Primary school maths: A vicious circle (from TODAY May 8)

[oxyleo]

Intermezzo:

oxyleo:

:boogie: 有话好好讲。君子动口不动手。 :imanangel:

噢凯。多谢教诲 ~

不必那么客气。能够自我反省就好了。 :hugs:

[oxyleo]

Chenonceau:

tutormum:

I agree if the whole class failed, it's probably not her fault. There's many possibilities and your friend should find out the truth. The girl sounds very sensible and mature to write letter to apologise. My DS will not do such a thing but :oops: :oops: try to :hugs: :hugs: when they do something wrong. Since she has a tutor, let her tutor go through the papers with her. I always go through exam papers with my students even though their teacher has gone through with them. I always insist on doing so to make sure that they understand the concepts and realise what their mistakes were. Their subject teachers will not be able to do that cos they would only give the standard answers and the student will not know why his/her weakness. At this time, the girl needs encouragement more than anything else. Sometimes, it's better that we don't focus on a failure but give encouragement instead. From my experience, students will be very :sad: and :oops: with their results already. They would even refused to show me their exam papers if they felt that they didn't do as well as they have expected. Once they realised that going through their papers is not to :stompfeet: :mad: :rant: but to help them, my students are always very eager to show me their papers.

This method of failing kids hurts the conscientious ones most. My DS was also very sad and apologetic. He was so relieved when I declared very categorically that it was not his fault.

Kids who are tidak apa won't take it so badly. If I had insisted on blaming DS for the failure, he would sooner or later develop a tidak apa attitude just to protect himself from emotional pain. So I completely discredited those marks... said the exam was badly set... and told him not to care.

The odd thing now... is that I am teaching my son a tidak apa attitude. This is a value I never thought I would teach him. I've always taught him to care.

I agree Chen. Although it's still early days for my son, I've changed from my stance from \"Let's strive to do well!\" to \"Just do your best!\". We are now adopting a \"Prepared for the worst, Hoping for the best\" mentality. Like as if it's attempting warfare without ammunition, just a broken shield with bare hands.

[Chenonceau]

oxyleo:

Chenonceau:

[quote=\"tutormum\"]
I agree if the whole class failed, it's probably not her fault. There's many possibilities and your friend should find out the truth. The girl sounds very sensible and mature to write letter to apologise. My DS will not do such a thing but :oops: :oops: try to :hugs: :hugs: when they do something wrong. Since she has a tutor, let her tutor go through the papers with her. I always go through exam papers with my students even though their teacher has gone through with them. I always insist on doing so to make sure that they understand the concepts and realise what their mistakes were. Their subject teachers will not be able to do that cos they would only give the standard answers and the student will not know why his/her weakness. At this time, the girl needs encouragement more than anything else. Sometimes, it's better that we don't focus on a failure but give encouragement instead. From my experience, students will be very :sad: and :oops: with their results already. They would even refused to show me their exam papers if they felt that they didn't do as well as they have expected. Once they realised that going through their papers is not to :stompfeet: :mad: :rant: but to help them, my students are always very eager to show me their papers.

This method of failing kids hurts the conscientious ones most. My DS was also very sad and apologetic. He was so relieved when I declared very categorically that it was not his fault.

Kids who are tidak apa won't take it so badly. If I had insisted on blaming DS for the failure, he would sooner or later develop a tidak apa attitude just to protect himself from emotional pain. So I completely discredited those marks... said the exam was badly set... and told him not to care.

The odd thing now... is that I am teaching my son a tidak apa attitude. This is a value I never thought I would teach him. I've always taught him to care.

I agree Chen. Although it's still early days for my son, I've changed from my stance from \"Let's strive to do well!\" to \"Just do your best!\". We are now adopting a \"Prepared for the worst, Hoping for the best\" mentality. Like as if it's attempting warfare without ammunition, just a broken shield with bare hands.[/quote]Worse thing is... I am teaching him to blame the exam, not himself. It really was not his fault. Before this... I had always taught my kids that they have to take responsibility for poor results. Now though... So to survive emotionally, one has to be

(1) bochap
(2) point fingers at something else

MOE's core values of (1) bochapness (read: We won't micromanage, so you all go talk directly to schools ok?)... and (2) finger pointing (read: Parents are to blame)... are now part of my son's education.

[oxyleo]

Yet more training for teachers:


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1204670/1/.html

Sigh....

[Chenonceau]

oxyleo:

Yet more training for teachers:


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1204670/1/.html

Sigh....

Yeah... blame everything on Teachers. Management has no part to play. They've been training Teachers for so many years... and look where we are... When will MOE realize that doing more of the same thing (more training and more beautiful buildings) won't give them different results?

Did you notice that they consulted various experts but didn't consult parents? MOE decision-makers evolve in a closed system where everyone praises everyone else for thinking a certain way... and doing things a certain way. No wonder they're so greatly deluded about themselves.

[oxyleo]

Chenonceau:

oxyleo:

Yet more training for teachers:


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1204670/1/.html

Sigh....

Yeah... blame everything on Teachers. Management has no part to play. They've been training Teachers for so many years... and look where we are... When will MOE realize that doing more of the same thing (training and beautiful buildings) won't give them different results?

Only when their KPIs include a 360deg review by teachers (subordinates)/parents (service users)/co-workers. Believe me, this review works really well and keeps those on top in check. If they want to model civil service sector pay after private sector pay, they should likewise withstand the harsher assessment matrices of the private sector too.

[Chenonceau]

http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_805944.html

[Intermezzo]

oxyleo:

Yet more training for teachers:


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1204670/1/.html

Sigh....

hi oxyleo,

kekeke i gather this piece of news was not worth getting \"cautiously excited\" over...

thanks for the link ~ i'm starting to feel that i must be very dense... but surely this kind of training for teachers is a step in the right direction?

[Chenonceau]

Intermezzo:

oxyleo:

Yet more training for teachers:


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1204670/1/.html

Sigh....

hi oxyleo,

kekeke i gather this piece of news was not worth getting \"cautiously excited\" over...

thanks for the link ~ i'm starting to feel that i must be very dense... but surely this kind of training for teachers is a step in the right direction?

More of the same won't give different results. Training and more training for teachers assumes that the problem lies with only teachers and nothing else. In a large organisation like MOE, there are other cogs and wheels to fine-tune. Our Teacher Training is already a core MOE strength... praised by Americans, Australians... If it isn't helping quality of delivery at present, the problem lies elsewhere.

This is just another attempt at rehashing a core strength for PR purposes.

More promising seems to be the research tie-up with Microsoft to look into applications for education (so that knowledge can be delivered via education substitutes other than textbooks)... Though I wonder why no one uses convenient youtube and blogging tools to teach with even though these platforms are readily available ... are user friendly ...and can be readily embedded anywhere.

Besides the tie-ups with Microsoft have existed since 2009... and on the ground, there is still precious little use of IT to store, manage and deliver knowledge. So much conferences and presentations and delegates about IT and sharing and teaching... all feeling good and important. Meanwhile, on the ground, kids are still using lousy textbooks. So maybe... this IT tie-up is another attempt to rehash something old for PR purposes.

The issue is not that there has been no attempt to train teachers or encourage the use of IT. The issue is that MOE cannot control its schools and can't ensure that IT is properly used to support TLLM.

[oxyleo]

Intermezzo:

oxyleo:

Yet more training for teachers:


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1204670/1/.html

Sigh....

hi oxyleo,

kekeke i gather this piece of news was not worth getting \"cautiously excited\" over...

thanks for the link ~ i'm starting to feel that i must be very dense... but surely this kind of training for teachers is a step in the right direction?

:scratchhead: intermezzo, was it worth your feeling hopeful over?

In any case, it is apparent MOE is single-minded about its approach. Fixing the teachers with more training and fixing the parents by reminding them to be less kiasu and accepting of our children's limitations and it's wonderful multiple pathways. It's awfully predictable, I already sound like them.

In my earlier posts, I've explained that I do not think the issue lies with the teachers. They are over-stretched. Period. They're doing too much, with too many kids, too little time. Yes, we know MOE knows, but until they hire more teachers, they are just going to make this current pool of teachers even busier. Teachers who go for training sometimes leave their current teaching duties from 3-6 months at a go. Kids end up with a relief teacher.

Well, it is what it is. Life goes on. The day of awakening will come....eventually.... I can only hope the price to pay will not be too costly.