Jamaica Teaching Council Learning Management System

Return to Happiness (RTH) is a psychosocial recovery program developed by UNICEF for children who have experienced trauma from disaster, conflict or violence. This course incorporates a five day lesson delivery provides guidelines for its institutionalization in schools. The programme targets lessons for children in the 0-5, 6-12 and 14-18 age groups. A guide is also provided for they can incorporate Return to Happiness methodology into day-to-day classroom activities so that the building of resilience can continue after the 5day recovery lessons has ended. 

The course, Teaching to Reach Boys, exposes participants to instructional approaches that encourage boys to learn and effective strategies for building the confidence of boys. The course provides concrete examples of pedagogy and instructional strategies that have been proven to be effective at engaging boys. Participants in the course will identify underlying principles to be observed when designing lessons for boys and will use these principles to develop and examine boy-friendly lessons and learning activities.

The course is opened to all teachers, though those who teach at the upper primary or secondary level are particularly encouraged to participate. The course will adopt a task-based or a collaborative learning approach - participants will work in small groups to develop authentic learning activities that could be used to engage boys. The major learning from the course will be derived from the process of developing, reviewing and reflecting on these boy-friendly tasks.

Participants will be expected to complete all aspects of the course assessment in order to receive a certificate of competence. Teachers who complete the course will be invited to implement an Action Research in their school/classroom for an additional certification. 

1. Examine the differences between boys and girls and what these mean for teachers.
2. Explore teaching strategies that can be used to engage boys effectively.
3. Identify activities and opportunities to enrich the curriculum that boys experience.
   
4. Look at the nature of the classroom environment that enables the optimal engagement of boys.

The diversity of skills, talents, and interests of students that we serve in our schools requires a remarkable range of teachers’ time, resources and competence.

In order to accommodate the needs of students across many different levels of academic achievement, teachers have been encouraged to make an effort to differentiate their instruction.

However, teachers often struggle to implement differentiation in a sustainable manner – the effort to facilitate differentiation for one day is hard to routinize across multiple lessons. This course looks at easy-to-use strategies to acknowledge and accommodate student differences.

During the course, we will:

• Examine different strategies for making differentiation sustainable
• Identify and exploit entry points for differentiating instruction
• Develop and apply 'look fors' in effective differentiation.

Reluctant learners have the capacity to achieve more but lack either the confidence, interest, motivation or organizational skills to make the effort. 

This course has been designed to help teachers develop and implement strategies, classroom structures and systems to improve reluctant learners' levels of academic interest, motivational drive and success orientation.

The design of the course is consistent with the view that "The students are not the problem. They are struggling with the problem." There are 3 core beliefs that drive the course: 

1. Every reluctant learner is struggling with an underlying challenge. They are not simply 'rude and disobedient' or 'lazy and talkative'.
2. Students become victims of the challenges they cannot properly navigate. Failure to navigate personal, social and academic challenges cause students to become reluctant learners.
3. How we see reluctant learners - whether as 'rude and disobedient' or as 'victims' of the challenges they cannot navigate will determine how we plan for them.

This 4-module course is offered primarily asynchronously (10 hours) with 2 hours of synchronous engagement. 

In this intensive course, teachers get acquainted with the appraisal instruments being used to manage teacher performance. Course participants explore the purpose of the document, learn about the elements of the instrument and examine the supporting documents for completing the appraisal. 

All course participants should have: 

1. A teacher registration number. 
2. Be able to monitor self in the asynchronous learning space. 
3. Possess a willingness to reflect and to pivot so as to gain positive learning outcomes.

The Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) created the Lead Teacher programme to provide teachers with opportunities to collaborate and support each other. The Lead Teacher Programme encourages the creation and provision of professional development opportunities (PDOs) that are targeted at the specific needs of teachers. Through the Lead Teacher Programme, teachers create and execute PDOs with and for other teachers.

Lead teachers are full time members of staff in schools. They volunteer to start, promote and sustain PLCs. It is the voluntary work of the Lead Teachers that makes the Lead Teacher Programme possible.

This training has been developed to:

1. Empower Lead Teachers to create and sustain learning communities aligned to their area of interest and that are supportive of the teacher development work being undertaken in their QECs.
2. Challenge and refine Lead Teachers' understanding of teacher development and, as a result, identify suitable professional development opportunities in which teachers can be engaged. 
3. Initiate Lead Teachers into the protocols of working as teacher leaders within their local space 

The Teaching Council has developed this course to empower teachers who serve as Chairpersons for their schools’ PD Committees. Teachers who participate in the course learn how to plan effective, collaborative and collegial PD activities.

All course participants should have: 

1. A teacher registration number. 

2. Experience supporting professional development activities at their school as verified by the principal’s submission to the Council. 

3. Knowledge of the teacher appraisal procedures that are implemented at their respective schools. 

 4. An understanding of the purpose and expectations for teacher professional development. 

5. A positive disposition towards supporting and collaborating with peers.