My Story - teach the students some maths tricks or give them some fun maths facts

Posted to Facebook on 1/8/2019 at 12:44 AM
My Story - teach the students some maths tricks or give them some fun maths facts

Somehow the school teachers thought that I am only good in mathematics (maths). The three different teachers ask me to assist the students in maths. Oh well, so be it

I easily get my guernsey from the principal, teachers and most importantly the students. I am given a free hand to guide the students to do the class exercises the way I see fit

I have been given the green light to deal with students with learning or behavioral problems individually within the class. It is important that the students need to understand where their mental road block is, and how to find ways to bypass or fix it.

Depending on how much time is left before the class is dismissed, I request from the class teacher permission to teach the students some maths tricks or give them some fun maths facts. The teachers are pretty good and attentive audience to say the least.

It does not matter whether it is a STEM subject or not, it is important to find ways to make it interesting and fun in order to minimise or even eliminate rejection by the students.

I have proven that my black-and-white hair is NOT a barrier or hindrance to join these young children and have communication at their age levels.

Thank you for reading.

My Story - bring students to the attention of their problems and lead then to work out the answers

Posted to Facebook on 16/7/2019 at 5:49 PM
My Story - bring students to the attention of their problems and lead then to work out the answers

I was asked by the Year 4 class teacher to help 2 students to understand why they made mistakes in the online exercises and how to fix the mistakes.

One at a time the student was with me going through the online exercises on a laptop.

The first student is fairly smart. However, he was too hasty and did not pay attention to accuracy

The second did not pay enough attention to question, nor to me when I was explaining

I brought to the attention of their problems, and led them to work out the correct answers or fix their mistakes made in the online exercises.

Student 1 needs to slow down, and double check his work. He will speed up only after he has proven his can do his exercises accuracy.

Student 2 must learn to read all available information, namely question and diagrams very carefully before giving an answer. She must listen attentively, without interrupting the speaker, teacher or instructor. Otherwise, she will miss the explanation and important information.

The students were asked to repeat what they understood about their problems and they had to tell the class teacher the same

The students and the teacher were happy, and so am I.

Thank you for reading.

My Story - Back to school for Term 3

Posted to Facebook on 16/7/2019 at 3:43 PM
My Story - Back to school for Term 3

Back to school first day of third term. I continue to volunteer in Prep and Year 4, but I also want to extent my service to students in different Years

I managed to have a quick word with the school principal, and he said he had a teacher in mind that might need my service in her class.

Lucky me, I shall be helping out in Year 5 class as well next week. In short, that will keep me occupied full day

Thank you for reading.

Can an education system from a country be transferred and adopted by another country?

Posted to Facebook on 9/7/2019 at 12:32 PM
Can an education system from a country be transferred and adopted by another country?

I read a post about Finland is ready to assist Malaysia with their education system.

What is important is NOT just the education system. The parenting of the children, the societal influence, the cultural acceptance, employment prospect, are important to the definition of success of any education system.

In many Asian societies, parents are Tiger parents or Helicopter parents, and what the children study and how the children behave are dictated by the parents

Then the racial and religious issues create big barrier, whether religious study forms part of curriculum, or students need to attend prayers at certain time on certain day.

The welfare system also entwined in the system. There is a big wealth gap in many Asian societies, and can the government afford to fund childcare, daycare and after school care

The crux of the matter is what factors cause the failure of the current system, and whether there are remedies.

While the article is more about Malaysia, we also need to have a closer look at our (Australian) education system.

There is no one size fits all. Foreign systems bring new problems, especially in a multicultural country.

Thank you for reading.

The quality not the quantity of teachers that counts

Posted to Facebook on 4/7/2019 at 9:18 AM
The quality not the quantity of teachers that counts

The problem is about quality NOT quantity. While good quality teachers is important, the non-academic “quality” of the students plays a more important part in the end result.

The society and parents MUST take responsibility about the behaviour of the school students. Not all students can be dealt with just gentle words of encouragement to fix their problems in the classroom.

In a well disciplined class with students who are more homogeneous in most respect, a teacher is able to manage and conduct a much larger class especially in early school years.

The concept of mixing students with big difference in level of competence in favour of social interaction is a myth. The outcome is producing more half baked performers rather than students of excellence.

Life experience is valuable in dealing with students who are very testng and demanding. Being able to “predict” a student’s next move can put a stop to unnecessary disruption

School curriculum can do with some serious revemping. That is another topic I shall discuss next time.

Thank you for reading.