Attitude

Week 8

I had my final two observations this week, at least for the teaching practicum stint. Valuable feedback was given once again from Jamie and Mrs Koh, with regards to my teaching style and strategies as well as my stern look.

One thing I learned to do over the course of these 8 weeks is embrace my stern look.  For many years, friends and family have commented that I looked undoubtedly unapproachable and fierce when I do not have my usual smile plastered on my face.  As I went to different schools for teaching stints and attachments, I received similar feedback from colleagues and students.  I still remember one incident. One fine day at Northbrooks, one of the rugby boys, the CCA that I was attached to, came up to me and asked,

Boy: Sir, how come you never smile one ah?

Me: (looked at him sternly) did you give me any reason to?

Boy: No lah, but sir, must smile lar. Always so fierce, quite tiring one know.

That was what he said. I gave him an unwilling smile before he scruffled off for training. Truth to be told, it isn’t tiring to not smile or be fierce. Sometimes, I believe it is just my look.  However, over these 8 weeks, the same feedback has been given especially from my form class. They have cosntantly told me how I rarely smile and when I deliver lecture, they always encourage me to smile. It remains especially poignant when they tell me that I am bipolar.  On one end of the spectrum, I am very friendly. On the other end, I am extremely fierce.  Truth be told again, I enjoy utilizing this trait now.  First, it helps a lot with classroom management.  My students know that I am a no-nonsense teacher and will definitely be in trouble if they cross me.  Second, I believe that I am not here to be their friend but be their teacher.  I draw that line very clearly and I never hesitate to demonstrate to them that I am their teacher, not a friend. Third, going around smiling all the time is the more tiring task for me. Fourth, I will look insane going around with a wide and flippant grin pasted on my face.

I do not deny that this stern look and approach of mine has worked well with classroom management. I appreciate the respect that the students give me.  The demeanor also allows me to build a certain rapport with the students. This is especially so when I know the students do not need such a stern approach and I can afford to lighten up a bit more with them.  On the issue of lightening up, I do ligthen up the level of sternness with the students who are more familiar with my style or whom I know are capable of self-directed learning.  Once the rapport is established, I generally let loose a bit more with the classes that I teach.  Of course, when discipline is an issue, the leash will be tightened once more.

Indeed, this practicum journey has been a firm reminder of my own character traits.  It has also allowed me to learn how to utilize it to full effect pertaining to teaching.  This has been something I appreciate and also something I will need to constantly learn to balance.  This is especially so when the student profiles that I will come to handle and interact with changes over time.

This week also saw the humanities department carrying out the amazing race for Humanities Week, HumanIsync.  Qiuhua approached us to help out and we gladly obliged since I myself was keen to find out what it was about and how it was conducted. More importantly,  I wanted to find out more ways to help students learn and appreciate humanities more outside the classroom. It was a very good experience as the amazing race took place in a very lively and spirited atmosphere. This was largely thanks to the teachers’ own enthusiasm and more importantly, the students’ eagerness and approach towards the event.  Had they been lacklustre and lackadaisical in their participation, the event might have flopped.  Yet they brought their enthusiasm to the event and the amazing race took place very smoothly.  The questions that were given by the teachers did indeed stretch the students as they were force to discuss on the spot and come up with their own judgment calls.  They were also able to use what they have learnt to formulate their answers in the process.  That was pretty heartening to see as their subject tutor as well.

All in all, it has been another good week in the school.  Within a blink of an eye, it has been eight weeks.  I can honestly say that I have enjoyed them all and am still enjoying them. I am very thankful for the little gifts that are my students who never fail to teach me that passion is something that is infectious and motivating.  While some of them may lack the academic capability that our own society constantly measure their worth by, these students have demonstrated excellently that they can make it up with their heart.  This bunch of J1s, as some experienced teachers have commented, is very unique in their work ethic and approach to school work.  It is therefore pertinent that we as teachers build on this platform and ensure that the students learn effectively and also, do not burn out so quickly given how they have started off the academic year with an extra gasburner in their tail. 

Week 7

The week saw our final tutorial on the Cold War being carried out.  After seven weeks of teaching, I decided that it was time to implement a distinct differentiated approach to my different classes. After marking 3 essays, I could now differentiate which class was the faster one and which required a slower pace of teaching. 

With regards to the assessment of their understanding, students, who are more vocal, are not necessarily the ones who grasp the concepts.  Instead, the ones who sit quietly tend to be the ones who actually understand what was being taught to them.  This reflects very clearly in their written work.  As such, a teacher needs to strike a balance between ensuring the more vocal ones understand the lesson and the more quiet ones to speak up and share with the class more.  That will be my goal for the next few tutorials that I will conduct because confidence building is essential for any student and the goal, when achieved, will go a long way in shaping their character later on.

I also had another opportunity to lecture.  The feedback that I received was the fact that I could afford to lower my volume.  I definitely took that into consideration and will take note for future lectures. I was also made aware that some students found me very stern as compared to other lecturers around.  Unfortunately, that is how I am and I do not intend to change much.  Perhaps, the only little change I do intend to make is to smile more and insert more humour than I already am.  However, personally, I strongly believe that this is also a period of adaptation, considering that I taught the students in tutorial but not in lecture. Once they have adapted to my style of lecturing, it should not be an issue.  Furthermore, my stern and firm approach has eradicated much discipline issues that may occur if I were too soft with the students.  As such, I have also learned to embrace this stern trait of mine as a teacher.

It was also a week where I managed to achieve a breakthrough with the JC2s.  The lesson’s rigor, pace and atmosphere was a vast improvement from the previous one that I taught.  The lesson comprised of the students being required to write a journal or diary entry about the Arab-Israeli conflict. They were to write as either a Palestinian or Israeli teenager who was living in that period.  The content requirement was to include in their entry, a significant event that they have learnt in lecture.  During the tutorial, I told them to pair up and to critique their partner’s work based on a checklist,which I flash on the projector screen. After that, I decided to let them roleplay their entries to spice things up.  However, I was a little worried that they did not know how to do so.  As such, I took the liberty to demonstrate to them how it is done.  They enjoyed the humour and jokes that I made along the way and after the demonstration, I picked the more vocal student to follow up.  It worked wonders. The student, who was usually more nonchalant in class, was a lot more enthusiastic in playing to the role of an Israeli student.  The class laughed at the humorous display and the next few ones were done in a similar manner.

During the entire period of roleplay, I endeavored to point out the key events of the conflict, so as to allow the students to learn more content and to understand the topic better. Class management was not a problem since I know their names and could pinpoint any possible discipline issue.  I also made it a point to sum the lesson up, explaining that after all the fun, they need to recognize the important facts that they incorporated into their journals and I also relayed their writing to the skill of writing essays.  I highlighted to them that you use facts to write a narrative in journals, diaries or historical fiction but in essays, yo use the same facts to write an argumentative piece instead.  The students understood this better, especially when I checked for understanding with a few students to share their takeaways with the class.  It was a lesson that I enjoyed delivering and I could feel that the students enjoyed themselves as well. The only thing that I wished I could do better was to pick more scripts of the more quiet students.  It was a big breakthrough for me with this J2 class because they are usually very passive, restless and nonchalant about history.  However, after that lesson, something somehow clicked and the students lightened up.  Though it required quite a high energy level to sustain their interest, I felt that it was worth the effort.

Last but not least, I still need to endeavor to wrap up my lesson before the bell rings.  I myself do not like other lessons eating into the time of my own lesson and as such, I should try to do the same for other teachers. Thus far, it is not a chronic recurrence in terms of ending lesson a few minutes beyond the bell.  However, occasionally, I still find myself wrapping up quickly, forsaking quality evaluation of whether students have experienced effective learning or understood the lesson that was delivered.  I am cognizant of this issue and will continue to strive to pace the lesson properly.