Teacher of the Year Vernetta Williams
by Bennette Roach
“…become an excellent worker, and it all begins with the word, work, work, discipline, discipline, discipline, preparation, preparation, preparation,” the words of Premier Reuben Meade at the recently held Teacher and Student Award ceremony, as he gave greetings at the beginning.
The event was held on June 25, 2013 where Mrs. Vernetta Williams and Miss Nadia Browne were the winning teacher and student respectively of the awards.
Right after prayer by Director of Education Mr Glenn Francis and welcome by the Chairperson, MSS Vice-principal, Miss Ethlyn Weekes, she called for the observation of a one minute silence in honour of recently deceased Mr. CT John, past principal of MSS.
The theme of the Premier’s greeting was all about work and success while hinting at the late start of the event. “…When you say something is going to start at 6:30 it should start at 6:30,” adding, “when we look at the development of a country, a country will only develop rapidly and speedily if we are disciplined, if we are willing to work hard, and we are willing to make the commitments to succeed. Success does not come easy, success comes from hard work and diligence.”
“These are things which we need in our lives has we go through school,” he noted in the brief greeting, with a word for students and parents. “…you need to understand as students, and I look at the younger ones in front, that no matter how young you are, and this goes for the parents as well, each of you must learn some responsibility at home…”
Student of the Year Nadia Browne
Selection of the teacher and student of the year was based on some criteria.
The selected student must be an excellent role model and must:
- Wear the school uniform with pride
- Show respect for self, peers, staff and the environment
- Show helpfulness and empathy to all
- Attend all classes and on time
- Show willingness and an enthusiasm for and to learning
- Have integrity
- Fully engage with school life
Those for selecting the teacher included:
- Creates a climate for learning in the classroom that is characterized by enthusiasm for teaching and learning, high expectations and outstanding results
- Engages other in supporting pupils’ learning and development including parents, teaching assistants and other professionals.
- Actively monitors the experience and progress of each class and adjusts his or her approach to take account of all the needs of the individual pupils and the class as a whole
- Acts with a clear vision and sense of purpose, energy and commitment to pupils’ learning achievement and well being
- Contributes beyond the classroom to the life of the school.
Nominee: Yvonne Julius
Mrs. Vernetta Williams, St. Augustine primary school teacher, was the winner from among the other teacher 2012/2013 Nominees: Mrs. Verna Johnson, Ingrid Tolan and Yvonne Julius. And MSS student Nadia Browne emerged from among Nickiesha Scotland, Kijahrie Barzey, Khyra West and Tiffany Weekes. Students were taken from all schools on island: Lookout Primary, Montserrat Secondary, Brades, St. Augustine and Lighthouse Academy.
Several Ministry of Education officials including the Minister of Education Colin Riley and the Permanent Secretary, Philip Chambers, were involved in the introduction of judges and students, and reading of citations in the various categories of awards. These included a Long Service Teacher’s Award that went to Mrs. Hyacinth Bramble-Browne.
Nominee: Kijahrie Barzey
Entertainment by Music Teacher, Mr. McCloyd White, solo dance by Dennesha Jones (MSS), as well as a renditSion by the MSS Band, (coached by Miss Rebecca Chalmers, another music teacher), all punctuated the two hours plus event.
At the end a vote of thanks by MSS Principal Cherlyn Hogan brought the event to a close.
Additional information on selection of teachers
Nominee: Tiffany Weekes
Teachers’ selection would consider:
- Issues around teaching, learning and assessment, in other words, the teacher should have an outstanding impact on teaching and learning. (tracking information, ability to train others in aspects of teaching, learning and assessment)
- Students’ reports about the teacher
- Colleagues’ reports about the teacher
- Parents’ reports about the teacher
The MSS teacher should teach at two levels – forms 4 &5 and forms 1, 2 and 3 and both lessons should be outstanding
The focus is on ensuring that a Master teacher is selected who is able to train and mentor other teachers and who other teacher can model as it pertains to the teaching profession.
Nominee:Nikesha Scotland
Teachers who win are expected to:
- do outreach work e.g. go into primary sector and teach and vice versa
- observe a lesson at least once a term to see how to apply their practice etc.
- engage in Mentoring and coaching and facilitate training e.g. on teacher training days as they are our future leaders / managers.
Mrs Zelma White and Honourable Jermaine Wade, visited the 4 primary schools on Monday April 15th to collect nominations from teachers and students. The schedule is as follows:
The Vice Principal of the MSS, is assisting the Principal with the process at the MSS.
Note:
1 The nominations of teachers involves:
- Each student saying who they nominate and giving reasons for their nomination on strips of papers.
- Each teacher nominating a teacher
- Sending forms to parents soliciting their nominations
- Each school submitting one or two teacher nominees with supporting evidence including results from formal observations, copy of feedback, lesson plans, resources and data on students’ performance – Students started in September, how much has the class moved by end of term two.
- Team of judges go through their selection process
