Lend a Hand Africa Teacher’s Training.

As an organisation driven by a passion for equipping children with holistic and quality education, we recognize that teacher training is an integral step to achieving our goal. To this effect we organised an online teacher’s training tagged; Embracing Innovation; Re-inventing the Classroom for Deep Learning. We were honoured to have Mr, Oluwaseun Adeolu, a seasoned teacher and Chevening scholar with a 12-year professional experience in teaching with the Nigerian and Cambridge curricula.

The training was divided into two sessions. First, was the master class section where the trainer took time to dissect the concept of Deep learning and the strategies teachers can use to achieve deep learning in classrooms. Second, we had breakout sessions where the participating teachers were divided into smaller units in order to interact and share the knowledge they had garnered with each other.

The training was packed with practical tips that teachers can use to achieve deep learning across the elementary and secondary levels of education. A list of these strategies includes:

• Ensure that your lesson is student-centred.
• Provide your learners with psychological security.
• Encourage debate in class, as it facilitates free communication and engagement
• Make use of skillful questioning as a tool to facilitate problem-solving skills in learners.
• Incorporate varied assessments (beyond paper and pencil) in your class.
• Incorporate varied methods of teaching such as the use of multimedia in your lesson.
• Implement reward systems that will motivate learners to engage with the lesson.

For the breakout sessions, participating teachers were given a practice exercise: 4Cs of Reading and Writing. The trainer gave them a short passage and asked that they:

• Give the story a suitable title.
• Discuss the characters, setting, the problem/conflict, and the resolution.
• Recreate the ending of the story.
• Present it to the whole group.

This deep learning exercise done among the participating teachers was tailored to show the participating teachers the first-hand benefits of implementing deep learning strategies in their classrooms.

In conclusion, the trainer gave a quote by Alexandra K. Trenfor that best describes the concept of deep learning. He quotes: “The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see.”