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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Week 1, Tuesday - 30/06/09
Today, I did relief for 3 periods and sat in for lesson observation for 3 Chemistry periods.
The first two periods I reliefed were Sec111 Maths and they were given worksheet to do. The first 5 minutes were used to let the students settle down as they had just returned from their recess. They then took about 30-35 minutes to complete the worksheet given and the rest of the lesson was spent on going through the answers to the crossword puzzle in the worksheet given.
The students were generally interested in what they were doing and they seemed eager to know the answers to all the questions. After the lesson ended, I reflected and I feel that as an untrained teacher, there are alot of things I need to learn and work on and one of it would be classroom management, which is one of the most important skills one should have as a teacher. It is not easy to get 100% attention and I believe that it would take time for me to master classroom management skills.
Sec103 was the next class I reliefed. They were very well-behaved and quiet. I gave them worksheet to complete within 1 period as instructed by their Geography teacher and everyone handed in their completed work at the end of the lesson without any problem.
I then sat in for Chemistry lesson observation in Sec311 and I would say that I've learnt alot from Ms Joyce Goh in just 3 periods! (:
Ms Goh made sure that everyone behaved themselves before she allowed them to enter the lab. She started off the class with greetings and settling them down. Holiday homework were collected and the class then started on a new topic (percentage composition, empirical formula and molecular formula). I noted down alot of points during the lesson. One of them would be to ask students to highlight keywords/keypoints in the notes. For example, Ms Goh would guide the class by telling them which words are important and should be highlighted in a definition.
Also, students tend to forget what had been taught previously so to make them recall what had been taught, she made them flip to the previous notes in the file and tell her what were the concepts about or what certain words mean. This was consistently done if there were certain skills/concepts/facts that need to be recalled. I feel that this was a good approach because instead of the teacher repeating herself on what had been taught previously, the students were made to recall facts on their own and this would help the students recall what had been taught previously better.
In addition, I realised that Ms Goh managed to make the lesson engaging and interactive by asking the students questions in addition to her teachings. She managed the class well and even those sitting at the back of the lab were aware of what was happening.
While explaining concepts, Ms Goh used several examples and she also made use of alternative methods to solve a particular problem. Maths was also used in the lesson to explain to the students how they could find percentage composition of a particular atom/element. She also stressed to the students on the importance of presenting their answers properly which I feel is essential for the students' learning because by laying out their steps properly, they would have a clear idea of why they did certain steps and this would benefit them during revision.
Overall, I feel that Ms Goh delivered the lesson well and I benefitted a lot from sitting in her class to observe. I believe that I have a lot more to learn and hopefully, I will be able to do that within my four weeks stay in Ping Yi Secondary School. (:
-Alisya Yeo
Week 1, Wednesday - 01/07/09
LO 1: Sec311 Chem Lesson
As usual, the students were made to behave before entering the lab where there settled down for the lesson. The lesson started off with a recap on what was covered during yesterday's lesson. An example which was given as homework was gone through to ensure that everyone was clear on the topic of empirical formula.
Ms Goh then moved on to a new topic - molar gas volume. One thing I realised during the lesson was that students tend to forget what they've done before. Hence, Ms Goh did a recap and highlighted the difference between Avogadro’s constant and volume of 1 mole of any gas. I feel that this was a must because students tend to get confused over the 2 constants and also, they tend to forget formulas taught before. Also, the use of triangles such as the speed-distance-time triangle to show the different formulas was good because students see better using pictures. Ms Goh also pointed out common mistakes which students often make and she stressed on certain words or concepts to ensure that mistakes or confusion that may occur could be avoided.
Examples were then used to reinforce concepts, facts and formulas. In conclusion, one of the things I've observed from today's 311 Chemistry class was that the students were very eager and enthusiastic to do examples on their own and they were keen to learn the new topic.
(Continue in next comment)
(Continued from previous comment)
LO 2: Sec311 Maths Lesson
The students took time to come to class and settle down. The first 10-15 minutes were used to let the students settle down and get into the classroom setting. Mr Malek ensured that the classroom provided the students with a good environment for their learning and hence, he made sure that the desks were properly arranged and that there were no litters on the floor.
The next 5 minutes were spent on telling students about the requirements for Term 3, i.e., what the students had to do by first week of June, first week of Term 3 and second week of Term 3. The students were then briefed about their games presentation which would be next Friday.
After that, Mr Malek started on a new topic, i.e., Chapter 9 - Coordinate Geometry. He summarised the whole topic by telling the students the 3 things they need to know for the topic, i.e., distance between two points, gradient of a line and equation of lines. I feel that this is important for the start of a new topic of any subject because it gives students an idea of what to expect and what they are expected to know. After that, Mr Malek did a recap on coordinate system which the students had done in Sec1 and Sec2. He then related coordinate system to real world applications such as seats in theatres, movies, etc and world map or GPS system. I feel that it is important to inform students on the usefulness of learning a topic as it would make them aware that what they're learning are not just purely theoretical but could also be put to use in our daily lives. This in a way could be a motivation for the students to be interested to learn new topics and try to apply them in their lives. Next, he informed the students on the pre-requisites of the topic which is what they need to know for Chapter 9 and this again, lets the students know what to expect and what is expected from them. He also told them the objectives of the lesson and I feel that this is useful as it reasons to the students why they are learning certain concepts. Mr Malek then used soccer as an example to relate to coordinate system. When the slide depicting the soccer game appeared, I realised that all eyes were on the screen and the students seemed really interested in the example used. This tells me that examples like this can gain students attention and interest for the lesson. Other examples were also used to illustrate formula of distance between two points. The last slide shown was to inform students on which questions they need to do for homework and the lesson ended with the students doing a reflection on the lesson. They penned their thoughts down using the 321 approach on a piece of post-it provided by Mr Malek. The 321 approach was new to me and I find it really useful as it helps students recap on what they've learnt and give feedback to Mr Malek and also ask him questions they would like to ask regarding today's lesson.
LO 3: Sec303 Maths Lesson
Ms Pow started off the lesson by recapping on what had been done previously, answering questions and collecting of holiday homework. She then gave the students worksheet to revise on the topic of distance and mid-point. She asked the students to take 5 minutes to do the first question and then she went through with them the correct way to answer the question. Then she made them do the second question in 5 minutes and she went through it after that. The cycle was repeated for 5 questions. What I've learnt is that most students were proactive in moving onto the next question if they're done with the one they're told to do and this is good as students do not waste time waiting for the other classmates and they are constantly and consistently keeping themselves occupied with other questions.
Overall, I've learnt new things today and I hope to learn more tomorrow and in days to come. (:
-Alisya Yeo
Week 1, Thursday - 02/07/09
LO 1: Sec303 Maths Lesson
Ms Pow started the class by checking who was absent for the day and she then told the class what they were going to do for tomorrow as it would require them to bring their 3B textbook. She then continued with the last question in yesterday’s worksheet on coordinate geometry. She used similar triangles to get the length of two points and then use that to obtain the coordinates of a particular point. This method of solving a coordinate geometry question was new to the students and hence, she gave them two more examples to help them familiarise themselves with the method she just taught them. After she was done with the worksheet, the class started on E-Maths. Ms Pow did a recap with the students on gradient and its formula, how positive, negative, zero and undefined gradients look like and also when the concept of collinearity is used. She also recapped on the topic of coordinate geometry and what they have done before. After the recap, she gave the class two examples to work on, one on finding a particular point on a straight line given its gradient and the other example was on collinear points.
LO 2: Sec311 Maths Lesson
The lesson started at 2.35pm as students were having assembly before the lesson. Mr Malek started off the lesson by informing the students about their diagnostic test next Tuesday. He then handed out their Maths Journal Task which will be due on Week 5 of Term 3. Moving on to today’s lesson, Mr Malek first did a recap on yesterday’s lesson which was on coordinate geometry and Pythagoras Theorem. He then shared with the class some of the feedback he received from the class yesterday. After that, he showed the class the lesson objectives which inform the students what they should know at the end of the lesson. I feel that it is essential for the students to know what they would have learnt at the end of the day’s lesson. He then moved on to gradient and explained to the students what rise-run method means and that it is easier to use coordinate system as compared to the rise-run method when finding out the gradient of a straight line. The concept of gradient was further explained by using examples of gradient in real life (staircase, playground slide, roofs of buildings). In my opinion, these examples were useful to help the students understand the concept of gradient, why they should learn about gradient and what the real life applications on gradient are. Mr Malek also used the example of stairs to illustrate horizontal distance and vertical distance to the students. In addition, he used a graph plotted in excel to show the students the effect of steepness and how the values of m and c in a straight line equation affects the steepness of a line. He then let the students practice on examples to find gradient.
The class then moved on to a new concept, i.e., collinear points. Mr Malek defined the term collinearity and conditions of collinearity to the students before explaining to them the relationship between collinearity and gradient. He ended the class with the things they need to do (homework) and three examples in the textbook on gradient of line joining points.
-Alisya Yeo
Week 2, Tuesday - 07/07/09
Today, I reliefed Mrs Ong Wan Ying’s Physics and Science classes and there were 3 periods of Sec513 Physics, 1 period of Sec221 Science and 2 periods of Sec414 Physics.
LO: Sec311 Chem Lesson
After the class settled down and greeted Ms Goh and I, Ms Goh collected the homework she gave the class for the long weekend. The class then continued with the lesson on molar gas volume. Ms Goh did examples on balancing chemical equations and in the process of doing this, she highlighted that phosphine is a gas and there is no units for relative molecular mass (Mr) of a substance. While going through examples, Ms Goh recalled the formulas to get number of moles of a substance and also, she introduced a new formula to find number of moles of a substance using concentration and volume. Ms Goh explained the term concentration to the class using ammonium hydroxide from the chemistry lab. She made some students smell ammonium hydroxide and explained to them that the pungent smell is due to the concentration of ammonium hydroxide. I think that this explanation would make students remember better what concentration means. Ms Goh then moved on to converting mol/dm3 to g/dm3 and stressed to the class that the SI unit for volume is dm3. After that, she illustrated what she have taught using examples and she also told the students that they need to remember the formula for aqueous ammonia which is NH4OH. I feel that Ms Goh’s teaching method is effective because she highlights to the students the important words and key ideas and she also told them to memorise things that they need to remember. She pointed out to the students that they need to know certain things as they would not be given to them during the examination.
Overall, it had been a fruitful day for me as I have learnt more about the students in Ping Yi Secondary School and so far, I have gained a lot during the past one week in Ping Yi Secondary School.
-Alisya Yeo
Week 2, Wednesday – 08/07/09
LO 1: Sec311 Chem Lesson
After the class came into the lab, they greeted Miss Goh and I and settled down. Ms Goh spent about 20-25 minutes to acknowledge that she knows some students copied their holiday assignment. In the process of doing that, she praised the good projects from some students and told them that she did not need a colourful project but she marked the work based on the effort being put in and also their creativity. The students were told that those who copied would have to divide the marks they got with the number of people who copied the work unless those who copied owned up. Those who did their work would get the marks they deserved but those who copied would not get any. If they do not own up, then the marks will remain divided among those who had the same answers. I felt that this was a good method to deter the students from copying their friends work in the future. In addition, after the class, Ms Goh told those students who had the same piece of work to stay back and see her. I was there to witness those who copied owned up and confessed in front Ms Goh. In my opinion, Ms Goh’s method of deterring the students from copying was effective and it not only made the students realise that they need to do their own work in the future, it also showed me that Ping Yians are brave to admit their own mistakes. The lesson 311 have learnt today was not to copy their friends work and they should also not allow their friends to copy their work.
After that, Ms Goh continued with the lesson on molar gas volume. She recalled the three formulas to obtain number of moles of a substance and did examples.
LO 2: Sec303 Chem Lesson
I sat in for Sec303 Chem lesson at 10.30am. Ms Goh went through on molar gas volume and she did a few examples to reinforce their concept on the topic. She emphasized to the class that they needed to change volume to dm3 and used a common salt (NaCl) to illustrate on the process of neutralisation. Generally, the class was responsive and attentive.
-Alisya Yeo
(Continued from previous comment for Wednesday)
LO 3: Sec303 Maths Lesson
Ms Pow started the class with announcements and she then continued with the topic on coordinate geometry. She went through a few examples and ended the topic at the end of the lesson.
-Alisya Yeo
Week 2, Thursday – 09/07/09
LO: Sec311 Maths Lesson
Sec311 had their Maths Game Presentation today and Mr Malek taught me on how to assess the students based on their presentation. Before the presentation, the students seemed really excited and nervous. Some groups were really prepared while some needed more time to either rehearse on their presentation or work on their game. It was a great experience having to see their games and listen to their explanation on 4 things:
1) Why they chose the game,
2) How the game is played,
3) What are the Mathematical concepts used in playing the game,
4) What were the challenges they faced while playing the game.
I feel the students really tried their best and put in as much effort as they could and they had a lot of creativity in designing the games.
Overall, I felt that this was an enriching experience for me as I got to see how the students take something which is not part of the syllabus seriously and I learnt that projects help students become creative and innovative.
-Alisya Yeo
Week 2, Friday – 10/07/09
LO: Sec311 Maths Lesson
Mr Malek used the first 15minutes to settle the students down and made some announcements on books the students had to purchase.
He then started the lesson on a new section of coordinate geometry. The students were taught on equation of a straight line. Mr Malek explained to them on how to come up with equation of a straight line, i.e., they need to have 2 points to draw a specific straight line. He showed the students how the equation of a straight line was derived from the equation of a gradient. I feel that this explanation was necessary so that the students know how the gradient and equation of a straight line are related. Mr Malek also told the students that x and y are coordinates of any points on the straight line. He then went on to explaining what m and c meant in the equation of a straight line, y = mx + c. After the new concept was taught, Mr Malek tested the students’ understanding by playing the game Who Want to Be a Millionaire. However, he renamed it to Who Wants to Be a Coordinate Geometry Expert. The game really engaged everyone in the class and the students showed their understanding on the concept which was taught by participating in the game. Mr Malek then went through a few examples with the class and he ended the lesson with a slide which tells the students what homework they had to do before the next lesson.
-Alisya Yeo
Week 3, Monday – 13/07/09
LO: Sec303 and Sec304 Additional Mathematics Lecture
Today, I attended Sec303 and Sec304 combined Additional Mathematics Lecture and it was a new experience for me as it was the first time I attended a lecture-style lesson in a secondary school. According to Ms Pow, they wanted to expose the students to the way tertiary education classes are being held. Since the upper secondary will be leaving school either this year or next year, they will continue their education track in a polytechnic or junior college where lessons are conducted in a lecture and tutorial style. Hence, I feel that this is a good way to allow students get used to lectures so that they will not have problems adapting themselves to the way lessons are conducted in higher education schools/organizations. Observing the Additional Mathematics lecture was insightful and enriching for me as I learn that secondary schools can also adopt methods practiced by higher education organizations for some classes and certain subjects and not just stick to the usual style of conducting lessons.
-Alisya Yeo
Week 3, Tuesday -14/07/09
LO: Sec303 Maths Lesson
Ms Pow started on a new topic, Trigonometry. She introduced the topic by going through the concept of Pythagoras’ Theorem. Ms Pow prepared an activity for the students to show them the proof of Pythagoras’ Theorem. She made them sit in pairs and gave each pair 2 pieces of plain paper glued together and 1 envelope containing 4 pieces of identical right-angled triangles in it. The students were asked to label each triangle with a, b and c on each side and then they had to arrange the 4 triangles and create a diamond shape in the middle. After that, they were asked to rearrange the triangles to make the sides of a2+b2 be the empty spaces to prove that a2+b2=c2 such that the second empty space is equal to the first empty diamond shape. With that she showed them the proof of Pythagoras’ Theorem. I find this activity useful to me as well as the students as they do not just memorise the formula, but they also know the proof and see better by doing it themselves.
Ms Pow moved on to the history of Simons Pythagoras and she used examples to reinforce their concept on Pythagoras’ Theorem. After that, Ms Pow returned Sec303 their Elementary Mathematics test paper and discussed the last question with the class and showed them a shorter method to do the question.
-Alisya Yeo
Week 3, Wednesday – 15/07/09
The day started with Professional Development (PD) at 7.30am. During PD, we analysed a lesson plan on the topic of surface area and volume. I learnt a lot during today’s PD session. I learnt that lesson plan has to be detailed and that students need time to grasp a concept and hence, a teacher should not plan too much for a lesson. At the same time, too little would also result in not having much to do and that would bore the students. Hence, lessons should be conducted at the right pace with the right amount of information for students to learn.
LO1: Sec311 Chemistry Lesson
Ms Goh started on a new topic on Chemical Reaction with the class. She first recapped with the class on chemical equations and how to balance these equations. She then showed an example to the class and worked through it with the students. The example served to recap on how to balance a chemical equation and to help the students recall formulas. After that, she gave other examples to the students and told them to try on their own first for 5 minutes for each question, after which she would go through with them. While going through the examples, Ms Goh told the class to highlight two substance which they know and need to find out. This is because students tend to be confused which substance they should use to find information for the other substance. The lesson ended after doing several examples and it ended with Ms Goh asking the students to try the next example as homework.
LO2: Sec311 Maths Lesson
Mr Malek went through their homework in class by asking them present their solutions on the board. The class then discussed the answers with Mr Malek and see if the solutions on the board were correct. He then informed the students about the coming test on coordinate geometry. After that, Mr Malek gave them worksheet to do and told them to finish it at home when the bell rang.
-Alisya Yeo
Week 4, Tuesday – 21/07/09
LO: Sec303 Mathematics Lesson
Ms Pow spent the first 15minutes settling the students and addressing the issue of changing of seats. She told them to have a permanent seating arrangement because it seemed like the students kept changing their seats every lesson. I feel that it is important for the students to seat at their own allocated seats and not change seats because it is disruptive to the lesson when they sit with their own circle of friends and start talking when lesson is being conducted. Hence, it is important that teachers ensure students are allocated specific seats and do not change seats. Ms Pow then recapped Friday’s lesson on Trigo ratio (Toa Cah Soh). She ran through an example which she used to illustrate Trigo ratio. She then gave the more examples to reinforce the concept on Toa Cah Soh. After that, she went through the examples with the class. Ms Pow then gave Sec303 a piece of worksheet and gave them time to try out on their own before going through them. After going through the worksheet, Ms Pow ended the lesson by asking Sec303 to complete questions in workbook in 20minutes.
-Alisya Yeo
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