PHILIPSBURG – The Department of Education would like to continue its efforts in providing learning opportunities to all teachers and educators on the island of St. Maarten.
Therefore, the Department of Education is offering all teachers and educators free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to promote and strengthen their skills. Three trainings began on November 21.
The first was Emergency and Urgent Care for Children: a Survival Guide, which entails a 3-week online course, which teaches educators how to recognize and treat some of the commonest medical conditions that affect children.
The second is Teaching EFL/ESL Reading: A Task Based Approach |UCL | Coursera, which introduces educators to the concept of task and key principles of task-based language teaching (TBLT) and learning; and the third course is: Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms. This course explores key ideas of positive psychology and shows how great teachers apply those lessons to maximize student engagement and accomplishment. Educators will learn how to integrate character-based objectives into their teaching.
Other courses will begin on November 28, and January 16, 2017. The classes offered on November 28 are: First Year teaching (Secondary Grades) – Success from the Start, which allows educators to develop key skills and strategies to create positive, productive classrooms environments where students thrive.
K-12 Blended & Online Learning, which introduces teachers and interested adults to K12 and blended online learning. Participants will design a blended or online unit and develop one module to use with K12 students.
The class offered on January 16, 2017 is: Differentiating for Learning in STEM Teaching, which will enable educators to develop their STEM teaching skills.
The Education Ministry would like to encourage all teachers to utilize the courses provided by the Ministry, and also thank all teachers for their continued willingness and dedication to learn and progress in and out of the classroom.
