Jan 2003

a question - 1/8/2003

totally functional here - do pple know which schools are reading Romeo and Juliet for Lit? Are there schools reading Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, Hamlet or King Lear too? I'd like to find out - any information will be rewarded with much gratitude from me!

School's starting slow - am teaching the same classes as last year which means all J2s. That's a good cause I don't need to learn names. It also means I get to work with individuals that I already know. The problem might be typecasting individuals but I'm very aware of the possibility of doing that am have made a mental note not to.

Not even a full week of school - and - my class file's been misplaced! I figure some teacher took it to look at and didn't bother putting it back. I WANT MY FILE BACK! Being as disorganised as I am I'm really rather proud of how conscientious I was in filing stuff into that file last year. It was last spotted in the holidays so someone's probably holding on to it. Unless someone's out to sabotage ... Then again, it's just an awful lot of trouble to go through just to inconvenience me! I shall believe the best of those in the teaching profession - but I WANT MY FILE BACK!







---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey! I cant sleep so I am leaving people random notes. Come by my diary sometime and drop me a note whenever you can. Hope you have a great week.



xoxo~Janae [*~*Confused*~*]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

What grade are you teaching? I think that typecasting occurs at every grade but it most significant inseconday education teachers.



Not saying that this is you.



Anyways, best of luck!! [cha-cha]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lit teacher huh~ I love Lit... =) [Ah_VoNz]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm doing King Lear for S paper... =\ [Grandioso]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

apparently sec 2 mainstream is doing er macbath...

visit my blog at http://anonymousnoises.blogspot.com [disInspired]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

yup i'm doing macbeth and julius caesar as part of s level lit too... [Disturbia]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr Lim, how's life? =) Hope u've been really fine..
Do take care and stay happy. [*white starz*]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

haha.. your file may never come back!! =P anyway to my greatest pleasure, i am not doing anything u mentioned. me doing much ado about nothing, mayor of casterbridge, silas marner, rosencrantz and guildenstern plus some other things we haven't buy yet... =) [i||uXioN]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just read this entry of yours.. I'm doing Julius Caesar for the Os. The school's CHIJ. toapayoh.. [Contusion.]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

rvhs

---------------------------------------------------------------------------





Lousy Lesson - 1/15/2003





Gave a lousy lesson today. It's week 2 and already we had a lousy lesson. It was supposed to be a writing activity - what I've come to call a micro-skills lesson where the focus isn't on the big picture but on a very technical aspect of writing. Anyway the key was to USE statistics in writing. Most people think that writing with statistics is merely a process of lumping your statistics in after you've made your point. That's one way of doing it. But it's inelegant and often leads to lots of questions about the relevance of the statistic and whether the statistic can indeed support the argument. For example most students would write something like this:

"Our educational system is elitist. Out of the 200 000 secondary school students, only about 2000 will benefit from the new through train proposals."

That's acceptable I suppose. But's it's bare minimum (and trust me - many don't even get around to using a statistic) But with practice, I believe the kids can turn out bits like this:

"With only 2000 out of 200 000 students benefiting from the gains of the newly proposed through train system, it is not surprising that the reforms are widely regarded to favour only the elite. Elitism seems to be deeply entrenched in Singapore's education philosophy."

Of course there were the sensible ones that actually got to work. But then there were those who felt that the lesson was either a waste of their time (as they saw no need to improve their ability to use stats) or an opportunity to slack off.

I should have been clearer I guess about the rationale behind the whole thing. I should have been insistent about the value of the work.

Instead I let it slide into a sigh and allowed De-motivation and Distraction to have a field day.

I guess some the frustration lies in the knowledge that it was a good lesson, in its conception but was poorly executed. But then again you take a risk whenever you invite a class to believe along with you that a piece of writing / or the act of writing is worth participating in. The risk of students producing "just enough". The risk of students not sharing in the belief that one can write in order to improve what one is able to write.





---------------------------------------------------------------------------

that's the slackers' "style"! =D [§pSycHic§]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry if that was my class...and it probably was...and the slackers were probably my clique off guys...just hope that you don't take it too personally...i always thought that education is unable to benefit those who are passive towards learning, and often you can't help those who actively resist it. so you can't see it as ur own fault can u? =) [eagle eye]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I could tell you I'm sorry if it matters to you. I'm sorry. When you mentioned that the lesson was good at time of conception, maybe you could have included an estimate of the level of enthusiasm it would have achieved. Because stats are mercenaries of attention. They only benefit those who remember them. They aren't purposeful. It's the argument that validates their purpose. -the noisy one.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

yeah well, the lesson didn't seem to have been designed to really inspire anyone to write. let's always do fun things for lessons instead! ^_^ [lassitude]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

i think it is because we tend to take things that are not graded lightly (or we take things that are graded too importantly). yet to insist consistent value is to put more stress on the lesson that it might very well kill the creativity and open-mindedness derived from this 'take-it-easy' attitude. its a kind of trade-off i guess...

-exu- (i am one of the 5 guys eagle eye mentioned =P)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------