In the Classroom with MM

Morris Mtisi
IT is my pleasure to rebrand the Education Page for purposes of serious classroom practice. This has been a call, call it friendly demand, from many a reader who feel a more structured approach of typical classroom practice will help teachers and learners of English Language and Literature more. I have agreed with my boss to point back to the original idea of a pedagogic approach and emphasis aimed at compatibility with classroom practice. Teachers and students must be able to find these tuition series usable and useful every week. The Manica Post can and must be usable as a supplementary ‘textbook’ in classroom practice every week. I will write my columns such that they can be useful resource material to complement directly what teachers’ guides offer for everyday lessons. I will structure my weekly ‘lessons’ therefore in such a way that both mainstream students or learners of English and independent learners can easily follow the fundamentals, the basics of winning the English learning battle and not only pass examinations, but acquire useful communication skills in writing and speaking.

The more general discussion, debate, remarks or comments on theories of educational philosophy and psychology, curriculum reformation or deformation shall appear from time to time under the familiar EDUCATION PANORAMA, please note.

I take this opportunity to advise teachers and students in schools wherever The Manica Post can be accessed, to subscribe now and make sure when MM begins teaching the first Friday of March 2016, no one will say we didn’t know. I call upon students at Regina Coeli, Pamushana in Masvingo, Daramombe, Tsambe, Kriste Mambo, Biriiri High, Mtambara, Rimbi and Chibuwe, Mt Selinda, Jersey, Ratelshoek, Chikore in Chipinge (these are only a few of the many schools I have had the privilege of being invited to as a special independent consultant) to make class-by-class subscriptions to The Manica Post so that the newspaper is delivered straight to the classroom every Friday.School heads and HODs please make sure this becomes easy and possible. Pupils / students who buy a juice card every day cannot fail to buy one newspaper per week at the same cost. Teach students to develop a habit of reading and reading with a purpose. What can be better than organizing a school to allow its students to use the Media for learning than for mere idle entertainment and pleasure?

I know some individual teachers in some schools still regard use of resource personnel or special consultants as interference in their perfect arrangements of teaching and learning, an embarrassing underestimation of their pedagogic excellence. Kwai atibviri isusu, titoringwena pachedu. Akati tinonyura mumvura ndiani? We are the best; the very best. Who said crocodiles can drown in their own habitat? You always find such know-it-alls in every community in the world. But many too are civilized enough to know that the best distillation of wisdom comes from collective effort and intelligent consultations with experts on any subject of learning.

So thank you all schools that have sought to benefit from the ideas and visions of others in making their own better. Look at the results, authentic examination results, of those schools whose teachers respect the principle of continuous learning and sharing wisdom with experienced practitioners and strategists. Excellent both quantitatively and qualitatively! Those doing well on mere pass rate could also do much better on quality of their passes if they sought expert consultancy from subject experts or veterans of the teaching profession. It’s not only in war we find veterans. Lest you forget! Each area of life has its own ‘war’ veterans.

Without much ado, allow me to give you an orientation statement of purpose before structured English Language lessons suitable for classroom consumption by both teacher and student begin first Friday of March 2016.