Recent reports that First Global Financial Services has partnered with the Ministry of Education on a project to use music to enhance students' learning, is welcomed news indeed. It is being done in a select number of schools and judging from the response so far, it appears that it is proving to be a success.

However, the use of music to complement, or even to integrate with the general teaching methods is not a novel idea in the Jamaican education system, and one wonders why it has taken all this time for it to be given national recognition.

For 'donkey years' teachers have been using jingles and hand clapping to bring across certain concepts in their teaching. In later years instruments like the drum and recorder were incorporated. Dance and rhythmic poetry (especially dub poetry) soon followed suit.

Nowadays the emphasis seems to be on reading and mathematics due to the fact of the importance of these two vital areas, and the fact that these are the two main areas of focus in our national and regional examinations.

mathematical concepts

In keeping with this thrust to find ways of motivating students to read and to understand mathematical concepts, our teachers are turning to the arts and especially popular music for assistance. One teacher told me recently how in order to teach students a certain mathematical concept she did a take-off of the dancehall hit song, Swaggerrific. She also reported that on a regular basis she uses a lot of dancing and drama in her teaching.

These educators have been crying out for official sanction of their creativity from the Ministry of Education and interestingly, from even some of their own principals. They want to know that if individuals from any of these categories pass by their classes their presentations would not be deemed chaotic.

Give me a teacher who is creative and innovative anyday; I believe they are worth twice their colleagues who believe they have to be slaves to the dictates of the curriculum!

As already stated, the creative teacher has for many years been using innovative methods to teach slow learners to read and to compute. However, along with this success comes patience, care and concern for the welfare of their students.

sense of achievement

Students, and especially the slower ones, need to feel a sense of achievement and this can only become possible if they are given material at their level and material which excites and motivates them.

For instance, it is a known fact that students, boys especially, love to draw. Yet, how many teachers are aware of this fact, and are prepared to utilise this in their teaching? How many of them are prepared to let these students create their own drawings, write short sentences about them and read it back to the class?

Back to the use of music as a teaching tool. In the case of the popular music, most, if not all of the students, would have already known the words of the songs; and they would have been intrinsically motivated which augurs well for their attention span. This is the kind of readiness that any teacher would hope for.

Let us embrace this revamped, new-look venture. Let us give the teachers our full support to be creative, in the interest of our students and education.

Questions, comments, observation? You can email me at elgin1225@yahoo.co.uk