard.<h2>Starting Video Production</h2>Since Allan, their video production teacher, was not there to teach video production to grade 3A, I explained to them to see whether they still remember what they were taught on the previous day by Allan.I told the class that the first one to create the video will help the rest of the students who don't understand.<h2>Leading Grade 3</h2>Tieza was doing her work perfectly. She made the rest of the students enjoy the lessons and love video production. She taught her friend Sarah, which was amazing and then they both became teachers.Therefore the video production class became interesting, where I had two teachers operating the class. Many students understood the lesson, which was good and very impressive.

Tiezo Learns To Edit Videos in TechLit Computer Class and Teaches Classmates | Specialty Lessons in Video Production

Teizo, a grade 3A student, made the video production class great today for other students who were seeing it as hard. Many students understood the lesson, which was good and very impressive.

Grade 3 Student Leads Computer Class

Tiezo Leads Computer Class

Milka Akware

Tyler Cinnamon is a American programmer and entrepreneur. He started TechLit Africa with Nelly Cheboi in 2018 to disrupt poverty with used IT devices.

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Saint Mary's Primary School Lead Educator Milka Akware | Teaching Digital Skills & Self-Efficacy in Kenya Primary Schools

Posts by Author: Milka Akware