Sunday, August 17, 2008

教师交流会: 今天我不烦

Organised by 联合早报 on 2008, August 16.

(i) Sharing on Relaxation Methods 周美伶博士
Key points...

一` 理想的情绪

  • 见微知著 (处变不惊)
  • 不动声色
  • 情绪平和
  • 全情投入

二` 瞬间解郁法

  • 心能量中心 (It's about Inhaling and Exhaling exercise, focusing in counting down from 7 to 1 while exhaling... and repeat several times)
  • 库氏挂钩 (Read more about Cooks' Hookup HERE)
  • 眼珠转动法 (It's about moving the pair of eyes swiftly from left to right for about 20 times... then close the eyes to rest... and repeat for about 2 times... By doing so helps to 'temporarily' switch off the active area of the brain, hence helping to re-focus. Read more about Eye Movement Exercise HERE.)
  • 大笑法 (Read more about HERE. About the World Laughter Club).

Well, in particular, the 3rd & 4th methods tired out one so that to 'drop' the worry for a short while...

(ii) Sharing on the Use of the use of “SEL听筒” to support teaching by 蔡勇智 (Teacher from Poi Ching School)

  • He shared a couple of examples how he made use of the passages to get his students to think deep, what's the right action to take and why they think so.
  • One example is 两朵花 which talks about the relationship between a foreign maid and child. He also leveraged on this story to get pupils to talk about their views on maid's role in a typical current singapore context.
  • One teaching strategy he shared: Instead of distributing the newspapers to the class after receiving the newspapers, he scanned the passage for discussion and got the pupils to read (with their eyes) and listen to the story first. This helps to focus their attention to listen and discuss. Only after the activity, he would distribute them for reading.
  • Throughout, he emphasized that the use of the articles is to set pupils thinking. As a teacher, he would not "correct" pupils' as the important outcome of the whole activity is not about right or wrong, but to encourage the pupils to think and talk about their responses, and therefore answers are not important, and it is not necessary to have answers to everything.
  • While I agree to some extent that we should give pupils the freedom to express their views and encourage them to articulate their thoughts, I feel that it is necessary and important to articulate the right values to our children when theirs is questionable. No doubt, that may just splash cold water on the enthusiastic child! On the other hand, that also means teachers need to be equipped with the skills to guide (引导). Otherwise, it gives students the perception that they are always right and they can just argue their way out!
  • He closed the sharing with the PEL (Performance, Enjoyment, Learning) model he shared, the message he sent across is enjoyment and learning matters most... with that, it will cover boost the performance...
  • Audio files are available at http://youth.zaobao.com/friday/pages/tunie_audio.html

(iii) “21世纪新加坡儿童漫画作品的生态现象” (孙爱玲博士)
大拇指 (作者:陈聪明) http://youth.zaobao.com/friday/tu.html

孙爱玲 shared on her analysis of the comic "大拇指 " in relation to the mindset of children and also a reflection of social issues from the perspective of a child. She also shared how the comics have cleverly integrated NE, Social & Moral values into the storylines. Through the comics, the author also raised social awareness by touching on issues like the forest fires around and dengue fever. Well, it seems that this set of comics book has quite a bit of educational values!
Example: http://youth.zaobao.com/friday/pages/06tup21.html
See archives: http://youth.zaobao.com/friday/pages/tuparchive.html#2007

... in fact, this session sounds more like a paper presentation (from the paper!!!)... ok, you'll know how dry it is... On the other hand, definitely, this segment reminded us that serious messages can be brought out in light-hearted manner (eg. in the form of comics) to reach out to children... So, the choice of media plays a part in reaching out to the targeted audience effectively.

(iv) Stayed back after lunch for the KuSong Competition (Prize Giving Ceremony)

In fact, learnt a new term in this session... on what's KuSong... Hm.. seems to be a re-packaging of what some of us did in our old days, but with new elements integrated... so, it's a "mutilated" product! er... Old wine in new bottle??? Hahaha... ok... not a good choice of word... that's doing unjustice to the work done... ok... maybe term as Revolution? maybe Evolution sounds better :D

Well, it's from the Japanese... ah ha! ring a bell? the 哈日风seems making a comeback!

Read more about what's kusong HERE.

But what's more amazing is the products by the students... pretty creative! There are multimedia ones, there are also those that used the 'ancient' technology. Am impressed. View HERE.

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