Child Underperforms Because Tested Above Cognitive Level

[buds]

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php


This is for you, Chenonceau... from where i am.

I understand you better today than yesterday.
I also understand your situation better than yesterday.

This is why i write.
I only care to write in stuff i care about.

[Chenonceau]

buds:

As a professional, she should know that it is never right to take it out on the kids. I blame her for that. She could've have thought it in her head but she didn't have to say it aloud.. or worse, say it to DS! :yikes: Whatever her issues were with the principal and clearly with her colleagues (from how i see it cos it seems she has zero help and a clue to what she was doing) or clearly with herself and in her incapacity to prepare prior to teaching the class to begin with... sorry dear... this wan i blame her. This is what i call a ppl problem.


When i was first assigned my very own class to teach after having shadowed so many seniors after a year, i was elated that i did ground research everywhere and everyday. I was EXCITED to embark and show what i was worth and also to pay tribute to all my seniors for sharing so much with me and showing me the ways of the industry.

She didn't say it TO DS. She announced it to the class! My DS was so embarrassed. The day after I called, she said in class \"Some children's parents are very 'mafan' because keep calling to ask for materials.\" Lidat I also dun dare to talk to her anymore. Frankly, I dun need her enough to pursue. DS is now pretty confident in Chinese, no thanks to her.

As a family, we can manage.

I am not interested in solving problems just for one class... or my DS. Many of his classmates have tuition in all 4 subjects. They also dun need her. I am more interested in seeing a systemic strengthener go in for all schools and all classes. The focus is different.

Can other families manage like us?

[Chenonceau]

buds:

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php


This is for you, Chenonceau... from where i am.

I understand you better today than yesterday.
I also understand your situation better than yesterday.

This is why i write.
I only care to write in stuff i care about.

bud-sies... for me, the only thing that matters is that we agree here...

buds:

Chenonceau:

It just takes one change of Principal. Unless there are other non-human strengtheners of the system.
(1) better textbooks
(2) better policies on teaching and testing
(3) e-sharing platform for teachers

AGREE on all three counts. :snuggles:

And may i add... some form of evaluation or appraisal (system or committee) as well so everyone's accountable on what goes on in the \"teaching\".

but dat's a nice emoticon...

[buds]

Teaching is clearly not her forte.


She has just left a sour taste in my mouth with her attitude cause she reminds me of DD1’s preschool teachers. Told the whole class to call her a baby just cos she wrote one word wrong. Not just saying it to the class but ridiculed.

NO. Of course, not all other families can manage… with this kind of character in the workforce. Plus not all parents are versed enough to teach MT curriculum or have time to do so.

She ought to just resign for the sake of the other kids. A better teacher may jolly well be waiting for her place but couldn’t get in cos she’s still there pretending to teach.

[Chenonceau]

buds… no one is perfect… why should we hold her more accountable than we hold MOE top management accountable for huge systemic gaps in Teacher Support? No… if we are gonna put effort in here… then, go for the big fish and hold THEM accountable.


Better investment of time and effort. Go for the big fish and the whole nation benefits. Slam the small fish and the small fish dies… no one benefits much. Dun waste time punching the little guys. Aim at the big guns and if things move, it’ll benefit all.

[buds]

Sorlie sorlie.. :salute:


:offtopic: by miles..

Aniwawes, back to thread topic....

In DDs previous school, this issue became hot topic when parents realized that different level heads were assigned to craft the exam questions/papers? If higher level teachers who do not teach that level was assigned to prepare for the exams, how would she know if the children were sufficiently prepared?

Now, cos of that... it was a clear case of testing above cognitive level cos the teacher had not been teaching that level for years. A P4 teacher preparing P2 exam questions... go figure. :roll:

The reason given was that it should be set by a neutral party.

But still... :skeptical:

[buds]

Chenonceau:

buds... no one is perfect... why should we hold her more accountable than we hold MOE top management accountable for huge systemic gaps in Teacher Support? No... if we are gonna put effort in here... then, go for the big fish and hold THEM accountable.


Better investment of time and effort. Go for the big fish and the whole nation benefits. Slam the small fish and the small fish dies... no one benefits much. Dun waste time punching the little guys. Aim at the big guns and if things move, it'll benefit all.

Agree. But aiming the big guns require time and LOTS of AMMUNITION. :evil:

:rubhands:

Some things need immediate intervention before more damage is done. ESPECIALLY when it comes to our children.

To cite an example, clear the perpetrator doing experiments in the toilet immediately.. Remove the laser-eyed-stripping-teen teacher immediately.. Correct a teacher's bad grammar immediately.. some things cannot wait too long. Because dealing with big guns take time to plan children may have already died slow deaths in their learning journey. It was allowed to deteriorate.

We can deal with these small fishes and at the same time use their real-life cases as real issues the big guns failed to sieve and tackle.

This isolated case of yours deserved to be highlighted but that's my opinion. Especially if she had to take my children two years straight due to school practice. ie. each teacher takes two years before rotating classes. P1 and P2 take same class.. P3 and P4 take same class.. *GASP* :yikes: P5 and P6 take same class!

When it comes to accountability, no one should be spared.. big fish or small ones. :torch me:

[wonderm]

There are good trees, average trees and very sick trees in the forest. Just to share, our experience with primary school was similar to buds’ even though I think my kids’ school didn’t have Stellar programme for their years. We had our fair share of frustration with some teachers but there were many good experiences too. PSLE year was certainly not very fun but they have much better/hoslistic programme in Sec school now. However, I don’t think they were tested above cognitive level even though they might have encountered a few very challenging sums in some papers. I am not disageeing with any earlier posts, just sharing our experience with one tree, as the forest must be made up of many individual trees.


As for better quality textbooks. My understanding is that MOE only decides on the syllabus and they will approve multiple textbooks as long as they meet the requirements. Schools are free to choose among the approved textbooks and I believe they are also free to choose additional supplementary materials in the market if they do not have the time or ability to develop their own. Instead of waiting for MOE to agree to write the textbooks themselves, would it be faster if interested parties work on producing the better materials for the schools to use? For example, I agree the science textbooks used by my kids in primary school were quite useless, if someone can come up with a much better science textbook than what the schools are using now, many schools will switch to it and it makes good business sense for the author/publisher?

I believe good teaching goes beyond the teaching material as teachers have to understand the ability and needs of each class and deliver the teaching in the most effective manner with the best material he can find or develop himself. Hence, even if MOE were to take on the tasks of producing detailed lesson plans and teaching materials, I don’t think they can/should mandate that every school/every class follow the same lesson plan. If MOE makes it flexible for teachers to use or not to use their teaching materials, we will still see some teachers coming up with their own materials for their school or classes, right? There is no way (and I don’t think it is right) for MOE to force these teachers to share everything they develop with MOE.

Again, I am not against MOE coming up with its own version of textbooks and teaching materials. Just sharing my thoughts about alternatives.

On the claim of our education system being world class. I don’t know how one defines world class but I am glad my children study in our system even though it is not perfect as I know of some worse education systems elsewhere. It could be because my children are just lucky not to encounter those really sick trees or it could be we choose to see the glass as half full.

[corneyAmber]

Chenon, whatever you are doing now at the macro level, it is not going to benefit your son, maybe your grandchildren. So whatever needs to be done at the micro level for your son, I am sure like every mum, with discretion you will choose the right battles to fight with due consideration to the impact on him. It is already tiring fighting on something that has direct impact on yourself so I can empathise it is even more tiring fighting on something which has no direct impact on yourself in the near future. Nevertheless, your heart is in the right place for the greater good, be encouraged and plod on patiently for the day the children get better resources across the board or exams are more reasonably set across the board again instead of only specific schools, we can pop champagne and rejoice here for you.

[doodbug]

ksi:

Chenon, whatever you are doing now at the macro level, it is not going to benefit your son, maybe your grandchildren. So whatever needs to be done at the micro level for your son, I am sure like every mum, with discretion you will choose the right battles to fight with due consideration to the impact on him. It is already tiring fighting on something that has direct impact on yourself so I can empathise it is even more tiring fighting on something which has no direct impact on yourself in the near future. Nevertheless, your heart is in the right place for the greater good, be encouraged and plod on patiently for the day the children get better resources across the board or exams are more reasonably set across the board again instead of only specific schools, we can pop champagne and rejoice here for you.

Yah, must give her a pat on the back. :rahrah:

I can scarecely cope with mining this forum for gems on how to help my kids cope in this school system. This forum has been a fantastic resource.