Traditional method of drill and practice is not working – specialist

Renowned scholastic professional development specialist and lead PRIME mathematics specialist from Singapore, Kelly Lim Kai Ling, will lead a team of local and regional facilitators in training 120 mathematics coaches and specialists assigned to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information. They will join 800 primary and early-childhood maths teachers who will be exposed to best practices in mathematics at the workshop, dubbed: ‘Amazing Math Powers...PR1MED for Success’. The workshop will be hosted by Book Merchant Limited at Shortwood Teachers’ College in St Andrew from August 21 to 24. Clinical psychologist and life coach in Jamaica, Dr Rose Johnson, will present on emotional intelligence. She will provide teachers with innovative strategies, which, when utilised, should bring about immediate behavioural change in students.

According to training and development specialist at Book Merchant Limited, Joni Gocool, “A lot of changes are taking place in the education sector right now, as the traditional method of drill and practice is not working.”

She added, “We are doing things differently this year, so instead of going into the different schools to conduct training, we brought all the teachers together over the course of four days. We have also opened it up to anyone who is interested in this new method of teaching; they are invited to participate in the workshop.”

At the end of the training, the participants will receive joint certification from the Jamaica Teaching Council and Shortwood Teachers’ College.

Sponsors for the workshop include NCB Foundation, JN Bank, Maxie Department Store, National Housing Trust and Shortwood Teachers’ College.