Term 2 Wk 1: Engaged Learning? Not an easy task afterall...

Last Wednesday, I taught one of my graduating classes 'Magnetism' and found them very restless and 'not engaged' in my lesson. It got me very frustrated with the class and the students. I can understand too that it is not easy for them as I meet them for 3 consecutive days and all the lessons are double-periods. They could be seriously sick of me by the mid-week.

When I went home that day, I was reflecting to myself what went wrong and what could be done correctly. The next day, I called up the 'disengaged' students and asked them to write an essay on the way they were behaving in my lesson. Of course, I had to package it as a form of 'punishment' and it was indeed very amusing to find words of 'deep regret' (hopefully they meant it!) and 'sincere apologies' in the essay. Afew actually addressed the essay to me (Dear Mdm Ilysa...) as though it was a letter. Nevertheless, it made me felt better that the students do realise their mistakes and are not as bad as I thought they were! I was more curious to gather feedback on my lesson through the contents of their letter/ esssay.

A couple of students mentioned boredom of sitting down during the double periods. Not to mention - 3 consecutive days too (this can't be helped as I was only in school for 3 days!). Afew 'pleaded' me to change the teaching methods....I understand that Physics can be boring because as a student, I used to find it boring too.

It got me thinking on a recent workshop that I attended. For engaged learning to take place, the elements of effective Pedagogy must be there. Engaged learning takes place when a teacher selects pedagogy that considers the following:

1. Student's readiness: A child is able to understand the knowledge taught if it fits into the view of the world at his current stage of cognitive development.
2. Student's learning styles: How much students learn, have to do with whether the learning experiences cater to that particular learning style.
3. Student's existing knowledge: Teaching approaches are more effective if students are able to make connections in their knowledge. The more students draw on their prior knowledge, the easier it is for them to retain the new concepts and skills taught.

Perhaps, in my haste to prepare lessons, I neglected the needs of my students. I did not take into account their learning styles...probably, I was also not able to tap on their existing knowledge too! Last year, I had single periods with them so time flew very fast and my lecture-worksheets styles worked! A realisation hit me - I need to change my teaching methods and think of my students before I go in for my double periods. In a way, I symphathise the 'agony' that the kids had to go through having to "sit" for the whole of my 2 periods.

Perhaps, next lesson I must try to engage my dear students in different ways...

• catch their attention: use some interesting trigger activity or show some magic shows?
• challenge their thinking: come up with some interesting questions and make them ponder abit...
• help them to make sense of their learning: relate the lessons to real-life examples!
• meet their needs: try to have a variety of techniques in teaching...think VARK (visual, aural, read/write, kinaesthetic)

Well, where do I start? Probably by hunting for more videos from You-Tube....

Term 1 Wk 10 - Holidays SRP

Over the holidays, I met up with my 4E Physics students. It was a small group of about 7 students from 4E3...they were selected carefully because I felt that they were not performing. Out of the 7 students, I have taught 4 of them before...the other 3 were newbies who were still adjusting to my 'teaching style and lame jokes'. 3 are girls and the rest are boys. About 5 of them were attending extra tuition classes after school hours and the other 2 are not. My concern was 'why is it they were not performing?' Was it due to my teaching style...or was it their learning style?

I started off by interviewing each student personally. I asked a variety of questions....studying techniques, the kind of learners they are, the time taken to study, what they do when they study and their confidence level in the subject. I feel that the group is a very nice bunch of kids with very nice personalities and they really deserve to do well...so my heart really went out to them!

From the interview, I managed to gather a few things...

1) Afew of them studied last minute...1 even studied 1 day before the exams! When asked why, they quoted lack of time, too tired, too many activities during school, too many homeworks to finish. At this point, I felt slightly guilty as I do pile them with homeworks sometimes. SO I made a mental note to myself: free them from homeworks when tests are approaching. Give them notice way in advance!

2) On average, they can study only about 40 min- 1hour. There were some lucky ones who can study up to 3 hours (wow!) and there was 1 who told me that he studied only '5 min' and then he must walk around. I advised the student that he must really sit for longer hours and try to concentrate. I strongly discouraged them from listening to walkman or mp3s as Physics is a subject that requires focus and concentration.

3) Most of them study best through audio and visual. I recommended them to use highlighters and mindmaps...and talk to their friends about what they have learnt.

4) Most of them just 'read' the textbook. Only afew tried some 'questions' from the TYS. I told them that reading the textbook is NOT enough...they need to UNDERSTAND. Grab the KEYWORDS and try to APPLY them to new questions. So this is where application is necessary...for them to do well, they must expose themselves to more questions...so they have to do the TYS!

5) Most of the boys felt more confident in Physics but performed better in Chemistry (Azlin will be proud of them for this!) I motivated them by reminding them that "Boys are supposed to do better in Physics! But that doesn't mean that the girls can't do well too! In fact, sometimes, its the girls who do better than the boys....just look at your Physics teacher if you don't believe me!" :)

We ended the session doing Current Electricity and DC Circuits questions before I released them to enjoy their holidays and tonnes of assignments!

The 7 Research Sins

Scenario: A class was given a pre-test just before the holiday period, and the mean of the results was obtained. The students went for their vacation and came back to school 6 weeks later. A similar test was given to the students and the results were collected. This time, it was observed that there is an improvement in the results despite no intervention on the teacher's part.

Why is there an increase in the marks over the holidays?

According to Dr Soh, this is due to the 7 Research Sins, which are due to:

1. Instrument: Topic tested could be easier or marker could probably be more lenient during the second test.
2. Testing Effect: Both topics (before and after) could probably be the same, so students have some recollection of the test.
3. Maturation: Pupils might mature during the holidays based on their experiences, which could be provided by parents.
4. History: In between pre-test and post-test, students might learn from other factors (eg: attending workshops/ tuition classes) despite teacher not teaching.
5. Mortality: A few students might transfer out of school during the holidays and they happened to be the ones that are very weak.
6. Regression to the Mean: This is the most interesting concept that I have learnt and I will explain it later...
7. Performance effect: Students are prepared to work harder because they suddenly developed the impression that the teachers care about them.

Why are they called the 7 Research Sins? According to Dr Soh, if they happened in a research study, then they may mislead the results. As researchers, we might interpret it wrongly too. Hence, this is the reason why there is a need for a control group. A control group will eliminate the '7 Research sins'...and this will help to make the research study more accurate and reliable.

As much as I understand the idea of the '7 Research sins' and the need for a 'control group', I also feel that it depends on the reality of the school context. Ideally, it is good to have one but in the case of a school whereby the whole curriculum is to affect the whole level, then it is almost impossible to have a control group. Of course, there could be alternatives such as comparing to another school of the same standard and by making their students our 'control group'. However, it will be a tedious process as different schools will have different cultures and different teachers. No two schools are alike.

So do we have a control group? Not yet, but I think we can try 'make' one...

1st Subject Based School visit on 6th March

We had our first History subject based meeting yesterday. I was anxious before the meeting as there were many things grappling around in my head which I couldn't really link. There were so many issues that our SCI is facing and many loose ends that needs to be tied up...

The issues that we have discussed and have somewhat resolved:

1. Be more selective in choosing our learner's profile. As our intended target group is the academically weak pupils with NO study skills, then we will need to choose selectively. If possible, we might need to get external vendors to conduct a diagnostic profiling of our Sec 2 pupils.
2. Is there a generic set of study skills for all pupils? Not really, so we will be focusing more on mind-mapping skills, critical reading and memorising techniques.
3. We will be using Assessment for Learning in order to assess pupils on their learning through the use of the skills. Hence, rubrics will need to be created on different skills, so that pupils can gain feedback and improve on a particular study skill.
4. The teachers involved in the SCI will be undergoing a course on mind-mapping before training the pupils. We will need to get a vendor to train teachers on how to impart the skills effectively to the pupils.
5. The PETALS survey will be done by all Sec 2E pupils next Thursday. This is because we will not know the exact number of pupils who will be in our experimental group. After the numbers are confirmed, we will be selecting only the survey results of the involved pupils to be part of the study.
6. The tests conducted after the training need not be the same test conducted before the training. It can be a similar test as an exact test will gather results that could be based on memory recall and not due to the specific study skill.

My concerns:

1. What are we measuring besides pupils academic performance? Are we measuring engagement as well?
2. What are our research methods? Is is only quantitative? Is there a need to conduct a qualitative survey as well? If qualitative, then what kind of questions must be crafted out?

Anyway, I felt relieved after the meeting because I feel that we did manage to settle ALOT of things. I appreciate the fact that the whole team has been supportive and are open to feedback and learning. Now, I definitely have a clearer picture of the SCI in my head and Im glad that the ideas that were loosely hanging is now somewhat secured together. The next step will be to focus on the data collection and the implementation part. Now, we are moving somewhere!

Term 1 Week 9

Through our sharing during the Staff Time, many of my experienced colleagues reminded me that Cambridge regards the O-Level Syllabus document very seriously. Whatever is in the syllabus document can be tested by Cambridge, so it is very important for students to know the scope of their syllabus. Suddenly, words such as "describe, recall, state, explain, understand, define" needs to be taken seriously as they inform students of what is expected of them. The syllabus document is not something that can be taken lightly or just with a glance.

Hence, this week, I made my class of 4E3 bring their textbooks to school. Usually, I seldom use my textbook as I want them to pay attention in class and whatever is necessary- can be recorded in their Physics notebook. To me, the Physics text is just a form of reference and what is more important is the fact that the students understood the concepts covered in lessons.

With much grumbling, my dear kids lugged their heavy textbooks to school. We had just finished the topic on Electricity. The first thing I did was to flash the syllabus document on the screen.Then I went through point by point, and directed them to the page number. For example, if the document requires them to 'describe' something, then I will tell them to turn to a certain page and highlight a certain paragraph. I also asked them to write notes by the side such as "must know how to describe this experiment" or "must recall this formula" or "must know how to apply this formula."

My intention of doing this is that I hope my kids will know which areas to focus on when they study for exams..if they are studying of course (which I hope that they have already started). With this, they will be able to pay particular attention to which particular areas to 'describe' or which 'definitions' they must remember.

Having said all that now I'm wondering...since I have started using this technique for Electricity, how am I going to find time to go through the rest? Imagine going through the Sec 3 topics such as Kinematics, Dynamics, Light, Heat ....I think time will definitely need to be set aside just for going through the syllabus document point by point. With 6 periods a week, we definitely MUST make time for it!

SCI: Teaching & Learning of Study Skills in a History Lesson

We are currently embarking on a project, which is to incorporate the use of study skills in the teaching and learning of the history subject. Why study skills? Because we believe that it is an important set of skills which all students must need in order to do well in exams and be life-long leaners. Also, if the project is successful then it can be extended to other subjects as well.

This study will involve pupils from the Sec 2 Express classess who are academically weak. It will be conducted during Term 3 and study skills (mind-mapping, critical thinking and memorising techniques) will be imparted to the students over a span of 1 term. Students will be assessed to see the impact of the skills on their performance.

My concerns:

1. Are there any factors that affect students performance? Is it just lack of study skills? Are there other factors such as: negative learning environment/ lack of retention/ language barriers? If so, how do we exclude the students having these problems?
2. Is mind-mapping a suitable study skill? Some students might not be able to do mind-maps...
3. Why is mind-mapping taught first? Any possible reasons or study to support this? Is this the mose impactful skill of all? If that is the case, then is there a need to teach other skills?
4. How is the teacher going to teach the skill within the term? Is it just a programme whereby the teachers teach and the students get it? Will there be any activities involved? Are the teachers trained?
5. Are we assessing them one their performance after learning (AOL) or are we assessing them on their learning through the use of the skills (AFL)?
6. How are we assessing the students? Any rubrics?