ALMA MATER

 

Abby and Marina with their children

 

Rahman fillilng in a form

Rahman's brothers were also my ex-students 

 Their alma mater as the top choice  

SECOND GENERATION YISHUNITES

Heartening to see ex-Yishunites Marina and Abby sending their children to YSS for today's Secondary 1 registration. The life-line continues and I am glad to be part of this chain of continuity.
In fact I met three other ex-Yishunites who would like to see their children being part of their former history with the school.   I was on duty for the registration, making sure the teachers have enough assistance to tackle the flow of parents and the new students and helping to clear and clarify the parents' enquiries.  

Parents filled the school auditorium eager to meet with their child's form teachers. They were also given the book list to purchase stationery for the year to come. The school uniform and shoes vendors were present for the convenience of the parents.  It was like one-stop-for-all shopping as we understand that parents might not be free to come back again to make their purchases.

Marina and Abby were my former students and they had joined the Malay Dance group which I was in charge of. I enjoyed being their teacher-in-charge as the girls were disciplined, passionate and were as graceful as swans. Both ladies had decided to send their chilldren to their alma mater becasue they have a strong sense of belonging for the school, love its culture and .

I  also met Rahman, another Yishunite who had registered his son to the school. Rahman's three brothers, cousin and wife were ex-Yishunites too. I know them all very well. Rahman met his wife and got married later. The couple has decided that their son should also be a Yishunite. It seems they want the tradition to continue for their next generation.  

Thank you for your faith and confidence in YSS. Together we seek, we strive and soar.

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.

FAREWELL LUNCH

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