Belated post for 2nd Dec (post 2)
I was re-reading the article and thinking about Kayla. Perhaps it is really true about how young children are capable of sophisticated levels of thinking and reasoning when they have the necessary knowledge… I wonder how often have I underestimated her ability to understand things… Being the only child and only grandchild, she is pretty much in the world of adults. She picks up comments and understands nuances so clearly. The other day, she commented, “Girls are Princesses and boys are Superheroes”. When I asked her if Papa was a Superhero, she very confidently said, “No.” When questioned why, she replied, “because Papa is not a boy.” I have no idea when anyone would have taught her the difference between a boy and a man, but she knows. That’s why she was sure in her reasoning that Papa could not be a Superhero. Another colleague of mine was also floored when her pre-school student corrected her when she used “Hippo” instead of “Hippopotamus” when talking to the class. What this means is that we have to adjust our expectations of our students to expect more of them and not to assume that they are only capable of to the degree of their T-score. This will in turn affect our interactions with them and most definitely affect their expectations of themselves.
P.S Kayla watches A LOT of TV. I hope that Wright and Hudson are right about her future performance in school…. But I promise I will spend time watching with her so as to guide her and provide a suitable commentary to help her develop her understanding of what she is watching… J
Saturday, December 19, 2009
How much do I care?
Belated post for 2nd Dec
Time to catch up with my readings… I was reading about the Learner Centered Environments and how “accomplished teachers give learners reason by respecting and understanding learners’ prior experiences and understandings, assuming that these can serve as a foundation on which to build bridges to new understandings.” For some reason, this reminded me of the quote, ‘They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’ I suppose because it’s a reminder that if we do not keep in mind the learner and embrace what he or she brings to the class, they will never want to share what they have with the class. Imagine if each child can share one new thing they have learnt with the class of forty… it will be no time that each child would have learnt 39 other new things because we each have different experiences and perspectives. Powerful.
I am also going to ESSS the author’s not about how to teach algebra where students devise their own symbols to describe their own situations before teaching the class about the actual algebraic expressions… I bet the teachers in my school don’t teach algebra this way!
Another thing that I would like to introduce to my department is that of self-critique rubrics as part of formative assessments for the students. This will help them to provide feedback for themselves and their peers to learn more effectively. This would also help to develop the independent learners that are essential for the 21st century.
Time to catch up with my readings… I was reading about the Learner Centered Environments and how “accomplished teachers give learners reason by respecting and understanding learners’ prior experiences and understandings, assuming that these can serve as a foundation on which to build bridges to new understandings.” For some reason, this reminded me of the quote, ‘They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’ I suppose because it’s a reminder that if we do not keep in mind the learner and embrace what he or she brings to the class, they will never want to share what they have with the class. Imagine if each child can share one new thing they have learnt with the class of forty… it will be no time that each child would have learnt 39 other new things because we each have different experiences and perspectives. Powerful.
I am also going to ESSS the author’s not about how to teach algebra where students devise their own symbols to describe their own situations before teaching the class about the actual algebraic expressions… I bet the teachers in my school don’t teach algebra this way!
Another thing that I would like to introduce to my department is that of self-critique rubrics as part of formative assessments for the students. This will help them to provide feedback for themselves and their peers to learn more effectively. This would also help to develop the independent learners that are essential for the 21st century.
Ecclectique
Belated post for 29 Nov
Today I attended my Scrapbooking class “Ecclectique” at Made With Love. Today’s session was slightly different as this was my first lesson with a new trainer. I was pleasantly surprised that this lesson allowed for a very individual pace of working because she had provided photo examples of the layouts as well as the instructions and measurements for each page. This meant that each scrapper could go however fast or slow (in the 3 hours) to complete the album. This was good because it allowed for the scrapper to work independently and for the trainer to check in on the scrapper’s progress. How great if some of our lessons were also designed this way? If we could provide most of the materials for the students like activities, readings and worksheets and then for the students to ask questions as they inquire and then the teacher will perform more as a facilitator to learning. This will then cater to the students because they can learn at their own pace so that the faster students will not be bored waiting for the slower students to catch up while the slower ones will not feel demoralised for being slower than the rest. This is something that can be attempted on a regular basis in the classroom like use of wikis and online learning platforms.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the trainer was so IT savvy even though she should be in her 50s. She had her own blog as well as photobucket sites. I suppose passion drives one further. Another lesson to be learnt!
Today I attended my Scrapbooking class “Ecclectique” at Made With Love. Today’s session was slightly different as this was my first lesson with a new trainer. I was pleasantly surprised that this lesson allowed for a very individual pace of working because she had provided photo examples of the layouts as well as the instructions and measurements for each page. This meant that each scrapper could go however fast or slow (in the 3 hours) to complete the album. This was good because it allowed for the scrapper to work independently and for the trainer to check in on the scrapper’s progress. How great if some of our lessons were also designed this way? If we could provide most of the materials for the students like activities, readings and worksheets and then for the students to ask questions as they inquire and then the teacher will perform more as a facilitator to learning. This will then cater to the students because they can learn at their own pace so that the faster students will not be bored waiting for the slower students to catch up while the slower ones will not feel demoralised for being slower than the rest. This is something that can be attempted on a regular basis in the classroom like use of wikis and online learning platforms.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the trainer was so IT savvy even though she should be in her 50s. She had her own blog as well as photobucket sites. I suppose passion drives one further. Another lesson to be learnt!
Thank you Dr Quek
Belated post for 1st Dec
It’s amazing what a good teacher can do. Terms like Cronbarhch etc were mentioned previously in the 1st module but made no sense in the studies because the tutor did little to help us understand. The non-mathematical students, like myself in particular, suffered because no one understood the literature we were supposed to be reviewing. I suppose we could have studied it in more depth, but what then is the teacher for?
We also had the first hand opportunity to use the SPSS which turned out to be an eye opener. For someone with zilch statistics background, it seemed relatively easy. My sis has always told me to use SPSS to provide more credible data to the surveys we used in school, but I never bothered.
Dr Quek also provided us with negative examples of Weng Fai’s work. I thought that it was a good learning experience. The explanation was clear and precise – something I hope to do in class as well since most of the time, we show exemplars of good work instead of common problems or misconceptions to help anticipate potential problems.
It’s amazing what a good teacher can do. Terms like Cronbarhch etc were mentioned previously in the 1st module but made no sense in the studies because the tutor did little to help us understand. The non-mathematical students, like myself in particular, suffered because no one understood the literature we were supposed to be reviewing. I suppose we could have studied it in more depth, but what then is the teacher for?
We also had the first hand opportunity to use the SPSS which turned out to be an eye opener. For someone with zilch statistics background, it seemed relatively easy. My sis has always told me to use SPSS to provide more credible data to the surveys we used in school, but I never bothered.
Dr Quek also provided us with negative examples of Weng Fai’s work. I thought that it was a good learning experience. The explanation was clear and precise – something I hope to do in class as well since most of the time, we show exemplars of good work instead of common problems or misconceptions to help anticipate potential problems.
Time for change?
Belated post for 2nd Dec
Last Thursday, Dr Quek was talking to the class and doing a quick survey regarding our length of service in Education. In a blink of an eye, it has been 10 years. I entered service in 1999 and what have I achieved? What legacy have I left behind?
I am not sure if I should be elated to have contributed to the service and helped to mould the future generation or if I should be depressed that I find myself stagnating in my present situation. Perhaps stagnating sounds to negative, but maybe it is true. That staying in one school for these 10 years have been to my detriment. That saying in one place makes you too comfortable and makes you resistant to change. But perhaps it is precisely that there is this comfort of familiarity that makes it difficult to introduce change. I know that going to SMSS was not by fluke and that God has His plan to send me there… and I believe that He will call me out in His time. The question is then, in the meantime, what do I do? How do I introduce change that may propel me into a momentum of new challenges?
Taking up Headship of the Humanities Department is a challenge. But I think that I have found that managing my teachers is one of my strengths. Taking up my Masters is a challenge. I have never been a good student and am not an academic like my sister or can write well like my husband. So this is a challenge that I am sure will introduce some change in my life. So maybe even if I stay in SMSS for another few years, I may still contribute to some change there as I experience change in my own life.
Last Thursday, Dr Quek was talking to the class and doing a quick survey regarding our length of service in Education. In a blink of an eye, it has been 10 years. I entered service in 1999 and what have I achieved? What legacy have I left behind?
I am not sure if I should be elated to have contributed to the service and helped to mould the future generation or if I should be depressed that I find myself stagnating in my present situation. Perhaps stagnating sounds to negative, but maybe it is true. That staying in one school for these 10 years have been to my detriment. That saying in one place makes you too comfortable and makes you resistant to change. But perhaps it is precisely that there is this comfort of familiarity that makes it difficult to introduce change. I know that going to SMSS was not by fluke and that God has His plan to send me there… and I believe that He will call me out in His time. The question is then, in the meantime, what do I do? How do I introduce change that may propel me into a momentum of new challenges?
Taking up Headship of the Humanities Department is a challenge. But I think that I have found that managing my teachers is one of my strengths. Taking up my Masters is a challenge. I have never been a good student and am not an academic like my sister or can write well like my husband. So this is a challenge that I am sure will introduce some change in my life. So maybe even if I stay in SMSS for another few years, I may still contribute to some change there as I experience change in my own life.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Application. That is the question.
After reviewing what we have learnt over the last few days, I am fairly excited to see how I will be able to consolidate all that I have learnt and to put them to use when I get back to school...
1. WIHIC - The school has a Teachers Effectiveness Survey which is administered to the students at the end of the year. Some problems with this survey include the length of the survey, and the quality of questions asked... We have also included a new survey to help "evaluate" our UbD lessons.. I will seriously need to sit down and see how an instrument like WIHIC can tell me more about the classrooms and perhaps highlight areas that really need the attention. It's just the perennial problem of research vs practioner - how can the teacher do it all?
2. Wikis & Blogs - I have my geog wiki, but I have yet to fully harness it to get the students to contribute to it... Will have to work out a timeline to teach students about it and start uploading my resources on it.. The history teacher already has a blog for the class, but I suppose I could use it in a similar way it was used in the class to track students reflections.. will have to develop a rubric of sorts to see how I can evaluate their work...
3. Google Apps - seems MOE is migrating Edumail to Google.. which means that there can be sharing of info via googledocs and google forms as used in the class.. The last section on the quiz is a useful tool to use to check the students' understanding of a lesson. Immediate feedback can be given and any misconceptions can be highlighted... With the dept getting a half mobile lab, the possibilities are really there..
I am glad that the holidays are here to give me some time to think about these things.. I might just have to delay my scrapping for all these exciting things.. So many things.. so little time...
1. WIHIC - The school has a Teachers Effectiveness Survey which is administered to the students at the end of the year. Some problems with this survey include the length of the survey, and the quality of questions asked... We have also included a new survey to help "evaluate" our UbD lessons.. I will seriously need to sit down and see how an instrument like WIHIC can tell me more about the classrooms and perhaps highlight areas that really need the attention. It's just the perennial problem of research vs practioner - how can the teacher do it all?
2. Wikis & Blogs - I have my geog wiki, but I have yet to fully harness it to get the students to contribute to it... Will have to work out a timeline to teach students about it and start uploading my resources on it.. The history teacher already has a blog for the class, but I suppose I could use it in a similar way it was used in the class to track students reflections.. will have to develop a rubric of sorts to see how I can evaluate their work...
3. Google Apps - seems MOE is migrating Edumail to Google.. which means that there can be sharing of info via googledocs and google forms as used in the class.. The last section on the quiz is a useful tool to use to check the students' understanding of a lesson. Immediate feedback can be given and any misconceptions can be highlighted... With the dept getting a half mobile lab, the possibilities are really there..
I am glad that the holidays are here to give me some time to think about these things.. I might just have to delay my scrapping for all these exciting things.. So many things.. so little time...
Sunday, November 29, 2009
What did we learn then?
Today, we had the privilege of listening to our colleages do their presentations in class on the various articles. It was enlightening and an enriching time to hear the work done by the various researchers.
What our group realised was that we must totally wasted our time in our first module on Educational Inquiry I. We agreed that our tutor probably did not provide the conducive learning environment nor provide the necessary teacher support to help us learn. He wanted us to work smart, but never really taught us to learn smart. And I think this has affected our performance somewhat in a module such as MED858. There are so many terms which sound familiar as we did our literature reviews, but are still unfamiliar in understanding. We have such poor foundations which means that we will have to do a lot more to catch up in future... Or is it a problem that we were expecting to be spoon-fed?
In another way, maybe it is for the better that we are forced to learn on our own since when learning is difficult, we are forced to process and learn in the process (Sternberg). So what did I learn today? As teachers, we need to find a balance between providing sufficient teacher support in the learning environment while encouraging independent learning.
What our group realised was that we must totally wasted our time in our first module on Educational Inquiry I. We agreed that our tutor probably did not provide the conducive learning environment nor provide the necessary teacher support to help us learn. He wanted us to work smart, but never really taught us to learn smart. And I think this has affected our performance somewhat in a module such as MED858. There are so many terms which sound familiar as we did our literature reviews, but are still unfamiliar in understanding. We have such poor foundations which means that we will have to do a lot more to catch up in future... Or is it a problem that we were expecting to be spoon-fed?
In another way, maybe it is for the better that we are forced to learn on our own since when learning is difficult, we are forced to process and learn in the process (Sternberg). So what did I learn today? As teachers, we need to find a balance between providing sufficient teacher support in the learning environment while encouraging independent learning.
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