Why I chose to do this program.

I have been an educator in the primary school system for close to twenty-five years. For some strange reason, most of the classes I have been assigned to during this period consisted of students who were low achieving and had very serious reading difficulties. Not being specifically trained to deal with reading problems, I tried whatever strategies I knew; was told or read about. Some worked, some did not; it was more like hit and miss in some cases.


After completing my Bachelor’s Degree in English, I waited around for a Master’s Degree that I was truly interested in. I knew that whatever area I specialised in at this point, I would remain in for the rest of my career. However, I was not sufficiently interested in anything that UWI was offering; I found the choices rather limited. I was also not motivated to go to another institution. Whilst I was waiting, I branched out into Public Relations and completed a Diploma. It was unlike anything I had ever studied. I managed to wake up some sections of the grey matter that I had not been using previously. Nevertheless, when I saw the advertisement for the Master of Education in Reading, I immediately knew it was what I wanted to do. It was like something just clicked and fell into place. I knew that this program would equip me to better handle my students’ problems. It offers scope for a variety of reading strategies and motivation techniques. By motivating a child to learn a big part of the problem is solved. I saw this amply illustrated when teaching Adult Literacy classes for MOE and Career Enhancement classes for YTEPP. These adult students knew what they wanted and went about the business of learning without distractions. It was such a pleasure to teach them. Hopefully, I can bring this joy of learning to my primary school students.