Tuesday, 4 August 2015

MY FINAL SCHOOLING AT SEPHEU-MOLEKE SECONDARY SCHOOL IN LIMPOPO PROVINCE

MY FINAL SCHOOL YEAR AT SEPHEU-MOLEKE SECONDARY SCHOOL LIMPOPO PROVINCE.

I Kola  Khutso Lesetsa, born and bred at Serageng (Ga-Mampana) village on the 3rd of August 1995. Graduated at Semakane pre-school and went to my primary school at Baithudi Mohlahledi primary school continued my primary schooling years at Mampana primary school. I went to Sepheu-Moleke Secondary School and currently enrolling for B.Ed. foundation phase teaching at the University Of Mpumalanga. My final school year was at Sepheu-Moleke Secondary School situated in a small village called Masanteng, right at the middle of Limpopo just after you have passed Tombi Seleka College Of Agriculture. Masanteng is a place where one would like to visit during any season of the year as the weather their accommodates all the seasons. When it comes to planting trees, fruits and vegetables they are number one more than any of the areas next to it. People love to go and entertain themselves in two small lounges called Masanteng Lounge and  Mokadi cultural lounge situated at this area. Many people visit these places for special occasions like weddings, party, or just any important event they would like to have or just going there to rest their minds off things and refresh it. During my schooling days at Sepheu-Moleke Secondary School, I followed science stream subjects as I was passionate about them and knew very well that they go hand-in-hand with my career choices. The subjects that I did back then were: Sepedi Home Language which was taught by Mem Nchabeleng, English First Additional Language which was taught by Mr Madihlaba KJ, Physical science which was taught by Mr Letsoalo D, Life-Science which was taught by  our head-Master Mr Motale J, Life-Orientation which was taught by Mr Phokwane, Geography which was taught by Mem Ranape, Mathematics which was taught by Mr Mashedi V. I matriculated in 2013 with a Bachelor and the subject that I enjoyed the most at school was Life-Science because the person who taught it was indeed a subject- matter expert as he did all sorts of examples, illustrations and making up songs, dancing, etc. in order for us to know and understand what he is trying to teach us. Even though he was an expert, the only thing that I hated the most about him was the lashes that he will give to you whenever he ask you a question and you don't know the answer or you come to school late or be absent  at school without a valid reasons, the morning studies and afternoon studies drove me mad at all times, but at the end they paid off.












But all in all he did all sorts of things but my favourite of them all was physics, I loved this subject with all my heart because it brought all the curiosity about things that you were not aware of, ask yourself lots and lots of question, try to solve questions, fail and fail again and again but at the end you finally get what you were looking for and it all turns out that what you were looking for was actually in front of your eyes even though you struggled a lot in trying to solve it. And the other thing that made me to love it even more was the teacher who was teaching it. He put more effort on it and compromise other things just to make sure that rest of the class understood what he was emphasising. His determination, commitment and encouragement was the ones that driven me to love this subject very much. These things really showed that he did not take teaching profession as a career of getaway in order to get paid at the end of the month and keep his soul and body alive and nourished but as a dream and a tool of mechanism to make differences in other people's life and put a mark that will never be erased by anyone. He was willing to share his talent and knowledge with the rest of us so that we too take it and share it with the rest of the world around us. He always come to class early and leave every day after having taken ten minutes of somebody else' period, and some of us were never impressed with him because he never missed a period and came in class whenever he knew there was a free period and come and teach and we were tired of this because we all wanted to sit around and enjoy this free period talking and laughing with each other while others will be sleeping and forgetting why we were there and to the fact that the whole of the surrounding communities, the whole country, and the rest of the world was counting on us with that precious time that we were wasting gossiping. He always encourage, motivates, remind us that the clock was ticking, and that what he was doing was in the best interest of our hearts, because he does not want to see any of us rooming the streets with no future that was ruined back then by him. It was his wish to see the class of 2013 passing all with quality results that will enables them to unlock any door that they enter in the tertiary institutions and all his sweat and power paid off and got "quality results" that he was looking for.

Not to forget the tallest man in our school Mr Motale who likes food very much and took his plate to the kitchen every day before break time to dish him up before everyone eats. Despite him liking food, he was a mentor to us all and sometimes here at varsity I miss his advice and the things he used to say to us. He used to tell us about varsity life and all that back then sounded like some places there at the universe and not here in SA, but now that I am exposed to this life of varsity I know what he was talking about. Every body used to copy what he was saying or doing in class and do them after school or during lunch time and laugh with each other about them. I still remember very well after trial examination, he came to class and told us that we will be attending morning lesson as early as six o'clock because winter season has gone by and everyone in the class mumbled and he knew we did not like the idea and told us that whoever is late should be at school around half-past six and not after half-past six. The expression on our faces showed the inner most feeling about coming to school at six o'clock. Days passed all of us were punctual  but  that did not last for a week, we started coming late and we got some lashes for that but before giving you some lashes he wanted some reasons why you came to school late and he knew very well that the only reason a learner could give about late coming was oversleeping. After beating you up, you will regret the day and the year. we will be angry at him for a long time but eventually come to our senses that he was doing what he was doing for our sake and shaping us into a desires shaped that will act as his  reflection towards others who are looking at him. My favourite teachers was Mr Phokwane, Mr Letsoalo, and Mr Madihlaba. what I like about Mr P was the trains that we had with him every Friday on the stage or in the sport fields, when we had to do push-ups, hooping, etc. But what I remember most was this particular day when he confess to the rest of the class that he loves me and the whole class yelled at him and said they saw this one coming all along but what he was trying to tell them is that he loves me because I am committed to my school work, and participate in class and submit task on time having been made with extra care and in a very acceptable manner but that was not enough to convince them and they talked about this until the whole year. The jokes and motivations that Mr Madihlaba did with us, shows indeed that the influence of a good teacher will never be erased, his famous quotes he said every day kept me going and trying all by means to reach for my destiny. I still remember this one quotes that driven me each and every day which is "let those who are blessed with the sowering swiftness of the eagle, who have flown before and I too will arrive". what I enjoyed the most was the lunch that they prepared each and every day at school especially pap and cabbage, this one was every ones' favourite. whenever it was the day of this dish I would run to the kitchen and dish up for myself before everyone arrives and buy Achaar and eat. Until this day came when a certain lady came to school and she wanted to motivate us and she went on and on speaking without realising that it was break time and this guy came and took our food and ate them all and after we left the class to the kitchen there was nothing left and I was so starving and at the same time angry at her because I missed the dish that I loved the most. My school never had access to computers and others devices to use for practical things and even a lab class we never had one so everything that we learned about was only written in the text book and the only way to find out about It using your own cell-phone that your parents bought you and go to internet and do some extra research about a particular thing you are looking for.

 

Sunday, 2 August 2015

THE BARRIERS OF ICT INTEGRATION IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS.

THE BARRIERS OF ICT INTEGRATION IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS.


According to the studies the barriers of ICT integration can be categorized into two classes, firstly is the extrinsic barriers which is the first order barrier and it involves cited access, time, resources, support and training. Secondly is the intrinsic barriers which is the second order barrier and it involves cited attitudes, beliefs, resistances and practices. Most of the teachers have got the desire to integrates ICT in their classroom but because of lack of knowledge, poor time management, lack of  technological competencies, poor training and lack of resources such as computers to teach their learners with. 

Teachers lack confidence, technological competencies and have this negative attitudes towards ICT  integration because they don't want to fail in using it in the classroom because most of them know very well that other children know computers more than they do so they do not want to expose themselves to the rest of the class because the learners will turn them into laughing stock. This negative attitude is the one that contributes mostly in these barriers because teachers resist to change with new technology but remain behind with the older one of which it has a negative impact on those learners he/she is teaching because they will have a challenge in trying to integrates with the new version. Lack of time is one main reason that inhibits the application of ICT in education as the teachers do not have enough time to accomplish some task because time is not on their side. ICT requires more time than any other subject in school as teachers have to give advice about internet, lesson plans, deal with technical problems and adequate problems. Lack of resources in the school that includes computers and adequate materials that the learners have to use in the classroom during the lesson and even at home the learners do not have computers to use in order to get used to computers and to facilitate ICT integration. Without the technical support in the classroom and the whole school teachers fail to overcome these barriers.  
   
  
Rural areas are the one of the highest places here in South Africa that experience the difficulties in integrating ICT in school because the learners who attends schools at rural areas are mostly likely to have no access to computers because of various reasons and one may be the fact that they don't have computers at home or maybe there are no internet cafe where they will go and do various activities in the cafe  where they are staying. The other reason is that parent are not working, so they cannot afford to buy them the computers or maybe they are working but they aren't earning barely enough to keep their soul and together , so they can not afford them. Learners who have computers at school never get the chance to use them regularly because teachers feel that they are not literally enough to use them and feel like they will break them or create virus to these computers as they will break down and theywill no longer have computer at school. And other ones is the fact that Government provide computers to the school but other school still do not have those computers.