How to Make Miracles

Schools in Lagos state resumed for third term on 22nd April 2024. I was (and still am) in high spirits to be back in the classroom.?

My joy stems from two reasons:

• Reuniting with my children and (classroom) friends. I'd missed them so much.
• I missed the sparks of titillations that come with teaching and learning from them.
• I'm anticipating a miracle on an adventurous task. I call it a new old path.

A New Old Path

You know sometimes an old path being threaded on a different time and moment may seem novel and pristine, yet an intuitive deja vu keeps kicking on our minds.?

It may seem we have mastered a system, pattern, space, and time but the newness of circumstances, people, requirements, standards, and expectations elicit renewed carefulness and due diligence.?

As a teacher, it could be in the form of taking a new class, joining a new school, adapting to a new curriculum, or setting new goals. Mine takes the form of the latter.

At the end of last term, the school management and I had an evaluation of the reading and writing programme I initiated at my workplace. We started the programme after we discovered that there were pupils in Grades 1-5 who couldn't read and write effectively.?

We understood that any matter of literacy not well addressed during these formative years becomes a long-lasting scar on their academic journey. We had to swing into well-planned actions.

Since their proficiency wasn't at the same pace, we first partitioned the classes according to their level of literacy, began with a blueprint I introduced, and kept the learners engaged for about 3 months.

The programme performed much more than we expected. Their parents appreciated the drastic improvements they noticed in their wards. And the learners enjoyed the lessons to the extent that they didn't want it to end.

The programme wasn't just successful. It was a miracle.

Another Miracle We Expect

Miracle has become a homonymous term. Dictionaries define the concept as an extraordinary occurrence that's beyond human explanations and therefore accorded to divine sources. Some think of it as what leaves us speechless due to inexplicable, unexpected, and superior influences.

Yet, I think some of what we call miracles (with a supernatural appraisal) are gaps in knowledge for which we haven't got factual explanations and because they dazzle us at our current level of knowledge, we precipitantly call them miracles!

It wouldn't be wrong to go back to its original latinate appellations (mirus, mirari, and miraculum), which all meant wonderful, to wonder, and to cause to wonder.?

We often think of miracles with heavenly, spiritual, and metaphysical undertones because of where the present demonym, miracle, takes root. 'Miracle’ is an Old French word borrowed as an Anglophone word in the Middle Ages. And as history tells us, this was an era when their religion had a great influence on language, politics, and education.

So, when we talk of miracles today, we likely and subtly hinge it on the metaphysical.

As a literary scientist, I often think of miracles as undiscovered knowledge that may become mundane in decades, centuries, or kilo years.

Before the discovery of Quinine, Chloroquine, and other antimalarial pharmaceutical products, the solution to Malaria in most parts of the world was a miracle. Though there were herbal and traditional medicines used to solve the Malaria riddle, millions of evitable deaths were recorded every year.?

Now, history repeats itself in reading and writing literacy. Today, there are about a billion people who can't read and write. Research tells us that many are in school yet are not attaining literacy skills. This situation is because schools, parents, and nations have been dependent on traditional methods for too long. And it seems the way out could only be a miracle

Luckily for our time, there have been hundreds of research and programmes tailored towards finding a miracle that solves the illiteracy problem. Some have been successful, and some are still making attempts.

One such successful intervening solution is given in my book,? Easy Reading Easy Writing: 40 Easy Step-by-Step Lessons To Teaching Kids and Adults How To Read and Write Effectively In Less Than 3 Months.

Currently, we have adopted the methods in the school I teach, and the testimony has been miracles every day.?

We are currently on another project to improve the literacy skills of another set of learners (about 5% of the school population). They are between the ages of 6-8 and are eager to learn. They have mastered the alphabet sounds and identification of most letters. Since the parents have tried various means and transferred their wards to various schools that couldn't meet their expectations, they anticipate so much from this promising project.

How This Miracle Will Occur

The various times I've been faced with this kind of challenge, a surge of admixture of confidence, joy, and expectation combs my heart.?

Yeah, I'm confident they all will improve their literacy skills in the next three months. Experience has taught me that when definite plans meet desire, love, and faith unrefined, the supernatural becomes the norm, even in the classroom.

My joy erupts from the privilege of being part of the success of these little stars. In their midst, my playful self illuminates glaringly. I have the opportunity to share their innocence. Their altruistic nature is a natural gauge used for personal introspection. And I rejoice in their joy.

So, here's what I will do (though I've set off with most of the items), to get desired expectations.

1. I will get them gift items peculiar to children, and accessible appropriate things they may want.
2. I will praise them even when they fail, and correct them with love.
3. I will inspire them to make and believe bold affirmations.
4. I will play with almost everything with a good dose of discipline and classroom management.
5. I will start from what they know and build from there. I won't assume they even know the letter 'a’.
6. I will group the letters according to their formation pattern, to make the learning of writing easy. Page 17 of my Easy Reading Easy Writing Book shows how to do this.
7. I will be patient, steady, cumulative, and precise.
8. I will not teach reading alone, as suggested in Unit 2, Page 50 of my book. I will teach reading and writing because it's more effective this way.
9. I will not teach uppercase and lowercase letters at the same time, because it will slow their reading and writing speed. As explained in Unit 3, Lesson 9 Page 136, I will teach lowercase before uppercase.
10. ?l will apply all the methods used in Book 1 of Easy Reading Easy Writing: 40 Easy Step-by-Step Lessons To Teaching Kids and Adults How To Read and Write Effectively In Less Than 3 Months.

I'm expecting a predicted miracle in the next three months. Would you love to join in this adventure of predictable miracles? Order your copy of Easy Reading Easy Writing here, and feel free to send a DM let's talk about it.?

Your teacher.?

E. C. Ahika