I remember my first teaching stint in Barbados like it was yesterday. I was only a few months out of high school, and I was sent by the Ministry of Education to a school in St. Michael on a 4-week assignment. The regular teacher of this self-contained class of 8-9 year old students was off sick. But this class was known throughout the school as a class of "slow learners." So I set out to focus on developmental academic work.
These children were fun and they started to work well and invested more in their work. Parents were coming by to meet the new teacher. One parent said that one evening after school, she told her son to "go out on the pasture to play" and he said that he had to do his homework first. Since she had never before heard those words coming from his mouth, the next day she came to find out what was going on. (lol) This was all good, but what really caught my attention was the change in their behaviour when students from other classes were around and talking and having playful verbal exchanges amongst themselves. The students from my class would stop all of their interactions with each other and sheepishly watch the other children. I observed this during lunch breaks. Instinctively, I was able to identify the problem . Now a lot of people would probably jump straight for the popular term and say that they lacked self-esteem. However, that was not the real problem to be fixed. The real problem was a lack of 'belongingness.' They didn't feel that they could ever belong to the school group at large because they couldn't possibly have anything to contribute, or so they thought. So they stayed silent.
After this first teaching experience, I had solidly made up my mind that not only would I focus on building confidence in my students' abilities to perform academically, but also developing qualities that will help them function successfully in any community of members or team. And these are two important things that employers are looking for - self confidence and the ability to function successfully as part of a team.
Employers are looking for individuals who are prepared for teamwork, and prepared to make an impact in whatever work community they are in. Employers are seeking out those with emotional intelligence, who understand relationships especially in the work environment and has an understanding of how their actions or lack of actions impact those around them. So no longer can we focus on educating students in preparation to do a job, but we must go that extra mile to train and hone skills that build community amongst members. During this series, I will share experiences and explore related topics and concepts that may be helpful to educators, who are faced with the task of preparing our future generations for success.
Karen Mckee
Educator & Motivational Speaker
Live Again Conference Producer & Coordinator
Email: admin@live-again.org
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