This is an initial guide for Trinidad and Tobago teachers on using the communication experiences of creole-influenced students to improve their Literacy. The ideas suggested here can serve as an alternative to the Language Experience Approach to the teach

With the implementation of site-based decision-making occurring in schools, the extent to which teachers perceive their involvement in decisions on planning, budgeting, curriculum, staffing patterns, staff development, and campus-level organization and the extent to which teachers’ views of their involvement in these activities are congruent with the views of principals, is largely unknown. Examined in this study were the views of 288 principals and teachers at high performing schools and low performing schools concerning shared decision-making practices in the areas of: planning; budgeting; curriculum; staffing patterns; staff development; and, organization. Statistically significant differences were present between principals and teachers in all six decision-making areas, with principals viewing teachers as having significantly more involvement in these decisions than was perceived by teachers. Implications of these findings are discussed.

This audiotape is linked to Creating People Centred Schools learning guide, but carries debates which could also be used in a free-standing way by anyone interested in school organization and change.

The main purpose of this module is to explore how teachers can develop Early Literacy in young children by making use of their chat skills; also how they can advice parents about developing literacy practices at home and fostering oracy in their children as a basis for Literacy in a creole speaking (Trinidad and Tobago) context.

This module presents some ideas in the field of Communication and Language for use by teachers in Trinidad and Tobago. It is necessary to understand these concepts in order to see how they relate to classroom interaction and the teaching and learning of Literacy. This last point is made clearer in the modules: "Improving Literacy through Communication Experiences" and "An Alternative Language Experience Guide for Teachers"(See related links).

This course introduces teachers in Trinidad and Tobago to some possible links between Language, Communication and Literacy in our local contexts. All students and interested persons are welcome to sample the ideas here. Any of the modules/sections can be a convenient starting point.

In this course, teachers be introduced to thematic learning and cooperative learning techniques. Teachers will have a chance to develop lesson plans with these ideas in mind. You are given practical tools for classroom management and ways in which you can guide students to think about their own process of learning. Portions of this course have been reproduced from the encyclopedia of informal education: www.infed.org

By visiting schools we learn more about two approaches to school change and improvement: the school-as-organization model based on internal reflection and action; and the schools-as-community approach based on networking.

This module deals with school organizational change and development to provide the context in which systematic learning takes place, particularly in developing countries. It is designed for practising classroom teachers as well for those who play a role in school management. The module is likely to be most appropriate for practising teachers, and is potentially useful but probably not essential for introducing teachers-to-be to different kinds of organizational contexts. The focus on South Africa is easily adaptable to other contexts as the use of ideas and issues from the literature provide a common thread across all schools. The four sections of Creating People-centred Schools present a coherent progression. However, each section is downloadable as an individual unit.

Ideas on understanding change are taken forward into approaches to leading and managing change. School-as-organization approaches are compared with the school-as-community approach.

This introduction provides a rationale for the module, as well as its structure and content. We read how the writers intended the module to be used.

Beginning with a focus on South Africa, this section provides valuable coverage of approaches to school effectiveness and school improvement. We learn more about schools as learning organizations.

This provides an overview of organizational styles and the importance of cultures as well as structures in organizational models and change.

Visuals of how historical and social problems have impacted on schools. The fact that schools may also be badly managed leads to the question of how they might be better managed.

This audiotape is linked to Creating People Centred Schools learning guide, but carries debates which could also be used in a free-standing way by anyone interested in school organization and change.

This article/module explores the notion that to assist "problem readers" in Trinidad and Tobago, it is necessary for teachers to have a knowledge of how language is used in the community and how communication events occur there. These can be the basis for

Scenario covering academics and students sharing what they create to a wider audience, whilst also protecting their creative authorship

offers information and activities about the American Indians of the Northern Plains who lived in the area of the Knife River where it enters the Missouri. This area is now Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site.

This audiotape is linked to Creating People Centred Schools learning guide, but carries debates which could also be used in a free-standing way by anyone interested in school organization and change.