Eunice Nyakio Gathoni
Kenya
About Eunice
I am Eunice Gathoni a high school teacher of English and Literature in Githunguri high school Kenya. I am also the School Based Coordinator(SBC) in I.C.T Curriculum and Subject Integration, ,patron Drama and Music,innovation and Research clubs. I also volunteer as a student leaders trainer in Basic Computer Skills.
As a result our students have over the years represented Ruiru sub county at the national level in various Co-curricular activities under my guidance and mentorship.
My way of teaching the English subject is unique in that I integrate 21st century skills and ICT making it fun,student centred and captivating. I engage my students in both problem and project based learning activities. I use ATLs to teach. This makes me a facilitator of learning, enabling my students to discover, own,author,create and share acquired skills and knowledge. Sometimes I share English subject content rich OERs to enable my students carry out structured and speedy research online. This ensures online child protection and gives them focus. It's also highly student centred and action packed since they compile their findings and make whole classroom presentations. I equally create English content using the eXe learning environment as well as the Google classroom. This has sparked an interest among teacher trainees whom I mentor, on the preparation and delivery of ICT integrated content as well as 21st century skills in thei different subject areas.
My Music and Drama club members have pushed their presentations all the way to the National level for a number of years. My research club students have over the years represented our school at the national level for Kenya Science and Engineering fair. Two of them were nominated for the Young Scietists of Kenya award last year.
As the SBC,I have helped the school partner successfully with UN GESCI(ADSI) program for 5Years in training and Mentoring teachers to acquire ICT Integration 21st Century skills in Teaching and Learning experience.
A strong advocate of SDG especially SDG 4 on education, I believe that education cannot wait even in the midst of Emergencies like the current Covid 19 pandemic. I am very passionate about technology. Most of my students have acquired basic computer and research skills from school. As such,during this pandemic, I have partnered with parents ,a majority of whom have smartphones ,to facilitate teaching and learning of English. This is through our program #eteachingandlearningofEnglishfromhome.Staysafe.I have trained my students online on how to use the smartphone to take high definition captions of their handwritten assignments using the camscanner App and share either on the Google classroom or on WhatsApp. A lot of remote peer to peer training has also been going on among learners with my guidance.I mark my students work using digital tools. The variety of colours is therapeutic. I give immediate feedback to my students. We also exchange constructive phone calls, sms,WhatsApp and Google classroom chats for follow, feedback, guidance and consultation. For hard to teach concepts I share English subject content rich and relevant OERS to enhance understanding. I also share weekly KICD radio lessons and Edu channel TV lessons timetables to ensure that my learner are not left out in othe subjects Some of my students with my remote guidance have successfully, researched ,compiled and submitted three essays for national competitions.This week, we have embarked on a forth one which is an East African essay writing competition.
Our use of low tech, flexible ,innovative,cost effective and real time strategies have not gone unnoticed by the Kenya government.A recent KICD survey on Education Innovators that I participated in had me appreciated by Professor George Magoha,the education CS for using unique digital strategies to ensure learning continues in the midst of Covid 19 pandemic .