School diary is one of the most important school records kept in the schools. It is obvious that schools or institutions of learning whether higher or lower are synonymous with record keeping. This is to tell you how important statutory record-keeping is to institutions of learning as well as the staff of such schools, most importantly the academic staff.
WHAT IS THE SCHOOL DAIRY [school record]?
The school diary is one of the statutory records kept in schools. The school diary-like every other kind of diary is a record book used to record a school weekly workload and work done as well as the termly results of students of a specific class or grade in an institution of learning.
I just mentioned three vital items contained in a standard school diary. Don’t also forget that in the little definition of the school diary, I made mention of the word “weekly school workload and work done. I will be explaining deeply these three key-words, they are:
- Workload
- Work done
- Weekly
Now, let’s proceed to explain in detail these three keywords and their relevance to the subject matter [weekly school diary] under review. This I believe will help us to understand the importance as well as the usage of this singular school statutory record.
WHAT IS THE SCHOOL WORKLOAD?
For a school and mostly for a registered and trained teacher, the school workload simply put is the academic work or teaching a tutor must deliver or is expected to deliver in the course of his or her line of duty as a teacher for one full term. These lessons are divided into weeks according to the number of weeks contained in such a term per academic session.
In other words, school workload simply put means those lessons a teacher has to deliver or teach his or her students planned according to the number of weeks contained in a term in an academic session. These lessons are carefully planned and properly documented in a section of the school diary.
The school workload is topics to be taught from a particular subject offered by a school that is carefully documented in the school diary. It is called a workload because that is the topics a teacher must or ought to teach according to the subjects or courses allocated to him or her for the term or academic session.
So, it is expected of a teacher to record into the school diary these topics that he is supposed to teach for the term according to the weeks in the term.
WHAT THEN IS THE SCHOOL WORK DONE?
The school work done simply put in a section or a column in the school diary where all the lessons or topics taught every week in a class or grade are carefully captured or recorded down to clearly state that they have been taught for the week.
Do not forget that these lessons or topics taught are the same topics that were earlier stated or captured in the column of the diary for the school work done. So, do not think they are different lessons or topics manufactured elsewhere. Yes, it has to or must be those topics captured previously as the workload.
When the workload is executed, it becomes the work done, they are captured in the very section of the school diary meant to record the lessons already taught in the school. The essence of these recordings is to ensure total devotion on the part of the teacher in delivering and discharging his or her duties in the school.
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WEEKLY WORKLOAD AND WEEKLY WORK DONE [The two major sections of the school diary]
By weekly workload or weekly work done we are simply saying that lessons designed to be taught to students in a school, and are penned down in a section of the school diary are built into or rather, divided into weeks as contained in the term or academic session under study. When these topics are taught, they are also taught weekly.
So, when you want to record the work done in the school diary, you simply say “lesson taught for week ending …….” The dash speaks of the date of the Friday of that very week the lessons or topics are to be delivered.
Therefore, the point we are trying to make here is that you plan and record your workload or work done weekly. The workloads are captured firstly and the work done follows every one of the weeks they are taught to students or learners.
HOW IS THE SCHOOL DIARY SEGMENTED?
The school diary is carefully divided into the following segments, thus:
- The beginning pages [cover pages, and table of content]
- The workload column [scheme of work per subject]
- The work done column [weekly records of work], and
- The examination termly and annual results
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IMPORTANCE OF THE SCHOOL DIARY
The essence of the school diary is too great to mention. It is for these reasons that it becomes amazingly of great necessity for a school of learning and teaching to keep as a statutory school record. Some of the importance of the school diary are:
- It clearly defines the workload of a teacher in the area of teaching and learning
- It also defines and states the measures of the seriousness of a teacher in delivering his or her lesson as stipulated in the scheme of work for schools.
- It is an important instrument for effective school supervision by school authorities and the appropriate ministries of education.
- It defines a teacher’s faithfulness in quality lesson delivery and devotion to duties.
- It makes the teaching and learning easier for teachers since the lessons are already planned and divided into topics and weeks
- It helps teachers to cover up the entire scheme for the year if religiously followed as stipulated in the workload section of the school diary.
- With the school diary, workload and work is briefly summarized together with the teacher’s evaluation [Examination]
- It makes subject allocation very easy since the class workload and work done for the term are already summarized in the diary. This will enable the new class or subject teacher to know where to start from.
SOURCES OF RECORDS AND DATA ENTERED INTO THE SCHOOL DIARY
It is important I clear this confusion that first-timers of using the school diary might possibly have or ask. Whatever data or information recorded in the school diary is sourced out basically from three sources:
- The federal ministry of education approved education policy
- Federal ministry of education scheme of work/curriculum
- The necessarily approved textbooks
These three sources have the workload for every subject, classes/grades, terms/session all planned out, broken down into sub-topics, and well developed in such a way that every Licensed and qualified teacher can easily access.
HOW TO USE THE SCHOOL DIARY
This is how you can make use of the school diary. Follow the steps and you are good to go:
- Every school/college provides the school diary every academic session
- Schools/colleges must compulsorily have the government approved scheme of work
- Go to the government-approved scheme of work to copy out topics and their breakdown for every subject offered by your school according to their classes
- Pick up your school diary and go to the first section in the diary that has a scheme of work and subjects
- Write down the topics for the subject [s] you teach in their respective columns and terms. This is under the workload.
- As you teach each of these enlisted topics, record them down under the weekly records of work against the weeks and dates taught.
- Submit the school diary every weekend before you go to the school office and mark your lesson notes, registers, and diaries for official check and marking.
- At the end of every term, record your examination results in the column for results.
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CONCLUSION
The importance of the school diary to a well-established and standard institution can never be over-emphasized. This is for the fact that keeping the school diary in a school proves checks and balances on the overall academic performances of teachers as it regards the subjects or courses they handle/teach.
I want to believe that I have done justice to the subject matter [school diary]. Follow all our instructions as stipulated in this article and you are good to go on how to use the school diary.
Don’t forget to contact us if you need further clarification. We also conduct seminars and workshops for schools on statutory records and modern teaching and learning techniques/approaches. Drop a comment and your contacts if you need any of our services in the comment box.
Thank you very much,I appreciate.