In this blog post, I like to share my thoughts and reflections in response to tweets on ASCD 2012…..
Aguas: The power of education swept me off my feet. I realized knowledge meant little iin the absence of action. #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 24, 2012
I totally agree with this. Otherwise it is all theory and no application, and that should not be the case with education, because education deals with people. Action speaks louder than words in positively transforming people’s minds.
One of the most effective tools of teaching is humor but not every teacher is humorous … #ASCD12
— David Lim (@davidzlim) March 24, 2012
I have problems with using humour myself in teaching, and for a long while I thought the reason lies with me – that I am not a humourous person. However, after these past years of teaching, I learnt that humour for me comes on easily with students I am well acquainted with, who find some of my actions or remarks amusing when I don’t think they are or when I really have no intention to be humourous. And in this way, I engage my students better, so at the end of the day, I think whether or not there is humour depends on the audience sometimes, and I conclude that maybe I can be a humourous person. Of course, if a teacher is a natural when it comes to cracking jokes or making funny remarks, it’s a bonus to effective student engagement. As David mentioned, humour is just one of the effective tools of teaching, there are a host of others that the not-so-humourous teachers can effectively employ to achieve the same educational outcomes.
What appears to be the most fabulous lesson may not be engaging, but how do you know?#ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 24, 2012
By gathering feedback from students, which can be verbal via an informal chat with students, written via pen-and-paper responses, or virtual via online forums / surveys. In my school, we have in place a lecture feedback system modelled after the one-minute paper format of obtaining student post-lecture feedback on their level of understanding, concepts they have learnt and queries they have. Generally, I have learnt that while judgement based on mine or third parties’ classroom observations can provide information about students’ level of engagement or other learning behaviours in a class, nothing beats hearing from the students themselves.
The other thing of course is to conduct some kind of evaluation such as a quiz to check students’ understanding and assimilation, given that increased engagement should lead to enhanced comprehension on the part of the students.
#ASCD12 presenter Harold McCray quotes Robert Garmston: “Anyone too busy to reflect on one’s practice is also too busy to improve.”
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 24, 2012
Can’t agree more….I make it a point to spend some time right after or at least as soon as I can after every lesson to think over the lesson and pen my reflections. This has been my practice ever since I started teaching and it has kept me going in improving my teaching efficacy for the past 7 years. And also, the desire to reflect and improve has been the motivation for taking a break from teaching this year and reading a Masters course in Science Communication.
voicethread.com try this tool out. Saw this mentioned in done tweets #ascd12
— David Lim (@davidzlim) March 25, 2012
Exploring the use of this IT tool. Basically, it is a collaborative multimedia presentation that can be shared with other users who can put in comments via voice (microphone or telephone), text, video or audio file while the presentation (Word, PowerPoint etc) is played. One can also doodle on the media while commenting and the interactive conversation can be embedded into Websites or platforms like Moodle. Learning about another IT tool from a tool I have just started using (Tweeter)….cool!
“Excellence was not a matter of a difference between bad and good. It was the difference between good and great.” -Gawande #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
Best quote of the day! Food for thought, and source of inspiration too to continually strive for excellence.
“You give them content, teachers to help and then you give them an ability to learn on their own. At that point they graduate.” #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
Defining the role of teachers / educators……At this juncture in my teaching career, I should reflect on the kind of value I have added to my students’ education. No doubt, I have taught them subject content, but have I taught my students how to be independent, self-directed learners before they graduate? Maybe not for every student.
A comparison was made with the coaching of athletes as follows:
“Athletes never graduate. They always have coaches. They always have someone pushing them along.” – @Atul_Gawande #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
and the previous message about teaching becomes clearer. Are teachers in Singapore becoming more like coaches? Or do we need both teachers and coaches to work hand in hand in educating the young of today? What are the implications ? and in years to come the future of Singapore?
A flavour of the different perspectives of education and education system in Australia, Finland and the Philippines, compared to Singapore’s:
To establish common identity, Singapore chose bilingual system–English and all children learn their native lang. – Lim #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
2nd cornerstone of Singapore’s edu. policy is that it is a meritocracy. – Lim #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
Australia looking at whole child in its education system. System has been profession-driven in past. – Lewis #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
Finland able to combine quality & equity in its education system. Strong belief in public education in Finland. – Sahlberg #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
Education viewed as human right in Finland. Teachers are viewed as true professionals. – Sahlberg #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
“Plan [in Philippines] is always to make education very inclusive” – Rapatan #ASCD12
— ASCD (@ASCD) March 25, 2012
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