The blog has been lying dormant for 4 months. Now due to the creation of my class blog, it has resurrected. To be told by my student "Mrs Dass, your blog is very boring." Hmm. From now on it will take a differnt angle! Much less about my MEd course but Gossips, maybe but reflections perhap. Many things have happened this year. Finally I have come to terms with mum's passing. Well! life has to go on. About my bunch of lovely monsters now. As I went to my class today, one thing that upset me was my student's lack of integrity. It makes me wonder - what have i done in the 1 and a half years? Well one starfish that needs to be saved.
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Just as the course is coming to an end, I take a look back at my IT learning journey. I had many frightening encounters but with a fantastic teacher and peer support, I believe I have crossed some major potholes with some success. As I reflect on some of the things I have learnt, these are some of the salient ones that i would consider as my takeaways.
1) WIHIC - What is happening in my class- A tool to assess what pupils prefer in your class and what they experience after a few weeks of lesson. A powerful instrument to know if there is student cohesiveness, instructor support, involvement, task orientation, cooperation and equity. This instrument is beneficial if the teacher wants to have a feel of the pupils' perception. http://www.springerlink.com/content/mt994tem90bd7pfw/
2) QTI - Questionaire on Teacher Interaction - The founder, Theo Wubbels devised this questionaire to measure teacher-behaviour as seen by teacher and students. Through this, the teacher is able to map out a favourable working climate
As the culmination of this module, we were required to consolidate our perception of preferred and actual setting. This was a challenge indeed as we were asked to produce a paper reporting the findings. Together we pulled our resources and managed to come up with a 'mini-thesis" Hurray!! We are researchers in the making.
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Improving the Learning Environment
One of the things that struck me most was what Dr Quek cautioned us of the education scenario. What makes us study the learning environment? Why do we need to modify it? Because kids learn differently nowadays. That is the underlying fact. The need to be in sync with them propels us to make modification to our teaching methods every other year. When she said that we should try to improve and make some changes to our teaching strategies every year, I thought it was a wake up call. Teaching the graduating classes year after year has indeed made me complacent and I have not thought of making much changes to my resources, but having attended this module, I think it now rests in my hands to make that change.
After our break, we learnt how to use the SPSS (http://spss.com/). It was mind boggling but I'm really glad to be with Kelvin in the same group. After five sessions of the module, I can see the importance of assessing pupils' understanding through the various forms of instrumentation. These instruments help us in addressing the gaps found in the dimensions of the classrooms. I am thankful that I am able to attend this PDCM, despite the heavy workload as it makes me think , be a reflective. I hope that by putting into practice what I have learnt I can be an effective teacher.
Thanks to Dr Quek, this module has helped me to connect with my daugther through my renewed interest in the virtual world.
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Getting prepared for the Presentation of the Case Study
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An Effective Teacher; an Effective School
As I reflect on Friday's lesson, many things strike me.
Firstly in her lecture on "Modifying LE Instrument Dr Quesk talked about why we modify and how to modify. As she talked about the characteristics in a classroom, a question that was asked is: student centeredness need not be shared control. Is this possible in the local context?
Well, I guess this is possible in some schools, namely the better schools where the pupils are confident in making decisions or gathering conclusions after a group work. But in the neighbourhood school, even in the student-centered atmosphere, teachers are not ready to share that control or give the responsibility to the children, possibly because they feel that the pupils are not up to it yet. Our Asian culture has also a part to play as students are taught from young that their teachers are their source of knowledge and they should listen to the teachers, hence control lies in the hand of the teachers.
Presentation of case study
After our lunch we had an interesting sesson where we had to present our response on the case study of three schools. My group had to present on School C, supposedly a school that any parents would refrain. Having stated our stand on the school's appeal factor, I want to step aside and take a humanistic view. I believe that the school can attract parents and their children, provided certain processes are in place. After all the teachers there are happy. Don't happy teachers create happy students? The principal is empathetic and he doesn't impose his demands on the teachers. He is approachable. Isn't that a plus point? Yes, it is true that the Principal sets the tone but the teachers can come together and work out a system where they revamp their teaching styles. After all, many of the teachers are there longer than the Principal, hence am I wrong to say that their sense of loyalty is stronger?
As an educator, i would be able to gather more information about a particular school before sending my child there. How about parents who are less educated and have no time to do their homework on checking out the credibility of the school? With low academic ranking and parents who are predominantly blue-collared job holders, the school would be caught in the vicious cycle of academically-poor students and poor results. Who can help these children if the teachers can't?
Wubbels' article on Discipline problems of Beginning teachers, 1985 (article link)
The more I thought about School C, Wubbels' article made sense to me. He mentioned "the kind of relationship which is built up between the teacher and his students " is important and "values, attitudes and emotions play a more important role." In short, he was emphasising on SEL, social and emotional learning. As he discussed the problems the beginning teacher faces, I liked the part where he mentions that it is more important for the beginning to realise that they lack the necessary skills; particularly the leadership skills, to achieve their ideal but at the same time they should learn to choose appropriate form of classroom organisation" to create a manageable classroom. In the local context, the senior teachers are there to lend support and with that they can work their way up to become an effective teacher.
An effective teacher (with the support of the P and fellow colleagues) can change the school landscape, hence making it an effective school. Haha! this is my thought of the day.
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This picture was taken when my family went for the Duck Tour. Dad is missing in the picture as he was weak to go sightseeing, so he chose to stay at home. My mum is longer around though the memories of her being around still linger. A lesson learnt: Cherish what you have as nothing is permanent but what is permanent are the beautiful moments you share with your loved ones.
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When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. When the tough gets tougher, the toughest get going. So they say! Am I tough, tougher or the toughest? Well, I have yet to see whether I'm able to weather the IT storm that took over my class yesterday. Too many things to learn and too few days to assimilate the learning. We had to create a website using wetpaint.com for the gurus of learning environment and present the product. As I was reading up on Prof Theo Wubbels, many things crossed my mind.
One striking thinking he talked about in "Paying Attention to Relationships" is the way the pupils perceive the teacher. Students are more comfortable with a teacher who can relate well and understand her instructional methodology. One example is when a teacher administers the Questionaire for Teacher Interaction to 2 different classes of varying learning abilities. According to Wubbels, by gathering both perspectives, teachers can compare the results and gauge the quality of class atmosphere and how well they are communicating with the students. Usually the QTI scores would be similar, which attest to the relative stability in the teacher behaviour.
It could be an exception, if you may call it but doesn't the class dynamics affect the teacher's behaviour in each class? In my case, I portray a Dominant characteristic, to the point of being admonishing in my unruly English class but I'm friendlier, less dissatisfied and critical and most of all allowing my pupils more freedom in my Literature class. The class size matters as a smaller class draws the teacher and students closer. Nevertherless, I realise that the QTI is a powerful tool for teachers to know their own behavioural patterns in each class.
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