SA2 2009

[zyberk]

watmekiasu:

I hear of many cases, of children being scolded/punished for not scoring high marks for the SA exams. I feel that most parents should ask themselves \"Could I have done any better, at their age?\".

even now at my current age, i'm not able to answer some of the questions

[watmekiasu]

zyberk:

watmekiasu:

I hear of many cases, of children being scolded/punished for not scoring high marks for the SA exams. I feel that most parents should ask themselves \"Could I have done any better, at their age?\".

even now at my current age, i'm not able to answer some of the questions

Me too, no shame in that. :lol: That's the major reason why I'm on this board - to learn from some kind parents on how to tackle some of those confounding math questions. :?

[tankee]

jesschan:

Yep. I always tell my son that he will be rewarded for effort put in, not just for the exam marks.

me too !

as long as he had tried his hardest. Having good results is a bonus.

of course deep down I would be a bit disapointed if he had tried his hardest and yet failed to achieve good results.

on the flip side, I would be very disapointed but secretly proud if he had not put in any effort and had achieved very good results.

[Keroppi30]

I always go thru my dd’s papers and access the reason for the poor performance and take action from there…

[MMM]

To be frank, I would be disappointed.


I think alot voice down to individual expectations. In our case, I am not expecting my kids to score full marks or top the class but rather do what they are capable of, if they can’t then of course I would be disappointed.

During SA1, my P2 girl came back with bad results (IMO). This is despite that we put in place a nightly revision time since beginning of the year. It was like a new year resolution for mummy that we must try to drive this. It was painful for everyone initially but we all got used to it along the way. Kids knowing that they must start studying at 8pm and mummy keeping dinner short and also no shopping/ tv/ idling time when I reach home.

So when I saw her SA1 results, I was very disappointed. It’s not just about her but also us. Is what we are doing insufficient? ineffective? how else can we do better??? There was alot of self questioning.

On the other hand, when I saw the actual papers, the poor results was attributed by careless mistakes and other stuff. I can understand if the child don’t understand and hence dunno how to answer, but I cannot tolerate careless mistakes. I would usually pick on those careless mistakes and give them a piece of my mind. This is something I always emphasize to them, did you check the papers, did you write neatly, make sure for those given answers copy correctly, etc…

Looking back, I think it was a good learning experience for my girl. She experienced disapppointment herself when she saw her own results. She came back very confident after each paper saying it was easy but when the results came back, it said otherwise. In fact, her chinese teacher told us that she cried when she saw her own results. If you look at it differently, it’s probably a good sign that she knows what’s going on. It’s not about facing parents but herself. She has always been proud of her own chinese results so how can she do so badly???

From the papers, we also identify strengths and weaknesses. Then try to build on the weakness so that the kids can do better next time.

For SA2, I managed my expectations, I didn’t dare to have any. I told myself if she did better than SA1, that would be a bonus. I can see that she worked hard for her SA2, never complain when I give her more practise papers,etc… she just did it diligently. She came back the other nite, saying that she has good news to share. Her results. She was also acknowledged by her teacher for her significant chinese performance. But the most important to us this time round was not her results. But she found back her self confidence and she was proud of her own achievements.

I asked if she remember how she felt when she saw her SA1 results, she did. I asked her if she likes how she is feeling now. If she does, then she must continue to work hard. If you want to be happy after the results, then work hard before that.

So I think sharing disappointment is perfectly normal but do it in a constructive way. We are disappointed so how can we make it better?

[hquek]

hi mmm,


Your story reminded me of my first year in JC. I was strong in one subject and fairly sure of myself. For the first year’s exam, I thought I would do well, but ended up just passing the paper - this was mainly due to careless mistakes. Could see my lecturer’s disappointment in his face.

Suffice to say that I became more careful and aware that carelessness can sink ships (not to mention fail papers) - and my lecturer’s faith in me was definitely restored the following year. I was fortunate that my failings appear in Year 1, rather than the all important A levels.

What I mean to say is, sometimes disappointments and failures at the appropriate times will wake us to what is important and can actually help us to correct our wrong assumptions in time for the big exam in time to come.

Very glad that your DD is able to ‘catch’ where she should improve and has done well subsequently. Jia you!

[MMM]

Hi hquek,


I totally agree. I feel that sometimes it’s good for them to experience some "failures" of course during non-crucial exams. So having gone through that, they will remember whether they want to be in that position again or not. Hopefully kids learn from the experience and remembers it.

Haha my P1 son is now in the opposite situation. Did well during SA1, OK during SA2 except chinese… careless mistakes again especially the handwriting on writing characters so he knows I am disappointed with him.

He was very proud of himself previously. Now… he has to speak "softer" infront of the sister as his performance is not as good. But that means we’ve to work hard on his weaknesses… horrendous handwriting.

[MMM]

tankee:

as long as he had tried his hardest. Having good results is a bonus.

\"Tried their best\". Personally, I find \"their best\" very subjective. It's like is \"their best\" really the best? Or are there any potential to stretch further to make it really the best????

:lol: Sorry if this is too abstract. Maybe the best is a vicious cycle of continuous improvement. :?

But I agree each of us have our own limitations that we need to acknowledge.

[NIEtrainedTEACHER]

There's a few things which we need to take note with regards to our children's performance in a year span. Most of the time, as parents, we expect the child to pass the exams the very least and a high score would be nice. But, let's ask ourselves this question; Did we prepare them from the beginning of the year and help them further along the way?


Most of the answers would be a resounding yes - Yes, I got them to study. Yes, I got them a tutor. Yes, I got them tonnes of assessment book.

Looking at the effort we put in, it is fair that we expect the very least a pass or better. But, all these measures actually cater to the academic portion of learning.

What we need to look into, and most of us would miss out on this, is the personal study management aspect. Let me explain further.

I would make use of the STAR approach which I have developed for my pupils over the years.

S - Set Target
To prepare for SA2, it starts from the beginning of the year. In January, we need to set the target for the child. Hypothetically, let's say it is 90% and have a agreement that this not non-negotiable, just to instill a sense of urgency.

T - Time Table
At this juncture, a study time table needs to be drawn out and this study time table would include leisure time as well. So sit with our children and work it out with them. This would be show our children that we are also interested in them playing and resting and not studying around the clock.

A - Action
Having a time table and a target will not mean anything if we do not put it into action. As parents, this is where we monitor and monitor strictly. We cannot make to many exceptions as this would allow the child to get the impression that the plan we have is negotiable. Anyway, tell the child that their play time and rest time have all been included in the time table.

R - Reflect
This is the portion which I find is very critical. Why do I say so. In an academic year, before SA2, there are all the other exams, CA1, SA1 and CA2. These exams would act as our indicator to our children's learning. How to make use of the indicators?

Let's say if the child has followed to the time table strictly, sat for CA1 and comes back with 65%, what would this signal to us? This would tell us that whatever we have done prior to CA1 in terms of studying and preparation would only be good for 65%. Try as far as we can to avoid saying that the paper is tough and so on. That is simply finding an excuse because there are pupils scoring that targeted 90%.

What do we do now? We have to look at the time table again and the study approach and tweak in order to move towards our target. There is no need to throw away the whole plan. Discuss with our children with regards to the tweaking taking into consideration that this would help our children. Once the new study plan is ready, start them on the new plan immediately.

This is the cycle which we have to carry out throughout the whole year. As long as we carry this out, we are actually taking control of the discipline in studying. This way, we would have in place a system of prepare and checking for our children.

Regards,
NIEtrainedTEACHER

[all.013398in.013398one]

MMM:

He was very proud of himself previously. Now.... he has to speak \"softer\" infront of the sister as his performance is not as good. But that means we've to work hard on his weaknesses... horrendous handwriting.

I suggested to my girl's teacher to assign penmanship practices on Fridays
to complete over the weekend. That helps.