TESS Talk is an ongoing series from Group 134, TESS Volunteer, Cadi Duncan, who organizes and facilitates discussions with fellow Peace Corps Volunteers on a variety of topics related to our work in the classroom. These “talks” are then summarized by Cadi. Her goal is to address shared challenges and frustrations and brainstorm sustainable solutions on common topics that can be utilized by many generations of Volunteers.
Cadi Duncan, 134 TESS
The TESS program framework heavily tasks PCVs with developing our counterparts to utilize logical, evergreen practices that will transcend the test of time.
We not only encourage and support our counterparts but also introduce them to different teaching methodologies and model how to implement said methodologies in the classroom. While one of our main priorities is to help our counterparts build capacity to become more effective educators, PCVs often struggle with how to tackle that ambitious task.
The first official TESS Talk demonstrated numerous ways PCVs could begin building those sustainable practices with their counterparts with practical examples and the reasoning behind those examples.
The talk included the thoughts and advice from several group 134 TESS cohort members on how they began to notice areas for refinement and what they did to begin the conversation of change. Group 134’s Kyra O’Connell noted how she worked with her counterparts to develop a classroom routine. The development of the routine provided Kyra’s students with more structure which reduced overall disruptions as the students know and understand what is expected of them for every class. Additionally, a class routine lessened the burden of lesson planning for Kyra and her counterparts since each class has the same sequence.
Grace Teng, another member of Group 134’s TESS cohort, shared that taking data has transformed her counterpart’s understanding of student performance. How students do on assessments can inform the teacher which students need more support or whether a topic should be retaught entirely. Over time, data can show class trends, student growth and teacher development.
Although the TESS Talk was centered around tangible ways to support our counterparts, several participants shared how their counterparts have begun to pick up and utilize the smallest things like another way to greet students (high five/fist bump), how to give positive praise (“I can see you worked really hard on that!”) or even mimicking tone and word choice (“hey”, “hi!”, “hey there”, “morning!”). The tiniest things that PCVs do are observed and absorbed by our counterparts oftentimes entirely unknown to us.
There is no guarantee that our counterparts will continue using the routines, materials or data collection tools that we have co-created, but the seemingly insubstantial things that have stuck with our counterparts give me hope that once we leave, more of the meaningful practices we have tried to instill in them will resurface.
This presentation is downloadable. Please email us if you’re having an issue accessing it and we’ll be happy to share the PDF with you directly. Thank you to the PC Thailand Volunteers who contributed to its creation and allowed us to share their thoughts.
Sticky Rice 
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