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My brother is a teacher right here in Jamaica. I want to tell you guys a little about him in the hopes that it inspires some thought about where the priorities of educators should probably lie in schools.
A thread:
A thread:
He& #39;s a paradox. Simple AND complicated. He& #39;s not big on homework. He doesn& #39;t care much if you& #39;re eating in the class or if your pants are tight. He turns every lesson into either a party or a history, bio, personal development discussion, or just a good ole reasoning.
Does it mean that the students in his class don& #39;t do work? Of course not. They are tested regularly on what is thought. However, these aren& #39;t the tests where you sit cooped up at your desk for an hour scrubbing answers furiously.
He makes songs for the students sometimes. As in, he goes home into his makeshift studio and creates a beat, pens the lyrics, voices them and creates a mix. That& #39;s because some students learn best this way.
Others learn by seeing and doing. He demonstrates a lot in his classes. In his physics classes, each step is broken down and he allows the children to go at their own pace to catch on.
In his chemistry classes, he goes into "mad scientist" mode, not being afraid to field questions from curious students and to experiment in whichever way they are interested in doing (with proper guidance, of course).
I know how he teaches because I have been taught by him before, in both subjects. I know that it works because except for one school in particular, he has only ever taught at schools that were deemed to be "underperforming" and they get results.
These are schools where the majority leave with less than 4 or 5 subjects. These are schools where a large portion of the students cannot afford to take 4 subjects, where children are told that they should just do English and Social Studies because they won& #39;t pass anything else.
These are schools that have a hard time even finding STEM teachers. Schools that have a little makeshift lab with two likkle petri dish and a beaker.
My brother has gotten passes despite these conditions in schools where science passes were almost unheard of.
My brother has gotten passes despite these conditions in schools where science passes were almost unheard of.
And he& #39;s not a big, bad, strict disciplinarian. In some respects, he treats them like little siblings. He& #39;s activated their interest in learning, to the point where he joined their SCQ programme and took it over.
This is a school that had probably never seen the 2nd round of SCQ. But last year, they lost to a very highly ranked team by less than 10 points. However, it wasn& #39;t a loss. It was hope that people can start looking at "non-traditional" schools and stop seeing them as misfits.
It was hope that people can now look at this school where they finally started a sixth form about 5 (maybe less) years ago, and their very first cohort received almost 100% passes in CAPE Physics under his care.
This is a school that is ranked in the 70s, with just under 20% of its students passing 5 subjects, including Math and English.
He& #39;s also translated these passes in evening school settings with even more astounding passes. He gave hope to people who left school even more than...
He& #39;s also translated these passes in evening school settings with even more astounding passes. He gave hope to people who left school even more than...
...15 years ago, who were afraid of doing those subjects, but had finally mustered up the courage because they thought time wasn& #39;t on their side.
So, you don& #39;t need to have kids in a rigid atmosphere where they& #39;re afraid to have fun for them to learn.
So, you don& #39;t need to have kids in a rigid atmosphere where they& #39;re afraid to have fun for them to learn.
Why should learning be boring? Why can& #39;t we accept the children before us for what they are and adjust to them? Why do we easily give up on the children who we think aren& #39;t learning after packing them up with homework and placing emphasis on dressing up like puss backfoot?