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Bakoteh Annex Holds Staff Development Workshop

May 18, 2009, 9:36 AM | Article By: Lamin B. Darboe

Over seventy classroom teachers of Bakoteh Annex Lower Basic School in region one last Saturday attended a one-day workshop on scheme of work, lesson notes, register closing and other teaching methods held at their school campus.
Speaking at the Workshop, the Principal Education Officer {PEO} for Region one, Mr. Omar Jatta, who also served as a resource person at the meeting dealt on the following topics, 'teaching and learning record in schools'. He informed teachers that there is no single format in preparing scheme of work, lesson notes, noting that it is left to the school administrators and their teachers to come up with a unified format, which is easier for the teachers not for the heads, because as he rightly said it is the classroom teachers who are to write the above-mentioned areas. He said teachers should not be overloaded adding that the work of the teachers is not easy and commended the teachers in his Region for their hard work and dedication to their duty. He advised them to write their scheme and lesson notes simply and comprehensively, and also to be specific and be up to the point.
On the issue of home /work assignments Mr. Jatta said, it must be time bound, specific, and must meet the teacher's objective, and students must be given home work regularly. He also urged the school administrators to include all subjects in the school curriculum and must be available and strictly adhere to.
PEO Jatta advised the teachers to make their teaching aids more visible from any point in the classroom, must have a title, must be in bold writings and horizontal, and must be to the understanding of the students. According to PEO Jatta, preparation of good teaching and learning records involves the following: advance preparation by the teacher, availability of relevant materials, improvisation, resourcefulness of teachers, mastery of subject matter by the teacher, and teamwork consultation and collaboration with other teachers.
Mr. Kabba Jenkins, a senior master for grade six also dealt on the topic of register closing, for which he said some teacher's encountered problems in closing their class registers at the end of the terms or school academic years.