Fully engaged
Hi hi,
Such a draining day today. It all started from 8.30am, when we had quite a fair bit of entertainment from today's Ed Psy presentations. So many of my tutorial mates (they are the same bunch for Ed Psy and Geog) should really consider going into the entertainment line. Actors/actresses/dubbing artistes/director/script writers/director of photography /make-up artist and wardrobe etc, you name it, and they can do it! That was a great start. Although I used up so much energy laughing throughout that 1 hour. :D
Then came Geog micro-teaching. The 2 sessions were rather engaging too, especially Mas' teaching. And of course, that means more energy zapped away... So, here I am, to pen down a few thoughts on the 2 sessions today.
Mas' micro-teaching (TRF)
I thought she delivered a wonderful lesson today. Well done, Mas!
She came across as a really experienced teacher and her nervousness did not show at all. And she was really sharp and quick in her thinking. Cool!
There was quite a bit of suspense when she said she was going to bring the rainforest into the class, which arouse the curiosity of everyone. And I thought she did a good job in fulfilling that promise. Green ppt slides, lots of pictures, sounds of nature (insects, animals, birds). I really love it! Mas must have taken days and sleepness nights doing everything up. I sure hope those were not the causes for her falling sick.
Although, there were some little flaws with the slides, these can easily be improved on so I won't harp on them here. Others have already written about them in their blogs. Anyway, back to the effects of bringing the field into the classroom, I thought it really engaged everyone in class today. Until of course, she broke up the class to do group work (poster). But somehow, I could not relate designing a poster against deforestation with buttress roots, lianas etc.
Mas also dilligently corrected students who gave answers that are non-Geog.
I think given the time constraints in a real life situation, it is not quite possible to devote 2 lessons to the same topic. Which is such a great pity. But we can use them for remedial or revision lessons. :)
Didn't like the shhh... thing.
Oh, almost forgot the whole class standing right at the beginning. I really felt stressed. And Mas did bring the message across that if a student want to survive in her class, they have better know what she has been teaching. :) She is likely to produce students who can do well during the exams.
To sidetrack a little, although it was a really engaging lesson, is being engaging enough? To people who are less informed about the psychology of teaching, this probably works very well. I think my HOD and perhaps even the P in the school I was attached to, will probably love this. So, do we have to structure our lessons in such a way as to suit the different supervisors /observers that we have?
Reminds me of the supposedly 'wise' advice in my previous job - Do the right thing in front of the right people. And another one - prioritize work assigned to you according to the sphere of influence of the person who assigns you the job. Sigh...
Ok ok, I am just ventilating. I have nothing against what was said in class today. In fact, I thought, still think, and will always think that I've gained the most from Geog tutorials compared to other modules, in every aspect of my learning life as a trainee teacher. My tutorial mates helped me revise what I left aside years ago, apart from demonstrating both positive and negative teaching styles. That is the extra advantage of having the micro-teaching conducted in this manner. :)
Yp's micro-teaching (Map reading)
I think it is really difficult teaching such a topic to students. And equally difficult to find suitable resources (simple maps) to teach this topic. But YP took up the challenge! Really brave of her.
I thought that getting Wes to sit at the side was a good move. Although Wes himself thought it lame, I found that this would actually help students remember the North South East West better. Most students have difficulties remembering them. For me, NSEW in Eng is no prob. But in Mandarin, because the sequence is different, I have problems with it. But I have my own method of remembering it, by recalling a Mandarin song we learnt from Pri school, that starts off with "the sun rises from the east" and with hand actions as well. Ok, my learning style is showing, but I am sure there are many students like me.
And using sitting position to teach grid reference is nice. I recall seeing it done before. The effect will be better with a large class.
And I thought Yp was really fierce. :)
Searching of bags. I am not sure if teachers are allowed to search students' bag without the presence of another adult, if allowed at all. It is quite a tricky/sensitive situation to handle.
The big topo map stuck to the white board was a big turn off. Sec ones need much simpler maps to start off with.
Ah yes, I have seen a demo for teaching map reading using pc tablet during the IT Sharing session in the school I was attached to. What happened was, the teacher first showed an aerial photo, with buildings and roads or river. He picked out the most obvious landmark, which was a river. He then traced the path of the river on the tablet. Then, he took away the pict. But the path he traced remains. Next, he placed a map that corresponds with the earlier pic on the screen. And students can straightaway see the path of the river that is echoed on the map. And that helps them connect what is real to a map. That was really superbly done. Perhaps, OHP or visualizer can also be used if no pc tablet is available.
Yep, that's all I have on the 2 sessions.
The draining day then went on to Lit, with another micro-teaching by another tutorial mate. She will make a wonderful Lit teacher but she used materials that were too difficult. So, it was quite a straining session.
Then, came GESL. Had to present our proposals to the team. I am quite on about my idea which my group mate built up upon. Good that we finally zoomed down to 4 probable projects but we are still very behind time. Had to meet up during the reading week to work on it. Sigh...
Reading week is coming. I think it should be named Independent Rush-Through Assignments week. We have literally 1 day to do each assignment when we divide the days out. And some of them are really redundant, having no linkage to practical use in our teaching career. Sigh... We got to do what we got to do...
And yes, we have not time to reflect. In fact, no time to even read as widely as we would like. And to someone like me, whose brain has degenerated over the years doing work that utilised only a minute part of it, I have lots to catch up on. Sigh... No time to R & R now.
SW
(who is currently terribly confused by the different approaches to teaching different subjects, ie Lit vs Geog, and poetry vs novel. Argh....)
Such a draining day today. It all started from 8.30am, when we had quite a fair bit of entertainment from today's Ed Psy presentations. So many of my tutorial mates (they are the same bunch for Ed Psy and Geog) should really consider going into the entertainment line. Actors/actresses/dubbing artistes/director/script writers/director of photography /make-up artist and wardrobe etc, you name it, and they can do it! That was a great start. Although I used up so much energy laughing throughout that 1 hour. :D
Then came Geog micro-teaching. The 2 sessions were rather engaging too, especially Mas' teaching. And of course, that means more energy zapped away... So, here I am, to pen down a few thoughts on the 2 sessions today.
Mas' micro-teaching (TRF)
I thought she delivered a wonderful lesson today. Well done, Mas!
She came across as a really experienced teacher and her nervousness did not show at all. And she was really sharp and quick in her thinking. Cool!
There was quite a bit of suspense when she said she was going to bring the rainforest into the class, which arouse the curiosity of everyone. And I thought she did a good job in fulfilling that promise. Green ppt slides, lots of pictures, sounds of nature (insects, animals, birds). I really love it! Mas must have taken days and sleepness nights doing everything up. I sure hope those were not the causes for her falling sick.
Although, there were some little flaws with the slides, these can easily be improved on so I won't harp on them here. Others have already written about them in their blogs. Anyway, back to the effects of bringing the field into the classroom, I thought it really engaged everyone in class today. Until of course, she broke up the class to do group work (poster). But somehow, I could not relate designing a poster against deforestation with buttress roots, lianas etc.
Mas also dilligently corrected students who gave answers that are non-Geog.
I think given the time constraints in a real life situation, it is not quite possible to devote 2 lessons to the same topic. Which is such a great pity. But we can use them for remedial or revision lessons. :)
Didn't like the shhh... thing.
Oh, almost forgot the whole class standing right at the beginning. I really felt stressed. And Mas did bring the message across that if a student want to survive in her class, they have better know what she has been teaching. :) She is likely to produce students who can do well during the exams.
To sidetrack a little, although it was a really engaging lesson, is being engaging enough? To people who are less informed about the psychology of teaching, this probably works very well. I think my HOD and perhaps even the P in the school I was attached to, will probably love this. So, do we have to structure our lessons in such a way as to suit the different supervisors /observers that we have?
Reminds me of the supposedly 'wise' advice in my previous job - Do the right thing in front of the right people. And another one - prioritize work assigned to you according to the sphere of influence of the person who assigns you the job. Sigh...
Ok ok, I am just ventilating. I have nothing against what was said in class today. In fact, I thought, still think, and will always think that I've gained the most from Geog tutorials compared to other modules, in every aspect of my learning life as a trainee teacher. My tutorial mates helped me revise what I left aside years ago, apart from demonstrating both positive and negative teaching styles. That is the extra advantage of having the micro-teaching conducted in this manner. :)
Yp's micro-teaching (Map reading)
I think it is really difficult teaching such a topic to students. And equally difficult to find suitable resources (simple maps) to teach this topic. But YP took up the challenge! Really brave of her.
I thought that getting Wes to sit at the side was a good move. Although Wes himself thought it lame, I found that this would actually help students remember the North South East West better. Most students have difficulties remembering them. For me, NSEW in Eng is no prob. But in Mandarin, because the sequence is different, I have problems with it. But I have my own method of remembering it, by recalling a Mandarin song we learnt from Pri school, that starts off with "the sun rises from the east" and with hand actions as well. Ok, my learning style is showing, but I am sure there are many students like me.
And using sitting position to teach grid reference is nice. I recall seeing it done before. The effect will be better with a large class.
And I thought Yp was really fierce. :)
Searching of bags. I am not sure if teachers are allowed to search students' bag without the presence of another adult, if allowed at all. It is quite a tricky/sensitive situation to handle.
The big topo map stuck to the white board was a big turn off. Sec ones need much simpler maps to start off with.
Ah yes, I have seen a demo for teaching map reading using pc tablet during the IT Sharing session in the school I was attached to. What happened was, the teacher first showed an aerial photo, with buildings and roads or river. He picked out the most obvious landmark, which was a river. He then traced the path of the river on the tablet. Then, he took away the pict. But the path he traced remains. Next, he placed a map that corresponds with the earlier pic on the screen. And students can straightaway see the path of the river that is echoed on the map. And that helps them connect what is real to a map. That was really superbly done. Perhaps, OHP or visualizer can also be used if no pc tablet is available.
Yep, that's all I have on the 2 sessions.
The draining day then went on to Lit, with another micro-teaching by another tutorial mate. She will make a wonderful Lit teacher but she used materials that were too difficult. So, it was quite a straining session.
Then, came GESL. Had to present our proposals to the team. I am quite on about my idea which my group mate built up upon. Good that we finally zoomed down to 4 probable projects but we are still very behind time. Had to meet up during the reading week to work on it. Sigh...
Reading week is coming. I think it should be named Independent Rush-Through Assignments week. We have literally 1 day to do each assignment when we divide the days out. And some of them are really redundant, having no linkage to practical use in our teaching career. Sigh... We got to do what we got to do...
And yes, we have not time to reflect. In fact, no time to even read as widely as we would like. And to someone like me, whose brain has degenerated over the years doing work that utilised only a minute part of it, I have lots to catch up on. Sigh... No time to R & R now.
SW
(who is currently terribly confused by the different approaches to teaching different subjects, ie Lit vs Geog, and poetry vs novel. Argh....)
posted by S W at
10:16 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home