a. INTRODUCTION
Describe the approach/strategy used.
b. DEVELOPMENT
What were the challenges encountered during implementation?
What were the tactics employed to resolve the difficulties met?
What further improvements can be suggested?
c. PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
What new insights/discoveries have I made in relation to my role as a teacher?
How will I make use of this new knowledge in future?
What further information or knowledge should I seek to expand my knowledge in relation to this context?
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(a) Rallycoach is a cooperative learning tool developed by Kagan. Basically, it's a form of pair work except that there is structure in place to ensure that both individuals within the pair will reap benefit from this activity. It can be summarised in the following five steps:
ReplyDelete1. Partner A solves the first question.
2. Partner B watches, listens, coaches and praises.
3. Partner B solves the next question.
4. Partner A watches, listens, coaches and praises.
5. Repeat from Step 1.
Hence this will help to ensure both partners are actively engaged during pair work.
B. I've tried this strategy in 202 and it proved to be very successful. Students were engaged and it was fun and cute to see them trying to think of praises for the partner other than the common "That's very Good!". feedbacks from the students were positive. This also provide me with an opportunity to walk around the class, observe how the students interact and help out the pairs that need help.
Hence I decided to try this strategy in 212 yesterday. The response was not as favourable. Most of the pairs were engaged but some pairs were made up of students who were equally weak and hence they were unable to help each other. Another observation is that the more rowdy or vocal students find it hard to praise their partners.
One of the things did i realised is that this activity could be more successful if I pair the students up according to their ability.
I hope to try it out once agin in future..hopefully with practice, the stdudents will get use to this strategy.
IP week was an eye-opener for me. I can see the objective of having an IP week rather than carrying out IPW for a year. Students are more task-oriented and focused compared to carry it out on a longer period of time. Students tend to be distracted and they will procrastinate in getting the product done. But in this case, students’ ideas and memories will still be fresh in their mind throughout the week. This is especially so for the Sec 1 students who were supposed to come up with a short video, consisting of their personal recollections, pictures or videos taken during their learning journey and come up with a creative way to spread the message of ‘conservation of the mangrove’.
ReplyDeleteThe lecture-based lessons conducted for the Sec 1 enabled them to see how the various subjects address the main theme ie mangroves. I think that this actually help them to see that when we think of a topic or a theme, we should not restrict ourselves to think just from on angle. At the same, I managed to brush up on my Science and how to write a haiku.
During the learning journey to Sungei Buloh, I was fortunate to have three teachers and a parent volunteer to accompany my form class. Hence the students were monitored closely but not restricted to explore the place. I also realize that although the students have been briefed many times prior to the learning journey regarding the tasks they have to complete while they were there, the assignments were the last thing on their mind once they stepped down from the bus. They were more curious in looking out for huge monitor lizard, blind eye leaf, archerfishes etc. This is especially so when there was news of a crocodile being sighted along the hike path.
I truly feel that the students enjoyed the hike around Sungei Buloh although we only managed to cover only a small portion of it due to time constraint. Not only were they able to explore the flora and fauna but they also get a chance to bond with their classmates. The same thing can be said for myself. It is totally a different experience interacting with the students in a classroom setting compared to during a learning journey when they were more relaxed and can be themselves. The students were actually reluctant to leave at the end of the hike although the weather was so hot.
The Sec 1 students really did a good job in coming up with a group video, given the short period of time. Only a handful of them grumbled about the task while the rest actually gave their very best in coming up with the final product. Since I have their videos, I intend to show it the class to affirm the effort they have put in and also for them to share fond memories.
Tuning Protocol is something totally new to me and I was the first one to undergo the procedure this year. Even though we have been briefed regarding the whole process, it is quite intimidating as I don't really know what to expect from it.
ReplyDeleteDuring the tuning protocol, it is really interesting to hear the whole department comment about your lesson plan. It is an eye-opening experience, as the other teachers share their experience in teaching that particular topic, the pitfalls and how they overcome it. One of them is the use of percentage as a measure of probability in the real world. I usually try to avoid mentioning the word 'percentage' when teaching probability to avoid students from using it to calculate the probability of an event. But through the sharing, i now realise that using percentage may actually help the students understand the concept of probability better and link it to the real world!!!
The tuning protocol helps me to improve my lesson plan and made in a more enriching teaching experience.
Last friday, the Math dept had a learning journey to Bedok Green Secondary School. BGSS Math dept shared with us some of the practices that they could attribute to their good result in the 2009 O level examination.
ReplyDeleteOne of the practices is instead of having night study session for the graduating students, they actually have Saturday revision sessions. The teachers and students actually came back on Saturdays on voluntarily basis. The rationale behind this is to train the students to stay awake and be elate during the afternoon in preparation for the afternoon papers during the exam period. I guess this makes sense as the students are generally most sleepy and lethargic in the afternoon.