Teach Less, Learn More

[corneyAmber]

chamonix:

bebebub:

Anyone has any idea if the recent top scorers for PSLE receives tuition? I can only remember it was reported that most of them have parents who are high fliers and/or professionals.

Qualifier : This is only heresay. The PSLE top scorer last year was having enrichment lessons at Mindstretcher.

It's not hearsay, his name is published in Mindstretcher website. No secret.

[metz]

ksi:

It's not hearsay, his name is published in Mindstretcher website. No secret.

Any idea if he was also attending Learning Lab? Nowadays, some kids attend more than one enrichment centre, take up extra activities. I wonder where they find the time and energy...

[corneyAmber]

chamonix:

ksi:

It's not hearsay, his name is published in Mindstretcher website. No secret.

Any idea if he was also attending Learning Lab? Nowadays, some kids attend more than an enrichment centre, take up extra activities. I wonder where they find the energy and time...

Concurrently, probably not....can easily check TLL's board of achievements so he would have been \"exposed\". However, it does not rule out that he might have been to TLL prior to joining MS. He was an Olympiad Math kid too so it was likely that he had to undergo extra Math training in an Olympiad Math centre. However, having said this, he is consistently a performing student in his school so he does have brains to begin with.

Lastly I just want to say being the top PSLE kid has to do with luck factor. The top 15-20 kids in the chart all have a chance of being the top PSLE kid......the last part to determine who gets it is really the \"luck\" factor in some of the marking outcome in the subjective areas. So if you find the common points of these top 15-20 kids as your data points, you will probably discover more patterns that you are looking for.

[Chenonceau]

Augmum:

Chenonceau:

Mine only did 4. Worse, the compo comes back without marks for English... And without comments for Chinese. He doesn't know what he did wrong or can improve.

w/o marks ?? oh...i think this is the first time i heard,
no marks are given after marking compo writing.

Yeah lor... Shocking right? First time I experience this too but my son came back with marked English compo with a few ticks and some minor corrections but no marks. He said \"This teacher never give marks.\"

[Chenonceau]

cantbearit2:

Chenonceau:

Mine only did 4. Worse, the compo comes back without marks for English... And without comments for Chinese. He doesn't know what he did wrong or can improve.

:shock: :shock: Guess tis is wat i can expect in future for my DD is tis is the trend of most sch

Hope lor... Perhaps MOE will revise the system again?

[Chenonceau]

ksi:

Not all subjects have the luxury of a lecture....I am pleased if there is even a lecture. Some are just collection of half-baked instructions for assignments and then have to get it done at home. It varies from teacher to teacher, there is no fixed pedagogy.

Yup! I noticed that too. The syllabus emphasizes skills. One can only learn skills via skills practice and personalized feedback. Classes are too big for this type of teaching. Teachers with multiple 35-student classes have no time to give skills practice feedback. Teaching skills via talk talk talk ends up half-baked because skills being skills, you must DO to learn.

[janet88]

ksi:

sleepy:

[quote=\"janet_lee88\"]Science, esp is one subject which students have problems with. The information in the textbook is so pathetic, but yet students are expected to answer tough questions set by the school. How can students possibly prepare for these open-ended questions when they have not been taught in class ?

I've similar observation & had feedback to dd's Science hod.
The reply is there is only 2 to 2.5 hours of Science period each week....

Exactly...why allocate so little time to Science? I was quite shocked when I saw the time-table while typing it out to make a size to fit the pencil case then I realised it.[/quote]Just teaching from the pathetic Perfect Match textbook for Science is NOT going to pass. There are NO supplementary notes from school, yet HOD Science can tell me crap like students wil bounce back from failure to doing well at SA1/2 for P5.

[Funx3]

Brenda10:

Augmum:

[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]
Mine only did 4. Worse, the compo comes back without marks for English... And without comments for Chinese. He doesn't know what he did wrong or can improve.

w/o marks ?? oh...i think this is the first time i heard,
no marks are given after marking compo writing.

This is very bad! Paper 1 (compo.) is usually quite difficult to score well.[/quote]Normally for CL, the Marks will Come Back in 2 separate sections :
Content MAx 20, \"Jie Ko\" (Language, etc) Max 20 Marks

I'm Surprised there is No Marks.
Perhaps U Need to Feedback to the Sch, Or Request from the T Personally.

[Chenonceau]

Funx3:

Brenda10:

[quote=\"Augmum\"]
w/o marks ?? oh...i think this is the first time i heard,
no marks are given after marking compo writing.

This is very bad! Paper 1 (compo.) is usually quite difficult to score well.

Normally for CL, the Marks will Come Back in 2 separate sections :
Content MAx 20, \"Jie Ko\" (Language, etc) Max 20 Marks

I'm Surprised there is No Marks.
Perhaps U Need to Feedback to the Sch, Or Request from the T Personally.[/quote]I am a bit chicken leh... Must pluck up enough courage. But this is important right? I should raise this matter, right? I am thinking I observe a bit first... But then, I am also tempted to shut up and teach him myself. I emailed the teacher about it but she did not respond. I really miss his last year's teacher.

[Funx3]

bebebub:

dd is just an average student in a normal school, and hub and I are not high fliers. My humble hope is for dd to enjoy her childhood and still do decently for PSLE - without tuition (at the moment). We try to tell her that it's her job to own the learning process, and she has to faced up to her failure if she does not do well. Because of this, I have been \"ham-tam\" by my well-meaning friends for my lack of provision of tuition for dd.

Am I kidding myself to think that dd will not be left behind, given this \"teach less, learn more\" concept? Seems like most parents here lament, but feel that \"learn more from tuition\" is the way to go :? . On the other hand, I really feel sorry for my friend's kid who, at P4, was asked to drop swimming and piano lessons to make time for 4 subjects tuition plus additional classes in CL and EL creative writing classes!! :shock:

Personally, I Think the Amount of Tuition, etc is Linked Very much to the Expectation we have for our Kids.

Of Course No One Wants their Kids to FAIL, and the Best is They Can Stretch ThemSelves to Achieve Even Better Results Every Term.

But One Must Be Realistic about our Expectations. Is What We Want from our Kids = What They R Capable of Doing? Ask Yourself this Q and Answer it Honestly.

At the End of the Day, Managing and Moderating our Expectation to our Kids' Best Effort will Actually Reduce Stress ALL Round.

Studying is HARD Work for our Kids Nowadays. If your Kids Can Do Without Tuition and can Achieve Satisfactory Results to U, By ALL Means Keep It that Way.
U Can Always Grin and When Bricks Fly Your Way!

My Gal is Also One of the Rare Few with Almost No Tuition. She Only Attends 1 CL writing Class in the HDB estates once a week. Frequently told this Mummy So Many of Her Classmates and Friends R Super-Envious of Her Coz She Can spent So Much Time Doing Multi-CCA, Join Competitions Here and There (So Good, Can Skip Class! :roll: :roll: ).
And Mummy Never Scold.

She, too, Often Complains to Me About this Sketchy Outline instructions that is Being Dished Out in Class, Resulting in Sometimes Wrongly Interpreted HW being Submitted and Has to Be Re-Done. But Both My Gal and I take it in its Stride, Coz that's Part and Parcel of Learning Process. Like My Gal Say, \"If DO Wrong, Correct It -lor!\" And the Most Impt thing is Learn from the Mistake, Don't Repeat It.

And The Assumptions that ALL Kids has Private Tuition and Has Master ALL the Basics Before Coming to Class, I'm Afraid, is Quite Prevalent among Most Sch T.
For those Kids without Tuition, they just have to Work Extra Hard and Study on their Own and Seek Clarifications from Parents / Siblings / Friends when such Occasions Happen. My Gal Belongs to this Rare Few who Wants to do it on Her own.

Else May Have to Follow the Trend and Outsource - Join the Tuition Route -liao!