When Covid-19 pandemic hit us hard in March 2020, it also paralysed learning at all levels. But being that there is always a silver lining on every cloud, people thought about how to engage learners while holed up at home. Therefore, as part of home schooling, online learning took pre-eminence. This became more possible because learners in this epoch are technologically-tick. We are living in a digital age. With good guidance and advice, students can join and learn on online platforms such as zoom. At God’s Pen Consultancy, we thought about how to assist students. So, we came up with Penman Online Programme. We set up premium zoom accounts (for 100 and 500 participants). In the process, we managed to assist several students to remain focused on matters academics during tough times of Covid 19-crisis. We have kept on engaging students every holiday. In 2024, when the April Holiday spilled into May due to national flash floods and teachers’ strike, we also managed to set up online lessons to assist students to make wise use of the prolonged holiday.
Now, August holiday is here with us. In the English lexicon, August has two meanings. The two words are pronounced differently. August means the eighth month of the year. August also means respected, noble or impressive. Every student that yearns to evince excellence must make wise use of every holiday. In fact, as a peripatetic speaker in several school, any time I am chanced to talk to students about how they can be steadfast stewards of time, there is a concept I do bring to their consideration I call Expansion of Learning Time. What is it? While at school, because time elapses as if late for a flight, Expansion of Learning Time entails shortening breaks and lunches. It is maximising on prep time and weekends. It is sleeping late and waking up early. Then, when schools are closed for holiday, it is making wise use of it. For students, August holiday is just an expansion of second term.
Largely, during the brief break, learners must rest. For when they rest, they do not rust. During the brief break, they should press pause buttons and reflect deeply in order to gather gallons of winsome wisdom. When reflecting, they can mend mistakes made while at school. During the brief break, they can re-create themselves. In fact, wise use of holiday means they balance these three things: attending to home chores, sparing some personal time for leisure, and allotting time to personal study.
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Ideally, while students are holed up at home, it is sometimes challenging to spare some time for personal study. It is even harder for students who lack self-drive. Remember, in school, it is easier for students to remain focused like laser beams because schools are anchored on raft of rules, regulations, routines and programmes. Tintinnabulation of bells in schools assists students to stick like a tick to a certain way of doing things. Conversely, at home, rules are relaxed. During the holiday, when there is a chance to join and learn on online platforms, it can be a form of personal study time. For instance, at Penman Online Programme, we have two lessons for Forms 2-4 on daily basis. The first lesson runs from 8:00 to 9:30 am. After a brief break of 30 minutes, there is the second lesson which runs as from 10:00 to 11:30 am. Therefore, any diligent student who chooses to be part of our online school will have quality study time on daily basis. Additionally, at the tail-end of every week, we focus on Students’ Support Programmes (SSPs), where we stage Life Skills Education, Career and Academic Talks.
Being that we visit schools in over 40 counties across the country, our online lessons are akin to vast nets catching fish in a large lake like Victoria – the mother of all rivers. We bring together learners from different schools: giving them oodles of opportunities to meet and interact online. With this, they manage to embrace collaborative learning recognised in august education systems. Moreover, when learners meet, they can compare notes on august practices, programmes and approaches put in place in their schools. Likewise, we achieve this good goal when we engage teachers from different schools to teach Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, English and Kiswahili. We focus more on these subjects because they are the core-career subjects needed for cluster combination for courses. Then, some of these subjects are challenging to some students hence calling for affirmative action.
Finally, in august academic practices, serious schools complete Form 3 syllabus in Form 3. There are no spillovers to Form 4. And if possible, they begin Form 4 syllabus in Form 3. It is not easy to meet such demanding objectives and targets when students focus on the bare minimum. They must stretch, pay the price and sacrifice. No wonder, some schools identify simple topics Forms 2 and 3 can do on their own during the holiday. Likewise, most secondary schools complete Form 4 syllabus in Term 2. Thereafter, they launch a compressive revision programme: to help Form 4 candidates to polish pale parts. Or to dot the Is and to cross the Ts. Meaning, when learners get coveted chances to join and learn in online lessons, they can accrue some bountiful benefits. For instance, in our Penman Online Programme, we teach forward and backward. Forward means: We can teach Form 2 and 3 students topics they will learn later in school. Backward means: We assist Form 4 candidates by re-visiting topics they learnt earlier. It is revision or re-visiting. During the brief break, some learners were given shedloads of assignments to attend to. Sometimes, students find some assignments to be quite challenging. While learning online, it is easier to consult the teacher at the tail-end of lessons to seek some assistance and support.
By Victor Ochieng’
To join and learn with us online, call or WhatsApp: vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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