Overcoming Obstacles through Maths Magic

September 9, 2010

A magical cavern that engages the senses and the motivating power of 'caveman dollars' are among the innovative ways developed by Ms Teh Wan to share her passion for Maths. One of this year's recipients of the President's Award for Teachers, Ms Teh is the driving force behind Townsville Primary School's efforts to make Maths Champs by winning young minds to the beauty and utility of the subject.

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No Exams Please, We're Being Holistically Assessed

April 13, 2010

Pupil assessment goes holistic at Haig Girls' School, where Pri 1 pupils face no exams and older pupils are gauged based not just on their learning but also their attitude, values and social-emotional development. Performance tasks and journal writing are just some of the ways that pupils undertake to strengthen their comprehension and problem-solving skills. Each pupil also develops her own holistic development portfolio that charts her learning progress and helps affirm what she has achieved to her parents and teachers.

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Teachers Who Give Hope and Confidence

October 2, 2009

Step into Mathematics teacher Mdm Wong Lai Fong's class at Anderson Secondary School and you'll get a lesson in both numbers and sense. For in Mdm Wong's eyes, what really adds up is not one's ability to count, but a sense of responsibility and the confidence to confront life's challenges.

It's no wonder that when she was once assigned a class notorious for their rudeness, Mdm Wong took on the double duty of teaching Maths while encouraging the unruly students to mind their manners. With patience, praise and even songs, raps and games, she succeeded in turning defiance into discipline and mischief into motivation.

This commitment to success beyond schoolwork also girds Ms Sharon Ann Cardoza at Farrer Park Primary School as she reaches out to at-risk pupils. "You can't expect a child to complete homework when he's worrying about whether there will be food on the table for dinner or whether his parents are going to have another argument," she states. "Their basic needs like food, safe living conditions, and a home free of anxiety and fear must be met first."

For their outstanding commitment to shaping young lives, Mdm Wong and Ms Cardoza have been named two of the four recipients of this year's President's Award for Teachers, Singapore's highest honour for teachers.

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Getting Students Mad about Maths

May 12, 2009

You won't catch Mr Ho Yong Song going by the book in his classes. It's a habit that harks all the way back to his days as a student. "I seldom listened to what my teachers said," recalls the Mathematics teacher at Nan Chiau High School.

But before you tut-tut his classroom conduct, Mr Ho adds that this was how he ended up "learning much more than what the teachers taught" - and winning a scholarship to Canada in 1970.

After graduating with a Master's degree in mathematics, Mr Ho taught at Nan Chiau High School for more than three decades, including heading the school's Mathematics Department for several years before he retired in 2006. But even then, he couldn't ignore the call of the classroom.

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Developing an Appetite for Success

April 21, 2009

Think only Martin Yan can cook? Not quite. At Northlight School, budding culinary specialists taking courses in the Hospitality Department are cooking up a storm, particularly with the help of one of their teachers, Mr Bernard Chan.

Mr Chan was formerly involved in the restaurant business, but switched to teaching about seven years ago. He now teaches Restaurant Service and Culinary Skills at Northlight School, and puts students through their paces in the school's 'live' restaurant. Drawing a parallel between running a restaurant and managing a class, he says, "I try to provide my students with a good 'ambience' in the form of a conducive learning environment, so that they will be excited about the 'brain food' they get during the lesson and look forward to the next session."

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Making Sense of the World through Mathematics

March 24, 2009

Racking your brains over when would be the perfect time to buy a car or a HDB flat? Are you wondering who might be the best person to ask?

Well, you could try asking one of Mr Christopher Chee's students from Northlight School. In his Mathematics classes, graphs are not an indecipherable alphabet soup of Xs and Ys, but rooted in real-world examples.

For instance, Mr Chee guided his students as they pored over data of COE and HDB prices in order to examine the trend in prices. "My students really appreciated that lesson. Now they will always remember that January and February are the best months of the year to buy cars!" he says.

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A "New" School for the New Year

January 23, 2009

School's back! For many students, this means that the warm, fuzzy feelings of festive merriment are quickly being replaced by another long year of classes ahead.

It sounds predictable, but at Assumption Pathway School (APS), the start of a brand new semester in 2009 literally meant that. Formerly named Assumption Vocational Institute, the school has undergone a complete reformation in its education focus. It has taken in students who have failed their PSLE, as well as those who prematurely left other secondary schools, and in the new year, it's unveiled a new programme to better address their needs.

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A Teacher Who Touches Lives

October 7, 2008

What do you do with a boy who “could not care less”? Who keeps failing his maths and science and makes mischief in class? Who skips school for days and whose folks have never attended a single parent-teacher meeting?

The easy way out would be to give up on him, but Mrs Lee Kok Hong was moved to give a little extra time and care to this boy. Learning that he came from a broken home, suffered from leg injuries and had no one to turn to, the Temasek Primary School teacher effectively became his godmother in school. She lent him a listening ear and guided him back to class, earning for her efforts a solemn promise that he would pass his Mathematics and Science at the PSLE.

Mrs Lee’s concern for this pupil’s education and emotional plight sums up her passion for her pupils and firm belief that “teaching is not just about providing book knowledge.” Her outlook is no doubt shared by the two other winners of the 2008 President’s Award for Teachers, who with Mrs Lee received the award from President S.R. Nathan on 1 September at the Istana.

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Motivating Minds with Maths

September 18, 2008

Step into Mrs Eileen Ong-Chua Li Ling’s Mathematics class and you can expect a life-changing experience. For apart from helping pupils make sense of numbers and equations, Mrs Ong (as she’s known to her colleagues and pupils) peppers her lessons with anecdotes from real life that drive home lasting values and formulae for a fruitful future.

Mrs Ong’s winning blend of maths and motivation has touched so many lives that the Haig Girls’ School teacher was named one of three recipients of the 2008 President’s Award for Teachers. This annual award honours teachers who have demonstrated outstanding passion, innovation and dedication, and is based on nominations by students, parents and fellow teachers.

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An Explosion of Ideas at ExCEL Fest (Part 1)

July 25, 2008

Fancy a shop-load of SPaM? Game for a little night Mu-seek? Or how about flipping an umbrella upside-down to turn it into a fish pond or flower pot? Don’t worry - there were no dubious emails or canned ham in this festival of ingenuity. Instead, ExCEL Fest 2008 at Suntec City on 5 July was a basket of innovative tricks and practices that parents could sample, to see how teachers have introduced to make learning more fun, enriching and meaningful.

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Who Wants to be a Zero Hero?

November 19, 2007

Students aren't usually allowed to play card games in school, but Zero Heroes is the exception at Serangoon Secondary School. We designed this card game to improve our students' ability to do mental calculations - and, of course, to make learning Mathematics more interesting!

Zero Heroes uses a deck of 75 cards, each with a number from 1 to 10 on it, or a special instruction (e.g. "Double the Score", "Square Root", "Skip", "Reverse"). Students play their cards to deduct numbers from 100, perform special calculations or affect the direction of play. Their objective: to avoid hitting a result of zero during their turn, or else they'll be eliminated. And no calculators allowed!

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Mentor Strength Keeps LSM Teachers Going

September 19, 2007

Many of us are often asked, “What do you do?” and typically, we respond with “I’m a teacher.” Then we’re asked, “What do you teach?” and “What is it like to be a teacher?” For a select group of teachers, they will reply that they teach Mathematics but to a special group of pupils - those who need support in acquiring basic numeracy skills. These are the Learning Support for Mathematics teachers or LSM Teachers.

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