Date: 300409
Day: Thursday
Students present: Michael, Susan, William, Henry, Noe Noe
Students absent: NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: English
Topic: Review of English Test 1, Journal
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Students were taught how to solve summary questions step by step:
Step 1: Keyword underline of question
Step 2: Underline of relevant points in the passage
Step 3: Compiling of points into a draft 1 of summary
Step 4: Completion of final summary
The key processes between step 3 and 4 were also highlighted to students, namely, checking for grammatical errors, linking of points, summarising of points with the word limit in mind.
2) Students were also taught the method of answering vocabulary questions in comprehensions. They were taught how to guess the meaning from the usage in the passage if they do not know the meaning of the word. It was also highlighted to them that the tenses of their answers should be the same as that of the vocabulary word.
A common mistake that students made in the vocabulary questions was the tendency to answer a vocabulary question that is a verb/action with a phrase that suggests a subject performing the action. The students were taught not to include a subject when the question is a verb.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: NA
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Students are generally receptive to the new concepts taught during lesson and were able to understand them quite well. During the highlighting of key points from the comprehension passages, most students were able to differentiate points that were relevant to the question after some prompting.
Improvement points of students:
Students generally showed a better understanding of the question after making the effort to highlight key words. They were also much more receptive to concepts taught after explaining their importance.
Students have a tendency to compare the standard demands over in Singapore to their previous school in Myanmar. It is important to continuously remind them that they will be studying in Singapore in the future and that they should get used to the local standards.
Homework given (including due date): Completed Summary by Monday 040509
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
AEIS, Math
Date: 290409
Day: Wednesday
Students present: Michael, William, Susan, Henry
Students absent: Noe Noe
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Mathematics
Topic: Real Numbers
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Revision of rules in solving mathematical expressions.
2) Highlighted the importance of simplifying the expressions step by step and showing each step clearly in their working so as to prevent careless mistakes.
3) Enforced checking of their work to train them to be meticulous in their work.
4) Students were given more practice questions that involve simplifying and evaluating mathematical expressions at one time to train up their endurance.
5) Students were taught not to express their answers in improper fractions unless otherwise stated in the question.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Tutorial 2 Qn 8, 9, 10, 11
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Students were able to finish the tutorial questions given albeit longer than the time given initially apart from Michael who was able to concentrate better and finish his work beforehand. The rest of the students showed restlessness after an hour or so and as a result took longer.
Improvement points of students:
William and Susan were able to concentrate much better than they usually do and produced better quality work. Both of them were also more careful in their work after enforcing the checks to be done.
Michael has also learnt from his careless mistakes during his test and have shown improvement in the practices given.
Henry has to work on his endurance as he showed the greatest degree of restlessness during the process.
Homework given (including due date): Students were asked to compile the corrections done for tutorial 2 so that all corrections can be completed during the next lesson.
Day: Wednesday
Students present: Michael, William, Susan, Henry
Students absent: Noe Noe
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Mathematics
Topic: Real Numbers
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Revision of rules in solving mathematical expressions.
2) Highlighted the importance of simplifying the expressions step by step and showing each step clearly in their working so as to prevent careless mistakes.
3) Enforced checking of their work to train them to be meticulous in their work.
4) Students were given more practice questions that involve simplifying and evaluating mathematical expressions at one time to train up their endurance.
5) Students were taught not to express their answers in improper fractions unless otherwise stated in the question.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Tutorial 2 Qn 8, 9, 10, 11
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Students were able to finish the tutorial questions given albeit longer than the time given initially apart from Michael who was able to concentrate better and finish his work beforehand. The rest of the students showed restlessness after an hour or so and as a result took longer.
Improvement points of students:
William and Susan were able to concentrate much better than they usually do and produced better quality work. Both of them were also more careful in their work after enforcing the checks to be done.
Michael has also learnt from his careless mistakes during his test and have shown improvement in the practices given.
Henry has to work on his endurance as he showed the greatest degree of restlessness during the process.
Homework given (including due date): Students were asked to compile the corrections done for tutorial 2 so that all corrections can be completed during the next lesson.
AEIS, English
Date: 280409
Day: Tuesday
Students present: Michael, William, Susan, Henry, Noe Noe
Students absent: NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: English
Topic: Journal, Review of English Test Paper 1
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) As I noticed that students could not do the summary in the test, I asked students to underline or highlight the main details in the newspaper articles while they were doing journals. This is to train them to pick out necessary details in the article so as not to just give a general idea of the article like what they did in the summary in the test.
2) Apart from going through the grammer clozes and the editing portion of the english paper, students were asked to underline all the key words and phrases in the comprehension questions as they had not done so. During the discussion of these questions, they were also taught how to write their answers in full sentences as most of them just gave one word answers or short phrases.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: NA
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Students do not recognize the need to answer in full sentences or to take note of their grammatical errors in their answers as they were not asked to do so in their previous school. As a result, they have a tendency to bargain for marks when their answers were marked down for spelling errors.
Improvement points of students:
Students showed greater interest in the lesson when the discussion was about their test paper. There has been a slight improvement in grammer from the first few grammer practices. However, there's still a need to work on their grammer as most of their comprehension answers contained grammatical errors though they were not marked down this time round.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Day: Tuesday
Students present: Michael, William, Susan, Henry, Noe Noe
Students absent: NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: English
Topic: Journal, Review of English Test Paper 1
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) As I noticed that students could not do the summary in the test, I asked students to underline or highlight the main details in the newspaper articles while they were doing journals. This is to train them to pick out necessary details in the article so as not to just give a general idea of the article like what they did in the summary in the test.
2) Apart from going through the grammer clozes and the editing portion of the english paper, students were asked to underline all the key words and phrases in the comprehension questions as they had not done so. During the discussion of these questions, they were also taught how to write their answers in full sentences as most of them just gave one word answers or short phrases.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: NA
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Students do not recognize the need to answer in full sentences or to take note of their grammatical errors in their answers as they were not asked to do so in their previous school. As a result, they have a tendency to bargain for marks when their answers were marked down for spelling errors.
Improvement points of students:
Students showed greater interest in the lesson when the discussion was about their test paper. There has been a slight improvement in grammer from the first few grammer practices. However, there's still a need to work on their grammer as most of their comprehension answers contained grammatical errors though they were not marked down this time round.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Secondary 2 Mathematics
Date: 28/04/09
Day: Tuesday, 8pm to 9pm
Students present: Thin Nwe, Koye, Myint Myat
Students absent:NA
Teacher (main and assistants): Benjamin
Subject: Mathematics
Topic: Quadratic equations
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) relationship between the quadratic expansions and its geometrical representations. linked up with the practical origins which was used by Egyptians to find land area before they built the pyramids. linked to the proof of quadratic expansions and other identities such as the difference of two squares.
2) analyze a degree two polynomial equation with reference to the quadratic formula.
3) how to use the quadratic formula (highlighted that it is something extra, mainly applicable to those preparing for admission exams to other schools in Nov 2009)
Example questions gone through: 4 questions which I came out on the spot.
Practice questions given: changed the coefficients of two of the four examples covered for them to DIY.
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Students were receptive to new concepts and showed understanding for the topic. Students were also quite responsive to questions and were able to provide quite accurate answers to questions regarding concepts in the topic.
Improvement points of students: NA
Homework given (including due date): NA
Day: Tuesday, 8pm to 9pm
Students present: Thin Nwe, Koye, Myint Myat
Students absent:NA
Teacher (main and assistants): Benjamin
Subject: Mathematics
Topic: Quadratic equations
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) relationship between the quadratic expansions and its geometrical representations. linked up with the practical origins which was used by Egyptians to find land area before they built the pyramids. linked to the proof of quadratic expansions and other identities such as the difference of two squares.
2) analyze a degree two polynomial equation with reference to the quadratic formula.
3) how to use the quadratic formula (highlighted that it is something extra, mainly applicable to those preparing for admission exams to other schools in Nov 2009)
Example questions gone through: 4 questions which I came out on the spot.
Practice questions given: changed the coefficients of two of the four examples covered for them to DIY.
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Students were receptive to new concepts and showed understanding for the topic. Students were also quite responsive to questions and were able to provide quite accurate answers to questions regarding concepts in the topic.
Improvement points of students: NA
Homework given (including due date): NA
Monday, April 27, 2009
AEIS, Math, Test 1 feedback
Topic: Factors and Multiples
General Comments
Students have a tendency to make very careless mistakes such as calculation errors. Students have generally understood the presentation methods taught during lesson with the exception of William though there are still minor mistakes in their presentation. More practice might be needed in these questions.
Specific Comments
Student: Michael
Test Score: 25/40
Areas for improvement:
Majority of michael's mistakes are to do with presentation errors. Though he was able to present his workings generally in the right way, he has made quite a number of minor presentation errors here and there.
Method for improvement:
Do more practices on similar questions so that the presentation errors can be reduced.
Student: Henry
Test Score: 33/40
Areas for improvement:
Henry is more careful during his presentation and as a result his mistakes are generally not due to carelessness. However, Henry is slightly weaker in his application of concepts as seen from him not being able to answer a new question that required a concept that he has learnt.
Method for improvement:
Working on different questions that require concepts learnt.
Student: William
Test Score: 10/40
Areas for improvement:
William does not fully understand the concepts of HCF and LCM taught during lesson. He is also weak and careless in his calculations.
Method for improvement:
More word problems should be given to build his understanding of the concepts and to train him to be more careful in his work.
Student: Susan
Test Score: 26/40
Areas for improvement:
Susan has showed that she understood the concepts taught during lesson though she tends to make very careless mistakes. She is also slightly weaker in simplifying maths expressions.
Method for improvement:
It will be helpful to provide practices that requires her to simplify mathamatical expressons such as cube root of a fraction.
Student: Noe Noe
Test Score: 29/40
Areas for improvement:
Noe Noe has shown understanding for the concepts taught. The majority of her mistakes are due to carelessness.
Method for improvement:
Enforce checking multiple times after practices or tests. Spot-the-mistakes practices can be given to train her to be more meticulous in her work.
General Comments
Students have a tendency to make very careless mistakes such as calculation errors. Students have generally understood the presentation methods taught during lesson with the exception of William though there are still minor mistakes in their presentation. More practice might be needed in these questions.
Specific Comments
Student: Michael
Test Score: 25/40
Areas for improvement:
Majority of michael's mistakes are to do with presentation errors. Though he was able to present his workings generally in the right way, he has made quite a number of minor presentation errors here and there.
Method for improvement:
Do more practices on similar questions so that the presentation errors can be reduced.
Student: Henry
Test Score: 33/40
Areas for improvement:
Henry is more careful during his presentation and as a result his mistakes are generally not due to carelessness. However, Henry is slightly weaker in his application of concepts as seen from him not being able to answer a new question that required a concept that he has learnt.
Method for improvement:
Working on different questions that require concepts learnt.
Student: William
Test Score: 10/40
Areas for improvement:
William does not fully understand the concepts of HCF and LCM taught during lesson. He is also weak and careless in his calculations.
Method for improvement:
More word problems should be given to build his understanding of the concepts and to train him to be more careful in his work.
Student: Susan
Test Score: 26/40
Areas for improvement:
Susan has showed that she understood the concepts taught during lesson though she tends to make very careless mistakes. She is also slightly weaker in simplifying maths expressions.
Method for improvement:
It will be helpful to provide practices that requires her to simplify mathamatical expressons such as cube root of a fraction.
Student: Noe Noe
Test Score: 29/40
Areas for improvement:
Noe Noe has shown understanding for the concepts taught. The majority of her mistakes are due to carelessness.
Method for improvement:
Enforce checking multiple times after practices or tests. Spot-the-mistakes practices can be given to train her to be more meticulous in her work.
AEIS, Math
Date: 270409
Day: Monday
Students present: Michael, William, Henry, Susan
Students absent: Noe Noe (sick according to her sister)
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Math
Topic: Factors and Multiples (test paper), Real Numbers
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Went through the Math test paper on Factors and Multiples
2) Students were taught how to present their answers using a number line as the method taught in their country seemed to be slightly different from that of Singapore. Students were taught to use a dot to mark out numbers that were required by the question and to use arrows when large ranges are needed.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Tutorial 2 Qn 1, 2, 6, 7
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
William did not show any interest when the questions in the test paper were being explained. Students were more rowdy especially William and Susan who quarrelled blatantly during lesson. They have been given a warning regarding this.
There is quite a large standard difference between William and the rest in Math. He is slower in grasping concepts and tends to lag behind in class. There were also signs that he did not fully understand the concepts used in different questions when the test paper was being explained on the board and merely copied down the corrections. As a result, there was a need go through the questions again with him when the others were working on practice questions.
Improvement points of students: NA
Homework given (including due date): Susan has to finish his math test corrections on new sheets of papers by 290409 (wed)
Day: Monday
Students present: Michael, William, Henry, Susan
Students absent: Noe Noe (sick according to her sister)
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Math
Topic: Factors and Multiples (test paper), Real Numbers
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Went through the Math test paper on Factors and Multiples
2) Students were taught how to present their answers using a number line as the method taught in their country seemed to be slightly different from that of Singapore. Students were taught to use a dot to mark out numbers that were required by the question and to use arrows when large ranges are needed.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Tutorial 2 Qn 1, 2, 6, 7
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
William did not show any interest when the questions in the test paper were being explained. Students were more rowdy especially William and Susan who quarrelled blatantly during lesson. They have been given a warning regarding this.
There is quite a large standard difference between William and the rest in Math. He is slower in grasping concepts and tends to lag behind in class. There were also signs that he did not fully understand the concepts used in different questions when the test paper was being explained on the board and merely copied down the corrections. As a result, there was a need go through the questions again with him when the others were working on practice questions.
Improvement points of students: NA
Homework given (including due date): Susan has to finish his math test corrections on new sheets of papers by 290409 (wed)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Sec 2, Science
Date: 230409
Day: Thursday
Students present: Thin Nwe, Koye, Myint Myat
Students absent:NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Science
Topic: Transport in Plants and Mammals
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Reason for the need of transport system in plants and mammals
2) Transport system in plants: xylem, phloem
3) Transport system in mammals: circulatory system comprising of heart and blood vessels
4) Basic functions of the transport system
5) Transport processes that contribute to the exchange of materials namely diffusion and osmosis and active transport.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: not given due to the need to complete their geography mid year revision questions
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Students were generally receptive to new concepts and showed understanding for the topic. Students were also quite responsive to questions and were able to provide quite accurate answers to questions regarding concepts in the topic. However, Myint Myat and Koye were quite restless due to the late timing of the science tuition.
Improvement points of students: NA
Homework given (including due date): Practice for topic 'From cells to tissues, and tissues to organs' due on Monday, 270409
Day: Thursday
Students present: Thin Nwe, Koye, Myint Myat
Students absent:NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Science
Topic: Transport in Plants and Mammals
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Reason for the need of transport system in plants and mammals
2) Transport system in plants: xylem, phloem
3) Transport system in mammals: circulatory system comprising of heart and blood vessels
4) Basic functions of the transport system
5) Transport processes that contribute to the exchange of materials namely diffusion and osmosis and active transport.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: not given due to the need to complete their geography mid year revision questions
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Students were generally receptive to new concepts and showed understanding for the topic. Students were also quite responsive to questions and were able to provide quite accurate answers to questions regarding concepts in the topic. However, Myint Myat and Koye were quite restless due to the late timing of the science tuition.
Improvement points of students: NA
Homework given (including due date): Practice for topic 'From cells to tissues, and tissues to organs' due on Monday, 270409
AEIS Maths
Date: 230409
Day: Thursday
Students present: Michael, Susan, William, Henry, Noe Noe
Students absent: NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James, Elizabeth
Subject: Maths
Topic: Factors and Multiples (test), Real Numbers
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Differentiating the different types of numbers eg integers, natural numbers etc.
2) Methods of solving questions with negative integers
3) Students are taught to simplify expressions in brackets first before continuing on with simplifying multiplications and divisions followed by additions and subtractions. They are also taught that maths expressions should be solved in the general direction of left to right.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Tutorial Qn 1,2,6,7
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Generally well behaved during maths test. Henry and Michael were able to finish the test before the stipulated timing of 2 hours. William and Susan had a difficulty concentrating for the whole length of the paper.
Students showed understanding for the new topic of real numbers and are able to solve the tutorial exercises rather independently.
Improvement points of students:
Henry was slightly better disciplined after explaining the rationale of certain rules.
There is a need to train up the concentration of Susan and William as their short attention spans are the major impedence to them performing.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Day: Thursday
Students present: Michael, Susan, William, Henry, Noe Noe
Students absent: NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James, Elizabeth
Subject: Maths
Topic: Factors and Multiples (test), Real Numbers
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Differentiating the different types of numbers eg integers, natural numbers etc.
2) Methods of solving questions with negative integers
3) Students are taught to simplify expressions in brackets first before continuing on with simplifying multiplications and divisions followed by additions and subtractions. They are also taught that maths expressions should be solved in the general direction of left to right.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Tutorial Qn 1,2,6,7
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Generally well behaved during maths test. Henry and Michael were able to finish the test before the stipulated timing of 2 hours. William and Susan had a difficulty concentrating for the whole length of the paper.
Students showed understanding for the new topic of real numbers and are able to solve the tutorial exercises rather independently.
Improvement points of students:
Henry was slightly better disciplined after explaining the rationale of certain rules.
There is a need to train up the concentration of Susan and William as their short attention spans are the major impedence to them performing.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
AEIS Maths
Date: 210409
Day: Tuesday
Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Noe Noe, Susan
Students absent: NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Maths
Topic: Factors and Multiples
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Reinforced concept on perfect square
2) Standardized way of presentation for Qns similar to Tutorial 1 Qn 11(a)
3) Taught students how to find a number, M, when it gives a remainder after being divided by a certain number. Students were also given an exercise on this concept.
4) The relationship between the square and cube of a number and the square root and cube root of a number respectively.
5) Application of HCF and LCM in word problems
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Qn 15, 17, 18
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Students are generally weak in solving word problems due to the lack of understanding of concepts and the question. Though students might be quite proficient with the method to obtain HCF and LCM, they do not understand how to use them in different word problems. There is a constant need to guide the students throughout word problems as a result.
Improvement points of students:
William is weaker in Maths than the rest of the class. As a result he has been constantly slower than the rest of the class and more time has to be given for him to grasp concepts.
Homework given (including due date): Students have been tasked to revise for their Maths test during their free time.
Day: Tuesday
Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Noe Noe, Susan
Students absent: NA
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Maths
Topic: Factors and Multiples
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Reinforced concept on perfect square
2) Standardized way of presentation for Qns similar to Tutorial 1 Qn 11(a)
3) Taught students how to find a number, M, when it gives a remainder after being divided by a certain number. Students were also given an exercise on this concept.
4) The relationship between the square and cube of a number and the square root and cube root of a number respectively.
5) Application of HCF and LCM in word problems
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Qn 15, 17, 18
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Students are generally weak in solving word problems due to the lack of understanding of concepts and the question. Though students might be quite proficient with the method to obtain HCF and LCM, they do not understand how to use them in different word problems. There is a constant need to guide the students throughout word problems as a result.
Improvement points of students:
William is weaker in Maths than the rest of the class. As a result he has been constantly slower than the rest of the class and more time has to be given for him to grasp concepts.
Homework given (including due date): Students have been tasked to revise for their Maths test during their free time.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sec 2 Math 20/04/09
Date: 20/04/09
Day: Monday
Students present: Myint Myat, Ye Naing, Thin Nwe
Students absent: Nil
Teacher (main and assistants): Jasper
Subject: Math
Topic: Direct and Inverse Relationship
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
- Thinking process of attempting such questions.
- Linking the word relationship to two parties, linking the relationship between the two parties as the equation.
- Thought process imparted:
a. Locating the two parties involved in the question (alphabets, or things)
b. Finding out the relationship between the two (direct or inverse)
c. Creating an equation to link the 2
- Highlighted importance of stating that K is a constant.
- Fortified the knowledge and difference between constant and variable.
- Understanding that the constant (K) will never change in the same question
- Understanding basic graph theory (as X increase, Y increase)
- Learning to draw inverse and direct graphs
- Understanding the specialties in the various graphs (eg. straight line, pass through origin for direct graph, note the axes)
- Understanding how to prove that two variables are inverse, (vt = k, where k is a constant)
-
Example questions gone through: 2A Math Tutor Assessment Pg 44, 48, 51
Practice questions given: As above
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
- Ye Naing and Thin Nwe are able to attempt the questions at a smooth speed.
- Ye Naing and Myint Myat occasionally forget to include (where k is a constant)
- Myint Myat is still quite slow in attempting the questions
- All are able to grasp and concept and mechanism behind the topic better. Will avoid mistakes in drawing incorrect graphs (curves)
Improvement points of students:
- Myint Myat to practice more
- All to read the question more carefully and underline and annotate more often
Homework given (including due date):
Math Sec 1 Textbook pg 27, 28 - Review Questions 1 (due Saturday 25 April 3pm)
Day: Monday
Students present: Myint Myat, Ye Naing, Thin Nwe
Students absent: Nil
Teacher (main and assistants): Jasper
Subject: Math
Topic: Direct and Inverse Relationship
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
- Thinking process of attempting such questions.
- Linking the word relationship to two parties, linking the relationship between the two parties as the equation.
- Thought process imparted:
a. Locating the two parties involved in the question (alphabets, or things)
b. Finding out the relationship between the two (direct or inverse)
c. Creating an equation to link the 2
- Highlighted importance of stating that K is a constant.
- Fortified the knowledge and difference between constant and variable.
- Understanding that the constant (K) will never change in the same question
- Understanding basic graph theory (as X increase, Y increase)
- Learning to draw inverse and direct graphs
- Understanding the specialties in the various graphs (eg. straight line, pass through origin for direct graph, note the axes)
- Understanding how to prove that two variables are inverse, (vt = k, where k is a constant)
-
Example questions gone through: 2A Math Tutor Assessment Pg 44, 48, 51
Practice questions given: As above
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
- Ye Naing and Thin Nwe are able to attempt the questions at a smooth speed.
- Ye Naing and Myint Myat occasionally forget to include (where k is a constant)
- Myint Myat is still quite slow in attempting the questions
- All are able to grasp and concept and mechanism behind the topic better. Will avoid mistakes in drawing incorrect graphs (curves)
Improvement points of students:
- Myint Myat to practice more
- All to read the question more carefully and underline and annotate more often
Homework given (including due date):
Math Sec 1 Textbook pg 27, 28 - Review Questions 1 (due Saturday 25 April 3pm)
AEIS, ENGLISH
Date: 200409
Day: Monday
Students present: Michael, William, Henry, Susan
Students absent: Noe Noe (sick)
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: English
Topic: Newspaper Journal, Grammer Practice
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Newspaper Journal
Students were given chances to present their articles to the class. They are encouraged to use the technique of 5W1H to organise their ideas before presenting. The presentations are opportunities for the students to hone their command of the language and to build up their confidence in front of an audience. It will be good to ask the class if they had understood the presentation by the presenter so as to let the presenter gauge his own performance. Feedback can be given after the presentation.
2) Grammer Practices
No concepts taught yet. Students are asked to work on the practices.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Grammer Practices 1-5 (compulsory)
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Students are still not proficient with using the 5W1H. However, when using this technique, students have a tendency to only list the main incident under WHAT and miss out other necessary subevents/details that contribute to it. It is thus necessary to prompt students during the presentation. Students are generally positive towards the idea of doing newspaper journals and are enthusiastic towards presenting before the class.
With regards to presenting, Henry is slightly more proficient in picking necessary details and explaining in a coherent manner while Michael is able to carry himself most confidently.
Students are generally weak in grammer. More details will be given after marking their work.
Improvement points of students:
William has been able to concentrate better on his work.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Day: Monday
Students present: Michael, William, Henry, Susan
Students absent: Noe Noe (sick)
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: English
Topic: Newspaper Journal, Grammer Practice
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Newspaper Journal
Students were given chances to present their articles to the class. They are encouraged to use the technique of 5W1H to organise their ideas before presenting. The presentations are opportunities for the students to hone their command of the language and to build up their confidence in front of an audience. It will be good to ask the class if they had understood the presentation by the presenter so as to let the presenter gauge his own performance. Feedback can be given after the presentation.
2) Grammer Practices
No concepts taught yet. Students are asked to work on the practices.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Grammer Practices 1-5 (compulsory)
Post-teaching
General comments of students: Students are still not proficient with using the 5W1H. However, when using this technique, students have a tendency to only list the main incident under WHAT and miss out other necessary subevents/details that contribute to it. It is thus necessary to prompt students during the presentation. Students are generally positive towards the idea of doing newspaper journals and are enthusiastic towards presenting before the class.
With regards to presenting, Henry is slightly more proficient in picking necessary details and explaining in a coherent manner while Michael is able to carry himself most confidently.
Students are generally weak in grammer. More details will be given after marking their work.
Improvement points of students:
William has been able to concentrate better on his work.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Friday, April 17, 2009
AEIS, Maths
Date: 170408
Day: Friday
Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Susan, Noe Noe
Students absent: Nil
Teacher (main and assistants): James
Subject: Maths
Topic: Factors and Multiples
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
1) Method to make a given number a perfect square from its index notation.
Main takeaway statement: "The powers of the prime factors must be even"
This is concept is especially important in questions that ask for the value of a variable that when multiplied to a given number, makes it a perfect square. Students are thought step by step how to solve this kind of questions. Starting with expressing the given number in an index notation before looking at the powers of the prime factors and making them even. Through this, students also learnt about basic indices concepts such as how to increase a power of a factor.
2) Composite Numbers
3) Using words to complement mathematical expressions
In certain questions that can be solved logically, it makes it hard to express all arguments in mathematical expressions or equations. Students were shown certain basic ways to express arguments in both words and mathematical expressions pertaining to Qn 11(a)
Example questions gone through:Nil
Practice questions given: Tutorial 1 Qn 10 - 14 (Qn 11-14 are word problems)
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Students are familiar with the methods for finding HCF and LCM. However, there is a need to reinforce the fundamental concepts of factors and multiples for them to be able to fully understand and utilize the concepts and methods flexibly. As such, it makes it harder for them to understand and solve word problems that focus more on applications of concepts. I will probably use the Maths lessons the coming week to focus on the understanding of the word problems and application of concepts.
One observation is that students have difficulty concentrating for the whole length of maths lesson from 130 to 6, making it harder for them to grasp concepts taught. I am suggesting readjusting the tuition format for the AEIS students so that the length of time between 130 to 6 can be split between Maths and English tuition.
Improvement points of students:
William has shown a marked improvement from the previous lesson by showing a greater degree of concentration in solving his Maths problems. However, he is weaker and slightly slower in his understanding of his concepts.
Henry is fast at grasping concepts and applying it. He shows interest in learning new concepts. However, he is slightly complacent in this work and has a tendency not to admit his own mistakes when it comes to concepts that he believe he has grasp well enough.
Susan showed an effort to improve on her neatness and quality of her work. She made a greater amount of effort to check through her work as of the previous lesson.
Michael and Noe Noe have maintained a positive attitude towards learning. However, they should be able to produce work of much higher quality if they cut down on their carelessness.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Thursday, April 16, 2009
AEIS English - 16/04/2009
Date: 16/04/2008
Day: Thursday
Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Noe Noe, Susan
Students absent: NIL
Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young
Subject: English
Topic: NA
Teaching process
Concepts taught: Summary Techniques. Introduced to the students the 5W1H technique. Students are taught to breakdown an article by using the following prompt questions in the following order.
1. When
2. Where
3. Who
4. What
5. How
6. Why
It is important to note that the sequence of these prompt questions are vital in the logical thinking process during the analysis of the content. Pt 1 to 4 are what I termed as the FACTS prompts. These are things that are definite, such as the location of an incident, the time it happened and the people involved so on and so forth. The HOW question is what I term as the ANALYSIS question. This is where the reader uses the facts obtained earlier on to analyse and deduce how something happen. The WHY question is what I term as the REFLECTION question. This should come as the last as the student is challenged to give his or her own opinion to the article that he or she have just read, based on the analysis and the facts they produced earlier on.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Newspaper cuttings from The Straits Times
Post-teaching
General comments of students: All the students understand the usefulness of this method and they are quite receptive of it. However, they are still not very used to the concept of such systematic breakdown when reading an article.
Improvement points of students: After each student completed their journal entry for the newspaper cuttings, I've always asked them to present to the class what they have done. The last 2 lessons I allowed them to open their book to refer to what they have written but discouraged them from doing so. During this lesson, I forced them to close all their books and many of them find it difficult to present. Many of have yet to instill this analytical system into their brain and thus their presentations were messy and disorganised. By forcing them not to read from the book straight, I am challenging their understanding of their article and opinions. It also allows them to express their thoughts through verbally, giving them the chance to practice speaking English.
After doing this for the past 3 lessons, I find this method very effective for teaching english in class and I see the improvement in them. However, their writing skill and articulation still have much room for improvement.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Day: Thursday
Students present: Michael, Henry, William, Noe Noe, Susan
Students absent: NIL
Teacher (main and assistants): Lim Young
Subject: English
Topic: NA
Teaching process
Concepts taught: Summary Techniques. Introduced to the students the 5W1H technique. Students are taught to breakdown an article by using the following prompt questions in the following order.
1. When
2. Where
3. Who
4. What
5. How
6. Why
It is important to note that the sequence of these prompt questions are vital in the logical thinking process during the analysis of the content. Pt 1 to 4 are what I termed as the FACTS prompts. These are things that are definite, such as the location of an incident, the time it happened and the people involved so on and so forth. The HOW question is what I term as the ANALYSIS question. This is where the reader uses the facts obtained earlier on to analyse and deduce how something happen. The WHY question is what I term as the REFLECTION question. This should come as the last as the student is challenged to give his or her own opinion to the article that he or she have just read, based on the analysis and the facts they produced earlier on.
Example questions gone through: NA
Practice questions given: Newspaper cuttings from The Straits Times
Post-teaching
General comments of students: All the students understand the usefulness of this method and they are quite receptive of it. However, they are still not very used to the concept of such systematic breakdown when reading an article.
Improvement points of students: After each student completed their journal entry for the newspaper cuttings, I've always asked them to present to the class what they have done. The last 2 lessons I allowed them to open their book to refer to what they have written but discouraged them from doing so. During this lesson, I forced them to close all their books and many of them find it difficult to present. Many of have yet to instill this analytical system into their brain and thus their presentations were messy and disorganised. By forcing them not to read from the book straight, I am challenging their understanding of their article and opinions. It also allows them to express their thoughts through verbally, giving them the chance to practice speaking English.
After doing this for the past 3 lessons, I find this method very effective for teaching english in class and I see the improvement in them. However, their writing skill and articulation still have much room for improvement.
Homework given (including due date): NA
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Template for Evaluation
Please use this template for future new posts:
Date:
Day:
Students present:
Students absent:
Teacher (main and assistants):
Subject:
Topic:
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
Example questions gone through:
Practice questions given:
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Improvement points of students:
Homework given (including due date):
*IMPORTANT*
Please use these Labels: by level and subject and be exactly word by word.
This is to help facilitate better classification and indexing.
For eg. If i'm teaching math for sec 2 class, i will label below as:
Sec 2, Math
Label Types:
Sec 1
Sec 2
AEIS Prep
Math
Science
English
Date:
Day:
Students present:
Students absent:
Teacher (main and assistants):
Subject:
Topic:
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
Example questions gone through:
Practice questions given:
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
Improvement points of students:
Homework given (including due date):
*IMPORTANT*
Please use these Labels: by level and subject and be exactly word by word.
This is to help facilitate better classification and indexing.
For eg. If i'm teaching math for sec 2 class, i will label below as:
Sec 2, Math
Label Types:
Sec 1
Sec 2
AEIS Prep
Math
Science
English
Secondary 2 Math 14/04/09
Date: 14/04/09
Day: Tuesday
Students present: Myint Myat, Ye Naing, Thin Nwe
Students absent: Nil
Teacher: Jasper Ong
Subject: Mathematics
Topic: Algebra (entire topic)
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
- Went through gradesavers algebra test Questions 1 - 5
- Basically went through techniques for answering questions
- Techniques for underlining, rephrasing questions into mathematical terms
- Techniques for simplifying complicated equations; to facilitate cross multiplication, cross factorization and simultaneous substitution
- Introduced technique to identify how many answers a variable can have (power of variable)
- Taught answering technique not to omit any answers for variables
Example questions gone through: Questions 1 - 5
Practice questions given: Nil
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
- Thin Nwe can understand her mistakes and re-did the paper without assistance.
- Ye Naing have certain problems with word problem sums; losing focus halfway and not analysis the question hard enough to determine what it means in quantitative terms
- Myint Myat generally has problems with all the questions. After explaination and doing the question with him and explaining every single step, he was able to redo the questions without guidance at slow speed.
Improvement points of students:
- Myint Myat - Learn to do long cuts, stop skipping steps, understand the flow process of the entire question and understand why every single step is required and what they are leading to.
- Ye Naing - Spend more time reading and analysing through the questions. Underline important key terms and replace them with quantitative terms for easier understanding. Need to practice more, not versatile enough when handling different types of math questions.
- Thin Nwe - need to be less careless, read the question carefully even though long word problems can be daunting. Learn to actively underline questions and replace words with quantitative terms.
Homework given (including due date):
Redo question 1 - 5 of test paper. Due by Friday (17/04/09)
Day: Tuesday
Students present: Myint Myat, Ye Naing, Thin Nwe
Students absent: Nil
Teacher: Jasper Ong
Subject: Mathematics
Topic: Algebra (entire topic)
Teaching process
Concepts taught:
- Went through gradesavers algebra test Questions 1 - 5
- Basically went through techniques for answering questions
- Techniques for underlining, rephrasing questions into mathematical terms
- Techniques for simplifying complicated equations; to facilitate cross multiplication, cross factorization and simultaneous substitution
- Introduced technique to identify how many answers a variable can have (power of variable)
- Taught answering technique not to omit any answers for variables
Example questions gone through: Questions 1 - 5
Practice questions given: Nil
Post-teaching
General comments of students:
- Thin Nwe can understand her mistakes and re-did the paper without assistance.
- Ye Naing have certain problems with word problem sums; losing focus halfway and not analysis the question hard enough to determine what it means in quantitative terms
- Myint Myat generally has problems with all the questions. After explaination and doing the question with him and explaining every single step, he was able to redo the questions without guidance at slow speed.
Improvement points of students:
- Myint Myat - Learn to do long cuts, stop skipping steps, understand the flow process of the entire question and understand why every single step is required and what they are leading to.
- Ye Naing - Spend more time reading and analysing through the questions. Underline important key terms and replace them with quantitative terms for easier understanding. Need to practice more, not versatile enough when handling different types of math questions.
- Thin Nwe - need to be less careless, read the question carefully even though long word problems can be daunting. Learn to actively underline questions and replace words with quantitative terms.
Homework given (including due date):
Redo question 1 - 5 of test paper. Due by Friday (17/04/09)
Thursday, April 9, 2009
9/4/2009
I've spent almost a day with the AEIS students and I feel that it is important for me to keep you guys in the loop so that you all can monitor and advise me accordingly. Below are my preliminary assessment for this batch of AEIS students. In general Like what Jasper said, this class is rather bright. They are able to grasp concepts very fast. Within 2hrs, they are able to grasp the main concept of factors and multiplication, which I am impressed by. However, I feel that their basics are not very strong. In this case I am talking about their multiplication tables. Many of them are unable to conduct simple multiplication and require rough workings, eg. 7 x 7 = 49. They are still not very strong with the basics. From what I gathered from them, they've learnt the Multiplication Table 5 years ago and I can see that they were rather dependent on their calculator. I will be focusing on altering their mindset of depending heavily on the calculator to one that is founded upon mental calculation, which I believe is important for them in the context of AEIS and Singapore education. Thus, I actually cut short their homework from pg 12-19 to pg 12-14 as I dedicated the rest of the time to drill them with their Multiplication Table. In summary, my focus for this week and the next will be to increase their ability to conduct mental calculation.
Michael
He is the oldest. In my opinion, he may not be the most intelligent but he is the most matured. He pays attention in class and he respects the teacher. He is also obedient and when given the opportunity, he will be able to sit down and focus on his work. However, he loses focus easily. Also, he needs to improve on his neatness of his work.
William
He is a good natured boy. Rather obedient. However, he is very weak in the sense that he depends a lot on others. He doesn't like to think by himself and he gives up easily. I have trouble stopping him from comparing answers with his brothers. He always like to approach me and ask me if his answer was correct. I'll always guide him instead of giving him the answer. He loses his focus very easily and needs to learn to concentrate.
Henry
He is the smartest of them all. But he gets very full of himself. He likes to compare to the other students, to make himself feel good. He likes to compare to his sister Susan especially. Also, he is not very respectful to the teacher, even when I try to be firm to him. He is intelligent but that also make him arrogant easily. Work wise, he is very neat and tidy and I don't see much problem of him not being able to cope. He is very focused when he does his work but when he is done, he likes to distract others who may not be as fast as him.
Susan
She is very weak in her maths. She finds it difficult to do simple mental calculations and when I drill them for the multiplication table, she had a few errors for the higher order multiplication tables (ie. 11 and 12 time table). She is very good natured, respectful and obedient. But she gets distracted very easily, especially by Henry. She really needs to learn to be focus in her work and she is by far the slowest among the students. I personally think much more deliberate attention needs to be given to her in order for her to catch up.
Noe Noe
She is generally fine. Work wise, she is still able to catch up. However, she needs to be more careful in her work as she commits careless mistakes quite often. Also, she is quite hasty when doing her work, making her more prone to careless mistakes. But she is generally okay, respectful and obedient. She do get a little distracted though when other students start talking to her. She needs to learn to be more focus.
A point to note, I've requested that they stop speaking Burmese in class in my presence as they know that I do not understand Burmese. They like to discuss the questions in Burmese, making it quite difficult to stop them from comparing answers and such. They were even open to me about it, saying that they did this to their teachers in Myanmmar too because they don't really understand Burmese. Therefore, I am discouraging them to speak Burmese when I am in class. Beyond the class, it is okay. What is your take on this issue? Any suggestion?
Yup, that will be my 2 cents worth for today. Hopefully this is of use to you guys. Do revert back to me if you have any issues or suggestions. Your guidance will be of much help to me as I am still considered inexperienced in teaching. Thank you for your kind attention and have a nice day! God Bless.
-- Regards,Lim Young
Michael
He is the oldest. In my opinion, he may not be the most intelligent but he is the most matured. He pays attention in class and he respects the teacher. He is also obedient and when given the opportunity, he will be able to sit down and focus on his work. However, he loses focus easily. Also, he needs to improve on his neatness of his work.
William
He is a good natured boy. Rather obedient. However, he is very weak in the sense that he depends a lot on others. He doesn't like to think by himself and he gives up easily. I have trouble stopping him from comparing answers with his brothers. He always like to approach me and ask me if his answer was correct. I'll always guide him instead of giving him the answer. He loses his focus very easily and needs to learn to concentrate.
Henry
He is the smartest of them all. But he gets very full of himself. He likes to compare to the other students, to make himself feel good. He likes to compare to his sister Susan especially. Also, he is not very respectful to the teacher, even when I try to be firm to him. He is intelligent but that also make him arrogant easily. Work wise, he is very neat and tidy and I don't see much problem of him not being able to cope. He is very focused when he does his work but when he is done, he likes to distract others who may not be as fast as him.
Susan
She is very weak in her maths. She finds it difficult to do simple mental calculations and when I drill them for the multiplication table, she had a few errors for the higher order multiplication tables (ie. 11 and 12 time table). She is very good natured, respectful and obedient. But she gets distracted very easily, especially by Henry. She really needs to learn to be focus in her work and she is by far the slowest among the students. I personally think much more deliberate attention needs to be given to her in order for her to catch up.
Noe Noe
She is generally fine. Work wise, she is still able to catch up. However, she needs to be more careful in her work as she commits careless mistakes quite often. Also, she is quite hasty when doing her work, making her more prone to careless mistakes. But she is generally okay, respectful and obedient. She do get a little distracted though when other students start talking to her. She needs to learn to be more focus.
A point to note, I've requested that they stop speaking Burmese in class in my presence as they know that I do not understand Burmese. They like to discuss the questions in Burmese, making it quite difficult to stop them from comparing answers and such. They were even open to me about it, saying that they did this to their teachers in Myanmmar too because they don't really understand Burmese. Therefore, I am discouraging them to speak Burmese when I am in class. Beyond the class, it is okay. What is your take on this issue? Any suggestion?
Yup, that will be my 2 cents worth for today. Hopefully this is of use to you guys. Do revert back to me if you have any issues or suggestions. Your guidance will be of much help to me as I am still considered inexperienced in teaching. Thank you for your kind attention and have a nice day! God Bless.
-- Regards,Lim Young
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