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Small, rural school makes big strides - Teacher uses technology to improve reading at Pell River PrimaryPublished: Thursday | September 24, 2009
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
Andrae Lyons, grade-six teacher at Pell River Primary School, uses a computer software to boost literacy at the institution. - Photo by daraine Luton
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina:
MANY PEOPLE may not have heard of Pell River Primary School, but one of its teachers, Andrae Lyons, has been working overtime to make it popular.
Lyons bows into action today at the second renewal of the Latin America Innovative Educators Forum being hosted here by Microsoft, taking with him Jamaica's flag and the hopes of Pell River Primary to gain regional recognition.
The forum, which is being held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buenos Aires, will see more than 105 participants demonstrating their use of Microsoft technology as teaching aids.
Lyons, a 23-year-old grade-six teacher, has developed what he has called Learning to Read from Basics, a programme which is intended to correct reading deficiencies in children.
Child-friendly innovation
The software helps children identify letter sounds, a crucial step in making or identifying words and for reading.
"I decided to create the software after I got a group of students who were non-performers. They had reading problems and the software represented one of the best ways to attend to those problems. After I made the software and tested it with the students, I realised improvements in their reading ability," Lyons told The Gleaner.
He said there were three grade-four boys whom the software has helped to move from pre-primary level reading to grade one within two weeks.
"The software is a child-friendly innovation which children respond to and the results are amazing," Lyons said.
He has noted, however, that while technology "can do remarkable things for Jamaica's educational system, we must also recognise that computers cannot substitute for teachers".
Self-taught
Interestingly, Lyons has never been exposed to computer lessons.
"I was never taught computer. I taught myself. I wanted to do it at CXC but my computer teacher in high school said that she doubted her ability to teach at that level and hence she did not allow me to sit the exam," Lyons said.
The 23-year-old told The Gleaner he was introduced to Microsoft PowerPoint while studying at the Moneague Teachers' College, but it was fiddling with technology that shaved some of his rough edges.
So connected is he to using computers as a teacher's aid that he was able
to convince his principal at Pell River to not only get Internet access, but to have wireless connections available in the small primary school.
Helped by contributions
Pell River, which is situated just outside Cauldwell in west Hanover, has just over 200 students enrolled, all of whom contribute five dollars per week out of their lunch money to help pay for Internet access. The remainder is contributed by staff monthly.
Lyons told The Gleaner thathe yearns for the day when the community would shoulder some of the responsibility of paying for the Internet access.
However, that is not his primary concern at this time. He said one of the best gifts his school could get out of this competition was a projector.
"With five com-puters it is very hard for all the students to use the software at once and the projector would solve part of that problem," Lyons said.
Today, his innovation will be tested and should he win, the lone representative for the English-speaking Caribbean would move on to compete on the world stage. Winning, however, is not all the young teacher wants. He is shooting for a greater involvement of technology in the education of Jamaican youths and he is focused on taking home all the spoils.
"With the exception of the joy that I am already experiencing from reaching this far in the competition, I am looking forward to learning from others and see how best I can take back some of their ideas into the classrooms," Lyons said.
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