The maiden edition of the Teacher Self-Care Hangout, a re-branding and rediscovering session organised by Temitope Ogunniyi, fondly referred to as the Happy Teacher brought together teachers from both private and public arm of the education sector.
The event which was aimed at helping teachers walk through a self-care journey, took place at The Rejuvenee Spa, Lagos on the 30th of August, 2019.
Declaring the event formally open, the convener, Happy Teacher, welcomed everyone and briefly introduced the speakers while she also talked about the need to do proper self-care as teachers.
Speaking and taking the Emotional Intelligence session, the Emotions Doctor, Oyinkansola Alabi, made the teachers happily sit on the floor while she gave practical class. She had all the teachers do what she called the emotional charter garden, where the participants answered questions about how they want to feel, what must be done to achieve that, and how to resolve conflicts.
Even though you’re very important, people don’t think about you. Hence, you must understand that emotions drive people, and people drive performance, she noted.
“Parenting, as raising a child is only for 18yrs after which it becomes repairing. So you want to be mindful of how you raise your child to avoid irreparable damage,” she added.
The event took another dimension after the emotional intelligence session with the heart to heart session. The session had four panelists, Mrs Ade Fakoya, Mr. David, Mrs Hilda, Mr. Kingsley, who shared their experiences, and engaged the teachers with practical approaches to making teaching and learning fun.
Mrs Fakoya, also referred to as the ubermom, talked majorly about the three major things that a teacher should do; setting context which is the nitty-gritty of the learning and making it learnacentric; creating a good condition for learning to take place; and making connections to real life situations.
Convener, Temitope Ogunniyi addressing participants
Mr. David, fondly called the Smooth Teacher, stressed on the need to always implement ideas and be continuously creative, noting that it would set teachers apart from the conventional style.
Mrs Hilda, fondly called the cool teacher talked about the need to be deliberate in self development as teachers, stressing that cannot afford to be caught unawares. She urged teachers to always engage in research so as to be well versed.
Mr Kingsley, describing mathematics as a life skills, talked on the need for teachers to make teaching more imaginative, stressing that the least of the things that happens in class room is teaching. He noted that a teacher should be able to make a child realise and discover why he has to learn.
