Where did the year go?

I look at this blog of mine and wonder how a month passed by without my even noticing. And then I look at the year , 2010 almost gone. What did we achieve?

Our children are all in a holiday mood. They are talking a little louder, walking a little faster and an air of expectancy mixed with the smells of floor polish fills the corridors.

As teachers, we must review the year and critically examine any mistakes we have made. The object of review is to make sure that in the 2011 academic year, we offer our students the very best of ourselves from day one.

That many teachers neglect their homes and families during the year and put the school first, I acknowledge. That members of the public jealously espouse opinions on how long our December holidays are,I know. Do we need an annual break? Definitely!

In defense of our profession and our much envied holidays, I always tell family members that the December break is spent on preparation for the next school year. Unfortunately this is not true for all members of our much-maligned profession.

While teachers start to wind down and begin to hand in final mark-sheets; I would urge them to look very carefully at the results their students have attained. I would further like to suggest that if a child has not fared very well or even failed in your particular learning area or subject; that you are responsible and accountable for his failure. So what could you have done differently? Did you try to reach the quiet children who clearly experienced language barriers this year? Or did you follow the policy of "As long is the child is quiet and not disturbing my class, I will just leave him undisturbed and unchallenged" ?

Did you notice the little girl, ever studious, always writing down notes while you spoke, never venturing to answer a question this year? Did you leave her unacknowledged? Did you smile at her often enough? Did you make eye contact with her while you were teaching? Did you find out why she was so fearful of failure? Did you notice her final mark this year? How did she do? Are you willing to take responsibility for her under-average results?

Think carefully too about the labels you have used this year. Did you use words like "useless", or even "stupid"? Do you think those words spoken in haste may stay with that student for the rest of his life; or do you think, that as a teacher, you really have no influence on a child's self esteem?

Think back to your own schooldays. Which teachers made a real difference in your life? Have you tried to be like them, to emulate their example in order to change young lives? Or have you been too busy, too hung up on finishing the curriculum to even notice the children who needed a solid role model?

Now , as you spring-clean your home and set off for the family holiday, will you spare a thought for the children you will teach next year? Do you think they have a bed to sleep in, enough clothes apart from their uniform to wear? Do they have a mother, or a father? What will they be doing while you cut the Christmas ham?

Maybe you cannot feed and clothe them all, these children that you teach. So what is that you can do next year to really make a difference? Love them and teach them well. Prepare properly so that from day one, all the preparation admin is behind you and you can focus on what happens in the classroom - your point of contact and access. Keep your notes and activities graded - cater for the slower children and decide to keep the faster ones busy - prepare extension activities, reading cards and materials designed to extend their interests and skills.

Resolve to make learning fun in 2011; and spend an hour or two a day of your long holiday focused on what and how and who you will teach next year. Collect unused books from friends and family, start collecting extra resources that you know could attract the interest of your classes. Cut out the ads that smack of materialism and think of ways to protect and dissuade your learners from being sucked into their message. Read a few teen magazines and try to imagine the pressures placed upon the children in your care.

Teachers, during the long break ahead, spare a thought for the children you will teach next year.

How to become a GREAT teacher

Many still believe the old adage that "Great teachers are born, not made" to be true. To an extent this philosophy makes sense; generally the world's best teachers belong to two broad categories: those that knew from an early age that all they wanted to do when they grew up was to teach; and those who stumbled upon their teaching talents and passion by accident and later in their career paths.

However you came to join the ranks of this noble profession; you too can be a great teacher overnight. These teachers share a few common characteristics which separate them from the average and competent teachers of the world. Great teachers inspire a passion for learning, for achieving, for taking the world to pieces and viewing the findings with ever-increasing curiosity; in their charges.

When a class moves on to the next grade, the true teacher's influence will go with the students. The students will continue to apply the skills they learned and will approach all new problems with confidence; because they have learned how to ask the right questions and where to find answers to their questions. These students will move from grade to grade equipped with study skills and methods that they can apply across all subjects in order to attain the highest marks and grades possible.

Great teachers start with great passion for their subject and profession. They are often idealists who have resilience and are able to face that the reality of teaching isn't what they expected it to be. Their positive attitude towards "life, the universe and everything" enables them to look for and find the good in even the most ill-disciplined child. A born teacher will view every setback as an opportunity and look for the lesson contained therein. These professionals seldom repeat their mistakes: they learn from these and adjust their approach accordingly.

The greats in the classroom are also empathetic people, sensitive to body language and other non-verbal communication forms. A great teacher instinctively knows when a hurting child needs a good hug or to be left alone for a while. These essential soft skills will be played out in the staff room too. No great staff member ever sat in a corner gossiping and criticizing school management teams. Great teachers embrace change and react positively to new ideas that have the potential to improve a system or the whole school. Only the whiners, the barely competent teachers will be heard to say, "That will never work in our school."

Great teachers are flexible and are unfazed by unexpected interruptions or changes to the daily school program. An unexpected evacuation drill or fire drill during a test won't cause an uproar. Setting a new test is not so difficult after all and the unexpected always brings ideal opportunities to introduce relevant topics. After the fire drill, the excellent teacher will abandon the test and move into a discussion of, for example, Internet and chat-room safety.

Great teachers connect with their students and find creative ways to get through to even the most unlikable class members. They patiently try new learning and teaching methods with slow and difficult children. They even look forward to grading students' work because they are excited to see if students have grasped the concepts and if there are any students who have shown an improvement in their grades. Students will testify to the fact that a superior teacher's comment on a test paper looks like an essay in comparison to a comment made by the mediocre teacher.

While average teachers tend to avoid contact with parents, the greats are so excited about the breakthroughs they make in students' lives that they often seek out parents to share their excitement. Average teachers tend to want to be the expert in the classroom at all times, they seek control of knowledge and processes and seldom admit to not knowing an answer. A truly great teacher on the other hand, is not threatened by her students and will model problem solving behaviors for them. If for example, a student asks her the meaning of a word, the teacher might say, "I actually do not know that answer. Let me get the dictionary and we can find out what it means."

You know you have become a great teacher when you go out on a family shopping spree, for example, and feel qualified to confront the smoking teenager whom you have never met about the perils of smoking and peer pressure; and he relates to you not as an interfering older person, but a truly concerned adult with his best interests at heart.

In summary, great teachers enjoy their work, look forward to school each day, start missing their students during vacation times and see a teaching and learning possibility in almost every situation in which they find themselves. Great teachers are resourceful, caring, flexible and positive people and they leave the world a better place when they die.

Take out the red pens...

The examinations are upon us. Many children are unprepared to sit these exams and pass. What has happened over the last few years that our children no longer have the skills to read, write properly or even comprehend the questions posed?

That the standards once applied have lowered is beyond dispute. That the children are weaker academically than ever before is evident. That many students see 30 percent as a pass for a subject is terrifying.That many students who have been in our schooling system for 12 years still struggle to attain 40 percent for English as a Home Language is heartbreaking.

The impact of the Outcomes Based Education System on our youth is now a great big Albatross around our teachers' necks. Changes in a system as unwieldy as the South African National Education Department, take years to impact. The 2011 academic year is almost upon us and once again we will face the new year with uncertainty. The curriculum will be tweaked, not transformed, in 2012. Billions of rands will be spent on new teaching and learning resources.

Once again I must state that, in the end, the education system, curriculum and students' results depend on the quality of the teaching that takes place in a particular school or system. Principals need to be one step ahead of the curriculum changes. We need to reintroduce the basics, refine the allocated times for numeracy and literacy on our timetables and make sure that the good old fashioned methods that worked are still applied.

It is quite simple really, teachers should cover the assessment tasks for moderation and CASS purposes and minimise the areas that have brought about the crisis we now face. Group work should be kept to a minimum over the next few years while we try to improve the performance of individual students in our classes. The consequences for failing to do homework should be immediate and act as a deterrent. Projects and assignments should be marked on content and presentation of facts and not dependent on what the assignment look like at a glance.

Over the last few years, many teachers have made the fatal mistake of giving marks at face value. Students have been so obsessed with handing in projects that are colorful and attractive that they have failed to apply the necessary research and reference skills which they should be learning when they are researching their assignment. Teachers have fallen into the trap too. We allow children to submit beautifully typed work and are blinded to the plagiarism contained therein. We accept printed graphics, charts and graphs as illustrations. A child who has cut and pasted a graph or diagram of the life cycle of a frog, for example, has learned nothing other than the cut and paste function.

If we are to save our youth from a bleak future of illiteracy and innumeracy, we need to act fast. 2011 could be the start of our embracing the basics, drilling the things that need to be learned by rote like the times tables, insisting that children use reference books and not just Google searches for their research.

It is time to cast off the fluff and irrelevant window dressing that the OBE system has created and start teaching again, like we did before the RNCS, the Curriculum 2005, the Revised curriculum, and every other variation attempted to mask the fact that OBE has failed in our country.

Is your child ready to go to school next year?

Stay at home Mothers the world over wish to prepare their children for school. School readiness is vital if a child is to face the Kindergarten years with confidence. Many parents will visit a toyshop, read the words on the box, spot the keyword “educational” and spend money (which could well be wasted) on the item.

Mothers afraid of the worst words ( almost) that they can hear , “Mom, I’m bored”, will instinctively turn to the easiest and most dangerous distraction, the television set. Mothers, you really could be more creative than this! With an internet-enabled desktop or laptop computer and a printer which uses cheap ink or toner, you can within minutes, download and print fun games, craft ideas and coloring pages – for FREE; from one of the many teacher websites, homeschooling sites or even parent and homework help sites.

Many stay at home mothers, because they do not hold a teaching qualification tend to relegate school work and even school readiness to teachers. Parents always have and always will be not only their child’s primary caregiver; but primary teacher too. Remember the theories and spine-chilling words, “Give me a child until he is 7, and I will show you the man”. Before your children enter the formal schooling years, they are learning from you. Are they learning what they should? Are you stimulating in your child a love of reading, a curiosity about the world in which they live?

Every parent should have a craft cupboard at their disposal for rainy days and even for when your child is sick and needs a few quiet activities that can be completed with a lap tray, a few resources and ingenuity; from his or her sick bed. Don’t rush off to the shops, unless you are going to purchase story books or activity books. Open you cupboard, get out the scissors, the glue, crayons and printed activity sheets which you can access for free of the Internet and spend some time with your child.

Children often value the presence of the parent more than the activity itself. A sick child deserves some of your time and a few hours of quality interaction. Together, you and your child could create a cut and paste collage on the themes you have chosen.

The school readiness skills are easy enough to cover and it can be great fun doing so. Coloring in pictures, cutting along a line and then around more difficult shapes are skills which can be practiced for an hour a day, or longer if the weather is bad and you are more or less trapped indoors. Sorting and classifying items into similar and different piles is an easy everyday activity that you can engage in while doing even the simplest of household chores. If you do recycle your garbage, as you should, you will probably have a bin full of glass bottles and jars.

Separate these items according to size or the product they once held. Count out loud, let your child count too. Fill each bottle of a series of five to seven bottles with varying amounts of water. You and your child can then place the bottles in rank from the one containing the least water to the one containing the most. Grab a metal household implement, a fork, a blunt knife or a spoon and start “playing” melodies by pinging on the bottles in sequence or randomly produce the sounds that emanate from each water-filled vessel.
The home computer has some use, but do not let it replace the television set as an electronic babysitter. Access one of the many free sites for teachers and pre-schoolers and let your child play interactive counting, alphabet and classifying games. Start by getting your children interested in the world around them from as soon as you possibly can. Spend time outdoors with your child, play with water and sand. Collect insects and leaves and feather and stones. Identify common garden birds, and keep slugs and snails and frogs and crickets in glass tank torture chambers for a few days before you release them.

Invest in a cheap science kit or home microscope. If you see a flea on the family dog, place it on a slide and magnify it so your child can see it properly. Talk about sucking mouthparts. If you can catch a mosquito do the same. If you find a dead butterfly show your child its incredibly built-in straw for drinking nectar. Generate curiosity in your child and get him ready for the many years of schooling which lie ahead.

The pre-school teacher will expect that your child has knowledge of self. Download big pictures of body parts and build a little person in his room. Label the parts in a neat print and play the “show me your nose” game every now and then. School ready children also possess knowledge of left and right. Easy – stand together, sing the songs: “you put your left leg in” and so on and your child will have fun learning.

What of placements? It is easy, find a few containers, dust off the old building blocks and start playing. Place the first block “inside” the box, the next “behind” the box and so on. Developing the fine-motor co-ordination required to master pen and pencil work, is no problem. Let your child manipulate small items like Lego pieces, use a household clothes peg to pick up small stones in the garden.

Need to work on the hand eye co-ordination for school readiness – easy peasy; play lots of ball games. Catch and throw and add a bat or two. Play marbles with your child and set up a good old-fashioned marble competition course with water-filled hazards here and there which should be avoided, or the marble is forfeited.

School readiness is important, but while you are thinking about ways to ensure your child will cope when he goes to school, enjoy the time you have at home with him. Quality time sprinkled with love and affirmation will produce a confident school-goer. Confident children face the world, including school, with no fear and openness to learning.

Does your clothing say: “I am a professional”?

The English saying, `before you have opened your mouth, you have already created a first impression’, is particularly important in the business sector and service industries the world over. How then does one create a positive impression before one addresses the client in a face-to-face context?
Clearly the manner in which you are dressed, and the way you present yourself (including your body language) speaks volumes to any customer or potential customer. A truly professional employee will always dress with inspiring the trust of the client in mind. A professional employee will always dress in a manner which befits the company’s image and vision.
Professional dress sense is really about common sense and societal stereotypes. A professional woman needs first and foremost to be well-groomed. Grooming is a simple matter of taking care of your skin, hair, make-up, and your hands and nails.
An employee who has clearly made no effort to keep herself well-groomed will not inspire the trust of the client. The basics of good grooming include clean, styled and naturally colored hair, carefully applied make-up (which is not garish) and neatly manicured nails ( which are not painted in outlandish colors).
As a professional, you should dress with efficiency and service, not seduction in mind. You should avoid clothing that is too revealing, too tight, or too short.
Professional dress is best achieved by sticking to the basics, such as the careful color co-ordination of your outfit and accessories. For footwear, avoid open or chunky shoes: a slim-fitting sensible work shoe with heels in which you can walk, and work, is advisable. Neutral colored pantyhose always add to the professional’s image.
Tailored skirts and trousers matched with a jacket, or even better, a skirt or pants’ suit always look professional.
Lastly, what you wear on your face is as important as your clothing – a genuine smile speaks volumes; it says: “ I am at your service, I am here to help and I love my job.” Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

How to Find Free Teaching Resources

Planning is upon us and we are all excited about our new classes for 2011. Proper preparation prevents teacher stress and burn out in the long run. Phase meetings and subject meetings need to include analysis of this year's results and failures so as to prevent these common mistakes and shortcomings next year.

A carefully constructed and graded approach to planning for an English department must for example outline exactly how teachers will build on and add new skills and content to the curriculum each year in each grade. Teachers often spend hours pouring over new textbook samples , seeking content. Teachers need to realize just how many free teaching resources are available "out there" and shown just how easy they are to access.

Teachers need no longer purchase expensive resources and materials to find content for their lessons or assessments. Teacher resource websites contain a wealth of information. These sites offer lesson resources, such as worksheets in every subject for every grade (K to 12). You will even find time saving resources such as ready made assessment rubrics and assessment tasks.

English teachers can access literature packs and resources for well-known authors whose books are often used as class readers. If your setwork book is changing next year, have no fear. Read the novel or play and sit down at your computer for a few hours. You will find author biographies and many activities, worksheets and lesson plans to assist you in making your lessons interactive, informative and fun.

One of the greatest challenges today's teachers face is the trend towards inclusivity, that is , the need to work with children of different abilities within one class. Often teachers have to draw up three to five different assessment tasks for each lesson to cater for students' different levels of understanding and capability.Now you can download already graded exercises and allow learners to work at their own pace and slowly work towards the required standard set by the teacher and the curriculum. Set your gifted children "free" to go ahead of the class. Make sure you have your extra resources box ready for the new year. Keep comprehension reading cards on hand for children who finish their classwork long before the others. Make sure you attach a reward to the completion of extra work.

Children, like adults long to be affirmed and praise goes a long way toward motivating students to work even harder.Download various comprehension passages and questions from a teaching site and make sure that the content is relevant and modern and encourages twenty first century children to read. You can also download word searches, puzzles, crosswords and fun games as additional resources for the classroom.

If you do have computers available for your students, allow the faster children to go ahead with an online test or quiz as a reward. These interactive tasks encourage students and motivate them to keep learning. A variety of activities during class time is essential to keep the children's interest and to increase student participation.

In our schools we often find disparity in the quality of work presented by teachers. School managers are tasked with counseling staff members whose work is poor or substandard. Sometimes it is a presentation issue where teachers hand in hand-written notes or assessment tasks.Clearly in a well-resourced school with access to computers, the Internet and printing facilities, this unprofessionally presented work represents bad planning on the part of the teacher.

Poor content is more of a problem to address, but school managers would be well-advised to spend time with the staff member and take them on a guided tour of the very best teacher resource sites available on the Internet. Once a teacher understands how easy it is to access high quality content, notes, worksheets and assessment tasks, he or she will be inspired to do more of the same. It is only a very small percentage of teachers who may find themselves being fired for incompetence. Sometimes a lazy teacher just needs a very firm push in the right direction from a school manager who is not willing to accept shoddy work.


Don't leave the counseling of weaker teachers until next year. Address the issues now and insist on seeing preparations for classroom activities and assessments each week so you see that teacher X is well on track with the presentation of professional end products for use in the classroom.

Planning for the new school year of 2011

As the final examinations for 2010 loom; school staff members need to spend time planning for an effective start to 2011.

School budgets have been passed and IQMS for the final quarter is on track. While we evaluate the work we have done in our classrooms and school this year; now would be a good time to focus on ways in which we can build on and improve in the weaker areas of tuition, time management and general school management.

Management teams should have received notice of any teacher who has decided to move on to another school or into the greener grass of retirement. The all-important process of interviewing staff for vacant positions must begin.

Here are my thoughts on Some Good Questions to Ask Teachers During an Interview



Interview etiquette requires that the interview begins with a few non-threatening questions designed to put the interviewee at ease. The information gleaned during the answers given to a "tell us more about yourself" question could however be more valuable if you change the question slightly.

One could rather ask the candidate to talk about her own school experience. Answers given will reveal whether the interviewee was herself a good student. Teachers need to be achievers if they are to inspire their students to achieve. If the answer includes a reference to a teacher from the past who inspired the interviewee and whet her interest in teaching, you have an idealist on your hands.

One need not fear the idealist who will enter the profession with the right aspirations - to inspire students and change lives. A word of caution, however, should you employ the idealist, she will need mentoring at times when faced with disinterested students who do not fit the "dream" or "vision". All new teachers face a reality check within the first few days or months of teaching, but if you provide the right shoulder for her to cry on, in the form of a more experienced teacher mentor, this hurdle can be overcome relatively easily.

Another gentle introductory question which may reveal important information about the candidate is the "Why did you choose teaching as a career?" question. Interviewers need to be very alert to the answers given to this question. If the interviewee responds with references to vacations and half-day employment, not only do you have a person who is headed for a rude awakening, but a possible shirker before you.

Again the idealist will reveal himself by his answers. You might even find a person who is passionate about their subject, who wishes to share this passion and knowledge with others. These candidates are generally a good bet, especially if they have a story of a bad teacher from their own past who destroyed what should have been an enjoyable subject for them;and they are determined that the children in their classes will not suffer the same fate. These candidates have thought about what teachers should not do, which is a good springboard to the very important question of what a good teacher should do.

If the candidate you are interviewing has already taught at another school, your questions must focus on how he experienced his previous teaching post and school. Interviewers need to know, for example, how the candidate worked with his previous boss. Answers here are a good indication of how he will work with and view his new boss. Be alert to very critical or judgmental answers to this question; you may be employing a negative whiner who creates an unhappy work environment for himself and those around him. If the candidate tells you that his boss was always picking on him, chances are you have a shoddy or disorganized person before you who you would soon be "picking on" if you employed him.

Answers to how an interviewee got along with his previous boss, or Principal, might also reveal the loyalist. Loyalists are what schools need to ensure that the focus of the school is always on school improvements and what is best for the institution.

The very best questions to ask during a teacher interview are those based on realistic scenarios. Paint vivid pictures of a classroom with one particularly disruptive child, for example. Listen carefully to the strategies the potential staff member will employ. You do not need staff members who are so obsessed with student behavior that they barely teach during the lesson.

You are looking for a teacher who will employ various strategies to capture and maintain the students' interest and cater for the different levels of ability and learning styles represented in a typical classroom. You are looking for the candidate who will spend time researching the reason for the disruptive student's ill-discipline. You are looking for solution-finders on your staff, not just problem identifiers.

Interviewers need to ensure that they have a subject specialist on the panel. If you are interviewing a prospective English teacher, for example, it is imperative that you assess the candidate's knowledge and skills. The head of English should pose questions pertaining to the curriculum and transfer of skills to the students. A question as straightforward as "How would you introduce poetry as a genre to an eighth grade class?" will reveal the candidate's knowledge as well as any passion for the subject he has.

Another critical area which needs probing is the method employed by the candidate regarding planning. Here one is looking to identify a creative, resourceful individual who works smart, but not necessarily too hard. In line with planning strategies, another vital area is assessment.

Questions posed need to be straightforward, such as "how and when do you assess your students' work?" Answers which point to a committed candidate will reveal an ongoing assessment strategy, clearly divided into shorter and longer assessments. Most teachers spend the first part of the vacation marking work which will count towards the next semester's marks. If this is the case, you have a forward thinking, good time manager with coping skills who is able to face the demands and pressures of the huge administrative loads attached to any teaching position before you.

Interviewers also need to ascertain the candidate's attitude towards the parents, the most important clients after the students. Ask the candidate how and when he makes contact with parents. Be on the lookout for a person who is always willing to praise solid achievements and improvements and not only highlight under -achievement or ill-discipline. Teachers who respect a child's parents and try to involve them as much as possible, are always good for an institution's PR and reputation. A candidate who sees parents as a necessary evil could cause problems in the long run.

All interview questions for teachers are posed in anticipation of answers. Before the interview process the panel needs to be very clear on what they are hoping the answers will reveal about the candidate. One is looking for a teacher who is a subject expert, who is in possession of the all-important soft skills which will enable her to develop collegial relationships, face change with courage and enthusiasm, and accept that after all, teaching is a helping profession. Interview questions should be so designed and structured as to sort out the professionals from the candidates looking for a low-pressure, half-day job. The loser will be the shirker; the winner the flexible, passionate person who was "born to be a teacher".


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Five tips to improve study habits and skills

If you find settling down to study a problem; if you spend more time planning to study than actually studying, then you probably need a few procrastination- avoiding tips. The five tips outlined in this article, will help you get to a point where you are able to settle into a study routine which becomes a habit that will stand you in good stead for the years of schooling and beyond.

Firstly, you must identify where you will study. A low traffic area in the home, with adequate lighting and a large enough surface upon which to spread out your books would be a good start. Keep this space as organized as you would any work space in an office, for example. Paper, stationery, staples and the like should be within easy reach. The idea is not to have to get up to look for items once you have settled at your workspace.

If you are an organized person, you could apply this trait to your study tools and area. Many people find that color coding works to keep resources identifiable at a glance. You would, for example, have all your History resources covered in orange, while your math books would be covered in green paper. This color coding could be carried over to your timetable, homework diary and study program planner.

If you are a disorganized person, use your new approach to studying to help you become more organized, at least in this area of your life. Practice using your homework diary as a daily to-do list. The keeping of a to-do list will be a valuable tool for the college and adult years in the workplace which lie ahead. Use your list to identify urgent or high priority tasks, for example, work that is due the following day. Assignments for which you have been given a longer time to complete, should be carried over to the following day for further attention. When you have completed a task, tick it off or cross it out, so you can see at a glance what you have left to do.

Secondly, you must learn to focus in the classroom or lecture hall. One learns through doing; and note-taking in classes when the teacher or lecturer is talking; enhances your concentration. Learners whose learning style is auditory (based on what they hear) will even find themselves able to recall exactly what the teacher said in class. The notes taken in class will be untidy and employ a shorthand which only you will understand. When you get home, you need to rewrite these notes neatly onto a study or revision sheet.

Rewriting the notes will enable you to review and revise what was covered in class and will be a help to you for future tests and examinations on this section of work. Auditory learners can talk out loud to themselves while writing out the notes. Visual learners are stimulated by shapes, color and so on and they would do well to organize the notes into mind maps, using color to identify and separate headings and sub-headings from content. If you have not used mind maps as a learning tool before, now would be a very good time to start.

A study technique similar to using a mind map would be to use the Cornell method. This technique entails your drawing a margin down the left-hand side of your sheet of paper. Key words and headings are placed on the left and content and explanations on the right hand side of the page.

Regardless of your major learning style, it is probably best to use visual, auditory and tactile (hands-on learning, for example, writing) in combination. When re - writing your notes or studying, talk to yourself, create visual cues and write as much and as often as possible.

Thirdly, to become a successful student, you must find a way to memorize and retain the work covered. The most common of the techniques employed is the SQ3R method. This stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. If you are settling down to learn a chapter for a geography test the following day; this is how you would use this method. First you would scan or skim read the chapter, or part thereof. Then you would formulate questions that need answering, then you would read the work more carefully, underlining key words and key concepts and write these down (on your mind map or Cornell page). You would then, out loud, go over the main points to memorize them.

You could at this point take a break, go for a brisk walk around the garden and then come back to review your work. The review stage requires that you recap what you have memorized and then test yourself. If you are using the Cornell sheet, you could cover the content on the right hand side of the page and make sure you can, for example, provide definitions or sub points under each key word which appears in the left hand side margin.

In the fourth study habit improvement strategy you need to draw up and stick to a study routine. Once you have learned how to study, you must now look at the when. As daunting as it may seem, most study skills experts agree that high school students and college students should spend an average of 40 hours a week on their studies, over and above classroom and lecture times. Again, you need to organize yourself. Look carefully at your weekly program and block out the time spent on extra mural activities such as sport. At a glance then you can see how many hours you have available to study each day.

When drawing up your study times, do not discount weekend days; it will not harm you to work on a Saturday or Sunday; these "free" days can afford great uninterrupted chunks of time during which you can study, especially during examination and high workload periods of the year.

In the fifth instance, you need to remember to take care of yourself and feed your brain to optimize your ability to study. Here the basics hold true. Eat well - include vegetables and fresh fruit in your diet. Sleep well; your brain will not retain anything if your are physically tired. Exercise is vital as it provides the brain with oxygen, thus maximizing your ability to study.

Study for fairly short periods of up to twenty minutes. Take a break, walk around the house or outdoors, do a few sit-ups or push-ups or any quick and easy aerobic exercise and then go back to your books, refreshed and ready to learn a little more. During exam times, you could use your easier subjects, for example, English poetry, and study a poem in between your allocated times for a heavier learning subject such as Physical Science, to use as a mental break.

In summary, a good student has a place and a time to study, is organized, has a method to employ to memorize the work; and determination to stick to a daily routine. As the Nike slogan so aptly says - "Just do it!"

Visit my blog at:

http://www.homeschooling-benefits-andtips.blogspot.com

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Home Schooling Resources for the "Critical" subjects: Mathematics and Science

Many a home school teacher fears that a lack of resources in the mathematics and science areas will leave their child "behind" those who attend mainstream schools.

Another fear is that the assessments used in the home classroom will not be of a high enough standard as the home school teacher does not have access to a whole group by which to measure her standards and to which she can compare her child's progress.To allay all fears, browse the Internet and you will find many resources to ensure you keep up with and exceed the assessment criteria as outlined by the Education department in your area or country.

Once your home school is registered and the relatively simple paperwork is completed; set up your classroom and start. Visit my website at http://resourcesforteachersandschools.webs.com/ for ideas on how to set up a classroom on a limited budget.

There are many excellent mathematics and science products available, all are graded and most are adaptable to suit anyone from a beginner to an older more expert student. It is important that a parent shows no fear of the "critical" subjects; this will communicate itself to your child and you may well help to create a mental block against these subjects. It is important to make learning fun. Hands on mathematics activities and games will go a long way to assist in your quest to help your child to love or at least approach math without fear. One such product can be found, called "Making Math More Fun - Math games package" . Simply click on the link in my blog post entitled "Overcoming an aversion to Maths" for more information about this wonderful product.

As far as the sciences and access to science experiment equipment is concerned, once again the home school teacher need not panic. Look no further than the wonderful e-book entitled "300 quick and easy science experiments". This book will save you the hassle of looking through hundreds of science sites to find information regarding experiments. Because this resource was compiled by an expert home school teacher, many of the items needed for the experiments can be easily accessed in your home. The experiments are simple and take 20 minutes or less to set up, conduct and clean up, making the lesson stress-free for the teacher.

Wow your child, create the sense of wonder every student needs to kindle an interest in the sciences. Simply click on the link below and start downloading this incredible resource.

Click Here!

Have fun teaching through this 300 experiments guide. Science is not a subject to be feared, but embraced. Share your new-found passion with your child and step into the magical,wonderful world of Science.

Now might be a good time to consider homeschooling

After weeks of lost teaching time due to the national teacher's strike; our colleagues have engaged in a sympathy strike with those who face disciplinary action for their conduct during the strike.

Once again, the message to our students is clear: discipline is not important, not even for those who break the law. That some SADTU and NEHAWU members behaved badly is beyond question. That they need to face the consequences of their actions goes without saying. That their colleagues and comrades embark on a sympathy strike to avoid this disciplinary action is frightening to say the least.

We all send our children to public schools in good faith. If we can afford it we send our children to private schools. When an entire country's public schooling system is in chaos; an often neglected option, but a sensible one is the homeschooling choice.

One needs only to browse the Internet for a few minutes to discover just how many resources there are for those who choose to set up a home classroom and a home school. If you can afford to be a stay at home parent, it makes sense to spend the valuable early years of your child's life teaching him or her yourself.

Free resources for homeschooling are readily available. Ideas are everywhere you look. If you are a teacher trained in only one or two specialist areas, you will be more than capable of following a guided curriculum in all the required learning areas. Even if you have no training as a teacher,there are so many online resources to assist you that you will be an expert in no time at all. Start learning with your child from the pre-Kindergarten stage and move along grade by grade with your child.

Another option is to home school your child for the primary school years and then identify a suitable high school for him or her to join a mainstream classroom. Research has shown that children who have been home schooled fare far better in college and tertiary institutions as they are able to pace themselves and engage in self-study.

In the long run, home schooling can in fact be a cheaper option in monetary terms. One saves on transport costs and uniform costs to name but two savings. Obviously you will need to spend money on stationery, equipment, course materials and the like, but you will have the benefit of remaining your child's primary teacher for the years he or she is schooled at home.

The choice to home school your child cannot be taken lightly and one should do the research carefully. Speak to others who have followed this route, join a support group and weigh up your options carefully.

Visit my website at http://resourcesforteachersandschools.webs.com/ for ideas on how to go about setting up a home school classroom and obtaining teaching resources.

Can we really continue to entrust our children to teachers who teach not for the love of teaching, but for the money ?

Overcoming an Aversion to Mathematics

Many a mathematics teacher has been accused of "putting a child off" mathematics for life. In our current curriculum, every child has to offer Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy to attain a National Senior Certificate (Grade 12).

Pass requirements for mathematics have been increased for the Intermediate Phase. It has become critically important then to make sure that our children are taught not to fear the big mathematics monster that has been created in many a child's mind.

Mathematics instruction and classwork need to be presented in a non-threatening and fun way. Children learn best through doing and so hands-on concrete exercises will assist teachers in conveying new concepts more easily.

Teachers of mathematics need to constantly go back to basics when they present a new topic or concept. An experienced teacher will take exercises from Grade 1 right up to the Grade he or she is teaching as an introductory lesson. Learners then are made to feel confident from the outset. A few simple exercises for revision purposes will ensure that no child is left behind. Reviewing the building blocks will also enable teachers to fill in the gaps created by poor teaching in previous years.

Teachers who are privileged enough to have access to computers in the classroom will find that moving from hand work to keyboard work keeps children interested in the mathematics classroom. There are many wonderful free programs and online activities one can use. A teacher with a data projector and whiteboard can also make use of Powerpoint and video tutorials to maintain the learners' interest.

Time spent reviewing the basic building blocks is never time wasted. Graded online activities will ensure that students can work at their own pace and attain success in a specific area before moving on. Mathematics teachers would be well advised to browse the Internet for Mathematics games, quizzes and fun challenges to download for class activities.

Making mathematics fun is the best way to ensure that learners learn and want to learn. Providing mathematics games which can be played by one, two or more players will have children focusing on winning and minimize the possibility that they will feel threatened or exposed if they provide the wrong answer.

I have found one such product in my Internet searches that I really believe will work for mathematics teachers. This resource "Making Math More Fun - Math Games Package" comes in the form of down-loadable e-books. Teachers can then make as many copies of the pencil and paper worksheets and games they may need, dependent on class size. The games are graded in terms of difficulty and cover the basics and building blocks of mathematics in a fun and simple way.


"Making Math More Fun Printable Math Games"
Gives you 4 books jam packed full of kids math games and fun math activities to make math exciting and easy to learn.

Math Board Games - Printable Math Board Games
Math Print and Play Games Sheets - Printable Games Sheets for 2 Players
Math Card Games - Printable Math Card Games
and Math Games Ideas - Math Games for School or Home

Make mathematics fun again. Simply click on the link below and you could be using these wonderful resources within a few minutes.

Click Here!

Study Methods Make all the Difference to a Student's Grades

The final examinations are just around the corner. Teachers the world over will be instructing their students to go home and "study". Some teachers will even use classroom and tuition time to get their administrative tasks up to date while they inform their students that they will be given the English lesson, for example, "to revise for the examinations."

Unfortunately, many students do not actually have the tools or techniques required to equip them to study. Many a teacher has been horrified to see little Johnny sitting staring at a textbook for twenty minutes or so. When asked what he is doing, he will very seriously reply, "I am studying, Ma'am."

Teachers need to make sure that along with the content of their subject which they teach; that they have given their students study method tools to enable the students to prepare for tests and examinations. When a student receives low marks for a test, he or she will be asked immediately, "Did you study for this test?" The child will generally feel aggrieved and reply in the affirmative. The question posed should not necessarily be "Did you study for this test? " but rather, "How did you study for this test?"

Believe it or not, study skills are are in most high schools a so-called scarce skill. Teachers the world over need to equip children with study skills and techniques that work. Study skills will obviously need to be slightly adapted to suit the particular learning style of the individual student. A well-constructed study methods course will make provision for individual learning preferences, and probably include a mixture of the various styles of memorizing and retaining knowledge.

There are many wonderful products out there which teachers can access to assist their students. One such product is a book which one can download in PDF file format called "Get The Best Grades With The Least Amount of Effort" written by Dr Marc Dussault. The title alone will entice the laziest of students to agree to follow the program presented.

This incredibly useful and effective book includes a five step program to organize study and homework tasks, six powerful recall methods, seven studying shortcuts and tested methods to improve test and examination performance. For more information, teachers and students can visit Dr Dussault's website and order a copy of this very helpful book. Simply click the link below to place your order:

Click Here!

Here's to improved final examination results next month; students need to "Study smarter, not study harder".

Budget Time - Save Energy and Money

The Department of Basic Education has again announced curriculum changes to be implemented in 2012 in South Africa's classrooms. Now is clearly not the time to invest money in Intermediate Phase textbooks which will soon become irrelevant and outdated.

School Principals should focus instead on class workbooks to tide the classes over until new textbooks are available. Teachers should be encouraged to make use of the many websites which offer free teaching resources and ideas to compile these workbooks.

As long as teachers acknowledge their sources properly and do not violate copyright laws, they can save time by downloading ready-made worksheets, assignments and rubrics for use in the classroom in 2011. Teachers need only Google "free teaching resources" to access pages and pages of content. A review site such as www.sitesforteachers.com provides an overview, ranked by users of the many sites available.

A thematic approach has never been easier. These sites offer free posters for your display boards in addition to classroom resources. You will even find recognition certificates and awards to reward your learners ( in line with the themes you are working on).

Teachers could be encouraged too to download and print free E Books to promote literacy and refine research skills. If one is lucky enough to have access to computers in the classroom, learners could be kept busy with online tests and quizzes. The beauty of such an exercise is that the learners have fun learning and the assessment is done for the educator. Talk about pain-free marking and saving time!

When the annual budget is presented to the parent body, the adjustments in expenditure need only be explained - a cut in textbook expenditure has been moved to the paper and reprographics budget line-item instead. Once the parents see the workbooks provided for their children the following academic year, they should agree that the expenditure in time and money has been worth it.

Principals should encourage their staff members to have fun creating workbooks. A staff competition with a decent reward will encourage teachers to ensure that the workbooks are professionally presented and a worthy replacement for an equivalent textbook.

Teach the "old dogs" on the staff new technological tricks and cut your teachers' preparation time in half. Teaching websites have been created by teachers for teachers. The quality of the lesson materials is excellent. No teacher would put a lesson idea or materials on a website for millions of viewers, if it were substandard in any way.

Many websites for teachers even offer chat forums, where one can connect with teachers from all over the world and share ideas, problems and solutions. Teachers who are new to the profession need mentoring. Instead of piling hundreds of textbooks in front of them; hand them the current textbook or workbook in use and direct them to an Internet-enabled desktop or laptop. They will soon realise that they need have no fears about how they will gather content for their lessons.

A visit to a teaching resources site will also enable new teachers to cut down on administrative duties in that work programs, lesson plans and so on are freely available on the Internet.

Principals should assist their teachers to save time and money on resources so their teachers can spend their time doing what they are paid to do - teaching children.

"What did you learn at school today, son?"

The words of a popular old song come to mind as I write this. It goes, "Teach your children well..." Well we seem to have been doing that in South Africa just recently.

As if the teachers' strike did not do enough damage, the class of 2010 is now imitating their teachers and taking to the streets. Their cause - their teachers let them down at a crucial stage of their matric year; just three weeks before the very important Preliminary examinations. Their "demand"- a "free" 25% towards their final CASS (Continuous Assessment mark).

We can blame the teachers for setting a poor example, we can blame the government for not paying teachers decent wages in the first place or we bemoan the fact that history does repeat itself as we watch the modern-day post apartheid students face the wrath of the security forces brought in to quell the students' not so peaceful protests; or we could look at the root cause of this 2010 "student uprising".

The root of the children's fear is that they will fail matric. That many learners will indeed fail matric goes without saying. What we need to ask ourselves, however is how three short weeks of lost tuition time spread across twelve long years of formal schooling, could have such a disastrous impact on our final examination results?

The answer is quite simple. With the final matric examination being the only reliable benchmark of learner performance we have in our country; many teachers from the lower grades (Grade R to 11) rest on their laurels and offer sub-standard instruction and tuition and get away with it.

South Africa's schools are in crisis. Our schooling system is an embarrassment to our new Government and our country as a whole. That intervention is needed is obvious; that it should have happened "yesterday" is not really acknowledged.

We need to start from the bottom up. We need to hold teachers responsible for their learners' results, from as early as Grade R. We need to give teachers the power to decide if a child is ready to proceed to the next grade with his or her "age cohort" of not.

We need real evaluation strategies to determine a teacher's effectiveness or ineffectiveness. We need to reward the professionals teachers who do their job well and dismiss those who do not.

Government needs to stop cow-tying to Unions and start addressing teachers directly, in the workplace. Teachers' Unions collect millions of rands in membership fees each month. With this amount of economic and political clout, surely a trade union representing an entire profession, could negotiate with the state to improve conditions of service for teachers without calling a chalk-down? If we all did our work properly and our final examination results improved would this not be a more effective bargaining tool than taking to the streets?

It is high time that the Department of Education enforced the IQMS system in the manner in which it was intended - as a reward for those whose performance is above average as far as teaching is concerned. In the Eastern Cape year after year, every teacher regardless of their results, is given a minimal 1.5% bonus which is supposedly a performance-based reward. That performance has not been properly monitored or evaluated is ignored.

What are we teaching our children ? That one can be rewarded without any effort and without any measurement of one's performance? No wonder our children do not see the irony in demanding marks for "free".

Changing South Africa's schools; one school at a time...

School managers, are by the very nature of their position, knowledge gatherers and disseminators of this knowledge. Managers need always to be on the lookout for materials to encourage their teachers to be the best possible teachers they can.

The approach when deciding on school improvements should be two-fold. Firstly, we can look at what does not work (what should be avoided at all costs) and, secondly, we can look at effective schooling systems the world over to analyse what works in practice and how and why it works.

In the McKinsey&Company report entitled, "How the World's best-performing school systems come out on top", the Introduction (page 13) sums it up for us. McKinsey states that the three most important factors which separate functional from dysfunctional systems are based on the fact that:
1) The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers;
2) The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction;
3) The only way for the system to reach the highest performance is to raise the standard of every student.

The three statements above should guide School Management(by providing a solution to school improvement, in three easy steps) to success. We need first to acknowledge that the quality of a school or system is not then based on how much money we spend per capita, nor is it based on class sizes. The quality of an individual school, or school system is determined by the teachers who work within the school or system.

So how do we attract quality teachers into our schools? How do we make teaching an attractive profession again? Government needs to look at allocating more of its spending on education to teachers' salaries to start. To make up for the severe shortage of teachers in South Africa, the government needs too to offer attractive bursaries to top matric candidates who would otherwise enter the private sector on the completion of their studies.

School Management teams need to be rigorous and alert in the selection process when they set out to hire new teachers. A successful teacher has usually been a successful learner; so results matter. Only literate, intelligent and driven people will succeed in the classroom.

In the selection process, apart from a sound academic history, soft skills are of paramount importance. Teachers must be excellent communicators, for that is the essence of their profession. Teachers must have "servant" hearts because the nature of their profession rests on their determination to affect young lives, for generations to come.

Today's teachers need to garner respect not through the threat of corporal punishment (which I believe should be re-introduced)but by their presence in the classroom; a presence which speaks volumes before the teacher has uttered a word. The presence of an excellent teacher in the classroom should say "I am here: to serve, to help you uncover the wonderful mysteries of the universe itself, to share, to guide, to draw alongside and to make sure that you are passionate, enthusiastic, achieving and wanting to learn more, by the time you have passed through my hands."

School Management teams, need therefore to ensure that the interview and selection processes are designed to uncover the soft skills an applicant has. The ability to work with others, versatility, flexibility and a willingness to accept and embrace change will ensure the success of a modern teacher.

If the interviewee appears to have a stock solution to every conceivable situation posed during the interview process, it would be best to move on to the next applicant. If your interviewee is more concerned about discipline than individual learner performance, you may well have a teacher who will spend all day focused on learner behaviour rather than learner achievement; move on.

Move on until you identify the candidate who acknowledges that teaching is most definitely not a half-day job, that teaching is an all-consuming passion, a lifelong commitment, a creative process which strives to attain not an end product, but offers just one small contribution at a time to the ever-changing, developing, growing young clients' lives entrusted to our hands - our learners.

The Government Gazette: NOTICE 752 OF 2010- DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION. No. 334343 Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025 was released for public comment recently.

Reading through this hefty 192 page document today, I got to thinking again how we as individual teachers could work towards and contribute daily to the improvement of the quality of our Education system. In this gazette, our Minister of Basic Education outlines the Department’s plan. She states:” The action plan has 27 goals. Goals 1 to 13 deal with outputs we want to achieve in relation to learning and enrollments. Goals 14 to 27 deal with the things we must do to achieve our 13 output goals.”

Goals 1 to 13 highlight all the problems which need to be addressed within our current system: the need to improve literacy and numeracy in Grades 3, 6, 8 and 9; the need to ensure that more matric learners attain a Bachelor’s degree pass; to retain learners in our schools at least until age 15; to help learners gain access to FET facilities and opportunities after Grade 9.

I found some of the points in the implementation strategy outlined in Goals 14 to 27, very interesting. Goal 18 is “to ensure that learners cover all the topics and skills areas that they should cover within their current school year.”

The Minister goes on to outline the problem. She says that many children move into the next grade without having completed the teaching program for the year. And so it continues year after year and bottlenecks at the exit points – Grade 9 and 12. She states: “The problem is partly caused by insufficient time being spent in the year on teaching and learning. Time is lost because teachers and learners arrive late, or leave early. Time is also lost during the school day when breaks are extended and teachers are not in class when they should be.”

How much more damage then has been done this year, where in addition to “normal” loss of teaching time caused by unprofessional teachers who are “not in class when they should be”, we have had time off (1 week) for the World Cup Soccer; and teachers have taken to the streets to participate in strike action for the last three weeks?

As with any profession, teachers too have a code of Professional ethics by which they must abide. In addition to this, we have all been asked to commit to the Code for Quality Education, the preamble to which reads: “The power to improve education lies within all of us. We call on all department officials, teachers, students, parents and community members to make a commitment to a `Code for Quality Education’. In line with this code teachers are to make the following pledge: “As a TEACHER, in line with the SACE Code of Professional Ethics, I promise to: teach, to advance the education and development of learners as individuals…”

As the teachers’ strike drags on with seemingly no end in sight, and teachers have forsaken their learners and use the loss of learning time as ammunition to get the government to acquiesce to their demands, it is abundantly clear: that many of South Africa’s teachers see the Code of Conduct for teachers as an irrelevant document, not binding on their consciences, with which they have chosen not to abide.

I plead with our Minister to look into declaring teachers as essential services staff so this debacle of the last few weeks will never again be repeated. I plead with our Minister of Education to enforce the Professional Code of Conduct and strike teachers off the roll (not only for serious criminal offences) but for failing to adhere to their professional oath: to TEACH.

While the strike drags on...

This morning the news was, once again, almost completely dominated by stories of the ever-burgeoning public service strike. Some unions are poised to accept government's wage offers, while others remain "bloody, bold and resolute" in their demands, to quote `The Bard'.

One news item piqued my interest and fanned my strike- ire flames: The Justice and Social Development departments have announced that more child, and youth-care centres are to be built.

While we spend government money on institutions to take care of young law-breakers; should we not be looking at how, as a society, we "birth" young criminals?

School buildings are and should be, a priority. The more functioning schools we have, the less we will need to cater for school drop-outs and scores of unemployed youths; who turn to crime to "pass the time" and "earn" an income.

Look at the statistics, and you will see how many children are "lost" to the education system between their enrollment at Grade 1 level and their final Grade 12 year. High-risk behaviours and premature deaths account for only some of these drop-out statistics.

What are we doing wrong to cause our youth to turn their backs on education and opportunities for self-growth and self-improvement? Quite a lot, it would seem.

In dysfunctional schools all over the country, teacher absenteeism rates have soared. Many schools simply do not open, or close very early on teachers' payday. Teachers are tasked with inspiring our youth to pursue knowledge and gain lifelong skills to equip them to face the adult world, the world beyond the classroom. Teachers are expected to broaden children's horizons, to get them excited about "the great big world out there". Can this happen if teachers are not in their classrooms?

If teachers are not in their classrooms, teaching, what motivation do children have to go to school, to learn? The government needs to re-open the good old-fashioned Teacher Training Colleges which worked. These institutions produced teachers of a high calibre who had a clear idea about their roles, functions, and subject matter.

Today, many teachers opt to study through distance learning programs and only start gaining practical experience when they are employed in their first teaching post. Teaching is a hands-on, experiential process and teachers need more than just subject knowledge and expertise to be effective in the classroom and the broader society.

A dwindling respect for teachers has resulted from the many unprofessional teachers on the ground who have, unfortunately, tainted the reputation of ALL of South Africa's teachers. Our truly professional teachers, need first to earn our pupils' respect, before effective teaching can really take place. In the "good old days", teachers were respected by virtue of the high-standing they held in society.

And so the problem grows and slowly starts to spiral out of control. Learners no longer see teachers as members of a "helping" profession so they do not turn to us when they should. A child in trouble, in a functional school, will often share a traumatic event or crisis with his or her teacher, before sharing the experience with a family member. In dysfunctional schools, to whom can learners turn?

As learners no longer respect their teachers, it is difficult for them to see teachers as authorities on their subject; or indeed authority figures at all. How can we expect learners to look up to teachers; when teachers are very often not worthy role models?

The government needs to build new schools. Statistics show that, in the Eastern Cape alone, at least 1000 new schools need to built, to start. If schools are full, and in short supply, we are creating and feeding the drop-out rate problems.

However, a school is not just a building; it is so much more. The quality of our teachers is the single most important determining factor in the success or failure of our individual schools, and the education system at large. Unions who fought to see the inspection system dissolved have created a monster - thousands of teachers simply go through the motions and teach for the money, and not for our children or our country's future.

Government needs to move quickly to ensure that our teachers are listed among essential services staff in our public service. Teachers need to realise that is unprofessional and immoral to stay away from the classroom in times of strike action. The very essence of our positions revolves around the children we teach. What happens to children when their teachers are on strike?

A teachers' strike is more complicated than just a "chalk-down". Teachers during times of strike action, literally turn their backs on their learners and use them as pawns. What do you think our children are doing now? Do you think they are studying; do you think they are safe; do you think they are off the streets and keeping themselves busy with gainful pursuits?

In our small town, the streets are full of children, the taverns are making huge profits during school hours, and the drug sellers are rubbing their hands in glee. If our teachers continue to fail our children, government will indeed need to invest money in the building of youth-care centres, rather than schools.

When our pupils return to school...

The third week of the Public Servants strike has struck - our children - the cannon fodder in a "big-people's" battle.

Little hopeful eyes peered around the door, while the teachers sat engaged in a staff meeting this morning; discussing whether we could, or should try, to guarantee the safety of other mothers' children.

"Can we come to school, Ma'am?" These little brave-hearts were dressed in the full school uniform of our school which they are longing to attend. Their teachers drew close to them and tried to answer their questions. Their teachers tried to find out what they would do today and if there was someone at home to care for them.

Once again, the education system and the government, which promised "equal learning opportunities for all" has failed our children. "Sorry, no school today."

Today, again, we must postpone the inevitable question : When our children return to school how are we going to make up for the time they have missed?

Apart from tuition time missed, we will also have to ask ourselves some very uncomfortable questions about our conduct over this strike period. How are we going to regain the respect of these learners who look to us for guidance; who look to us as role models; who look to us as caregivers during the eight hour school day?

In times of civil upheaval, teachers need to be in their classrooms offering reassurance to the children of the land. That we are prevented from doing so, tells us something about how we, as South Africans, view and treat our children.

And so this morning I re-read the McKinsey & Company report which is entitled `How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top." Not surprisingly, the report refers to the fact that it is not about the money we invest in an education system that determines the success of that system.

Inspired by McKinsey's report, I visited nationmaster.com/stats to gather a few statistics of my own. I compared the percentage of total government expenditure on education in the top ten educational systems (as quoted in the Preface of the McKinsey Report) to that of education expenditure in South Africa. Other than Hong Kong, South Africa's government spends more of the total government budget on education, than the other nine top school systems in the world (as bench-marked by "The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)" and quoted in the McKinsey report.)

So, while our teachers are on strike, we must remember that education never was and never will be just about money. As we strive towards the "professionalisation" of the education system in South Africa; maybe we need to question whether we are not, in fact, wasting money on education when the quality of a system rests on the quality of its teachers.

Maybe we need to ask particularly home-grown questions and face some good old home-truths at this time. How is that some teachers , in previously and currently disadvantaged schools still manage to assist their learners to excel academically ?

Maybe, learner performance is not about resources, class sizes, access to technology, or even basic services ? Maybe it has something to do with our teachers' attitude towards schooling, children, education, and teaching ?

As professional teachers, it is high time we took responsibility for our learners' results.So when our children return to school, we need to answer their questions honestly. We need to be gentle and set up programs that will not "punish" our learners for time lost.

When our children return to school we must try to pick up where we left off. We must revise the work we were busy with and slowly add new skills and layers of knowledge. We need to timetable carefully and keep our assessments to a level that is within the capabilities of the learners.

Before the strike struck, we all should have covered enough work and completed enough assessment tasks, to ensure that the learners' academic reports this term are a true reflection of their abilities.

While we have been `learner-less' teachers over the last two weeks we have all had time to create notes and workbooks and graded catch-up programs. If children come back to school to meet teachers who have not prepared properly for the weeks which remain of the academic year; can we expect them to view us as professionals ?

Teachers Teach; Learners Learn. Some ideas on how to keep your teachers busy during the strike.

In our school, I have a personal dictum which I share constantly with my teaching staff. My dictum is simple: "If you see a child; teach it."

South African teachers have, I am sure, all read the chilling reports written by researchers such as Linda Chisholm on achieving versus underachieving schools in South Africa.

The so-called functional schools, share some common characteristics. In the functioning schools in our country, teachers do what they are paid to do: teach. These professional teachers use whatever resources they have to do the best possible job that they can. Teachers in performing schools take pride in their work and accept responsibility for the results their learners attain.

In under-performing schools, teacher absenteeism rates are high. When teachers are not present in their classrooms, teaching does not happen. When teaching does not happen, learners do not learn. When learners do not learn, they join thousands of young people who have no National Senior Certificate and very little chance of continuing their education, or even finding employment.

The National Teachers' Strike is dragging into its second and even third week, for some schools. If there are no learners in your classrooms for your teachers to teach, how can you keep your teachers occupied ?

Fortunately, professional teachers are always willing to learn and improve themselves. This time of non-teaching provides an ideal opportunity for teacher self- improvement. Start with what the teachers know best - their subjects and their learners' abilities.

Teachers can draft a strike recovery plan of their own. This needs to take the form of clear, simple and self-explanatory notes of the sections of work missed. Each note needs to be followed by exercises and assessment tasks, which will be a good measure of just how useful their notes have been.

Teachers need to keep these notes original and fresh. Teachers can take this opportunity to allow their creative juices to flow. Why not encourage your teachers to draw original pictures, or create cartoons, to capture and sustain the learners' interest ?

I believe that teachers are perfectly placed to make real money from education. I am obviously not referring to their paltry salaries. The syllabus is set to change again. When there are curriculum changes, there is a need for new textbooks and textbook content. Why not encourage your staff to start on the rough draft of their own textbooks, or at least workbooks, now ?


Teachers can start by doing a critical analysis of the textbooks currently available for their subjects and learning areas. Teachers are the best people to assess where gaps exist, and where improvements could be made to the textbooks in use.

Make sure that all staff are fully informed about copyright laws and set a challenge - a worksheet, a module or chapter a day.

If your staff are dubious about ever seeing their name in print, whet their appetites, it is simple! Make the Internet available to your staff and ask each person to start by writing a "how to" article in their area of expertise for Wikihow.

Once your teachers have seen their name on a screen, which millions of people visit each day, encourage them to start looking for other Internet writing opportunities. There are many ways to sell content on the Internet. Teachers can share their most successful lessons, notes, and even worksheets; and get paid for the work that many learners take for granted. Notes are often filed or pasted into a book and thrown away at the end of the year. Why not encourage your teachers to share their expertise with millions of people, not just a few classes of learners ?

Encourage your teachers to start copyrighting their own content, to lay claim to the intellectual rights that exist in their work. If your staff are being paid for their notes and worksheets, the quality of these will obviously improve and, in the end, your learners will benefit.

Schools of Substance and the Public Service Strike

If one looks at the most effective school systems in the world, one will notice a common thread. Teachers in effective schooling systems are treated as professionals, in the every sense of the word.

Teachers in Sweden, for example, earn more than members of the medical profession. Governments who wish to elevate the profession of teaching put their money where their mouth is. It is true that average citizens see earnings as a means of judging the value of a particular profession.

Higher salaries create a situation where a higher public status is afforded to the profession. I am obviously then, in favour of higher salaries for South African educators.

Professionalism is not, however, only about a salary. Professionals are expected to earn their salary and do the job they were appointed to do. When a nation's teachers go on strike and flaunt the very ethics on which their profession is based, public sympathy and respect diminish.

Professional teachers are, by definition, guided in all they do by the needs of the clients they serve: the learners, their parents and the broader school community.  By drawing alongside non-essential staff in a Public Sector Strike, we lose sight of the fact that, like nurses and doctors; we are essential services staff. We can teach if our refuse is not collected, if the buildings are not cleaned for us but by us; but we cannot teach if we are not where we belong - in our classrooms, in front of our classes.

In our little town, the streets are full of bereft looking children, looking for something to do. Hopeful faces appear at my office door at 6.30 a.m. every morning to ask, "Ma'am, can we come back to school today?" Little legions of children arrived from nowhere to assist as we fought a small veld fire behind our hostel a few days ago.

Matric scholars sneak onto the premises in casual clothes, like criminals. Their crime: a desire to receive tuition and guidance before their Preliminary examinations. Teachers' stress levels are at an all time high as they are faced with school safety issues that equal the pressures of teaching during a civil war. Can we guarantee the safety of our learners? Can we accept responsibility for injuries sustained while we practise the `in loco parentis' role afforded to us by the very laws which underpin our profession?

Daily, dedicated teachers arrive at school despite threats from fellow teachers in the community. Daily, we continue preparing lessons and drawing up assessments for children who should be in the classrooms. We are excited about new resources found in bookrooms and libraries and on the Internet and we are dying to share these with our absent learners. Daily we plan for 2011 in the hope that next year can proceed without disruptions and a very unprofessional loss of teaching time.

What of the examinations scheduled for two days time? Does a professional miss a deadline? Do professionals put their needs before the needs of their clients? Does a professional colleague run to their teachers' union to report that a clandestine activity - the writing of scheduled examinations - is going ahead at the very institution at which they are employed?

Professional teachers need to evaluate their tactics during this time. Professionals do not take to the streets or prevent others from doing their jobs. Our government needs to sit down with teachers' unions and negotiate professional quality management systems that will ensure that our nation's truly professional teachers attain the increases they deserve (and have earned) as any other professional the world over could expect.

During times of strike action, the dignity of our profession is colored, not only in the eyes of society at large but in the eyes of the children we undertook to teach when we joined the profession.