Last post

I stopped the blog since
The year come to end (happy about it)

Last post for the blog

I stopped posting this blog since
I do not have time to do it
I have not got any encouragement
No response from my pupils
The year ended (happy about it)

Probability

I started probability with my class. My students are getting confused with the terminology (Experiment, Event, Outcomes, Mutullay exculsive and equally likely). I am explaining these terms for every problem. The posibility diagrams and tree diagrams are also confusing. Practicing is the only method to master these diagrams.

Most of the other things like divisibilty tests are forgotten by my students. I need to go slow to get the ideas to sink in them. Probability is one topic in which pupils can score well.

5th Week 28th Jan to 1st Feb

This week few good things happen in the class. The first and foremost was the pass percentage of the first test. It is quite encouraging. Fifteen girls and eight boys out of 20 girls and 10 boys passed the test. Most of them worked hard for the test. Some of them did silly mistakes. Very few of them misunderstood the concept like multiplication of a matrix with itself. They need extra practice and they will get it right. Overall, I was happy. For the first time, there were few surprizes which are good for the class. I hope that the whole class work hard to do better. There is always a difference between 'hardworking people' and 'hardly working people'. You can cheat others but cannot cheat your self. Few months of hardworking will change the direction of the future. I see few bright futures now. I hope to see every pupils' bright future.

If the whole class is with me, I can do more interesting things in the class. I still see few groups, here and there still continue talking during teaching. I always ask them about their understanding. Every one tell me that they understand without listening to me.

I am going have another test in vectors soon. Hope that I will better results.

Week 4 - Jan 21 to Jan 24 - Vectors

This whole week I was too busy to update this blog. And also, I was angry with the absentees from group study. I decided not to talk to the pupils who were absent from the group study. They must realise the importance of teachers' time. They can not take it granted.

I also did not receive the home work from all the pupils. Those who submitted, did quite well. I am happy for them. Some of my pupils are serious about their Maths now. That is giving me moral boost to go to the class and teach well. I tried to keep cool to focus on the pupils who are interested to study rather than those who are not interested.

I completed almost the whole chapter. I did go through the whole practice 3A with my pupils as I thought the basics are very important. I did give home work from practice 3B and 3C.

On Thursday, O level results came. I saw some of my pupils in the hall listening to Principal's talk. Hope that they will start working hard.

17th January: Vectors

This is being the ninth period , all the pupils seemed very tired. I do not have any other option but continue the lesson. If I allow them go to toilet, I will have a big line. So, I was pretending that I am angry and did not allow any one to go to toilet. After some time, I really got angry with so many requests for toilet.

For my class, compare to Matrices, Vectors are difficult to understand. I want them to focus on the lesson. I was not successful to get the attention from the whole class. There are some pupils are not ready with either their books or notes. I have to walk around to check on them.

As usual, our emotional pupils had their issues to resolve. I need to pray to God for them to grow fast. It seems to me that, that is the only solution for me as on now.

I only completed eight problems from Practice 3A.

I need to conduct a test on Matrices. Should I plan the test next week? A surprise test? Oh No. They will surprise me with the results.

16th Jan Lesson - Vectors

I was eager to start Vectors today.
However, I was supported neither by my students nor my Tablet PC.
I was angry and punished the pupils who came late.
I had head and body aches before coming to class. The aches are bothering me while I was teaching. I also had problem with my voice.

Why my students are not serious about their learning? I am unable to understand and I am angry with me. I do not want to make this entry. I was keep thinking about not to continue this blog because I am not getting the result what I expected from my pupils. However, I do not want to loose faith in them. The day will come where they will be serious about their studies. With this hope, I will still continue this blog.

Ex 5D - 15th Jan

Today, I did some problems from the practice 5D. I wanted to complete the practice however, I could only did few problems only. The rest, I asked the class to do as home work.

I am giving out the their work back to them for correction after completing my marking. I found that there is quite a significant difference in their work comparative to sec 3. I hope this will continue.

Additional lesson on 14 Jan: Aggregate Types

Yesterday I took an extra relief period to show the class blog to 4ED. I did not clearly understood their response. I was not sure whether they liked it or not. I also shared class Netvibes portal. I hope that they will like it too.

I spent the other time with them explaining the aggregate types (took from JAE 2007) for various courses. Most of them interested in poly courses. None of them showed interest in JC/MI or ITE courses.

To add to the blog, I typed the following information in table form. However, I could not copy the table as it is. I must learn to do tables in blogs. Any how, I managed to put the information in a meaningful.

I wish all the best to my class. I hope that this information is useful for their decision making and working towards in right direction


L1 R5 : For JC Course
L1
First Language
English / Higher Mother Tongue
R5
Relevant Subject 1
Humanities
Relevant Subject 2
Mathematics / Science
Relevant Subject 3
Humanities / Mathematics / Science
Relevant Subject 4
Any GCE ‘O’ Level subjects
(Except Religious Knowledge and CCA)
Relevant Subject 5
Any GCE ‘O’ Level subjects
(Except Religious Knowledge and CCA)



L1 R4 : For MI Course
L1
First Language
English / Higher Mother Tongue
R4
Relevant Subject 1
Humanities / Mathematics / Science
Relevant Subject 2
Humanities / Mathematics / Science
Relevant Subject 3
Any GCE ‘O’ Level subjects or CCA
(Except Religious Knowledge)
Relevant Subject 4
Any GCE ‘O’ Level subjects or CCA
(Except Religious Knowledge)


ELR2B2: For Polytechnic Courses

EL
English
R2
1st group of Relevant Subjects
Elementary Mathematics
Additional Mathematics

2nd group of Relevant Subjects

Architecture Courses (ELR2B2-A)

Art
Biology
Chemistry
D&T
Physics
Science(C, B)
Science (P, C)

Business Related Courses (ELR2B2-B)

Combined Humanities
Geography
History
Principles of Accounts

Science–Based Courses (ELR2B2-S)

Biology
Chemistry
F&N
Physics
Science(C, B)
Science (P, C

Technology Courses (ELR2B2-T)

Biology
Chemistry
D&T
Physics
Science(C, B)
Science (P, C)

B2
Best 2 other subjects excluding CCA



EL1 R1B3 & ELR2B2 : For ITE Courses

EL
English

Accounting Courses (ELR1B3-A)

R1
Elementary Mathematics
Additional Mathematics
Principle of Accounts

B3
Best 3 other subjects excluding CCA

Business Courses (ELR1B3-B)

R1
Elementary Mathematics
Additional Mathematics

B3
Best 3 other subjects excluding CCA

Chemical & Life Science / Information Technology Courses(ELR2B2-E)

R1
1st group of Relevant Subjects
Elementary Mathematics
Additional Mathematics

2nd group of Relevant Subjects
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Science(C, B)
Science (P, C)

B2

Best 2 other subjects excluding CCA

10th January Lesson on Multiplication of Matrices

It took some time for me to start the lesson. I managed to keep them silent before I start the lesson. My worry was that they may have the problems understanding the condition for the multiplication of matrices. I used a PowerPoint presentation to show how the multiplication works. There were number of questions from them. That was a good improvement from them. I felt good after teaching the class as most of them understood the condition. We started Practice 5C. Three of my pupils submitted their work and others needed more time to complete. I will wait until Monday to get their work since I do not have a lesson on Friday with them.

9th Janauary Lesson

Today, we did some problems from the worksheet and some problems from the practice 5B. They are all about addition, subtraction and scalar multiplication of Matrices.

All most at the end of lesson, my AVA boy angry with me because I did not answer his questions. Actually, I was busy with other pupil's question and did not hear what he was asking. He felt angry and do not want to talk to me. He was so cute in that situation. I was able to manage him and made him to do work for me.

And also, there was a girl who got angry with her classmates' remarks.

Most of my pupils do act on the spot without thinking much. They are always emotional and not to lose face is very important to them than any thing else.

They will be OK once they leave the school and see the world with their eyes. It is the processes of learning others. I hope that they do well in their life.

Group Study Tuesday 9th Jan

The attendance was poor comparative to yesterday. The topic seems to difficult. The very first problem from the practice B (Review 1) it self is tricky to them. I ended up explaining to each group separately.

Some people completed up to six problems during the one hour group study. I need to check from the absentees for the reason.

Addition of Matrices and Scalar Multiplication

I gave their marked home work and went through the mistakes made. Most of them able to do the problems. Only concern was, the representing the answers in Matrix form. I am sure that they will learn by doing more of such problems.

I started Practice 5B. I did one problem from each of questions one to five. All the other problems, I gave them as homework.

My worry was the zero matrix. Will they able to apply properly?

First Group Study lesson on Monday 7th Jan

As I entered the class, few pupils were waiting for me. I quickly re-arranged the tables for the group study and told the class to do Practice A (Page 186).
Other pupils, slowly one after the other joined the group study. To my surprise, quite number completed all the fifteen questions. I allowed them to use calculators as they are the first batch to use calculators for paper one this year.
Some girls had some emotional issues. I gave time to them to settle down. When I think about it, they are not able to manage themselves properly. Let me pray for their well being. I hope that they understand the complexity of issues around and they succeed in their life by overcoming the obstacles.

Monday 7th January Lesson

I was quite angry with the class as they tool very long time to settle down. I shouted even. I thought they are going back to last year days. Even though, I do not want to scold them, I end up doing so. Meanwhile, I collected the homework. Surprisingly, I received all but two.

In addition, my tablet PC also gave me problem. The minute I turn to tablet mode, the screen became blue.

I taught them the addition of two matrices and scalar multiplication. Since it is only one period, I was rushing to complete. I told one of my student that, I will repeat it again tomorrow.

I reminded the class about their group study lesson in the afternoon.

Home work

I received three homework submissions even though I did not have lesson with my class. I am so happy.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Yesterday, I shared the following story with my class. I like this story. It has many learning points. I wanted my 4ED to be motivated by it.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race.
The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race.
He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.

The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.
This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.
But then recently, someone told me a more interesting version of this story.

It continues. The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed. This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story?

Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. If you have two people in your organization, one slow, methodical and reliable, and the other fast and still reliable at what he does, the fast and reliable chap will consistently climb the organizational ladder faster than the slow, methodical chap.
It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable. But the story doesn't end here.

The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route.
The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river.
The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral of the story?
First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

The story still hasn't ended.
The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.

They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.
The moral of the story?
It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below parbecause there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.
Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.There are more lessons to be learnt from this story.
Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure.

The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could. In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.
When Roberto Goizueta took over as CEO of Coca-Cola in the 1980s, he was faced with intense competition from Pepsi that was eating into Coke's growth. His executives were Pepsi-focussed and intent on increasing market share 0.1 per cent a time.

Goizueta decided to stop competing against Pepsi and instead compete against the situation of 0.1 per cent growth. He asked his executives what was the average fluid intake of an American per day? The answer was 14 ounces. What was Coke's share of that? Two ounces. Goizueta said Coke needed a larger share of that market.
The competition wasn't Pepsi. It was the water, tea, coffee, milk and fruit juices that went into the remaining 12 ounces. The public should reach for a Coke whenever they felt like drinking something.To this end, Coke put up vending machines at every street corner. Sales took a Quantum jump and Pepsi has never quite caught up since.

To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise teaches us many things. Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady; work to your competencies; pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced with failure; and finally, compete against the situation -- not against a rival.

I also shared with the class about the calculators which are allowed for GCE examination. There was a funny moment of finding the model number of a calculator.

And there was another funny moment. Bringing of text book. Laughing is good for health.

First Day of 2008

Yesterday was the first day for the year 2008 and also my first lesson with 4ED.

I was expecting a better environment in the class and I can see some change in the class behaviour. I can see maturity in most of the pupils and they are serious about their studies. I felt good.

I did target setting with them. I read targets, distractions and suggestions to improve for all the pupils. One pupil was absent and one girl was sick.

As usual, quite number of wrote the noisy class it one of the distraction. I wonder whether they are know about noisy class means they agreeing that they are the ones making noisy and not others. Every one point figure on other but usually the pupil himself/herself making noise.

I also prepared six groups (2 boys and 4 girls groups - 5 members in each group) for every Monday group study programme. I think they need more help in Mathematics to achieve the target I set for the class (B3).

Overall, the first day went very well.

Happy new year and all the best to 4ED class