Wednesday 25 December 2013

My Book:" The Boy From Hanover"



My Book



















I am far from being a perfect writer but I try to have people's minds engaged.  This is the cover of my first book which is available on Amazon/kindle.com.  Go ahead and buy, download and read it!

Please give me your support and enjoy what I have written.  Please place constructive reviews there too.

Thank you for your consideration!











A Brief Description of Grand Market in Jamaica



For those who do not have a clue of the Jamaican term "Grand Market,"  it is a terminology that is used to describe the day before Christmas.  It is the time when people clean their homes, bake and cook up a storm, fix the yard and of course, shopping or partying until dawn in the main towns.  The roads are jammed with people and vehicles are everywhere.  Many homes are often seen with Christmas lights especially


We adults tend to call it "Children's Day" for it is the day for toy purchase, eating ice cream and fast food and to put on the best set of clothes for public display much to the children's delight.  Well, the taxis and buses always stand to make a profit if they know how to transport the patrons without getting into accidents become this is the time when people choose to emerge from their homes to look at the main towns, the clothes, dance to the sound-systems placed at the different shopping malls.  Also, there are those who will rent cars and hire drivers to travel to at least three towns and "drink up the bar."


I am not sure if there are many records documenting the genesis of Grand Market, but it seems to have a link to our island's colonial history during the time of crop over.  This was a time in December of each year when all the plantation workers were allowed to socialize and celebrate one day of rest and were allowed to participate in "John Canoe."  Then it would be back to work planting cane for the next crop over season.

"John Canoe," in Jamaica was seen in the main towns that had an Estate House.  This was a group of men dressed in costumes representing male and female characters.  The characters are as follows:

Set Girls (red set, blue set)
Sailor
Policeman
Belly Woman
Wild Indian
Devil
Horsehead
Cowhead's
Jack-In-The-Green
The House Jonkunnu
Pitchy-Patchy
Pitchy-Patchy
Koo-Koo or Actor Boy
Jonkonnu


The accompanying musical instruments for this annual event of the past were the drum and the fife but other instruments have been added to create variety in sounds.  The music was of African origin and can be entertaining once the right set of dancers are used.  However, for the last few years, only a few community groups continue this practice but the energy and vigor are not as upbeat as what was displayed in the past, however, persons have tried to preserve the practice as much as possible by keeping this tradition alive every Christmas.

Grand Market has always been a grand Jamaican event, and will remain so, even with the changes in generation and time.   



Monday 23 December 2013

Jamaican Christmas Eve: Brown's Town 2013



All primary and mostly high schools are closed at this time.  We are in the heights of the Christmas season. The roadsides in the town have the vendors selling their good(toys and costume jewelry) and now the roads have been turned into one-way around the town.  "Its the most wonderful time of the year!"

The historic four faced Brown's Town clock at the market still stuck in time with the time.  It still holds the center of attraction with people from all over the island coming buying and selling goods.  The "schoolers" are in their numbers, shopping with their eyes for their spending is very limited this year and good economic in spending must prevail.

At the town's center, more people than cars are now seen and jerk pans all over the place.  ( For those who do not understand about jerk pans, these metallic pans along with wood coal, are used to grill chicken, and pork and the finished products are sauced,  placed and wrapped in foil.  Very tasty food!) Overnight bars are being constructed and music of all genre are blasting from differently owned sound systems.  Music has helped the town folks to keep the peace, a little rocking and boogieing has never killed anyone and while the rhythm is thumping, the "schoolers" are there taking everything in.  Tall speakers, six feet high are erected in certain sections of the town and people can be seen trying to rock their troubles away.

Brown's Town stores have always been known for having a lot of Christmas lights at the various store windows.  I guess this year, the economic Grinch has taken over and so, many of our store windows stand bare.  However, that still has not stopped our children to be excited on the streets and taking a bit of ice cream and snacking at fast food restaurants and where there are pretty lights, the curious young students gather.

It is said that the Christmas colours this year are stripes, red, green and gold with a touch of black and sure enough, the fashionistas are on the prowl.  Many of them are in good order, but some make good comic relief to a stressed and distressed soul.  However, let it be known that our people know how to make good of a bad situation and always rise to ensure that their hearts will be entertained one way or another, even if they look weird in their colour scheme.

School is out, but not cold.  The Christmas breeze is truly in the air.  While the family yards have the Christmas coloured plants blooming in all their glory, the students and their parents are out in their numbers, ready to find ways to have fun  and survive in these hard times.  Make sure that you find joy, happiness and love in your lives.  Good will to all people and "one love" to everyone!

                                                                      Merry Christmas!



Tuesday 17 December 2013

Sweet Baby



TO all my readers out there, I wrote a song for the season.  I have made a rough demo and video along with the song.
I do hope you enjoy the message and not the voice!

Season's greetings!

COPY AND PAST THE LINK AND WATCH!
http://youtu.be/KZKxAUa87DE

Monday 16 December 2013

An Effective Teaching Practice



There are some best practices that are considered most effective.  One such practice, that I have used in the teaching of social studies and religious education is called Cooperative Learning.

Cooperative learning, (Johnson and Johnson, 1994) uses five critical attributes or characteristics.  They are;
1) Positive interdependence
2) Individual accountability
3) Group processing
4) Social skills and
5) Face-to-face interaction.

I would put these students into groups of four and give each one distinct role example:
1st person - recorder
2nd person - reporter
3rd person - materials person
4th person - social skills monitor, but if there is a 
5th person – timekeeper.

These positions are often rotated each week or alternate weeks so everyone gets an experience of each role.  That way, everyone is equal and contributes evenly to the growth, development and achievement of his/her group. 

I have found that the grades or test scores, for the students at the end of the time, are higher both as a group and individually. Additionally students get a chance to discuss their ideas with each other using think-pair-share, group jig-saw and expert jig-saw promoting an atmosphere of thinking and mental development.  Most of all listening to other students' ideas helps them to recognize that collective constructive discussion helps to promote reasoning and accumulation of ideas.  This will help students put thoughts on paper instead of just swatting content from textbooks and teachers notes.


My students, after leaving my classes in the semester or year, would come back and tell me how much they appreciate this type of teaching style and that they wish that other teachers would employ that method of approach because it brings more fun to learning in the classroom.

Friday 13 December 2013

Christmas Past: The Jamaican Episode (My Childhood Memories)



In this lovely season, my mind drew me back to 40 years ago to Christmas in the 70’s.  My parents were never rich, but hardworking and my mother was a woman who believed in making her place a home.  Every Christmas holiday, hours before the 25th, my mother got up early, get dressed, and got to the kitchen.  With the smell of breakfast, it was the signal for me and my sister to get up and do some serious house hold chores.
My sister and I did the windows, polished the furniture, swept and shone the red tiled floors till you could see your own reflection on them.  If anyone chose to visit, they would not go inside due to the sheen they saw through the house from the polished floors.  My father, he usually would go outside and shaped the various Christmas plants around the yard such as the poinsettias, snow whites, the willows and the blood-red hibiscus plants.  The yard would be cut and raked, grass heaped and at the end, my father would bring his crop of sorrel that he had planted and reaped.
We all took part annually in our family ritual but what stood out for me, now that I am much older, was the food preparation! Man, my sister and I were the human cake mixers!  The best part of this activity was to lick the mixing spoon and the basin after the mixture was poured in baking tins and placed in  an oven! Boy, did my sister and I worked our tongues!  I washed the plates and helped cleaned up the kitchen, while my sister eagerly eyed the oven with every clicking minute. 
My father usually brought in a nice cut of the willow branch that would become our Christmas tree.  Mom demonstrated how to use art paper and make decorations, both the chain links, snowmen and placed them on the tree, walls and ceiling.  There were some commercial decorations, and these were always preserved in a secret place.  They mysteriously would come out annually and find themselves on the token tree in the living-room. 
When the food was ready, we were told to get cleaned and dressed and we put on formal maxis only to arrive in the dining room to see new table cloth, plates, drinking glasses, and cutlery.  My father was well dressed in a dinner jacket. Each of us was asked to take out specific items from out of the kitchen and place unto the dining table.  After saying the grace, my father had his red and white Phillips record player playing one of Jim Reeves Christmas albums.  The music was very sweet and mellow, but what was even better was the smell of fruit cake, turkey, rice and peas, sorrel and roast beef in the air!  It was one splendid affair, all dressed up to partake in the Christmas feasting at home.  The deserts were ice cream, fruit cake and jellow placed in crystal dishes. We all used the brand new silverware to eat.

There can never be a time for me to have a bad Christmas.  No matter how broke or sad I might have been prior to the season, I am always in good cheer due to the delicious, warm, family memories my mother created for me when I was a child.  Seeing that so many persons get depressed or sad at this time of year, I often repeat this story to all who want to listen, and while telling it each time, I can actually smell my mother’s cooking in the air.  Always a smile is etched on my face when Christmas is here.  Make great memories for your families, my mother did a great job with mine.

Thursday 12 December 2013

The Importance of Giving Students Study Guides



Many of our nation’s adults believe that our education system is designed to make students fail.   This conclusion came about from having experienced shocking instances of being told to prepare for specific content only to open the test pages to questions from a different set of content.  Many persons may say that students must always be prepared because it was “clearly stated in the syllabus.”  The reality however is that just as the Caribbean Examination Council prepares students with study guides, the students should be given the same for their internal ones.
Internal examinations and tests should not be intimidating and feared, but should be seen as a good challenge and confirm students’ levels of understanding of content and concepts.  Our students should never be felt punished but encouraged to demonstrate depth of knowledge.  Here are some steps schools can make to ensure equity and fairness for students:
1.      Assess the students’ competency levels in the subjects of their choice.
2.      Place the students according to their levels of ability so that they can feel a sense of equity among themselves.
3.      Within the departments, plan and strategize how to share information and skills according to levels of abilities.  Make the teachers revise/improve in their use of structures, strategies and techniques to promote the proper of information transfer.
4.      Organize the appropriate assessment tools that will be used to accurately measure the students.
5.      Provide study guides for the various subjects that students will be assessed on.
6.      Administer a mini-mock test/exam to create a sense of awareness of the structure of the paper/assessment and make changes where necessary.
7.      After marking, give a good informal feedback session with the students.  Let them know their areas of weakness.   This can also help teachers determine if they had not transferred the information properly thus helping teachers to review and improve on their teaching strategies.
It should never be that our students see school as a hostile place to learn.  Adults have told their stories have been told of bitter school experiences and emotionally shared them with their children.  According to Marzano, et-al (1997),  our students come to school with attitudes and perceptions of how school should be and when negative ideas are conceptualised, these will be rejected or confirmed depending on their experiences at the school.  “Every child can learn, every child must learn” is the constant phrase used when published reports of students failing hit the air-waves.  For the quoted phrase to become a reality then it is suggested that our educators use the steps laid out to use as a guide to remedy their school’s issues.


Even though we are a country with limited educational resources, let us provide a healthy productive learning environment for our students (Green, Henrequez-Green, 2005).  Let us guide our students towards a more user-friendly education system for all to live work and be properly educated.