Category: 17. Teachers’ PD

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teachers’ pd and change in teachers’ beliefs

as a note to self, extracting this from my own writing:

“Fives and Buehl (2012) have identified two salient features of professional development program that could encourage change in teachers’ beliefs — a focus on task or strategy, and the development of a community of practice among participants.” (p.338)

reference:
Fives, H., & Buehl, M. M. (2008). What do teachers believe? Developing a framework for examining beliefs about teachers’ knowledge and ability. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33(2), 134-176.

change photo

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what world will my child live in

saw this video shared on moe channel in a feed:

(02:33-) “one thing that is going to be very important is to…learn to learn, in which as you are learning the theory, you are also applying it to a set of problems that are very real. The computers will know the fact, and the computers will be much better at executing the procedures than you will ever be.”

translating it to the two aspects of language learning (cultural content & skills):

“one thing that is going to be very important is to…learn to learn, in which as you are learning the language skills, you are also applying it to a context that is very real. The computers will know the language, and the computers will be much better at executing the skills than you will ever be.”

“one thing that is going to be very important is to…learn to learn, in which as you are learning the cultural contents, you are connecting them to a context that is very real. The computers will know the fact, and the computers will be much better at recalling the contents than you will ever be.”

what are we (both school/teachers, and parents) teaching today that is preparing our children for the world they are living in tmr? #food4thought

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translation error phenomenon and the phenomenon behind

received this advertisement pamphlet by singtel selling 3G services in view of the impending 2G termination:

as a CL teacher, the choice of term in the blue bubble immediately caught my eyes – “赶忙”. in the same moment, i hypothesised it’s #ThankUGoogleTranslate problem. indeed, a quick check on Hurry, the term used in the EL bubble, yielded 赶忙 as the 3rd translation. anything in the top 3 must be good right? (:

posted the photo on fb, and we observed different reactions, with mostly sympathy of the error’s occurrence.

while such occurrence of error is not a first, nor will it be the last, i think we should look beyond the phenomenon itself, and ask WHY it occurs at all. the reasons could be many.

as a CL teacher (educator), my immediate question is how did these grown-ups learn CL when they were in schools? Were they taught to become a lifelong learner of CL, or were they taught to inherit the language (contents) from the teachers? to become a lifelong learner, it means that one is able to learn and to use the language when my teacher-guru is no longer around me. but, the over-reliance on Google Translate (or some other online translation tools) appears to suggest otherwise. it appears to me that these grown-ups are using Google Translate in place of the trust-me-all-guru who is no longer around. in short, they lack the know-how of learning the language in life beyond schools (and exams).

in terms of know-how, if a Science teacher is to teach students to think like a real-world scientist, what is a CL teacher teaching his/her students to think like? a writer, a poet, a linguist, or an exam-Acer/passer? the outcome goal is critical; with only the outcome goal clearly set can a teacher possibly design his/her lessons to enable students to learn to being and becoming the goal.

if you are a CL teacher reading this, what is your goal? what are you already doing to enable your students to learn, and to use the language lifelong? the transmission of large amount of knowledge has probably proven to be futile as the singtel pamphlet has revealed.

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当你思考科技与教学的关系时

＂当你思考科技与教学的关系时，无论是想选择某项科技、介入某个平台，只要你从学生学习的角度出发，怎么学如何学，或作’学习本位’（cf.教本位)， 就不会差太远了。＂ (Tan, 2017)

to cite, if anyone is ever going to do that (:
Tan, Y. H. (2017). 当你思考科技与教学的关系时. Edublog.NET – A Singaporean Teacher’s Storeroom. Retrieved from http://edublog.net/wp/2017/01/21/%e5%bd%93%e4%bd%a0%e6%80%9d%e8%80%83%e7%a7%91%e6%8a%80%e4%b8%8e%e6%95%99%e5%ad%a6%e7%9a%84%e5%85%b3%e7%b3%bb%e6%97%b6/

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pre-12592 note

the next round of Studio 12592 is planned to start on 18/1 (Wed). this year, two of our fellow learners/comrades are taking leave from work to go overseas, effectively reducing the active group by 50%. the statistically significant reduction in number creates the possibility of not enough minimum number to get the course running. tried to get new learners on-board whilst fully appreciate the madness in school (esp. Jan and CNY’s round the corner; getting later dismissal times; not getting less CCAs). shall see if we have enough 有缘人 this time round (: #不是没有心学习 #challengeOfTeachers #challengeOfFacilitator

2017 New Year Fireworks at Marina Bay; creative take

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update 10/1

my course is CANCELLED administratively cos at ‘deadline’ i have but only 1-2 registrations. traisi/ast side’s SOP stops accepting registration 2(?) weeks before a course starts. the school just re-opened for a 4-day week. if teachers have submitted their application, the ROs may not have had the chance to approved the application. and if communications’ needed in-between application and approval, this would have delayed the application process. have feedback to dean/curriculum to ask if the SOP can be reviewed for courses starting in early/mid-january.)

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