Mini-Post: My students kick butt!

As part of my Post-Conflict Societies class, their “mid-term” was actually running a simulation on Reconstruction.  The idea was to ram home the fact that peace-building and reconstruction are actually quite complex and outside aid is not always able to get everything done.  I was nervous about running it because what if it didn’t come together, or the students didn’t get into it?  But get into it they did, and I left the class that day super pumped.  Students were assigned roles such as the leaders of “Okar” (a fake country), the European Union (real governing body), and international and local NGOs (mix of fake and real).  I found the simulation in a 2003 Teaching Guide which created the fake country and it’s origin story but I had to make up a couple of rules along the way.  The students took their roles and ran with it, and did a great job!  I ended up in SO MANY PICTURES at the end of class, lawdamurcy, they went on a photo-taking spree.

The local NGO “Okar Cares” posted on IG their campaign to allocate more aid dollars to education!

Students in negotiation to allocate more or less resources to different funding priorities.

Organizations speaking to the leaders of Okar.

Opening presentations on what each organizations priorities are and how much they are willing to spend.

Organizations and their funding allocations.

A few of my NUM students also elected to do presentations on the journey of commodities (such as oil, fruit, or in one case, Jack Daniels whisky) for extra credit (one of my classes is over 30 students, so I wasn’t going to suffer through that on principle.)  Those that presented did a great job as well, and I learned a lot of new things about berries, pig production, and the oil refining process.  I hope the students learned a lot too!