Hi,
My name is Reah Rampersad and I am an educator at a secondary institution which is located in the rural district of Trinidad. This is the first institution that I was assigned to and it was indeed an inauguration into learning more about my environment and developing my pedagogical skills. More so, it enhanced my vision and passion into understanding my students better and propelled me into searching for ways that I can assist them more effectively.
During the course of my teaching experiences at the institution and based upon remarks from senior teachers at the school, I discovered that the social background of the students was one of the factors that contributed to students’ poor academic performance, that is, their inability to comprehend what they read and expand their knowledge in spelling and vocabulary. On many occasions, I am faced with students who are reluctant to participate in class activities or do any home work. Additionally, the words “reading” and “spelling” appear to be a sin for students.
Although I was born in the millennial age, and can attest to some of the things that captivate students’ attention in learning, I know that there is still a lot more that I need to learn in order to broaden my perspective as an educator in making learning more meaningful and fun to my students. Just as technology is growing rapidly as “the wink of an eye,” I know that it is my responsibility to adapt to the changes by integrating the appropriate medium of technology into the curriculum in order to alleviate the problem of illiteracy in Trinidad and Tobago.
Therefore, when I heard that the Master of Education degree in Reading was being offered for the first time, I knew that it was what I needed in order to better equip my students for a successful future. Thus far, the experience during this program has been viable.
Reah as an educator within the primary school system I understand fully some of the problems associated with reading and why you are having such difficulty at the secondary school. What I have discovered over the years is that students are not exposed to a variety of teaching methods when it comes to reading. The "easy" thing for teachers to do is to teach reading how they were taught to read.
ReplyDeleteReading is isolated from the rest of the subject areas and skills are not transferred or applied to help students understand content. The use of expository text is not introduced early enough so that students struggle with reading materials in Science and Social Studies.Students are not monitored properly so a teacher cannot ascertain directly where the students are having the problem in reading is it phonics, vocabulary or comprehension most of the times they cannot isolate the problem and remedy it. Teachers must be trained on a continuous basis and all training must be followed up to insure that teachers implement what is taught to them. There must be accountability within the primary school system when it comes to student performance in reading. I hope that something is done so that secondary school teachers can get on with teaching the different content areas without so much difficulty.
Because you were born in the millenial age Reah you have an advantage. You can be an inspiration to your students (not that we cannot be). I recognise that you are one of the younger of our colleagues. You can use this to connect with your students and motivate them to perform and achieve. I suspect that because your students come from a rural area they might have SES problems that may militate against their learning.However, win their love and respect and there would be the ones who will be motivated to learn. Continue to practise what you are learning and the road ahead will appear brighter for your students and also for you.
ReplyDelete