MY STORY ON COMMUNITY BUILDING AND LEARNING SUSTAINABILITY DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

In the past three months, COVID-19 lockdown has changed just about everything in our lives especially the school system. All of us who are in the teaching profession have been figuring out how to engage our students who have been adjusting to learning from home. Come to think of it, even if everything has changed, there is something that has not changed- the overwhelming need for continuous learning of these students.

As the saying goes, “If you are not a part of the solution, you are part of the problem”. The COVID-19 pandemic is one of those times when all hands must be on deck to ensure that the building of tomorrow’s leaders does not stop. And I perceive it keenly, each day, in my role as a secondary school teacher at Omole Senior Grammar School, Lagos, Nigeria to contribute my quota. I will like to share my experience and how I have been supporting my students and community during this period.

Over the past two months, I have created a learning blog where my students can access my lesson notes, instructional materials, videos and assignments. WhatsApp groups and e-mail are two mediums where my students submit their assignments. Also, quizzes are used as assessment techniques which provide real-time feedback to my students. Collaborations and discussions on various topics are done via the WhatsApp groups devoted to the e-learning class. Yet as dark and uncertain as this moment feels, I see light and hope in my students as they are enthusiastic about this new development hence, learning has improved greatly. Furthermore, the learning blog has a massive reach as both learners and teachers outside my school and country are benefitting. The blog analytics captured 284 views on average with a total of 2,280 views as at June 5, 2020. (https://onlinephysicaleducationclass.blogspot.com/?m=1)

I was a Guest Speaker on Lagos State Television channel (https://youtu.be/-UDsC9dnsrU) for Children’s Day 2020 Celebration where I spoke at length on the need for parents to support their children on digital learning. Issues on sexual purity and academic excellence among teenagers/young adults were also discussed. Kudos to Lagos State Government for empowering public school teachers on digital skills thereby making me become a Certified Microsoft Educator during this lockdown.

Recently, as a means of giving back to the community, I organized neighbourhood palliative care through my NGO- Blessing Liberty Foundation International where 78 households were reached with food items and hand gloves. (https://blessingliberty.blogspot.com/2020/05/on-23rd-of-may-2020-blfi-crew-stormed.html) The idea was to touch the lives of teenagers/young adults in those 78 households.

I connected with various online youth platforms where I have been engaging and helping several youths to overcome depression, wrong peer-influence and bad habits. Offering free mentorship to both males and females and sending copies of my e-books- “Sexual Purity in Our Times” and “Feeds to the Top” to them. I believe we can, and should, help our young adults recognize their own courage at this moment, and how much this crisis can help bring out individual potentials.

Mrs Blessing Lydia Titiloye,
Education District VI,
Lagos, Nigeria.