Pre-School Math Lesson (Good Teaching)

(This video was sourced from YouTube. Credits to the editor, teacher etc is already included in the video itself).

In my opinion, this video is by far an awesome example of exceptional teaching. Why? Well I'm glad you asked. The following is a list of reasons;

1. The teacher began by getting the children's attention. (Asking them to make a semi-circle). This is an important key to teaching any lesson. Beginning a lesson without having your students attention makes absolutely no sense. 
2. The teacher exerted a clear understanding of the cognitive development stage and attention span of the age group she was teaching. This was shown in the techniques she used to get the lesson across. 
3. The strategies used appealed to the three types of learners. For example, "The Mr. Shark and Fishies song" appealed to auditory learners, colourful objects were provided for the visual learners and for the kinesthetic learners, they were provided with the "hands on" materials they needed for the lesson.
4. The manner in which the lesson was executed, it was clear that the teacher was very much prepared for the class. (It is imperative that educators have prerequisites of the lessons they would be teaching to their students).The two P's were clearly present, "Planning and Preparation".
5. The classroom environment catered for expression without ridicule. Students were fully engaged in  the lesson.
6. All students were included in the lesson and were encouraged to participate. 
7. No child was left behind, the teacher gave all students equal attention. At times when two students did not the correct amount of "fishes" she ensured that they were all at the same level before she moved on. 
8. The teacher met the children at their level. She spoke the language I call, "Children-ese" . She did not use sophisticated language, or "big words" as we Trini's like to say. 
9. Overall the teacher managed her classroom well, in that she maintained the student's attention throughout the entire lesson. She also managed the transition from, auditory and visuals to kinesthetic materials for every type of leaner. There were no signs of confusions.
10. The teacher maintained her sanity, teaching children at this age can be challenging if one is unprepared and unaware of the way children's minds work. 
11. The teacher did not raise her voice when students weren't all on the page. She gave instruction and direction without speaking to children condescendingly.
12. The teacher remained professional. 

I did not find any faults with this teacher's methods. From my understanding as a prospective teacher, this person shows a practical example of Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Professional Practice. I really enjoyed the video, the teacher's tone, the way in which she dealt with the students, her enthusiasm filtered down to her students. Children can tell whether you are interested in them by your body language and tone of voice. Clearly they enjoyed this lesson, as well I, because after looking at the video i found myself singing along . Kudos to this teacher!! She's awesome and I am too :) 

My Personal Beliefs About Teaching and Learning

      Jean Jacques Rousseau once said, "We are born weak, we have need of help; we are born destitute of everything, we stand in need of assistance; we are born stupid, we have need of understanding, all that we are not possessed of at our birth, and which we require when grown up, is bestowed upon us by education". There is no need to dispute this great philosopher's view as it is a statement which stimulates the mind, and poses questions such as; What is teaching ? What is education? or even What is learning? Surely one cannot exist without the other.

     Teaching, education or learning I believe they are almost one in the same. An educator is one who is ever learning, the one who is learning is also a teacher in his or her own right and education is just the process by which it is done. Teaching is simply the act by which one imparts knowledge, skills, instructions, morals, values and the like to another. The pedagogy of our world has been in existence even before man formulated a profession out of the art . That in itself tells how great the power of education is. Our forefathers taught us through traditions and rituals passed on from generation to generation, to think of the rich heritage we have and who we are is because of education, teaching and learning is simply amazing.

  I believe that everyone and anyone can learn and as human beings it is our right to be educated.  It is unfortunate that there are still parts of the world where education for all (both male and female) is taboo and frowned upon. True freedom lies in the pedagogy of those being oppressed in impoverish parts of the world. The people who are being robbed of their rights and remain in ignorance because of those who are threatened by the potential of those they oppress. I truly believe that there are great minds the world will never know of because of the selfish deeds of others. This is not a freedom speech and I'm trying my best not to become emotional or political in sharing my beliefs about teaching and learning here :) 

    The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education and that's the view of the late Martin Luther King, Jr. I believe that the world should be in unionism when dealing with the issue of education for all.

Bringing the matter back to the classroom.

•  It is my view that a teacher must understand the purpose of education. 

• Teaching and education is a tool in which we carve the future we desire our children and grandchildren to dwell in. 

• I believe that freedom lies in education, whether it be academic, skills, training, gifts, talents or abilities. 

• I believe that no child should be left behind.

• I believe in equity and equality in every classroom within our nations educational system.

• I believe that gender, race, ethnicity or social stratification must not play a deciding role in the way a child ought to be educated.  (as humans we are all equal and are entitled to the same benefits).

• I believe that more should be done for the education of the differently able, whether they be blind, hearing-impaired or totally deaf, autistic and dyslexic etc.

• I believe learning must be fun and interactive. 

• I believe it is the teacher's job to ensure students are excited about topics and eager to be back in their classrooms.

• I believe to be a teacher is a calling and a gift and it ought not to simply to sought as a job, but in fact a career. (My opinion of a job is something  you do because you need the money, a career is doing what you love and receiving a salary). 

I can go on , but I'd like to keep this short, simple and sweet. :) YUP, those are my beliefs about teaching, learning and education. 

Qualities of a DEDICATED Educator

        Ni Hao and that is to say "hello" in Chinese :) and so the learning experience begins. You're probably wondering why the word "dedicated" in my blog's title is typed in capitals. Well in my opinion a teacher isn't a teacher until he or she is dedicated. Dedication is a quality that I truly believe a teacher as a professional MUST possess...... and I stress on MUST POSSESS!

Before we begin, it is imperative that we understand what is education, who is an educator and what does it mean to be dedicated. Well education is in the eyes of the beholder lol. (This is just a subjective view by the way). Education is the transferal of skills, morals, values, methods and the like, basically anything could be taught. To say that education strictly takes place in a classroom would be incorrect. Learning takes places in every-day life situations. An educator is one who provides or imparts skills, knowledge and information to others. To be dedicated is to be devoted to a task or purpose, having single-minded loyalty or integrity.

With that out the way, any person (the educator) who is responsible for imparting skills, knowledge and information (education) to others must be devoted to the purpose with singleness of mind and loyalty (dedicated). In my opinion, if an educator at any level is not dedicated they should not be a teacher. I believe a dedicated teacher is not only devoted but firm in managing his or her classroom. When I use the term "firm" I refer to being strict enough to maintain a high discipline level, while being flexible enough to allow students to express themselves confidently. An educator must not only be dedicated and firm but patient, unbiased, innovative, inspiring, organized, respectful, accountable, emphatic, determined, evolving, resourceful, resilient and the list can go on. I trust that we have all encountered a teacher with at least some of the listed qualities, if not, I pray that the generations after us will.

I have not had one teacher in particular with all these qualities but I have had a few dedicated teachers thus far. One teacher of mine, who have not only influenced me but also shaped my understanding of teaching and learning was Mr. C.Joseph. Because of him I'm no longer ashamed to admit that I failed CXC General Mathematics five times (over a period of 6 years) before I actually passed on the sixth and seventh attempt. (Yes, I know what you're thinking, lol. It's true though. My sixth attempt was back in January 2014. I was able to pull through with a grade III, and in May 2014, I improved to a grade II).  It was not until my encounter with Mr. C.J  that I truly saw qualities of a dedicated teacher. C.J. at age 68 a retired oilfield worker has a natural passion for Mathematics, people and teaching. I mean the man could TEACH!!! (Maybe even better than trained professionals) lol. With just nine months in his class, (he taught at his home) and two attempts at writing math, I understood not just matrices and simultaneous equations but what is a dedicated teacher. For your information if I had failed math again I would have had to put off pursuing my BSc in Education yet another year :( (yeahhh wasn't looking forward to that). Anyways C.J. is innovative in that he always found various ways to explain one topic. He is patient, never complained about slow learners. He is ever evolving, he never allowed time to pass him by. C.J was organized and that's just the tip of the iceberg. He would even give us extra classes with no added cost on a Sunday, if we needed the individual attention. C.J. was quite a motivational speaker as well. When you felt like a failure his words of encouragement would set you back on track. Trust me, I can go on but my intention is not to bore you. (Moving on). Never have I met a person who wasn't a trained teacher articulate the job so well, with the exception of my grandmother of-course :p. Any who, I noted all of this just to say that after critical thoughts about C.J's teaching methods, I saw education and learning in a whole new way. I realized that "teaching" is not what the dedicated teacher "does" but instead who he or she "is". Through him I have learned the "how to's of teaching" because of the qualities he possesses. I will most definitely adapt his methods when I am granted the opportunity to teach, because he has truly helped. I'm confident enough to declare that I AM , indeed a DEDICATED EDUCATOR. And finally, anyone can be taught because learning is a process that should know no end.

Letters from the Classroom

  Greetings earthlings . If you're reading this then you have a reason to be grateful, not just for life, but sight and the internet lol, (ok my jokes aren't funny) . Sooo with the ice broken, I'd get straight into it.  We've all had bad experiences with teachers, lecturers, educators, in and out of the classroom right?!?! Well I too! I have had my share of those, but thank God for the power of forgiveness because I would have still been "toting feelings" to this day.
I have had one in particular that is still stained in my memory. Oh it was horrid! I attended Primary School in the era of corporal punishment, or as we say in our vernacular "licks" , but my experience boarder-lined abuse lol. I can laugh about it now because I chose to let it go. As I recall, I was in first standard. Our class teacher, Mrs. Ramdass (alias) had asked each student to come to her desk in an orderly fashion to be helped individually with Mathematics. For as long as I've known myself, I've been horrible with numbers (I'm better now). Anyways, on that particular day I had a migraine, and for those of you who can identify with migraines you know oh so well that they aren't too amiable. Pupil after pupil went to Mrs. Ramdass, as I awaited my turn to be called to her desk. Now, picture this. You're in front of a class of 20-25 other pupils, overtaken by fear of the unknown, you can literally sense the teacher's frustration and anger. In addition to that you are being asked to process arithmetic accompanied by the joys of a migraine... HELLOOOO mission impossible!!!!  Now there I was as blanked out as can be. I remember her explaining the math problem to me and I said to her with the frustration of being in pain, "Miss I don't understand, could you explain it again?" Well excuse me for asking her to do her job!!! She then closed the text book in such rage, and with the said text book struck me in my head and shouted, "Ah lil sum like dat yuh cyah understand, how yuh dottish sooo?, just go back and sit down!!''. Yes, True Story!! That day the loosely used local term "pick up ah book!!" had a new meaning to me lol. That's Abuse ent !! :p (Yes, I  have forgiven, didn't say I've forgotten.)

Reflecting on this experience has changed the way I felt about educators for quite some time, as I saw no positive outcome from this situation. Now, as a prospective teacher myself, I reflect on the experience and I am actually thankful because now I know what NOT to do in my classroom which is indeed a positive thing . Yes, it's important to note that we are all human beings and we do have our off days, but as "PROFESSIONALS" we must learn to work under the most unfavourable conditions while being totally student-centered. 

One's mindset as a teacher is an integral part of the teacher-student experience. One must understand that what he or she does can both positively and negatively impact the child's learning experience throughout life. For me, if I become frustrated in a situation, I'd give the class a break,  especially knowing that I may need it more than the students lol :). Secondly during the break, clear my thoughts and remind myself of my objectives as an educator. It's also important to note that each child learns differently and that there isn't a fixed method of teaching for every pupil. For example, one child may need visuals, another objects, others need to be motivated. The core to educating is first as Socrates stated is to "Know Thyself" then understand pupils and the methods they easily comprehend. When this is done it makes the teaching experience all the more easier for both the educator and the one being educated .