In my one of teacher's reflection, having observed some teachers who were stressed in Term 2, she spoke on the topic of stress. Listening to her voice, I began do some readings on teacher stress – so as to try to understand, interpret and make workable sense on the possible reasons behind.
In her reflection, she highlighted the importance of taking care of each other. I share the same feeling on the need to be supportive of each other in managing of stress that arises from our teaching role. Having an environment where teachers take care of one another will enable the feeling of “we are all-in-the-same-boat”, and because of that teachers can and need to share concerns, problems and shared perspectives. More importantly, I have learnt from my recent attachment, such sharing must be received in a non-judgmental manner. By being non-judgmental, we can then do something about these concerns and problems.
From my observation, I see such colleague support present in my school and I value such support as it meets our needs. I believe that such support is present because we “feel safe” in school – due to respect and fair treatment among teachers. Stress can come in many forms. After the long hours in school ~6 to 7 hours daily, teachers are tired. Frequently, teachers feel as though that there is not enough time to do everything in school required of them. Other times, teachers are anxious or worry about aspects of the teaching or school experience. Stress may also come from concerns and fears. As the saying goes, “if you cannot prevent it, cope with it” and so the teachers are learning to cope with stress. But, I think that it is helpful to know that each of us are not alone in being tired or feeling anxious or worried about …. – that all teachers feel the same way at some point in time. What is important is that we develop effective ways to manage the limited time and for coping with stress. Likewise for stress, with the different causes of stress for different people and for the same person at different times, there is also no one way to cope with stress.
One of the ways my school has helped to reduce such stress is by reducing the administrative work of teachers, for example, keying in of student attendance, entering of leave application, printing of results. However, I believe that additional moral support and practical support from say the people development is one area that will directly help to improve the support teachers manage stress. Such support could focus on the area of teacher development in terms of positive aspects of teaching and learning and the long terms goals and aspiration. In this way, teachers are more likely to have more balanced view and be able to put things into perspective and therefore reducing stress.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Review of student ICT program
After all the ICT infrastructure, teacher professional development (ICT mentor, departmental training) and student ICT teaching and learning during the last one and a half years, I began to relook at the impact of my promise of ICT on improving teaching and learning process in my school.
The reason why I revisited the ICT program, especially in the areas of student curriculum is because I felt that one of the main obstacles to developing the use of ICT to facilitate learning within my school is the lack of clarity in defining success of students’ competence use of ICT. Moreover, many of us, teachers, middle managers and school leaders alike left the classroom before ICT really began to impact student learning, and therefore may lack the practical knowledge and understand of how ICT can transform students’ learning.
Therefore, I felt the need to build a direction within the ICT student curriculum program that endorsed a primary focus on students’ competence use of ICT and defined what constitutes as its success – using competency levels. In addition, I also believe that reviewing the direction of what the program areas is to go is a fundamental task which should be role-modeled. Through this active engagement, I hope to develop a much greater understanding and clarity about what is meant by successful use of ICT in learning as it applies to both the development for students as well as professional development for teachers. Also through this approach, I hope to identify areas of opportunities for my team and to develop, articulate and inspire other teachers with my vision of the programs and in the process to become more confident in leading the development of such programs. Of central importance is the cooperation and alignment of others to my set of beliefs and direction in these programs.
The reason why I revisited the ICT program, especially in the areas of student curriculum is because I felt that one of the main obstacles to developing the use of ICT to facilitate learning within my school is the lack of clarity in defining success of students’ competence use of ICT. Moreover, many of us, teachers, middle managers and school leaders alike left the classroom before ICT really began to impact student learning, and therefore may lack the practical knowledge and understand of how ICT can transform students’ learning.
Therefore, I felt the need to build a direction within the ICT student curriculum program that endorsed a primary focus on students’ competence use of ICT and defined what constitutes as its success – using competency levels. In addition, I also believe that reviewing the direction of what the program areas is to go is a fundamental task which should be role-modeled. Through this active engagement, I hope to develop a much greater understanding and clarity about what is meant by successful use of ICT in learning as it applies to both the development for students as well as professional development for teachers. Also through this approach, I hope to identify areas of opportunities for my team and to develop, articulate and inspire other teachers with my vision of the programs and in the process to become more confident in leading the development of such programs. Of central importance is the cooperation and alignment of others to my set of beliefs and direction in these programs.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Learning with technology
In one of my teacher’s reflections on her takeaways from a recently held ICTLT conference, she spoke of getting a better insight about infusing technology into learning and teaching and cited examples of how technology may support the learning of our students such as use of website Blabberize.com. Riding on her reflections, I would like to touch on some of the points which she had made which I also value.
Her example of the use of the I-pad to create a talking video showed how technology is used as a resource for teaching, as it enables teachers to find and assemble materials and to guide their students in doing so as they take on independent inquiries to create the “videos of the subjects”. I also see such tool as an aid in reflection and improvement that allows teachers and students to consider and analyze their personal work and work of others – in terms of quality of work. Through this way, students are allowed to display more confidently what they know in an alternative way that I think extend well beyond the standard pen-and-paper practices or the stand-and-deliver presentation and so engages the students to the lesson. This is also a way for both teachers and students to reflect on what learners should know and what “teachers” do. With proper facilitation, teachers can then show the students on models of good performance and support the learning of their students in the classroom.
I also shared her belief that technology should only be used where its use justify as a method of achieving the learning outcome for a lesson. In her example, the use of the technology leads to greater motivation, increased confidence, improving presentation, promoting independent learning… just to list a few. In this case, the prime motivation in making use of technology is to address learning related to the subject. However, with a slight shift in emphasis I think teachers can modify such activity to help develop aspects of our students’ ICT knowledge and skills – which is important for today’s students and tomorrow’s future. For example, the standard production of a word-processed paper-based writing for students to deliver information related with the subject. Such activity modified to include locating relevant information and copying from two or three websites and students editing the pasted text, shifting the focus of the information or targeting specific audience (students need to understand keywords to find, refine search to produce usable results and then validate). Consider the different levels of thinking required of the students! Whilst the subject learning is broadly similar, shifting the technological focus for the task not only supports the development of the students ICT capabilities, it also deepens their learning by helping them engage more fully with the subject.
Her example of the use of the I-pad to create a talking video showed how technology is used as a resource for teaching, as it enables teachers to find and assemble materials and to guide their students in doing so as they take on independent inquiries to create the “videos of the subjects”. I also see such tool as an aid in reflection and improvement that allows teachers and students to consider and analyze their personal work and work of others – in terms of quality of work. Through this way, students are allowed to display more confidently what they know in an alternative way that I think extend well beyond the standard pen-and-paper practices or the stand-and-deliver presentation and so engages the students to the lesson. This is also a way for both teachers and students to reflect on what learners should know and what “teachers” do. With proper facilitation, teachers can then show the students on models of good performance and support the learning of their students in the classroom.
I also shared her belief that technology should only be used where its use justify as a method of achieving the learning outcome for a lesson. In her example, the use of the technology leads to greater motivation, increased confidence, improving presentation, promoting independent learning… just to list a few. In this case, the prime motivation in making use of technology is to address learning related to the subject. However, with a slight shift in emphasis I think teachers can modify such activity to help develop aspects of our students’ ICT knowledge and skills – which is important for today’s students and tomorrow’s future. For example, the standard production of a word-processed paper-based writing for students to deliver information related with the subject. Such activity modified to include locating relevant information and copying from two or three websites and students editing the pasted text, shifting the focus of the information or targeting specific audience (students need to understand keywords to find, refine search to produce usable results and then validate). Consider the different levels of thinking required of the students! Whilst the subject learning is broadly similar, shifting the technological focus for the task not only supports the development of the students ICT capabilities, it also deepens their learning by helping them engage more fully with the subject.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Review on my validation attachment
During my attachment, apart from getting a better understanding of the SEM framework, I observed a group of school leaders interacting together during the validation process. They collaborated, having to work simultaneously on their own SEM criterion. There was much interdependency as the final validation of the school’s practice required inputs from one another. I had the chance to observe how the actions of these school leaders produce the outcome of the validation process through what I believed was distributed and collaborated leadership.
The team leader, a former principal herself, brings along her expertise in the area of management is well respected by the team. The team leader believed that the primary difficulty when reading the school’s reports is that we each read it in terms of our own context. I recalled her saying “… we cannot only read and judge an event of the written report from the perspective your life and experience today. …when you visit the school, when you immersed yourself in the actual school context, feel and see the school through their eyes, their understanding and their experience. “Otherwise, more often than not, your judgment of them will be wrong or even harsh. Another colleague of hers is her right hand person who was herself a former vice principal, looking at the student focused processes and key result performances. She comes to be in her role with 7 years of experience as a quality assessor. She is a detail person, identifying specific problems, offers suggestions for these concerns. Several times in the meeting, she reinforces concepts for others. For example, she gets others to teach the ranking points of JC students to those who do not teach JC. This validation team (comprising of another 5 team members) is representative of how both of them work with each other, especially of the team leader who constantly draws others in to emphasize their points and enable a common team consensus decision to be made in the end.
Through these 3 weeks of interactions and discussions, especially during the pre- and post-site visits meetings and the Caucus meetings revealed that the 7 school leaders each playing different roles and engage in different interviewing practices that weave together – collaborate – to come out with an common team decision in this validation process. There is one member of the team who is also a school principal herself, currently running a school. She now wears a different hat as a team member; she also brings in her management expertise and is often sought out by other fellow members for her expertise in staff management. During these meetings, the different team member’s roles converge and diverge. But the team leader always moves the meeting along, praising and encouraging her members, including the Special Assistant (SA), presenting specific expectations to the assessors and SAs and inviting all members’ inputs and sharing. I see my team leader as the big picture person. She periodically summarizes what has been said by others in order to share an important insight. In response to the various practices in the school, she states: “That’s the framework, the framework shows the approach, but always see if it is linked to the school’s mission vision.” To the SAs, many times she announces, “How much you learnt depends on how we want to be proactive”. She also serves to report critical and relevant information needed for the validation. The interactions of school leaders with each other (SAB assessors, school leaders) as well as how they interact with other non-assessing team members such as the SAs led to good concerted effort throughout the validation experience. One reason I believe is that the team members were given ownership and so encourage each member’s voice and build on consolidated interviews to assess the school. In this way, I see the relationship between the efforts of collaborated and distributed leadership, each requiring somewhat different inputs from one another in enabling the validation outcome to bear.
The team leader, a former principal herself, brings along her expertise in the area of management is well respected by the team. The team leader believed that the primary difficulty when reading the school’s reports is that we each read it in terms of our own context. I recalled her saying “… we cannot only read and judge an event of the written report from the perspective your life and experience today. …when you visit the school, when you immersed yourself in the actual school context, feel and see the school through their eyes, their understanding and their experience. “Otherwise, more often than not, your judgment of them will be wrong or even harsh. Another colleague of hers is her right hand person who was herself a former vice principal, looking at the student focused processes and key result performances. She comes to be in her role with 7 years of experience as a quality assessor. She is a detail person, identifying specific problems, offers suggestions for these concerns. Several times in the meeting, she reinforces concepts for others. For example, she gets others to teach the ranking points of JC students to those who do not teach JC. This validation team (comprising of another 5 team members) is representative of how both of them work with each other, especially of the team leader who constantly draws others in to emphasize their points and enable a common team consensus decision to be made in the end.
Through these 3 weeks of interactions and discussions, especially during the pre- and post-site visits meetings and the Caucus meetings revealed that the 7 school leaders each playing different roles and engage in different interviewing practices that weave together – collaborate – to come out with an common team decision in this validation process. There is one member of the team who is also a school principal herself, currently running a school. She now wears a different hat as a team member; she also brings in her management expertise and is often sought out by other fellow members for her expertise in staff management. During these meetings, the different team member’s roles converge and diverge. But the team leader always moves the meeting along, praising and encouraging her members, including the Special Assistant (SA), presenting specific expectations to the assessors and SAs and inviting all members’ inputs and sharing. I see my team leader as the big picture person. She periodically summarizes what has been said by others in order to share an important insight. In response to the various practices in the school, she states: “That’s the framework, the framework shows the approach, but always see if it is linked to the school’s mission vision.” To the SAs, many times she announces, “How much you learnt depends on how we want to be proactive”. She also serves to report critical and relevant information needed for the validation. The interactions of school leaders with each other (SAB assessors, school leaders) as well as how they interact with other non-assessing team members such as the SAs led to good concerted effort throughout the validation experience. One reason I believe is that the team members were given ownership and so encourage each member’s voice and build on consolidated interviews to assess the school. In this way, I see the relationship between the efforts of collaborated and distributed leadership, each requiring somewhat different inputs from one another in enabling the validation outcome to bear.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Showing sincere interest in the way we teach
In one of my teacher’s reflections, she spoke about her excitement in her teaching that overcame her illness. From this, I highlighted two points on how she showed sincere interest in her students and that she displayed that interest in the way she teaches. To me, both these points are important as it helps us teachers build our bridge to the students for better learning.
We often participated in many activities for a week with our students. Using the example of our outdoor learning experience, where we have some time in between to sit and talk and interact. I had expected groups of students to gather, talk with each other. What I did not expect were the consistent and persistent groups of students around certain teachers. Of hand I asked the students why this teacher caught and kept their attention, they did not say they like the teacher, but said was because he is “interesting”, was “funny”, and “had cool stuff to share with me.” In another word, the teacher was interested in the students.
In expanding the above point on showing interest and showing in the way we teach, it need to start with a conversation and such conversation must be with and about the class of 40 students we are engaging – with the purpose of “first seeking to understand”. This has to begin by listening, so that we are aware of what they want to learn, explore and understand, which the teacher did through her students’’ feedback and journaling. As a result, the teacher can then use words that are built around the students’ needs and concerns, and the students – as with hearing their own name – will tend to pay more attention and so be more engaged.
In this way, teacher and students talk to each other rather than over or around each other. Ideas, feelings and teaching in both directions can then flow, and such connections will definitely better learners as well as teachers.
We often participated in many activities for a week with our students. Using the example of our outdoor learning experience, where we have some time in between to sit and talk and interact. I had expected groups of students to gather, talk with each other. What I did not expect were the consistent and persistent groups of students around certain teachers. Of hand I asked the students why this teacher caught and kept their attention, they did not say they like the teacher, but said was because he is “interesting”, was “funny”, and “had cool stuff to share with me.” In another word, the teacher was interested in the students.
In expanding the above point on showing interest and showing in the way we teach, it need to start with a conversation and such conversation must be with and about the class of 40 students we are engaging – with the purpose of “first seeking to understand”. This has to begin by listening, so that we are aware of what they want to learn, explore and understand, which the teacher did through her students’’ feedback and journaling. As a result, the teacher can then use words that are built around the students’ needs and concerns, and the students – as with hearing their own name – will tend to pay more attention and so be more engaged.
In this way, teacher and students talk to each other rather than over or around each other. Ideas, feelings and teaching in both directions can then flow, and such connections will definitely better learners as well as teachers.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Learning to Ask
I could not have made this decision, with all its school leaders and middle managers around during the validation meeting, without the team leader who’s honest, open questions created a space that invited me to speak and allowed me to hear it.
Such questioning may sound easy. But many people, including myself, have trouble framing questions that are not advice in disguise. “Have you thought about seeing an expert on the matter?” which I cite as not an honest, open question.. The reason I think so is because the question serves my needs, not yours, pressing others towards my version of your problem and its solution instead of evoking your true thoughts. I think I will need to learn how to ask questions that make the other, especially the shy ones to speak up, not shut up.
So, what do I gather are the marks of an honest, open question? An honest question, as I understand is one I can ask without possibly being able to say to myself. “I know the right answer to this question, and I sure hope you give it to me” – which is of course what I am doing above when I asked you to see an expert. And this is a dishonest question because of my assuming that I know what you need, which was to seek advice from experts.
So what will be an honest question? – for example, “Have you ever had an experience that felt like your current situation? or “Did you learn from your prior experience that you feel is useful to you now?” – But why are these honest questions? This is because there is no way for me to imagine what the “right answer” might be. In this way, people are more willing to speak its truth in response to questions like these because they harbor no hidden agenda.
Such questioning can then be led on with an open question that expands rather than restricts the area of exploration, one that does not push towards a particular way of framing a situation. “How do you feel about the experience you just described?” is an example of an open question while question such as “Why do you seem so sad?” is not.
Often I hear of advice given “to use the language the speaker use”. I however, believe otherwise and will not just use the language the speaker uses. Instead, I try to pay close attention not only to the words spoken, but also the body language which may be more telling, so that I can ask questions that invite them to probe what they may already know but have not yet fully explained. For example, “What did you mean when you said that you felt….” might help you discover other feelings - if they are there and if they are really to name them.
In my own struggle to learn to ask honest, open questions, I find it helpful to bear in mind that the best way to make sure that my questions will welcome others to answer is to ask them with an honest, open way. And the best way to cultivate this way is to remind myself regularly to be “non-assuming” of others so that others will trust you and so be more forthcoming.
Such questioning may sound easy. But many people, including myself, have trouble framing questions that are not advice in disguise. “Have you thought about seeing an expert on the matter?” which I cite as not an honest, open question.. The reason I think so is because the question serves my needs, not yours, pressing others towards my version of your problem and its solution instead of evoking your true thoughts. I think I will need to learn how to ask questions that make the other, especially the shy ones to speak up, not shut up.
So, what do I gather are the marks of an honest, open question? An honest question, as I understand is one I can ask without possibly being able to say to myself. “I know the right answer to this question, and I sure hope you give it to me” – which is of course what I am doing above when I asked you to see an expert. And this is a dishonest question because of my assuming that I know what you need, which was to seek advice from experts.
So what will be an honest question? – for example, “Have you ever had an experience that felt like your current situation? or “Did you learn from your prior experience that you feel is useful to you now?” – But why are these honest questions? This is because there is no way for me to imagine what the “right answer” might be. In this way, people are more willing to speak its truth in response to questions like these because they harbor no hidden agenda.
Such questioning can then be led on with an open question that expands rather than restricts the area of exploration, one that does not push towards a particular way of framing a situation. “How do you feel about the experience you just described?” is an example of an open question while question such as “Why do you seem so sad?” is not.
Often I hear of advice given “to use the language the speaker use”. I however, believe otherwise and will not just use the language the speaker uses. Instead, I try to pay close attention not only to the words spoken, but also the body language which may be more telling, so that I can ask questions that invite them to probe what they may already know but have not yet fully explained. For example, “What did you mean when you said that you felt….” might help you discover other feelings - if they are there and if they are really to name them.
In my own struggle to learn to ask honest, open questions, I find it helpful to bear in mind that the best way to make sure that my questions will welcome others to answer is to ask them with an honest, open way. And the best way to cultivate this way is to remind myself regularly to be “non-assuming” of others so that others will trust you and so be more forthcoming.
Friday, March 9, 2012
What are considered games?
Little children love games, and can make them out of anything. Last weekend I was having my breakfast when my younger kid came around and I fed him a spoon of porridge. As he first walks away, I asked, “another spoon of porridge?” He laughs and came back, taking a mouthful of porridge. Then, he began to walk, this time slowly and slowly away. Every time he moved away, I would say “another?” and he would laugh coming back for another mouthful of porridge. This dragged out a long while till I finished my bowl of porridge.
A lot of games little children play begin as if by accident. One day, my younger kid came home with his older brother. First, the older brother would turn on the light in the rooms, then my younger kid would turn it off so as to turn it on. Soon, the two boys would have their “game” going, which lasted for some time till we stopped them telling them it is wrong for wasting electricity.
But thinking about it, even in a more narrow sense games like the latter case, all these may be educational. How? They give the child a stronger feeling of cause and effect, of one thing leading to another. Also, like the latter case, they help the child to feel that he makes a difference, (bringing light to the house) that he can have some effect on the world around him. How exciting it must be for my younger kid, playing a game with an adult (me) or his older brother, to feel that by doing a certain thing, and that he can make that other do something, and he can keep it on as he likes.
The greatest difference between what the kids and adult consider as game is that most of the children once finding them fun, enjoyable, readily accepts it while most adults, in particular if they have never played such games, totally reject it.
A lot of games little children play begin as if by accident. One day, my younger kid came home with his older brother. First, the older brother would turn on the light in the rooms, then my younger kid would turn it off so as to turn it on. Soon, the two boys would have their “game” going, which lasted for some time till we stopped them telling them it is wrong for wasting electricity.
But thinking about it, even in a more narrow sense games like the latter case, all these may be educational. How? They give the child a stronger feeling of cause and effect, of one thing leading to another. Also, like the latter case, they help the child to feel that he makes a difference, (bringing light to the house) that he can have some effect on the world around him. How exciting it must be for my younger kid, playing a game with an adult (me) or his older brother, to feel that by doing a certain thing, and that he can make that other do something, and he can keep it on as he likes.
The greatest difference between what the kids and adult consider as game is that most of the children once finding them fun, enjoyable, readily accepts it while most adults, in particular if they have never played such games, totally reject it.
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