Reflections of Staff Seminar Dec 2012

Commencement Speech "You are not special"

Our principal shared this during the year-end seminar and the messages that resonated most with me were:

1. If everyone is special, no one is. (This sets me thinking that with the announcement in September that all local schools are good schools, then this would imply that no schools are good right? Haha, am I thinking too much?)
2. Love your work and believe in it. 
3. Avoid self satisfaction. This means we should not get complacent. Things could always be done in a better way.
4. Think about the more important things. The thing is, do we know which things are important?
5. Climb a mountain so that you can see the world and not for the world to see you. (I love this as the perspective with which we look at things do shape the way we do things. Linked to item 4)

These shall guide me for 2013 and I look forward to an amazing 2013!

Web Whiteboard - Drawing Mathematical Modes of Representations

NIE is conducting a study on how mp3 is being translated into teaching and learning practices and today my Math lesson was observed.

To conclude whether students have grasped the main concepts taught i.e. mean, median and mode (3Ms) and the various of modes of representation (e.g. dot diagram, stem and leaf), I brought in M&Ms for each student so that we work with real data.

All the information were captured via a Google Spreadsheet.

Students had to open their own packet of M&Ms and input the data into the cells. Data can thus be analysed at the group level and the class level.

The girls then worked in their groups to draw a dot diagram based on the group data and to draw another diagram using the class data. I explored getting the students to draw their diagrams using this web 2.0 tool (awwapp.com). This is a sample of the students' work. 

Students also had to find the 3Ms based on the data and input their responses into a Google Form. I then discussed what the students had done using their responses. The happiest thing I heard was this student saying that we should have more of such lessons. Well, I told her I would love to, if I had more time ;p

PD-ICT: Digitally Immersed in the Challenges of Learning

I came across this article entitled "Digitally Immersed in the Challenges of Learning" and found that the ideas shared by Shelley Terrell resonating with me because I found myself most engaged when I realized I am learning something through the experiences I was going through.

1. Name three things you learnt from the article.
2. Describe two changes you intend to make professionally.

Google Sites - eLearning 2012

Yet another round of eLearning for me. I taught my 2 Math lessons in school as I was down for eLearning duty (situated myself in Faraday Lab so that I could render any staff assistance with VGLF) but for the Comm Arts lesson, I got my co-teacher, Stephanie, who is a beginning teacher, to conduct the lesson so that I could experience it as a student.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process and am even more convinced that we have developed a wonderful application. The key thing now is then the lesson design and how we go about using it!

This is the link to the Secondary 1 Communcative Arts Google Site and this, the link to the Secondary 2 Mathematics site.

Popplet - Congruency and Similarity

I was introduced to Popplet by a researcher who has been working with Frances and me on digital writing.

So I tried it out with both my Mathematics classes as I intended to use this at the entire level for eLearning this year. The girls found it interesting and came out with pretty good mindmaps of their understanding of the topics.

Google Sites - Communicative Arts 2012

Frances, the coordinator for Secondary One Communicative Arts, is a very dynamic and focused teacher and she suggested for the entire level to conduct the dramatization unit via Google Sites. I couldn't have been more pleased :)

The trainee teacher, Shawn, was very forthcoming and volunteered to create the template for the other teachers to adopt.

The 1S2 Communicative Arts Google Site was officially launched in Term 3 and this is the link. TO make my site more dynamic and reflective of what the girls have been doing, I have also included works the girls have done in Semester 1.

Intel TEACH - Transforming Learning with One to One

Boon Keng encouraged me to coordinate and conduct an Intel TEACH workshop after going through two series of workshops in 2011.

I worked with Desmond, the HOD ICT from North Vista Primary School and enjoyed learning from and working with him.  Here's the link to the brochure Mrs Tan, my principal, sent out to invite teachers to join us.

Together with Desmond, we created a group on the Intel page:

It was an honour and a wonderful experience to work with Shelley Shott too, who came all the way from USA to co-conduct this workshop with us. Desmond even created a YouTube video to show some of the things that went on during the workshop. Many thanks to Christopher from Intel who provided many logistical assistance like a thumbdrive that contained the learning resources for the participants and certificates endorsed by Intel.

SkyDrive - EL Phrasebooks

As the Sec 1 girls go through Lower Secondary Computer Education Programme (LSCEP for short), I thought it would be good for the girls to create their EL phrasebooks via SkyDrive since they will be learning about it.

The ICT trainers created the respective class folders and worked with the students to create their phrasebooks. This will allow them to archive their works over their four years in CGS and all their language teachers would be able to see how the girls have progressed. We shall check back and review on the usefulness again later.

Linoit - Reflections for Mathematics

During one of the Mathematics lessons, I realized that the girls might not understand why they are doing corrections for problems they have done wrongly so I wanted to think about the rationale and I used Linoit for this purpose.

I can always revisit this again to remind the girls what they have put down as Mathematics is a language about accuracy and clarity and as Mathematicians, they must make sure what they present is clear and precise.

HeuMi - Another major lesson observation

Boon Keng told me the International Advisory Panel is coming in March and would like me to design a lesson involving HeuMi. Let me explain, HeuMi is a multi-touch table that allows four students to sit at each side of the table and collaborate on a thinking template simultaneously. It allows them to put in notes, ink and annotate, surf the Internet for information, perform screen captures of what they have done and also save these into a USB drive. We have also designed collaborative tools like timers, a spinning wheel and even talking chips so that we can use these tools during a typical lesson.

It took me a while but eventually I managed to design a lesson that bridged the unit we were at, which was storytelling, to storywriting. Here's the lesson plan.

To get the girls ready to use the device, I designed a prior lesson which requires them to analyze a character from Harry Potter using the MEAL structure. The picture shows the analysis done by one of the groups. The girls were to analyse how indirect and direct characterisation is done by Rowling in creating an impression on Luna Lovegood (actually I wonder if the girls noticed the name meant something too!)

eTips - an initiative

To give more air time for my eCoaches, I suggested for the eCoaches to create and send out eTips on a monthly basis. This is the first eTip created by me. Very rudimentary but I hope it starts the ball rolling:

Google Sites - Archiving past seminars

One of the things I wanted to find out about when I came to CGS was the professional development work done in CGS. I realized that the information was not consolidated at one easy-to-find location and hence the idea of using Google Site to archive all past seminars came about and this is the product that is still going through work in progress.

We shared this site with the staff  in 21 February.

Google Docs - Dictogloss

This activity came about as part of the EL assessment literacies workshop conducted in CGS.

Find the lesson plan here.

Interesting situation

I am teaching only 3 classes this year, a Sec 1 Comm Arts class (meeting the girls 5 hours per week) and two Sec 2 Math classes (meeting the girls 3 hours per week). The interesting thing is I am also teaching the Sec 1 class PBL and I am also their co-PC teacher (PC stands for Pastoral Care).

Holding many identities with the same Sec 1 class means I have to wear many hats and sometimes I think the voice I use with the class is confusing both to me and to them. When am I speaking as their co-PC teacher, when am I speaking as their Comm Arts teacher? This is something I must understand first so that I can be more effective in my communication with them.

Google Docs - Starting the first Communicative Arts lesson right

The ideal situation would be for the girls to attend the first day of school already with their learning devices. So far, only my previous school context has the luxury of making that happen as it is a 100% Direct School Admission specialized independent school and they know who their students are when the PSLE results are released. In other words, when the students go to the school to register, they would have already placed orders for their learning devices.

This is not the case in CGS, as this is a government school and the students have to put in their options for their secondary schools upon release of the PSLE results and will only be notified of their school posting late December. When they come to register then, they get their uniforms and book lists and so on, but not their learning devices.

But I did not want the girls to be disadvantaged and after the first lesson when I set my expectations right (I hope), I brought them to Green Lab (one of the two labs in the school with computers) to have their first Comm Arts lesson and I got them to input responses into a Google Spreadsheet.

Using this spreadsheet, I got to know how much they know about Cinderella type of stories and this provided me with the springboard to discuss plots and ideas and show them examples. I also got to sense how technologically savvy they are and this will help me in my planning of future lessons.