Primary school maths: A vicious circle (from TODAY May 8)
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cherryc:
:goodpost: I share your sentiments completely. There are methods from the past that I think should be brought back because I think they actually work!! For eg, I remembered my primary school teachers did a great job of teaching us Grammar which today's teachers are hopeless in. In the past year, I've bought 3 grammar books and had to revise my grammar all over again in order to help my kids learn grammar properly. I was totally aghast that my 2 older kids in P5 & P6 gave me blank looks when I used terms like past perfect tense, participle. I was really wondering : What are the teachers doing in school?!!Said Mr Heng: “The question for us really is: Do we want to stick to
syllabus and teaching methods that we are used to as parents when we
were students 20 to 30 years ago, or should we watch our students master
the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life?”
My answer is yes we should WATCH our students master the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life BUT not us LEARNING the skills AND TEACHING our kids from P1 to P6 levels!
Just like our parents sent us to schools when we were young, was there a day they have to attend a single workshop to learn how to do Maths or other subjects? If yes, half of us will not be the professionals we are today cos our parents were too busy earning a living then or not highly educated enough to understand the workshops.
My friend remarked to me the other day that she entered primary school not speaking a word of English, yet Teachers taught so well that today, she's effectively bilingual. That is the testimony of GOOD TEACHING. Bring back those retired English teachers and they will tell you how Good English is taught. If we teach English well, I suspect our children will also do better in Maths because problem sums are fraught with complex sentences. English Text books were also far better then.
In short, there is a huge gap in perception in terms of what MOE HQ thinks and what is actually happening on the ground. Huge gap between what is taught and what is learnt. Huge gap between what little is taught and what huge testing is done. -
In the olden days, our parents provide for our basic needs and discipline us to bring us up as righteous person.
In the modern days, we parents have to do much more than the above:
- we are full time working to earn for our family and to pay for tuition fees
- we are part time strategist who constantly plan for our kids’ education journey, be it volunteering to get them into branded schools or applying DSA to get them into good sec schs
- we are part time personal assistant constantly monitoring kids’ progress and planning for enrichment courses for their gaps / maximising their potential
- we are part time chauffeur ferrying our kids from one enrichment activity to another
- we are part time teacher sourcing for relevant materials, learning and teaching our kids
Don’t you think we have to cope with much more than our parents’ time in terms of putting in effort as well as contributing financially? It is no wonder that birth rate is dropping, who dares to keep adding responsibilities on oneself? -
beanbear:
:goodpost: I share your sentiments completely. There are methods from the past that I think should be brought back because I think they actually work!! For eg, I remembered my primary school teachers did a great job of teaching us Grammar which today's teachers are hopeless in. In the past year, I've bought 3 grammar books and had to revise my grammar all over again in order to help my kids learn grammar properly. I was totally aghast that my 2 older kids in P5 & P6 gave me blank looks when I used terms like past perfect tense, participle. I was really wondering : What are the teachers doing in school?!!cherryc:
Said Mr Heng: “The question for us really is: Do we want to stick to
syllabus and teaching methods that we are used to as parents when we
were students 20 to 30 years ago, or should we watch our students master
the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life?”
My answer is yes we should WATCH our students master the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life BUT not us LEARNING the skills AND TEACHING our kids from P1 to P6 levels!
Just like our parents sent us to schools when we were young, was there a day they have to attend a single workshop to learn how to do Maths or other subjects? If yes, half of us will not be the professionals we are today cos our parents were too busy earning a living then or not highly educated enough to understand the workshops.
My friend remarked to me the other day that she entered primary school not speaking a word of English, yet Teachers taught so well that today, she's effectively bilingual. That is the testimony of GOOD TEACHING. Bring back those retired English teachers and they will tell you how Good English is taught. If we teach English well, I suspect our children will also do better in Maths because problem sums are fraught with complex sentences. English Text books were also far better then.
In short, there is a huge gap in perception in terms of what MOE HQ thinks and what is actually happening on the ground. Huge gap between what is taught and what is learnt. Huge gap between what little is taught and what huge testing is done.
:goodpost: How true , the teachers of our time :salute: -
beanbear:
The english used in phrasing some math questions are very strange. So strange that nobody would use english in such a way except in singapore primary math. This strange language use confuses the students. Teachers in the quest to make Math questions more difficult, use lang this way. MOE must stamp out such bad english use. If a math question can be asked in a clearer and more direct way, then it must be the preferred way. Test on students on concept and thinking, not understanding strange english usage.cherryc:
Said Mr Heng: “The question for us really is: Do we want to stick to
If we teach English well, I suspect our children will also do better in Maths because problem sums are fraught with complex sentences. English Text books were also far better then.
. -
Lilac66:
:goodpost: I share your sentiments completely. There are methods from the past that I think should be brought back because I think they actually work!! For eg, I remembered my primary school teachers did a great job of teaching us Grammar which today's teachers are hopeless in. In the past year, I've bought 3 grammar books and had to revise my grammar all over again in order to help my kids learn grammar properly. I was totally aghast that my 2 older kids in P5 & P6 gave me blank looks when I used terms like past perfect tense, participle. I was really wondering : What are the teachers doing in school?!!beanbear:
[quote=\"cherryc\"]Said Mr Heng: “The question for us really is: Do we want to stick to
syllabus and teaching methods that we are used to as parents when we
were students 20 to 30 years ago, or should we watch our students master
the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life?”
My answer is yes we should WATCH our students master the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life BUT not us LEARNING the skills AND TEACHING our kids from P1 to P6 levels!
Just like our parents sent us to schools when we were young, was there a day they have to attend a single workshop to learn how to do Maths or other subjects? If yes, half of us will not be the professionals we are today cos our parents were too busy earning a living then or not highly educated enough to understand the workshops.
My friend remarked to me the other day that she entered primary school not speaking a word of English, yet Teachers taught so well that today, she's effectively bilingual. That is the testimony of GOOD TEACHING. Bring back those retired English teachers and they will tell you how Good English is taught. If we teach English well, I suspect our children will also do better in Maths because problem sums are fraught with complex sentences. English Text books were also far better then.
In short, there is a huge gap in perception in terms of what MOE HQ thinks and what is actually happening on the ground. Huge gap between what is taught and what is learnt. Huge gap between what little is taught and what huge testing is done.
:goodpost: How true , the teachers of our time :salute:[/quote]hmmm, my memories of my Primary sch teachers (most of them) aren't good despite being in the top class....probably cos' a lousy neighborhood sch.
When my classmates forgot to write their names on the exercise books, T smack their head with the book and then threw it out of window 4 storeys down.
Some of the T would just tell us to self-study or assign some work and nap in class. If woken up by noise/laughter, she would punish (sometimes physical) the students who 'woke' her up.
One T moonlight & came visit my parents at night asking them to buy a big volume of encylopedia (where got money.... :siao: )
Of soooo many teachers through the 6 years, could only remember one good and hardworking one. Maybe some OK enough...... Hence to me, good and bad teachers exist throughout all periods, past and present......
-
BeContented:
I agree.
hmmm, my memories of my Primary sch teachers (most of them) aren't good despite being in the top class....probably cos' a lousy neighborhood sch.
When my classmates forgot to write their names on the exercise books, T smack their head with the book and then threw it out of window 4 storeys down.
Some of the T would just tell us to self-study or assign some work and nap in class. If woken up by noise/laughter, she would punish (sometimes physical) the students who 'woke' her up.
One T moonlight & came visit my parents at night asking them to buy a big volume of encylopedia (where got money.... :siao: )
Of soooo many teachers through the 6 years, could only remember one good and hardworking one. Maybe some OK enough...... Hence to me, good and bad teachers exist throughout all periods, past and present......
I personally find the way I was taught to be too rote. A lot of memory work and drilling. Most homework was to copy passages out of textbooks. No thought provoking questions, just memorise and regurgitate. That was my experience.
The up side is even a numerically challenged person like me, can, by doing 10yrs series repeatedly & mechanically, score A1 for math. -
I was from a lousy neighbourhood school in a notorious estate in Bukit Ho Swee. But I was really fortunate to have mostly inspiring teachers despite the fact most of us were from lower-income families. A couple of teachers only left memories of punishment being meted out at the slightest provocation. But the good ones more than made up for these unpleasant lessons.
Yes, I do agree there are good and bad teachers throughout any period, just like now. But somehow I feel teachers who taught in pri schools in the 70’s laid quite a good foundation for our language. We had no guidance or whatsoever from parents,unlike now. Even then , the kids in this present system are still struggling with grammar.Sad… -
I think kids these days are too distracted by TV, computers games, handheld devices, etc. In our days, we did watch some cartoons, but that's it. We learn our languages mainly from books and youth/kids magazines.
Along this line, saw this interesting article from Zaobao, published today:
金彩云: 从硅谷精英推崇“老土学校”谈起
http://www.zaobao.com.sg/yl/yl120606_001.shtml
The technology trail blazers in Silican Valley send their kids to low-tech, country style primary schools. You'll hear the same thing from your friends in Germany - their children spend childhood years in forests and countryside exploring nature and wildlives. Yet, they have some of the best technologies in the world. We could be hurting our children and killing off their creativity by exposing them to pre-programmed high-tech gadgets so early. -
When I first familiarized myself with the PSLE requirements, I must say that one part of me applauded the move away from rote learning. In this I agree with Funz. The PSLE today is heavy on thinking skills. It is an intellectually exciting syllabus and very appealing to the intellect.
The problem is that it cannot be taught with traditional methods. My issue is not with the syllabus... nor is it with the difficulty of the syllabus. My issue is that one should not have moved into this immensely challenging syllabus BEFORE the teachers are ready to properly teach to it.
I don't teach my son with assessment books at all. To get to the kind of depth of competence required in PSLE Science, we had to
(1) do experiments every week for years
(2) watch countless videos and DVDs
(3) trawl through the internet
These new media and actual hands-on play built a deep intuition in DS for scientific inquiry and gave him a vast store of scientific trivia we are grateful for today. However, we did not do all that because we thought it would be tested at the PSLE. We did it for fun.
My issue is that unless schools can ADEQUATELY provide the scientific learning opportunities that Little Boy grew up with, then it has no right to test to that level. It is possible for the education service to teach to that level but it must move aggressively AWAY from traditional methods of teaching... which despite the efforts of MOE HQ, are still very prevalent in schools (even branded ones).
This is a syllabus that is best taught using TLLM techniques. Unfortunately, many teachers don't know how to TLLM properly... and have not the support infrastructure to enact TLLM properly. The syllabus is not too difficult for our students to learn (IMHO). It is too different for the teachers to cope with when teaching. And the way I see it, Teachers don't get enough support in the areas of
(1) learning and collaboration (because of how performance is rewarded)
(2) high quality curricular materials (whether textbooks, notes, videos, audios or apps)
Of course, at present, many tuition centres do a great job of using traditional teaching methods to teach to the new syllabus. However, it is very time-consuming for our kids. The degree of practice required is immense as compared to the ease with which material would be subconsciously mastered if TLLM techniques were properly used.
My humble opinion. -
Lately, can't help must think that the roles have reversed. Enrichment and tuition centers are here to teach our children and the schools' role is to enrich - with the countless NE, CCAs, learning journeys, competitions and other what-have-you type programs.
The irony of it all... :skeptical: :roll:
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