creative teachers! - Mauritius Institute of Education

Who is s/he?
A
Let’s be drastic! A creative
teacher is one who loves being a
teacher, who loves pupils and the
school. If such is not the case,
then we constantly put barriers to
our own potentials and limits, and
creativity becomes something
which is left unexplored. Which
brings me to say that creativity
is something innate, but to a
different extent in each of us.
I think its passion that drove
writers like W.Shakespeare or
J.K Rowling.
er
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ethods
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new idea
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p
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ind; s/he
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• Has an and teaching.
g
ids.
aching a
of learnin
er own te
h
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s
ate
be.
ative: cre
s like to
• Is innov
his pupil
re
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h
w
m
classroo
itator.
attractive
as a facil
• Has an
and acts
s
il
p
u
p
tion of his
participa
ss.
• Seeks
of his cla
ll control
fu
in
his
is
lities of
der; s/he
den qua
id
• Is a lea
h
e
th
lores
s/he exp
xplorer;
• Is an e
ils.
pupils.
g his pup
ect amon
p
s
re
l
nd
a
ategies a
ges mutu
r new str
• Encoura
fo
g
in
n
plan
on; busy
ys in acti
a
lw
a
Is
•
yable!
activity.
and enjo
hing fun
c
a
te
of
d
n
a
2 covers
learning
alls and
w
• Makes
4
to
lf
imse
t herself/h
ot restric
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e
o
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•
uation to
every sit
d
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a
a book.
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c
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rtunist; u
ate oppo
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lt
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• Is
mething.
teach so
arner!
active le
erself an
/h
lf
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im
• Is h
ally Z.
Being creative also lies in our
perception of situations and
things around us. It is the way
we look at our environment, with
some projections of what it could
be if changes are brought. It is
also to dare changes, for most
of us like things to stay as they
are. Hence, being creative is a
blend of feelings, and the magic
works when we let this blend
express itself… it is the art of
extroversion!
 Mr. R. Ubheeram
Picture: Internet
8
Mr. H
e
oo,Mr. B
r. S.Bunn
M
Safety for the school lab
In a science lab, safety is a vital
aspect. Teachers, being the role
model, should set up the example
by doing what is stipulated in the
laboratory rules and regulation.
Here are some general lab safety
guidelines:
• Wear disposable aprons during
experiments
• Wear non-synthetic clothes
whenever open flame is to be used
• Be careful when using stuffs like
scalpel or Bunsen burners
• Have adequate safety equipments
near, such as a first aid kit and a
portable fire extinguisher
•
Adequate
supervision
is
recommended all the time pupils are
in the lab
ehary N,
Eath
. K, Ms.
oolass V
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
How to set up a school lab
• Ask for permission
• Find a suitable room.
Some requisites are:
• Good ventilation
• Proper lighting
• Temperature control
• Working surface
• Set up the place
• Buy items such as microscopes,
test tubes, jars…
• Buy safety equipments such as fire
extinguisher, respirator, gloves
• Set up a recorder keeping system.
• Look for devices such as terrariums,
aquariums, Petri dishes….
Ms. Hunsranee Sanmuthiya
C R E AT I V E T E A C H E R S !
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
Volume 1, Issue 1
December 2009
mie
Issue Winners of the TESSA/MIE competition
Inside this
Creativity for Teachers by Teachers
Poem: A teacher’s prayer
2
Celebrating teachers on Teachers’ Day
2
Parcours d’un combattant
3
Let’s fit that extra bit which is 3
lacking in the big jigsaw puzzle
Water Pollution
4
A song for you and me
4
Early Intervention
5
Message to young teachers
5
The Flower
6
Activities you can do
7
Snakes and ladders and Maths 7
A Creative Teacher
8
Safety for the school lab
8
Educational innovation and empowerment of teachers to take up pedagogical
lead is now a common feature at the Mauritius Institute of Education. In the
context of the 35th Anniversary of the MIE, the institution coordinated a regional
competition with the TESSA (Teacher education for Sub Saharan Africa)
with the participation of 35 educators from different schools in Mauritius.11
best entries were sent to the TESSA for the regional competition and at our
first participation, four Mauritian educators were awarded the best winning
entries whilst all the entries were praised for the quality of the preparation,
creativity and use of local resources. Ultimately the adapted lessons have
been be put on the TESSA website. You can access them at: http://www.
tessafrica.net
But what is Creativity and how do teachers perceive its manifestation?
Throughout this project, creativity has been expressed in a number of ways.
While some of them have invented new games, others have redefined
activities, produced pedagogical clips, indulged in team teaching, involved
headmasters, or even parents to boost up classroom based teaching and
learning. Their entries related to life skills, science and the environment,
literacy, numeracy, social studies and the arts where many of them have
started by altering a simple way of doing things in the class – a first step
towards bigger changes. This first newsletter is another outcome of teachers’
creativity. It is also available on the MIE’s website, and is another step in MIE’s
pedagogical leap towards its empowerment of teachers through teacher led
initiatives. Congratulations to all the participants of the competition and the
newsletter team! Watch out for more to come!
Ms. P. Auckloo
Lecturer, MIE
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A Teacher Leadership Initiative
Educators from Primary schools
Participants - Call for Creative
Teachers Competition
Academic Support Unit, MIE
CODL, MIE
Teacher Education for Subsaharan Africa
(TESSA)
Designed by: MIE Graphic Section
Are you out there?
Our newsletter is online.
Visit us at:
www.mieonline.org
Project Coordinator/Chief Editor:
P.Auckloo, MIE
Poem:
A teacher’s
prayer
h my pupils
I want to teac
ok
ssons in a bo
more than le
er
ep
h them de
I want to teac
;
ok
lo
ople over
things that pe
of friendship,
The meaning
th in life
peace, and tru
ple
g
arin and sim
The joy of sh
things in life
e beliefs,
To respect th
religions of
cultures and
others
d
other Earth an
To care for M
e
th
be happy in
Nature and to
joy of others
h my pupils
I want to teac
ok.
ssons in a bo
more than le
o
Ms. S. Ramdo
2
Creativity inside the
classroom and outside the
school
I am Reshmee Ganga teacher from
Cascavelle GS and I am presently
working with Standard Three pupils
where I interact with 24 pupils of
different abilities. My (Tessa Activity)
project was on Animals and their
homes.  I used the following steps to
set up the project:  Song and mimes,
Group Work, Parent’s Participation
during visit at Casela Bird Park,
Construction of models of animal’s
homes, Use of IT and making of a Big
Book. It was a project where I tried to
make teaching and learning process
enjoyable with pupils.  It helped me
to develop my creativity and new
strategies which I use to conduct my
classes nowadays. 
Involvement of Parents in
the Project.
Through the Tessa Activity I wanted
to make parents participate in the
activities. They usually do not do
any follow up at home and do not
feel concerned about their children’s
studies.  During the outdoor activity
at Casela, parents were of great help
in supervising pupils.  Involvement of
parents in the learning process make
pupils more interested in what is
being done and better monitoring of
the work is also done at home.  True
we cannot get all of them involved at
all times, but if we can do it with some
of them, why not?
Activities you can do
• Nature game
• Standard
environment
Free writing activity
Each pupil takes out a sheet of
5:
Animals
in
the
• Pupils are made to sit in a circle.
• Instructions are given by the
teacher.
paper and writes his/her name on
the paper. The teacher explains
to the pupils what they have to do
and sets the rules of the activity.
The pupils will have to circulate
the papers so that every pupil gets
• A ball is placed in the centre of the
circle.
the chance to write something
• When the teacher says ‘start’, one
pupil will pick up the ball and pass it
around.
is written on the paper. They will
Ms. Reshmee Ganga
• Music is played. After each 30
seconds, the music stops.
written. The game/activity stops
Celebrating Teachers on
Teachers’ day
• The teacher then starts a story based
on animals and the one holding the
ball after the music has stopped will
have to add a sentence.
Right from the time we embark
on our education trip, we come
across different types of teachers.
Some are friendly, some are
strict, and some are the ones
we idolize. We also know a few,
who fail to impress us positively.
Students can soon begin to like
teachers, according to their own
individual preferences. They
even classify their teachers
into different categories, such
as Friendly Teachers, Lenient
Teachers, Perfectionist Teachers,
Strict Teachers and Funny
Teachers. All these classifications
for teachers are based on some
typical personality traits of the
teachers. For ex - some teachers
academically encourage students,
or act like friends, some are fun to
be with and so on.
Teachers are responsible for
moulding a student’s personality
and shaping his/her mental
orientation. Teachers deeply
impact our lives and direct the
course of our future. One cannot
deny the influence of teachers in
one’s life. In fact, it would not be
an exaggeration to say that, until
a certain age, our life revolves
around our teachers. They are
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
our constant companions, until
we grow old enough to come out
of their shadow and move ahead
on our own.
A true teacher is not someone who
just teaches academic lessons
to his/her students. Rather, he/
she is like a guide, who helps the
students in each and every sphere
of life, by giving the right advice.
None of the achievers in this
world has attained a feat without
the guidance of a teacher.
It is a very challenging profession
too. One has to act responsibly,
be mature and knowledgeable.
It is also the duty and moral
responsibility of the teachers
to recognize the talents of their
students and develop cordial
relationship with them. When
a teacher and his/her students
share a very strong bond, their
relationship grows up from just
being instructor and follower.
The relationship becomes even
stronger, a long way beyond the
four walls of classroom, which is
bonded with mutual understanding
and respect.
Ms. H. D. Boodhooa
• The game will be continued until the
story is completed.
• Each pupil will be given the
opportunity to say something.
NT
PA R E E N T
LV E M
INVO
good about the pupil whose name
have to write complete sentences.
No negative comments should be
when everybody has written a
sentence on everybody elseís
paper, that is if there are 35 pupils
in the class, on each paper there
should be 34 complete sentences
written. Then pupils can chose 5
sentences and read them aloud.
Ms. Ashweena Ubhee
Snakes and ladders and Maths
The snakes and ladders is a common
game for children. Since it also
consists of numbers from 1 to 100,
it can be used to explore numbers in
a fun way. Here is how I innovated
the game.
The game consists of a board, with
numbers from 1 to 100 arranged
similarly as in the original snakes
and ladders game, however with no
snakes and ladders. Now, instead of
playing with a die, there is a pack of
cards, on which different instructions
are written, for instance, add 5, move
to next prime number, skip back to
last odd number, etc.. any suitable
object can be used as pawns (here
I used shells). More than two players
can play. However, if the pack of cards
(mine being 60 cards, but can be
increased with suitable instructions)
ends, it can be shuffled and put back
in game again. The winner is the one
who reaches 100 marks.
The aim in this game is to help pupils
learning the different types of numbers
through fun. In fact, if thoroughly
observed, the different numbers
have been coloured differently, which
makes them easy to recognise, and
colourful at the same time.
Mr. R.Ubheeram
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION 7
WORK
S
L
I
P
U
P
Lesson: Water pollution
Reinforcing science concepts through poetry
The Ludo and Domino game
made from cheap and readily
available
materials
were
designed. I also designed a
game on the same topic using
Microsoft Powerpoint.
The TESSA activity was
important as it paved the way
for more effective teaching
and new experiences gained
have enabled me to use a
more creative approach as
a teacher. It allowed me to
think, focus and reorganise my
system of teaching and made
my teaching for meaningful
and fun.
Ms. Nazia Peerun
Picture: Internet
W A T E R 
For my Tessa Activity, I
integrated
numeracy
and
literacy and my lesson was
based on the concepts ‘heavier
and lighter’. Simple balances
in the form of a weight scale
were used which were readily
available materials to enable
practical group work and active
learning.
Water – how essential you are
To man, plants, animals and car
 
Limited in our reservoirs,
and rare you are
Sometimes polluted too,
even in a jar
 
House waste, Industrial waste
Hotel waste and insecticide all of
them you taste
 
High time it is to stop this case
Our water bodies need
pollution chase
 
To stop polluting… but how?
For fertilizers, go to your cow
 
For house waste, send it to the
dumping ground
For dyes, set a treatment plant
around.
 
Mr. M.C Bayragee
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Mrs.L.Sab
Early Intervention
Most reading and writing disabilities can be prevented
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
apathee
Our main role as teacher is to
promote quality learning among
pupils. We act as a guide so that
pupils participate actively in the
process of learning. A teacher is
just like a doctor. Our objective
should be to prevent a child to fall
seriously behind at any point since
early school. It is very important
to diagnose and prevent reading
and writing disabilities (as from)
standard I. To ensure effective
learning and to improve the
quality of education, we should
move to ‘a preventive’ model of
intervention rather than ‘remedial’.
Once a child is left behind in early
primary, it becomes difficult for the
child to catch-up in upper classes.
Then intensive interventions also
may not help the child. From
standard I a child starts learning
how to read so that by standard 3
the child is ready to read to learn.
If the child is not able to learn to
read by standard 4, the child will
remain a poor reader and will
develop learning difficulties. If a
child is not learning at the pace
of other children, the child is
labelled as a ‘slow learner’. Our
attitude towards such pupils are
‘give him/her some more time’,
‘wait a little longer’, ‘when the
child will become mature, he/she
will learn by himself/herself’. Are
we honest enough?
Action is taken when the child
becomes bad enough and his
future becomes bleak. Instead of
providing immediate intervention
we adopt the ‘wait to fail’ system.
Deficit in phonological awareness,
autographic awareness, rapid
automatised naming of objects,
difficulties in gross and fine
and
coordination
is
often
misinterpreted as psychological
deficits. Difficulty in naming
alphabet letters, difficulty in
pronunciation, word retrieval
difficulties are early warning signs
of reading and writing disabilities.
In fact, with early intervention, most
reading and writing disabilities
can be prevented. Our aim is to
provide stimulating environment
where every pupil in class will feel
valued, want to work hard, enjoy
the fun of learning through our
creative interventions.
Here are some measures and
activities to facilitate reading and
writing in lower primary:
• Handwriting difficulties must be
remediated, early awkward hand
positions can be remediated.
• have children trace letters of
their names
• use a multi-sensory approach
• focus on letter formation
• teach lowercase alphabet before
uppercase letters
• play the memory game to help
those pupils who have difficulties
remembering letters
• provide a ‘talking letter’ chart in
class
• play rhyming games
• pair letters with pictures
• play the ‘take away’, game.
Ms. Moushimi SENEE –
TAUCKOOR
Message to young teachers
A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.
Teachers have the power to hold up a positive mirror to teach-one that will
reflect how wonderful he/she is. A teacher’s words and encouragement helps
a child feel worthwhile and capable of learning.
If you have commitment, dedication to students, and perseverance there
will be little trouble getting students to succeed.  You can never give up on
anyone; these children need us in their lives.  And when the one out of 30
students thank you for not giving up on him or her and helping them , the
fact is confirmed that there is nothing in this world you would rather be doing,
than teaching.  Always remember, their future brightens with each lesson you
teach, each smile you lengthen, and each goal you help them reach. L’avenir
des enfants se trouve dans les mains des enseignants
Ms. L. Sabapathee, Ms. S.Ramdoo & Ms. H.D. Boodhooa
teacher
A creative
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op
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A creative
ODHOOA
HA DEVI BO
Ms. HANS
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
5
Parcours d’un combattant
The Flower
The Flower is a very simple strategy to make pupils recall or revise concepts.
Elaborated on bristol paper, pictures also can be included to make it more interesting.
This strategy will develop questioning techniques that can support students to develop
deep understanding of both concepts and their own learning. It will engage students in
their learning and lead to higher order thinking.
A brief overview of how it can be developed
Chers collègues, en essayant d’écrire
quelques mots pour ce premier numéro
de notre bulletin d’informations, j’ai
tout d’abord buté sur plusieurs titres
et finalement opté pour celui de
‘Parcours du combattant’. En effet,
pour moi, le métier d’enseignant
pourrait être comparé à celui d’un
soldat qui s’engage, sentraîne et mène
divers combats sur le front. Il tombe,
se redresse, essuie de multiples tirs
d’en face et de tous côtés, vacille,
titube, relève la tête, se bombe le
torse, ajuste son tir. Il souffle un peu,
prend sa gourde, se rince le gosier et
reprend sa place. Fidèle à son poste.
Malgré le temps, malgré les tirs, bon
gré, mal gré. S’il y a bien une médaille
à nous décerner, ce serait bien celle
de la perseverance, elle même
intimement liée au courage. Car nous
sommes determinés à aller jusqu’au
bout de nous-mêmes, des autres, de
ceux qui nous sont confiés.
Notre métier s’est transformé en
vocation sans que nous ne le
réalisions, sans y prendre garde. Et si
ce n’est pas le cas pour tout le monde,
et bien, tant pis! Ne nous leurrons pas;
nous ne vivons pas dans un monde
parfait. L’éléphant rose n’existe pas –
du moins, pas encore…
Nous ne sommes pas là pour montrer
du doigt. Au contraire, faisons tout
pour réunir nos doigts différents
pour mieux nous entraider dans
cette difficile tâche que nous avons,
d’éduquer ces jeunes têtes et coeurs
sensibles à ce lendemain fou qui
les attend afin qu’ils soient préparés
efficacement à bien le servir pour
que notre belle Ile Maurice montre la
voie aux supposément pays ‘bien –
développés’.
L’arsenal de Maurice – c’est nous. Le
pouvoir est entre nos mains. Sachons
l’utiliser pour le bien de tous. Bon
courage, soldat! Ta médaille, tu le
mérites. Continue le bon recompense,
tu l’as au fil du combat. Bats – toi et
prouve aux autres que ça vaut la
peine d’enseigner!
Bien humblement,
is
Un deux tro
i
ro
le
Dit
six
Quatre cinq
e
lic
A
Répond
uf
ne
it
hu
t
Sep
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Achetez un
uze
Dix onze do
ouse!
ép
tre
vo
r
Pou
Ri ri ri
is
e d’une sour
eu
qu
La
ra
ra
a
R
un gros rat
La queue d’
ro
Ro ro
Miro
qu
La eue de
ru
Ru ru
la grue
La queue de
re
Re re
un chat bleu
La queue d’
Ré ré ré
éré”!
“Madame C
de
e
eu
qu
La
bhujun
Patricia Ram
Soldat Patricia Rambhujun
Let’s fit that extra bit which is
lacking in the big jigsaw puzzle
“Gone are those days when the teacher was the sole dispenser
of knowledge. Why is there an erosion of respect towards the
teaching profession? True to say, nowadays any Tom, Dick
and Harry can be a teacher if the only requirement is academic
knowledge. What then completes the puzzle?
Such questions are often asked by teachers and may times
these are unanswered. I believe that some of our schools and
teachers should reinvent themselves. The school should be a
place where pupils get that extra bit of knowledge that they will
not get elsewhere.
Those extra bits that may be some of us do not question, that
some of us lack… or which we consider to be a waste of time.
A waste of time to make our lessons more activity-based and
student-centrered. Being in the computer age we can no longer
afford to miss the wagon. If we want to survive in this competitive
word, it’s our duty to equip our kids with the best life survival skills.
Let’s not do a disservice to education by suppressing the talents
of our kids. Instead let’s make them blossom into creative thinkers
by giving them the opportunity to express themselves.
6
Mr. Jhankur
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
Mr. Y. Sunnassee
MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION 3