Parents of Upper Sec students who take SS may find this guide to crafting good explanations useful. Lots of students fail History and Ss because they don't know the difference between explaining and describing. Here, I show students what the missing link is. I hope it helps your dd/ds:
Goo.gl/gF3TE6
Latest posts made by edifyme
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RE: Secondary School History
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RE: Sec 3 - Social Studies
Hi parents,
I did a simple guide on how to craft good explanations for Ss Seq, to get an A1 grade. Take a look here–hope it helps you. goo.gl/gF3TE6 -
RE: What is L1R5?
If student takes HCL and gets C6 and above, then -2 bonus is still counted.
IF student has A1/A2 for CCA, another -2. So total, -4.
However if student does not take HCL and only takes CL as 2nd language, it can be counted as one of the R5. -
RE: Secondary School History
Parents of Lower Sec students may find the SEAB's 2014 Lower Sec History syllabus useful. Go here: http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/humanities/files/history-lower-secondary-2014.pdf
It's very technical because its purpose is to guide Lower Sec History teachers. The most relevant part to parents is this:
Specimen paper and Mark Schemes. pg.53-59.
You can use that as practice.
As for assessment books, unfortunately I still haven't seen good ones in the book stores. But if your ds/dd just needs some practice to recall facts and do some SBQ + SEQ, Imelda Wong's Comprehensive Guide History (Second Edition) is ok. Publisher is Wisemann Publishing. The SBQ answers are quite good with LORMs but the main drawback is that there are no LORMs for the SEQs. What dd/ds can do is practice them anyway, and ask the school teacher to give feedback on the work. If your dd/ds is too shy to ask/school teacher not able to help, you can email me at [email protected] and I'll take a look at the answer.
Alternatively, if you want my free resources (e.g. how to tackle SBQ and SEQs) you can join up here http://eepurl.com/1Z4gb. -
RE: Secondary School History
I saw 1 book for Sec 1 History at Popular a few days ago. It's got a purple cover. But it doesn't have Level of Response Marking Schemes (LORMs) as answers, which renders it useless.
Teachers use LORMs to mark students' answers and it's CRUCIAL to know them in order to pass and get high marks.
At this point I'm feeling frustrated for parents and students new to History...so I plan to do my own Lower Sec History guide and practices with good answers for you all. I may or may not charge money for it. I'm thinking it will be released sometime in April, if all goes well.
If you wanna have a crack at it when it's out, tell me here: http://eepurl.com/TSmEL. -
RE: Sec 3 - Social Studies
Ex-SS teacher here, I agree with everyone’s suggestions to expose kids to the news. One thing I do with my own kids is to talk about news with them as we watch the broadcast. I also go with whatever my kid is interested to know (they will ask). I would encourage thinking with such questions:
Why do you think the government is doing this?
Does this interviewee think [insert policy] is a good idea? Why?
Who else is affected? How?
Sometimes there are no definite answers but the very act of thinking deeper about issues and discussing them as family is great for bonding with your teen AND teaching critical thinking skills.
Such conversations don’t take much time. 10-15 min here and there and you’ve got a teen who’s more well versed in current affairs than most. -
RE: Secondary School History
Hi! These books are for old lower sec history syllabus. I was looking for assessment and guide books at popular but those I saw are for upper sec. Will keep a lookout and recommend if I see any.
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RE: Secondary School History
Hi Sweet Joy,
Sorry I missed your post. Although your dd/ds would have taken the exam already, I'll still post some tips on answering the 'Are you surprised' type of SBQ for the benefit of other parents.
Step 1
Read the source carefully and infer what its overall message is. E.g. is it critical or supportive of a certain leader/policy?
Underline the words and phrases in the source that clue you in.
Step 2
Does the source fit with what you have learnt about this topic, or what other sources say?
E.g. if it is a German complaining about the Nazi government in a public place, it would be surprising because the Nazi government was intolerant of public displays of dissenting opinion.
Step 3
Look at the author. If this person is a VIP (leader of the country), likely to have a motive/purpose for making that comment. He/she may want to influence public opinion to gain support for a policy, or to discredit a political opponent. Look for evidence of him/her trying to whip up the target audience's emotions. Target audience needs to be a specific group of people e.g. the Russian public, international community, Singapore government, etc.
If there is a motive/purpose, then the source may not surprise you because author made those comments that may seem surprising on the surface, but are fully in line with his/her goal to bring about a certain change in behaviour on the part of the audience.
In writing the answer, you may find this a useful template:
Paragraph 1:
I am surprised/not surprised by Source X, because [insert overall claim of the source]. This is seen in [insert source evidence--the underlined parts]. Explain why surprised/not surprised.
Paragraph 2:
Furthermore/however, I am surprised/not surprised because it fits/does not fit with what I know/Source Y. [Insert what your background knowledge/Source Y's overall claim]. This is seen in [insert specific evidence from textbook/Source Y that opposes/agrees with Source X]. [Explain how background knowledge/Source Y agrees/does not agree with X.] Therefore, I am surprised/not surprised by X.
Note: If your knowledge/Source Y disagrees with Source X, then you would be surprised.
If your knowledge/Source Y agrees with Source X, then you would NOT be surprised.
Paragraph 3:
However, I am not surprised by Source X because the author (state the name) made this comment in order to convince/persuade [name the target audience] to [insert what he/she wants them to KNOW, FEEL and DO.] This is seen in [insert evidence]. Therefore, I am not surprised because he made these comments in order to appear [insert adjective/descriptive of image author wants to portray], to achieve his goal of [insert his goal].
I hope this helps. I also send out free History and Social Studies resources and study strategies/tips to parents who are on my email list.
If you're keen, feel free to sign up here: http://eepurl.com/1Z4gb.
cheers,
Karen. -
RE: History/ Geography
Sure. What would you like to know? There is so much I have to say... but not all advice may apply to your situation. My email is [email protected], the paper would help me have an idea of areas dd/ds needs to work on.
Regarding choice of subjects i would agree to go with what dd/ds is interested in, at least then the willingness to learn and push thru the steep learning curve in Sec 3 is higher. -
RE: History/ Geography
Think all of you here are great moms for wanting to find out more to help your dd/ds! I really hope to be like you when my kids go to sec school.
I used to teach History Elect n SS in secondary schools and hear my students complain more about history, but saw that most mummies here think that SS is harder. I'm curious as to why since the skills tested are similar?
Kitty2, nice 'seeing' u here feel free to send me your child's exam paper so I can give u better suggestions to help...