Four heads are better than one!
Today, September 13, 2012, Virgin Islands News Online showcases the story of these four sisters who happen to work together at the school and some of their thoughts and approaches to teaching and counselling in what appears as a unique situation in the Virgin Islands.
Camesha, who serves as the Guidance Officer, is responsible for counselling at the school. Twins, Sharie and Sharia both teach English, while Tanika plays the role of Science teacher.
Collectively, they had a dream of being at the Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) with the aim of being able to make a difference at the secondary level.
Sharie started teaching at ESHS in January, 2012 and her other sisters, some of whom were already teaching elsewhere, came along subsequently. Camesha, who counselled previously at Althea Scatliffe Primary joined the group in February 2012.
Surprisingly, when asked whether there was a family history of teaching or teachers in their lineage they all responded in the negative.
What Sharie found to be the most peculiar thing about the sisters was that they all attended the same schools over the years.
They each started at Isabella Morris primary then proceeded to ESHS and all got their degrees at Texas Christian University (TCU); remarkably finding themselves at the University studying at the same time.
So the sisters seemed to have had a history of having each other’s company wherever they went.
Camesha, at twenty-six years old and the eldest sister of the group explained that she did her first degree in Psychology and went back to do her Master's in Counselling, which is the period they were all together at TCU.
Tanika, now twenty-three years old, disclosed that she had obtained her Bachelor’s in Biology with a minor in Anthropology which was completed in 2010.
Not to be outdone, Sharie the younger of a set of twins, quickly interjected to say “We both did English.” The twins, at twenty-one years old, did share the common trait of doing the same programme. Sharie revealed that she did a minor in Educational Studies while Sharia minored in Sociology; they both left TCU in 2011.
In explaining how lessons from the work arena transitioned to their everyday lives, Sharie said that for her, “English is everywhere and in every subject.”
She related an incident of quotes being discussed earlier in the day at class, noting that one about never giving up arose and she remarked at the time that she lived by that too. “As I go out, I’d remember them telling me ‘never give up’, small things like that make a big difference to me.” She felt this was one of the reasons for her belief that most learning takes place outside of the classroom.
Tanika, a firm believer in the holistic approach method to education, felt it was important to set an atmosphere where students could freely express themselves, “it makes learning a lot more interesting when [students] can relate [subject material] to themselves too.”
“Just speaking academically never works for me,” Sharia concurred, “you should be able to reach a student spiritually, emotionally, socially… you should be able to take all of that into the classroom.”
A common misperception she felt was that teachers knew all the answers, “we don’t, so I also believe that teachers are students, we learn from our students as well.” She thought this was especially true where students were able to challenge the teachers on issues that were thought provoking.
Camesha thought it was best, especially given her role at the school, to make students feel most comfortable, even in instances where the circumstances happened to be away from the confines of the school.
She felt it was important to reveal who she was outside of a counsellor to help in bridging any gaps that might exist in helping them to relate their issues. “My students don’t pass me anywhere,” she declared.
When her sisters encounter issues with their students they are able to discreetly pass this on to her and she is able to reach out to them as a result. She thought this was a definite bonus in being sisters at the same institution.
The de Castro sisters also found it helpful that they are able to relate and exchange strategies with each other in approaching the students during their sessions in class and could incorporate the ones that they saw as being most successful.
A profound sense of shared spirituality was another facet that helped in navigating their day to day lives both personally and at the school. The sisters are all vibrant members of the New Life Baptist church, Sharie is most noted for her poetry while Sharia is a dancer there.
Tanika, a youth leader at the church, found that this helped her to relate to the students better as well. It allowed them to offer another dimension of themselves and offered the students another medium to reach them through.
There is no competition among the sisters as they disclosed that they were able to feed off of and support each other in their various endeavours both at school and away from school.
“I don’t think that any of us planned to be here, but somehow we all ended up here, so it’s probably for a reason,” Camesha expressed.
“When we leave,” Tanika said, “there should be a change, something that occurred because we were here.” She added that there must be a legacy where we took the initiative, loved the students or cared about them enough to go that extra mile.
One of the ways Sharia plans to effect this change is through one of the quotes in philosophy that she lives by; this states that education is not just filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.
She expressed that there shouldn’t be a rigid or hard and fast atmosphere where teachers stick to every letter of the law, but instead there should be one that allows them as facilitators to encourage an environment of critical thinking.
A fire, she says, spreads in a way that there might be no containment while a bucket does quite the opposite.
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41 Responses to “Four heads are better than one!”
Nicee ladies! Kepp it up ladies!
Vino excellent piece.
The Decastro sisters another proud moment and yes they are all indigenous and that mek them even more extraordinary!
That's great to see their contributions. I guess we gotta be family in the BVI.... or its the last names?