The Priest said that they would never make you principal. I did not know that principalship was privatized to be handed out at the whims and fancy of an individual. I did not want to accept his word as Gospel. I chose not to believe him.
I still thought that there was some semblance of decency in the authorities. Some may describe them as unscrupulous, vindictive, discriminative, jealous, lacking morals.
I knew that teachers should be on the cutting edge of knowledge, must read widely, be familiar with research impacting teaching and learning and effect change to benefit the students. However, it is challenging to work in an atmosphere of ignorance. The Education Revolution meant that our teaching must be more inclusive.
Therefore, I embraced Cooperative Learning because of its focus on ensuring that everyone learns. This was borne out one year with the achievement of 22 grade twos and 1 grade three when I taught Integrated Science using Cooperative Learning classroom instructions.
2016 was a noteworthy year when I managed Union Island Secondary School, when 16 students, more than 50 % passed Math. This feat has not been repeated neither before than after.
I detested segregation in learning: selecting students for failure and students for success.
My philosophy has always been opportunity for all: Teach students to live and how to make a living. My experience has been that while we cannot accurately predict success among students we can diligently work towards each student’s success. It is a truism that the best way to learn is to teach and Cooperative Learning provides the framework for this to occur. Students are well able to help each other achieve their learning goals.
They are sometimes able to enforce compliance with greater success than teachers. The Covid 19 Pandemic and Dengue outbreak created an opportunity for us to organize smaller, more effective classes but we may have missed the mark by not making the adjustment.
Students should be organized to keep their environment neat and clean. This will go a long way in preventing the spread of Dengue. This practice at school will be adopted in all the homes and the impact will be greatly multiplied. Students are also best positioned to sanitize their compound because they will study the theory behind it and replicate it at home also. No janitor will be put out of work because tasks to be done in a school are endless.
Some of us like to put the very subjects students need to do out of their reach. This is why I recommend Tertiary scholarships should be determined by the needs of the country, advertised and the best. Each secondary school should note its success over the years and strive to maintain academic standards
As I retire at the end of this month I must express my thanks to the following 5 principals in a row that Ihave worked with: Oswald Nanton, Kenneth Williams, Dr. Godwin James, Vernette Ollivierre, and Darrel