In this Ramdass article, entitled Minister:Education System is Weak, it is reported that Education Minister Mr. Tim Gopeesingh laments the flaws and weaknesses inherent in our education system. He identifies administrative problems at head office and also problems within the schools. Among his concerns is the staggering number of children with serious disabilities compounded by the fact that there is an insufficient number of specialists to address their needs. Apparently, he has plans for his ministry to partner with the Tertiary Education Ministry to ensure that our schools are provided with specialists.
I am encouraged by this proposed step by the Minister which suggests that this programme would be considered highly. It means that as future reading specialists, we must be adequately prepared because there would, undoubtedly, be high expectations from us to perform 'miracles' and significantly impact on the present reading crisis. Thus far, we have been exposed to courses relevant to our professional development. Take, for example, the course on Assessment and Diagnosis. We are now equipped with the tools to correctly identify the reading difficulties of our students. This is quite an achievement because, I do believe, that many of our students fall through the cracks and fail to receive the needed attention because their weaknesses were not diagnosed properly and, therefore, adequate treatment was woefully lacking. Concerning the ICT course, its relevance in integration in reading instruction is unquestionable. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the importance of our favourite course, Fundamentals of Educational Research I, affectionately called Stats. It is time for more research to be conducted in the field of reading and, therefore, this course has provided the knowledge and skills necessary for such. So, yes, I believe that we will be ready for Dr. Gopeesingh when he calls upon us. All the best colleagues as we strive to empower our students to be productive citizens of our country.
Ramdass, A. Minister: Education System is Weak. Trinidad and Tobago Express website retrieved(2010-07-22)
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI too believe we will be ready to face the challenge that is ahead of us. I know from my own experience I am now able to move from simply generalizing that a student is remedial to being able to pinpoint,to a better degree, the specific reading problem the child has. For instance I can determine their frustration level and independent levels of reading. Hence, better planning of how to assist such students is now in my ability.
The ICT in Reading was useful as it demonstrated the new ways that we can help students improve their reading and writing abilities. I believe that struggling readers will greatly benefit from these newly learnt technologies as they cater to all learning types. Now I am more confident that I can make a difference in the lives of these readers from the knowledge gained in this first year of the Master's programme.
Hi Trumanne
ReplyDeleteI also feel more confident with respect to my capability, after completing these courses, to help my struggling readers. I am actually excited about beginning the new school term. Even though I have been teaching Remedial Reading for the past two years,I have learnt so much from this programme. It is my hope that a new day is dawning with the prospect of us graduating more equipped to deal with the challenges. I hope Dr. Gopeesingh will be ready for us! (: Ensuring that we have computers and REGULAR internet access.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI too feel more confident about my ability to identify and address the needs of all my students. I started taking the things that we learnt from day one into consideration in my planning for all my students.
I have been experiencing some degree of frustration since I feel as though my knowledge may not be utilised the way I would like it to be. I sometimes feel like we are being taught and trained at a level way above our reality.
I hope that we stick together as a community and demand that the system meets the standards that we set. This is the only way that our students can benefit from our learning.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteThis is truly an indepth analysis of the article. Undoubtedly, you have identified relevant and key issues which we need to bear in mind as we continue in the second year of the programme.
I must admit that when I read articles and comments such as these, I feel even more comfortable and convinced in the fact that I made the best decision a year ago in starting the Master's programme. Reading Specialists will play an integral role in adddressing the diverse needs of our students and our education system. I know that the wealth of training that we will receive over the two year period will contribute significantly in our future roles.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI am wondering now if Dr. Gopiesingh is ready for us and the complains and flaws that we experience first hand that he needs to address before implementing the computer programme in schools.
Why should he talk about disabilities in children . Has he ever heard about an amniocentesis test? than he need to check on that be for he can labelled our kids as disabled.
We know that the education has a lot of flaws but was it not the same system he was educated under.
When he was Miniter of Health thats what he should have put in place specialists to deal with these differently abled students but he never did .it has come back to haunt him in another light now.
As the previous Minister of Health he should have been working in collaboration with his new found Ministry to alleviate these problems.
Laptops for every child would not solve this.