T2W6 - 4E1

(This blog entry is inspired by Amy's entry ... http://maxwow-amycharles.blogspot.com/2009/04/praises-go-long-way-sometimes.html)

This class amazes me....

At the start of the year when I realised that I was going to teach them, I checked their E Math MSG for 2008. Oh yes...it's going to be a tough year. So from the beginning I was strict with them. I was determined to ensure that they get the best result in E Math this year. So in the first week of this year I gave them the SOW that I will strictly follow, the CA1 breakdown that shows their test marks and assignments done(or not) and gave them reasonable amount of homework (they know it's for their own good) and go through the harder questions the next period. As what happened in my 1E2 class, most of them have shown improvement, whether slight or a milestone, which I am very proud of. The remarks that I gave in their assignments are carefully thought of and not just random remarks. I realised that you have be genuine in giving out praises as students don't like to be patronised (just like adults). Thus when they do well in tests and assignments, a little word of praise like 'well done!' and 'good effort' and little smiley stickers will have a positive effect on them. I remembered putting this comment on a student's test paper... ' You're finally showing your true potential. I'm so proud of you. Keep up the good work!' From that day onwards, the student never fail to impress me. He continues to be paying attention in class and handing in assignments on time and will be participating actively in class discussion. HOORAAYY!!! :) ( one down ...and many more to go...hehe)

I have 2 more of such cases. One is a student who had failed in her previous tests and because of her active involvement in one of the performing arts groups that did well in SYF Central Judging and her curriculum period conducted dring the SRP timeslot, it was really tough on her. She perservered, tried her best to pay attention in class (although she gets distracted easily), studied for the last test on Graphical Solution of Equations and wah lah! she finally passed! I call that determination and she was so proud of having passed that test. What I did was to encourage her more as I know she is capable of doing well in her academics as she has shown those qualities in her CCA. Now that SYF is over, we will sit together and do some intensive revision....

The other student had a colourful past. After accepting him in my class in February, I realised that he had not shown a better attitude this year (being his 5th) and I was really getting frustrated. I held him back after class sometime last month and gave him a tounge-lashing that I was not aware I could. I SMS his mum and told her of my disappointment and needed her to do something cos obviously he hadn't. I thought it was going to be like last year...advice falling to deaf ears...BUT he really surprised me. He turned up earlier than his classmates on the day of the Graphical Solution of Equations test. He sat quitely and did the test. When I marked his script that same night I was shocked as he was the fourth highest in the class! I think he finally got the message that we(teachers, school and parents) want him to do well in his academics. I had to ask this of him- whether he was already good in that topic as he had studied this last year, or is it that he had really studied for this test. And when he said that he studied for it, I really felt good. He is on the road to better future....YESSSS AT LAST!!! Now what I need to do is to keep reminding him of his potential and what he is able to do, instead of harping on his shortcomings....

So to summarise this very long entry --- Every child (AND ADULT) has potential to do well. He/She just needs that guidance, encouragement and genuine praises from the people that matters. It is our job as teachers to support and give good advice and be a role model to them in terms of good work ethics and behaviours.

T2W3-1E2 (AFL so far...)

Term 2 has started and we are back in class learning together. My shortcomings for Term 1 for this class was that I didn't prepare them well enough for my 'class entrance'. I thought it was clear to all students (from the extensive discussion done in T1W1-T1W3 about class rules and expectations) that the expectations was for them to wait for their subject teachers with their books ready on the tables. Boy was I wrong! And I wasn't helping the situation as I didn't adhere to the standard procedure but just walked in and stood in front of the class and waited until they were ready to greet me ( which could take about 5 extra minutes of 'SHHHHH' and somebody saying 'Stop talking'). Hmmm....I guess instructions will only be remembered if each subject teacher gives the same instructions to them. (It would be even nicer if the teacher who had just ended his/ her lesson , help to get students to get their materials ready for the next lesson.....)Thus I worked on this ever since T1W6 and now I will not step in until everyone in the class has their books and homework on their tables ....and they stand, ready to greet me... :) ( I can even hear them scurrying to get ready when I am about 5 metres from their classroom...hehe..

I think AFL has really helped me in teaching this class. As what I had done for my other classes, I would write what I would be teaching at the top left corner of the whiteboard so that I am able to carry out my lesson as planned and also to ensure that students are on task and not waste time, as usually I will have about 3 lines of instructions. For e.g., for my 2-period lesson with them on last Tuesday I had these on the board: 1-go through HW Ex 4.1, 2-learn substitution, 3-HW Ex 4.2 (do all odd numbers). This answers the question of 'where are we going?' in AFL. My lesson often starts with a review of last period's homework. (This answers the question of 'where are we now' in AFL) I will give the answers to the questions (even though they are found at the back of the book) and students will be marking their own work with a pencil or green pen. For every answer that received remarks such as 'Huh?'or 'I didn't get that' or 'Miss Rozi, I got a different answer' or when at least 1 student raised their hands to indicate they got it wrong, I would write the full solution on the board and explain the question thoroughly. I find that this works very well for this class. They are good students who will definitely do their work and they want to do well. Thus by going through the answers and getting the correct solution from me (when they got theirs wrong) it ensures that they get the correct feedback to help them in their own learning and to clear any misconceptions that they have. It is also during this session of going through homework that I find students thinking. Some would be asking questions of a slightly higher level and their classmates would often offer answers (before I do), which I thought was excellent ...:) At the end of going through the homework in class I would collect the assignments and mark them (the marking is less tedious now as most have been done by the students diligently) and at the same time I would be able to mark their corrections and put some more comments on the mistakes that they had done or to give encouraging remarks when they have a lot of mistakes but effort was shown when they diligently do their corrections and also congratulatory remarks (very good! or well done! or smiley stickers) for those who have got full marks for their assignment. When their assignments are returned the next day or a few days later, students who had not done well in their assignments and have 'come and see me' written on their assignment, would meet me and I would find out if they have overcome their misconceptions in that assignments.
In overall, I think 1E2 has responded well with AFL. Timely feedback given to them clears their misconceptions and satisfies their curiousity. I think that the building blocks have been put into place satisfactorily for future learning of Mathematics and I think it has kept some, if not all of them, interested in Mathematics.

T1 W7-8 1E2

This class is currently learning Percentages. Most had done quite well in the previous 3 chapters' tests. As Percentage was covered in their Primary 6 syllabus, I was able to go quite fast with them. Just a few students had to be hand-held to do a few of the Try It! questions. I should be able to finish teaching the whole Chapter in the next lesson and also start on the next chapter which is Data Handling, and have them sit for a test, before they go for their OLE 1 in Week 10. In the weeks that I have taught them I discovered that they are intelligent (therefore I should stretch them further to raise their Maths ability), most are enthusiastic and eager to answer and show their working on the board while the quite ones sit and do their work quietly (I should ensure that everyone has a chance to answer and make the quiet ones present their answers more and perhaps increase their self-esteem?), they are hardworking ( i gave them a lot of homework questions and so far most have given me very satisfactory work on time. I just need to work on one student who forgets to bring his homework a lot and seems lost in class- I have already talked to the Form teacher and she has agreed to change his back seat to one in the front). Let's hope that with SMAPP in Term 2, I will be able to learn more about their strengths and weaknesses and hence how to help them in the future.

T1 W7-8 4E1

For the past two weeks, I have been teaching this class the topic of Cumulative Frequency Distribution. As a change, for the first lesson, I had given the class an overview on what to expect for in this chapter. I showed them my own drawing of the cumulative frequency curves and told them that I expect their curves to be as good as mine and for the past few sessions, almost all of their curves were as good as mine which I find awesome. I know that most of the students do not like drawing graphs but students do meet up to our expectations if we show that we believe in them. Only some have difficulty (need more practice of course). After the first assignment was marked, I reviewed the mistakes with the class. Some had to be called to the teacher's table to be given a stern reminder for showing 'poor attitude'. I have decided to change the seating arrangement as a few of them were not learning from their chosen seating partners. They will only get to change back if they show an improvement in their homework assignments. We have one more subtopic to go before closing the chapter on Cumulative frequency- box and whiskers plot. Most probably after reviewing the chapter and going through 2008 'O' level question on this chapter next week, the class should be ready for a test on Thursday. I am determined to make sure everybody pass this test as it is a definite question in the O level. If this Chapter is mastered now, they will have one less Chapter to revise for the 'O' level.

T1 W7-8 5N1

Three 'new' students joined the class. It was unfortunate that they had come in when the class was supposed to sit for their Test on Matrices. Everyone passed the test (including the three students) except for one student. In overall the students agreed that they were careless in their multiplication of the elements, forgot that when a matrix is squared, it means it needs to be multiplied to itself again and not have each element squared. ..We also started on a new topic- Set Language and Notation. As was done previously at the start of the topic, students were given some time to read their textbooks and find out the answers to my questions that were written on the whiteboard. The students were very focused and managed to get the right answers. I think that we have made the correct choice of using Discovering Mathematics for the NA classes in the upper secondary as the Try It! questions lets them practice on the new concepts that they have learnt straight away. I think another thing that made the students of this class focused in their learning was that they know what I was going to do for that entire period. For this class I dedicated the top right hand corner of the Whiteboard to my plan for the day. For example, on last Friday I had these written on that corner. 1) review the topic 2) give homework questions 3) test on next Wednesday? 4) 2008 'O' level question 5) 2007 Specimen paper question. As they had only 20 mins left (they had come late from their D&T and F&N lessons), the students were focused and I was able to do 4 out of the 5. The specimen question will be done on our next lesson. I feel that if we are focused in what we are going to do with the class, the students will be cooperative and will be focused and thus no problems in classroom management. Im very sure this class will meet my expectations and more....

T1 W7-8 2N3

I have finally finished teaching 2N3 the topic on Proportion. Having the AFL workshop really helped me in teaching this class. Because of the sessions, I had changed the way I wanted to teach the class. As I had said before, the students were not able to do the worksheets as the examples that I thought would help them, proved useless. I went on to 'force' the steps on them and the first two lessons turned out disastrous and of course the students and I ended up feeling very frustrated, especially the more-abled students. They just can't figure out why they can't do the sums. It was my mistake. I didn't plan enough for them. They were lacking in their pre-requisite knowledge for that topic. The prior knowledge that they needed were: the ability to find the squares, square roots, cube and cube roots of integers, the ability to solve simple linear equations and also the technique of cross-multiplying. So when the facilitators of the AFL workshop said that it's ok to spend more time in discovering and clarifying their misconceptions and making sure the students have the correct building blocks before proceeding to the next level, I did just that. I spent two periods on making sure they have the required pre-requisite knowledge. Then I repeated the steps that I did with them and it was so much easier for the students and I. For every step that they did correctly, I praised them. It is important to celebrate the small successes as I can see that that keeps the class motivated. The students were now able to apply the skills and were very motivated to do another sum when they get the first one correct. About one-third of the class kept wanting to show their correct workings on the board and most of them passed in the test given. I really felt satisfied. The next topic that they will be doing will be Expansion and Factorisation of Algebraic Fractions. I will spend a few periods testing their prior knowledge (simple algebraic expansion and manipulations) before teaching them how to expand the product of two algebraic expressions a.k.a the 'smiley face' .

T1 W4-6 5N1

I have been teaching them Probability and Matrices for the past three weeks. The students were able to do fairly well on the Test on Probability. The motivation for them to do well is 'not to be in SRP', which is a good motivation if you ask me. When I was about to go to the next topic, I wrote some questions on the whiteboard and gave the students 10 minutes to read their textbook to get the answers. At the end of ten minutes, students were able to give the answers and I think I would do this for the rest of the topics we are going to cover. When students were given time to find the answers to the questions (teachers need to pick out the key things about the chapter), they would be more involved in their own learning. The start of the chapter was smooth sailing. Addition, subtraction and scalar multiplication of matrices is very straight forward and the students were good at it, except for some who were careless. The hard part of this chapter are the interpretation and the multiplication of matrices. Students needed to be guided slowly how to interpret the results and also not to be careless in their multiplication. More practice will be done in week 7 expecially on interpretation nd matrix multiplication.

T1 W4-6 4E1

For the past three weeks, I have taught the students about Probability. On the whole students were able to recap what they have learnt in chronological order, i.e. Simple Probability, Possibility Diagram, Mutually Exclusive events, Tree Diagrams, Independent and Dependent events. As the group is small I was able to teach the students better as some were slower than the rest. As the other students were doing their sums in their lesson package, I was able to sit with the slower ones and help them tackle some problems. Some of them fedback that I was too slow for them but I kept to the same pace as there were others who were not as fast as them. Had I gone faster this small group would be lost.
When I was away for two days for a course, I gave them extra work on Probability and informed them of the test that they were to sit for when I returned. They were very focused and worked hard on the paper even though some were not certain of the correctness of their answers. What I can say is that this group has a good attitude towards Maths and are able to perform if they are given more encouragement and more questions to stretch them further.
After giving a test on this topic I realise that four students were still not sure of this topic. Since two of them will not be in the SRP due to their curriculum in the afternoon, I woould see them on other days for a small group coaching. I would continue to motivate this group to work hard so that they are able to catch up with the rest.

T1 W4-6 - 2N3

For the past 3 weeks I have been teaching them Chapter 2 Proportion. I thought it was going to be fast. But it turned out to be too abstract for students to answer questions on maps and scales. It was difficult for some students to do conversion between km and cm and square km and square cm. A lot of pratice was given and students needed to be handheld each step. After giving two quizes on conversion and seeing students' improvement, I was confident that they were able to proceed to the next part which is direct and indirect propotion. When I was away for two days I had prepared two worksheets for them to do on this new topic. I realised that that does not work with the 2N3. They were not able to read examples on their own to be able to replicate the steps and solve the questions. They really need to be told what steps to take and they need a lot of pratice for each kind of question. Next time I would just prepare revision worksheets on last year's topics. At least they would not say that they have not been taught. I have decided to give them one question for homework (to be done in their notebook) on previous topics so that they will not forget what they have learnt so far and more questions on the current topic so that they have more practice.
So far I realised that Wen Fang, Wei Xiong, Bendy and Kai Leng are very hardworking and will do their best to get the answers to the questions set for them. There are some whom I have to work on and get their attention. Two new students joined last week and 1 who had just came back and I will gauge their abilities this coming week.

T1 W4-6 - 1E2

My 1E2 has been a very interesting class to teach so far. I have discovered that they are very competitive (and supportive of each other), very enthusiastic in showing their workings on the whiteboard and students being students, love having games. We have been learning about Real Numbers (chapter 2) for the past 3 weeks. I didn't want to rush teaching this topic as I didn't want them to learn wrongly (due to misconceptions not being uncovered at the earliest stage of learning) which could lead to mistakes being repeated over and over again at the higher levels. In order to make the learning of addition and subtraction of positive and negative integers we played a simple game which made the whole class alert. It's a very simple game that goes something like this. 'I am -16 . What is 5 subtracted from me?" And the person with the answer on their pieces of paper will stand up and read the next part of the clue. I had made sure that everyone is involved in this game as 41 clues were given out. The game turned out well and was enjoyed by everyone and most importantly, they learn better as I would write out the clue on the board as it was being read out by students(visual learning). Also these days (I think its because of the AFL sessions that we are having), I am more patient in waiting for students' answers after I have given them a question. I realised that nowadays I keep asking students to raise their hands in order to have a quick check on their learning. I also marked more consciously nowadays, and wrote down the names of students who have trouble in key questions and called them out when I gave their assignments back after marking.

This is my first Sec 1E class after many years of teaching upper sec students. I am very strict with them and I am glad that they are trying very hard to meet up with my expectations. I think after this topic I will teach them how to play NUMERO. This game helps in making students form an equation with the four operations and also squares, square roots and cube and cube roots.

Reflection on my 2008 A Maths (4E2 and 4E6) O level results

Last year was the first year that I taught Sec 4 A Math, having taught the Sec 3 syllabus in 2006 and 2007. I was of course nervous as I await for the result on 12th January. My first concern was my form class 4e6. I guess I should be slightly happy as the number of passes for A Math for 4E6 was more than that during the prelim exams ( 2 passes in Prelim and 12 passes in O level exams is not too bad ) but I guess after working hard on many Saturdays in 2007 and 2008 I can't help but feel sad knowing that the remaining 18 didn't manage to pass ( out of 34 students, 4 didn't sit for the paper). I can't help thinking that I have not done enough for them. The Saturday lessons, the scoldings, the motivational talks and the small group coaching was not enough for this class....? I'll be meeting with the ones who have passed, for a small celebration lunch at Swensens this Saturday. I will definitely ask what had made them really turn around and be able to reach that passing mark....Hopefully what worked for them will work for the weaker students this year...

For the 4E2 on the other hand, I know that most of them will make it. Out of the 10 failures during Prelims, only 1 failed in the end ( and I know this student started to be serious a little too late) and with a D7 at that. They were a really determined lot and helped each other out with the extra papers that I had given them, a few weeks before the O levels. I should have paid more attention to them. They should have achieved better grades earlier had I given them the same attention as 4E6. I am glad that most are able to go to the next level of learning and perhaps continue with Mathematics.

I am back teaching Sec 4 E Maths this year. I really REALLY hope that the results will be a whole lot better than last year's. Teaching half of 4E1 should be easier than the whole class. And 5N1, after teaching them for the last 2 years, still needs a lot of coaching and motivating. I am determined to make sure that they get at least a B4 from the CA1 to the final 'O' level Maths paper. Anything less would mean that I haven't done enough for my students. I hope the other teachers will make sure that I keep this promise till this year's batch of students finish their Sec 4/5 education.

Reflection T1W1 - 1E2 (introduction)

I first got to know the students from observing Sok Gek going through the Class Code of Conduct on the first day of school. They were very quiet and a bit reserved and introduced themselves very softly. Thursday was the only lesson I had with them and I went through my introductory lesson, set expectations and got myself a Maths rep. I will only start my first lesson on next Monday. The first topic will be Factors and Multiples. Till next week....:)

Reflection T1W1 - 4E1 (Circle Theorem)

Shobha and I shared the 4E1 class. for the first lesson, 17 out of 20 attended my class in ITR3 as 1 student was out of school and 2 of them were caught by the PMLC for thei personal bearing. For the past two lessons I taught them the symmetrical and angle properties of circles. They were able to understand the symmetrical properties as they were able to try a few sums for classwork and homework. I went through the angle properties quite fast as they should have done some, if not half, of their Holiday Homework on Circle Theorem. We went through 1 question that makes use of the first 4 angle properties of circles which are, angles in the same segment, angle at centre is twice angle at circumference, right angle in semicircle opposite angles of a cyclic quad is supplementary. I told them to finish up on the 50 questions that were given for their holiday homework, during the weekend. I will mark the first assignment tonight and will go through with them the errors( if any) and go through the 50 questions next week...

Reflection T1W1 - 5N1 (Probability)

The whole class is back again. I have a sense that everyone wants to do very well this term. Firman was asking me to give him extra lessons so that he can get into SAJC as he was intending to go there. Teenesh was asking when SRP will start and I told him that it would start next week. Bernice was really paying attention in class. Last year her performance was inconsistent. I hope to be able to be capture her attention every lesson so that she can stay focused in class. They were given a one-week extension for their Holiday Homework (the whole TYS).

They have learnt about sample space, simple probability, possibility diagram, tree diagram and mutually exclusive events. I think most of them were able to understand the lessons that have been taught for the week. Shahira and Shiek were quite confused at first but I was able to make them understand by the second lesson. Need to mark their first assignment on Probability to really gauge their understanding. Will do it tonight.... :)

Reflection T1W1 - 2N3 (Data Handling)

I admit I was quite 'scared' to go into this class as I saw that it is made up of 2008's 1T, 2T, 1N and 2N students. Their ability is so varied I just don't know how to start. So in following the SOW, I started with Data Handling. The 1T and 2T and 2N students have finished this topic last year so I guess it is easier to teach the whole class. The students were really enthusiastic about learning and were even more motivated after Mr Chin came into the class to say that he knows that they will be the best class out of the three 2N classes, based on 2008's statistics. I have the same feeling too...:)

I gave them a test yesterday on putting data into frequency table. As expected, most were able to do it with little difficulty. Since I had written the question on the board, it's only right for me to read the question to the 2 visually handicapped students who were sitting in the first row. I will mark the test papers tonight and hopefully get a 100% full mark for this first test. As for SRP, the whole class of 23 students will attend and I will work on their sec 1 syllabus. I will continue on the same topic of Data Handling - representing data ( Bar chart, line graphs and Pie Chart) next week.....