Classroom management in other countries

Dear readers,

During the holidays I managed to teach first aid to Thai students as part of a mission trip. When I handled the lessons over to my juniors to teach, they complained that the lack of a common language hampered their classroom management abilities.

Here is some advice I have:
1) Be culturally sensitive
What works in Singapore might not work in another country. For instance, patting the head of a child might be a sign of affection to the child, but it is considered rude in Thailand.

2) Be firm
By being stern (via facial expression, vocal tone and body language), most children would tend to behave accordingly.

3) Get a translator
I try to rely on the locals as far as possible.

Thanks!

Regards,
Reuben

CCA website for students

Dear reader,

If you know me personally, I am not one to pander to others and I generally speak my mind. Nevertheless, I have been collecting the feedback from my students with regard to the CCA website.

I realised that there were many things that the website could improve on (even though some of the information should have been known by the students).

So I sat down and thought of the main question: If I were a student (of the CCA), what information would I like?

And from there, everything became easy.

Thanks for reading!

How long is forever?

Dear reader,

Much as I would like to spend time with my St John Ambulance Brigade members, I have to face the facts-- I will not be there forever.

I need to think of my succession. Priding myself as a futurist, I built up an archive of Word documents and forms, PDFs and Powerpoint slides. Consulting the St John alumni and the future students leaders, I introduced ways to modernise certain traditions. One of these ways is to make the CCA website more relevant and useful to the students (such as how to apply for badges).

Thanks for reading!

New ways to teach

Dear reader,

As I write this, I am deep in thought. I just been told that I would be teaching the normal academic and technical classes. Am I adaptable to teach any stream as I was trained to? Or will I show that I am full of it, and my range of skills is extremely limited?

Watch this space.

Examination aftermath

Dear reader,

I soon have to do the unglamourous task of announcing my class results. They performed really badly in terms of grades. What will I highlight?

1) Effort. How much effort did they put in? Did they only spend an hour a day studying?

2) Time. When did they start? Did they only start the week before? Or months before?

3) Focus. Did they fully spent the hours studying? Or was the time littered with distractions?

4) Quality. Did they only read through the notes? Or did they also go through their previous mistakes and attempt more worksheets?

5) Hope. It's not the end if they did not do well. I remember my friends. One of them who did badly in O levels, is now a A*STAR scientist. They should not give up.

That's all I have for now.

Thanks!

Orthodoxy vs Orthopraxy

Dear reader,

Today I want to explore something that I always felt was missing from my teaching until recently. Often my style teaching has often focused on orthopraxy (the right practices) rather than orthodoxy (the right beliefs).

I am way too concerned about ensuring that routines and how my students do certain tasks. I forget that in fact, beliefs drives actions. The inherent weakness with orthopraxy is that it deals with the symptoms, rather than the roots of student problems.

In the future, I want to emphasise to students why they should take science (and other subjects) seriously, before proceeding to tell them how to study.

For instance in the racial harmony lessons of CCE, I could explain the purpose of the lesson, rather than diving straight into how to live peacefully. In botany, I could explain the importance of studying plants rather than beginning with the phloem and xylem.

However, dealing with orthodoxy is definitely the tougher way. People disbelieve for a multitude of reasons. Some of the problems are more social in nature -- some students refuse to study early since no one around them studies early.

Some problems are intellectual in nature -- some students just want an average life.

Some problems are emotional -- some students don't want to be seen as a nerd.

And all these problems require different ways to deal with them.

Thanks,
Reuben

Six methods of classroom management

Dear reader.

Some of the new teachers asked for tips on classroom management, and I summarised it in six points.

1) Say/do nothing

Sometimes students want to attract our attention, and we should not give it to them if it is unnecessarily disruptive.

However, it may give the impression that we approve of a misbehaviour.

2) Say something or scold

Students need to be reminded or counselled sometimes.

However, if we are not careful, we may sound foolish and lose credibility with the class.

3) Involve the parents

Some students may give more weight to what their parents say.

However, much of it depends on the stakeholder's cooperation.

4) Suspend student from lessons

Misbehaving students may need some time to cool off.

However, such a measure would deprive the student of the lesson.

5) Restrict privileges

Some students are motivated extrinsically.

However, it is dependent on whether privileges are given in the first place.

6) Corporal punishment

This is only used as a last resort.

That's all I have for now.

Regards,
Reuben

Happy Teachers' Day

Dear readers,

During Teacher's Day, I received many heart-warming notes. One particular note stood out, on how I kept encouraging her despite her clumsiness in the laboratory.

She reminded me on how the concern I showed her made her determine to do better in her studies.

That's all I have for now.

Regards,
Reuben

Having High Expectations

Dear reader,

I have been surprised by my students again and again. Despite being given difficult circuits to set up, a sizable minority of students have been able to impress.

All I had to do was to provide enough opportunities for them to try. Despite the high failure rate, it was still worth it to try. After all, isn't life full of trials and defeats? All we have to do is to continue to try.

Thanks for reading,
Reuben

Use of videos

Dear reader,

I find myself using more and more videos during my everyday lessons.

Use of videos can:
a) animate abstract ideas like ion dissociation
b) entice students to be interested in the lesson
c) be as a reward for continued good behaviour
d) as an activity to distract students while the teacher handles other stuff like checking of scripts.

Hopefully it is a trend I keep.

Regards,
Reuben

Mutual respect

Dear reader,

I tend to be autocratic when dealing with the lower secondary. I would often return to my pre-Skilful Teacher styles by asserting my personality rather than reason with my students.

Yet I was concerned about setting the tone of the lesson. After all, without the right discipline, I cannot expect my new students to achieve the right targets.

Not ready

Dear reader,

Despite my best efforts at motivation, my graduating class is not ready for the O Levels. I have tried proverbs, analogies and even localised stories of success, but some of my students have given up on themselves.

I confess that I am running low on ideas. Yet I know that I draw my hope and motivation from something higher than me.

Victory and Defeat

Dear reader,

This June I learnt about managing relations between my students and external organisers. That may involve confronting judges or facilitators over unfair conditions. This may also be acting as a motivational speaker or even an source of assurance with the students.

I learnt to handle victories and defeats. I learnt to always focus on improvements, rather than criticisms. Most of all, I learnt to be mentoring. I will write more on this next time.

Regards,
Reuben

Beating the odds

Dear reader,

As I ready the logistics for my students this week for the BBC magazine competition, I know the odds are against us. This will be the first time we have qualified, and we will be up against many hot favourites.

Nevertheless, I emphasised on effort and teamwork. After all, the victory is not important. But the camaraderie is.

Regards,
Reuben

Be vigilant

Dear reader,

In a recent observation of my lesson, my mentor pointed out that I tended to ignore the back of my class in my teaching. This resulted in students doodling, reading storybooks or even folding paper aeroplanes!

To combat this problem, I am determined to walk around the classroom more often, with special attention to the back of the class. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with my class, especially since this is my second year with them. Nevertheless, I am determined to be more aware in class.

Thanks for reading!

Thinking aloud

Dear reader,

In the recent Skillful Teacher course, I learnt the importance of leading by example. Often we even need to model them how to think about handling the questions.

In this version of modelling we are encouraged to do the following:

1) Not to entertain any questions from the floor during the process

2) To show resilience in our thinking

3) To deliberately make mistakes and show alternative steps

4) To show every step of the solution

That's all I want to share for now.

Regards,
Reuben

The importance of feedback, guidance and evaluation

Dear reader,

In the most recent episode of the skillful teacher course, I learn to distinguish between feedback, guidance and evaluation.

1) Feedback
Feedback is a non-judgmental assessment of the students' tasks. It simply covers what the student did and what the student failed to do.

An example would be "the student included references to temperature in exothermic changes".

2) Guidance
Guidance is a instructional package for the student.

An example of a guiding statement would be "you should pay more attention to the units used in the next test".

3) Evaluation
Evaluation is a judgement call of the student's ability and potential on the task. It is also known as grading.

An example would be "you have shown that your are good with calculations".

Conclusion
Such distinction is vital as students need to know explicitly what they should include in their answers and how to improve. Many a time, they would simply look at a grade deemed it as a permanent label on their abilities.

That's all I want to write for now.

The same boat

Dear reader,

Today I offered to stay back with my Secondary 4 students as long as they were willing to learn to grasp the topic of salts. I was pretty impressed when the majority of the students were in favour.

Although they did not understand the whole topic in the end, I was still quite impressed by their dedication. Was it because I portrayed all of us as a team in the same boat? Was it because I appealed to their examination grades?

I think in a way I was blessed. These students are very well-behaved and I have good rapport with them. And they are willing to work hard together with me.

Thanks for listening.

Best in the world

Dear reader,

Recently, one of my students quipped that it was OK to be average. Catching the statement, I refuted her. "Why do you ever want to be average?"

I find that majority of my students sell themselves short. They are not willing to put their best foot forward in their studies, CCA or moral character. Often our students are not willing to even work hard enough.

Then again, it could be just me.

While it is OK to lead a normal, ordinary life, that should not stop us from attempting to be the best that we can be. I expect my wards to be the best version of themselves.

After all, should we not all try our best?

It's all about control

Dear reader,

Together with the Secondary Two cohort, I have returned to Singapore yesterday from the Malacca trip. In this post, I would like to write what I have learnt about managing large group of students in excursions.

A) Giving instructions outdoors
Often without the use of microphone, my fellow colleagues and I often find ourselves out-voiced by the hundreds of students. Knowing this, I practised what ancient military commanders used to do in the past. I gave instructions in short sentences, giving pause for students to chant after me. In this way, large groups of students can receive the instructions clearly.

B) Preparing fillers
On long bus journeys and between tours, there maybe times when students get distracted and make a lot of noise. While generally it is not harmful to class cohesion, sometimes it may upset members of public or students may wander off. For me, I tend to tell jokes or life stories.

C) Keeping calm and carrying on
Many things can go wrong on the journeys, and the most important thing is to keep calm. Students often panic easily, causing mass hysteria over the slightest of incidences such as the presence cockroaches and moths, thunder and even the blackouts. As a teacher, I learnt the importance of keeping a cool head.

Thanks for reading!

Working with parents

Dear reader,

Recently I attended a two-day conference on "Engaging with Parents". I really enjoyed the tutorials, where the facilitator allowed us to share our personal experiences in working together with parents. On the other hand, I did not really enjoy the panel interviews as the responses seemed very superficial.

Nevertheless, I did take away some important pointers. One, high parent involvement often results in better student grades and behaviour. Two, I should pay more attention to my choice of meeting rooms. Three, I should offer to walk the parents out as far as possible.

Well, I am willing to try out new ways in working with parents. So here we go!

Not. One. Blank.

Dear reader,

Personally, I was quite irritated by the attitude of some of my students. Many a time, they would leave questions blank, instead of attempting the question. In order for me to give relevant feedback to my students, it was vitally important for me

As such, I have introduced a new routine to my Secondary 3 class-- "Not. One. Blank." In other words, I would reject any submitted scripts that had unanswered questions. This forced my students to think about their questions and at minimum, express their educated guess. In this way, I will be able to fuss over their thinking progress.

After all, we are in school to learn, aren't we?

New Ways to Win

Dear reader,

I have been trying out praise as a motivational tool. To my surprise, it is working. With a simple "thanks" and "I really appreciate your effort", attendance at my CCA is at an all-time high. Even with the omission of games, I actually see the Secondary 1s enjoying their usually mundane footdrill training.

Even on the academic side, I have been encouraging students to look for me on their own to clarify their doubts. So far my Secondary 2 and 3 classes have been actively finding me for remedial. Even a bit of affirmation is highly sought-after by the students.

So far, my attempts to change my cynical language is in progress, highly encouraged by the recpetion of my students.

To avoid a succession crisis

Dear reader,

This week I decided to spend more time in my CCA, the St John Ambulance Brigade. As the Secondary Four members prepare to hand over their committee positions, I have decided to play a more active role in the group.

After all, I know that the leadership lies on a thread. I only have three Secondary 3 cadets, the CCA has to rely on the Secondary 2 cadets to fill up the vacant committee positions.

Furthermore, I need to ensure that the current committee choose their words wisely during the handover. Being relatively frank people, what they say sometimes might hurt feelings regardless of their content or intent. The art of speaking tactfully is something that I feel should have been taught to students, but often is not. This is particularly true when our students fail to recognise and appreciate verbal cues like personification, sarcasm and metaphor.

That is all I want to write for now.

A standing ovation

Dear reader,

I wish you a Happy Chinese New Year!

Lots of things happened since my last post, and I'll keep them here for memory.

My assigned mentor enjoyed observing my laboratory lesson and advised that I work on my closing next time. I should also avoid rushing them. Nevertheless, she pointed out that I was good at catering to visual audiences and motivation.

Relieving a class I taught last year, I was surprised to receive a standing ovation in front of their English teacher. I guessed they missed my jokes, anecdotes and riddles. Again, I conceded to their expectations, and ended the lesson with a humourous, short story.

Interviewing some students, I accidentally uncovered some deeply-held secrets they had among themselves. In my presence, I knew that the students felt obliged to behave themselves. Behind my back, more unreserved actions take place. Last year, several blown-up incidents led to a major investigation. Thus this year, I intent to carry out my weekly interviews in hopes of preventing such cases. By God's grace, this year will be a more peaceful year.

The revolution

Dear reader,

My mentor asked me to write a reflection about the Science (Chemistry) laboratory session that happened on Tuesday, 21 January 2014. I guess I could break it down into sections, discussing both pros and cons of my teaching style. Perhaps as one of my colleagues suggested, I could write in point-form. However, this is my blog and I want to write into continuous prose. If there is one thing I learnt in university, I am able to write eloquently, engagingly and enthusiastically. So let us begin:

Before the science practical began, I lined the students up just outside the laboratory. I thanked them for coming early-- last year, they used to come up to 15 minutes late for such sessions. Despite having a Physical Education (PE) session earlier, they made a great effort to arrive 5 minutes after the bell rang. I was sincerely impressed.

After briefing them on the practical and initiating a rousing "Yes!" chant (popularised by the professional wrestler Daniel Bryan), I kicked off the practical with a novice mistake -- I forgot to inform them on their ration of chemicals. Nevertheless, the more well-mannered students reminded me on this issue.

Despite a majority of them failing to evolve oxygen in the first test and a two accident breakages of test-tubes, I felt that the practical went moderately well. Even the more reserved students were in the spirit of carrying out the experiments.

Upon recollection, I realised that I managed to only check on a handful of students if they actually understood the nature of the experiments. This was something I struggled for majority of my laboratory sessions last year, and this flaw continued for this one.

To sum up the session, I thanked the students, especially highlighting their efforts for arriving on time and carrying out the practical enthusiastically.

The value of effort

Dear reader,

Today was my second day on the Skillful Teacher course. The facilitators spoke of being careful of the language we use during class. For instance, we were urged to praise students for their effort ("I appreciate the time you put into this.") rather than innate abilities ("You're so smart!") The fixed mindset model, was heavily criticised, while the growth mindset model was single-mindedly exulted.

While I agreed in most circumstances, it irked me a little. Was there not some benefit to the fixed mind-set? I remembered an anecdote from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers (Covey, 1998) on Prince Louis-Charles. As his father King Louis XVI was captured by the rebels, he was brought up by the revolutionaries. Being against the monarchy, the rebels felt that if they could corrupt the boy morally, he would never be good enough to lead the people.

Despite tempting him with coarse language, lewd women and excess food, the rebels discovered they could not sway the boy. When questioned, the youth revealed that he was "born to be king". Prince Louis-Charles had a fixed conviction that he could never participate in such debauchery as he had a destiny to fulfill.

On another issue, I fear encouraging the students excessively might inculcate "worst kind of arrogance" (Gray, 2002). Philosopher John Gray (2002) pointed out that if people attribute all human success to human effort, we would be promoting a self-delusion of limitless exploitation rather than reality of stewardship.

I honestly thought a better way would be to point out to students on things that were in their control (like punctuality) and things that were beyond their control (like bus timings).

Overall, it must have been a good course, because I disagreed so  much with it.

For further reading
Covey, S. (1998) The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers

Gray, J.N. (2000) Straw Dogs: Thoughts On Humans And Other Animals

Professionalism

Dear reader,

Being a gregarious person, one of my best qualities is that I am extremely easy get along with. This quality is especially useful as a teacher because it helps build good relationships with students really quickly.

However, recently my mentor revealed that my talkative and frank nature might be mistaken as standoffish. She reminded to be more calculative in my speech and mannerisms.

I cannot say I disagree. After all, teaching is not a one-man job. Many a time, I have relied on the goodwill of my colleagues for practical advice, pedantic administration and meticulous book-keeping.

However, it is also quite difficult for me. I have many ideas in my head, and sometimes I think within the ticks of a second, coming up with numerous ideas to share in an instant.

Nevertheless, I know I am a work-in-progress.

First day of the course

Dear reader,

I attended the first lesson of the Skillful Teacher course today. I am quite grateful that my mentor recommended that I bring a big enough bag. The first day proved to be material-heavy.

Despite the hype, I felt a little disappointed by the course. Although majority of the participants I interacted with enjoyed the first day, I felt shortchanged as the facilitators repeated their points over and over again. I felt the first day could be done in five hours, instead of eight.

Nevertheless, I did pick up a few useful things. The first lesson focused on attention and routine techniques. Let me highlight what I want to try out in my future classes.

Attention:

1) Giving students feasible choices for paying attention in class. For instance, giving students a choice of standing at the side of class or sitting up straight when one feels tired.

2) Use of personifications when teaching. However, this runs the risk of introducing anthropomorphism in scientific language.

3) Use of suspense and dramatics in class. I must take care, as this might be a one-trick pony tactic.

4) Giving easily-distracted students a role in class.

Routines:

1) Use of hand signals to indicate agreement, confusion and disagreement.

2) Allowing students to correct their answers after discussion from friends.

3) Use of subject representatives to collect extra worksheets.

4) Use of the "Yes" chant when preparing for a challenging topic.

Hopefully, these strategies may allow me to be a skillful teacher.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Introduction to the blog

Hello reader,

The purpose of this blog to record down my feelings, reflections and thoughts as I go through the Skillful Teacher course.

As of this writing, I am happy with a lot things going on in school. I already have a great relationship with my colleagues, and my assigned mentor has already provided me with several tips on improving my teaching (such as rearranging my desk).

To be honest, I am a little apprehensive about the course. After all, how would foreign (as in outside school), general advice be superior to the local, specific ones? Yet being professional I have already long committed to the course. So I have decided to grit my teeth and bite the bullet (even though literally, you cannot do both at the same time).

I plan to continue this blog to collate feedback on my teaching, long after the course have ended.