Published Papers

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Browsing Published Papers by Author "Herbert, Susan"

Now showing 1 - 18 of 18
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    The ABC of Violence
    (Daily Express, 2004-02) Herbert, Susan
    This article reflects on the fate of children who exist in conditions of abuse and squalor in their home environment, and who enter the school environment from this background. It provides a list (from A to Z) of the actions endured by these children which result in them becoming violent when there have been either no interventions or when the interventions were unsuccessful. The articles provides suggestions on how educators should respond to such children
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    …and Spiders are not Insects
    (Daily Express, 2003-06) Herbert, Susan
    This article uses a personal experience to illustrate the resilience of students' prior concepts in science education. It suggests that teachers who embrace constructivism as a philosophy of knowledge should continue to elicit students' prior understandings, but also try to help them to become aware of, and understand, the different constructed understandings of phenomena they encounter by deliberately confronting their prior knowledge
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    Building Bridges Between School and Community
    (Daily Express, 2003-02) Herbert, Susan
    This article identifies some of the initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Education in Trinidad and Tobago in response to calls from the general public for quality education. However, it notes that there appears to be resistance to changes required on the part of the general public, including education practitioners. The paper therefore identifies some underlying beliefs, values, and norms that may be guiding the expectations of stakeholders, and makes suggestions for strategies to address these
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    Dare to Dream? Part 1
    (Daily Express, 2009-01) Herbert, Susan
    The first part of this article reflects on the concept of "dreams," especially as portrayed by popular artistes. It wonders who teaches children to dream, that is, to move above the habits and boredom of daily routines and conceptualize a purpose towards which they can set goals. Because of the residual negative connotations associated with dreams, the article suggests that it is unlikely that teachers will plan deliberately to address students' dreams
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    Dare to Dream? Part 2
    (Daily Express, 2009-02) Herbert, Susan
    The second part of this article identifies the constraints faced by secondary school teachers, in respect of the drive to cover the syllabus and prepare students for final examinations, which may prevent them from teaching their students to dream. However, it suggests that providing support for students when they are brave enough to articulate their dreams, and making deliberate attempts to encourage dreams may result in positive outcomes
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    Learning From Calypso
    (Daily Express, 2003-01) Herbert, Susan
    This article reflects on one of the controversies of the 2003 calyspo season in Trinidad and Tobago with respect to double entendre calypsoes, and relates it to the issue of classroom communication, as well as to self-esteem with respect to national culture. It concludes with the suggestion that calypsoes might be able to teach us a great deal that we can apply to the formal education system, while learning something about ourselves in the process
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    Lessons from Sports and the Arts
    (Daily Express, 2004-05) Herbert, Susan
    This article notes that although the mathematicians, scientists, historians, etc. who created the knowledge that students study in the classroom confronted and responded to challenges and frustrations during their life, their struggles are not recorded and highlighted in the same way as those of sportsmen and artists. It suggests that with the formal school curricula so focused on the products of endeavours, and with little or no attention to the process of creation and to the human persons who create knowledge and strive for excellence, the informal lessons from the sportsmen and artists are invaluable. The paper concludes that we have to correct the mistakes of the past by creating more people-centred schools
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    Negotiating Barriers to Learning, Part 1
    (Daily Express, 2007-12) Herbert, Susan
    Part 1 of this article discusses barriers to learning that are experienced by students, especially those of low socio-economic status, and suggests strategies for negotiating these barriers
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    Negotiating Barriers to Learning, Part 2
    (Daily Express, 2008-01) Herbert, Susan
    Part 2 of this article examines barriers to learning from the teacher's perspective--the barriers that teachers may construct during the interaction between teacher and student
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    The Notebook
    (Daily Express, 2007-01) Herbert, Susan
    This article reflects on the notebook as a tool for learning, and makes suggestions for its use as a learning log, a double-entry journal, or a reflective journal, which could serve for brainstorming or for students to synthesize and document their thoughts and ideas about concepts presented, either through narrative or graphics
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    Of Bullies and Bullying
    (Daily Express, 2003-06) Herbert, Susan
    This article discusses the problem of bullying in schools in Trinidad and Tobago. It attempts to show how Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) policy can be translated into action within a supportive and safe school environment, and serve as one vehicle by which the social and emotional health issues related to the problem of bullying can be addressed proactively
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    Oral History and Informal Education
    (Daily Express, 2005-04) Herbert, Susan
    This article reaffirms oral history as a vital part of the informal education process in Trinidad and Tobago
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    Play: Serious Business
    (Daily Express, 2005-01) Herbert, Susan
    This article addresses the importance of play in learning, thinking, and development, and seeks to show that the serious business of teaching is not incompatible with the serious business of play. It provides examples of students' play serving as a resource to make learning meaningful and fun
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    Schooling: Crossing Cultural Borders
    (Daily Express, 2002-11) Herbert, Susan
    This article explores the ways in which culture can impact on schooling, and suggests that in order to facilitate successful cultural border crossing by students, teachers in Trinidad and Tobago need to become truly accommmodating of diversity, with respect to the students in their charge
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    Teaching Outside the Textbook
    (Daily Express, 2002-09) Herbert, Susan
    This article notes that many of the contemporary views of teaching and learning have had little impact on the views of the general public, and on their attitudes to learning, texts, and teaching, and that many accept "reading the text" as the predominant teaching/learning strategy within the formal classroom environment. It provides some suggestions on how, in the absence of textbooks, teachers can use their creative talents to make learning more interesting
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    Testing Thinking Skills
    (Daily Express, 2006-04) Herbert, Susan
    This article examines pencil and paper tests--the dominant mode of assessment in Trinidad and Tobago--and looks at the type of examination questions that would be needed if this type of testing required higher-order thinking. It argues that paper and pencil tests do not always live up to the expectation that persons who are certified are in fact critical, creative thinkers and problem selvers. The article suggests that focused attention should be paid to the development of items that require higher-order thinking
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    That Steelpan Talent
    (Daily Express, 2005-02) Herbert, Susan
    This article examines the possibility of using musical intelligence to develop mathematical and linguistic intelligence. It suggests that the steelpan, in those schools that have embraced the pan as the instrument of choice in teaching music, could act as the central point for collaboration among the teachers of music, mathematics, and language arts
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    Youth Educators
    (Daily Express, 2005-11) Herbert, Susan
    This article presents an example of secondary school students in Trinidad and Tobago acting as critical educators on issues that are important to them, at a time when many students believe that school content seems to focus on matters that are not significant to them--the Secondary School Film Festival, in which students wrote, directed, and produced short films, which addressed very complex issues, such as migration, substance abuse, domestic violence, bullying and gangs, murder, and suicide