The AIMS-MasterCard Foundation Mathematics Teacher Training Program (TTP) held its first workshop to train 50 In-Service Mathematics Teachers from the 28th of November through the 2nd of December. These 50 teachers, 15 females and 35 male, are of the Francophone sub- system of education and were trained on how to improve all elements of their lesson preparation and classroom practices in order to teach in a more engaging and practical way. The goal is to increase secondary school students’ interest in mathematics so that more of them engage in STEM and follow STEM in tertiary education. This was the first of a series of trainings to take place until approximately 2000 in-service teachers are trained in the country.
All sessions in the workshop were facilitated by the TTP-trained Master Trainers, who began with sessions on leadership, values, and motivation that are foundational attitudes in the teaching profession. As leaders, the teachers have a sense of duty towards their students and should respect and exude the ethics that tag the teaching profession. With the tone set on being a good teacher, the next 3 training sessions touched on how to become excellent teachers and the tools to use to enrich their lessons in order to pique their students’ interest. With all the knowledge gained during the first four days of the training, the fifth day was reserved to see the application on the knowledge gained as they prepared lessons and taught them to their peers posing as students.
In addition, the online platforms for eLearning and the Community of Practice (CoP) to be used for the next phase of their training were introduced and explained. Consequentially, the teachers registered themselves on the CoP and familiarized themselves with it to prepare for the new era of sharing and assistance.
To close the training workshop, the teachers were presented AIMS-TTP training certificates signed by the Minister of Higher Education and the Minister of Secondary education, together with Geometrical Instruments to boost them up as agents of developmental growth in Cameroon ready for change.
The feedback from the trainees was amazing, Mr. Afroumba Eric Alexandre, was so happy and content with the training that he said, “I have never been schooled like this in my entire life, even at the Higher Teachers Training College. It is of no use to have the knowledge if you cannot properly pass it on.”
Flaure Zangue said, “I do not really know what to say, I learned a lot from AIMS
And I especially realized that I was doing the opposite of what I thought was teaching Math. I promise AIMS to remedy this and do better. Thank you AIMS, Thank you AIMS, Thank you AIMS.”
This training is a reconfirmation of the AIMS-NEI mission to propel Africa’s brightest students to their ultimate potential by giving them top notch training in mathematics. We believe that equipping mathematics teachers with the appropriate tools will fine tune their pedagogy, thus making more students interested in mathematics at an early stage and grooming them into the much needed problem solvers of our continent.
For more pictures of this training, click here
Do not forget to like our Facebook page by clicking here.