Teacher creates Trini planners for students, teachers

WITH 26 years of teaching experience under her belt, Carla Nadia Felmine continues to look for innovative ways to make learning and teaching more effective and enjoyable for herself and her students.

In 2022, she created the Trini Teacher Planner to help teachers have an organised school year.

Just as a cellphone can be used as a notepad, music player, and more, the planner includes a timetable, assignment tracker, exam study schedule, study tips and character-building activities, among other features, all in one.

Now she has added the Trini Student Planner (2024-2025) specifically to teach students soft skills like being able to set plans and goals.

“I decided that I wanted to have the students organise themselves to prepare for school, keeping track of exams and lessons and so on,” Felmine told WMN.

She has been teaching since 1998 ­– approximately 20 years teaching English at the Point Fortin West Secondary School, and now information technology and computer science at Siparia West Secondary School.

She said when the covid19 pandemic caused the education landscape to evolve, she had to adjust the way she did things accordingly.

But the overwhelming burden of keeping track of assignments, attendance, birthdays and other administrative tasks remained and she designed a planner for herself to simplify these tasks. She printed and tailored it to suit the education system.

When other teachers saw it and how it helped her to be more organised, they asked her to print planners for them too.

That was the birth of the Trini Teacher Planner and her online business, Aidan Publishing.

“It was an opportunity to help make life a little easier for teachers because there are so many things that we have to keep track of that sometimes it becomes difficult,” Felmine said.

“The planner makes a teacher’s life much easier and is set up to give teachers more structure.”

It can store contact information, including home and e-mail addresses, important dates each month such as UN Children’s Day, Earth Day, International Day for Girls in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and birthdays.

Before 2022, like many other educators, she carried several other books for roll-call, marking and records and evaluations. The planner also helps with these tasks.

For Felmine, self-care and mental health for educators is very important.

“This year, I focus on giving teachers ideas of different types of teacher strategies, like using multiple intelligences. I also provide tips on emotional intelligence in students. I gave ideas of things they can implement in lessons, for instance, if a child is good at learning visually.

“It is not only about recording and planning, but it helps teachers, especially younger teachers who recently joined the system.

"It is not just a book you use and then get rid of. It is designed to cover the three academic terms of the year. People can keep it as it contains valuable information.”

She said the student planner, like the teacher planner, include features like highlighting important dates and pages to record assignments.

Felmine said, “There are study tips and explanations of terms commonly used in exams. Sometimes students are writing exams but do not understand exactly what the questions require of them.”

It best suits SEA and CAPE-level students, but even university students.

For more information visit Aidan Publishing on Facebook.