Writer and Publisher of ‘Advanced Level Chemistry. For Life: Unit 1’, Valerie Moseley, with her book at the launch held at Barbados Community College Science Auditorium on Thursday.
Some of the invited guests to retired Queen’s College teacher, Valerie Moseley’s book launch chatting about other local authors on display.
Retired Queen’s College teacher launches Chemistry book
One retired Science teacher is putting her past teaching experience into print; as one of the few local authors to not only write but publish her own work.
On Thursday, Valerie Moseley, in the company of family, friends, fellow authors, a representative from Ministry of Education and teaching fraternity, launched her book – “Advanced Level Chemistry For Life Unit 1”. The inspiration for the book was borne from her knowledge and experience in teaching the syllabi for Cambridge GCE and CXC Cape examinations for many years.
Speaking to The Barbados Advocate, Moseley highlighted the fact that many people do have the confidence and the drive to go out and publish a book. She said that although she has retired from the classroom, she still has a lot of knowledge and experience behind her. She spoke about some of her early years in teaching and the lack of guidance.
“Part of what this book serves to do, is leave out there my knowledge and experience. There are a lot of new teachers who have come into the system, fresh from university but who struggle. I remembered when I started teaching first at Queen’s College, I was just thrown out there. Yes, I had a university degree but I was not trained to teach in a classroom. What I did at university was not the same thing that is taught in the classroom, and so I would have loved someone to guide me and I did not have that guidance,” said Moseley.
She noted that as the Head of Queen’s College’s Science Department, she guided her staff. She added that for the new teacher, her book is a direct source of all the information students will need to complete the CAPE syllabus. Moseley also pointed out the challenges of teachers to give and students to take notes. However, with her book, students can read ahead and ask questions in the classroom.
The book took about a year to complete and the author explained that she acquired the notes of three students along with her knowledge to complete the book. In the past, Moseley has taught Chemistry at St. Michael Girls’ School in 1976, Jamaica College in 1977 and Queen’s College from 1978 to her retirement in 2007. She expressed her intention to complete Unit 2 of the book in September, as well as publish a collection of prayers.