Day 9

Today, the math primary 4 class was cancelled as there was a principal convention going on and they principals from many countried came to view the school. There were many performances by the students which caused the class to be cancelled. Therefore, i only observed the primary two class for Mass Brain Activity today.

The activity for today was a website where the students will be shown pictures and they are to spot the difference. This activity promotes quickness and allows students to train their mind to observe and think faster. I think that this school is really giving the children a whole learning experience as it is not only on the curriculum but it promotes thinking skills as well.

Day 8

I went in for the first time the class which i was to teach math for. I could see that the teacher had a good rapport with the students which made it so easy for her to gain their attention and keep them focused on the lesson while having fun. The teacher went to the e-learning link in the school's website and went to the maths section where they talked about decimal places.

The website was good as it offered consolidation. The students could look back at what they had learnt and it was a good way of revising and reinforcing it. The teacher made sure they were attentive by actively asking them questions to support the move and why working the sum in another way was wrong. It was very clear and concise. Being clear was one but i think it was the understanding she had with her students which made them the best class of the level.

The questioning tactics were definitely promoting higher order thinking. Today's math teacher proved to me that a class can be conducted and lessons can be taught without the teacher shouting. What was needed was the ground rules and good understanding and rapport of the students with the teacher. I will use this as a lesson and try to work my class in the same way! (:

Day 7

Picture of leaf which i had picked out

I went to Primary 4 Science class today. The teacher was teaching that differnt plants have differnt kinds of leaves. The teacher instructed the pupils to get into groups and go to the science corner and the small garden that they have right beside the canteen. The students were to try to find differnt kinds of leaves and pluck them and collate them as a group.

I believe that bringing the students down to the eco garden was a good idea as students are out of their classrooms which means that they dont have a mundane feeling and they would feel more interested in gaining knowledge as they are involved in an activity as they have to pluck out leaves which are different from each other. Above is picture of a leave which i had picked out.

Once back at class, the students presented their findings about how different the leaves were. And the teacher corrected them with regards to their findings and the children were able to use terms such a wavy, heart shaped to describe what they had found.

After that was Primary two English class where the teacher gave them work from he workbook to do and she assisted a few weaker pupils. I did my part by going around helping weaker pupils as well. But as i did that, i realised that many students were not even trying and tried to get me to notice them so that i can help them. Once i realised that, i stopped walking and announced that i was not going to help unless each one of them had tried finish and still could not do the work.

Day 6

Today i was in the primary two class all the way. The teacher retold the big book story that she had read to them much earlier the previous week. The use of MLEA was present as i saw how the activities related back to the english work. The teacher picked out a few words from the book and mentioned it to the pupils. For example, 'Push'. She emphasised on the word sh. The students were then instructed to say out new words which end with the sound 'sh'.

After a few rounds of a few words from the book, the teacher made the students sit in their groups with each one having their own individual whiteboards with them. She then allowed then to write doen words ending 'th'. The students then placed the whiteboards in the middle of the table in the groups. Then within each group, a person will have to pick out a whiteboard and then read the word on it and try to form a sentence with it. The group which gets it right, gets more group points which are noted in the whiteboard.

The teacher also had roundtable where the students will write as many words as they can with words ending with or starting with words such as ' sh' , 'th', 'ch' ... I felt that since it was like a game, the students put in more effort and were really trying to get as many words as possible! It worked well as the student's enthusiam was up and learning definitely took place!

Day 5

Today's observation i must say was the most enlightening. I went for observation for Primary 6 Science class which was taught by a senior teacher. She had already given me a PETAL lesson plan of her lesson at the start of the day. I read it and made sure i understood what was going to happen.

The lesson was about fully submerged plants, floating plants and partially submerged plants. It was based more on what makes certain floating plants float. I feel that this lesson was the one which had most details to it. I saw that the one hour for the lesson was packed with many learning points and activities. The students first sat in their groups. They were then given some plasticine to make shapes so that it will float in the water. They tested it out and finally one boy got the answer. He had made the plasticine in the shape of a boat.

They then in thier groups wrote three questions about what they would like to learn with regards to the topic. I liked this the best as when the lesson moved forward, the teacher actually remembered the questions and answered them one by one with the flow of the lesson. I found this very good as she was able to meet the teacher and student directed learning expectations. She was able to meet her objective in teaching the lesson as well as answering the students questions.

What happened next was the different groups presenting their works to the class which also was in a form of discussion as whoever who does not agree can voice out and have her say.

Day 4

Today i observed a Primary 4 Science class. I observed how a science lesson based on the inquiry approach could allow students to develop curiosity in the lesson which will allow them to explore the materials and draw up speculations which will be confirmed by the teacher.

At first, students were given materials to explore with. ( limewater in a beaker with a straw)

Students were allowed to blow into the straw and observe what happens/ Most groups got the answer right which was the limewater turned chalky. Next the teacher gave them a worksheet and made them sit in groups. They were to answer the questions based on the activity they did earlier and using the results to draw up conclusions on what might have happened.

I feel that it was a good way to test for understanding as the students could apply what they had observed. The final part of the lesson was to present their answers to the class and there was discussions going on regarding some answers and how they were derived. I believe that whenthere are discussions, more concepts can be reinforced and any misunderstaning can be cleared in a fun way.

Day 3

I went for observation for primary 4 Science and Primary two english today. For Primary 4 science, i observed how the teacher guided the learning by allowing the students to first explore with the materials she gave; a red coloured water in a beaker with a dropper. She then went on to explain the way a heart worked; contract and relax to pump air. She linked it back to the materials she has given earlier and showed again how it will look when the heart is contracting or relaxed. I particularly liked the way she did that as it allowed students to link the ideas as they are able to understand and make connections with the model describing it. She tested for understanding by asking students to work in groups to come up with a concept map.

For the Primary 4 Science Lesson, I observed that the 5E model way of teaching science was used which was explore, engage, explain, elaborate and evaluate. I personally find this way effective as it promotes student interaction with scaffolding from the teacher to create a fruitful learning experience.

As for the Primary Two english class, the teacher explained further and recapped what the students had learnt in the E-learnign activity. While i did say the use of IT to learn is a good way to educate, i do still think that the teacher has to make it clear and recap the lesson with the students to make them internalize whatever they have learnt.

Day 2.

I saw how going Computer labs to do E-learning could help the child to get a idea of what they are going to learn more about. IT definitely has its pros and cons. However, i saw how you could use it to enhance your knowledge and learn better. The use of IT definitely promotes children's learning as they are captivated by the animations, colours and words found in the website. What is more is that the E-learning website is found in the school website itself and thus, students can even do these at home with their parents.

This way, students are able to self learn with the scaffolding of teacher coming in next to build on their knowledge gained and to clear any misconception that they have. What is more is that it trains children to be more computer savy in this modern age.

Day 1

I could see a great difference from the way my teachers had taught me in primary school to the way the teachers now taught. I could see how teacher centred approaches have now changed so much and more student centred learning was taking place. For example, when a story was read to us before, we used to listen quietly without asking question and just taking in the information and sometimes if we had a doubt, we will not ask it as the teacher has instructed us to have our fingers on the lips and strictly no talking.

The classroom environment i now saw, however, showed vast difference. The story was read by the teacher with many opened ended questions asked and it was a very interactive classroom environment. Students asked questions when in doubt and misconceptions were cleared by the teacher which made it very student centred and made the class come to life. i believe alot in student centred learning but i also realise that it is hard to achieve as we need to go with the expectations and the needs of the students and yet try to complete the syllabus given to us.