READING: A little reflection.... More than a Little

A beautiful book - bought... thought it would be a nice appreciation gift. 

On reading... Realised it's a nice healing book for myself... yes, the words... seemed to be speaking to me.

I work hard, very hard. I'm hardworking... at my job.

I think hard, think very hard. I've been very thoughtful - for others, for my organisation. Probably something that I have done very little for myself. The words here are affirming. Love it! 

It says, "You're gooder than good, and you're kinder than kind." I believe I've lived up to these words most of the time, although it may not, from others' perspectives. 

On another note, I cannot claim that I'm as "bighearted" as I wish I could.

I mind things that are against the natural law that I define. I try to be see things from the bigger picture, and attempt to see from others' perspective. Unfortunately, when it seemingly does not make sense to me. It basically does not make sense to me. I can be unforgiving, in my own ways. 

Nevertheless, I would strive to be make a difference everywhere I go. Though, this difference may not be appreciative by those who have been impacted because my doing it could be one of the darkest days of these people. It requires maturity to really and truly appreciate, I believe. Hence, my ROI may take years to come back, or may never come... well, all in all, still, I've made that difference, the desired difference - at least, that's good enough.

I more than a little appreciate "me" (you).

READING: Reflection - Touching the Stars with the monkey and the butterfly

Like small easy reads like this... not just because it's "books of few words", but there are lots of inferences we can make along the simple (yet not so simple) story line. 

It started with a pair of acquaintances, with one being more passive, and the other being curious. It explicitly articulates some key ideas and reminders along the way (in their journey).

The 1st one was the monkey's reply to the butterfly that "Just because something's always there, it doesn't mean we should take it for granted." It's a very important reminder. Sometimes, it's not only that we take for granted its presence and assumed it would always be there, and worse, sometimes, we even complain about it and abuse it in our own ways, and did not even appreciate its existence or presence. We won't know and feel its impact and importance until it is gone, until we discover the inconveniences or wonder why things no longer as smooth sailing as it is. 

The monkey has a wish, i.e. to touch the moon... but it seemed had not done much to try making it come true, reason being "too afraid of falling". Yes, no doing anything is also doing something - i.e. decided to resign to fate? Probably also because, it is all alone, by itself. So, what else can it do - with this limited 'capacity'?

How about the butterfly? Its role is the encourager that attempts to ignite the kind of enthusiasm that's currently absence in the monkey. It is optimistic and believes in possibilities. The "fear not" and "why not" attitude matters a lot! It comes the driving force - to continue to pursue in the dark times, in challenging times. It does not take things granted, but it magnifies them to see the positivity in them - .e.g. (... things that make one smile...) It' snows small if it makes you smile. Once again, it shows how it appreciates things arounds, no matter how small it is. Think about it, it sounds like an old sage! 

"Everything comes to an end" - which sounds very sad. 

From another perspective, "but whenever something ends, something new begins". 

Some equivalents & deliberation... While 天下无不散的宴席，柳暗花明又一春；塞翁失马，焉知非福也？

I think what's more important is... any "ending" should not be treated too lightly, and we have to recognise that it's not about ending a relationship, too... instead, relationship should be one of the outcomes of the ending of an episode or stage. This is really very important, especially in this very real and connected world! The world is really very small, when people are so well-connected today. One may meet or work with each other in other future episodes. We have to recognise... each engagement is about building one's relationship, and trust and confidence are two elements that come with this relationship. 

This point was illustrated twice in the story - the monkey & butterfly's encounters with the snake, as well as the bird (towards the end of the story). Good reciprocates good. Sometimes, one never know how the other party has sacrificed to render the necessary support, just to help one to succeed selflessly - not for a reward, because "being able to help others, is a reward," replied the snake.

Because of this willingness to help, to selflessly give... one has actually stretched its capacity.... "as it takes someone very strong to help others with their problems, while they are dealing with problems of their own."

One other point - which is very real world, is being illustrated through the perception that the monkey and butterfly had with the snake. Nevertheless, I like how they approach it. They describe how they feel when the realised the "vine" is the snake, and were fearful that the snake would be angry. However, the snake responded "we often assume the worst... but appearances can be deceiving."

The climax comes towards the end when the bird lifted them up to the volcano, to borrow its power to send the monkey and the butterfly to the furthest point (nearest to the moon and star). 

The fear of being placed at the edge - "It's okay to be scared," replied the bird, "bu no matter how bad the storm gets, it will always pass.". Isn't that encouraging? It's just like we were at the moment just before the exam, just before giving an important presentation, or meeting someone important who would determines our progression? This sounds so familiar! Looking back, we would be able to count... some of those moments that left such heavy impressions in us, and there are also countless that we had to brave through.... "Our emotions come and go, just like clouds in a stormy sky." replied the bird. To manage this, like what the butterfly said, "a calm mind is the best weapon to use against a challenge".

How to manage the fall? What happens when one fails? What's the attitude to face it? 

The moment when the bird flew to pick up the pair, it said, "even though we can't control the outcome, we can always control our actions."

In reality, "Life doesn't always go as planned" (from the monkey) and "sometimes, the unplanned moments are better than the planned ones" (from the butterfly). "Following your dreams is never silly" (from the snake)

Hence, while we may plan, we still need to plan because without a plan is planning to fail. But, we need to exercise flexibility and be adaptable, and accept change is constant, ride along it and brave through the storm and enjoy the fruits. When we look back at peacetime, we would be so proud of ourselves as we have grown each time as we move on the journey. 

 

Fostering Mathematical Thinking: Disposition for Future Ready Learners

This is the keynote address of the Mathematics Learning Day 1 (18 April 2023), by Dr Tan Liang Soon. 

He started off asking the question, "Can our students be adaptable & resilient for the VUCA work demands?" 

Indeed, looking inward, I wonder... perhaps as educators, we should ask ourselves the same question, too!

I guess, we already experienced the first wave more than 20 years ago, when the ICT Master Plan was rolled out to all schools. I guess, the emotion was a mix of excitement (hope!) and anxiety. Back then, many would not have imagined how life would be like once technology was first introduced to schools, and no one, more than 20 years ago, could have imagined how technology has become part of our livelihood today, and how undetachable it is (to us)! No, the ICT Master Plan did not prepare us for this massive change. It first came as a means to improve how teachers teach, hence the way students learn (in the form teachers dished out the lessons), but not about changing how students learn.

To answer the question, have we, the educators, adapted? 

Yes... over time. Those who could not, they probably belong to the group we infamously labelled as "those who were resistant to change" or "technology" (more specifically). Many were those near retirement age, then... and that was probably the group that most HOD ICTs had to face and struggle with, while trying to carry out the mandate. Then, we allow those who could fly be the champions in the school, and of course, some of those champions landed up with key roles in the ICT department. The transition was tough, though varying degree - depending on the profile of the school (also the school leadership) and the staff. 

Can I conclude those who survived till today had demonstrated resilience? Probably yes. OR because they were not given a choice as teaching is their means of living, hence they have to follow the flow? After all, this flow doesn't end up bad, isn't it? Because we acknowledge that change is inevitable and change is constant, we been change in order to keep up with what we are supposed to be doing? 

Those of my era... and survived in the school system (till today) - kudos to us! Knowingly or unknowingly, we braved through the tough weather. We learn to be adaptable, not just the way we do things, but also our way to think, our mindset. Not bad, after all, when we look back. If we were determined to be resistant to change, we probably would be the rare few cavemen around. Continue to remain in the cave... and being isolated from the society. 

About Abstraction: 

To illustrate abstraction, Liang Soon used the example, on how the engineers managed to pin point at the problem that caused the train delay of the circle line a few years ago - to illustrate how data scientists draw connections from what they know and exercise flexibility when handling data (non-routine, seeing from a think-of-the-box way) to solve problem.

Video: Analysis of Circle Line Breakdown - DataScienceSG

One trait he highlighted was, being able to arrange or organise data points in the way it makes sense, the ability to notice is critical, and it comes with the ability to imagine! 

Making relationship between dots to form some kind of patterns that may or may not make sense is the starting point. 

To be able to do this, the desirable attributes of Problem Solvers would be Perseverance and Problem Solving (spirit!).

Abstraction is about extracting underlying structures, patterns or properties of a mathematical concept. 

What is the big idea there? 

Let's figure out how to leverage mathematical processes to develop competencies in abstracting and reasoning!

OPAL (5 Feb 2023) Functional Behaviour Assessment

An OPAL course: SEN:se Online PD Unit 4.1

I wonder: What is "Functional" behaviour? What does it mean, and what has it got do with managing situations arises in the classroom?

Indeed, it's my understanding of the word "Functional".

After attending the online module,

I understand: 

The word "functional" seems to inform what is the "function' of the behaviour we see 

i.e. what the children intends to achieve through demonstrating a certain behaviour

Based on this - what the module intends to achieve: 

Helping us, the adult learner to understand what's was the intent behind the behaviour

e.g. what the child hopes to that, through demonstrating this behaviour, it will make the adult to respond in a certain manner to meet his/ her need. [wow! sounds like using behaviour to manipulate responses to meet one's needs 😱]

Through understanding this not-so-simple psychic behind, we are better prepared to manage this (and prob not fall into the "trap" to make things worse. It also means, it helps us better understand why the child behaves in a certain manner and better address his/ her needs, and hopefully helping him/ her to overcome his/ her fear, anxiety, discomfort, etc.. that could possibly hinder them from moving on. 

It's NOT so much of 知己知陂; but to enable use to 对症下药💉 

The 4 steps are systematic and logical:

Step 1: Systematically identify and understand the behaviour of the student

• The observable behaviour, which we need to be able to describe clearly. Indeed, it's a skill, which we normally 'summarise' rather than to make it descriptive, which is is necessary to be helpful for diagnosis.

Step 2: Collect and Analyse Info of the Behaviour

• This helps us to understand the cause, which includes what happens before, during and after - being observant not just on the 'subject' (child), but also its environment, and the people around (and what they do)
• What could be the triggers - which is very helpful to pre-empt and prevent the undesirable behaviour

• ANTECEDENT (a thing that existed before or logically precedes another): Environment, Triggers
• BEHAVIOUR: Intensity, Duration, Frequency
• CONSEQUENCE: Responses from child and others

Step 3: Identify reasons of the behaviour

• Indeed, this is where the blackbox "mystery" unveils - to diagnose the cause in order to be able to 对症下药 - identify and prescribe the most suitable strategy to manage or change the behaviour

• SENSORY NEEDS: What makes one feels/ looks/ sounds/ smells/ tastes good?
• e.g. when walking around helps to dispel pent up energy; rocking chair
• ESCAPE: To stop an undesirable behaviour or interaction that the child does not like to be engaged in (from child's perspective)
• e.g. Being rude to the teachers so that he would be sent out of class and need not attend to a task
• ATTENTION: Hence, the behaviour that the child exhibits to create/ elicit a positive or negative reaction from others (e.g. Teachers, Peers) 
• e.g. clowning around, repeatedly asking question 
• TANGIBLE: To provide access to a desired item/ activity, teh child will do something to create a response
• e.g. Throwing tantrums, time on the mobile phone, crying to get a toy

Step 4: Apply appropriate strategy to correct problem behaviour

Targeted strategies were suggested for each general type of reasons... though not exhaustive:

• SENSORY NEEDS: 
• Replace a behaviour with a more appropriate skills
• Scaffolds seems to be one way to help the child to gradually get phased into action, more importantly, I think it is to let him/ her know that it is manageable and there is really a way to achieve it. 
• ESCAPE: 
• Teach child to ask for a break, if needed
• Offer choices within the work goal
• I also like the reminder that it should not be removing the task totally, which means compromising the learning objective (from the teacher's perspective). Hence, it should not be a win-lose kind of situation.
• ATTENTION: 
• Teach appropriate replacement behaviour or skill (e.g. raise hand, ask for help)
• [IMPORTANT] Ignore inappropriate behaviour; give attention fo appropriate behaviour
• Praise others for demonstrating the appropriate behaviour (proximal praise)
• Quite like this... is not to reject a behaviour directly, but to re-direct attention so that child learns "how" to get the attention he desires in an appropriate way by looking at how others achieve the same intent.
• TANGIBLE:
• Teach communication skills (e..g requesting)
• Teach waiting
• Token economies - e.g. Group point, star chart - something that the child sees himself making progress

On the whole, the module puts together what we know (but sometimes forget to practise) very succinctly. 

• Some strategies (or to-dos) seem generic, but when packed together, they make sense to provide support in a more targeted manner.
• It reminds me of some things that I can do with some of the kids in the class. 
• On the other hand, just thinking aloud:
• It seems more feasible to be applied to students new to the environment (at the start of the year) rather than half way through the year, though possible, but probably requires more effort to undo/ address certain perception that the child might have already created (mindset).

Part of Singapore History, through the lens of Zubir Said

Semoga Bahagia - May you achieve happiness

Playlist

Watched the musical "Don't call him Mr Mari Kita" (online), as part of the National Day celebration by/ for the global Singapore community.

Bought the ticket to the life performance this July; unfortunately it was cancelled as a few of its cast members were infected by Vovid-19.

It's a musical of a very different style... Would not have imagine myself watching one with all songs in Malay yet enjoyed thoroughly. I think, the magic is the "connection" between me & the context presented - It's about Singapore. 

• An interesting discovery: The national anthem was first composed for the reopening of the Victoria Theatre before it was tweaked to be the national anthem. 
• The very familiar songs we learnt in our primary school days - "Singapura", "Chan Mali Chan", "Children's Day song" are composed by Zubir Said; however, this info was never in our memory
• Indeed, the song "Singapura, Sunny Island" was originally a song composed in Malay with heartwarming words that guides. It's a pity that the meaning was lost along the way, in particular, for those of us who do not know the language.

Reflection 6 Polarities of Humanity

This article was introduced in the recent meeting. As mentioned to us, most of us will look inward as we reflect. However, this could also be used to understand others' action or choice; and probably their belief system, too. 

• LINK to article 
• Human KPI: Human Key Polarity Indicator

There are the 6 sets of indicators.... if we look at them carefully, they are important 

Just to pick a few that resonates with me more....

These 6 pairs provide deeper insights to my thoughts and actions; it also gets me to articulate the rationale of my action or choice of action. It certainly also touches my belief, what I hold dearly to. As I reflect, I notice more flashbacks, too.

Looking from SELF (i..e internal), I desire assurance (be given to me), especially when I'm working on something new. Am I on the right track? That's a natural question. I do not wish to detour (i.e. continue to do the wrong and digress further from the goal). It is fine be told that I'm not in the right track, but just tell me as soon as possible, or when I check. The important thing is, I would take the first step to check to seek assurance. That's part of confidence building. Be it from the supervisor or from my peers. Yup, It is about looking up to someone who's more knowledgeable or had the experience. Hm... is it about trying to address the fear of making mistake? Yes, it's one of the reasons. 

Of course, this also means being open to changes and being receptive to feedback and advise. On the other hand, it needs to be moderated, too. Else, it is going to hinder or 'kill' growth when one becomes entirely dependent on others. Being open is necessary for growth. However, that's not enough, discernment and the ability to manage to manage the inputs is important, too. 

Change the role: How about giving assurance to OTHERS? 

Yes, I think that's important especially when an individual is entirely new to the job. This would be helpful to ease someone into the role, especially for someone who's identified to do the work (i.e. not self-volunteer). This is the first step to build confidence, and hopefully being able to give suggestions or make decisions independently after sometime. Agree that this needs to be moderated, too else, two things may happen: 

• It may increase the dependency on us, and may ended up the "tell me I'll do it" situation. Hence, this needs to be managed differently as the individual develops the skills and grows. E.g. when one could fully take over the responsibility, the 'assurance' is no longer needed, but probably only needed to apply when the individual consults.
• For those who are eager to fly and wanted to climb quickly, assurance may not work at all, and they would probably see it as a hindrance. To manage this, we'll need to constantly review the reactions/ responses from these individuals. Nevertheless, monitoring from far is still necessary - to render support when the need arises. Definitely, it cannot be an entirely OPEN situation. 

When I saw this, the immediate experience drawn out was my days in Part as the Computing Teacher to the first two cohorts of the ICT teachers. The context is important here. Reason being I was working with individuals who were enthusiastic but did not know what they did not know was possible or relevant then. My experience back in Singapore had enabled me to seek and create new experiences for them which they might not even thought it was possible. From my perspective, these were not "hope" plucked from the air because I knew that what I proposed were already workable (and happening) back in my home country. But to them, it was hope. I am pleased that I could do this.

Still, I think HOPE comes with "awareness" hence we know, how realistic it is to give hope. What are the chances of success. And yes, I operate on realistic grounds. 

I think, similarly, when I ask someone to dream, I have already done some calculated risk. Definitely, I would have at the same time drawn some parameters for the dreamers. It's not a blank cheque, basically.

(HSSTF) My Thoughts: Chap 1

How Stella Saved the Farm Chapter 1 Three Months Earlier

Something simpler: 

• What advantages do human run farms have over animal run farm like Windsor?
• Why does Marcus believe the farm needs a new kind of leader?

Something more chim: 

• At his last act, Marcus wanted to create change on Windsor Farm. What options other than turning the farm over to Deirdre might he have considered?

---

As highlighted in the story, it seems like farms managed by human are more responsive to the changes out there, e.g. it adopts new technology, when it's available. The human world seems to be a "bigger" world compared to the "animal" world (as Marcus described McGillicddy's "giant operation") - hence could harness more resources (due to its size). Comparatively, the animal-managed farm is smaller, giving the impression that it's more enclosed and operated based on limited knowledge, skills and even wisdom. Human-run farms also leverage on size, hence tapping on the advantages that small-size companies do not have. 

On the other hand, McGillicuddy was described treating animals poorly, which illustrated the limited or absence of "humanity" or the welfare, well-being aspect. Was it trying to say, without taking into consideration (or with limited consideration for) the well-being is among the many that constitutes to success of big corporations? 

Marcus described Windsor's approach to run business - a family-run company.  "...but family first has always been our most cherished principle." It highlights one of the strengths (or success factor) in Windsor is about relationship and affection, care aspect. Perhaps at this point, we should Aso 

The farm needs a new kind of leader because...

"Operational excellence" contributed to Windsor's success. However, Marcus had rightly pointed out "efficiency is no longer enough". Though it is still important - there are more to that's needed so that the organisation can keep up with time, keep up with changes, and remain competitive (to survive). 

To do these, creativity, courage and the ability to take the organisation in new directions (i.e. visionary) are  qualities that Marcus highlighted. 

• Creative: To be able to do things differently, probably not just to "do" differently, but also to 'lead' differently - to bring about change, not necessary to 'rock' the boat (I think), but to build on to minimise the turbulence that change could create?
• Courage: To pick up the courage to make the first move, and continue to move despite it might be difficult to move on and sometimes even having to deal with self-doubt
• New Directions (Visionary): To remain relevant when time changes, and at the same time heading towards what we might not even able to imagine???

The journey would definitely be exciting, that it requires perseverance and unweaving belief & trust of the leadership, too.

What would "How Stella Saved the Farm: Prologue" bring?

Thanks to the new school leader, the book "How Stella Saved the Farm" would be introduced as a professional learning materials... very timely... and really hope that it is going to spur the school to the next turning point (of the S curve). 

- I hope that it would re-ignite our passion and excitement and help us to leap far from where we are now

In my humble experience, anxiety, uncertainty and tsunami-like come-and-go action are part of the process as we rise above our status quo. 

Looking back, when the school first started, all of us came from different places. We brought with us our dreams and hopes, and probably somethings that we knew might not be easily attainable through the normal circumstances (i.e. mainstream context). At least, I did. There were things that were difficult to move quickly or tried in "set" contexts - which means introducing changes & new things to rock the status quo. 

One advantage to start a new context was from ground zero, there were no existing proven practices that we would hold tightly (because of its value, or because it had played an important part in our past, when we grew). At the same time, all of us came with our knowledge from the previous contexts that we were ready to value-add or choose to 'try again' - something we thought worked well and might help the new entity to grow? or ideas that we learnt from the past - to be carried differently. More importantly, we all knew that we were embarking a new beginning, and our energy level was hight. Strong visionary leadership was definitely a critical success criteria.

Now, to move on and leapfrog, compared to the beginning, would mean having to manage another element, which could be seen as an obstacle, indeed, sometimes. It's the "baggages" that we have created over these years as we grew to who we are today. It's scary! (Isn't it?) Now, with the established practices and what had proven to be working, and working well... They had brought us to where we are today. They are the ones that others (external) would probably recognise or know who we are because we had done it so well. So, are we going to drop them? What's the price that we would have to pay.

On another note, is there a price to pay if we just continue to hold on to these "baggages" tightly - including our practices? Yes, definitely... 

• we need to maintain our status quo to survive while others are catching up - as others surpass us, we are actually lagging behind as days go by, despite this 'maintenance' of effort. It is not sustainable
• when other move forward, they become responsive to the environment and changes around, and would have picked up the momentum as they move, gathering new knowledge and capabilities as they grow. On the other hand, if we were to remain in the 'maintenance' mode, to what extent are we responding to the new needs and new changes out there? An important question that we need to ask ourselves. However, the dilemma is, how to manage this "change" - the need to keep up with the pace (the change) yet not to lose what we are doing well and recognised for?

From Google Search... Bypass Strategy or Leap Frog strategy is defined as way to surpass or overthrow the superior competition in the business field by usually by engaging in one enormous, determined, ruthless, brilliant leap of mastermind that results in extraordinary growth, profit, and management position....

Hopefully, we could gather enough courage and sharpen our sensing - to move forward yet keeping true to what is uniquely us, uniquely our niche.

After almost 4 years... Hello... I'm back!

Thanks for the recent discussion on crafting KPIs for the strategic objective related to staff professional development. We spoke about the possibility of setting up some form of structure to kickstart/ support teachers to document their learning and reflection. 

eDocumentation was something we piloted implementation last year... while purpose was absolute clear to us, to help students cultivate the habit of reflecting their learning experiences and how they could work on it to improve themselves, not just the subject matter, but their metacognition development. Looking back, it did not occur to me that I had long forgotten how I had benefited from this in the past.... Quite shamefully... I lost the habit that had helped me to grow over these years (though I might not have noticed how much I gained when I was working on it). 

It was lost in the busyness of many many things... probably busyness was the best default excuse. 

As I dug out this blog to show the team that this (i.e.blogging) could be one of the many formats that one could choose to document their learning, I now recalled how much I lost in the past 4 years. 

I have not stopped learning. I have not stopped reflecting my practices (of course, sometimes it was part of the PD sessions)... but I had forgotten to include it in a very intended way as part of my personal growth. 

Something that I should pick up again... and I hope to sustain this effort... 

Activity Strategy: Role and Hashtags

This is one idea generated when attended an activity at the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute.

---

The idea:
There are 2 sets of materials:

• One stack of cards with different roles
• One set of 'hashtags' that are related to the topic of discussion 

In the activity I participated in, I was told to draw a card, which turned out to be student.
Which means, I was supposed to speak from the students' perspective.

Then I was given a hashtag - supposed to describe today's student in 6 words (from the student's perspective). The hashtag is used, in this case, to collate information.

•  In other words, hashtags come in handy when twitter is the choice-platform. However, we can modify the 'role' of hashtags in this case.

This strategy is probably useful for activities that links 2 areas together (similar to the many-to-many function relationship)

How we can apply this strategy in our practice?
(from the above example)

 It depends on the nature of our task and the scale (i.e. the number of respondents involved)

Strategy 1: To generate ideas from multiple perspectives
The learning activity requires participants' to adopt a role and provide views on one aspect of a broad topic.

• When platform harnesses on hashtags to collate information (e.g. Twitter)
• Task requires respondents to adopt roles to provide perspectives in several aspects of a topic
• Example: To gather perspectives of different stakeholders of students' well-being.
• Stack of cards: Stakeholder's role - Parent, Student, Teacher, School Leader, Board members
• Hashtags: Areas pertaining to Topic - cyber well-being, physical well-being, socio-emotional

Strategy 2: To carry out major revision

• One aspect: The sub-topics
• Another aspect: Examples/ Illustrations
• Example: Mensuration - Study of Shapes and Properties
• Stack of cards: Shapes
• Hashtags: Properties/ Attributes and formulae to calculate area/ volume