Documenting new experiences with my classes this term.
1TG4 NT Social Studies
This marks my first time teaching NT SS. Looking back at the term, I believe I have honed certain aspects of my teaching and learning that I would have otherwise not paid much attention to if it weren't for this class.
Using the STP to unpack my journey with my 1TG4 SS students so far!
01. Lesson Preparation
02. Lesson Enactment
03. Positive Classroom Culture
04. Assessment and Feedback
Form class: 2 Emmanuel
The form class decided that their theme for the year would be watermelon, and now everything class-related has been embellished with said fruit. 🍉🤪🤣
^ Peep the class motto: "If you focus only on the seeds, you miss the sweetness of the fruit." #deep #motivational
Something new that my co-form teacher and I decided to do for the class this year: birthday celebrations. Decided to go along with the class theme, and included watermelon pouches in their very practical birthday pack - an A5 transparent case they can use as their exam pencil case, cereal and milo, together with the birthday well wishes crafted by our peer buddies.
My co-form and I also introduced clear terms of reference for the class committee (on top of role description provided by the Student Leadership Team) in order to better guide the class committee in fulfilling their duties. Having clear success criteria enabled them to carry out their duties more conscientiously.
On a side note, I am glad to see that the students are now more willing to set aside their differences and learn to work with each other in completing the tasks assigned to them. A promising start, hopefully this new-found harmony would last till the end of the year!
4/5 Social Studies
4/5: Skill-Will Matrix
Inspired by Aravind to make use of the skill-will matrix to inform my approach with 4/5 for Social Studies. After fitting the students into the respective quadrants (names redacted), I then consulted Cryst, who gave me valuable advice on how to work with these groups to maximise the time I have with them.
High will/low skill - Guide
Teach study skills; e.g. use acronym to remember things; how to associate things to each other (essay-type questions)
Get them to annotate sources (SS skills)
Don’t know how to start → LOGIC (step-by-step)
Language issue → compile English/Mother Tongue translations of key terms; translate on content cheatsheets
Low will/low skill - Direct
Skill part: refer to above ^
Will part: find out why; give them small milestones; use encouragement; paint picture of ideal future
High will/high skill - Empower
Give additional practices or emphasise on higher levels
Get them to attempt 'unusual' SRQ6 questions (e.g. 2019 paper: reason instead of strategy)
Low will/high skill - Motivate
***Irregular attendance → make sure resources are available online
Bottomline: Convey hope!
Was super excited to try out some of the strategies Cryst suggested, and immediately found a willing 'guinea pig' from 4/5. This student belonged to the 'Guide' (high will/low skill) quadrant - his English language issue was hindering his ability to comprehend and apply what he has learned during exams.
I provided him with a handout containing the key terms and concepts for each issue, and tasked him to fill in the definitions and Chinese translations before our consultation (see below for a sample page from the Issue 2 handout). As we talked through the examples while referring to the chapter content cheatsheet, I also had him Google any unfamiliar terms and write down their definitions in Chinese.
Being able to better grasp the concepts with the help of the translations was definitely a confident booster for this student. He subsequently also managed to pass MA1 (his first time passing SS since Sec 3), which was the icing on the cake.
4/5: MA1 Reflection
Right after MA1, I got the class to complete a reflection because "knowing what you don't know is the first step to improvement." (Tang, 2022).
The reflection questions, as well as the table on the back page (both adapted from Ms Tang 🙂) were useful in guiding students on their next steps after identifying their 'opponents'.
With their MA1 performance fresh in my mind, I was able to provide targeted feedback for each student. I also made use of the comment section of the reflection to affirm their efforts, especially for those whose results did not reflect the amount of work they have put in.
Comments