Almost two years ago when COVID-19 became a reality in Guyana and schools were shut, Monix Hetemeyer, a teacher, saw how students around her were suffering and with the support of other like-minded colleagues, she started an online platform – Teachers’ Initiative Online Programme – to assist in teaching students who were not being engaged at the time.
While the initiative lasted for just a few months she believes it assisted those students in maintaining some semblance of normalcy in their academic life. Today, it has evolved into a platform to support educators. In a recent interview with Stabroek Weekend, Hetemeyer pointed out that often the mental wellness of teachers who are still adapting to the new norm are not taken into consideration,
Hetemeyer has been a teacher since she was 17 years old and a lover of languages especially Spanish, which she has been teaching for the past 15 years. So, it may not have come as a surprise to many when she got the ball rolling, as those around her know how much she loves teaching.
The New Amsterdam Multilateral School teacher said they started a WhatsApp group and the students were registered to the free programme of online classes. Teachers chose which medium they wanted to use to teach the students. A parents’ group was also established to communicate with them.
“One of the things that registered to me at that time was that it wasn’t just teachers who were struggling or students who were struggling but parents as well… A lot of parents reached out… and I had my ears filled with concerns as it related to homeschooling,” she shared.
The students engaged at the time were from first to third form and after more schools began engaging their students, Hetemeyer kept the Facebook page of the initiative open as a resource for teachers, students and parents.
She quickly realized that networking was important instead of trying to do things solo, and as a result she connected with other colleagues. The page has now evolved into the Teachers Initiative Forum managed by about 13 teachers.
The page now has a space called edu-talk which sees interviews being done with resource personnel focusing on different aspects of education and recently there was a panel discussion with teachers who indicated how the pandemic affected their lives as it relates to teaching online and even now face to face.
“Basically, the page… is really to support our educators, we have pro-fessional programmes planned to train our educators and also to support our students and parents…,” she said, revealing that the page has over 1,500 followers with the group’s motto being ‘Changing Lives, Communities and the World Through Transformative Education.
The group has two advisers, psychologist and lecturer Wil Campbell and Dr Tamirand Nnena De Lisser, assistant dean of the Faculty of Education and Humanities at the University of Guyana
Mindset
As the founder of the group, Hetemeyer wants educators to have a mindset to move in the direction of transformative education, giving them a meaningful experience in the classroom, which they then take with them throughout their lifetime.
“That is essentially what we want to focus on and what we want to condition other educators to really have when they enter the classroom,” she said, adding that they want the education the children receive in the classroom to shape them as opposed to just providing information for them to pass their examinations.
By preparing them holistically for adulthood, the educators are also essen-tially changing the world around them through their students.
But even as they do this, Hetemeyer and those around her are also mindful of the fact that with the advent of COVID teachers found it difficult “just to find their footing” as it relates to online learning as initially there was no training to facilitate this and there was a lot of confusion.
She believes it is only now that teachers are beginning to make the necessary adjustment to online learning, even though most of them are now back in the classroom.
Teachers also had to battle with physical and online learning (as some are even doing now) so it was a case where some of them had to go to school then return home and continue teaching online, all of which proved to be very difficult.
The hours of school engagement have also changed, and Hetemeyer, who is a level head for Grade Seven at her school, noted that frustrated parents engage her sometimes late into the night. She said these are a few of the concerns teachers have raised on the page as they continue to adapt to the new norm.
The mental well-being of the teachers is also a big issue and she believes the Ministry of Education should pay attention to this as well.
“Because if you don’t have healthy teachers, and I am not talking about physically alone, if you don’t have healthy teachers mentally, it’s pretty difficult to have the performance that you would want in the classroom…,” she pointed out.
Hetemeyer said she has not seen this issue highlighted as teachers are burdened and they are stressed as they balance online and physical learning.
Another sore point for teachers is the administration of schools as some are not equipped to adequately manage and ensure that learning continues effectively and this causes even more stress for them.
Passionate
Hetemeyer’s passion for education has kept her going through this period even though she admitted that initially she had a difficult time as she was not familiar with the technology needed for online learning.
“But then I had to familiarize myself with these platforms and eventually it got to a stage where I was able to cope. Fortunately for me, I was online all the time and it was only recently I started face to face and then I had to battle with that as well, doing face to face and having to do online…,” she said.
The issue with internet connectivity or lack of thereof also proves somewhat difficult for her as well as other teachers.
She posited that each teacher has to find the groove that suits her/him instead of just doing what others do and not become “lost in the madness. I am doing what I have to do and learning at the same time…”
As a Spanish teacher, Hetemeyer, who is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Guyana, Tain Campus in introduction to Spanish, said that one of the difficulties for her is getting students to participate online.
“That is one of the biggest issues combined with internet issues…,” she stressed adding that online can be more tiring than face-to-face learning as it requires more mental focus and as such a major linchpin has to be finding innovative ways to keep the students’ interest.
Looking back to 15 years ago when she entered a classroom as a teacher, Hetemeyer said she stumbled into the profession but eventually she got that feeling “that this is where I am supposed to be”.
That feeling came when she started attending Cyril Potter College of Education in 2009 where a lot of her perspective changed about teaching and that was where she fell in love with the profession.
Explaining how she stumbled into the profession, Hetemeyer recalled that as a 17-year-old, she was looking for a job and it was during a discussion with someone who worked at the multilateral school that she learnt of the need for a Spanish teacher.
She was initially hired part-time, even though at that time she did not want to make teaching a career but eventually she became a permanent member of staff and her journey as a teacher began.
“It has been very good because, you know what it is to be able to find your niche, what it is to be able to find the thing that you believe wholly and solely that you were meant to do on this earth. And so just for that reason alone it has been a blessing…,” she said of the journey so far.
She described it as a real blessing to do what she loves and she has been imparting knowledge at one school throughout her career even though she left at one point to study.
But there is still more in store for Hetemeyer as while she loves Spanish and loves teaching the subject she is more interested in being in a position where she can be involved in decision making as it relates to education.
She wants to be in a place where she can make a change and with light laughter she responded in the affirmative to the question as to whether she sees herself one day being in the direct employ of the Ministry of Education.
“I am not saying that the Ministry of Education is not doing what they are supposed to be doing and I am totally disregarding what they are doing but I just feel that I can make a valuable contribution in that aspect,” she expounded.
In her own way, Hetemeyer may have already started to effect changes as she shared that after she started lecturing at the University of Guyana, she realized that many of the students were struggling with the course, which carries eight credits. Taking matters into her own hand she wrote a proposal to create a handbook for the course and joined with some of her colleagues to create it.
The handbook, which teaches the fundamentals of the language (grammar and pronunciation) and aims at giving students a strong foundation in the language, was recently published by the UG press. “This book will now accompany the course. We also did an audio to accompany the book. It’s a full package,” she said.
In addition to her teaching job and being the mother to two children, Hetemeyer and her husband are also co-pastors at a Full Gospel Fellowship church under the direction of Apostle Wilbert Daniels.
She encouraged that not only teachers but all have to rise to the occasion and do what needs to be done during the period of the COVID-19 and all that comes with it.
