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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I came across an article today talking about discourse in mathematics classroom. The article is very interesting as it studies the different types of discourse that take place in the Japanese maths classroom and Australian maths classroom.
ReplyDeleteIn Japan, maths teachers will always provide their students with problems first before they start a lesson or introduce a new concept. In comparison with our methods of teaching, theirs according to Prof Kaur is actually the proper technique to teach students. In class, often we will teach students concepts first followed by examples. Then we will give them exercises or problems to solve. By then, students already know what to apply. They need not have to stretch their brain in order to solve the problem.....this result in what we normally define as spoon feeding. Take a step back and think about this.....
Abdul Malek
Some thoughts on an article that I have read entitled SEEING THE VALUE OF VISUALIZATION by Ho Siew Yin (singteach.nie.edu.sg).
ReplyDeleteAs maths educators, we know that at times, it is important for students to draw models or diagrams in order to help them understand the problem task better. Often, students are just too lazy to draw diagrams and as a result, they misinterpret the questions. There are also some who do not understand the problem at all (due to their poor command of English). There are also some who draw diagrams but the diagrams drawn do not help them to solve the problems. Some of the factors that contribute to these are:-
a) diagram drawn is too small to represent the relevant information in the problem
b) diagram is to untidy for the problem solver to see the elements of the problem clearly
c) there is insufficient space around the diagram to extend it
Interesting findings. So not only we must encourage our students to draw diagram, we must also ensure that the technique of drawing these diagrams are correct.
Abdul Malek
With reference to Mr Malek's reflection on Feb 21, 2010. I find those Sec 1 students who are very savvy on Model drawing, tend to be good in analysing questions and mental sum. They are however, bad in presenting the answers using sentences, which we insist on in sec school. Thus the need for us to bridge that as we need them to be able to explain their thought processess. And as sec 1 teachers have many times complain, the students tend to be resistant to the change. I personally feel that diagrams ( not necessarily model methods) are important because its a way of rephrasing the question, a way of showing you their understanding of the question. It can also be a summary of the important points needed to solve the question.
ReplyDeleteAnisa
I came across this while reading....something interesting for us to think......possible lifeskill for students??
ReplyDeleteClassroom researcher Toony Edwards shares the follwoing profile of what a child needs to do to a competent pupil.
As a pupil you have to:-
a) listen to the teacher, often for long periods of time;
b) when the teacher sops talking, bid properly for the rigth to speak yourself, somethimes when competition for the next turn means balancing the rsks of not being noticed against the risks of being ignored as too enthusiastic;
c) answer questions to which the answer will be judged more or less relevant, useful and correct by a teacher who is seeking not to know something but to know if you know something;
d) put up with having anyone's answer reated with evidence of a common understanding or misunderstanding, so that the teacher will often explain something again when you understand it first time or rush on when you are stil strugging with what was said before;
e) look for clues as to what a right answer mignt be from the way a teacher leads into a question, and evaluates the responses - that last source of clues being often so prolific that even a wild guess may lead the teacher to answerthe question for you;
f) ask questions about the administration of the lesson but not usually about its content (and certainly never suggest that the teacher may be wrong);
g) accept that what you know already about a topic of the lesson is unlikely to be asked for, or to be accepted as relevant, unless and until it fits into the teachers frame of reference.
Abdul Malek
Read this article about homework & it made me think of how we should look at homework.
ReplyDeleteBest homework tasks have 5 characteristics:
1. It has clear academic purpose such as practice, checking for understanding, or applying knowledge or skills
2. The task efficiently demonstrates student learning
3. Promotes ownership by offering choices & being personally relevant
4. It instills a sense if competence , the student can successfully complete it without help
5. Task is aesthetically pleasing - appears enjoyable & interesting
(Vatterott, 2009)
Now, with reference to item 2, can DI address this then? For item 4, if every student must be able to complete their homework, then do we compromise the rigour & standard of our homework?
Malek
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