– a Singaporean teacher's storeroom 🖖
lightning has somewhat centered the world’s attention on the island a few days ago.
and by pure chance on May 25 evening, i have also caught a lightning@SG shot, or lightning@BtTimah shots to be more exact (:
it’s a composite photo merged from 3 shots. camera setting was 1″, F14, ISO200 on my a57 mounted on tripod. if you like to download the photo, feel free to head over to Flickr to grab it 😉
the starfish story, aka Sara and the Starfish, was an adaptation of Loren Eiseley’s work. an adaptation via goodreads.com is as follows:
“Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”
“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said,
“It made a difference for that one.”
(photo credit: David Quitoriano)
“a culture … is a set of mental constructs that may serve to guide or justify conduct between people, and to tell them how to use things … it may also tell them how to get from what is to what should be; that is, in one of its aspects culture is a plan for coping with the world.” (Bailey 1992, as cited in Becher, 1994).
ref:
Bailey, F.G. (1992). Anthropology. In B.R. Clark & G. Neave (Eds.), The Encylopedia of Higher Education. Oxford:Pergamon Press.
Becher, T. (1994). The significance of disciplinary differences. Studies in Higher Education, 19(2), 151-161.
(acknowledgement: Brian Nelson)
昨天的Studio课我们迎来了两位“插班生”——振南师&凤儿师。下午茶叙我们围坐时就聊到教师如果独自备课工作量太繁重的问题。因为华文老师一般得为许多进度作准备。凤儿师分享道小学老师有50-60个人在一起的一个组织，如何为小学每一课课文准备最基本的教案、ppt和相关资源。振南师则分享道某校部门主任如何组织老师在某学年集中火力准备某年级某进度的类似的教学资源的工作。
当时脑海浮现一些思绪但却说不到点上。今早再想了想，我想我当时的responses应如下：
1. Resources are important component for lessons – must have, and therefore must be prepared.
2. Cooperative resource preparation is good because it allows concerted effort for teachers to focus while divide-and-conquering (1).
联系我们茶叙前在聊的话题种种，我觉得关键是：
3. What is the purpose of the resources prepared/gathered? Are these for teachers’ lesson delivery （“教”为出发点；灌输为主——非常有效率地教）, or are these for students’ meaning-making （“学”为出发点）?
这两个不同的出发点对所准备的resources作为“outcomes”会有哪些影响呢？ 资源（例如文章、范文、videos）或许有共通的，但是如何使用会因目的不同而不同。换句话说，两者的教案就肯定不一样了。
另外，”resource preparation”一词很大成分意味着资源是出自教师。“资源”可否来自学生？为什么可以？为什么不可以？因为这样很没效率？因为学生找不到“对”的资源（cf. 教师准备的对错拿捏妥当）？
所以回过头来，我觉得还是离不开“学习”这根本问题s——What is learning? How does learning take place? 不同的技能、课题可能学习的方法不同。所以没有划一的答案。
但思考的出发点应该只有一个，
就是“学” (cf. 教)。
(photo credit: Michael Coghlan)