Irene Pepit is our school lead educator for Zawadi Yetu in Mogotio, Kenya.

School Lead Educator

Today, my story comes from a grade 5 boy called Bowen. Since word processing was introduced, he has been really into it. Bowen likes documents more than other specialties.He has been practicing bolding and editing words since the first day. At first,it was a bit challenging for him. He was really figuring out how at the end he can have his own written document.So now, during breaks and lunch hours, he comes to the lab to work on a new project: a notice to other students about the environment. Bowen asks for my help every time. His aim was to make sure that he wrote the notice on the computer.His classmates weren’t sure what to use word documents for. Some were just writing their names and others were typing the names of their friends and school. Bowen was the first student to think of how to use word documents.During his 35 minute class on Wednesday he finished his notice. The rest of the class were asking him where he got the idea. He told them that some might write compositions and others might write recipes. They were happy because now they had ideas about how to use word documents.I am confident that we have a typist, script writer, speech writer in the making.

Zawadi Students Learn Documents - Primary School Lead Educator Irene Pepit Inspires Students to Create Their Own Documents

This week, a student of mine wrote a notice for his school about Environment Celebration Day. He was so inspired that he came to the computer lab between classes to practice.

Zawadi Students Learn Documents

Zawadi Yetu

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

LibreOffice Writer

Document Editing

Magda is one of TechLit's most skilled educators, and has taken on capacity development and new school onboarding.

Kenya Capacity Lead

On Tuesday, I was in Zawadi Yetu Academy to step in for their teacher, Irene Pepit, who was unable to report on that day.&nbsp;We had previously introduced the concept of a director where we give one of the kids a phone and then that one kid goes around the classroom taking pictures and recording videos of the lesson. This is our way of teaching photography and videography in our TechLit classes.On this particular day I had fifth grade, which is known for their smartness and drive when it comes to computer classes. We were doing a project in Scratch, and the director of the day was called Ogutu. He understood the assignment and started taking photos. I never once had to correct him. For example, I never had to tell him to take pictures in portrait mode and not landscape, this bright boy already knew what to do.I continued with my work and the next time I turned around to see how our director was carrying on with the assignment, I was surprised to find him going around, picking the students who were done with their project, taking them aside with their laptops, having them sit down and then he would do some sort of an interview while recording the interview. He was like "Can you tell us more about this project. Explain what it's all about, how it works and how you've made it."I was honestly amazed, he just took the role of the teacher, director and interviewer at the same time. He would be like "No, can you move this way, I need to take a good video. That's a nice project. Go sit down, I'm done with you. I need a new person here. Next?"😂😂I had to sit back and watch. I did not give instructions anymore, I just let the director take control and he was doing it perfectly. I took a rest because Ogutu had me covered.

Student Director in Zawadi Yetu Academy - Substitute Teacher Magdaline Jepchumba Watches Student Director Interview Students About Their Studies

A student director ran the show this week in Zawadi Yetu Academy. Ogutu, a 5th grader, interviewed students about their projects.

Student Director in Zawadi Yetu Academy

Personal Branding

Student Director in Zawadi Yetu

Irene teaches the introductory lessons to graphic design. She explains how students can use Inkscape to create vector graphics.

Specialist Educator

We teach graphic design with a vector editor called Inkscape. Vector editors like Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator have too many features to teach in one class. Now I’m introducing students to the bezier tool. The bezier tool is how you normally make curves, but you can also use it to trace images.I try to teach students new things in a way that’s motivating to them. So when I teach the bezier tool, I first demonstrate how to trace a picture of a teddy bear with the bezier tool. Then I ask the students what they would like to trace.In one of our schools, Zawadi Yetu, there is a 5th grader named Brian Ogutu. Ogutu’s favorite cartoon character is called Ghekko. Ogutu says that Ghekko is his favorite because he’s brave and strong.So in graphics class today, Ogutu found a picture of Ghekko on google. After pasting it into his Inkscape working space, he traced his favorite cartoon character using the bezier tool. By the end of class, he had created a really nice drawing.

Learning Bezier Curves in Zawadi Yetu - Specialist Educator Irene Sheey Teaches Relatable Digital Skills

Zawadi students traced pictures of their favorite cartoon characters this week. They are learning use the bezier tool, which is how vector graphics are created.

Learning Bezier Curves in Zawadi Yetu

Inkscape

Graphic Design

Allan is a photographer, journalist and the founder of KE Media. With TechLit he inspires students with his passion for video production. Students learn to use video editing software with Allan.

Graphic design is one of our specialties at Techlit Africa.Kelvin, a 5th grader at Zawadi Yetu Academy, surprised me today when he told me that that day he was going to lead the class.Kelvin took over the class and taught graphic design to grade one kids. I was so surprised that he knew how to deliver the concept well. He demonstrated each step so well.I realized that all the kids taught by kelvin understood and created nice just as they were shown by kelvin.

Student Teacher in Zawadi Yetu | TechLit Africa

5th Grader in Zawadi Yetu teaches his class how to use new computer applications. His instructions clear enough that his class understood him.

Student Teacher in Zawadi Yetu

NASA interns have held remote classes with students at Zawadi Yetu Mogotio. Often it starts with a brief overview of the NASA's use of a specific technology followed by an activity where the break into rooms each room lead by a NASA intern.Each time, the students have asked their lead NASA intern if they have been to space. On our most recent, they covered what it takes to go to space, who has gone to space and how to go space.Students had a lot of questions<ol><li>Bowen asked Can a kid go to space? </li><li>Sammy asked Can you bring your own food to space?</li><li>Ogutu asked Is there internet in space?</li><li>Toto asked Is there light and darkness in space?</li></ol>The students were so happy have their questions answered. The next day during class they all sketched rockets on inkscape.Kelvin <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d3EEzgYkU_M" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">even said</a><blockquote>When I grow up, I am going to buy a rocket and explore space. Here is my rocket that I have designed</blockquote><a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Zzjp0Q508gw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sammy said</a><blockquote>I want to thank Nelly, TechLit and NASA for teaching us about space. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't know that space doesn't have gravity.</blockquote>These sessions with NASA have really open our students horizons. Thank you Herb and Team.

NASA interns held an Inkscape activity with Zawadi Yetu Mogotio students. They started the class with explaining the journey to space followed by student drawing their own rockets. The student also asked very intriguing questions about space.

Interns at NASA held an Inkscape activity with Zawadi Yetu Mogotio students. They started the class with explaining the journey to space followed by student drawing their own rockets. The student also asked very intriguing questions about space.

NASA Inkscape Activity | TechLit Africa

NASA Inkscape Activity

Scratch is block-based programming built for kids.&nbsp;This week at Zawadi Yetu academy, we decided with the fifth graders that they are going to create their own project. The previous weeks they have been practicing combining blocks of code and so they were only making basic animationsThis week they started on their projects. Everyone in the class is really working hard to make sure that before the end of the term he/she must have created his/her game in scratch. First, i encourage them to use different sprites and now they are in the level of making their own sounds and inserting them in their gameI look forward to encouraging them to discover new things day by day for their game and presentable look. They are very happy that at the end each one of them will have his/her game.

Making Their Own Games in Zawadi Yetu | TechLit Africa

This week in Zawadi Yetu academy, students spend 30 minutes every day building their own video game in Scratch. By the end of the week, they will have completed a complete game.

Scratch

Software Engineering

Making Their Own Games in Zawadi Yetu

<h2>Well-Rounded Students</h2>This is a story about the fifth graders at Zawadi Yetu Academy. They have enjoyed every single one of the specialties that have been introduced to them, from Coding, Music Production to Personal Branding and Graphic Design.They can do all the specialties without the help of their specialist and have shown great passion for learning TechLit programs. They keep asking me what is next. “What are we learning next?” they would say, almost in unison<h2>Self-Teaching with Computers</h2>So today I felt challenged and decided to introduce Word Processing and Document Editing to them. They were really happy to see a new skill they could learn. I used LibreOffice to show them the basic elements of word processing.I only knew how to type and format the texts. I didn't know some of the other elements. To my surprise, the fifth graders started doing a lot more than what I had shown them. I even asked them to show me how they were able to insert images and where they got it from.<h2>Self-Expression and Creativity</h2>Most of them made a document with a computer image in it. Some wanted to recreate the QWERTY Touch-Typing application screen. So they wanted a computer with three icons on it that said “You Did It!” just like the feedback screen on our Touch-Typing application QWERTY. Almost all of them had “TechLit Africa” somewhere on their document.Manu even wrote a thank you note to Nelly and Tyler and also TechLit Africa. It read “I thank Nelly and Tyler because since I joined this school i have been attending computer classes. Now I know how to use Inkscape and OpenShot. If it was not for TechLit I would not have known what a computer is.”

Students at Zawadi Academy Learn More Than Their Teacher in Word Processing / Document Editing Digital Literacy Specialty Lesson

This week, I introduced my students to Document Editing because they are hungry for new computer skills. After just one lesson, they already know more than I do. They created such complicated documents and even a thank you note.

Document Editing at Zawadi Academy

<h2>Internet Skills Specialty</h2>Social is one of our specialties at Techlit Africa. In Social, kids are taught on how to create to&nbsp;create their own passwords and also to save their work in the internet (but in a local, offline version of the internet so they are safe).<h2>Creating Anything</h2>Marion is a Grade 3 kid in Zawadi. She really likes Inkscape (also a specialty in TechLit Africa). She likes drawing very much, and inn Inkscape, she can draw anything she wants.<h2>Securely Saving Artwork</h2>During her free time, Marion comes to draw what she wants and upload her work. She is so happy that social was introduced because she has her own password and all her drawings are kept safe there.

Grade 3 Student Learns Internet Accounts and Security Through Saving Specialty Projects Creative Artwork | Effective Digital Skills Lessons

We have a student called Marion in Grade 3 at Zawadi Academy. She really likes to create art in Inkscape, and now that she has her own account and password on our local, offline internet program called Social, she can securely save her artwork.

Internet Security With Specialty Projects

Internet Security

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

Founder & COO

Zawadi Yetu was TechLit's first primary school in Kenya.Visit Zawadi Yetu's website to learn more <a href="https://zawadiyetu.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">zawadiyetu.com</a>

Zawadi Yetu was TechLit's first primary school in Kenya. Visit Zawadi Yetu's website to learn more <a href="https://zawadiyetu.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">zawadiyetu.com</a>

Posts About School: Zawadi Yetu