Tag: education

LEAP, Reading Workshop and Transformative Learning

Sherene Noble, M.A.

Educators meet in circles to reflect on the day’s events.

In July, Literacy Educators As Partners (LEAP) concluded its highly successful second annual Summer Reading Workshop in Linden, Guyana, a one-week initiative designed to enhance literacy skills and foster a love for reading among young learners. This year, the workshop attracted over 50 children from the Amelia’s Ward area.

The Summer Reading Workshop 2025 aimed to improve reading comprehension and vocabulary skills while encouraging critical thinking through research-based strategies, skill-building workshops, and creative activities. Held for five hours each day, this interactive program provided participants with a comprehensive educational experience designed to empower them as lifelong readers and thinkers.

A Transformative Approach to Literacy Education

One of the primary goals of the workshop was to bridge the gaps in literacy education often created by rote learning methods and passive reception of information. In place of these outdated approaches, the Summer Reading Workshop introduced a transformative model, focusing on literacy practices that empower students to think critically, engage creatively, and develop a genuine love for reading.

This initiative wasn’t only for students. Teachers in attendance were equipped with new skills and competencies through professional development, ensuring that the impact of the workshop would extend beyond the week-long event. Teachers will take these transformative strategies back to their classrooms and school communities, inspiring future generations of learners to engage with reading in meaningful ways.

Building a Strong Foundation for Success

Every participant in the Summer Reading Workshop 2025 received a backpack filled with school supplies, along with daily snacks to ensure they were prepared and motivated for active participation. This support ensures that each child is set up for success as they approach the upcoming school term. These resources, alongside the engaging activities, created an environment where young learners felt safe, nurtured, and inspired to expand their reading horizons.

Additionally, the workshop’s approach mirrored the Ministry of Education’s mission to foster a literate and empowered society in Guyana, aligning with national educational goals and contributing to the sustainable growth and development of the country.

Beyond the Workshop: LEAP’s Ongoing Impact

LEAP is a group of dedicated educators with shared roots in Linden, Guyana, and a passion for both education and community development. Since its inception in 2014, LEAP has focused on a variety of initiatives aimed at improving literacy in Linden, such as:

  • Teacher Training Workshops: Equipping educators with research-based techniques and resources to enhance classroom instruction.
  • Book Donations: Expanding access to diverse and enriching reading materials for students.
  • School Supplies Donations: Ensuring students have the tools they need to succeed in school.
  • Reading Workshops: Creating opportunities for young learners to develop a love for reading and to enhance their literacy skills.

Encouraged by the success of these initiatives, LEAP’s founding members are now working towards formally registering the organization as a nongovernmental organization (NGO). This will allow LEAP to scale its programs, reach more children, and continue transforming literacy education in Linden and beyond.

Gratitude and Acknowledgments

The success of the Summer Reading Workshop 2025 would not have been possible without the generous support of numerous individuals and organizations. Special thanks go out to:

Lindiwi Benjamin, Collis Augustine, Petal Davis, Hyacinth Gibbs, Keith Manifold, Aretha Cameron, Gina Louis, Marcelle Goodchild, Jennifer Cusick, Dylan Singh, Stay Allen, Naudia Pellew, Louise Mac Cloud, Dr. Lequita Pryce-Tappin, Virgil Estwick, Arlene Gravesande, Chaka Langevine Casey, Morris McKinnon, Elizabeth Conde, Dionne Leonard, James Burke, Nathan Larsen, Daniel Vitali, Brian McCormack, Yani Santana, Daniel Filipak, Peter Maiwald, Keith Walcott, Valerie Smith, Lin-Jay Harry-Voglezon, Olivia Belgrave, Dr. Gillian Richards-Greaves, Shaundell Blege, Jeffrey Gill, and Orin Charles.

We would also like to express our gratitude to the anonymous donors, who contributed $200, $140, and $50 to the cause, and to the management and staff of e-Magic Inc, the principal and staff of Lyons Community School in Brooklyn, NY, Dr Robin Pestano, and several local leaders and volunteers. These include: Mayor of Linden, Sharma Solomon, Regional Chairman #10, Deron Adams, Regional Councillor, Wainwright Bethune, Jenelle Grant, Sephra Ebron, Kerensa Kitt, Jedidah Wilkinson, Rueshell Noble, Andre Walker, Roxanne Noble, Pastor Stanley Haynes, Jeneisa Massiah, Latoya McPhoy Allicock, Odetta James, Shelisa Mason, and Nicola Green.

Looking Forward

As Literacy Educators As Partners moves forward, the Summer Reading Workshop 2025 stands as a testament to what can be achieved when dedicated educators and community members come together with a shared purpose. It truly takes a village. We look forward to the village coming together again in 2026 to continue this mission.

Let’s also come together as a village to support Shamari Cyrus. Shamari is an aspiring lawyer with a dream to make a significant impact in the legal field. A graduate of the University of Guyana with an LLB degree, Shamari’s journey to becoming a practising attorney is one step closer as she has been accepted into the prestigious Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago. However, like many pursuing higher education, the financial burden of completing this final stage of her legal education presents a significant challenge. Coming from a single-parent home, Shamari faces difficulty in covering the high costs associated with law school. But with determination, passion, and the support of her community, she is ready to push forward on her path to success.

This is an opportunity for us to contribute to the growth and development of a deserving member of the Linden community. By supporting Shamari, we are not just helping an individual; we are investing in the future of our legal system and society. Shamari’s success will not only empower her but will also inspire others in Linden and beyond to pursue their dreams, no matter the obstacles.

Let’s make a difference in Shamari’s life and contribute to the future of our community. Click on the link to contribute to Shamari’s GoFundMe campaign and help her take the next step toward becoming the attorney she aspires to be.

https://gofund.me/bd01825d

Anomie, Social Degradation And Molly

Sherene Noble, M.A.

Support this page and the other work that we do by purchasing copies of Legends of the Black Water or purchasing from amazon.com via this associate link (earns commission).

I was born in the bauxite mining community of Linden, Guyana. Although I now live in Brooklyn, New York, “mih nable string bury in Linden”, plus, “ah eat labba and drink creek water”. Linden is in my blood. So I return every chance I get. I view giving back to the community that raised me as not just an act of love but also an obligation. I want to retire to Linden, hopefully in a place that is much better than it was when I left. Unfortunately, that might not be possible. 

Linden is dying, and too many of us are watching it happen in silence.

This year, when I returned—just one year since my last visit—I was devastated by the sheer speed and severity of the decline. The signs of decay were not just present; they were glaring. Yes, the crumbling infrastructure and chaotic disorganisation in Central Mackenzie are troubling, but what truly unsettled me was the invisible plague—more pervasive than potholes, more destabilising than disarray. I’m talking about the quiet epidemic eating away at our community from within. I’m talking about drug use, particularly among our young people. I’m talking about Molly.

(from cnn.com – fair use)

It seems as though everywhere I turned, teenagers and young adults are “zombied out”—glass-eyed, staggering, mumbling, detached from reality. Molly (methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA), often cut with toxic fillers, is not just a recreational drug; it is a psychological and neurological time bomb. Its use is linked to long-term memory loss, depression, psychosis, and even death. But in Linden, its use has become normalised.

I raised my concerns with several people around the community, including a few officials. I was met in some cases with unawareness, excuses, or worse—denial. One resident told me he goes to bed early and isn’t affected by it. I smiled, not from amusement, but frustration. This is NIMBYism—“Not In My Back Yard”—at its most dangerous. Because eventually, it becomes NIMBY reversed: “Now In My Back Yard.”

Then I was given some data and horror eclipsed even frustration. Recent reports indicate that over 800 young people in Linden were treated for mental health issues related to drug use—at the Mackenzie Hospital alone. That number is not just alarming; it is catastrophic. And let us not pretend these are isolated cases. These are the ones who made it to the hospital. What of those who didn’t? Who are quietly slipping through the cracks?

This is a full-blown public health crisis.

Sociologist Émile Durkheim once posited that communities under strain experience anomie—a breakdown of norms and social cohesion. That’s what Linden is facing: a collapse of shared values, discipline, and vision. Young people aren’t just bored or unemployed—they are untethered. They lack community, purpose, and protective structures.

Where are the social workers? Where are the youth mentors? The PTAs, the social clubs, the music lessons, the sports clubs, the church youth groups? Where are the spaces for creativity and growth?

We cannot continue to point fingers at the government while doing little to restore the moral and social fibre of our own backyard. Yes, government policy matters, and systemic neglect is real—but community silence is complicity.

AI-generated image.

And here’s the paradox: opportunity exists. Linden is no longer the jobless shell of the 1990s and early 2000s. Job opportunities have increased. Construction is booming. Yet, I struggled to purchase concrete blocks because all the block yards were short-staffed. Why? Because, as one vendor told me bluntly, “The boys dem ain’t coming to work. Dem deh in drug yard blowing molly.”

There was a time when the biggest challenge was a lack of opportunity. Today, the challenge is a lack of will, and perhaps a lack of vision. Lindeners have an opportunity to build wealth, maybe not at the scale we might desire, or at the pace enjoyed by other groups, but the opportunities are real and present. Sadly our youth are squandering them by investing time, effort, money, and indeed their future in drug use..

Where are the kitchen gardens that once fed our homes and souls? Where are the clubs that once gave us pride and purpose? I remember belonging to the Circle Tennis Club, where we built discipline, friendship, and community. You were too engaged to go astray. Today, our young men are idle, alienated, and being devoured by addiction.

In 1989, psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner described human development as shaped by nested systems: family, peers, school, community, culture. When all these systems fail, a child collapses. When they all work together, a child soars. Linden’s systems are failing.

Let me be clear: this is not a condemnation! It is a call to action. The degradation in our community is alarmingly real. We cannot afford another year of denial, of sleepwalking into disaster. We need to revive community leadership, develop grassroots programs, reclaim our public spaces, and mobilise every sector—faith, education, health, business, sports, and culture—to save our youths.

Let’s not wait for a generation to be lost before we act. Let Linden rise, not by accident or nostalgia, but by intention, effort, and care.

Support this page and the other work that we do by purchasing copies of Legends of the Black Water or purchasing from amazon.com via this associate link (earns commission).

Validation, Memorization, and Common Entrance – Part 2

Sherene Noble, M.A.

In Part 1 of “Validation, Memorization, and Common Entrance”, I discussed how the drive for success in the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA)—shared by students, parents, teachers, and education officials—has created an intense, demanding, and all-consuming preparation process. Starting as early as Grade One, this process burdens and oppresses young children and inhibits their ability to enjoy a balanced childhood. I argued that the focus on academic achievement and preparation for the NGSA does not permit a balance between nurturing children’s academic potential and safeguarding their well-being. Moreover, the assessment itself, along with the accompanying preparation, merely tests students’ ability to recall or engages students at the lower levels of the cognitive taxonomy.

That article took an opinion-based approach, looking at the immediate effects of these practices on students’ lives. In this second part, we will explore the issue through the lenses of Cognitive Load Theory and Developmental Theories to understand how those extended learning hours contribute to cognitive overload, reduce meaningful learning, and ultimately prove counterproductive.

Cognitive Load Theory: A Brief Overview

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), developed by John Sweller in the late 1980s, is based on the idea that our working memory has a limited capacity. When a task demands more than our working memory can handle, learning suffers.  CLT breaks down cognitive load into three types:

  1. Intrinsic Cognitive Load: Related to the inherent difficulty of the content being taught.
  2. Extraneous Cognitive Load: Related to how information is presented; poorly designed materials can create an unnecessary burden.
  3. Germane Cognitive Load: The cognitive effort required to process, structure, and consolidate information, which supports long-term learning and comprehension.

Extended Learning Hours and Germane Cognitive Overload

Germane load is essential for effective learning. However, extended instructional hours—which for many Guyanese students includes regular class hours, afterschool lessons, homework, and at-home studies that add up to as many as twelve hours daily—impose excessive germane cognitive demands on students. While the intention is to reinforce knowledge through repetition, the duration and volume of study sessions force students to engage far beyond their cognitive limits. As a result, rather than building knowledge structures, students experience cognitive overload, where their capacity to process information effectively is diminished. 

Imagine a student preparing for NGSA, studying for hours on end, with continuous exposure to information and content review. Although the goal is to deepen learning, excessive germane load accumulates, leaving the student fatigued and mentally strained. Instead of supporting knowledge acquisition and consolidation, the brain’s resources become depleted, making it difficult for students to retain even simple information. It’s similar to when you put too many appliances on your electrical outlet. It burns the circuit or shuts it down. This cognitive strain prevents meaningful schema building, critical for transferring knowledge to new contexts and achieving deeper understanding. It leads to decreased retention (so even basic recall suffers) and reduced motivation. Even more frightening is that it impairs higher-order thinking by taxing memory. As a result, students revert to surface-level processing, focusing on memorization rather than comprehension. This produces students who may succeed at passing the exam but lack critical thinking skills and adaptability. 

If that does not convince you that we need to re-think our approach to instruction and assessment, let us consider insights from developmental theorists on stages of development and the nature of instruction best suited to each stage.

Developmental theorists like Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Erik Erikson posit that instruction should align with children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development stages and needs. Piaget, for instance, identifies distinct stages of cognitive development, each requiring a specific approach to instruction. According to Piaget, children around the age of those preparing for the NGSA typically fall into the concrete operational stage, where they learn best through hands-on, concrete experiences rather than abstract concepts and rote memorization. Overloading students with extensive memorization exercises misaligns with their developmental needs, as it fails to build on the natural strengths of this stage, such as logical reasoning and concrete problem-solving.

Similarly, Vygotsky emphasizes the importance of scaffolding—where teachers provide support that gradually decreases as students gain independence. He also introduces the zone of proximal development (ZPD), suggesting that children learn best when challenges are just beyond their current abilities but still achievable with guidance. The NGSA’s heavy emphasis on memorization and repetitive learning overlooks opportunities to engage students within their ZPD, often leading to disengagement or burnout, rather than encouraging developmentally appropriate growth.

The Risks of Developmentally Inappropriate Instruction

When we emphasize long hours of memorization and high-stakes testing at an early age, we risk stifling curiosity and intrinsic motivation. We also risk creating a class of individuals whose self-conceptualization is not rooted in feelings of adequacy. According to Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, children in middle childhood are in the industry vs. inferiority stage, where they need experiences that foster a sense of accomplishment and competence. Instructional approaches that prioritize rote learning over exploration and creativity can create feelings of inadequacy, making students less confident in their abilities and less likely to approach future learning with enthusiasm. 

Moreover, nonperformance in high-stakes exams can intensify these effects, especially given the recognition, pomp, and ceremony afforded the outstanding performers. Students who experience failure or poor performance might internalize a sense of inferiority, which can lead to lasting negative impact on their self-worth and academic motivation. Research on high-stakes testing corroborates that such negative experiences can result in a heightened fear of failure and a diminished interest in school, contributing to a cycle of disengagement from learning. By aligning instructional practices and the NGSA goals with developmental needs, we could better support students’ confidence, curiosity, and long-term engagement with education.

Aligning Instruction with Developmental Needs

By considering these developmental principles, we can align instruction with students’ natural learning stages. Instead of prolonged study sessions focused on memorization, learning can be structured around activities that promote critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration—skills that not only align with cognitive and social development but also support long-term academic and personal growth. Doing so not only improves academic outcomes but also helps nurture a love of learning, setting children up for success beyond the classroom.

If we are serious about accomplishing SDG Goal 4.7—ensuring that learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development—then a shift towards pedagogy of inquiry, discovery and criticality is essential. Critical pedagogy, with its emphasis on questioning and understanding societal structures, empowers students to think critically about global issues, fostering the kind of awareness and agency necessary for sustainable development (Freire, 1970).

References

Cohen, L. J. (2016). Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. In The handy psychology answer book (2nd ed.). Visible Ink Press. https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6NDIwNjMxMw==?aid=107300

Darling-Fisher, C. (2018). Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation (Vol. 4, pp. -). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506326139

de Jong, T. Cognitive load theory, educational research, and instructional design: some food for thought. Instr Sci 38, 105–134 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-009-9110-0

Dunkel, C. S., & Harbke, C. (2017). A Review of Measures of Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development: Evidence for a General Factor. Journal of Adult Development, 24(1), 58-76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-016-9247-4

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Herder and Herder.

Longe, J. L. (Ed.). (2016). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. In Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology (3rd ed.). Gale. https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6NDc3MTY4MQ==?aid=107300

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285.

Tindall-Ford, S., Agostinho, S., & Sweller, J. (2019). Advances in cognitive load theory: Rethinking teaching. Taylor & Francis Group.

United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.