Teacher michael's blog

  The recent decision by the Ghana Education Service (GES)  instructing schools to appoint Deans of Discipline in response to the growing concerns over disciplinary problems raises important question : is appointing such Deans the solution to the decline in discipline?   Why Appointing Deans of Discipline Isn't the Answer" Appointing a Dean of Disciplinary may perpetuate the idea that discipline is solely an external imposition rather than an internal responsibility. Teachers are likely to refer all discipline issues rather than dealing with them, and we risk creating an atmosphere of fear and resentment among students and teachers, hindering their personal growth and emotional well-being. Appointing Dean of Discipline may provide a superficial solution that fails to address the underlying causes of disciplinary problems. Such a measure tends to focus on control rather than promoting a holistic approach to discipline that considers the emotional well-being and in...

  The phrase "Keep Quiet!!! Keep Quiet!!!!!!!" is a common occurrence in Ghanaian schools, reflecting the traditional view of discipline as a narrow concept that is often associated with punishment. However, this view of discipline is widely debated among teachers and school heads, and the government's initiative to ban corporal punishment has further complicated the situation. While some teachers support the initiative, others do not, as they believe that it will alter the dynamics of education  What is clear is that discipline is a critical aspect of education, and it revolves around classroom management. However, this concept lacks a definite structure, and every teacher's opinion about it differs. Classroom management is not about having the right rules; it's about having the right relationship  Effective classroom management requires teachers to establish a positive and respectful relationship with their students. Teachers who have positive relationships with...

In this 21st century, the landscape of education has changed, and our learners are unlike any we've seen before. They are digital natives who have grown up in an age of technological advancements and are constantly exposed to new information. Unfortunately, many of them are being taught by 20th century adults using 19th century methodologies. This misalignment between the way our students learn and the way we teach them must be addressed. We are currently in the Age of Digital Technologies and Knowledge, where technology has revolutionized the way, we interact with the world around us. This time and place demand that educators be aware of the kind of learners we have and how to cater to their unique needs. Teaching strategies that were effective a few decades ago may no longer be relevant in this ever-changing technological world. Today's learners need to be equipped with problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and digital literacy. These are skills that will not only h...

The field of education is constantly evolving, with new technologies and teaching methods being developed all the time. One of the most exciting and promising advancements in recent years is the development of ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI, you’ve likely heard of the term ChatGPT over the last couple of weeks. There is a buzz around this emerging technology that is not subsiding. In this blog post, we'll explore how ChatGPT is changing the game of education, and what the future of education might look like as a result, it can generate human-like text, answer questions, summarize text, generate code, and perform other language-based tasks. ChatGPT can be fine-tuned for specific tasks and domains, such as language translation, summarization, and question answering. ChatGPT is able to understand and respond to natural language input, which means that it can interact with students in a way that feels more like a conversation than a lecture. This allows teac...

The presence of social media is felt globally. As a teacher, it is important to figure out where the line is drawn, in terms of social media posts and comments. Your social media post(s) can make you an inspirational teacher, which could help you attract good fortunes. Likewise, your post(s) can make you lose potentially great opportunities.  Hence, here are a few tips to consider when on social media as a teacher: 1. Be careful of what you represent on social media space. BREAKTHROUGH is attached to your online presence. Many might not see what it represents, but in a few years time, they might not be able to repair the damages they have created. Don’t allow your anger to destroy what you are building. 2. Most private schools, especially class A schools check your social media activities before employment. Majority of job seekers’ social media activities are brand tarnishing. Always remember that, your next job opportunity could hinge on your past social media activities. 3.Clean ...

In Ghana, Primary education lasts for 6 years, which consists of a 3-year Lower Primary phase and a 3-year Upper Primary phase. This stage of education is widely characterized by grade skipping. During primary education, the curriculum places an emphasis on reading, writing, arithmetic and the development of problem-solving abilities. Compulsory school starting ages vary a lot around the world, mainly from age 3 to 7 years, USA (5years), United Arab Emirates (4years), just to mention a few. In Ghana school starting age is 4 years and starting primary school is pegged at age 6. These days, parents will be struggling for the child to be in primary 1 by 4 years old. By 8 years, the child would have completed primary 4, expecting to proceed to primary 5. This same parent will now try to skip primary 5. Some will even insist on double promotion from primary 3 to primary 5, thereby cutting a year off, and not caring about the mental growth of the child. The parent will insist that the ...

      The Ghana Education Service (GES), in 2017 officially banned all forms of corporal punishment meted out to children in schools in Ghana as part of efforts aimed at promoting a safer and more protective learning environment for children. The introduction of toolkit by The Guidance and Counseling Unit offers options for the effective application of positive discipline for different forms of misbehaviour and proposes suitable proactive or reactive measures for addressing them, instead of the traditional approach, which is caning. The toolkit has classified misbehaviour into various levels. The first thing every teacher must institute to ensure discipline is the setting of classroom rules posted on notice boards as a visual reminder of expected behaviours from the students List of measures approved by GES to ensure discipline in schools: 1.              Writing Lines The child is given a sentence to w...

     The term ‘slow learner’ is frequently used to cover various groups of children otherwise referred to ‘dull’, ‘retarded’ or ‘educationally subnormal’. In the present circumstances it is used more widely to indicate the fairly large group of children whose learning is slowed down by one or more factors of which limited ability may be one A slow learner is one who learns at a slower than average rate, It is important to note that they do not have intellectual disability, but it takes them longer to understand and grasp concepts. Teaching has its ups and down, and we sometimes have ‘That one child’ that takes a little longer to grasp a concept. Some of us teachers can relate because we most likely have ‘That one child’ in our classroom. What then do we do? 1. Set realistic expectations and smaller targets. 2. They need more time, more repetition and more resources from their teacher to be successful. 3. As a teacher, do not give negative feedback to children as they...

         On 18th January, 2021, teachers in Ghana reported to school for face-to-face classroom teaching and learning with masks on; a new set of norms and safety protocols.   This is arguably the first time in this country whereby teachers and students have to wear masks teaching while lessons are in progress 😷 ! With this ‘new normal’ here are some of the main challenges to teaching while wearing mask, as well as strategic tips for overcoming them. Masks hide facial emotions . With masks on, students lose the ability to interpret and use specific facial expressions which support learning. Masks impede speech and sound legibility . Masks filter speech and sound. Discussions are fundamental pedagogies in education; masks can restrict teaching and learning as a result. The inability to hear clearly becomes even more of a problem in bigger size classrooms. Teachers wearing masks create fear . For some students the teacher wearing mask brings f...

Key things to consider when negotiating for salary at interview. 👇🏾 1. Never give a range when negotiating for salary eg 1000 CEDI's to 1500 ❌ 2. Be the first to quote the salary you want  ❌Dont give a round figure like 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 👍🏽 be specific like 1550 or 2470, 3290. This informs the employer, you know what u want😊 3. Talent attracts higher price. Don't just accept any offer 👍🏽 4. Don't use personal issues at interviews to justify why your salary must be high  Eg.  ❌ I am far from this sch or company ❌Transportation factor ❌ I am the bread winner of my family. *Be professional*👍🏽 5. Better over dress for interview than under dress 😃. Your appearance determines your Value 6. Bargain as an asset to the company than a worker. 😊. Be different 7. Keep your tone positive and confident when bargaining for salary👍🏽 8. Above all learn how to walk away, if they don't meet your demands. ❌ 9. Focus more on allowances if the company or the sch has a salar...

    ✍🏼 Covid-19  made the 2019–20 school year one we will never forget. With no notice, teachers were forced to drive to online teaching.  As schools begin to plan the 2020–21 academic year, online learning will play a prominent role 🤔 Strategies to consider before next academic year 1 Prepare teachers for online instruction. They also need training, in online assessment techniques and ways to communicate and facilitate online learning,  2. Prepare students for online learning. Thus, in the move to a digital instruction system, one of the most important things we can do is prepare our students to be successful online learners. This will involve helping students with: ✅ Technology training , keyboarding, logging in to a web conferencing system, using email, remembering passwords, file management, navigating a learning management system ✅ Productivity skills related to online learning : strategies for reading and writing more effectively in an online medium, mak...