All Schools are GOOD Schools
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PiggyLalala:
You still did not get my point. There is only 1 set of marking requirements - its the standard mathematical practice, recognised internationally. In primary school, such standard of presentation is not taught and is therefore not enforced. That is why listing of arithmetical expressions are allowed as working steps for models. I don't know how some teachers get the idea that 2 units = 5 apples is more wrong than 2 units ---> 5 apples. But actually it is the other way round. I have also heard of teachers telling their students not to write 5U, but must present it as 5 units.... However, many top schools do no have such silly instructions and their students are still getting A* their maths in PSLE.
Exactly, there are different sets of marking requirements for the primary and secondary schools. Hence I am saying again, the best person, to consult about the awarding/deductions of marks in PSLE is the current primary school teachers. Of course,this is my opionion and you can have yours too. This is also my last post on this matter.
So you still believe that those instructions are from PSLE marking schemes. I don't think so. MOE has enough math experts to know what is wrong symbol and presentation. It is probably the creation of some math HOD or math teachers who do not know or understand the concept and misinterpreted the requirements. -
PiggyLalala:
Hi. Just wish to share my experience here: My DS was in P6 last year. I noticed that for maths word problems, he tended to give a 1-line solution with no explanation, for eg,
I am not arguing with you whether school teachers or tutors have better concept or teaching. I am saying that teachers who are involved in the PSLE markings are more aware of how marks are awarded or deducted in the the PSLE marking. Certain Maths presentation will result in deduction of marks even though the answer is correct. If i did not remember wrongly ( P6 parents please correct me if i am wrong), one has to write 2 units ---> 6 apples and not 2 units = 6 apples. Also, tutors do not know how marks are awarded for compo or oral. What is the actual standard of the PSLE for compo and oral? Do u know? I do not.atutor2001:
Your remark that \"Wouldn't it be worst if the tutor teaches...\" implies that tutors are more susceptible to such mistakes than teachers. In reality, teachers are the main culprits, not tutors. Many teachers do not understand the concept behind the marking scheme and are unable to apply the same concept to other questions. They are good only to those few questions that they happened to encounter and unable to convince the students why it must be answered this way as they themselves don't know.
Put it this way, how can super tutors flourish if they have been teaching students the wrong things. The students marks will drop and news will spread. Of course there are those who cheated by selecting only good students. Even then their good students marks must have also improved.
If school teachers are good enough and even better than tutors, nobody will bother with tuition. Hope I am not creating the impression that I am pro-tuition. I am not a tutor and I have always been anti-tuition. However, I concerned that our current teachers are .... and those that leave are usually the good ones.
(Question from an assessment book): Mr Phua can employ 4 workers to paint his house in 15 hours. If he decides to employ another 2 workers for the same job, how much time can he save?
While the book's worked solution showed 6 working steps to reach the answer of 5 hours, what DS did was:
time=> 15 -((15x4) /6) = 5
He saves 5 hours.
I told him to write down the workings \"properly\", but he said he had been doing that (giving 1-line working) all along and his maths teacher had never marked him wrong. Since I'm unfamilar with pri-level maths (and the marking scheme), plus he had been getting good grades in maths, I just let him carry on with his preferred method lor
.. Anyway, he did manage to score A* for maths in PSLE.
(PS. DS has never had tuition for maths and I was incapable of coaching him in maths, so whatever he knows, he had learned it entirely from his school teachers. Kudos to them!) -
Chenonceau:
:?VeryKiasu2010 : GEP Parent
Nebbermind: GEP Parent
Firefly38: GEP Parent
Show some compassion to the less fortunate. Don't ask us to migrate simply because we did not experience the same quality education you have experienced. It is not our fault that we're on the short end of the MOE stick. It's also not a sin of avarice to ask for...
(1) better textbooks
(2) a database of resources shared amongst all schools to help Teachers teach better -
mum_sugoku:
Thank you for sharing your son's PSLE experience. It is a good reassurance to parents who believes in those silly instructions from some teachers. Some parents don't believe that there is no mark deduction for working, as long as final answer is correct. What the teachers have been telling the kids is that if the marker doesn't understand your working methods (i.e. non model), then there will be zero working mark when your answer is wrong. End of the day, if we hope to earn \"charity marks\" i.e. the answer is wrong, it is important for our presentation to be clear i.e. defining what we are doing for each step.
Hi. Just wish to share my experience here: My DS was in P6 last year. I noticed that for maths word problems, he tended to give a 1-line solution with no explanation, for eg,
(Question from an assessment book): Mr Phua can employ 4 workers to paint his house in 15 hours. If he decides to employ another 2 workers for the same job, how much time can he save?
While the book's worked solution showed 6 working steps to reach the answer of 5 hours, what DS did was:
time=> 15 -((15x4) /6) = 5
He saves 5 hours.
I told him to write down the workings \"properly\", but he said he had been doing that (giving 1-line working) all along and his maths teacher had never marked him wrong. Since I'm unfamilar with pri-level maths (and the marking scheme), plus he had been getting good grades in maths, I just let him carry on with his preferred method lor .. Anyway, he did manage to score A* for maths in PSLE.
(PS. DS has never had tuition for maths and I was incapable of coaching him in maths, so whatever he knows, he had learned it entirely from his school teachers. Kudos to them!)
I also notice that your son's Pri teacher has not imposed any restriction on this working method which is good.
However, your son will face difficulty in sec school if did not show the steps. He will lose marks for incomplete presentation, which many are facing now. Hope his sec teacher is very strict enforcing the requirements for working steps from sec 1 and he should be fine by sec 4. Sorry, maybe he is in IP. Anway, they still need to follow proper presentation for their school exams. -
atutor2001:
Are GEP teachers really better? Last time maybe because GEP was new then and the only the bestest were picked. Nowadays? I don't think so. Very good teachers already go MOE, no no do what. Some leave, cannot tahan. What we have left are those who have good knowledge/education qualification. However, teaching needs skill, not knowledge alone. A different set of skills are needed to excite intelligent kids.
Are GEP students really intelligent? Yes, but only maybe 5% of them. These are the real geniuses. Then how do others become GEP? Mostly they are self-motivated (few are parent motivated). They are also either better than average in heuristic skills or very good in ang mo.
Are GEP syllabus/projects useful. Yes for the real GEP because it is more interesting to them and is not too taxing. However, usually it is not appreciated by those \"happens to be GEP\", treating it as another chore or mark accumulation process.
How do I know? Hehehe I am blurring all the way. None of my kids are in GEP.
I agree cos my DS lousy English teacher was transferred to gep school to teach P5. She taught wrong things especially S and T. Her worksheets answers were half with wrong answers. Maybe the gep students will teach her! -
Sometimes i wonder…
Why schools in SGP can’t adopt co-teaching between native English teachers and non-native English teachers. I believe it can contribute to the improvement of teaching quality of native English teachers, many of whom cannot achieve a desirable quality of teaching of English in SGP primary schools largely due to lack of training in professional teaching. -
at the beginning of every year during the meet the parent session at the cohort level, it has been clearly spelt out the mark allocation for each paper each section
at the subject level briefing, the HOD / teacher-in-charge for the subject will go into details how each type of questions are being marked, how marks are allocated, which key words will get marks, which words if left out will not get marks even if the child writes the answer at book length without those key words … for MA & SC, and for EL & MT, areas of focus are clearly pointed out, which type of questions allow direct lifting of answers and which type of questions call of overview of the passage etc…and the kids are given ample practices in these areas…and orals, they are so many dry run …
as for strategy, some students are warned not to be ‘commando’ not to do unfamiliar topic…etc etc
it is recognised that not all the parents attend all the meet the parents sessions even if subject briefing were given notice, with valid reasons
it is recognised that not all the parents absorb and remember everything mentioned in the briefing
it is recognised that not all parents diligently digest the info / handout given out during the briefing
it is recognised that not all parents will go to the school website to download the briefing slides even if posted
it is recognised that not all parents will follow through with teachers’ recommendation of improvement - eg go practice more essay writing to improve skills, speed, structuring, and organised thoughts…,
not all kids really revise the mistakes made during test and exams
not all kids really practise under exam conditions for all the trial papers given
and of course not all schools practice what is written above, some teachers and principals just ‘get by’ with day to day duty, some teachers take pride in their work, some teachers take pride to prepare the students well to score well as a personal goal even there is no promotion
yes, not all schools are equally good, not all principals are equally good, not all teachers are equally good and passionate
some parents sneer at popular schools as being ‘elite’ or ‘exclusive’, some will say all kinds of things in the name of calling for justice for the less fortunate and under-achieved…some are simply presumptious in making comments
between the good and the bad in the school system is a whole spectrum stretching from one end of rainbow to the other end
no system is perfect, as long as it is left to human to run and operate, until such time when every policy and direction is run by robots.
Mr Heng must recognise that some schools are more popular for some valid reasons, for which he should not brush aside and say all schools are good and parents must change perception of neighbourhood schools. The fact is, some neighbourhood schools are just better than other neighbourhood
my two kids eat sleep breathe the same through out their life thus far, equal scolding and equal love, same schools, same system, different results, not bad, but different. We are part of the normal distribution. -
Lynn2010:
Didn't we have that...GEP, EM1, EM2 & EM3...that sort of thing? Or that's what I thought is similar. Think it was eventually scrapped coz too many parents objected to such banding.
In Singapore, remedial lessons are for those very weak students. I know of a school (my dds attending in overseas which i think is a good practise) that pulls out the academically strong ones and the weak ones. The teacher will devote xx hrs per day with those academically strong ones and give them challenging projects / work. And of course teach the slower ones in a slower pace.
It'll be useful in the case above.
Now I believe the kids are still banded in some way, HA, the rest and the slower rest, without any negative labeling.
Hmmm...if the above banding is real, can there even be harmonised resources for the cohort within the school itself??
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verykiasu2010:
Where got all the same and equal throughout?
my two kids eat sleep breathe the same through out their life thus far, equal scolding and equal love, same schools, same system, different results, not bad, but different. We are part of the normal distribution.
Both got different genes combinations from you and your wife right at the very beginning. That's what makes them different mah ... :razz:
:evil:
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We all ---- be it knowledgable or less knowledgable parents
need a more LEVEL PLAYING FIELD so we do not leave behind the
less endowed child or parents due to watever reasons beyond
their grasp.
The Authority - be it MOE OR School with such power can
and should do so because they can if they put their heart to that.
When we allow an unequal distribution of better resources
for some and not for others -- some children will be deprived
- this gradually move towards the route of Elitism.
Education should not be a priviledge ,it should be the basic for all citizen.
Level the playing field - this is what we are asking for.
:hi5:
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