FACULTY PROFILES
Biography of Mignon Moses
Mignon Moses began her teaching career in 1969, in her native land Guyana. She was then appointed pupil teacher at the Ithaca (Ith-a-ca) Primary School on the West Bank Berbice.
In 1971 she entered the Government Training College for teachers to pursue a two year programme in General Primary Education, with majors in Languae Methods and Music Education. In 1973 she graduated as a Trained Class 1 Gradeg 1 teacher.
After training college, Ms. Moses returned to Ithaca School as an Assistant Mistress. The school had then been upgraded to an All-age school and covered a full secondary programme. She had the experience of teaching every class in the school, from the preparatory to the post primary divisions, but she really made her mark at Ithaca school, both inside and outside the classroom, as she touched the lives of children as well as adults in the village.
She formed the Ithaca Primary School Folk Group and also managed the adult Ithaca Folk Singers and Dancers. Both groups travelled the length and breadth of Guyana. At the national level they performed for visiting heads of States like Fidel Castro of Cuba, Major General Yacoobu Gowan of Nigeria, Joshua Nkomo of Zimbabwe and Sir Sereste Kama of Botswana. At the regional level, the adult folk dancers performed at CARIFESTA,
At the tertiary level, Ms. Moses was a part-time tutor in Music, Dance and Drama, at the In-Service Teachers Training Centre in her hometown, New Amsterdam Berbice. Teacher Evelyn Gibson was one of her students in this programme.
In 1983, Ms. Moses migrated to Montserrat, at the invitation of Dr. George Irish.
She assumed teaching posts at the Academy of Arts and Commerce and the Alliougana Music Centre. She taught English, History and Human and Social Biology at the Academy, and also prepared students for pianoforte examinations of the Royal Schools of Music. Some of her students at the Academy were: Lucille Irish, Venus Bramble, Valerie Samuel, Jacqueline Thornhill, Gwenneth Williams, Claudette Dublin, Judith Farrell, Evette Lee, Joycelyn Menzies, Merlita Ryner, Princess Allen, Sonia White, Cecil ‘Cepeeke’ Lake, Richard Graham, Simond Holder, Olven Ramsay, Earl O’Garro, Owen Roach, et al.
When the Academy closed its doors in 1986, Ms. Moses sought a teaching job with the Government of Montserrat. She was subsequently appointed Remedial Teacher at Dagenham Campus of MSS, for one year, and at Salem Campus for another year. Ms. Moses was later moved to the Church Rd. Campus of the Montserrat Secondary School. There she taught Social Studies in the Academic and Pre-Vocational programmes. It was due to Ms. Moses’ love for, and hard work in, Social Studies, plus her bold experiment with one student, Warren Cassell, that MSS decided to include Social Studies as an examinable subject for CXC. The results for these exams over the years have always been commendable.
Based on the results Ms. Moses achieved at CXC, her Head of Department at that time, Mrs. Sarita Francis made a request for her to get exposure in marking CXC Social Studies examinations. In 1995, she was appointed an Assistant Examiner for Social Studies; her last marking assignment being July 2010.
Ms. Moses’ skills were not only limited to the classroom. She participated in the co-curricular activities by co-ordinating cultural programmes for Commonwealth Day.
She tutored and chaperoned the MSS Quizz Team to the very first Caricom Schools Quizz in 2003. The team participated in the Jamaica leg and the finals in Guyana.
She also formed a recorder group, that performed at school graduations and other special programmes.
Among Ms. Moses’ outstanding students at MSS are Warren Cassell (attorney-at-law), Rev. Noreen Daley, Denise Gordon (accountant) and Deonne Semple of the Deputy Governor’s office.
Ms. Moses could be described as an all rounder, having completed several courses in education and the social sciences, at the University of Guyana and the UWI.
She also completed a course in Creative Drama in Education at the University of Guyana, Institute of Creative Arts.
She was among the first group of teachers to graduate from the Guyana National School of Dance. There she studied Classical Ballet, Modern Creative Dance and Folk Rhythms under the tutelage of Madam Lavinia Williams.
Ms. Moses was the kind of teacher who demonstrated professionalism in and out of the classroom. She took her job seriously and had a natural flair for Social Studies. She was always willing to go the extra mile for the benefit of her students, even when they came knocking at her door after 9:00 pm, for her to correct their SBAs.
Her motto was “Anything that is worth doing is worth doing well.” Hence she insisted that students head up their pages with date, subject and topic for every lesson, dot their I’s, cross their t’s and take time to form their letters properly. Of course, some students considered these practices as annoyances.
Unfortunately, in 2007 illness forced Ms. Moses to bow out from the teaching fraternity of the Montserrat Secondary School.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The Academy, the Music Center, the students and the Government and people of Montserrat are grateful for the sterling contribution of Ms Moses to education, culture and youth development in Montserrat during her 25 years of service.