LEARNING FEST

The Professinal Learning Teams from different departments

Match strategies to your students' learning
profile

Karl is from Ireland and a music teacher

Receiving my certificate from the superintendent

I created the ambiance for the Learning Fest

The iceberg is used to connect to our
teaching of students

We are the Number 1

Hands-on lessons are a way to win students

Our school staff coordinator, Victor

Our young staff whom I work with



Curricullum planning to gauge students' progress



We work and play together

3F:  Food, Fun and Friends

The mamas and the daughters they mentor



Anu, another young teacher who is close to me




Kelly, my daughter in school



Karl hates prawn



Eat your food boy



Carmaderie amongst us is observable

My mentee who is doing Geography and English

The clover leaf is associated with Ireland

Saying good bye to Karl

One more for the road, guys

SHARING OF GOOD PRACTICES

It is an annual affair for the school to organise the Learning Fest. I was part of the team putting the session in place. We had it last week and it was a day of sharing on Jon Saphier's Skillful Teacher area of performances amongst the staff. The whole school had prescribed to the book and also identified some moves that we would carry out as a whole school approach.
Saphier's book entitled 'The Skillful Teacher' has become a staple book of reference in many colleges and schools for studying generic pedagogy. I find the book like a treasure trove, filled to the brim with research-based strategies for improving learning and teaching. The book crackles with the author's passion and the belief that teachers have the power to help all students learn and perform at high levels.
The moves of the teaching pedagogy mentioned in the book are useful for a new teacher and the experienced; catering to the novice and the expert educator. The book which is packed with powerful tools would help the young educators to have a positive impact on their teaching.

The learning teams shared the projects which they had undertaken on a move of the Skillful Teacher. The book is a powerful resource they can turn to when members have taught a unit the very best way they know how, yet students continue to struggle. They carried out the moves with their students, did some form of action research, deepen their understanding by reading literature on it and analysed data to study the situation further.
However, I think what is more powerful is the peer observation did by the team to give effective feedback on the move which they had chosen to try out. The Learning Fest showed the teams focussing their efforts and commitment on curriculum planning, assessment, models of teaching, clarity, expectations, attention moves, learning experiences and principles of learning.

As usual I found the morning enriching where the staff picked up new ideas, made suggestions to the teams and also seized opportunities how the practices could be collaborated among departments. Everyone gave a thumb-up to the non-formal atmosphere and the abundant sharing done by the staff and for the staff. Our common goal was to improve our students' achievement.
The teachers' day effort ended with a farewell barbeque lunch for some staff who would be leaving the school.

WHAT MATTERS MOST

7.20am: Getting ready mentally for the session

12.05pm:  Had popiah for lunch

12.30: Tried my hand at batik painting

12.45pm: At the Science booth



12.55pm:  Our AST  Master Teachers



1.00pm: Testing the ph value



1.10pm:  Using natural ingredients as  indicators


 

1.25pm: Our Malay Language Master teachers



1.30pm:  With Rani, a Geography Master Teacher

 

 

1.45pm:  Do you see what I see?

2.10pm:  The theme: What Matters Most



2.45pm:  The inspiring speaker, Mr Jason Wong

   

4.20pm:  The start of the concurrent session

4.30pm:  BTs penning their thoughts

4.33pm: How's your CCA involvement have
been?

4.50pm:  Add value to the students' life 
when you interact with them



5.00pm:  I love my CCA!

 

5.20pm:  Thanks Jeffrey for teaming
up with me

5.20pm:  Farisah with me

5.22pm:  Chase your dream to be an
effective teacher, Farisah

5.34pm:  The BT symposium package

5.35pm:  A token of appreciation from AST

 BEGINNING TEACHER SYMPOSIUM 2012

This inaugural Beginning Teacher Symposium was held on 6th November 2012 and it was meant for Beginning Teachers (BTs) of Year 1-2. The presenters were mainly the Beginning Teachers of Year 3-5. It is more meaningful to get the BTs to share together among their contemporary who have gone through the same teaching experience, but in varying depth and width.

The symposium revolved round the theme ‘What Matters Most.’ As teachers, we strive towards the Teachers’ Vision of “Lead. Care. Inspire.” We desire to make a difference in the lives we touch...our students, colleagues, the parents we interact with. We face questions like “how do we influence change?”, “how do we cope with obstacles and challenges?” and “what keeps us going when the going gets tough?”

We seek motivation and the drive from others around us. As such the objectives of the sharing sessions are for teachers who are 3-5 years in the service to share learning experiences in areas related to teaching and learning, nurturing students and engaging parents, share useful ideas and skills to engage students and encourage Beginning Teachers to reflect on what matters most in their journey as teachers.


The symposium was a professional development experience for BTs and it sought to provide a platform for personal and professional learning among BTs; reiterate the importance of teacher ownership and teacher leadership; and inspire BTs to pursue professional excellence.

The invited guest speaker for the event was Mr Jason Wong who is currently the Senior Director of Rehabilitation, Protection & Residential Services Division at MCYS, and oversees the secretariat of Dads for Life. In 2004, he initiated the Yellow Ribbon Project and chaired the Organising Committee for two years. In 2009, he helped conceive and launch the Dads for Life movement in Singapore. Mr Wong was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2002.


Mr Wong’s speech was inspiring as he shared of his works with inmates from Changi Prison and how he pushed for the Yellow Ribbon project to be accepted by the community. It left many of the audience teary-eyed when a video on of his projects – ‘Mother’s Day’ was aired. It showed how the women inmates were reunited with their children on that special day. Mother and child refused to be parted when it was time for them to leave.

So why was Mr Wong invited to speak to the BTs? One of his messages was that there would always be challenges in our work and if we could impact a life, it could be considered an achievement. We have to believe in our belief and never give up when the tasks ahead seem impossible. These messages resonate strongly with the BTs who are still trying their niche areas, level up their strengths and address thier weaknesses.

There were several concurrent sessions for participants to select from. The two key strands of the concurrent sharing sessions were to build rapport with and engage students and to nurture student’s holistically.I facilitated a concurrent session with Jeremy on how co-curricular activities can shape students’ character.

I teamed up with Mr Jeffrey Yuan who cetred his sharing on shaping character through Co-Curriuclar Activities (CCA). While the demands of teaching are tremendous, teachers still need to balance spending time outside the formal curriculum to nurture students and shape their character through involvement in student-centric activities and programmes. Engaging students in active learning through CCA is important as CCAs help shape character, and teach a range of skills and attributes such as determination, patience, discipline and working as a team. Jeffrey shared his journey from beginning as a CCA teacher, to the overall NPCC IC, and eventually SH /CCA. Through his sharing, he iterated important lessons learnt in the course of growing to be an experienced teacher.

One of the participants who attended the session was my ex-student Siti Farisah. It felt so gratifying to meet your own student who has also joined the teaching fraternity. Farisah was a very serious worker who knew her goaIs. I taught Farisah Geography and she is now a Geography teacher. I know how impactful teaching can be.

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

~ William Arthur Ward



WE SOAR

SMP@YSS

The BTs under my wings

Happy faces on graduation day

The graduation cupcake for my BTs- Rachel, Dimas, Nur, Lynn and Koh

The Welcome cupcake for my present BTs

A red rose cupcake for myself

Some goodies I prepared for the incoming and outgoing BTs

At the canteen for a get-together lunch

BTs GRADUATION

Another batch of BTs graduated after being on the SMP@YSS for a year. I witnessed the group of BTs grow from strength to strength as they progressed each day. We had a graduation ceremony during our contact time and I have captured their moments in the slide show.

I share their pride and happy moments! Congrats Rachel, Dimas, Lynn, Nurfirdaus and Yong Cheng on your graduation. You people are awesome and so are the rest of the other BTs!