Helping to Build Students' Confidence

As a teacher for many years, I have found that students, like us, need to feel confident in what they do. and say.  The classroom is a breeding ground for the building and sadly the destruction of confidence and self worth.   Our students are from different socio-economic background where concepts of school are developed.  as a result, they come with preconceived  ideas as to how learning should be.  Depending on their backgrounds, so come with self esteem that is ideal, but there are others who come as almost empty shells of human beings.   Therefore as teachers we need to be careful in how we handle our students.  We can either make them or break them just be our actions.

As teachers, we should be careful of the things that we say to our students.  We have to ensure that we  study the classroom setting and out for the following:

1. poor eye contact
2. lack of clarity in speech
3. momo-tone in conversation
4. use of lines in drawing (hard or soft)
5. poor interaction in class
6. lack of speed for work
7. silence
8. limited work

These signs and many more are indicators that something is emotionally imbalanced with the students.  Therefore, as teachers, we must recognize these signs and try to rebuild confidence by the way we utilize structures, strategies and techniques in our teaching practice.  Here are some suggestions that were used by other teachers which have yield results in the rebuilding of confidence and self esteem in students:

1. assigning manageable roles
2. errands
3. grade them for class participation
4. use them as positive examples before the class where it is warranted. 
5. mastery learning (to build conceptual understanding of content and skills)
6. rewards for improved work
7. include them in competitions to represent their school
8. ensure visits at their home and talk with parents
9. invite them to church and positive value building functions
10. expose them to a career expo or a college open day
11. field trips

There are more but what is important is for teachers to recognize that students have delicate emotions and must be taken care of by teachers who help to cradle their emotional development.  Our role as teachers is not an easy one and just as we expect other teachers to look after our children, we should do the same for the students we teach!  Watch what we do and say, listen more, notice the signs and act on them after confirmation of a behavioural theory. Let us build a community of confident students so that after graduation they will help to create a workforce with individuals with confidence and self worth.

How Should Students Keep the Minds Occupied During Holiday Breaks?

There are simple tips one should adhere when gone away from school:

1.  Read appropriate newspaper clippings or articles to help improve communication and thinking.
2.  Do puzzles, quizzes and problem solving games to develop reasoning skills.
3.  Be involved in activities that help to develop reasoning skills and logical thinking.
4.  Limit the amount of television shows and computer games used unless they reinforce good             learning.
5.  Listen to good music at a medium frequency that will not affect your hearing in the later years.
6.  Help family members and friends in activities that will help build good self esteem
7.  Go to church or a place of worship and be in tune with your spiritual and moral side and allow it to grow.

As a teacher, I find that students return from long breaks not having a sense of readiness for school.  Many have had problems adjusting and as a result, their learning outcomes are negatively affected

Parents and guardians, for this Season, ensure that your children are gainfully occupied.  The mind is a lovely soul that always needs something to keep it active.  Therefore feed that soul with positive activities.

Happy Holidays!

The Tablet, The Remedy for Education

Some time ago I wrote an article in a local newspaper called, "The Tablet, an Expensive Pill to Swallow."  That article stimulated much debate among stakeholders in education as to the affordability and practicality of the mass introduction of such a device in schools.  In my article, I mentioned some shortcomings and gave suggestions regarding the use of that device in schools.  However, our Minister of Technology, in various interviews made assurances that improvement of various infrastructure was in the pipeline to facilitate island wide internet coverage, thus justifying the attempt in implementing such an innovation.

Fast forward one year later, the various communication networks have made fair efforts in upgrading the data services and communication networks in the Caribbean.  There is much more affordable data services on cellular networks.   More gadgets have been imported for the ordinary individuals to have a 'mobile computer' in their hands thus exposing the learner to information normally  that would be paid for in a public library.  More students now seem to have an innate gift to utilize smart devices using them for their own benefit thus they have a sense of readiness for the tablets.  Due to the initial novelty of the first set of tablets, students were distracted and great misuse of the device emerged in the social media.  Now that most persons are sensitized, the general thinking is that more energy can be placed in making good use of the tablets in schools.

What has now happened is that several schools have been selected to pilot the tablet innovation.  The selection of these schools seems to be based on learning needs and not based on good academic performance.  The traditional institutions who have tablets in their schools had taken the initiative to invest in the purchase of the same.  The vision is to have specific software and applications installed in order to assist students in reinforcing concepts and improve the acquisition of skills and knowledge to make them become more educationally eligible useful beyond high school.

What is hoped, is that the government or the relevant ministries will purchase publication rights or gain permission from publishing houses to provide e-book versions of the many heavy textbooks the back burdened students carry in their over packed school bags.  Not only will this reduce the stress  of carrying heavy texts to school, but also allow students to have easier access to authentic and credible information on pre-selected websites to use in their reading and research. Teachers may find that their preparation for contact time can be reduced due to the availability of resources at the students' fingertips!

Having tablets in school can be one of the remedies in education.   Those devices can store data and be the cradle for e-books for students.  Yes, the cost is a factor, but to be honest, anything that has a value must have a cost.  There is no such thing as free education, but an investment of the same will have a financial positive multiplier effect on the technology exposed population.  Maybe the tablet indeed can be a good remedy after all!

Teachers Need to Keep their Work at School

Teachers in Jamaica, no matter what level, have a high sense of commitment to their work which is seen throughout all levels of education.  However, those who are from the primary level tend to be over worked thus not having insufficient time in marking assignments.  One of the remedies that this set of teachers made in the turnover of marking papers is to carry the students' work home.


This in itself has always been a bad idea because not only that marking at home takes away contact time from their children but interferes with the social and physical relationship with their spouses.  At times, the partners complain bitterly to their friends about not being able to sleep in their beds in peace, while their spouses mark piles of books in their matrimonial bed.  When emotions get high children and neighbours become audience to quarrels and fights because one spouse complains to the other about not having the intimate services of their teaching partners.



I believe that these teachers need to be more considerate not only to their families, but to themselves.  It is unfair to carry home the stresses of work home, but most unfair to carry the world of fingered books into their beds.  If books could tell the roads they have travelled, the skin would crawl and disinfectants would cleanse the invisible visitors that attach themselves to each book that comes from different homes!  Teachers, over the years have put their families at great health risk when they carry the students' works at home.  It is time teachers put a stop to this practice and manage their time better at work.


Even if the work should be brought home, it is with great wisdom that the students' books/papers should be placed in a work/study area and not in their bedrooms.  Too many times family relationships become strained due to the dedication of the teaching parent.  True teachers always put in the extra mile to ensure that their students get back their marked work on time for them to see how well they have done or how to improve on their learning. Unfortunately, this kind of loyalty always comes with a cost when it is not managed well.


It is best that teachers find and develop additional kinds of summative assessment  for their students and spend more time at  home focusing on fulfilling their roles as good parents and partners  to their own families.

Contact Time with Students

It has been a great debate over the years for our nation's teachers to spend more time in the classroom.  Our Ministry of Education, over the last three years, has hemorrhaged the teachers' holiday/recuperation period by adding two more teaching days per term.  This year is no different and now not only are they trying to shorten the days of rest for teachers, but are now mandating them to go to professional development seminars conducted by education officers who themselves are exhausted with work.

All this, because there is the perception that teachers have too much time on their hands to find additional funds to improve their standard of living.  One talk show host mentioned about the amount of teachers who are driving better cars and living in luxurious houses and that teaching seemed to be a money making business instead of that of educating the population.  There were mentions of teachers having after school classes where students must pay a cost.  Investigations were secretly conducted to find out the cost of these services and publishing how much money a teacher makes conducting private classes.

 Persons with doctoral degrees have presented interesting data showing that many of the poor results of CSEC examinations, sit squarely of the feet of teachers who waste time in staff rooms or gossiping in corridors leaving the children unsupervised.  So the question is, should all teachers' family time be punished because of the actions of a few?  This seems to be an issue of management and accountability at each affected school.

It is situations like these that make teachers have to work within the scheduled hours.  Seeing that the good teachers are hardly given much credit for overtime services to their students, and becoming more verbally abused on the roads due to bad publicity, more teachers are taking a military approach to the teaching time with their students.  Not to mention the way freeze that the teachers have accepted for the last four years!

Now, the Ministry's response is to cutely cut into the recuperation periods of teachers much to the dismay of the family of the affected teachers.  Soon, more families of teachers will be  dysfunctional because of the lack of family time with all its members.  So many spouses have left their family unit because their teaching partners hardly have enough time to hold their families together.  Yes, this opens the door to another debate but if a survey is conducted, I am sure one would find that more teachers have found themselves in divorce court than the norm.

Addressing the issue of contact time, this should be an issue for the school board and management to handle, instead of giving the cold blanket treatment to every school.  Making use of the available time and resources should be the ministry's goal and not to rob good teachers of family time which is already short.

Simple Tips on Lesson Planning

       Lesson planning is not a fan of many teachers, but one must admit that without a plan things can go very disorganised.   Learning should be organized in  order for the intended goals, objectives  and learning outcomes to be achieved.  Anyone who teaches, must be reminded to several things:
After choosing the lessons the;
    1.  goals and objectives must be relevant to the lesson
    2. objectives must match with the student abilities.
    3. content must be easy to read and comprehended by students.
    4. structures, strategies and techniques used to teach the lesson are used effectively.
    5. assessment used should actually measure set goals and objectives and that is to the advantage of         the student and not be viewed as a negative  tool.
    6. evaluations for each lesson should look out for successes and weakness displayed or                experienced.   Both teaching and learning outcomes should be evaluated to ensure that good teaching and learning are achieved and make the necessary changes where needed.

     Teaching has moved from the old days of just plain "chalk and talk," to using any innovative means to ensure good information transfer, developing of skills and successful passing of final assessments for students to transition to another level of learning.  There are so many gadgets that can be used to enhance learning.  However, without proper planning, desirable learning and teaching outcomes will not be a reality for all stakeholders.



     This is my take on the matter, after many years of teaching, it is clear to me that proper planning is always good and as teachers, we need to embrace it and not look at a class and condemn them because of how they look or their socio economic status.  Teachers, please plan to transform students into better learners and make yourselves  become better teachers.

Why should Music be taught in High Schools?

Music in our high schools is a much-needed subject, especially as the demand for Jamaican music has risen since the last two Olympic Games after the resounding successes of our athletes.

Places such as Africa, Europe, and Asia have increased the demand for Jamaican music to be played on their respective airwaves.

Music should not be seen as limited to a ‘subject.’

It far exceeds that to cater to the development of practical skills such as:

1. Performing
2. Composing and arranging
3. Producing and engineering
4. Studio acquisition and construction
5. Copywriting
6. Development of work ethics and professional conduct
7. Business management
8. Stage production and transportation
9.  Filming and editing

Jamaican music has several forms and each form has its audience.  “The Jolly Boys” which is a known Mento band over the years, has found success in Europe.  Conga drumming groups from various parts of the island have been requested to travel to diverse places both on the hotel circuit and overseas.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Carib Folk Sings among others have been asked to travel abroad to take up extensive singing engagements and tours.  Solo and small group acts have been asked to showcase their worth on the international stage.  Our dancers have also shared the same spotlight in the world where persons have taken on our Jamaican dance moves and choreographed them into movies.

Producers, directors and film crews have been seen on various locations in the island filming scenes that capture our Jamaican music and dance.   This has caused many of our dance teachers to travel abroad with our music and demonstrate to the world how they are to dance to our signature sounds.

Many of the appreciative countries have formed and groomed their own “Jamaican sounding” reggae bands are reproducing our own music on the world stage.  These bands are being hired to be backing bands at worldwide events like our own “Sumfest.”

A producer told me once that due to the lack of professionalism of many of our Jamaican artistes and bands, booking agencies from abroad are quiet reluctant in utilizing certain Jamaican performers and instead show favour to overseas Jamaican sounding ones who are punctual and professional in their conduct.  This is sad!

There are many school administrators in Jamaica who still do not see the value in music education and at times refuse to provide funding for programmes that can facilitate the growth and development of music.  Many feel that it is a non-profit subject and the sciences are a better option for students to take.  This kind of thinking I find to be flawed.

With the rising demand for Jamaican music on the world stage, our administrators should engage in research to help streamline their schools’ music programmes to capitalize on the demand, bring much needed income in our country and make their students ready for the work world.

Music in the high schools?  Yes! “Let the music play!”

Good Teacher, Bad Teacher

In our global classrooms, there are good teachers and bad teachers.  Adults worldwide have been exposed to both types of teachers. Many survived, but some have been scarred beyond recovery creating individuals who resent anyone within the teaching profession.  However, no matter the times or the location, the teaching profession will always exist and it is good that others can learn from the actions of those before, with the hope of making things better for both students and teachers.  According to Bertram & Bailey, 2009, a good teacher is one who motivates and sustains students’ interests, uses active learning techniques, who facilitates and encourage learning. I am sure that our good teachers will endorse this definition and may want to add more to the statement.

After much discussion with children and adults, I have formulated two edited set of lists displaying the attributes of good/bad teachers.

Good teachers always:

1.      Manage the class with equality and fairness.

2.      Come prepared for class.

3.      Dress appropriately for class/work.

4.      Create extra time to help weaker students.

5.      Look out for the welfare of students

6.      Timely mark assignments and give feedback.

7.      Compliment and motivate students to learn and attend school.

8.      Fair in assessment and evaluation.

9.      Are compassionate and human

10.  Are fair in punishment and rewards.

11.  Remember that the students will become adults and replace their position in the world.

12.  Create interesting innovations for students to learn

13.  Cooperate with administration no matter the storms that are stirred.

Bad teachers:

1.      Insult the students on a regular basis.

2.      Never apologise for anything.

3.      Never make the students comfortable

4.      Bully students after classes.

5.      Always give assignments and never mark them

6.      Are always late for class with unlimited excuses

7.      Do not care about what they wear to class/work.

8.      Never allow students to contribute to the lesson

9.      Are merciless in punishment to students

10.  Are highly critical of school, work and students.

11.  Are fearful of teacher evaluation and assessment.

12.  Show no interest in upgrading either skills or qualifications.

This listing is not about placing labels on persons; rather it is to remind us of weakness and strengths within classroom.  If any “bad” teacher sees this listing, instead of being offended, take the necessary steps to avoid being a bad teacher and be a good one.  For those who are good, please remember that there is always room for improvement.  Therefore, let us all be good teachers and be exemplars to all our students.

Jamaican Easter Tradition

      For those who do not know about the Jamaican Easter, it is not really like the Americanized version of
Easter Bunnies and eggs.  Being a predominantly a Christian country, we recognize the importance of the period in that Christ's Crucifixion is remembered.  Some go as far as designing their church programme to help our younger children have a visual understanding of the significance of the Easter Celebrations.
   
      Annually, this celebration is accompanied my the eating of bun and cheese along with the playful activity of kite flying.  Each year the bakeries, both established and private, put out a huge spread of beautifully packaged buns.  This buns are usually filled with raisins and fruits (cherries) with a magnificent glaze coated to attract even the religious skeptic to pay the extra cash to partake of the sweet tongue jerker of a pastry cocktail. However this is not complete without the lovely cheese!
   
      The cheese play a vital role with the bun.  The combination is like honey and milk in heaven.  Just simply divine! The combination should not be taken without drinks and most of all, one should be seated to enjoy this delight.  It is best eaten on the outside when the Easter breeze blows.  It makes the perfect setting for the true Jamaican Easter holidays.

   
     As for the Easter breeze, that is never wasted.  Annually , as soon as the month of March turns the corner, the kite makers, both professional and amateur commence their construction of kites of various colours and sizes.   The Jamaican kites are always impressive and due to the creativity, these kite makers have a chance to show off their skills in the annual kite flying competition.
   

      There are no age limits to the kite flyers in Jamaica.  The eager young ones are always anxious in displaying their designs.  The aging "big-kids" are more interested in the ingenuity of their  paper aircraft.  In-other-words, there are no age limits nor social barriers for the kite flyers on this special time of year.  As for those who have no interests in the public showing, the kite flyers make their way to various community centers and playing fields to hoist their kites in the air.  One cannot help but to hear the zingers on the kites and due to the pitch, one can have an idea of the size kites in the sky.  Sometimes in the dead of night the zinger from a large kite can be heard in the dark skies.   This usually becomes a topic of nocturnal conversation especially for the senior men of the house-holds and corner shops.
 
     It is an amazing sight to see the Jamaican skies and dinner tables at Easter time.  It is certainly a treat both in the stomach and in the Caribbean blue skies.  Its one thing that is clear, this tradition will not die for it is an occasion other than Christmas that our Jamaican families come together and have some good fun in the season of Easter.

How to Get Our Students to Be Interested in School?

That is a question that is being asked with more frequency lately.  There are students who seem not to have a serious interest in learning in schools.  What seems to be evident is high school students, who appear to be distracted with gadgets such as smart phones and tablets, which seem to dominate their attention.  Many individuals from their mid-thirties upwards have observed the interests of the students and spoke about the times when game shops and VHS were considered to be the great evils against the classrooms diverting their study time to more play.

Now, in the 21^st century, students have small and portable devices that have created a new wave of interests for the learner.  Unfortunately, many of our traditional institutions have missed the boat to utilize these devices within the classrooms that can make learning just as exciting as the applications that have captured students’ imaginations.  There are schools which still have the hard and fast 20^th century rule of absolutely no cell phones however, if a senior person asks a child for information on content, it is the same device being used to extract the much needed information.  Talking about behind times!

Traditional classroom teaching methods will not be as effective as before.  The minds of these teenagers come with a kind of intelligence not seen before.  If a man of 40 years has trouble getting into the settings of a smartphone, he can simply ask a teen or a child to find the same and in 5 seconds the settings are found.  There is absolutely no way our students can remain 100% percent focused on class work.  We adults never could maintain such an action but if we were to trade places with these students with the hand-held technology, I think we would have taken over the world!

  Our schools collectively need to devise a plan to completely utilize the various hand held devices as positive tools for learning.  Flip charts and simple wall projection are not enough anymore.  Instead of having students over-running the library and resource centre all the time, the actual classroom can house all the information extracted.  Our teachers need retraining in this new virtual classroom.  Not only the classroom facilitator will be able to extract relevant content for the moment but continually use them and other evolving devices within the various subject areas that will add to developing innovations by teachers to help with the facilitation of learning.

Our schools administration need to be in the malls, shops and even the transportation centres and see how students devote great attention to their devices.  Making the monumental shift  in the classroom from analogue thinking to digital teaching will add a dimension of learning that is needed in our classrooms.  Our students today possess a learning style different from our own; therefore we should meet their demands in how they want to learn, thus holding their interests in the classroom.