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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It’s been 2 weeks now in Ping Yi Secondary and I think I’m getting the hang of doing things here. No doubt adjusting from my practicum school to Ping Yi sec was a little difficult at first.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, things are done differently here. From disciplining the kids to the way the department handles the academic matters. I had to adjust the way I work to suit the new style. So far, so good. :)
The biggest difference was of course, RP. I have heard about it in one of the modules in NIE. However, never have I thought I would be posted to a school that practices it. Afterall, we were told in NIE that RP is “idealistic” in disciplining the kids and rarely practiced in Singapore. So yes, now, I’m in a school that practices it! Lol.
In my practicum school, teachers do not have to handle the kids themselves. Instead, teachers who choose to “give up” disciplining their kids can easily send the kids to the DM. Regular practice for students who do not bring or do their homework would be,“ Give me your ez-link card.” Students will automatically know that they would have to stay back for detention with the DM to retrieve back their ez-link card. Also, teachers have the liberty to choose the number of hours he/she wants the student to stay for detention. This way, teachers do not have to “directly” handle the kids but leave it the DM. No doubt, this makes the job easier for the teachers.
However, I have always felt that students will never learn from their mistakes this way. This is because students spend their detention time doing the day’s homework or read a book. At the end of the day, teachers do not know the reason why the students did not do their homework and students do not see the need to finish their work. Afterall, detention gives them the time to finish them. So why the need to do it at home?
So yes, RP in Ping Yi is what I see as a good way to get to the root of the problem. That is, teachers get the opportunity to talk to the students personally and “investigate” the reason for their misbehavior. However, doubts still exist inside me. Will RP really work? Would the students open up to me if I intend to do RP with them?
These questions will only be answered when I do try it out one day when there is a need to. Feedbacks from other teachers were positive. Of course there were some exceptions but those were rare cases. Somehow, I’m curious and can’t wait to try out RP. I’m waiting for one of my kids to “misbehave” now. Lol.
Week 6 was a very busy week. From CCA commitments to my teaching responsibilities, I’ve managed to survive and get the necessary work done. Teaching my sec 1 class has been a joy so far. However, there are still many areas where I can improve on as I reflect on my approach after every lesson. Catering to the different needs in the class is a challenge that I take up upon myself every week. In 102, the foreign students are doing well in Maths while most of the other students in the class are generally slower. With that, it can be easily observed that these foreign students tend to get bored when I try to re-explain the mathematical concept to students who needs more time understanding.
ReplyDeleteTo manage this problem, I differentiate my questions by levels when I set my worksheets. That is, questions are separated into Level 1, 2 and 3 where Level 1 consists of easy questions and Level 3, the more challenging ones. For these higher ability(HA) students, they are allowed to proceed on to Level 3 questions straight away while I scaffold my teachings to cater to the rest of the class. While these keeps the HA students busy, there are times when they finish the questions early and look at me glumly while waiting for the next instruction. These are the times when I am “caught” since I do not have any more extra work for them and I’m still busy trying to “teach” the rest of the class.
While I know that conducting supplementary lessons for the lower ability(LA) students will help to bridge the gap between the HA and LA students, it has almost been impossible for me to conduct any. This is due to my other school commitments such as being involved in the oral examining, invigilating Maths competitions, Inter-house Floorball competition and such. Thus, I am looking forward to Week 7 onwards to conduct my supplementary lessons.
Teaching 111 pose me with a slightly different challenge. While there are HA and LA students in this class, the difference is not stark. Thus, I’m able to go about my lessons at a moderate pace. However, I do realize that while one concept that was taught in Class 102 took only 1 period for all of the students to grasp, Class 111 takes 2 periods to grasp the same concept. With that, Class 111 is slightly behind syllabus as compared to the other classes. To manage this problem, remedial lessons will be conducted for the whole class instead of just the LA students. I have also provided more guided worksheets to 111 to help them understand the concepts.
While I understand that finishing the syllabus is important, I still do try my best to provide my students with interesting learning opportunities in the classroom. Classroom activities and mathematical games are conducted once in a while for the students. I also find myself on my toes most of the times trying to come up with on-the-spot interesting activities as and when my I notice that my students are getting restless in class. This does happen occasionally, especially when my classes are in the afternoon where students are already tired and lethargic. While I believe that people may presume this as a waste of time (i.e. playing games in class), I personally believe that sustaining my students’ interest is more important to ensure that learning takes place.
Week 7. Since Monday and Tuesday were holidays, a lot of catching up had to be done. This is because Monday is the day I have all of my 3 Maths classes. Thus, remedials were conducted for both Sec 1 classes and consultations periods for my Sec 4s.
ReplyDeleteWhat I noticed about my Sec 1 students is that they tend to make mistakes when dealing with negative numbers. A simple question such as is difficult for them to calculate mentally. As I mark my students’ classwork and test, I find that they do know how to perform expansion of algebra but often does not get the final answer due to negative numbers.
I have tried various methods to explain. One method was the use of money. Students were told to imagine that negative meant that they owe Ms Aisyah money and positive numbers meant that they already had the money in their pockets. Students found it fun at first, with them being able to visualize and mentally calculating how much they owe or had at the end of the day. However, students did not apply this concept when doing their worksheets as they felt it was “time-consuming”. Thus, they did their mental calculation and got it wrong.
I also tried to use simple terms such as “taking away” for negative numbers and “adding in” for positive numbers. For example, would mean that I took away 5 pencils, followed by taking away another 1 pencil. Students were able to tell that the final answer is since I took a total of 6 pencils altogether. Again, imagining “taking away pencils” was “troublesome”.
I consulted Ginny, my buddy, if she too faced the same problem with her classes. She did. Because of that, I have advised and “forced” my students to always bring their calculator. I do understand that by doing this, students will tend to be over-dependent on the calculator. Thus, I still encourage students to mentally visualize the numbers before checking it by using their calculator.
After not having trainings for 3 weeks due to the Inter-house Floorball preliminary rounds, I felt that it was time for trainings to start proper. However, I was skeptical as to whether the students would come for training due to various reasons.
1: It was the start of the fasting month.
2: Students saw this as a modular “leisure” CCA since there is no coach and no proper training structure. They do not feel the need to come for every training.
3: It has been 3 weeks since there were any training and students might not be in the “mood”.
My main priority was to come up with a structured training for the boys. I believe that with proper trainings and routines instilled, the boys would be able to feel more belonged to the CCA with a sense of purpose when they come for their trainings. With that, I had to find a coach. Finding one was not easy. Emails were sent to various schools, requesting for contacts of coaches but the results were negative. I even had to advertise my desperate need of a Floorball coach on Facebook. With budget constrains at the back of my mind, I managed to find someone who was willing to coach the boys for free. He happened to be a friend’s friend who was an ex-Ping Yian Floorball player, willing to help out of his own good will.
Also, what surprised me was that 21 boys actually came down for the training. This was a huge increase from the 9 boys whom I was first introduced to during their first Floorball training in Term 3. I felt a sense of accomplishment as I oversee the training. I promoted Floorball by putting up posters on the Floorball noticeboard, sending messages to all the Sec 1, 2 and 3s through their Asknlearn portal and always putting in good words to the students who participated in the Inter house games about Floorball. With the help of some of the senior Floorball boys, we also talent spotted a few of the Sec 1 and 2 students who participated in the competition whom we felt had great Floorball skills. An extra 11 members in the team was a great accomplishment for me.
But the question remains, will they want to make Floorball their CCA or were they here just for the fun of it?
Week 8 gave me faith in terms of the boys' commitment to Floorball. Since there was an increase in the number of members in Floorball last week, I was skeptical about the attendance this week. However, it was a pleasant surprise when the turnout was great. There were now a total of 31 students, eagerly waiting for the coach to start the trainings. The sec 1s and 2s who came last week not only came this week but they also brought their friends along. I was left smiling. :)
ReplyDeleteThe training went well. Despite not knowing much about the Floorball techniques and skills, I suggested a few passing of the ball routines and dribbling routes that I have learned from Hockey(when I was in school)for the coach to adopt for the students. I also as far as possible try to involve myself with their trainings, joining them occasionally for games. I believe that it is important for me to know what the students are going through during their trainings, especially now that it is the fasting month. I am also able to get a better picture of the CCA and pick up some of the skills while at the same time, building better rapport with the students.
My next plan is to now create a Floorball team to represent the school for the various divisions in the competitions. Although there are already "powerhouses" (schools that consider Floorball as their niche CCA) and that we might not even qualify to the next round of competitions, I believe that the experience gained during the competition will be invaluable to the boys.
From what I observe about the boys is that they play because of their passion for the sports. Most of them will take the opportunity to ask me about Floorball trainings whenever they see me in school. "Cher, Thursday got Floorball right?" despite countless of times telling them that Floorball trainings are every Thursday. Some even ask if trainings can start earlier at 3pm instead of 4pm. When I explained to them that the sec 3s finish slighlty later and thus cannot make it at 3pm, they explained to me that they wanted to start earlier as they wanted to play more, 3pm to 6pm instead of the regular training from 4pm to 6pm. Again, their passion impressed me. With that, I agreed and made 3pm to 4pm the unofficial time for sec 1s and 2s to train on their own and 4pm to 6pm the official timing for proper Floorball trainings.
Onto other stuffs, it surprised me when my sec 4 students asked me where the Maths noticeboard was. This was because I told them to refer to the noticeboard for details on the night study lectures conducted by the Maths teachers. Immediately, they said, "Huh? There is a Maths noticeboard?" This made me realised that the noticeboard has been under-utilised. Students do not have the need to go to the noticeboard for anything unless specifically told to by their teachers and even that is rarely or almost never. Teachers will prefer to translate the message to the students themselves than asking the students to refer to the board since students just might not.
With that I have to think of a way to make the noticeboard attractive and interactive for the students. I created a “Miss Psychic” corner where students are supposed to follow the steps and come up with a final “guess” from the given instructions. Students will realize that their “guess” has already been predicted by “Miss Psychic” under “Miss Psychic’s Guess”. More will be put up on the board in future to help attract students to the noticeboard.