December 2007 Archives

Meals when They Matter Most

December 31, 2007

Who’s got time to think about having a nutritious meal when there’re ten more chapters to be reviewed before tomorrow’s paper? Come exam season, most students pour themselves into a final round of revision and find their school premises a safe and conducive environment for study. But there may not be food to sustain them once the canteen’s closed for the day.

At Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC), the Parents’ Action Team (PAT) took up the cause of cooking wholesome dinners for the many students who spent their evenings in school to study before the ‘A’ Levels or the promotional exams. Instead of spending time walking to the nearest hawker centre, students could enjoy the meals provided by the “Exam Food Ministry”.

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SPED Teachers Share Strategies

December 28, 2007

Dedication, providing customised solutions, ensuring measurable outcomes, and training competencies for employment - these are some of the factors that distinguished two recipients of the inaugural Outstanding Special Education (SPED) Teacher Awards 2007. Presented by MOE and National Council of Social Services in November 2007, the awards recognise the contributions of and important role played by SPED teachers in the education of students with special needs.

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The First Day of School for My Children

December 26, 2007

The first day of primary school must be a big day for children - or so we thought! But try asking them and you'll be surprised by what they tell you. After all, most kids in Singapore would have attended playschool, nursery or at least two years of kindergarten before they enter Pri 1. Nevertheless, I have "prepared" not one but three daughters for the first day of primary school over the last seven years; they attended Pri 1 in 2007, 2003 and 2000. Let me share my experiences.

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All Aboard the Happy Reading Express

December 24, 2007

Someone passing by the Nanyang Polytechnic auditorium on 23 November 2007 might have been mystified to hear train horns blaring from within - but it was just the launch of the Reading Carnival by Minister of State for Education Mr Gan Kim Yong. An extravaganza of books, project displays and demonstrations by teachers and students, the event celebrated the 60 prototype schools involved in the reading programme, Happy Reading Express.

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Supporting Students through Journals of Discovery

December 21, 2007

Teachers usually recite poems to their classes, but what would make pupils dedicate verses to their teacher instead? For Mdm Yip Jee Cheng of Mayflower Primary School, such tributes stem from her unfaltering dedication to forge close ties with her students in order to offer mental and emotional support.

Also known as Mrs Jessie Ching to her students, Mdm Yip was one of four recipients of this year’s President’s Award for teachers. She waxes lyrical about her passion for teaching, sprinkling her sentences with words like “holistic development”, “nurturing the child”, “thinking skills” and “recalibrating their way of thinking”.

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School-Within-School for Dynamic Learning

December 19, 2007

Mention “progress charts”, “target setting”, “conferencing” and most people will probably think about the workplace. However, for Pri 1 and 2 pupils at Cedar Primary School, these are part and parcel of classroom activities.

That’s not all. Pupils also take part in “peer coaching”, sit for “Mastery Tests” and are given “reward time” if they can stick to a task for at least half an hour. What’s more, all these activities are conducted in “multi-aged classrooms” where children from different levels learn together.

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Stories to Tell from Teachers Network Award-winners

December 18, 2007

In Mr Arasumani S. Retnasamy’s history classes, “pimples and warts” get students excited about lessons. Meanwhile, Mdm Chow Fong Yee oversees the launch of a new series of supplementary teaching materials that will make Chinese Language lessons in primary school more fun and engaging than ever before. In their respective ways, Mr Arasumani and Mdm Chow have gone far beyond the extra mile in their calling as teachers. Besides their regular classroom duties, they have taken pains to share their expertise with the teaching community at large through MOE’s Teachers Network (TN). Their contributions earned them recognition at the 2007 TN Awards: Mr Arasumani received an Outstanding Resource Teacher award and Mdm Chow a Fellow of Teachers Network award.

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A Doublebill of Achievements: Discipline & Drama

December 17, 2007

A teacher who can get students to take charge of their own behaviour, yet lets them let loose in the classroom (well, dramatically speaking) - that’s Mr Yeo Leng Quee of Peirce Secondary School. One of the four recipients of the 2007 President’s Award for Teachers, he has spearheaded a year-round system to improve overall school discipline, as well as injected a successful drama component to English lessons.

A few months ago, we featured Mr Yeo’s personal take on his 10-year teaching career; now we take a look at his “extra-curricular” activities, beyond the textbook.

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'Excelysing' Chinese language lessons

December 14, 2007

Getting young people excited about Chinese language (CL) classes can be a challenge. At St. Joseph's Institution (SJI) Junior, we've managed to get our pupils to be much more attentive, active in group discussions, retain lessons better, learn more independently and solve problems. How did we achieve this?

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Northern Exposure in Teaching with Technology

December 13, 2007

What happens when the most innovative teachers from around the world gather to share their ideas and experiences with one another? Mr Matthew Ong from Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) and Mrs Tan-Lee Yoke Kew from Mee Toh School had an opportunity to find out when they participated in the Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum held in Helsinki, Finland, this October. The two teachers represented Singapore at the forum after they won Distinction Awards at the Microsoft-MOE Professional Development Award (MMPDA) 2007 for their ingenious application of technology in teaching.

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Experiencing Corporate Communications

December 12, 2007

For three weeks, Ms Karen Yap Chen Heng, who teaches maths and physics at Canberra Secondary School, plunged into the fast-paced world of corporate communications at MOE headquarters. She shares the lessons that she brings back to the classroom from this Teacher Work Attachment.

The media-saturated world of corporate communications may appear to have little to do with classroom work, but in fact, teaching is itself an act of communication, and a frontline task at that. Wanting to learn more about the development of effective outreach strategies and techniques for handling the media, I took up a Teacher Work Attachment at MOE’s Corporate Communications Division (CCD) from 29 October to 16 November 2007.

Though my stint was for just three short weeks, it was nevertheless an invaluable opportunity to gain a wider perspective of the efforts carried out by the MOE communications team, as well as to broaden my own work experience.

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World•Singapore - A "New" Vision for Tomorrow

December 11, 2007

If you still think that the way to academic and career success is a single straight and narrow path, think again. As the world becomes more complex and multi-faceted, Singapore is likewise charting a broader choice of educational routes. In this brave new era of World•Singapore, young Singaporeans will be able to fulfil their personal potential while meeting the challenges of a world steeped in culture and competition.

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What's Cooking? New Courses and Changed Lives!

December 10, 2007

Think of it as a deliciously simmering stew 11 years in the making. That's how long Madam Dewi Juriah Sudirman has been teaching Home Economics and Food & Nutrition in secondary schools. These elective subjects may seem "inconsequential" to some, but through her cooking lessons, Madam Dewi has been quietly transforming the lives of the students, especially those in the Normal (Academic) (N(A)) and Normal (Technical) (N(T)) streams, whom some have labelled as "incorrigible" or "hopeless".

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Let’s Talk About Sex

December 5, 2007

Could a girl who has not yet had her first period get pregnant? Are two condoms better than one? Is it safe to play with a schoolmate who has HIV? These questions and more were posed to the audience at the COMPASS (COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools) Convention 2007 on 3 November.

Raised during a presentation on “Love Them, Talk About Sex”, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) tackled the topic of teenage sexuality and parents who worry that telling the truth could open the way to youthful temptation.

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PAT Winner Brings the Big Picture to Aspiring Artists

December 5, 2007

Picture this: your artwork framed and displayed at public spaces and galleries, sometimes even alongside creations from established artists. Meanwhile, you’re interacting and learning with award-winning practising artists.

These are experiences that are part and parcel of the visual arts programme at Sembawang Secondary School. Such opportunities that fuel a passion for the arts came about through the efforts of Mdm Norlita Marsuki, the school’s Subject Head of Visual Arts.

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Chinese Lessons on the Record

December 3, 2007

Passive entertainment is out. What’s cool is making your own digital programmes and sharing them with peers. Far from being merely media consumers, many young people are writing blogs, recording podcasts and streaming vodcasts to express themselves and hear each other’s views.

We teachers constantly grapple with a communication gap and pupils say that we don’t really understand their needs. The challenge is for us to step out of our comfort zones and enter their world. At Mayflower Primary School, I started podcast websites this January for my two Chinese language (CL) classes. We have found this to be a versatile virtual space where teachers and pupils can post writing, audio clips, videos and photographs related to their lessons. Parents also chipped in to make the learning process a greater success, offering their technical expertise to their children when it was needed.

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