webquest package!

this is the url to our webquest package..... http://www.freewebs.com/xksinz/frame.htm

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!!!