Brandi Compass teaches math to sixth graders at Poplar Bluff Middle School. Through an education-focused nonprofit, she has now taught fellow teachers at schools in Nepal, Guyana and Uganda.
Compass returned in July from her third month-long trip with Inspiring Teachers, an organization dedicated to improving the learning outcomes for children worldwide by enabling teachers. She took her first journey with a group of teachers, or fellowship, in 2018.
“A few years back, I was really interested in global teaching, and seeing how things are working around the world in other schools. So I did research...and found Inspiring Teachers, and really fell in love with their philosophy,” Compass said.
She took her first journey with a group of teachers, or fellowship, in 2018 to Nepal, then Guyana in 2019. Inspiring Teachers’ strategy, she explained, focuses on professional development for low-resource schools by providing them with the best teaching techniques. Lead teachers in schools implement nine of the 27 total strategies at the beginning of the year, and a fellowship arrives in June to evaluate and encourage educators.
“What we did was watch them implement those nine, and provided good feedback to them of what things they were doing very well, areas that they can improve upon,” Compass explained. “We really want to make it more sustainable to where it’s not just one or two teachers learning it, and they can really just keep building.”
In the Ugandan schools she visited, teachers worked on practices to build better relationships with students, and ways to get students more engaged with their lesson material. Class discussions are a staple of American schools, Compass noted, but they were the most difficult technique to implement in Uganda’s classrooms “because that’s totally different from their culture.
“They’re used to: students are quiet, and the teacher does all the talking. So that was one of our hardest ones,” she said.
Other teaching methods took off much more quickly, like object lessons. Compass saw teachers use this technique when they learned about Uganda’s cash crops.
“Instead of them just going through a book and reading about it, they went outside of their school and (the teachers) were like, look around — what cash crops do you see? So across the mountains, they could see the tea leaves that were growing, they could see the bananas, all of that,” Compass said.
Compass herself also did some teaching.
“I did teach a few lessons while I was there because the school I was in was very shorthanded on teachers. So after we did our mentoring things, I jumped in and taught a few math lessons and a couple English lessons to the kids, and they thought that was very exciting.”
The schools she visited had far fewer resources than American schools. Most had dirt floors, mud walls, open windows instead of air conditioning, and few, if any, textbooks. Students did not have cell phones or computers. However, curiosity and a love of school sports proved universal.
“Students love to play soccer on their breaks. They have numerous breaks throughout the day,” she said.
It is also customary for pupils to greet visitors by standing at their desks and singing a song, she added. It was one of many welcomes the team experienced on their travels.
“So far as culture goes, it was one of the most friendly places I’ve ever been in the world,” said Compass, admitting she had expected people to be more standoffish around outsiders. “Everybody was so open and excited as you’re driving down the road. Kids are waving, adults are waving, and they’re just excited to see people there and they want to share their culture and their language.”
Shopping was also easier than she had expected in rural Africa. “They had more stores, not big shopping centers or anything like that, but there were some things that were more available than I thought there would be.”
In addition to teaching, the fellowship took the time to enjoy Uganda’s natural beauty with a weekend safari and a gorilla tracking expedition. Compass reported their guide put them within 10 feet of lions and gorillas. They also found water buffalo, hippos and elephants — sometimes in unexpected places.
“I was woken at like 3 a.m. to this really loud noise and my hut shaking, and there was an elephant trying to squeeze (by) because he wanted the bamboo over by my hut. And I’m like, ‘I’m about to get trampled by an elephant,’” she laughed.
Fellowships often get to enjoy the communities they visit. Compass said on her first trip, to Nepal, “A lot of times the teachers would take us after school to their personal favorite local places...and teach us a lot of things about their culture as well.”
School culture in Nepal was formal, she added. Students always wore uniforms, and a sloppy uniform could get them sent home.
In Guyana, a country on the northern border of Brazil, the remoteness of the schools they visited still stands out to her.
“I was in a little village in the middle of the jungle. Some of our schools can only be accessed by a boat, so we had to go down the river to get to school. But just like the other places I’ve been, the teachers were very eager to receive training, and feedback and observations there,” Compass recalled.
She feels torn about where to go next year.
“I really enjoyed Uganda and I might look into going back there and continuing working with those teachers. But...the Nepal teachers, my first fellowship, they keep begging me to come back.
“I built some really lasting relationships on that Nepal trip. A lot of those teachers still contact me and we’ll Zoom sometimes and I’ll give them feedback on their lesson,” she said.
For anyone else who wants to take a global teaching journey, whether with Inspiring Teachers or another organization, Compass advises them to research their options and take the leap. The impact for students, educators and communities can be tremendous.
“It’s been pretty impactful. They’ve seen lots of good things happening in schools. Even some of the people that are there locally that are in those schools on a daily basis have seen the progress being made in the schools, and the progress within the teachers, whether that be gaining more confidence or just becoming a better teacher,” she said.
“By seeing these different views, and seeing these different cultures and things around the world, you bring some of that back with you,” she continued. “It becomes a piece of you, so you’re able to instill that in yourself and others.”