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.

Coming to the end of the year...

It's going to be a year soon and frankly speaking, I never thought I could grow so much in one year.

I thoroughly enjoyed planning for ICT lessons, talking to teachers about lesson ideas, bouncing ideas with Boon Keng, Siew Huang and the other ICT Directors but most importantly, I enjoy being a plain old ordinary teacher. I am lurving it!

I have bigger plans for 2012 as I have a better understanding how things work in CGS. It's time to work more closely with my eCoaches (after I identify those whom I want) and give them more space to develop and show what they are capable of.

It's time to develop myself professionally and deepen my mastery of the subjects - moving to teach Secondary One Communicative Arts and Secondary Two Mathematics. Lower secondary girls, very different experiences - but something I am ready for.

Here's to a great 2011 and a more fabulous 2012!

Emotions triggered after meeting up with an ex-colleague

Met up with an ex-colleague to celebrate her birthday and mine. We went through some really memorable times in my previous school context and the many situations we had made us closer. Some things that time can never take away, but may wash out or make them fade. But never erase.

She said I looked much younger and that all the dark shadows around my eyes have disappeared and I joked that I am having a darn good time in CGS. Actually, I am. And I feel very blessed that I accepted Mrs Eugenia Lim's offer to come to this school. Boon Keng is a great mentor and supervisor. Siew Huang, Eileen and Leo are great comrades and companions - it helps that they sit in the same staffroom - endless banter.

I think about how these past months in CGS has rejuvenated me and given me the time and space to try out new things and I know I have not made the wrong decision to join the school.

To my ex-colleage (I am sure she knows who she is), I want to thank you for the times we had spent reminiscing about what we went through in SST. Those were exciting, tiring and illuminating times in my life and I thank you for your friendship.

Google Docs - Revision

Got the girls to create Google Docs to share with me and their classmates essays they have written based on certain questions taken from the TYS.

Realized that it would have been more useful if I got the girls to give each other feedback too. Made a mental note that this should be routinized so that the girls would do it on their own even without me having to say so.

Google Sites - eLearning 2011

This year marks the start of a full five-day week when staff and student get to work from home during eLearning. I am very excited about it as I have never gotten to work from home during eLearning, and especially since I never get to have a live lesson with the girls before.

Here's the link to the EL Google Site and the link to the Math Google Site. Vas helped a great deal to come out with the acronym for the Math site - she's creative in that way :)

Imagine, marking attendance, teaching via a whiteboard, chatting, polling and setting assessments all from the comfort of your home! Amazing right? Here's a sample of the chat history I captured. Of course I had to play technical support role too!

Google Docs - Persuasive Speech

The start of Term 3 signals the beginning of Integrated Curriculum for the Secondary Three students, which I recall is into the second year. We have met up during numerous PD-IC sessions to improve on the scheme and the girls have had many lessons to prepare them for the performance task, which is to create a talk show to persuade a designated target audience to live healthily. Learning how to write persuasively is therefore an essential skill to teach and we got the groups to create samples of persuasive speech as practice.

Here's a sample:

One thing I could have done differently, if I had the time, would be to get each group to give comments.