Education Corner 25

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Category: Education Corner

Published: Saturday, 29 October 2016 10:17

Written by Richard Womack, Ed.D

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In our last several EC editions we have been telling a story about a young man named Navarro Navarro. Some readers wrote and said they did not understand what was happening and did not the idea of this Navarro as the main character because he was not a properly trained teacher. That said EC should make another try with this Navarro. We explained that in teacher education we call educational stories case studies. These are when lifelike education examples are set up using student, teachers, parents, administrators, and others as actors to teach educational lessons. In fact case studies are more like plays than stories. We use case studies for critical thinking and student/readers think about questions and decisions. In case studies we look at behaviors and think about what the story is supposed to teach. Remember Navarro is a made up character dealing with a big problem—he has no teacher training. In these case studies we will always put Navarro in learning situations trying to figure out what he should do. For certain Navarro make mistakes—of course. He has not had teacher training. E C readers will observe the errors and see if Navarro corrects them—or improves.

Education Corner 22 - SEP 2016 - Summary

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Category: Education Corner

Published: Thursday, 08 September 2016 13:24

Written by Richard Womack, Ed.D

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Quick Summary
A year ago (August 2015), we began this Education Corner (EC) to report and explain some ways the Community could help the Pohnpei Department of Education (PDOE) improve our schools and our students’ learning. EC began by trying to explain the FSM National Department of Education (NDOE) Accreditation System whereby every school, public or private; elementary and high schools are visited and inspected by outside teams. NDOE Accreditation has certain standards with which the NDOE teams measure and rate our schools. These teams look at the physical conditions of the school buildings; check that students all have books; see if students are attending school regularly; look at student achievement scores; and carefully check the official records kept by the school’s principal as well as records at the PDOE Central Office. EC mentioned the importance of getting our children to school each day and on time. All of us-the Community- can help here being sure to remember it’s clock time not Pohnpeian time. The importance of student attendance cannot be over stressed as you will see. It could mean more money for your school or it may mean less money for you school.

Education Corner 24

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Category: Education Corner

Published: Tuesday, 04 October 2016 14:42

Written by Richard Womack, Ed.D

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Last E C our beginning teacher Navarro Navarro was offered a 5th grade teaching at Mt. St. Mary’s school. He was offered the job on a Sunday and was to begin the next day on Monday morning. He had no teacher training so he is sitting at home that Sunday night wondering just what he would do. Last E C he worried about teaching English and did a lot of praying. This week we find him still sitting and worrying—trying to figure out just what this teaching was all about.
Navarro knew that his success that year would in part depend on the 4th grade teacher. He hoped and then began to pray that the 4th grade teacher had done a good job. He hoped that these 5th graders already knew the multiplication tables, and he prayed that they could all read and write. Navarro had no idea at what level he wished them to read and write at, 5th grade level he guessed but what was a 5th grade level? With all these uncertainties and with no firm answers young Navarro resorted to prayer. He was not a particularly religious man but what else was there to do? He was not pleased with the one he had crafted but he tried it anyway. “Oh dear Lord, I do not even know what to pray for so I will just say I need a miracle or better yet I will need a series of miracles.” The young man thought that while he could not be specific about the miracles, the Lord just might hear his sounds of desperation and grant pity upon him.

Education Corner 21 - JULY 2016

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Category: Education Corner

Published: Saturday, 06 August 2016 13:09

Written by Richard Womack, Ed.D

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“Before there were school buildings and certified teachers-education was the job of the family and particularly the elders. It worked for several thousand years-it must be made to work once again.” Education Corner 7/6/16
In our last EC we discussed the newly adopted Pohnpei Studies Standards and a rededication to teaching and learning correct and proper Pohnpeian language. We said to the Community: This is set up for you by the Pohnpei Department of Education (PDOE) at the request of the Community but the Community must assume the responsibility for the success of lack of success. We said too that Community likely expected more than young Pohnpeians just learning about Pohnpeian customs, values and attitudes. We thought the Community would like to see young Pohnpeians practicing Pohnpeian customs, values, and attitudes in everyday life. As much as possible the Community wants them to be Pohnpeian and therefore act as Pohnpeians should. For part of this the PDOE can provide books and lesson plans and some classroom guidance. But all the lessons call for students to participate and practice in the Community. This is where all knowledgeable elders are the teachers.

Education Corner 23 - Case Study: Navarro Navarro

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Category: Education Corner

Published: Tuesday, 04 October 2016 14:34

Written by Richard Womack, Ed.D

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03 OCT 2016

Last EC we said we were changing our format to the Case Study approach. We will not abandon our message however. All teachers can improve student learning if they diligently pursue On-going Teacher Training.
Case Study: Navarro Navarro
A long, long time ago EBC (even before computers), Navarro Navarro sat in his small room in a small village a few miles from the capital of his island-state. As he sat quietly, he thought of his predicament. He was 22 years old and that very Sunday morning he had accepted a job teaching the 5th grade at a local Catholic elementary school-Mt. St. Mary’s. Navarro had not trained to be a teacher at the University of California, Berkeley but rather as a resource geographer. Four years before, Navarro had gone to the States after two years at the local college. At Berkeley, his focus was conservation, human and physical geography but never once had he thought about teaching. He asked himself that morning in church in prayer form, “God, why did I even come back to this island?” But here he was on a Sunday evening with a major predicament. Navarro was to begin teaching the 5th grade at eight o’clock the very next morning—Monday morning.

Education Corner 20 - More on the Cognitive Domain

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Category: Education Corner

Published: Friday, 15 July 2016 14:49

Written by Richard Womack, Ed.D

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Last EC was a little bit academic in that it was about psychologists like Benjamin Bloom
from the 1950’s and kinds of learning, types of learning or areas of learning. We used the
phrase domain. We said there were the Cognitive Domain, the Affective Domain and the
Psycho-Motor Domains. We might call these simply the Thinking Domain; the Feeling
Domain and the Coordination Domains. All of that was really more to show readers what
teachers must do to answer the important teaching question: How do I know my students
have learned what was taught? It was about measuring evidence of learning that teachers
must gather to see students are learning the standards and benchmarks required by NDOE
or State DOE’s. Think in terms of students demonstrating verbs as defining, naming,
recalling and such verbs where students study and more memorize facts in isolation more
for test taking than anything else. One more thing however—teachers must measure depth
of learning and measuring depth of learning is a little complicated but not too complex
that parents and the community cannot understand the idea. Here is an example of learning
depth.