c. What are the relationships between social studies education and society?

The other day i read this interesting speech by foreign minister george yeo which drew analogy between the deviation that is happening in islam today with the mutation of good cells into malignant cells;the process of cancer formation. he talks about how cells were initially good before turning bad in the evolution of cancer and equates this to how the idea of muslim brotherhood started with good intentions has evolved into terror groups like the al-qaeda and JI. The speech goes on to say that despite chemotherapy ultimately the fight that has to place at the cellular level in the cancer treatment. the good cells will have to identify the bad cells and attack them. similarly chemotherapy in the form of clean ups performed in Afghanistan alone would not be enough to eradicate the problem of terrorism. like the good cells identifying and attacking the bad cells it is the religious leaders themselves who have to identify these religious extremists who justify their killings by claiming to save their religion which according to them is under threat.

likewise in social studies education it is necessary to educate the young so that they would be able to judge between right and wrong.they should be like the good cells who would be able to identify the undesirable elements not only in the religious fraternity but in society as well. social studies education would be able to fulfill this role and allow individuals to become not only better citizens but also better a person.

b. Write an impressionistic sketch of what type of social studies teacher you will be (or hope to be)?

I hope to stray away from the typical social studies teacher who is going to come to class and inform students of who wrote the pledge and national anthem! In short make students realise that this is not an extension of their history lessons but lessons that are important. Being part of society we all have roles to play and rules to adhere to and its necessary that individuals realise the need to do so rather than doing it blindly!

a. What do you see as the main value and purpose of social studies education in Singapore?

The main value and purpose of social studies education in Singapore is to strengthen the bonds an individual has towards this nation. It is to create a sense of belonging amongst the young and to do this they are made to learn how independence came about. Moreover they must be made aware of the value of this independence and not take it for granted. Singapore as we know does not have long or rich history as compared to countries like China and India hence forming a national identity is a rather challenging one. Coupled with this is the existence of a multi-racial population, which makes the task a Herculean, one.

What better way to bring about unity within this diverse community then targeting the young? The inculcation of religious and racial tolerance to them through social studies is key to a harmonious society. Racial intolerance is a highly sensitive issue, which if not kept in check can have serious repercussions on society. In recent years our immediate neighbour Malaysia has had racial riots that ended in casualties. Taking into account our close proximity with Malaysia this violence could have infiltrated here too. However with all the drive and importance for racial harmony, racial riots still remain a thing of the past.

webquest package!

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That's all folks!

it was really a surprise to me that 14 weeks have already passed when it just felt like it was only yesterday that i was writing down the words intimidated on the smiley worksheet that Dr Chang gave us.well i can say confidently that is not how i feel right now!!after all the sessions i feel that i have learnt alot especially from the micro teaching sessions and from all the thought provoking discussions we had in class to becoming effective teachers!

i just hope all of us had learnt something valuable from this module and as we embark into our teaching career in the real world we are more confident with ourselves and do eventually get ourselves onto the right track of becoming an effective geog teacher!

my micro teaching..finally!!!

After all the wait the day finally arrived for wan jing and me. we had like really spent close to a week discussing and doing this lesson plan.i even travelled to hougang the day before to fine tune our lesson plan!yes we were stressed..phew glad that i was finally over today!

we had decided to do on population but it took us a while to agree on which aspect of it to tackle.finally we decided on the the introduction of population policies,using singapore as our case study. moreover we wanted to do a lesson plan for a upper sec class something that nobody else had done and we felt we could do with some challenge..we also felt that this topic had a lot of scope and there was just so much that we could have done but taking into account the perennial problem of time time management we decided to abandon ideas like a debate and all.

i started off the first part of the lesson and wan jing was supposed to conduct the second half. by this time we had all grown to accept and like two characters which surfaced during micro teaching sessions, the new zealander Ron and the fairy Pushpa!haha.not surprisingly they never failed to disappoint their fans today too!!hehe

the fairy had to comment about the procreating patterns of the malays in our country(i share the same sentiments too hehe) and that proved to the first hurdle that i had to cross as i progressed with my teaching. then i had to have the words contraceptives flashed onto the screen and our New Zealander Ron just like a typical teenage boy had to comment on it and ask what i preferred to use!!me being the person i am blurted out condoms!!oops!..nevertheless i did say it because it was in the midst of fellow classmates but i guess some of them felt that i may react the same way in class too!well relax guys i know whats permissible and not in class and i wouldn't want to end up in the principal's office explaining to her why i prefer the use of condoms would i?hehe..it was reallt thoughtful of them to voice it out though.thanks

i was glad that on the whole Dr Chang liked our lesson but it proved vital when we had the discussion about the need for a closure to a lesson.do we really need to sum up after every lesson?i personally felt that it was important for a teacher to have a closure to his/her lesson as thi would like reiterate the important concepts to students once again. hence it was really a fulfilling and valuable experience.for now i am just glad its over!!

Field trip to Bukit Timah

We had our field trip to bukit timah hill today.like how they say in malay it was balik kampung for me as it was at hindhede road that i stayed as a child so coming back to the hill,which used to be where i played with my kampung friends brought back sweet memories!How nice it would be if we had just remained as kids then i wouldn't have to bother about my micro teaching session which is about to come up in less than a month's time!hehe

Today's lesson started off real early and we set off the moment everyone had gathered.Dr Chang brought us along the south path of the nature reserve..my legs were really screaming in pain when we continued to travel uphill, thanks to the workout i had the previous day!

Dr Chang gave us a worksheet to complete as he went about showing us the buttress roots,lianas and epiphytes.after a while he got bored with the worksheet just like us and decided to abandon the idea. he then gave us cards which possessed questions which the class had to guess not the answers but the questions itself!!i found it to be quite a unique approach as our brains are always programmed and trained to guess for answers only!

The most important thing that i had learnt today was to realise the need to have a field trip.Hextbooks would give the students the knowledge of what a rainforests consists of and all but to read about a leaf with a waxy surface and to feel such a leaf are two very distinct things.Having a field trip which required the student to use his/her senses would not only keep them engaged but it would also prove to be valuable to them.

After all the dilly dallying we were all caught in the rain and Dr Chang went on to talking and explaining why the sky is blue and all to us!!haha..i had to go back to nie for my lessons at 1130 and it was really nice of Dr Chang to give me a ride back!

micro teaching

The micro teaching aspect of this module was one that i was looking forward eagerly to.i must be crazy to say this especially when it involves having all eyes in the room fixed on you and minds scrutinizing your every move and waiting to tear you apart after your presentation!(that was the case for my other CS subject!hehe).thank god we had great classmates unlike my tamil classmates who portrayed their roles of students very well, not forgetting Dr Chang who was impressive in his role which gave me the impression that it came naturally to him!i can imagine how he would roasted his teachers!haha..just kidding Dr Chang.

Pushpa, Li Yong and Huiyi got the ball rolling for micro teaching. they tackled the topic weather and climate and i must say they did put up an effective lesson.

we were handed worksheets which we had to complete as the lesson progressed which proved to be effective in keeping us focused on the lesson.i liked that aspect alot.moreover they also required us to paste our answers on a chart.this provided for effective interaction between classmates. i believe this would help discussions to take place too.

finally we were instructed to do a project which would have to be submitted in a few weeks. the project in my opinion was well thought of because it kind of summarised all that was taught.moreover i liked their project because it presented students with a wide range of choices.they did not have to restrict themselves to using the powerpoint to perform their presentations.i feel students would appreciate such a move esp when teachers inject new ideas into their lessons.

on the whole it was a wonderful lesson which only pressurised the rest of us as we had to reach the standards that they had set!!nvm we will do it!!!

What should i be?

The second geog lesson touched on the issue of curriculum.Dr Chang was trying to put across to us the need for a curriculum and what it served to fulfill.i personally felt that a curriculum was put in place to allow all schools to follow a standardised format. This would ensure that students throughout the same level would have covered similar essential concepts.

Later that day i bumped into Dr Chang at the gym and he commented on the boring nature of a lesson based on curriculum. he did mention that the question posed by a fellow coursemate(forgot his name!) saved the class from the realms of boredom.

I personally felt that the question did spark off an interesting discussion in class. what constitutes a good geog teacher? does completing all the topics stated on the SOW, striving to attain higher percentages of students passing distinction, improving one's school ranking, getting into the good books of superiors equate to a good geog teacher?

There exist many teachers who strongly believe in this notion and are faithfully working in that direction. There exist schools, who are so preoccupied with maintaining their standings in the rankings, who preach teachers to follow suit and not to be concerned with covering the 'bigger concept' or attaining 'high order learning'.

To a certain extent,I felt that this discussion sort of appealed to my conscience. As a trainee teacher which path would i choose or would the competitive school environment coerce me into adopting one that i conscientiously don't desire?


nagulan

1st geog lesson!

After a month's long wait for these lessons to begin, i went to class with a great level of anticipation and anxiety as i was not knowing what to expect. The lesson began well with an overview of whats to come in the next months. this was followed by Dr Chang handing us sheets-through which we were supposed to express our moods then. although my mood at that point of time reflected a sense of intimidation(after having seen what to expect!!hehe) all of this was put to rest by the time the lesson ended.

That credit goes to to the way the lesson progressed from there. Dr Chang created a staff meeting kind of scenario. We took on the roles of different staff members of a school and discussed different ways of marketing geography to the masses.

This experience was highly enriching and proved to be an eye opener to me. All groups came up with unique ideas to market the subject and the presentations paved the way for beneficial discussions which helped liven the mood and put me very much at ease.

The use of various strategies to teach a subject rather than adopting a mundane 'read off the book' approach is one that i hope to develop from my training in NIE. I want to remain open to all of these various ideas and seek out ways to incorporate them in my lessons. the first lesson today itself exhibited these strategies(role play) which not only kept me focused but also provided with me the confidence that i can expect to see and learn from more of these strategies in the coming lessons.