Final Reflections

Our last lesson. A bit nostalgic about it, frankly.

Our SCLP went through many transformations in a span of a month. These are the changes I remember.

Scenario: Terrorism --> Gang Fight in a Local School

The change in scenario was suggested by Dr Tan. A gang fight in a school is more relevant and authentic for students. Terrorism, while a pressing concern in the real-world, is less of an immediate concern to Secondary School students. Perhaps using terrorism as a topic would be more appropriate for Junior College students.

Method: Every student does all four sources individually --> Each student does one source, get together in a group of four to collaborate --> Each pair of student does two sources, get together in a group of four to collaborate

It was a bit of an eureka moment actually, when Dr Tan prodded us to the realisation that we could get students to do different sources and get together to collaborate. It challenged my presumption that every student has to learn the exact same thing in every single class. Although splitting the sources up meant that not every student will access the audio or the video, arranging it this way meant that each student would have a different piece of the puzzle, forcing them to collaborate to write the email. A stroke of genius, I say. :)

Patricia and I later decided to do pair work so that one partner can type in the note-taker, while the other views the video. The task also becomes less intimidating for students when they work in pairs.

Platform: Flash --> Powerpoint --> Wiki

Creating a button in the the new Flash CS3 threw me off big-time. It is so different in the new flash! So Flash went out of the window and we settled for the safer Powerpoint instead. Then Patricia suggested using wiki. At first I was a little confused about how to use a wiki, but after a little discussion, we realised that wiki may be ideal: it allows us to launch everything from a single platform, and it is perfect for the creation of note-takers.

So, as you can tell, we have changed just about everything from what we first imagined our SCLP to be. :)

Our SCLP: Preventing Gang Violence in Schools

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Thoughts on the ICT course

This ICT course has firmly embedded the words "Student-centred learning" in my brain. It has given me a theory on how students learn, i.e. Constructivist theory. I learnt that teaching is so much more than presenting information. That it requires priming the students by activating their prior knowledge, setting up a learning environment that is safe, and creating opportunities for students to discover things on their own through collaborative learning.

And I learnt how ICT can play a role in Student-centred learning. It supports both indepedent learning and collaboration, and is an engaging medium for students. I picked up a few tools for my ICT tool-kit: Comic Life, Hot Potatoes, Digital Storyboarding, Wikis, etc. Read my thoughts last week.

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How does the future look?

In our last class, we watched a video in2015. It's kinda crazy the things they imagine can be done in 2015. Part of me worries about the separation between the virtual and the non-virtual life. I mean, to navigate inside shopping centre, you actually bury your nose in the screen of a little gadget to tell you when to turn left! We have to live in the "real world" sometimes, if you know what I mean. I worry that we will need more Psychiatrists.

But on the other hand, I'm excited. I realise that this means that the world can be in my classroom: it is only a matter of harnessing the power of technology.

The world in my classroom... oh, the possibilities!

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Dr Tan,

Thank you for your guidance in this journey. I wish you the best in your research on Web 2.0. I am always open to the idea of doing further research.

Best regards,
Faith

Reflection on the SCLP Process

Less than a week to the submission deadline.

It is 1:20am and I'm working on my project.

On a certain level, I don't really mind the final grade I get for this course. If I were to be true to what I believe real teaching is — that knowledge is better than good grades; learning better than testing — then this class is top-notch already, no matter what my final grade is.

I've learnt key pedagogical concepts in this class that has in turn shaped my understanding of teaching in my other English and Literature classes. Who would have thought a class in ICT — a class that meets only once a week for twelve weeks — could teach me so much pedagogically?

My SCLP partner and I met Dr Tan this week to talk through our Project. The most interesting part of the meeting was near the end, when Dr Tan posed to us a question:

"Why bother doing the SCLP at all, when realistically, teachers don't have the time to create such elaborate packages?"

My first instinct was to give a utilitarian answer. Actually I gave this answer in class when Dr Tan asked it last week. I think I was sleepy, hence the bravery. I said that it was useful to do the SCLP because the process of creating such a package is important. Once you have run through the steps once, you could either replicate the SCLP on a smaller scale, or even take apart the parts for mini-lessons, for example, creating an audio clip with audacity for oral, a wiki page for the class, etc. But I think Dr Tan was looking for an answer that was a bit less pragmatic, a bit more conceptual.

While sitting there throwing about ideas on why SCLP is important — by the way, I admire Dr Tan's commitment to the thought that it is better for students to discover on their own, and hence his patience in never telling us the answer — we were gently prodded towards a realisation: that the SCLP exists to make us think out of the box and get used to working outside our comfort zone. ICT is the ideal way of keeping us on our toes because it is changes so quickly.

I realised that it is important for our time here in NIE to be an uncomfortable one — where we get prodded to do things we wouldn't normally do, think in ways we don't usually think, and consider options that we would normally think too risky. When we go back to the schools, the stress and the limited resources tend to only mean one thing: we choose the easiest and safest way to teach — the method with the most credo and the least risk. Before long, we'll get stuck in the rut using these safe methods — Comprehension; Reading; Grammar; Composition; rinse and repeat — because we are used to these methods and we think that nobody can tell us any different just by virtue of the sheer number of years we've used these methods. We would have become Senior Teachers.

I hope I will remember these things when I go back out to teach. I hope I won't get swept away by the overwhelming pressure to produce good grades, and forget that at the heart of teaching, is learning. If I can teach one thing to one person every day, it would be worth it. And although I would like to be Senior Teacher one day, I hope I will never be too stuck-up to change myself and my mindset for the sake of the students.

That's about it. I had better get back to working on the SCLP now...