Tuesday, May 26, 2009

AEIS Maths

Date: 27/05/2009

Day: Wednesday

Students present: Michael, William, Susan

Students absent: Henry, Noe Noe

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: Maths and English

Topic: Approximation and Estimation

Concepts taught: Got the students to do their corrections for their previous assignment. Subsequently, they were asked to do journal writing.

Example questions gone through: Nil

Practice questions given: CASCO Maths 1A

Post-teaching

General comments of students: Michael and Susan were doing fine. Will

Improvement points of students: Students are doing fine but they need to be aware of their careless mistakes. For the William, he has to put in a lot more effort in this chapter as he show weakness in it. I will be administering a lot more 1-1 sessions with him. He has shown some progress though. But he needs to do more to catch up with the rest.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

Thursday, May 21, 2009

AEIS Maths

Date: 21/05/2009

Day: Thursday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Susan

Students absent: Noe Noe

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: Maths

Topic: Real Numbers

Concepts taught: I let them continue with the questions that they left off yesterday, which was from Exercise 3e. Basically, I gave them until the break time to finish it, giving a time frame to work on their assignment so as apply a little pressure on them to focus and do their work.

Example questions gone through: Exercise 3e Q4

Practice questions given: Exercise 3e

Post-teaching

General comments of students: I tried something new today. I made the students sit individually, away from each other. Each student will have their own working space and they have no eye contact with each other. This made wonders for me as I was able to control the usually rowdy students much better. They've also became much more focused when doing their work. Susan finished her work first, something that was not possible before that. It really helped a lot.

Improvement points of students: William is still not very focused in his work. He gives up easily when faced with a problem. I am training him to be independent by forcing him to complete the questions by himself. Henry is starting to become disrespectful again but I made it very firm to him today. He knows I am not very happy about it. Susan and Michael are both doing fine.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

AEIS, English and Maths

Date: 20/05/2009

Day: Wednesday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Susan

Students absent: Noe Noe

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: English and Maths

Topic: Nouns Test and Real Numbers

Teaching process

Concepts taught: Conducted an English test on nouns, based largely on what I thought them yesterday. I injected the atmosphere of a test format that requires them to sit away from each other and talking was strictly prohibited. This prepares them for the exam mentality.

After the break, they were asked to do a Maths assignment. It consists of 6 word problems that they have to do, based largely on the requirements I set for them during the previous Maths lesson. They were introduced to the method of modelling for word problems and the students liked it a lot. They find it particularly useful

Example questions gone through: Exercise 3e Q1

Practice questions given: Exercise 3e

Post-teaching

General comments of students: Results of the english test are as follow.

Henry: 40/47
Michael: 32/47
Susan: 30/47
William: 4/47

Improvement points of students: I am very worried about William as through the test, he has not shown me that he has understood what I thought in class, despite repetitive reminders given to them to clear their doubts with me when in lessons. From the results, we can see that William is very far behind his siblings, all of whom sat through the same lesson.

William has also told me that he has a lack of interest to study English. He finds it very draining. He needs to improve on his attention span in class as he tends to drift off very easily. I will monitor him closely in terms of his English.

The rest are generally fine.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

AEIS, English

Date: 19/05/2009

Day: Tuesday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Susan and Noe Noe

Students absent: Nil

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: English

Topic: Nouns

Teaching process

Concepts taught: Went through the very fundamentals of english which is grammar. This stem from the reason that their recent essay was too poor, rendering it useless to teach them anything more advance without clearing their basics first. I used one of my father's book, which he used during his university days to study english. It was a really detailed book and it really drilled them to the basic. They were taught nouns in general, collective nouns, pronouns, compund nouns etc.

I made them start a new exercise book which I aim to dedicate it to grammar. I made them write rules and regulations on the first page, forcing them to declare that they will not draw on the book, a problem which I had with Susan and Henry previously.

Example questions gone through: Nil

Practice questions given: Nil

Post-teaching

General comments of students: Students were attentive and they were generally receptive. The book was well maintained and the students were able to pick up fast. I feel lucky that I started this lesson as through this lesson, I realised that there were many basics that the students forgot.

Improvement points of students: They start to become distracted when things get a little dry. As much as I try to make the lesson more interesting by bringing in funny examples, grammar is still a relatively dry topic. Thus, I drill a lot on them to stay focus during my lesson.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

Thursday, May 14, 2009

AEIS Maths

Date: 14/05/2009

Day: Thursday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Susan and Noe Noe

Students absent: Nil

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: Maths

Topic: Real Numbers

Teaching process

Concepts taught: Let students go through the questions in the CASCO book. They had to do word problems related to real numbers. It was not the first time they are introduced to the word problems. However, they are still not very confident when dealing with word problems. I reasserted the importance of breaking down the questions into key points, which is very important when doing word problems. I also asserted to them the need to present their workings in an orderly manner. They were told to meet the following requirements when presenting their working. They are as follow:

1. Statement (stating what the equation is trying to find)

2. Arrow head (the thing that follow after the statement to denote the beginning of mathematical presentation.)

3. One line one step ( they had to write one step in one line and not in a continuous line. This is to ensure that their presentation will be neat and tidy.)

4. # sign (to denote the FINAL answer of the question)

These requirements ensure that their presentation will be neat and tidy and the will definitely not go wrong by following the steps as mentioned above.

Example questions gone through: Nil

Practice questions given: Nil

Post-teaching

General comments of students: The students were very receptive of the method of presentation I taught them and the picked it up very fast. I must say that they performed tremendously well today with all of them giving me satisfactory work for their assignment. Michael in particular has improved leaps and bounds. With his working much neater, he was less prone to careless mistakes and the quality of work is good. William has improved tremendously too. His now much more dependent on himself and is able to double check his own work with much more confidence. Henry as always is doing fine and has no major problem and so is Noe Noe. Susan has improved much with her neatness but she still need to work on her understanding ability. She is now much more focused in her work which in turn generate better quality work for submission.

Improvement points of students: All them need to make a habit of underlining the key words in the questions to ensure that they are able to understand the questions fully.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

AEIS English and Maths

Date: 13/05/2009

Day: Wednesday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William and Susan

Students absent: Noe Noe (language school QT prep)

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: English and Maths

Topic: Crossword Puzzle and Real Numbers

Teaching process

Concepts taught: Conducted a crossword puzzle test that Jasper came up with. They were given a list of vocabulary 2 days ago which they were instructed to study for the test. The first half of the lesson was purely the test and many of them had difficulties doing it. One reason was that the standard might be a little high for them. However, they all did fine after I drop a reasonable hint of two for them. Henry scored a full mark of 19 points. William attained 16 points. Michael and Susan each attain 13 points. A debrief for their test was given to them and I wrote all the words and the board and explained each one again, teaching them the context in which these words can be used.

The second half of the lesson was doing corrections for their real numbers assignment. The penalty for careless mistakes was copying the questions and the solution 10 times. This is to to inculcate a sense of seriousness and discipline into them doing their work properly.

Example questions gone through: Nil

Practice questions given: Nil

Post-teaching

General comments of students: Michael did tremendously well by not committing a single mistake in working, answer and presentation. I gave him his due credit by praising him in class. It was a tremendous improvement from his previous untidy and careless nature of work. However, I reminded him not to be complacent and much is expected of him now that he has shown that he is capable of something more.

Henry and William did fine, each having only one careless mistake. Henry looks a little disappointed now that he realised he is not always the best but that was definitely a humbling experience. As for William, it was also a tremendous improvement in his work and he was very much encouraged. Susan has also improved a lot but she still had many careless mistakes. When faced with the reality of doing more corrections than others, she cried. But I told her not to and explained the necessity of the penalty and she understood it. It was encouraging to see her brothers stood by her to motivate her to finish her corrections before they leave for home. She has definitely learnt much from this experience, understanding the need to stay focused and discipline while doing her work.

Improvement points of students: Susan must improve on her focus and discipline in work. Michael must learn to keep up with the good standard shown. Henry and William still has room for improvement even though their progress is heartening.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

AEIS Maths

Date: 12/05/2009

Day: Tuesday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Susan and Noe Noe

Students absent: Nil

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: Mathematics

Topic: Real Numbers

Teaching process

Concepts taught: Students were stressed to do their work carefully and not to commit mistakes due to carelessness. Today wasn't very much a conceptual lesson but more of an approach lessons. Students were given a lot of Real Number revision questions which are very simple. What was required of them was simply to do it with diligence and no careless mistakes. The penalty for careless mistakes was copying the questions with solutions 10 times.

Example questions gone through: Nil

Practice questions given: Review Question 2 and 3 from Shinglee maths textbook.

Post-teaching

General comments of students: The quality of work from the students improved tremendously with Michael being the best performer with no mistakes. The rest has no problems with their answers but had careless mistakes with regards to working presentation. The penalty will be enforced for learning purposes.

Improvement points of students: Susan has improved a lot this time round but she still lack the focus to prevent very careless mistakes that are serious presentation errors. The rest are doing fine but definitely can be improved in presentation aspect.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

Monday, May 11, 2009

AEIS English and Math 11 May 2009

Date: 11/05/09

Day: Monday

Students present: Michael, William, Henry, Susan

Students absent: Noe Noe (School released her late at 5.30pm)

Teacher (main and assistants): Jasper

Subject: English and some Math

Topic: Vocabulary, Descriptions, and Prime factorization tricks


Teaching process

Concepts taught:

Started with a crossword puzzle regarding the theme: technology. The purpose was to enhance their vocabulary understanding of that theme. Students were quite well versed in technology except two particular questions of the words: Rudimentary and Illiterate.

I made then copy 10 times each, the sentence of the 2 terms. To make them understand the terms and it's usage properly.

After that I've went through the 5 senses technique with them. Made them visualize their recent trip to east coast park and got them to write out and describe that experience based on sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. I challenged them to write one or more adjectives for every noun they write.

They saw the importance of this exercise, and I've encouraged them to apply it in their essay writing skills.

Lastly, I went through some tricks and techniques to excite them about mathematics and the previous topic that they went through: prime factorization.

A copy of the worksheet can be found on the teacher's table.

Example questions gone through:

Description of east coast park outing with 5 senses. Challenged to add one or more adjective to every noun.

Number has factor 2 when last digit is even
Number has factor 3 when all the digits are added up and is divisible by 3.
Number has factor 4 when last 2 digits are divisible by 4
Number has factor 5 when last digit is 0 or 5
Number has factor 6 when all digits are added up and is divisible by 3, and the number is even.
Number has factor 8 when last 3 digits are divisible by 8.
Number has factor 9 when all digits add up and is divisible by 9.

Practice questions given:

none


Post-teaching

General comments of students:

Started off quite ill-disciplined. Perhaps due to the weekend off. Had them settled down and praised them for what they did right (Susan helping others arrange chair, micheal arranged tables) and what they did wrong (Henry anyhow placing his bag on teachers table). Drew a very clear line between teacher and student.

Along the lesson, students were very receptive and very vocal in expressing their ideas and thoughts. Very lively lesson and good bouncing off ideas back and forth. To the extent that everyone started speaking at the same time. Told students that I would love to hear from each of their unique experience but only had 2 ears, so I encouraged them to speak one at a time and listen to others. They were receptive and they started taking turns to speak.

I also noticed that William is consistently helping Susan with her work and looking out for her. I told William to do his own work and got Susan to check her own work.

IMPT NOTE:
I've made a very clear stand today to the students; to check their work very carefully before submission. I told them that for very error they make (careless mistakes, and not ignorant don't know how to do questions), they will need to do 10 corrections for that questions. This is regardless of math or science. 10 corrections means copying the question and answer 10 times.

For ignorant answers (don't know how to do). Correction once will do.

For worksheets that are badly done. (Less than 50% correct). To do corrections 10 times for the entire worksheet. (up to marker's discretion.

They took this very seriously and took the effort to check their work carefully and passed to each other to inter-check their work.

I hope to bring across the importance of not rushing their work and be careful and sensitive to errors. Let this be a start of the training to reduce careless mistakes.

Make it a common practice from today onwards.

The trick is to be reasonable with the students and giving them benefit of the doubt and privileges in exchange for strictness.


Improvement points of students:

Very receptive to scolding and comments today. Quite well. Especially Henry and Susan.

Homework given (including due date):

Gave them a list of 20 vocabulary to memorize the spelling and meaning. I will be administering the vocabulary test to them on Wednesday through a crossword puzzle.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

AEIS, English

Date: 7/5/2009

Day: Thursday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Susan and Noe Noe

Students absent: Nil

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: English

Topic: Journal and Tenses

Teaching process

Concepts taught: I went through with the students the routine journal presentation. What was different for today was that I demanded them to choose a longer and more challenging article for presentation. Students were requested to improve on their level of critical thinking, bringing themselves one level higher than what they used to do. What they used to do was to give very low level reflections like " I think this is very good.". What I challenged them was to tell me why it was good or why did they feel a particular way. Many of them were still unable to answer effectively.

I also introduced the system of peer sharing and commenting. I made them listen attentively to what their counter parts were presenting and I require them to comment on their peer's performance. It was particularly useful as they would be paying more attention to other's presentation, giving more constructive comments (instead of rubbish which they usually do) and thereby learning not to commit the same mistakes when they present. To control the flow of peer commenting, I used the following framework to guide the discussion.

1. What went well
2. What went wrong
3. What can be improved

Example questions gone through: Nil

Practice questions given: Practice 11 of tenses book

Post-teaching

General comments of students: While I was marking their tenses practices from last week, I found out that Susan was copying from her brother and the answer key behind. What I did was that I stopped the class immediately, asking them to look up and listen to me while I talked. In a very serious tone, I addressed to them the importance and value of integrity. I gave them a very stern warning that I do not want to see this happening and they understood very clearly. As a penalty, I made Susan recopy everything that she copied again.

I think as a form of character building, we have to be very firm when it comes to the issue of integrity. It goes beyond academics and in my opinion, is more important than any academic gains.

After the 'prep-talk', the class became amazingly obedient and focused. I had no problems getting finish up their work on time and the students became much more serious in their work.

Improvement points of students: Students are still very poor in their grammar, except for Henry. They are all rather weak in their English articulation. Thus, I proposed to them that they take a short article every night and practice reading it, focusing on the pronunciation and the stress of tones in their sentences. I also suggested that they read to an audience, either their uncle or their sister, so as to allow for objective commenting and improvement points for their articulation.

Homework given (including due date): Recopy of corrections for 'Tenses' Practices with 3 or more errors. The requirements are written on the whiteboard. To be handed in on Tuesday, 12/05/2009.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

AEIS, Maths

Date: 6/5/2009

Day: Wednesday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William and Susan

Students absent: Noe Noe

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: Mathematics

Topic: Real Numbers

Teaching process

Concepts taught: How to break down complicated questions into different parts to avoid careless mistakes in computation.

Example questions gone through: Previous questions that were given by James and were required to do corrections.

Practice questions given: Page 51-53 of Maths Book 1A

Post-teaching

General comments of students: There is really a difference in standard between the students and thus it is very difficult for me to teach. The weaker students find it hard to catch up while the better students find the lesson a little draggy. Generally, the students do not have any problems with understanding the concepts but it is really their fundamentals of calculations that is impeding them to improve in their maths. Mistakes made were too fundamental and careless.

Improvement points of students: William has a lot to catch up. Up to this point in time, he even has doubts about how to do long division (that's like pri 2 work!). Michael is very fast but he makes really careless mistakes . Thus, it was strongly advocated to him that he must check through his answers before handing up. Susan is a little more focused this time round but still, she is easily distracted. Henry is slowing respecting authority as I had become firm to them. Henry is also beginning to lose his cool at times as he realised that he is making mistakes. It is not a bad thing as it teaches him not to be complacent. In general, I really think it is time to split them up according to their progress in order for the lessons to be effective.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

AEIS, English

Date: 5/5/2009

Day: Tuesday

Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Susan and Noe Noe

Students absent: Nil

Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young

Subject: English

Topic: English

Teaching process

Concepts taught: I started off with letting them present their previous journal entry which they have yet to present followed by a sharing session of the new vocabulary that they have acquired. After the break, I asked them to complete practice 4 to 10 of the 'Tenses' practice book.

Example questions gone through: Nil

Practice questions given: Practice 4 to 10 of 'Tenses' practice book.

Post-teaching

General comments of students: Students are better behaved as compared to the time I taught them before I left for Hong Kong. Henry has a good grasp in English language. However, Susan and Henry are becoming less attentive in class and they are starting to distract others too. Susan is also becoming less diligent in her work. It is observed that Michael is becoming frustrated in class due to the distraction caused by the other students. As for William, he has become more focused but it is still not good enough. Noe Noe is doing fine.

Improvement points of students: Students in general should improve on their attentiveness in class. They should also be demanding a higher standard in their work now that the standard has been made known to them.

Homework given (including due date): Nil

AEIS, Maths

Date: 040509

Day: Monday

Students present: Michael, Noe Noe, William, Henry, Susan

Students absent: NA

Teacher (main and assistants): James

Subject: Maths

Topic: Factors and Multiples, Real Numbers

Teaching process

Concepts taught:

1) Revision of presentation methods during lesson as students still made similar errors during their corrections.

2) Revision of concepts in solving simple mathematical expressions such as the conversion of an improper fraction to a mixed number. Students did not have a good understanding of the difference between improper fractions and mixed numbers. After the revision, majority of students were able to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers quite proficiently except for William who needs more practices.

Example questions gone through: NA

Practice questions given: Whole of Tutorial 2 corrections. Maths test re-corrections

Post-teaching

General comments of students: Additional practices will be required on Factors and Multiples, esp word problems, to embed the different concepts and presentation methods taught. They are also rather weak in their maths foundation though the weaknesses have to be discovered along the way. An example would be the conversion of improper fractions to mixed number. To a singaporean student, expressing the final answer to a question in mixed number would seem instinctive. However, these students did not even know how to express a fraction as a mixed number initially. Therefore, tutors will have to pay careful attention to their answers and workings to spot these fundamental weaknesses.

Improvement points of students:

Students understood how to express an improper fraction as a mixed number. They were generally more well behaved during lessons and receptive to errors. Most were able to complete their corrections apart from William and Susan.

Homework given (including due date): William and Susan have to submit their corrections by the next maths lesson on 060509.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Sec 2 Science

Date: 2/05/09

Day: Saturday, 9am to 12noon

Students present: Thin Nwe, Koye, Myint Myat

Students absent:NA

Teacher (main and assistants): Benjamin

Subject:Science

Topic: Digestion

Teaching process

Concepts taught:

Importance of enzymes and the factors affecting its performance.

Why there is a need for digestion?

The 3 main classes of food - carbo, proteins, fats - highlighted the different classes and their molecular structures in relationship to their functions with special focus on proteins and enzymes

Digestive track - mouth, gullet, stomach, small intestine, large intestine - highlighted the functions of specific enzymes and working conditions in each stage of digestion. Common knowledge in real-life situations in relationships to the digestion stages.

Example questions gone through: Real-life thinking questions in relationship to concepts taught in their syllabus to enhance their understanding of the chapter instead of remember the facts.

Practice questions given: whole chapter in their assessment book

Post-teaching

the students are fine. koye demonstrated good knowledge of the concepts. Thin nwe and myint myat needs to improve further and study more.

Improvement points of students: myint myat to work on this chapter more.

Homework given (including due date): assessment book revision ex 24. due in the afternoon.

IMPORTANT NOTES: SEC 2 SCIENCE EXAM IS ON TUESDAY, 5 MAY 2009. I WILL BE REVISING THE OTHER BIO CHAPS NAMING: ECOSYSTEM, REPRODUCTION, DIFFUSION,TRANSPORTATION, CELLS - TOGETHER WITH THEIR ASSESSMENT BOOK. TUITION WILL BE ON LATER PART OF SAT, SUN AND MONDAY.

LASTLY WILL REVISE ATOMS, MOLECULES IN PREPARATIONS FOR THEIR MID YEAR PAPER

Sec2 - Science

Date: 3/05/09

Day: Sunday, 9.30am to 11.30am

Students present: Thin Nwe, Koye, Myint Myat

Students absent:NA

Teacher (main and assistants): Benjamin

Subject:Science

Topic: Reproduction in Human

Teaching process

Concepts taught:

The reproductive systems in male and female

Sex cells of male of female

Fertilization process and menstrual cycle with reference to hormones activities, thickness of the uterus lining as well as the reasoning for the entire cycle in relationship to fertilization

Genetics - DNA, features which are inherited from parents. The importance, advantages and disadvantages of genetic information being passed down this way which human are designed for.

Example questions gone through: Real-life thinking questions in relationship to concepts taught in their syllabus to enhance their understanding of the chapter instead of remember the facts. With special focus on genetics and specific functions of the female reproduction system in relationship to the fertilization process and menstrual cycle.

Practice questions given: whole chapter in their assessment book

Post-teaching

Need to finish up all the bio chapters in their science assessment book - most are undone and those which are done have not gone through yet by the previous tutor.

Homework given (including due date): all the bio chapters - exercise 19 to 26. due on Sunday 3/5/2009 7pm. I will be down at hostel to check and mark. As well as to ensure that they prepare for their English paper for the next day by reviewing their comprehensions and compositions done.

To go through all the assessment book on Monday afternoon/evening - Lim young i will need your help for this.

Lastly to teach ecosystem and to do and review the assessment from the Volume 2 of their science assessment book - to be done on Monday 4/5/2009 as well.