GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- The highly anticipated Teachers Summit for primary school teachers and care unit personnel took place on Monday at the Westin Dawn Beach Resort and Spa. Approximately 350 teachers took part in the summit designed to give the teachers the opportunity to voice their concerns and propose solutions.
The summit entitled 'Turning Challenges into Stepping Stones' is the first in a series of conferences that will be hosted by the Cabinet of the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports. The teacher's summit is part of Phase I.
The day started out with an invocation by one of the participating teachers, Marva Sam from the Hillside Christian School. The St. Maarten song was sung by the 6th grade pupil of the Genevieve De Weever School, Geniquah Thewett. In addition to the St. Maarten Song, Thewett sang an accapella motivational song to the large gathering of teachers.
Minister of Education, Hon. Silveria Jacobs, delivered a riveting and motivational speech to the teachers prior to commencement of the brainstorming sessions on solutions.
The Minister's words were met with enthusiasm and elation. Minister Jacobs concluded her speech with a motivational video encouraging teachers to 'Never give up' and to believe that they 'Can make a difference'. An impromptu accapella rendition of Mary Mary's song I just can't give up now' sung by several talented teachers from various schools commenced the beginning of the brainstorming session.
The Teachers, who sat in 35 assorted groups of 10 persons, participated in a lively hour long brainstorming session. Each group was presented with one of the challenges they had drafted during the pre-registration earlier in the week. Guidelines for the brainstorm session included techniques such as the '7 W's '(who, what, where etc.) and the S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time based). Immediately following the brainstorming session the teachers presented their solutions to their peers.
Hot topics such as 'Teacher absenteeism', 'Special needs school', 'Professionalism', and 'Parental involvement' were some of the many presented during the two hour long presentations. The presentations were documented by several members of the various education departments.
The documented presentations will be bundled and mailed to all teachers. In addition the bundled information will be presented to the coordinator, school managers and school boards during Phase II of the 'Turning Challenges into Stepping Stones' summit series.
Closing remarks were rendered by Minister Jacobs, who thanked the teachers for their honesty, dedication and hard work during the year and in particular during the conference. In addition some of the challenges presented were immediately addressed by the Minister with updates about their status and progress.
The Minister thanked the organizing staff of the various Ministry departments for their hard work and team spirit 'When we work as a team we can achieve anything. This is the prevailing thought at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports – TEAM WORK!'
The closing remarks were followed by a lunch where the teachers had the opportunity to meet and greet with the Minister. The general consensus of teachers was that the summit was a great opportunity for their voices to be heard, well organized and inspired new hope in the Education system on St. Maarten.