The Eminent Closure of Primary Schools in Jamaica

There are quite a few schools in Jamaica that have a population of under one hundred students.  These schools are found in various areas throughout the island; the journey to some of the locations is nothing short of an adventure ride, where the road network and mode of transportation may be described as interesting!  The ministry of education has said that it is very costly for them to finance such schools and therefore it would be best to them closed.   After much query, the reasons for the dwindling population varies as follows:

1. leadership style of the school's administration

2.  inadequate toilet facilities

3. poor classroom fixtures

4.  lack of confidence in a teaching staff.

5.  the want of parents for children to attend a name-brand school, and etc.

One must understand that all schools have equally trained teachers, leaders and curriculum programme.  What is very different is the perception of parents and students of a school.  Perception of a place of learning can either make or break a school and it just takes a simple bad bout of publicity and the exodus begins.



Now, how the ministry of education is dealing with small schools get mixed reaction from various stake holders.  It is said the closing of schools will create savings on the ministry's budget.  At first, the aging principals were replaced with what was viewed with energetic innovative leaders who in some instances, helped to improve the academic performances and image of the school which in turn encourage parents to send their children to the improving schools.  However, there are some schools, no matter how one repackage, re-brand or replace leaders, they just seem that the parents refuse to send their children to their district schools.  This has left the ministry with the tough decision to close the under performing schools that cannot show credible improvement of one form or another.

Closure of schools come with costs:
1. relocation of teachers and Principal.
2. student placement done by the education ministry.
3. transportation of students to new location
4. parents finding additional for food (lunch), etc.

Then there is the repercussion to the community:

1. ancillary workers out of a job.
2. school boarder vendors out of an income from the sale of their goods.
3.  small transport operators loosing seat fares.
4. slow death of a community (community members relocating to ensure better access to education).

And there are still more!  It is hoped that when the closure comes, that the savings calculated from this action will in fact save the ministry some money.  Here is the question I have at this point,

seeing that the teachers will be relocated, what will become of the principals of these schools? Will they be without jobs?  Will the students be given fares to attend the far distant over crowded popular schools? Most of all, what will become of the building space?  How will this be protected from vandalism and thefts?

There are more questions than answers with this eminent closure of at least 20 of our primary/all age schools.  From this closure,it is hope that the savings that were calculated will be realized and that both students and teachers in the end will both reap the benefits.

The recorder, an excellent musical instrument!

Good teachers of music over the years, have come to realize how great the simple wind instrument the recorder can be.  As most true recorder players know, the recorder belongs to a consort of various sized recorder family, which had a medieval history involved.  The most popular one from the consort is the soprano recorder.

Playing of this simple instrument has its benefits:

1.      Development of finger muscles

2.      Increase the use of eye-hand coordination

3.      Developing skills of sound discrimination

4.      Sight reading skills become improved

5.      Sequencing and logic are developed

6.      Increase concentration

Additional benefits are:

i.                    Identifying pitch

ii.                  Analyzing sounds

iii.                Creating and composing melody

iv.                Arrangement skills are developed

v.                  Improved confidence in performances

One of the main things about the recorder is that for students who are very musically inclined, they are able to transition to other instruments such as piano, flute, saxophone, steel pans and other wind instruments.  There are those however, who have gone on to do voice whether it be choral, solo or with an ensemble of one sort or another.  Another main benefit is the positive academic consistency.

Research has shown from Japan that children who were exposed to music early in one form or another develop  self-confidence or develop a stronger sense of self  thus transferring  positively into academic performance.  As for me, I have seen similar results with my students over the years where good academic performance achieved by those who seriously engage in the learning of music. 

Therefore, parents are encouraged to make the sacrifice in getting their child involved in music.  Research cannot be wrong about the benefits and results good music has on children.  The recorder was the starter instrument of a very famous musician from the Third World Band.  He has transitioned to his now chosen instrument, which is the guitar although had become a cello player.

As stated earlier, the recorder is a good starter instrument in music. The benefits are clear.  Most of all, it is very affordable too!  Let us encourage all primary students to use it and let us hope that the powers that be put better infrastructure to improve the current primary education music programme.

Let the recorder play! 

The relationship between teaching and learning style

Many teachers forget that students learn differently.  At times students get frustrated because of this neglect and suffer while learning various subjects.  Here is a reminder of the way students learn by looking at the diagram below.

As one can see, students choose at least one style of learning that will allow them to form concepts from content given.  The learning style of students for one subject may not be the same for the learning of another subject.  The same would be for the teaching style of the teacher who adjust his teaching style based on the subject that is needed to be taught.

It is important that teachers should try to use a model to assist them in understanding how to teach students with diverse learning styles.  Marzano, R., et.-al, (1997) spoke of the Dimensions of Learning that our teachers should be acquainted with.  The diagram below suggests that our students start with the perception of learning; attitudes and perceptions, and end with habits of mind.  Combining Marzano, the various teaching and learning styles, good teaching and learning environment can be established.

Many of our teachers need to remember that they were once students and should recall the fun and challenges they had in learning from their teachers.   Therefore, with that in mind, I am asking our teachers to be mindful of the students they teach.  Not all students can adopt the exact style their teachers had learnt and thus teachers should remember that each student has his own unique way of learning.

A simple style of writing an essay

Essay writing has always be an activity that is constantly viewed as a burden by many high school and college students.  Sometimes, the best of students suffer with poor grades due to poor technique in putting their words together.  I had learnt a simple technique that I believe can help persons in writing good essays using a basic principle.

 

 An essay is usually in three sections.   The first section is called the Introduction. This consists of introductory sentences that have several important points. Here is an example of  points about a  car; The has one steering wheel, four tires and two headlamps (these points will be used later).  The second section is called the Body. This section is used to give additional information on each point.  By using the points in the introduction, each point becomes a paragraph within the body.  It means that the point on the steering wheel can become a paragraph; the point on the tires can also be another paragraph, which means that the final point will be on the headlamps.  In other words, the body can have several paragraphs. The more information you have for each point, the longer the paragraph.

The final section called the Conclusion summarizes the essay. This forms a nice ending to your work, making it complete (summary about the car would be nice here). It is useful for one to have a good grasp of the language before writing any paper.  Also, it is good to have knowledge of the topics that you write about!  When the essay is complete, please read over the work to ensure transitions, good content development/presentation of information and good use of vocabulary. It is good to use language to match the audience you are targeting thus keeping them interested while they read. 

Happy writing!

Smart Phones in Schools

The twenty first century has come with a whirl wind of improved technology which has made its way in the classroom.  The cellphone now has become an interesting teaching tool more than the actual instructor.  Already it is hard for the traditional teacher to hold students' attention.  Now, with the electronic rival, the traditional teacher's position has become less prominent though still important.

What is clear to me is that the educational administrators in some countries need to find ways to incorporate the use of smartphones in class.  This is where the water gets murky,  Many of the students who are great consumers of the cell phones have found creative ways in using them that is not truly educational.

Many of the students do:
1. snap shots of students doing not so good things and post them.
2. pornography shoots.
3. graffiti shots.
4. cyber bullying
5. texting or making calls in class
6. Facebook posts that are unbecoming of a studious person.
and many more!




But the positives of the smartphone out weighs the bad and if a good teacher is honest, when the device is incorporated in the lesson, the combination makes good learning environment that can be exciting to both teacher and the learner.

It is important that teachers do their best to be current.  Where I am, many of  the older teachers shy away from the use of the smart phones and label students as being distracted by the gadgets.  I guess when one is accustomed to having "chalk and talk" and not updating their  teaching styles, they will become intimidated by anything that removes them from the sole  instructor.  The thought of sharing  instructional role in the classroom seem to reduce them to a lesser role is too much and as a result, they resist changes. This gives room to the younger "hip" teachers to take charge of the classroom integrating the smarter cellular phones along with the face-to-face interaction.

Even though the phones are smarter, no none cannot take away the direct effect a good teacher has on an interested student.  More teachers need to update their teaching skills and make use of the technology available.  There is a need to understand the technology trends and how much they impact on students learning.  It is important to do so or else teachers will find themselves obsolete!

Teaching, An Interesting Job!

Teaching is one of the most interesting jobs one is blessed with.  It is so awesome because the responsibility of teaching lies in the hands of the instructor.  What a task!  Teachers are responsible for:

1.  preparing the classroom to be a productive and safe learning environment.
2.  using the set goals and objectives that are achievable for the students.
3.  using and presenting content in a manner that is memorable for the students.
4.  creatively integrating the use to structures, strategies and techniques that can facilitate the sharing of content to student
5. ensuring that students enjoy their lessons so that the recollection of what was taught is accurate.
6.  giving students opportunities to share their knowledge and skills to their peers.

I know that there are persons out there who may not agree with some of my points, but these are some of the methods used that are found to be very effective.

The best part of teaching is to see the eyes of the students flicker with responses that indicate their level of comprehension of what was learnt.  That flicker for me is absolutely priceless!

 Make teaching fun, even with the most challenging set of students and you might learn to enjoy your job much more that before!

Happy Teaching!

Briefing on Setting the Right Classroom Environment!

As teachers prepare to return to the classrooms, students will return with the memories of Christmas immediate past! The reality of school is closing in like a runaway train and sometimes for some students, this elevates their stress levels.  Others are dying to return to get back to reality and that is earning good grades to further get closer to the personal academic goals they have made for themselves.

Teachers should try their best to ensure that the environment of learning must be good, conducive, accommodating and most of all stimulating.  The students would like to feel a sense of purpose in their classrooms, therefore, our teachers should already made changes to give the students the feeling of belonging amongst their peers.  Below I have a list of suggestions that came through peer conversations of teachers who experience after Christmas Blues of their learners:

     1. change or improve the decor of the classroom (painting, curtains, false windows if there are  
          none).
     2. upgrade, change or buy new visual aids in the classroom.
     3. change the classroom seating bi-monthly creating an element of surprise.
     4. include new structures, strategies and techniques in teaching styles to facilitate more student
         participation during classes.
     5.  improve on assessment to make it more student friendly without dropping standards.
     6. play musical interludes (electronic device) of a classical nature at certain times of the day (after
         lunch or PE class).
     7.  bring in a resource persons on certain subject matter to help generate continued interest in a
          subject or content within a subject.
     8.  DRESS NICELY TO HOLD THE STUDENTS ATTENTION!  Students really do love when
          their teachers look nice!
     9. finally, at the end of a term give them an "apprentice" style activity that will always leave a
         mark on their minds and having them actually missing school when they are on holidays.


For more on this or clarification, please contact me on lysdave@yahoo.com or lysruds@gmail.com.  I will be more than happy to share my perspective on the matter.