Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is Crucial to Technology development

Daily, groups and individuals continue to
reiterate that unless Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education was given the deserved attention, society’s development will not happen at the pace and depth it should.

As this call for action gathers
steam, contemporary schools are continuously searching for the best solutions to make teaching and learning not only fun, but also impactful on their students, as well as help
prepare them for the rigours of higher learning.

STEM courses, experts say have proven to be very crucial to the nation’s technological advancement and mathematics, which has
historically been seen by students as an
unattractive subject is a key component of STEM education. As the scenario continues to unfold, ENO-ABASI SUNDAY reports that while the call for enhanced STEM education is upswing, proprietress of Heyday School, Lagos,
Mrs. Susan Amuta, is of the view that
knowledge of mathematics remains pivotal in the country’s advancement in science and technology.

The educationist, who said simple
steps like abacus and speed mathematics among others can help banish mathematics phobia among students, added that this explains the reason the school is paying
immense attention to the subject.
SCIENCE, the world over is primarily the bedrock for sustainable development.

In a country like Nigeria, where scientific research is hampered by a litany of factors, principal among which are
infrastructural development, dearth of funding as. well as that of facilities, the situation remains quite pathetic and calls for greater attention by relevant authorities.

In this direction, calls for greater attention to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, remains
germane because in the final analysis, these courses have the capacity to drive the country
forward as has been the case in developed countries, even though some developed countries are yet to achieve their full potential along this line.

For instance, according to statistics, in the United States, many high-paying STEM jobs go unfilled as candidates lack necessary technical skills, training or post-secondary degrees. With
millions unemployed, this skills gap remains alarming.

In Illustrating the skills gap in America, the report titled, “The Importance of STEM
Education” said, “STEM jobs are projected to grow by 17 per cent and to produce 2.8 million new job openings. In contrast, job growth in other professions is projected to be less than 10 per cent.

According to McKinsey & Company, a
multinational management consulting firm, which conducts qualitative and quantitative analysis in order to evaluate management decisions among others, 64 per cent of
companies in America have vacancies for STEM positions due to a lack of qualified applicants.

It added that by 2020, the United States will demand 123 million highly-skilled workers, but there will only be 50 million qualified people to fill these roles.
In attempting an answer to the reason behind the inadequate supply of manpower for the
STEM jobs, the report explained that,  “Over one
fifth of all students (in America) fail to graduate with their class.

In addition to this, the United States is ranked 47th out of 144 countries in the quality of its mathematics and science education, and only eight per cent of American college students
major in engineering, while only five per cent major in computer science and mathematics.”

With revelations that STEM workers typically earn 26 per cent more than those in non-STEM positions, STEM remains a prominent focus and education policy priority of the public and
private sector in both America, Nigeria and the rest of the world.

Conscious of this shortfall, initiatives like the
“Educate to Innovate” campaign in America focuses on improving the participation and performance of America’s students in STEM with the hope of increasing American workers’ competitiveness in the next decade.

The campaign brings together leading
companies, foundations, non-profits, and
science and engineering societies, to promote initiatives such as Change the Equation,
National Lab Day, and the White House Science Fair.

From the foregoing, mathematics remains a key component in the realisation of STEM education
in any given society. That perhaps explain why the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) in 2013 came up
with the lesson planning based on modern teaching approaches for the subject.

According to NERDC, “The teaching and learning of mathematics in Nigeria is associated with
several challenges, such as the high level of deficiency in mathematical knowledge of school students. This calls for resorting to modern
approaches to teaching mathematics at the school level. The teaching of mathematics in Nigeria is characterised by the traditional
formula-based approach with emphasis on computation and little reference to mathematical reasoning and problem solving.

The body added that teaching is done
mechanically by the teacher first, presenting a formula or rule or algorithm, then solving some textbook examples, and finally giving some exercises for students to solve.

This type of teaching, it stressed was
mechanical and teacher-centered. It is obsolete since in that approach as mathematics is learned instrumentally by rote memorisation, without meaningful understanding of the concept taught.

This way, it contended,
students become frustrated in the face of
apparently meaningless symbols that are
manipulated. They regard mathematics as a static subject with a set of algorithms to be applied mechanically to carryout undertake mathematical exercises/drills.
In contrast to the traditional approach, the modern teaching approach, NERCD said is learner-centered or child-centered, and activity–based, helping the learner to develop, and construct a meaningful understanding of the mathematical concept taught.

The outfit, therefore urged participants at its workshop to focus on the constructivist forms of teaching and learning, which leads to revised beliefs about excellence in teaching and learning and about the roles of both teachers and
students in the process saying, “In this way, you get your students to learn mathematics with meaning. By so doing, the students’ educational experiences are activated developing new concepts as new knowledge is constructed.

Active participation of your students is therefore imperative for learning.”
Only recently, the African Institute for
Mathematical Sciences in realisation of the importance of this trend, said it would advocate STEM education for women and youth in Africa to drive socio-economic development.

In her September 2014 address at the 3rd
Annual African First Ladies Discussion on
Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM), Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Nkosazanna Dlamini
Zuma, had in similar vein stated categorically that African development will not happen at the pace and depth it needs to without the empowerment of girls, youth and women, especially in the STEM areas.

She emphasised that the development of skills in these areas is needed “to modernise agriculture and agro-processing; to build,
expand and maintain our infrastructure;to
develop manufacturing and add value to our natural resources and to mitigate and adapt to
climate change.” Proprietress of Heyday School, Lagos, Mrs
Suzan Amuta, is bothered that even at this point where global emphasis is shifting to STEM
courses, Nigeria is still recording less than 50 per cent pass rate in mathematics in the two
major national external examinations for
secondary school students- the West African Examination Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) organised by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the
one organised by the Minna, Niger State-based National Examination Council (NECO).

On what this unhealthy development portends for the future of the nation and how to set the country on the right rail, Mrs Amuta said
teacher training in the sciences as well as introduction and sustenance of vocational training were of great importance.

Her words, “We can fix this by training
teachers in the sciences, introduction and
sustenance of vocational training, guidance and counselling and by lowering entry requirements for science courses.

The last point is
particularly interesting to me as I have always wondered why the entry requirements for the sciences were so stringent.

“Take for example the requirement that a
student who desires to study the sciences must also possess a credit level pass in English
Language.

The student has five credits in the
core sciences and yet the qualifying authorities insist that without a credit pass in English Language, the student cannot study his/her
course of choice in the sciences. You then wonder in which language the student wrote the
examinations and got credit level pass in at least five subjects.

The proprietress continued, “That is just an instance of the dysfunctional nature of Nigeria’s assessment process. Our education system and curriculum need continuous evaluation to bring
it up to speed with the changing times.

Education should be engaging, interesting and fun so students are able to visualise and indeed live the subjects that they are taught; see how the subjects correlate to everyday living, and there will likely be improvement in the attitude and pass rate in mathematics and the sciences.

Without a strong focus on the sciences,
Nigeria’s quest to become a developed nation via industrialisation will not be achievable.”

At a micro level, Amuta said the school was taking some steps to improve students’ performance in mathematics.

For instance, “At the pre-school stage, we
make the children active in mathematics
through the use of real objects and activities that emerge from the children through music, arts and craft, sorting by colour and size, matching pictures to objects and arranging pictures in correct sequence.

This is to help the children progress from concrete experiences to
more abstract ones and to internalise
mathematical concepts naturally in order to eliminate memorisation.

“At the primary school level, we organise
mathematics quizzes and inter-class
competitions. Mental mathematics, such as abacus and speed mathematics, are taught for
mental alertness and intuitive thinking.

We also make mathematics fun for the children through games, mathematical songs and one-to-one teaching.”

Seeing how important mathematics is in laying a solid foundation that would facilitate excelling in the sciences, Amuta said, “Mathematics should be made real to the children through concrete experiences, basic concepts such as
one-to-one correspondence and classification equivalence.

In addition, we introduced a reward
system for mathematics skills and scholarship for students who excel in mathematics.”

She continued, “It is not a single-incentive package; a mix of incentives help to engage the interest of students from different angles and levels. What may appeal to one student, another
student may not find it as engaging.

However, having a potpourri of incentives help to ensure
that all the students are engaged and also boost teachers ability to engender and retain the interest of the students in mathematics.”

Commenting on which method or device
among the mixed bag of incentives was
particularly helpful in improving pupils’
mathematics skills at this level of education, she said, “A remarkable method that we have been using and which has made mathematics easier for the children is the abacus training
programme.

It has removed the fear of mathematics from the students and empowered them to calculate large numbers without the aid of an electronic calculator. Indeed, adopting abacus solutions in our bid to enhance our students’ love and appreciation for mathematics, has been very effective as a tool.

“The introduction of abacus training programme has brought about a remarkable growth in the
interest and ability of our students in
mathematics.

This has rubbed off on other subjects since a strong interest in one subject
naturally helps students maintain interest in other subjects.

“Abacus mathematics has improved the logical and analytical minds of the children. It has also improved and sharpened other skills like vigilance, spatial relation, listening skills,
creativity, memory power, patience and
precision. It has made them resilient, confident and has given them the ‘I can’ attitude.

As I mentioned earlier, it rubs off on other subjects because if you are very good in one subject, there is a tendency to transfer that ability to
other subjects. What we are seeing is that the strong interest in mathematics has naturally enhanced their interest in other subjects.

She revealed that, “One of abacus’ most
important qualities is enhancing the pace at which students can reason logically. Imagineempowering a student with the ability to
calculate numbers and solve equations at a
speed faster than electronic calculators.

Though
that ability will be more noticeable and indeed
useful in mathematics, it is naturally transferred
to other subjects; the students can think faster
and are able to find solutions to problems in
other subjects at a faster rate than they were
used to.”

Questioned abacus should be made part of the
education system by concerned bodies, she
retorted, “I would encourage schools to embrace
the idea of abacus programme and recommend
it to others. At Heyday School, we have
benefited immensely from the method in the
sense that it has helped to remove the chore
and fear our children had for the subject.

The Children now look forward to mathematics
classes with enthusiasm because abacus makes
the learning of mathematics fun, easy and
enjoyable.”

Drawing from her personal experience, Amuta
said growing up, “There was a general phobia
for mathematics, which precluded students who
would have developed a keen interest in the
subject from following through. I must say that I
did not love mathematics because of that
general apathy towards it at the time. We
recognised that there was apathy towards
mathematics at the very early stage, even
before our school was founded. This is why our
vision is to make sure we remove the fear of
mathematics from our students and equip them
with the knowledge, skills and principles that
would make the subject interesting and fun.

Asked to enumerate the challenges of
administering a school in Nigeria from her
prism, she said, “There were several challenges
in schools administration in Nigeria. Chief
among them are inadequate funding, which
impedes the ability of schools to provide the
infrastructure and services that they would
ideally like to provide in order to give students
the best environment to enhance their scholarly
abilities.

“Another is in keeping pace with the ever
changing needs of information and
communication technology, (ICT), which as you
know changes at a rapid pace. ICT has become
an integral part of education, helping to make
teaching-learning not only fun and interesting,
but also ensuring that the vast amount of
knowledge that students and teachers can
possibly tap into is limitless.

“The third challenge is inadequate number of
teachers ,and when they are available, their
skills set is not up to date. When teachers
graduate from their various institutions, they no
longer go straight to the classrooms to start
teaching. You’d have to invest resources in
terms of time and funds to train them, scale up
their skills in order for them to be fit for
purpose. I could go on and on.

But in spite of these challenges, the education system is not a lost cause, particularly with the intervention of
private sector education providers. Some
schools have done particularly well in providing the required facilities and trained instructors, and it shows in the quality of the students that they produce.”

Outstanding Teachers being Honoured

In keeping with its tradition in every January, the Corona Schools has celebrated its teaching and non-teaching staff who have demonstrated extra ordinary commitment to accomplishing the mission of the school.

The occasion featured various forms of
entertainment by the staff and climaxed with giving award to different categories of workers. The most outstanding is the Model Teacher of the Year Award.

In the 2014 edition, Mr. Innocent Oaikhena won the Corona Model Teacher of the Year Award in the secondary category; Mrs Oluwatosin Balogun, Corona Model Teacher, Elementary;
and Mrs Naomi Izakpa, Corona Model Nursery Teacher.

Narrating the teaching methodology that gave them the edge over their colleagues, Oaikhena stated that for adequate learning to take place, teachers must see their students as projects which must commence with solid foundation,
well floored, erected and monitored to a
complete structure.

“For effective teaching to take place, teachers must see their students as projects, like the engineering designs and set up a structure.

Your students, their happiness and their success is your project. So if any student doesn’t do well, if any student is sad, and I’m there as a teacher without any significant impact, it then means I am failing in my project.

“Also, you must act like a teenager to be able to work with these students. Most of the things they go through, we have passed through them before and as adults, we should try to guide them right without condemnation. That is why
you are there as a teacher, if they knew
everything, they will probably not be in school,” he explained

For Izakpa, who has been teaching in the
school for 17 years, every teacher in Corona is good, very dedicated, hardworking and loyal.

“But for me to have won this award, it means greater work and commitment, because getting the children to understand what you are teaching them at that formation age requires strategic action.

“Nursery education is a level where pupils have to gain background knowledge, and so it is a point of duty for a teacher to bring the lesson to their level and ensure they understand the right thing. A teacher at this point should be very careful so as not to inculcate the wrong learning or culture into the pupils.”

Balogun, on her part, informed that her passion for teaching has been a strong drive.

“I love teaching right from when I was in school, I studied Geology and I used to teach my course mates who call me professor. I also have passion for children. The fact that I love Mathematics, and I realised most children have phobia for mathematics, I looked for creative ways to make it real fun, as much fun as possible because what you love you want to do it over and over again.”

Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of the
school, Mrs. Olufunto Igun, said Corona is
endowed with people of diverse strength and skills drawn together by a common passion which, according to her, is the education of a total child.

“This strength of ours has continuously made our school to remain very relevant in the education sector. This year, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of this great institution, the journey so far has been remarkable. We are not just known to deliver world class education, we
have carved a niche for ourselves in the industry and this is by no means a task achieved by a few individuals, rather by everyone.”

She stressed that the award was designed to reward and recognise deserving staff who, during the past school year, took advantage of
the immense opportunities within the system and excelled by sustaining their professionalism, creativity, commitment, ethics and self- development.

Written by Ujunwa Atueyi

Nigerian students should be competitive with peers anywhere

FROM the Administator of the Grace High
School, Gbagada, Lagos, Mrs. Tokunboh Edun, came an admonition that the content of education in Nigeria should always be in line with the realities in the international scene.

Speaking at an interactive with parents and some old students of the school, Edun said schools have a responsibility to ensure that their students do not miss opportunities that can put them in a position to favourably compete with
their counterparts anywhere around the globe.

Responding to a question on why her school decided to teach Chinese language since the children are already learning English and French, she said: “On the decision to introduce mandarin as a subject, we discovered that in Europe and America, Chinese language is
gaining more recognition because of the growing importance of China in world trade and politics.

It is in line with international standard that we decided to introduce Chinese language. Some people have been wondering how many foreign
languages our children will have to learn.

But I do not think the children will loose anything if they learn English, French and Chinese. It does not prevent them from learning our indigenous languages. All we want is a situation where our student can compete with their peers all around the world. This is part of views that education
should promote global peace.”

According to her, “We have four Chinese on the staff now.  We also work with the Confucius Institute at the University of Lagos. You can see that one of our special guests during the graduation ceremony was Professor Lirong
Jiang, Co-Director, Confucing Institute,
University of Lagos who has been working with us to promote teaching of Chinese language at Grace high School.”

On how the government can actually transform the education sector, she said the shortest way to achieve success in that regard is to vote more money to the area.

“If you have been following closely issues in the education sector, especially at the
secondary and tertiary levels, you will see that inadequate funding is a major issue.

That is why stakeholders have been calling on government to increase funding on education.

I believe that we can do more for education in this country. So my suggestion is that the Federal Government should lead the way by improving funding of education.”

Edun explained the Grace Osinowo Football Competition organised recently for the colleges in Lagos ands why it is an annual event.

“Really, the annual Deaconess Grace Osinowo Football Competition is to honour my late mother who founded Grace Schools over 40 years ago. The school management decided to create a way of remembering her legacies and
also keep the children positively engaged.

That was why we thought of a popular thing among children. And we have seen that the students love soccer. Also, late Deaconess Grace Osinowo was a lover of sports. Right from the beginning
sports development has been very prominent in the school and the competition is a confirmation
of that,” she said.

Remedy mass failure in JAMB, UTME

IN a bid to address the increasing rate of mass failure in national examinations in the country, using Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has cut
a partnership pact with two indigenous software companies, Cinfores Limited and WaveTek Nigeria Limited.

The partnership was consummated at the
weekend, when the agency witnessed the
signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WaveTek and Cinfores Limited on the deployment of a special version of Nigeria is foremost e-learning and examination preparatory software.

The special version, which is customised for the forthcoming 2015 Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB)/Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is referred as JAMB Brainfriend.
Speaking on the development, the Director General of NITDA, Mr. Peter Jack, said the agency keyed into the initiative as part of its effort to deepen and encourage local content development in education and other sectors of the economy as mandated by the Act setting up the agency.

Based on the transformation agenda of Mr. President, the Federal Government of Nigeria is doing everything possible to ensure that the Nigerian educational system is improved and made world class.

1. There is certain decline in quality of education in our country. The mass failure in UTME and other national examinations in recent years, as a case in point, is a mixture of many things
including the non-availability of quality local resources to change the tide of mass failure and exam malpractice that has plagued the nation,

2. he said: The NITDA boss also stated that NITDA as an IT agency is committed to transforming every sector in the country through the introduction of ICT.

He pointed out that in its various effort to
ensure qualitative education in the country, NITDA would engage various local and international organisations to develop locally adapted solutions that will meet the needs of the sector.

He added that the agency would do everything possible, within its disposal, to support the partnership between the two companies.

In his remarks, the Managing Director of
Cinfores Limited, Mr. Asawo Ibifuro, said the software companies decided to introduce the examination software, Jamb BrainFriend to arm Nigerian students to be better prepared for the
forth coming JAMB examination.

Asawo, who frowned at the increasing rate of failure of students in UTME, said the software company, is committed to helping the students and exam candidates to adequately prepare and pass their various educational examinations by developing the customized version that would help them overcome any kind of questions that come their way.

He also noted that the software, apart from arming the students for their exams, would also prepare them and erase any phobia or myths surrounding the electronic JAMB examination, which is taking off this year.”

He, however, assured the candidates that the software would definitely help them in
minimizing the high rate of failure in forth-coming JAMB exams if it is effectively utilised.

On his part, the Managing Director of WaveTek Nigeria Limited, Mr. Ken Spann, said the two companies realized the danger of examination mass failure in Nigeria, a reason he said informed the development of JAMB BrainFriend software to cater for the challenge of mass failure in UTME, which was above 75 per cent in 2014.

Spann who had earlier spent about 11 years promoting Microsoft Education via Microsoft IT Academies at Microsoft USA and Nigeria respectively, further enthused that, “Through WaveTek’s strong network in education, we are collaborating with Cinfores as their marketing partner and ensuring that BrainFriend is used by
the over 1.4 million candidates registered for JAMB UTME scheduled for March, 2015”.

The software can be accessed at every JAMB form selling point across the country and it will also be available at all the NITDA digital centres across the country, to enable the candidates access the software.

Please, Increase funds for Scientific Research

THE Federal Government has been urged to
increase funding for scientific research in the
country, to keep pace with advancement in other
parts of the world.

A professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the
University of Abuja, Prof. Joseph Nwafor
Nwabueze stated this at the 12th Inaugural
lecture of the institution titled: “Igwe Na Ndu:
The role of metals in life.”
Prof. Nwabueze implored the government to
stop paying lip services to science and
technology but rather make available special
intervention funds to universities to adequately
equip their basic science departments for
teaching and research.

Nwabueze noted that the state of science
research in Nigeria is deplorable because of lack
of modern research facilities, which he described
as twin problems of lack of infrastructures and
poor funding.

“ Everybody agrees that science primarily is the
bedrock of sustainable development. Scientific
research in Nigeria is being hindered by the twin
problem of infrastructure and poor funding.
“The laboratories are without chemical and
research equipment. Municipal services that are
taken for granted in other climes are lacking.

The lecturer said well-equipped advanced
science laboratories should be established, at
least one in each geopolitical zone which should
have sophisticated research equipment.
Nwabueze commended the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) for its “sustained
struggle for better funding of the university.

The former deputy vice-chancellor academic,
also cautioned the federal government against
politicising the opening of new federal
universities in the country.
He said if the federal government could not
adequately fund 24 universities, how does it
hope to fund 37.

He maintained that the resources used in
creating the 13 universities should have been
used to expand and adequately fund the existing
ones.

“I do not believe that universities should be
established for political reasons. Why must
there be a university in each state of the
federation, even in those states that hardly fill
their quota in existing federal institutions?” he
said.

According to him the increase in the number of
federal universities has further worsened the
situation of underfunding in the education sector
in the country.

“If this trend is not halted, we may soon be
confronted with demands for the establishment
of a federal university in each of the 774 local
government councils.

Written by Kanayo Umeh

http://m.ngrguardiannews.com

N133m debt delays Cross River's SSCE results (WAEC )

FOR over a year, the West African Examination
Council, (WAEC) has withheld the May/June
2013/2014 SSSE results of students in Cross
Rivers State following the state’s inability to
complete payment of its statutory examination
fees.

Following this development, students in the
state cannot process their admission documents
into various higher institutions in the country
and the Labourt Party (LP) in the state has
decried the situation as “embarrassing and
unacceptable” accusing the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) led government in the state of
being insensitive to education and the plight of
Cross Riverians.

Addressing a rally of massive supporters of LP
in Ikom on Monday, the party’s Senatorial
candidate for Cross River Central, Dr. Sandy
Onor described the development as very
frustrating to both students and their parents,
noting that “children wrote WAEC since last year
and till today, they have not seen their results
because the government in Cross River has
deliberately refused to pay WAEC.

“Why should government be the one thwarting
educational progress of our young ones? The
same government that claims to be bankrupt
and cannot pay token for students’ results to be
released is the same government spending
billions of Naira to conduct simple party
primaries.

“Our state is no more the cleanest in the
country because dirt has taken over. Salaries
are owed and people are suffering. Where are
we heading? We have come to liberate Cross
Rivers from slavery.”

One of the affected students who simply gave
her name as Mary, said, “this government is not
sensitive to our plight. Imagine how they are
making us suffer. I know if it was a political
matter that affects them the government will
immediately rush and get money to pay.
“ I have admission into the university, but
without the SSSE result to present, I cannot go
anywhere. Please the government should come
to our rescue because this is not healthy for us
and the state”.

The State’s Commissioner for Education,
Professor Offiong Offiong admitted that the
state was “owing WAEC N133 million and we
have paid them N108 million and the balance is
N25 million which the Accountant General says
he is making efforts to pay. So that is the
situation”.
The LP has accused the PDP led government in
the state of not giving priority to education but
Professor Offiong said, “I cannot comment on
that and I am not the one that controls the
treasury of the state. I don’t know where they
(LP) are getting their information but I think
that everybody in the state has seen that even
salaries have been delayed. The thing did not
start now. It is a problem that has been trailing
us for up to a period of one year now. The
politics is just starting in the last one month or
two. So this problem has been with us for some
time now”.

For the students who are disturbed, he said,
“we have appealed to them through the Parents
Teachers Association (PTA), through their
principals because this is a matter that is
beyond the Ministry. The state is passing
through some serious financial crisis, which
calls for understanding by everybody. It is
rather unfortunate, that is the last thing we
would have expected to happen to our schools
at this time, but be it as it may, we are hoping
that we will resolve that this week”.

Written by Anietie Akpan,

http://m.ngrguardiannews.com

10 things you must not say to your Single friends!

1. Don’t talk crap on your single friends’ exes.  Here’s the deal: We loved them. Even when they were terrible guys. Just like you love your husband, the guy we would never talk bad about even when he messes up. There is a time and place for your real opinion. We’ll let you know when that is.

2. Don’t tell your single friends it’s about being content. Most of the world gets married. You got married. Especially in Christian American circles, marriage starts fairly young and as hard as it is to go without it at times, it’s much worse when someone makes you feel guilty for wanting it.

Please be careful not to imply that we should feel content with God either. All we take away is that in addition to being single, we are also doing a terrible job following Jesus.

There is room in the Christian life to be sad. There is room to be frustrated. We are often so quick to rush people into being okay that we make them feel it’s wrong to be anything short of content.

3. Don’t compare your single friends’ adult relationships to your high school or college ones.  We understand you dated him for four-plus years. We’re sure it was meaningful.

No one is saying it’s not. But adult relationships and teenage ones are different ball games. Adult relationships typically start out on a serious foot. If we break up, it isn’t just about taking down a few sorority dance pictures; we are breaking up with an entire future. The wedding, the house, and the growing old together that we most likely talked about with our ex will never come to pass. Nearly every friend I’ve walked through an adult breakup with has turned to me at some point and said, “I feel like I’m going through a divorce.”

4. Please don’t complain in front of your single friends about having to have sex with your husband.  Save that for your married friends. One friend wrote, “If you want to have an honest conversation about how your expectations for sex have changed, by all means, share. We absolutely care about that. But don’t make flippant comments on how put out you are by your active sex life. Some of us are holding on by the skin of our teeth here!”

5. Don’t call your single friends at 10:00 a.m. and ask them if they’re awake yet. We’re single, not children. Please don’t forget to ask us for advice on finances or business. We still have life experience outside of relationship experience. Also, don’t always give us the back seat or the pullout couch on vacation while the marrieds take the beds. We all like a good mattress. And you know it.

6. Remember that you don’t understand what it’s like to be alone at this age.  If we come to you hurting, venting, or complaining, please don’t find a way to work in the fact that you think we should be happy. (Unless we’ve done it a hundred times and need to snap out of it. We need a good kick every once in awhile too.) Doing everything by ourselves that we thought we’d do with a spouse can be rough at times.

A lady at my church asked me once if she could pray for me. I had just ended my relationship with Jake and quit my job (because I thought I would be moving to where he was).

I tried to explain to her that I had no idea how to rebuild my life at this point. I had no direction and no one to tie me down somewhere. She listened and began her prayer this way: “Lord, please help Cindy to see the beauty in her opportunity and independence. Help her to see that people would kill for her freedom and to be thankful.”

At that time, I’d had enough freedom. I wanted to settle down with someone. Being single doesn’t always feel like opportunity. Some days it feels like being lost and behind. Even with a full social life of friends and family, the truth is we eat most meals alone. We drive alone, come home to an empty house, and put our suitcases in the overhead storage compartment all by ourselves. If you’re married, you most likely don’t live that way.

I know there are busy moms who would kill for some alone time. There are married people who would love the luxury of a trip with girlfriends. I get (in theory) that having kids and a spouse is stressful, hard work, and a ton of responsibility. It’s probably good and bad depending on the day. The same goes for being single. It isn’t perfect on either side.

7. Don’t set two single Christian friends up just because they are both Christian. If our only common denominators are single and religion, stop yourself. Please use some judgment when orchestrating these setups.

8. Don’t forget to set your single friends up.  Married friends will often say, “I know someone you have to meet! You would be perfect together.” And then that’s the last anyone ever hears of it. Don’t be fooled; we are totally reliant on you to get that ball rolling. Make the phone call, organize the BBQ, send them the number! If it’s someone you truly think is a good fit, we’ll be grateful. And even toast you at the wedding... if  you actually come through.

9a. Don’t make your single friends’ love life, or lack thereof, the most pressing thing to inquire about every time you see them.  (As though everything else in our lives is subpar.) One friend wrote, “I often get random, little encouraging cards from my married friends saying, ‘I don’t know why you haven’t found someone, but know that I’m praying for Mr. Right to come soon.’ I don’t really appreciate this. I mean, thank you for praying, but I’m also concerned with finding a career, mentoring high school girls, and navigating healthy relationships with my crazy retired parents who may kill each other if I don’t check in on them every week! Since you’re already praying, could you add those to the top of the list?”

When our married friends make our dating lives the center of attention, we sense pity. We wonder why the other parts of our lives don’t matter as much as this one area we can’t control.

I imagine it would feel the same if we asked only about your baby and never about you. Yes, the baby is taking up most of your attention, but you are still valuable in other ways.

9b. Don’t ask your single friends for detailed updates about their relationships and not be honest about your marriage. For some reason, everyone and their mother feels they can ask about my dating life. If I have a boyfriend at the time, they immediately want to know how it’s going and when we are getting married. Look, if I’m not telling you I’m engaged, it’s probably something he and I are carefully sorting through. I’d prefer not to go around blabbing about it. And unfortunately it would be wildly inappropriate for me to return the inquiry with, “How’s your marriage going?” I may as well ask, “How are your finances? How’s your diet? How often are you two having sex?” Off limits.

Sharing details communicates a level of friendship and trust. With our close married friends, single people want to be confided in with equal vulnerability. If you aren’t going to ante up, don’t ask us to just so you can be in the loop or give us your two cents. I’ve had converations that look like this:

Married friend presses for details. I provide details. Married friend gives advice. I listen and try to think of how to explain my side without being rude. Married friend continues with advice. I’m quiet and hopefully polite. Conversation ends.

Whether they’ve been married exactly thirteen days or this is their first serious relationship and my fifth, I’m always the student in the situation. It’s not a great climate for growing a friendship, as you can imagine.

10. Don’t count your single friends out as aunties!  We may not have the baby skills on lockdown, but we do care. We do want to be at important milestones, buy baby clothes, and one day tell your kids college stories about you that you’d prefer we didn’t share. We do want to have dinner at your house with the family (and then grab a drink after you put them to bed).

11. Don’t assume every single person is looking for a relationship.  I would argue that deep down, 97 percent are looking. (This is not a real statistic; I completely made it up on my own.) Still, the 3 percent who don’t want a relationship do matter, and it’s important to know where a friend stands. Don’t be quick to put your expectations on them. There are seasons when I’m open to dating and seasons when I say no because I’m excited about investing in other things. It’s best to ask where we are as opposed to jumping to your own conclusion.

In summation, all people, married and single, want to feel like their stage of life is okay. We all want to feel like we are on the right track. It can hurt to feel like everyone is waiting, prodding, expecting, or feeling bad about the way your life is going. This tends to come out in the way we talk to each other. It’s important for both sides to listen and to kindly choose our words carefully.

By Cindy Johnson

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Cool Facts in History

Do you Know that:

Writing in ancient Greece hadnospacebetweenthewords

Women who use their appearance as a basis for
self-worth tend to post more photos of themselves online

The more stressed you are, the slower your wounds & illnesses heal

There is a Greek god named Priapus
..He has an enormous permanent boner.

Happy people prefer to have deeper conversations

Being racist can b detrimental to your health

U can write "property" using the top row of keyboard

Most smart students don't help the struggling ones

Phasmophobia, the fear of ghosts

Men find it easier to approach a women for a sexual encounter if she has a tattoo

2/3 of humans have no idea what they're good at or what their strengths are

Kanye West has more grammys than The Beatles, The Black Eyed Peas & Daft Punk combined

What u wear has an effect on how u behave

A group of barracudas is called a battery
& A group of giraffes, a tower.

Cyclists go 70s faster if they have shaved legs

Smiling is 69% more attractive than wearing makeup

Gossiping helps lower stress

A group of pandas is called an "embarrassment"
& A group of flies, a "business"

There's a volcano in Indonesia, it spews blue lava

Girls beat boys in educational achievement in 70% of the world

It's easier to remember things with your eyes closed.

More facts here

Help your Students Succeed

Teachers who transform lives understand not only how to teach curriculum, but also how children develop into capable, caring, and engaged adults.

They see beyond quantitative measurements of success to the core abilities that help students live healthy, productive lives.

Famous educator Maria Montessori wisely remarked, "The greatest sign of success for a teacher. . . is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I
did not exist.'" The world has changed dramatically since the early 1900s when Montessori made her mark in education.

Yet the same goal remains: scaffolding children toward self-sufficiency. How does this occur today, particularly when test results often seem more
important than the development of a child ready to tackle career-life challenges?

In a nutshell, it happens when we understand how children and teens successfully mature to adulthood and how we impact their growth in key developmental areas. Based on decades of research in child and adolescent development, neuroscience, education, and psychology, we know that relationships with teachers, parents, and other supportive adults determine how
school-age children acquire their personal guidance systems, full of interconnected abilities and pathways to success.

When we envision those abilities as an
internal compass, it's easy to see how education and development go hand in hand -- how children navigate successfully through school and life.

A framework for understanding why kids need these interconnected abilities and how they're nurtured in different contexts, it's also a call to act on behalf of children who deserve to live full, meaningful lives beyond external measures of success.

Is the first in a series of nine posts on how teachers develop these internal abilities in the classroom. Each month, we'll take a deeper dive into one of these eight compass attributes:

Curiosity

Curiosity is the ability to seek and acquire new knowledge, skills, and ways of understanding the world. It is at the heart of what motivates kids to learn and what keeps them learning throughout their lives. Curiosity facilitates engagement, critical thinking, and reasoning. We nurture children's curiosity and other life-long learning skills when we encourage them to identify and seek answers to questions that pique their
interests. When we help them recognize failure as an opportunity for exploration, we encourage experimentation and discovery.

We help them understand the tenets of engaged learning when we recognize the different ways they explore -- touching,
tasting, climbing, smelling, etc. -- and praise them for their perseverance in finding answers. When we show
them how parts connect and influence the whole of society, they discover that curiosity improves relationships, fuels innovation, and drives social change.

Sociability

Sociability is the joyful, cooperative ability to engage with others. It derives from a collection of social- emotional skills that help children understand and express feelings and behaviors in ways that facilitate positive relationships, including active listening, self- regulation, and effective communication.

We impact children's sociability when we help them understand that the words they choose make a difference to the relationships they create.

When we teach them that every social interaction is tied to an emotional reaction, we help them avoid impulsive behavior and think through difficult situations before acting. We also build their capacity for collaborative teamwork.

Resilience

Resilience is the ability to meet and overcome challenges in ways that maintain or promote well- being. It incorporates attributes like grit, persistence, initiative, and determination.

We build resilience when we push students gently to the edges of their intellectual, emotional, social, and physical comfort zones. Our support and
encouragement as they take risks, overcome challenges, and grow from failure helps them learn to bounce back from life's ups and downs.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us. It's developed through skills like self-reflection, meaning making, and honing core values and beliefs. It's situated at "true south" on the compass to symbolize that introspection is about looking into ourselves.

Self-awareness impacts children's capacity to see themselves as uniquely different from other people.

We stimulate students' self-awareness when we engage them in reflective conversations about values, beliefs, attitudes, and moral dilemmas.

By encouraging them to understand and attend to their intellectual, emotional, social, and physical selves, we let them know that we value their full human
potential.

Integrity

Integrity is the ability to act consistently with the values, beliefs, and principles that we claim to hold. It's about courage, honesty, and respect in one’s daily
interactions -- and doing the right thing even when no one is watching.

We shape children's integrity by treating them with respect and dignity, and listening to their feelings and concerns without judgment. When we praise students for demonstrating their values, beliefs, and principles through actions, we remind them of their value as ethical human beings, beyond a grade or test score.

Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness is the ability to find and use available resources to achieve goals, problem solve, and shape the future. It draws on skills like planning, goal setting, strategic thinking, and organizing.

We encourage students to be resourceful when we set high expectations and support them to accomplish their goals. When we teach them to be strategic
thinkers and adaptable problem solvers, they learn to live without rigid rules or preconceived ideas.

Creativity

Creativity is the ability to generate and communicate original ideas and appreciate the nature of beauty. It
fosters imagination, innovation, and a sense of aesthetics.

We inspire creativity when we encourage young people to express themselves through writing, poetry, acting, photography, art, digital media, unstructured play, etc. When we notice and praise them for thinking outside the box and taking risks, their imaginations blossom.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to recognize, feel, and respond to the needs and suffering of others. It facilitates the expression of caring, compassion, and kindness. It's
situated at "true north" on the compass to symbolize the outward impact of educating young citizens committed to creating a just, sustainable world.

We influence children's abilities to care for others beyond themselves by creating meaningful relationships with them, ensuring that they are seen, felt, and understood regardless of how they learn.

When we expose them to different worldviews, engage them with community projects, and bring service learning into the classroom, we develop greater empathy and compassion.

The Compass Advantage views education and child development as integrated processes nurtured through
the collaborative efforts of parents, teachers, and out- of-school programs. When we attend to the development of these eight abilities, the results are
transformative.

Not only do children become lifelong
learners, they become what Maria Montessori envisioned -- self-sufficient navigators of their own
lives.

By: Marilyn Price-Mitchell PhD
Developmental Psychologist,
Researcher, Writer

www.edutopia.org/blog

Teaching an Entirely New Topic

When presented with new material, standards, and
complicated topics, we need to be focused and calm
as we approach our assignments. We can use brain
breaks and focused-attention practices to positively
impact our emotional states and learning.

They refocus our neural circuitry with either stimulating or
quieting practices that generate increased activity in
the prefrontal cortex, where problem solving and
emotional regulation occur.

Brain Breaks

A brain break is a short period of time when we
change up the dull routine of incoming information
that arrives via predictable, tedious, well-worn
roadways.

Our brains are wired for novelty because
we pay attention to any and every stimulus in our
environment that feels threatening or out of the
ordinary. This has always been a wonderful advantage
because our survival as a species depended on this
aspect of brain development.

When we take a brain break, it refreshes our thinking
and helps us discover another solution to a problem
or see a situation through a different lens. Consider
trying these with your class:

1. The Junk Bag

I always carry a bag of household objects containing
markers, scrap paper, and anything that one would
find in a junk drawer -- for example, a can opener or
a pair of shoelaces. Pick any object out of the junk
bag and ask students to come up with two ways this
object could be reinvented for other uses. They can
write or draw their responses. Once students have
drawn or written about an invention, they can walk
the room for one minute sharing and comparing.

2. Squiggle Story

On a blank sheet of paper, whiteboard, or
Promethean Board, draw one squiggly line. Give
students one minute to stand and draw with their
opposite hand, turning the line into a picture or
design of their choice.

3. Opposite Sides

Movement is critical to learning. Have students stand
and blink with the right eye while snapping the fingers
of their left hand. Repeat this with the left eye and
right hand. Students could also face one another and
tap the right foot once, left foot twice, and right foot
three times, building speed they alternate toe tapping
with their partner.

4. Symbolic Alphabet

Sing the alphabet with names of objects rather than
the letters.

5. Other Languages

Teach sign language or make up a spoken language.
In pairs, students take turns speaking or interpreting
this new language for 30 seconds each.

6. Mental Math

Give a set of three instructions, counting the sequence
to a partner for 30 seconds. Example: Count by two
until 20, then count by three until 50, finishing with
seven until 80. Switch and give the other partner
another set of numbers to count.

7. Invisible Pictures

Have a student draw a picture in the air while their
partner guesses what it is. You could give them
categories such as foods, places, or other ways to
narrow the guessing.

8. Story Starters
A student or teacher begins a story for one minute,
either individually or with a partner. The students then
complete or continue it with a silly ending.

9. Rock Scissors Paper Math
With the traditional game, the last call-out is "math."
With that call, students lay out one, two, three, or four
fingers in the palm of their hand. The best of three
wins.

Focused-Attention Practices

A focused-attention practice is a brain exercise for
quieting the thousands of thoughts that distract and
frustrate us each day. When the mind is quiet and
focused, we are able to be present with a specific
sound, sight, or taste.

Research repeatedly shows
that quieting our minds ignites our parasympathetic
nervous system, reducing heart rate and blood
pressure while enhancing our coping strategies to
effectively handle the day-to-day challenges that keep
coming. Our thinking improves and our emotions
begin to regulate so that we can approach an
experience with variable options.

For the following practices, the goal is to start with
60 to 90 seconds and build to five minutes:

1. Breathing
Use the breath as a focus point. Have students place
one hand close to their nose (not touching) and one
hand on their belly. As they breathe in, have them feel
their bellies expand. As they exhale, they can feel the
warm air hit their hand. Students will focus on this
breath for only one minute. Let them know that it's
OK when thoughts sometimes come into the mind
uninvited. Tell them to exhale that thought away.

2. Colors
Visualize colors while focusing on the breath. Inhale a
deep green, and exhale a smoky gray. Have the
students imagine the colors as swirling and alive with
each inhale. If a student is de-escalating from an
angry moment, the color red is a great color to
exhale.

3. Movement
For younger children, direct students to stand and, as
they inhale, lift an arm or leg and wiggle it, exhaling it
back to its original position. For younger grades
beginning these focused-attention practices, it's good
to include an inhale and exhale with any type of
movement.

4. The Deep-Dive Breath
We inhale for four counts, hold for four, and exhale
slowly for four counts. You can increase the holding of
breath by a few seconds once the students find the
rhythm of the exercise.

5. Energizing Breath
We pant like a dog with our mouths open and our
tongues out for 30 seconds, continuing for another 30
seconds with our mouths closed as we take short
belly breaths with one hand on the belly. We typically
take three energizing pant breaths per second. After a
full minute, the students return to four regular deep
inhales and exhales.

6. Sound
The use of sound is very powerful for engaging a calm
response. In the three classrooms where I teach, we
use rain sticks, bells, chimes, and music. There are
many websites that provide music for focus, relaxation
and visualization. Here is one of my favorites .

7. Rise and Fall
As we breathe in and out through our noses, we can
lie on the floor and place an object on our stomachs,
enhancing our focus by watching the rising and falling
of our bellies.

When we are focused and paying attention to our
thoughts, feelings and choices, we have a much
greater opportunity to change those thoughts and
feelings that are not serving us well in life and in
school. When we grasp this awareness, we see and
feel the difference!

How do you stimulate or quiet your students?

Courtesy: http://www.edutopia.org/blog

A Great Teacher

What does it mean to be a great teacher?

Of course credentials, knowledge, critical thinking, and all
other faculties of intelligence are important.

However, a great teacher should be much more
than credentials, experience and intelligence.
What lies in the heart of a great teacher?

You are kind:

a great teacher shows kindness to
students, colleagues, parents and those around
her/him. My favourite saying is “kindness makes
the world go around”. It truly changes the
environment in the classroom and school.
Being a
kind teacher helps students feel welcomed, cared
for and loved.

You are compassionate:

Teaching is a very
humanistic profession, and compassion is the
utmost feeling of understanding, and showing
others you are concerned about them. A
compassionate teacher models that characteristic
to the students with her/his actions, and as a
result students will be more open to
understanding the world around them.

You are empathetic:

Empathy is such an
important trait to have and to try to develop in
ourselves and our students. Being able to put
yourself in someone’s shoes and see things from
their perspective can have such a powerful impact
on our decisions and actions.

You are positive:

Being a positive person, is not
an easy task. Being a positive teacher is even
harder when we’re always met with problems with
very limited solutions. However, staying positive
when it’s tough can have such a tremendous
positive impact on the students and everyone
around us. Looking on the bright side always
seems to help make things better.

You are a builder:

A great teacher bridges gaps
and builds relationships, friendships, and a
community. Teachers always look to make things
better and improve things in and outside of the
classroom. Building a community is something a
great teacher seeks to do in the classroom and
extends that to the entire school and its
community.

You inspire:

Everyone looks at a great teacher and
they want to be a better teacher, they want to be
a better student, even better, they want to be a
better person. A great teacher uncovers hidden
treasures, possibilities and magic right before
everyone’s eyes.

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Writing a Job description

  A job description is the details of what is expected of an individual  to do for the organization as a member of the organization.

In writing out a well detailed Job description (JD)

Firstly, we need to identify:

Our Vision

Our Goals

Our Mission statements

What do we do ?

How do we do what we do?

Also, Outline what needs to be done in total to achieve our vision.

Outline who needs to do what - this will help one know how many staff do we need now, how many can we afford.

Map out a functional organizational structure, so we know who is reporting to who in the organization.

One may include relationships with other people in the organization: Supervisory level, managerial requirements, and relationships with other colleagues.

A job description need not be limited to explaining the current situation, or work that is currently expected; it may also set out goals for what might be achieved in the future.

Job descriptions sometimes may be seen as hindrances for the employee to carry out some task that is beneficial to the organization but a wise organization will put this at the bottom of every of their Job descriptions -

"NOTE: THIS JOB DESCRIPTION IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ALL INCLUSIVE. EMPLOYEE MAY PERFORM OTHER RELATED DUTIES AS NEGOTIATED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE ORGANIZATION"

So as to protect the employee and the organization against some crucial decisions that may be taken in the nearest future tendering the job description as an evidence.

A detailed job description can be in this order:

Company name:

Job Title: The name of the Position to be filled

Department: What department is in need of this person

Job Grade: What is the level of the person in the organization? Is it top management, middle management, senior management, supervisory level, entry level

Position overview: What does this position actually look like, what it entails

Essential job Functions: The task the individual is expected to carry out, the core of the post

Non- essential job functions: The other task that this position might carry out sometimes.

Requirements: What we expect you to have to be able to fill this position, certificates, experiences, educational level, professional body certification

Other skills / Abilities: The skills required for this position so one will perform well at work.

Who to contact: who to contact, names, email address, etc

Deadline date: The last day for submission of Curriculum Vitae.

Now you can write a good job description that will help you know what to expect from your employee, and also know how to evaluate them when necessary.

It may be taken in the nearest future tendering the job description as an evidence.

A detailed jib description can be in this order:
Company name:
Job Title: The name of the Position to be filled
Department: What department is in need of this person
Job Grade: What is the level of the person in the organization? Is it top management, middle management, senior management, supervisory level, entry level
Position overview: What does this position actually look like, what it entails
Essential job Functions: The task the individual is expected to carry out, the core of the post
Non- essential job functions: The other task that this position might carry out sometimes.
Requirements: What we expect you to have to be able to fill this position, certificates, experiences, educational level, professional body certification
Other skills / Abilities: The skills required for this position so one will perform well at work.
Who to contact: who to contact, names, email address, etc
Deadline date: The last day for submission of Curriculum Vitae.

Now you can write a good job description that will help you know what to expect from your employee, and also know how to evaluate them when necessary.

Tired of my job

Life itself sometimes is tiring, work life is a segment of life as a whole.

Work add value to everyday life, it makes us look forward to the next day, pour out our energy and unleashes our potential, above all we have a sense of fulfillment afterwards

But just be encouraged to always have a POSITIVE ATTITUDE to your job.

So pls HAVE…. 

Have peace enough to press on.

Have hope enough to keep your heart looking forward.

Have strength enough to battle obstacles and overcome them.

Have commitment enough to not give up too soon.

Have patience enough to let faith complete its work in you.

Have fun enough to enjoy every aspect of life.

Have love enough to give to those who deserve it the least but need it the most.

Have focus enough to say “no” to many good ideas.

Have forgiveness enough to never end the day hating someone.

Have honesty enough to never have to remember what you said.

Have character enough to do in the light what you would do in the dark.

Have gratitude enough to say “thank God” and “thank you” for the small things.

Have purpose enough to know why not just how.

Have perseverance enough to run the entire race that is set out before you.

Have responsibility enough to be the most dependable person you know. 

Have kindness enough to forgive and forget.

Have devotion enough to do the right things on a daily basis.

Have courage enough to face and fight any opposition to what you know is right.

Have expectancy enough to be on the lookout for opportunities everyday.

Have obedience enough to do what is right without thinking twice.

Have direction enough to know when and where to go.

Have knowledge enough to have your mind continually educated.

Have credibility enough to cause others to want to work together with you.

Have generosity enough to give before being asked.

Have compassion enough to be moved by the need of others.

Have loyalty enough to be committed to others.

Succeeding at your job requires: 

 EMPATHY: Show consideration for other people’s situation, needs, feeling and perception. Try to understand what it’s like to walk in their shoes. 

By doing this you increase their motivation, improve the working environment and raise the productivity level. “Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and practice. You are supposed to wear these qualities to work every day.”

 FLEXIBILTY: It’s the capacity to adapt, adjust and advance. In an environment driven by economic difficulty and downsizing, rigid and reactive employees are often the first to be made redundant or fired. Learn “to roll with the punches”. Paul did that. “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances….in any and every situation…. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV).

 When the winds of change blow, flexible people bend rather than break. They live to stand again and even get promoted HUMOR: Start seeing yourself and the world around you with a sense of enjoyment. Refuse to take yourself too seriously. Look for the humor hidden in life’s serious moments and you’ll find it. 

People who are dispensers of misery just drag everybody down. God’s Words says: “A Cheerful disposition is good for your health…..”(Proverbs 17: 22)... A cheerful heart is good medicine (vs 22 NIV). A good sense of humor improves things and makes the workplace better for everybody.

Achievements are easy to come by!

Supervision is simply when a mother asks her daughter to prepare jollof rice for her, she provides all the needed ingredients, tells her how to cook it beat.

The mom comes to the kitchen in about 15-20 mins interval to check if she is doing the right thing, if she is not she makes corrections.
The supervisor is the mom,
The supervised is the daughter

Achievement is accomplishing a particular goal that has been made know earlier, it can also be viewed to be having passed beyond the set out mark.

Supervision involves more of regular check, periodic evaluation of every activity to ensure that it is inline with the set out goal. This check is on all the human resources put to work alone.

Human resources in a school involves the cleaners, the security, teachers, assistant teachers, head of departments, librarian, store keepers, secretary, school secretary, nurse, class teachers, etc

Checking on a teachers should be based on a checklist which should contain a list of the individuals job descriptions or what is expected of him/ her in brief.
This will help us know what to look out for when supervising

Supervision  should be scheduled - may be Wednesdays for assistant Teachers, Tuesdays for Teachers, and some selected days for other school staff.

Supervision must not be static in order for supervision to really be effective

Supervision for teachers and assistant teachers should include classroom environment, writing materials for students, teaching aids, teaching methods, teachers attitude, teachers use of words, the subject matter, use of examples.

Why supervision ?

It ensures that schools conforms to the rules and regulations and other government directives

To make teachers aware of various resources that can enhance their teaching function for the benefit of the students

To raise the standard of education by helping teachers

To improve the students learning conditions

To ensure that everyday efforts are not wasted in the school

Helps the school uphold a good name

Helps the administrator know the real needs of the school

An effective and efficient administrator doesn't just sit in the office literally doing nothing but ensure everyday's activities moves the organization closer to it stated goal.

Management vs Administration

Management and Administration can be confused sometime. As an administrator these will help you know your basic Job description. If you are : Setting organizational objectives based on available resources Formulating plans and policies for the achievement of the set objectives Defining and Forecasting especially for human and material resources in form of budget. Initiate work activities and defining specific tasks to be performed to achieve objectives Setting up controls and standard of measurement to evaluate human activities leading to achievement of the objective Coordinating and integrating peoples effort and material resources to accomplish set objectives Providing necessary structure and procedure to enhance people's action and activities Defining the type of leadership and authority necessary to accomplish the objective Providing solutions to remedial actions to be taken if objective are yet to be met Providing incentives, motivations and encouragement for better performance If you do all the above then your are involved in Management and not administration. You are a part of the management Management set the vision, mission statement. It is broader in nature.

If you are: Implementing plans, policies, programs after formulation Using scarce resources available to achieve the stated goals Coordinating human efforts and material resources to accomplish educational goals Describing the specific duties and responsibilities to be performed by different officers Training staff for effective performance on the job Establishing policies and procedures, rules and regulations guiding organizational behaviour Solving problems and complaints that may inhibit process of achieving the stated objectives Supervising and evaluating activities based on standard measurement Communicating and set objectives and work activities required fir achieving the goals Promoting and rewarding good performance amongst staff.

Then, you are administering, you are an administrator. Administration set out smaller goals to carry out mission statement Management cannot survive without administration. Both are inseparable. Well, If can do administration perfectly well, you can become a part of the management someday.

Signs of a Successful School

A successful school also should have Vision and Mission just like every successful organization outside the education sector.

No matter the size of the school there must be a set out Vision and Mission for the school, it helps the organization to know what to do and what not to do.

A vision is who, what our school will be in the nearest future, it is usually very brief and straight forward, a short sentence for that matter.
(In football for example, it is the goal post that we see though we are at the center of the pitch)

A mission  statement tells the world how we intend to achieve this vision we said earlier, it is those things we do that will  help us achieve our vision/goal

(In football, it is the strategy we want to use to score a goal in the net, who are we passing the ball to, how many players, who will play the shot and the ball must be in the net.)

After doing all this:
Every member of the school must be aware of this, written boldly visible to both school members, visitors and the public.

Every one in the school must have a role to play, no one is just there doing nothing, remembered we are going somewhere

There should be a channel of authority - who authorize who on the task assigned to him/ her

Individuals/ Groups/Department are responsible for all the consequences of their actions either good or not too good

Everyone gets paid, appreciated, applauded for their little efforts in helping us achieve our goal at the appropriate time

All efforts are coordinated. We know when to do this and when not to do this

We put organizational interest/goals before our Personal interests.

We are work as a team, with the believe that we are all in this together.yearle

Have a founder's day to celebrate momentum and achievements and evaluate efforts yearly (You can check out my post on "Top Notch School Event")

When all this are present in our school, the top here we come!

Between Administrators and Teachers 2

Interactions between Administrators and teachers sometimes are really a big issue as it are sometimes makes teachers to act rudely to the administrator, teachers give repulsive attitude towards teaching, even the learners can tell when the teacher is giving her best and when she is not emotionally balance.

An administrator we are dealing with human beings always. In every administrators' office should be a picture of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Between Administrators and Teachers we noticed;

1. Lack of Openness:
Being unnecessarily making discussion brief, encoding information makes a teachers mind travel and ponder over a lot of things - positive and negative. It leads to distrust in the long-run.
Even if you have to be brief, it should not be all the time, at the end of the day, an open  discussion over the issue should take place.
Yes should be Yes, No should be No. An iota of trust is needed to achieve tangible things in every relationship.

2. Lack of enthusiasm:
When an administrator is not enthusiastic about the task to be done or his job as a whole, it is visible to everyone.
There must "life" in every message passed. The message must be passed in a way that will appeal to the particular teacher.

3. Lack of fundamental Knowledge of the task:
Every administrator should know something about everything and everything about one thing which is administration.
We need to be exposed to an intricate part of every subject taught, human relations, communication, etc. If as an administrator we don't know  the exact result of every action, how do we evaluate the job done, how do we know what was right or wrong?

3.Bad Expression:

We need to know the right choice of words to use, watch out for omission of words, incoherent statements, etc can cause break down in communication. We need to be communication experts in written words, spoken words, using Information Technology, using Experience also

4. Individual differences:  Everyone is different in every way possible- thinking pattern, tone of voice, capabilities, listening and communication skills. We need to understand every teacher well enough to how to communcate with them enough to get them to happily carry out a task.

5. Emotional reactions
Our emotional state of mind per time like love, family issues, fear, happiness, sadness, anger, assumptions, etc can affect the message we pass down to our subordinates  and they just wonder what is happening to us and the message we are supposed to pass is ignored. And we assume they will carry out the task, and we end up been disappointed and more unhappy.

6. Personality and appearance of the administrator:

There is always a space for improvement no matter your personality. We just need to identify what more we need to acquire for our teacher to give in their best. Some of us honestly have dirty looks, unpleasant body odour,broaden our knowledge base, fidgeting, unkempt looks, poor pronunciation, typographical errors, past unpleasant issues between teacher, poor logical arrangement, and a lot of others can distort the process of communication.

7.Distractions:
We and the other party we are communicating with, we do get distracted by noise, uncondusive environment, improper social timing, provocative dressing, inadequate illumination, phone calls, etc can affect us when we are talking- the message and the person too.