“Teaching is conceptual and intellectual, abstract and concrete, creative, and sequential. It’s about people but framed through ideas. It’s about content, hearts, minds, the past, the future–whatever we can imagine, teaching and learning are both causes and effects.”-Teach Thought Staff

It has been said that “those who can’t do, teach,” which means that getting a job teaching how to do something is easier than actually doing it. This is obviously a lighthearted jab at one of history’s most noble professions – imagine the hands that carved the Venus of Willendorf or Beethoven composing the Moonlight Sonata – the care, patience, love, and intention that went into it, and now imagine every teacher as an artist responsible for shaping masterpieces whose impact will influence future generations. Every master must pass through the hands of a teacher, meaningful change begins with a teacher, and educational transformation begins with teachers.

Annually on the 5th of October,we celebrate the critical role of teachers in transforming learners’ potential by ensuring they have the tools they need to take responsibility for themselves, for others and for the planet. We call on countries to ensure that teachers are trusted and recognised as knowledge producers, reflective practitioners, and policy partners.It is truly an honour to reflect on the crucial role played by one individual who has devoted their life to what one of our senior resident Pre-Primary teachers (Asmaa Khan) refers to as a “calling, an opportunity to inspire, give the young ones a space where they can dig into their curiosity and explore the world around them.”

The bow from which every arrow springs, a career from which every career is created-the challenges that our educators face should not be solely theirs; it is our collective responsibility to improve the conditions that pave the way to developing our leaders.

The theme of World Teachers’ Day, 2022, “the transformation of education begins with teachers,” is incredibly appropriate. It serves to remind us we are because our teachers are.

In appreciation of our educators we close with the wise words from one of our star educators Ms Ilhaam Patel, “my role as a teacher at Nova Pioneer is to create a safe and exciting environment for my students to develop a passion for acquiring skills and knowledge to make the world a better place in the future. My role is to nurture each individual learner and appeal to their unique interests and personalities so that they can contribute to our ever-changing society. Nova Pioneer has created an environment that allows me to work towards these objectives. We are Greater Together as a school and an organisation, working to develop future leaders and innovators beyond the borders of African countries.”

 

The way we teach at Nova Pioneer is very different from how other schools teach. Our mission is to develop generations of innovators and leaders who will shape the African Century. Therefore, we recruit teachers who not only have a passion for teaching but are lifelong students who are willing to be taught and are open to learning new ways of teaching.

A teacher at Nova Pioneer needs to embody our ‘Always Growing’ culture principle, which is: always seeking out difficult challenges, share and receive feedback as a gift and see every failure as an opportunity to grow. This particular culture principle is the foundation of a mindset of a Nova Pioneer teacher, and a requirement to being part of the Nova Pioneer teaching team.

Our teachers are Novaneers

Being a Novaneer is not only for our students but for our teachers as well. They value the growth of students, prioritise development, teaching and they care about students achieving their best personal and academic outcomes. Our students are equipped with educators who have gone through a rigorous process to be recruited and trained based on our culture, story, mission, and vision on how to help your child succeed in the 21st Century.

Our core teacher values

We look for teachers that deeply care about the future of students and have the passion to build up our students’ intrinsic potential. We look for teachers that respect and value the views of their students, who come from various backgrounds, whilst being the ultimate facilitator of knowledge in their classrooms. Nova Pioneer values teachers who are not only instructive but who also remember to have fun, by bringing an infectious and positive energy to everything that they do.

A Nova Pioneer teacher is passionate about teaching and making education in Africa great by growing its future leaders. It’s their entrepreneurial spirit of making things happen that allows our teachers to be creative and flex their innovation muscle by solving problems for their team and students. Our teachers have a growth mindset that consistently seeks new ways to do and see things, by collaborating with a team that believes in the joy of learning and high expectations.

Mapping out growth 

At Nova Pioneer, we are always invested in growing and constantly evolving to meet the needs of our students. We believe that we all have room to grow, at every level of the organisation. What that means, is that no matter what role someone is in, they have someone coaching and developing them to help them grow. 

What this looks like for teachers, comes in the form of weekly classroom observations and feedback meetings with their coach, the Dean. These sessions with the Dean allow teachers to focus on their growth areas that they are always working to improve on and master. Also, in these sessions teachers are affirmed on what they do well as educators, which helps reinforce best practices.

Each year, all Nova Pioneer teachers receive a Growth Map, which includes specific targeted areas for them to perform, in alignment with their role and job description. The metrics included in these Growth Maps align with each role’s biggest area of contribution to the success of the school, which for teachers, aligns with their student’s academic performance. 

The Growth Maps also measures teachers’ exhibition of our school’s Core Values and their overall performance as a Novaneer. These annual measures are helpful for teachers because they create opportunities for advancement, both within the classroom and in school leadership roles.

Michaela Kruger, our Grade 00 teacher at our North Riding campus, speaks to her continued learning through COVID-19.  

 

How do you get 4-5 year olds to practice social distancing?

 

In our class this term we first began by explaining social distancing to our students. Distance is a challenging concept for students to understand as they are still learning spatial awareness. We started by explaining to students the importance of only touching their own items as well as being responsible for their own bodies. When students arrived at school, we explained how they could create their own imaginary bubbles by swinging their arms around their bodies.

This was explained as their safe space and only they were allowed to be in their safe space. We allowed them to hold hula hoops around them in order for them to see the correct distancing as well as practise what it felt like to stand a certain distance away from their peers. We placed tape markings on the floor in our classroom and outside our classroom in order to make social distancing a more practical and understandable activity to practise. Students would stand on the tape markings and practise creating their imaginary bubbles around them.

 

How is your day structured now, is it the same routine?

 

Our daily structure is very similar to how it was before lockdown. We still include morning ring, academic rotations, PE, phonics, read alouds, outdoor play and nap time. The only thing that has slightly changed in our class is the fact that students no longer stand up and move for each academic rotation. Students remain at their tables and they are given the work to complete at their table. Every student has their own allocated space as well as their own stationery. Items are no longer shared amongst our students. Outdoor play has also changed as our sandpits and jungle gyms have been closed off. We have created fun social distancing games for students to play during this time as we feel gross motor and outdoor play is an important part of the day for all students.

 

What health and safety measures are observed?

 

Our teachers work extremely hard to ensure that no students are unsupervised. Teachers are always present and rigorously monitoring students and their behaviours. It is easy for students to pull down their masks or forget about social distancing as this is a new way of life, it is sometimes hard for us as adults to remember the rules of social distancing. Teachers monitor students during bathroom breaks, inside and outside the classroom as well as during dismissal and arrival. Desks and items that are used during the day are sanitized every 20 minutes and our classrooms are fully disinfected at the end of every day. Students have learnt to sanitize their hands during every interval as well as when they have sneezed or coughed (which they confidently do into their elbow).

 

Are you using just your classroom space or other spaces too?

 

We have only been using our classroom space and an allocated outdoor area. There are no longer shared spaces such as the studio area, jungle gyms, sandpit and mud kitchen.

 

 What protective gear do teachers and students wear?

 

Students and teachers have been wearing masks. Some of our students have been wearing face shields but they often find this hard as it fogs up and they are unable to see.

 

What is something that would’ve been normal for you to do before that you can’t do anymore?

 

It has been very challenging for teachers and students to remove physical touch. Pre-primary students are very affectionate and love to give hugs and receive them. We also used to have a class handshake and a greeting routine which involved students picking either a hug, a high five, a fist pump or a wave. This had to be removed from the day in order to follow all the rules and regulations. Students at this age are learning to express their emotions through words but gestures are often used while they learn to explain their emotions correctly but during this time students have had to adjust and learn a new approach by expressing their emotions from a distance. We included the COVID cuddle as a new approach to hugging. Playing with their peers and working in groups is also an important part of their development, with this being removed we’ve had to try and think of new ways to teach and grow these skills.

 

How do you explain the new normal to kids? What do they understand about it?

 

Most of our students had amazing explanations given to them by their parents at home. We started term two by doing a science experiment where you place water in a bowl and grind pepper on top. You then dip your finger into the water and the pepper flakes stick to your finger. You then place soap on your finger and place it in the water again. The pepper flakes seem to run away from your finger. We explained that the pepper flakes are like germs, if you have clean hands they won’t come near you.

We went on to speak about COVID and how is COVID spread. Students understood that germs can make you sick just like COVID and if we keep our hands clean it will help us to stay healthy. We then went on to ask: do you think if someone is sick and they cough or sneeze on you that you could get sick? With some thought, many students said yes. We asked: so how can we protect ourselves and others from not getting sick? They responded with many answers such as, stay home if you are sick, wash your hands more, wear a mask and cough or sneeze into your elbow. We asked students to wear their masks to our online lessons. We also asked students to show us how they would cough or sneeze. Students were taught how to wash their hands correctly while they count to 20. Our students grasped these concepts extremely well and were able to practise at home before schools reopened.

It has been almost two weeks since we (Nova Pioneer teachers) parted ways with students. I am glad to report that school closures didn’t dampen our commitment to teaching and neither did they put a halt in our students’ learning. Joy of Learning remains a priority.

 

The work behind the work

Our school leaders, learning design team and teachers have worked tirelessly to curate learning material which caters to the holistic needs of our students. The lesson plans have also been adapted to accommodate learning to occur in the home environment.

The learning packs were designed to keep our Novaneers immersed and active throughout the day. The lessons range from using beans or pasta as counting materials for our young ones to writing an engaging newspaper article about the impact of the COVID-19 for our more dynamic grade six students.  In an effort to not lose the Joy of Learning, all packs also included fun games and easy-to-do at home physical activities.

 

Learning through digital platforms

Thanks to great strides in tech innovations, and together with the help of parents, we have been able to facilitate remote learning and serve our students. From day one of the national school closure, our students have had the opportunity to engage in e-learning programmes from the comfort of their home. Teachers have been able to continually monitor progress and ready to provide timely feedback to the both students and their parents.

 

 

 

Building inquisitive, enquiring minds

Even with the social distancing, our teaching methods stay the same. Our expectations of our students also don’t change. Our students are still encouraged to not only absorb the information presented to them but also to engage with it. They are encouraged to ask questions which will lead to them creating connections between their learning materials and real-life experiences.We are confident that they have been equipped with the skills and tools to take the lead in their own learning. 

 

 

Parents getting in on the action

Parents and teachers have begun to share pictures of their amazing work of facilitating from home. We can not ignore the huge contribution of our parent-teacher relationships in the success of this remote learning programme. Our teachers continue to serve as support structures to both learners and parents telephonically as well as through email.

 

Teamwork makes the dreamwork

During this time, we have found real joy in being Greater Together and probably taken the culture principle to the next level. This is a reflection of the work our school does to equip learners with the ICT skills they will need now and in the future for independence and empowerment. Not even COVID-19 could stand in the way of our Joy of Learning spirit.

 

 

Here’s what some of our teachers had to say:

“Working remotely does not prevent us from providing maximum support to our learners. We strive to ensure that they still experience the Joy of Learning even at home.” – Khensani Mabona, Grade 6 Teacher Ormonde 

“Nothing beats starting my day with meditation – similar to how we start off each day with mindfulness activities with our Novaneers. – Roxanne Prem, Grade 3 Teacher Ormonde 

“Joy of Learning means taking regular outdoor reading breaks between my work so I can provide 100% support to learners and parents” – Katlego Thwane – Grade 7 Humanities Teacher Ormonde

 

 

Head over to our social media pages for updates on how our teachers, parents and students continue to live up to our mission – to develop generations of innovators and leaders who will shape the African Century. 

Instagram: @novapioneer_sa

Twitter: @novapioneer_sa

Facebook: Nova Pioneer South Africa