BY MARLENE MCPHERSON, Star Writer
Evol Rose Gayle Beckford - CONTRIBUTED
EVOL ROSE GAYLE Beckford is affectionately called 'Beckie' because she is friendly, has a great sense of humour and loves life. This soft side of her personality has cushioned her no nonsense approach to education, propelling her to be a trailblazer resulting in the formation of an educator par excellence.
Beckie was one of the instructors at a teachers' workshop at the Chuckles Resort in Negril, Westmoreland, where it was observed that all the participants were spell-bound with her delivery style and presentation of her materials. It was as if you were having your favourite meal delivered to you in your customised package.
Beckford said teaching was a forced choice, because she wanted to become a meteorologist, but at that time she would have to go to Europe to acquire this skill. "Unable to do this I taught. I did this because I was influenced by my teacher from England, Roger Brumby, who taught me at Hampton High," she recalled.
FIRST EXPERIENCE
Her first teaching experience was at the Frankfield Compre-hensive High School with a group of students considered to be 'written off'. At the end of two years all 25 of them passed geography. "First I got them to believe in themselves then I constantly motivated them and it paid off," she said.
Other schools she taught at included Edwin Allen, Hampton for Girls and Charlemont High. "During those years there was about 40-50 students who got nothing below a 90 per cent pass. The school was rated as the top CSEC in that subject," she mused, remembering her time at Charlemont, where she taught Spanish and Geography for 11 years at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate level. At the school she also instituted the School Challenge Quiz club and was honoured with the Lasco Teacher of the Year award plus a department award instituted by the Chairman of the Board, Jimmy Keane.
As a teacher of excellence she has launched her own Caribbean Studies text to augment what is on the market. This has catapulted her teaching career into a new niche. A number of teachers from different schools have purchased the text and have gained better insight and the students have benefited.
This reflective teacher is from Tryall, St. Elizabeth, and is from a family of four sisters and three brothers. Most of them are in the teaching profession. Her mother, Mrs Rosetta Gayle, now deceased, started this trend. She was a basic school teacher, and her teaching methods were outstanding so she was persuaded to join the staff of the primary school. Beckford explained that her mother would cut out letters of the alphabet from sand paper, blindfold the students and let them use their hands to identify the letters.
Her brother, Brandford, is the Principal of Munro High, her sister Hermaine Gayle-Lewis is a maths teacher at Everglade High in Florida, another sister Yvonne, teaches chemistry in Trinidad and another sister Dorothy Gayle-Thompson was also a teacher at Merle Grove. Beckford's husband, John, is the Principal of Christiana High School in Manchester.
Mrs. Beckford is a mother of three. Her son Mark is a University student, her older daughter Camille now works as a counsellor with 'Children at Risk' and her younger daughter, Joanne, is still at the primary school. This pleasant committed educator is dedicated to the teaching profession.
Futuristically she stated, "I would like to help train thousands of teachers so I know that this would be transmitted to the younger generation. It does not matter what level I am teaching as long as I am teaching, I am happy. Teaching is my life for 29 years".
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