Nigerian Idol: Whispering Thoughts

Just watching Nigerian Idol show and these messages kept popping in my head.

Body language is way powerful than spoken words. 

They're things only experience can teach you if you properly evaluate your actions.

Sometimes you've to look people in the face and tell them you're worth more than they think. The force of your expression can make them change their impression.

Believing in yourself isn't just words alone. Your body language must scream this out more than your voice.

However, you can't be a judge in your own case. What other evidence, independent of you, backs up the fact that you're as good as you think...?

My opinion... 

THE MATHS MAESTRO IS BACK: YOU DON'T WANT TO BE LEFT OUR ON THIS

👋🏽 First of all, I am extremely glad that you are reading this message.😁😁

Now a bit about myself : I am a Nigerian who recently finished secondary school. I am sixteen years old and I launched a youtube channel recently on the 19th of November, 2020 called Math Bosses. 😎

Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTWerOmJj09meO_MiHktfhQ/

Please keep reading🙏🏽🙏🏽

You've probably never heard the name...the channel is actually not popular😔 but that's why i'm glad you are seeing this message.😃

Now, don't get bored but I got the inspiration to start this channel from my love for Mathematics as a subject as well as my love for helping others.🤗

 But why should you trust my content: I got an A1 in Mathematics and Further Mathematics while in secondary school after writing the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE/WAEC) and I also got an A* in Mathematics for International General Certificate Examination (IGCSE) and I have been helping others with Mathematics since Basic 8/JSS 2.

Don't leave yet🤲🏽🤲🏽

Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTWerOmJj09meO_MiHktfhQ/

Now, I have no proof for you reading this message, but I want to appeal to you to give me a little bit of trust by checking out the channel and it's content. I can assure you that it is not the best so I would really appreciate it if you leave a comment on how I can improve after watching the videos.

I upload videos every Thursday and my aim is to start from the basics so currently my videos will majorly be useful to you or your little brother or sister, cousin or children especially Primary 5 to JSS2 (Basic 5 to Basic 8) pupils. 

Almost done...🙂

But why should YOU subscribe: Well very soon, most likely the first Sunday of December, I'll begin to upload tricks in mathematics that would be useful for anyone in any area of life. 

These tricks will sharpen your reasoning by far and increase your critical thinking skills.

So, what are you waiting for?🤷🏽‍♀️

Click the links to watch the videos;

Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTWerOmJj09meO_MiHktfhQ/

First Video Link: https://youtu.be/TaxVBOsNaXs

Second Video Link: https://youtu.be/fsJiA3tTa1U

Don't skip this part😃

When you do watch the videos, you'll notice that I used slides a lot and you can also get access to these slides (on Instagram) by clicking on this link. 

Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/math_bosses/

Now, final favour🙏🏽

Forward this message to as many as possible.

Thank you😇😇

CONFESSION TIME: TEACHER! GOD UPPED HIS GAME. HOW ABOUT YOU?

I haven’t been to heaven and I guess you haven’t either. Our knowledge about God comes from the scripture and sometimes personal revelation/encounter.

I believe He is omnipotent, omnipresent etc. But for the past two to three weeks, I have been wrestling with the above named topic. It flashed into my mind once and would never let go. I have decided to get rid of it; throw it out for all to read as well. There is a message in it for you if you are a teacher at heart.

As a teacher dealing with students on day to day basis, I have realized that reflecting over our action or other’s is a tool we must keep handy. I want to share this reflection of mine with you. Be kind to express your views after surfing through.

God has been learning on the job. For centuries, millennia, He learnt from His interaction with mankind. And where God threads with caution, I dare not zip around it like car driver on steroid.

GOD'S LEARNING FIELD
Between the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament is about thousands years (don’t know many exactly).

Those years featured God establishing covenants upon covenants with His people. It saw Him sending prophets to reestablish affirm old covenants or setup new ones. Yet He had a nation so truculent that at the slightest opportunity turned the terms of the covenant on its head. 

Through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Jeremiah and many more He established these covenants with His people.

He promised them heaven and earth, parted the sea for them, made manna fall like rain in the desert, squeezed water out of a rock, brought down nations before them. And what was His reward?

They (the Israelites) sold Him out at the slightest opportunity, going after manmade images and the likes. They even offered their children to those gods too. Killed, tortured, maimed prophets He sent to call them back to order even His son met the death reserved for criminals of the highest order.

He sent them into exile, brought them back. He punished them with famine, diseases etc but the repetition was unfortunately an endless cycle.

LEARN FROM GOD
But God didn’t give up. God upped His game and not the Jews. Like the master tactician/coach, He shifted from plan B to C, D down to Z and at the end, conquered the whole world in less than two thousand years.

The icing on the cake was that He is no longer leading the battle line from the vanguard. We, you and I are doing it with His blessings. 

But don't forget, God upped His game and not the Jews. 

The key to His incredible success was taking flesh, the incarnation. All other covenants never had this feature. And it was when He ate with us, wept, got angry, slept, knew disappointment and success that the seed of world domination. 

Instead of appearing in a pillar of smoke, with a thundering voice, opening up the ground to swallow defaulters, sending poisonous snakes amongst their rank to punish them, making them walk forty more years in exchange for forty days, sending them into exile etc He chose to live with you and I. 

This is what teaching should look like. 

My students will never change their game tomorrow. They don't even know what wave length they are playing on. And if I give in, they lose. If I go hard on them, I may lose some if not all.

My only option is to play God. I have to come down to their level, observe their learning processes, weaknesses and do the changing from inside out; from their point of view. 

I will teach, learn and study with them. I must get into their brains, behind their eye sockets and view my learning process from their perspective, how they assimilate and interpret my learning contents. This is no easy fit but it is doable. 

Jesus did it. If he hadn't lived among us, I wonder how long Christianity would have fared. I think that what fired a bunch of semi-literate/illiterate Jewish men to change the course of history was their experience with Jesus (the Word made flesh). 

CONCLUSION
Permit me to wrap up with this quote, "I've learnt it is more effective to adapt and to meet my students where they are rather than forcing them to change, to adapt and to meet me where I'm."

This was God’s trump card.

CAN YOU HELP PAPA MMESO BE A BIT RELEVANT TO HIS STUDENTS TOMORROW?

 I polished my shoe a couple of minutes ago, ironed my shirts on Saturday night. I will be packing my bag (laptop) in the next 30 minutes. 

My lesson notes are in soft copy. I just ran through them on Saturday. Literally I am set to welcome Monday cum resumption day. 

Let me share some of my plans for I and my students this term. By God's grace we will successfully cross out each of them as the term unfolds. 

I teach S.S 1 Civic Education and S.S 2 Humanities CRS. 

I have already splitted the S.S 2 class into groups of four the previous term. This term, we will at the group level be doing a lot of peer to peer teaching/coaching, assignments cum presentations.

Peer to peer mentoring gives the shy ones the opportunity to discuss with their colleagues, ask questions and even help the more courageous ones to assist the others.

I may not be able to do this in S.S 1 because our period per week isn't much. I will however employ different form of assessments (oral, written etc) to gauge their level of comprehension as the term rolls on. 

I used audio visual tools a bit last term. I have to double my effort in this regard this term. Design more PowerPoint slides, bring in relevant video clips, newspaper clippings too and any other relevant learning aid. 

What am I missing? What would you like me to add to my to do list this term? Do help a teacher be much more relevant to his students this final lap of the session... 

Never allow a week to end without learning several new things about the children you teach! Joseph Aisida

The refectory was dark. It was the shortest cut to the classroom block so he had to take it. 

He felt along the wall for the light switch. 

And as the light scattered the cloud of darkness, he saw someone sleeping - head on the table he guessed. 

It was prep time. No one should be hear now. 

He got closer only to hear his sniffles and what passed off like a sob or was he crying?

He gently raised his head up. It was John the troublesome student. Of course who else should it be? He thought.  

However John's tear stained face presented a different case scenario which compelled him to explore the situation. 

After minutes of petting and consoling, John's power of speech came back to life. His story roused my colleague's teacher antenna. 

They were caught talking during lights out the previous day. The following day, they were marshaled out before the Academic dean. 

It was there that his nightmare kicked off. He and his fellow culprits received the severest tongue lashing of their lives. 

He kept a straight face, swallowing the skin pealing barbs bravely till the Dean singled him out. 

What was his fault? 

He was the only person who wasn't crying or rather, according to the Dean, showing signs of remorse. And he was vehemently rebuked for his strong hearted nature - a heart that is incapable of feeling an aorta of contrition for what he did. 

This wasn't the first time John has been caught in the eye of the storm. He has over time decided to wear his poker face when they hurl their barbs at him. 

He would rather go to a quiet corner and weep his eyes out later. Just like this fateful night my colleague caught up with him. 

Two to three days of continuous discussion got John talking about his past.

So was he actually a headstrong, hardhearted, incapable of showing remorse fellow? 

He was a product of a broken home. His mother took his sisters with her leaving him with his dad. No one has heard from them since. 

His dad actually dumped him in the school to keep him far away from his James Bond life style. Of course he had figured this out too.   

As he narrated this to me, I couldn't help but ask myself how much I really know about my students? 

Apart from the troubling facade, the innocent face, the aggressive tendencies, what else do I know about them?

What do I know about their family background, how stable the home front is, are the parents staying together, divorced, dead etc? 

This could be a difficult prospect which can make our already cluttered desk look insignificant. But if we really want to meet the unique needs of our students, this is a sacrifice we must make. 

Papa Mmeso the students' teacher. 

SOME OF US (TEACHERS) ARE GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER.

She knows, even her parents too that she is a jack of all trade. 

Her teachers told her that. That she isn't intelligent. The reason why she is good is that she is in the midst of average students. 

I don't know whether she believes them but she is accepting the view that she may be the living embodiment of the word Jack of all Trade.

She just dropped a book on my desk - John Mason's Know Your Limits - Then Ignore Them. In her words, I should read Nugget 6. It is titled "One Thought Driven Home Is Better Than Three Left In Base." 

I am perturbed that she is buying into this already. And I am not happy that some of us are responsible for this seed of doubt sown in her malleable heart. 

How could we be so heartless, so carried away, or thoughtless? How could we identify a problem and fail to proffer solutions? 

I don't think it is late yet to pull her out of this backward thought. I will read the book but I wouldn't buy into her theory. 

I see a smart working student in her. I see a lady who will take the center stage in any field if endeavor she finds herself. I see a student who could combine, head different groups in school and still have time for her books. 

Teachers, our word is golden. It has the power to create and destroy. We must be careful when we correct our students. 

We should castigate and also encourage; smack with our left hand and give hope with the right hand. 

Never tell a parent or a student what the problem is without reeling out solutions as well. And if you are not ready to be part of the solution, be still and forever remain silent.