a. INTRODUCTION
Describe the approach/strategy used.
b. DEVELOPMENT
What were the challenges encountered during implementation?
What were the tactics employed to resolve the difficulties met?
What further improvements can be suggested?
c. PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
What new insights/discoveries have I made in relation to my role as a teacher?
How will I make use of this new knowledge in future?
What further information or knowledge should I seek to expand my knowledge in relation to this context?
The students have been exposed to the problem solving process since primary school. But they do not put in into practice. They do not see the importance of the four-step and do not have faith in it. Most of the students rushed through their work. They do not have the time to practise the 4 steps when they are doing their work. It is also very difficult for me to spare the time for them to got through the 4-steps on their own in class due to time constraint. Most of the time, I ‘helped’ them through the first step ie understanding the problem rather than giving them time to ponder on the question assigned and ask questions about it. This is even though I believe that the first time is the key to to a successful problem solving process.
ReplyDeleteStudents must understand the question first before even trying to figure out how to tackle it. The last step ie check, is also important as when they check whether they got the solution correct or wrong, they must be aware of the thinking process that allow them to solve the problem successfully or not. In other word, by not rushing thru step 1 and 4, they are also being more aware of their own thinking as they solve math problem, their metacoginition. Creating worksheet that guide them through the 4-steps will be very useful but the most important thing is not to rush them in finishing the worksheet.
Peer observation -Mr Ashley Ong (Sec 101)
ReplyDelete14th April 2011
sec 101 is co-taught by me and Ashley.It was a new experience for me to coteach in a relatively good class.Majority of the 101 students are doing well for math except for a couple of foreign student whose poor command of English are hindering their progress in solving word problems.
Ashley was introducing to the class the concept of marked price, discount, discount percentage, profit and GST.
He introduced the concept by using 2 advertisement flyers, one from a PC firm and the other from a jewelry store. These flyers are those given out on the streets by shops to promote their sale hence, students are very familiar with it.
The jewelry store was offering 20% discounts on selected items while the flyer from PC Store displayed the marked price and the discounted price. From here he formally introduced to the students the terms: marked price, discount percentage and discounted price. I find this introduction very authentic and simple for the students to understand. It helps them to see the relevance of the Maths concept that they learnt in the classroom and the real world. Students were excited discussing about these term. Without any guidance, they managed to form a link between marked price, discount percentage and discounted price.
As an introduction to cost price, selling price and profit, Ashley painted a scenario to the students. He asked them to imagine that they were involved in a school camp whereby tidbits are prohibited. He wants to sell bars of chocolate and because only he has the supply, he is able to price the bars as high as he wants and earn big profit. The students went on to discuss how much profit he will earn if he sells the bars at a certain prices and the corresponding profit percentage.
Will try to use this method when introducing the same concept in other classes.
Ace-learning account was subscribed for express and normal academic students. One of the advantages is the readily-available ict lessons that we can use during lesson. The portal is also useful for students to do self-study or revision.
ReplyDeleteFor sec 101, there was just sufficient time for us to cover the syllabus for mid year exam due to the public and school holidays in term 2. Another worry is there are close to 10 students who just joined the class at the end of term 3 and 1 student just joined the class 2 days ago. Although we will like to go through the earlier chapters with these students, due to time constraints, it is just not feasible. Hence we encouraged 101 especially these students to log into ace-learning often and go through the lessons on their own. They were told to attempt the practice questions available online.
For 112, they are very weak in the maths and some of the students took foundation maths. Due to lack interest and motivation,they forget a concept the moment they leave the classroom. Hence for these students, frequent re-visits to earlier topics are crucial in order to prepare them for the major exam.
One of the tools used during this revision period is to assigned quizzes in acelearning for the students to attempt.Informed the students to go through the interactive lessons before attempting the quizzes. In order to encourage the students to log in often and attempt the quizzes seriously,check the results of the quizzes daily and students were email ed or reminded about it.
One of the things I discovered is that when I praised a student about his participation on the online quizzes,other students are quickly to claim that they also logged on the portal and attempt the quizzes.This is especially so in 112. it actually perked their interest in doing math indirectly.
the quiz results also provide me with an idea on which topics majority of the students are weak in and focus on revising these topics during lesson to maximize revision time.
another observation is the better students spend more time doing the quizzes and obtaining good scores compared to weaker students who will take a much shorter time and obtained poor scores.