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3 things I have learnt about CCE facilitation
1. There are 4 important skills that should be used simultaneously in facilitation which include acknowledging feelings, paraphrase, ask questions and observe and summaries.
2. It is important to plan and anticipate in facilitation
3. Facilitation shouldn’t be rigid and it should take its natural course sometimes.

2 things I want to explore further about CCE facilitation
1. Questioning techniques and applying it to meet the planned learning objectives
2. The variety of strategies in annex E

1 burning questions I have about CCE facilitation
1. How to better prepare myself for meltdowns and turn of events other than reading about it?

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3 things I have learnt about CCE facilitation (where relevant, please share a similar experience that you may have seen/been involved in)
i) There are many strategies that can be used to facilitate a CCE lesson (Annex E)
ii) Planning is key. Plan beforehand  the outline, facilitation strategies and even the key questions that can be asked.
iii) Ask questions but allow more time for responses. Allow the students freedom to share, anticipate their responses and leverage on the responses to ask more questions and lead the students to the lesson objective.
2 things I want to explore further about CCE facilitation
i) Encouraging participation from students who are reserved or hesitant to speak up.
ii) The numerous strategies in Annex E and identifying the pedagogical approach that works best with each strategy.
1 burning question I have about CCE facilitation
i) How do I facilitate a session that has sensitive topics like race and religion? When do we know if it's time to stop?

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1) - CCE Facilitation requires a lot of planning and anticipation of possible responses/scenarios.
- It is useful to have some guiding questions (from Annex D) as we go about our lesson, so that we can use those questions to make our discussions richer.
- CCE Facilitation is hard but rewarding if we do it right. I will work hard to get better at it.

2) - I want to explore the various questions in Annex D more closely. I think different questions lead to different possible responses so it is important for us to look at the fine differences between questions.
- I want to explore how to incorporate more group activities into my facilitation of CCE.

3) What happens when we realise that things are not going according to plan? For example, what if the discussion takes on a different path from what we have intended, but it is still a rich and useful discussion? My initial thoughts are to continue with discussions as there are still possible learning points for the students to take away from.

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3 things I learned about CCE facilitation:
1. Annex E
All the different strategies mentioned in Annex E is very helpful in encouraging meaningful discussion between students, so that they can arrive at a certain conclusion for themselves.
2. Hold back
Indeed, more than giving answers, CCE facilitation is about collaborative meaning-making. Oftentimes, this means as teachers, we have to stop ourselves from oversharing. Instead, we have to use our words to plant thoughts and ask questions so that we equip students with the thinking skills to arrive at the intended value.
3. Inclusivity
An important point is to always be sensitive and include all of the students in the discussion. This also applies to our non-verbal reaction and the nuances in our communication with the students.

2 things I want to explore further:
1. Involvement/alignment of caregivers
2. Equipping students with relevant skills to have discernment when faced with crossroad or situations where messaging is incoherent, especially by figures of authority (caregivers, other teachers, etc)

1 burning question:
Can I hold a successful CCE lesson in reality/real practice? :')

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3 things I have learnt about CCE facilitation:
- It is important to plan and anticipate questions from students so that we do not waste curriculum time and are able to answer their questions (especially about sensitive issues) appropriately.
- It is important to incorporate different activities in the CCE lesson as students need reflect upon their experiences to understand the values being taught.
- The creation of a safe space is not just the teacher's job alone, but also by the school.

2 things I want to explore further about CCE facilitation:
- When it comes to very sensitive topics (e.g. racist remarks), do we just address the problem there and then? Or do we still have to talk to the student even after the lesson has ended?
- How do we know if the safe space we created for students is 'too much'?

1 burning question I have about CCE facilitation:
- How do we truly know that we have achieved our LOs? Students might just write positive comments in their reflections because they know that is what is required of them.

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3 things I have learnt about CCE facilitation:
(a) CCE facilitation strategies help to build a process through which students are led to clarify their values and hear the perspectives of others.
(b) It is important to set clear lesson objectives so that we may select the appropriate facilitation strategies to include in our lesson.
(c) In the micro-teaching we did in class on meltdowns, we had to address the issue within the day itself. I reflected that it would be useful to be familiar with a few facilitation strategies so that when such teachable moments arise, we can be ready to leverage upon them in a timely manner, using appropriate strategies.

2 things I want to explore further about CCE facilitation:
(a) I wish to explore how facilitation on sensitive issues such as race and religion is carried out as these are tricky issues that have been surfacing in Singapore quite frequently these few years.
(b) I also wish to explore which facilitation strategies work best with each of the pedagogical approaches.

1 burning question I have about CCE facilitation:
How do we reinforce values and social-emotional skills taught even after the lesson?

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3 things I have learnt
- It is important to plan the lesson including questions to ask, and to anticipate curveballs before they arise.
- It is even more important to be adaptable in anticipating questions/statements that were not part of the plan and guide the discussion back to the intended path, or to address the query (if appropriate).
- I managed to see in action how the basic facilitation strategies helps to foster a safe space for sharing, in particular, how paraphrasing, active listening, and the use of questions helped to make "students" more comfortable.

2 things I want to explore further
- I hope to explore more facilitation (making thinking visible) strategies from Annex E that can be used in the CCE context.
-  I hope to explore the facilitation strategies together with the use of CCE materials/facilitation tools (e.g. the talking chips, card games, and other interesting materials that Karen brought along last week)

1 burning question I have
- How can we better prepare ourselves for questions that appear out of the blue?

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3 things I have learnt about CCE facilitation:
- i) I need to plan ahead how I should facilitate each lesson bearing in mind the lesson outcome and CCE facilitation strategies.
- ii) I need to anticipate how students might possibly respond to the issues raised during the lesson so that I can plan how I should react in order to attain the lesson outcome.
- iii) It is important to follow the 4 guiding principles for CCE faciliation in order to create a safe and conducive environment for students’ voice to be heard. For instance, before the session begins, students need to understand and concur with the ground rules for communication etiquette so that they are more likely to observe them during the session.
2 things I want to explore further about CCE facilitation:
- i) adopting facilitation strategies that involve small group discussions. I wish to know if students are comfortable sharing and hearing one another’s views and especially inner feelings in small group discussions compared to class discussions which are mostly what I have observed so far.
- ii) facilitate sessions that involve sensitive issues such as racial issues and gender issues especially among the upper primary students.
1 burning question I have about CCE facilitation
- i) How will we know or what is the best way to find out if our CCE facilitation is effective in the attainment of the desired learning outcomes?

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1) I think I find the principle of "creating a safe space" most challenging. The creation of such a space requires trust and respect between the teachers and the students, as well as among the students themselves. We have to create an environment that allows students to share their lived experiences and emotions, and that takes some bravery from the students as well. However I am optimistic that we can succeed in creating a safe space with our students, after laying down important ground rules like giving respect to everyone, and also letting the students share their thoughts without immediately correcting them.

2) I think I will work harder on paraphrasing. This skill is not easy. When someone shares something, there is an implicit meaning beyond the words that he or she is getting at. We need to be really accurate at pin-pointing the implicit meaning, if not we run the risk of going off-tangent with a misunderstood point of view. However, I think there are ways to get better at paraphrasing. I presume asking them if we are getting their idea right is one good way, as it gives them the opportunity to correct us if we paraphrased their words wrongly.

3) I think I saw how intertwined and connected the various facilitation skills are during my walk the week. I had an opportunity to have a discussion about the way Singapore is handling the pandemic with my grab driver. It required a lot of active listening, as well as acknowledging of feelings. I also learnt that having a strong and unchangeable view about something is difficult in a discussion, as there are no room for negotiation. My learning takeaway is that as CCE teachers, we must be open to new ideas that our students raise. We must be flexible and welcoming, instead of sticking to our own opinions.

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Among the 4 guiding principles for facilitating of learning in CCE, I find creating a safe space for all to share their views honestly the most challenging. This is because it would require many hours to model, reinforce and reminder the students the appropriate behaviour and social skills needed to provide a safe space – one which is mentally, emotionally, psychologically safe for all students.

Personally, I would need to further strength the aspect of acknowledging feelings. Often, I tend to ask the relevant questions without paying much mind to acknowledge the feelings of others. Yes, for a start, I am able to identify and relate to their emotions and feelings but I sometimes don’t acknowledge their feelings and responding with empathy. I feel that validating the other party is vital for any relationship – be it TSR, family, and friends. It’s a work in progress but it’s a good start!

I noted that the facilitation skills are intertwined. This is to say that questioning would then require subsequent active learning together with acknowledging feelings and paraphrasing skills. Often I find myself executing these skills concurrently in Sunday School lessons and cell group sharing.

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1) The guiding principle that I find the most challenging is taking a firm stand against unfair and unsubstantiated views. This is especially difficult among the younger students who may have developed false preconceptions due to their parents' biases/lived experiences. Children may experience cognitive dissonance when they realise that what their teachers say is different from what their parents have taught them as these are two of the most influential stakeholders at their current stage of development.

2) The basic facilitation skill that I would need to strengthen further is paraphrasing. This does not come naturally to me as I usually rely on questioning skills to show that I am actively listening. Moreover, it requires me to come in at the appropriate juncture as it may sound like I had not bothered to pay attention if done at the wrong time. Personally, I find it easier to paraphrase in a whole-class setting, but will have to work on this especially in one-to-one situations.

3) I've learnt the importance of active listening and how it is essential in facilitating discussions, but may not come naturally to everyone. However, when appropriately done, it makes the speaker feel validated and even more willing to approach you in the future about other issues.

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1) I find creating a safe space for all to share their views honestly the most challenging. This requires a lot of groundwork from the start. Most of all, it takes coherence across the actions of all subject and form teachers in the way they respond to ideas from students to create the safe space for them and this is difficult to achieve without good communication.

2) I would need to strengthen my questioning skills. Asking good questions takes practice, and while planning questions beforehand does help, there are unexpected responses that may throw us off where we may have to revise our planned questions on the spot. The way we ask the questions matters too as we have to be careful not to lead them on (especially in the influence stage of CSI) or put down their responses.

3)
Insight: Active listening is necessary for all the other facilitation skills to work effectively.

Example: Person A comes back home from work to share about her problems at work with Person B. Person B stopped whatever he was doing and turned towards her to ensure eye contact and no distraction (active listening). Person B acknowledged her feeling by replying this: “Such a tough day you had. Tell me more.” Person B stopped at appropriate junctures to paraphrase some parts to affirm Person A he was listening. Along the way, he probed gently: “Why did this happen? Would it have been different if you had done it this way?” A conversation like this was made possible due to active listening on Person B’s part. It allowed him to acknowledge appropriately, paraphrase correctly, and ask relevant questions which encouraged Person A to feel unjudged and continue sharing.

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1) Taking a firm stand against unfair and unsubstantiated views. I think I will be able to take a firm stand against those views, but the challenging aspect comes from where those views came from. In this digital age where the world is literally at their fingertips, the things that our students see on the internet shape their views and we have no control over the materials they read. Yes, we have talks from time to time on cyberwellness. But, without proper monitoring, especially for this age group, their views might be influenced greatly.

2) Questioning skills. I am not a spontaneous person and I always need to think of the possible questions students may ask. It's impossible to expect the students to ask all the questions that we have planned beforehand. If I don't sharpen this skill, when students ask questions and I am not able to give them the guiding questions to guide through the thought process, they might become dependent on me for answers.

3) I realised that paraphrasing and active listening are important. Paraphrasing avoids miscommunication of ideas and clears misconceptions. Actually, even now as an adult, from time to time, I need someone to help me paraphrase my ideas. Sometimes, I can't put my thoughts into proper sentences and my ideas are all over. Hehe. My professor listens very actively. He listens not to respond, but to respond with a purpose which is to clear misconceptions. From our explanations, he is able to identify which part of the content we have misunderstood and is able to rectify it straightaway.

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3 things I have learnt about CCE facilitation (where relevant, please share a similar experience that you may have seen/been involved in)

2 things I want to explore further about CCE facilitation

1 burning question I have about CCE facilitation

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1) I think the most challenging one among the 4 guiding principle would be taking a firm stand against unfair and unsubstantiated views. When students voice out their honest opinions that we think may be unfair and unsubstantiated, we need to take a firm stand on fairness and justice and reject opinions that are unethical and hurtful. Teachers need to be mindful of explaining clearly to the students to get them to understand the rationale why such views are not acceptable and not just negate their views. If not, students who have shared such views may refrain from expressing their views in the future. This makes it harder for teachers to surface prejudices and misperceptions, if any.

2) I need further strengthening in paraphrasing and questioning skills. I think I tend to end acknowledge feelings and conclude or give answers too early when facilitating. So I need to adopt paraphrasing without giving my comments and ask probing questions or direct questions to invite response from others during facilitation.

3) Paraphrasing is important to avoid miscommunication of ideas, especially when a speaker spoke too fast, too softly or long sentences. However, I observed that paraphrasing is less commonly practised in casual conversations. I guess most people tend to jump into commenting or asking a question after acknowledging what others have said. It is not natural for me to paraphrase others’ words in daily conversations but I will def make a conscious effort to do it more often. uwu

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1. The 6 CCE pedagogical approaches are comprehensive, and each will in turn help to build skills and inculcate values that students will need. Each one of them cannot be used in silo, and must all be incorporated into our students' CCE journey in one way or another. At the end of the day, if all these approaches become a thought habit for our students, we would have succeeded.

2 & 3. I would like to explore further on how we can use these 6 pedagogical approaches to guide everyday interactions with students. I would also like to explore further on how we can use the strategies learned today to navigate issues that are more sensitive.

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1) I feel that the 6 pedagogical approaches are broad and complement each other. And they are really necessary in times like now, especially for the children of the current century who are oversensitive. I personally like the values clarification approach because it not only allows a child to reflect on his or her own values, but it also helps the child learn tolerance and acceptance of other’s values.

2) We can’t deny that most values, regardless of prosocial or antisocial are caught or taught from home and the environment the child is mostly exposed to, the internet. How do we use these 6 pedagogical approaches to unteach antisocial values that have been rooted in students?

3) The 6 CCE pedagogical approaches we explored, as we know, applies to coaching students. Whether values are caught or taught, majority of the time values are built or adopted from the home environment. I am interested to explore further on how do we apply, and can we apply these approaches to the various people that directly interact with a child, beyond school.

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I felt that the various CCE pedagogical approaches were useful in creating and enhancing the essential learning experiences. Indeed, I felt more equipped and knowledgeable after learning from my peers about the other types of pedagogical approaches (beyond just values clarifications). It was an insightful discussion on how we are able to use the approaches with regards to the students’ needs and interest and maximising authentic connections to the reality.

One question I have is how to blend these approaches nicely for a given CCE lesson or FTGP lesson. Well… I do believe that we’ll get a better understanding and application of the approaches over time1

Another area I would like to explore is to blend Assessment to the learning process together with the CCE pedagogical approaches. This is because assessment is integral to the learning process so that the students are also able to evaluate themselves for their own continuous personal growth and development.

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1. I find all 6 CCE pedagogical approaches very insightful and relevant to teaching values in schools especially in the 21st century. As students today are increasingly becoming more vulnerable and sensitive emotionally, it is important that teachers keep this in mind and consider various factors including students’ feelings (overt and covert) when trying to help students navigate moral reasoning and pick up good values. The 6 approaches further reaffirmed my belief that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach when it comes to dealing with humans and their different personalities/profiles/needs. With reference to the strategies shared last Friday, I am quite intrigued by the Narrative Approach as it is something practical that I can foresee myself adopting/using in my own classroom. As a literature major, I do enjoy having discussions about the books I’ve read with other people and I believe that exploring multiple perspectives on different texts, characters and/or issues will open your mind to the diverse world that we live in. This aligns the Narrative Approach to Hoffman’s Theory where it is implied in both readings that social/role perspective-taking is a crucial skill to be acquired, and ensuring this will certainly make the world a better place, in my opinion.

2. I understand that the best pedagogical approach to develop prosocial behaviour among students involves a combination of affective, cognitive and the depth of feelings. However, I am still puzzled as to how educators are able to convince/change the minds of specifically strong-headed/-willed individuals who are already dead set on their beliefs/values/biases even if those may be morally wrong/unacceptable.

3. I would like to explore on my own some of the different facilitation strategies shared in Annex E as after reading through all of them, I have actually picked up some that seem more suitable to a specific approach(es) than the other(s).

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1. I think that each of the six CCE pedagogical approaches that we went through has its place in the curriculum. Being interlinked and an add-on of one another, one or a combination of the approaches can be used in any given CCE lesson or teachable moment to make it extensive and beneficial for the students. However, I personally like and feel that the most effective strategy for CCE are the student-centric approaches and namely the narrative approach, values clarification approach and experiential learning. As we learnt in the previous semester and through our teaching experiences, I understand that schools today are highly diverse and each student brings in their own virtual backpack. These student-centric approaches hence addresses and provides teachers with a more structured way of tapping on the student's prior knowledge and experience. Discussion then become rich and students learn from one another and wider range of other experiences.
2. Reflections are said to be the key to effective use of the pedagogical approaches and I surely believe so too. But, what is/are some of the ways to conduct reflections with students and/or how to best make sure that reflections are done and used by them in applying the knowledge gained (in other words, how to make sure it's not done for the sake of it but brings about positive impact on students)?
3. I would want to explore further on the values clarification approach and especially on the questioning techniques. It wasn't my assigned reading but as we discussed I found some interest in and feel that it is important given this day and age where students are exposed to content online and they either have their own strong stands towards many aspects of life or they are forced to have one. As a teacher then I think it will not be effective for me to dictate they stand they should take if I would want to connect and build better relationship with them. Hence, I believe that exploring this approach further will help me to do so.

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1. CCE doesn't just adopt one pedagogical approach. For CCE to be more engaging for the students, it is critical to adopt different pedagogical approaches that will complement each other well.

Personally, deliberate experiential learning is especially important now that our students are spending most of their time on their phones or laptops. Students are able to learn about values easily and the entire world is really at their fingertips. But, whether or not they really understand the meaning of for example, being resilient, it is a totally different story. Through deliberate experiential learning, students are able to recall on their own experience and because they were the ones who went through that experience, they become more aware of how resilience looks and feels like.

2. As we all know, some parents view CCE as 'not important' since it isn't graded. Despite using different pedagogical approaches, we might not be able to get to the students of this type of parents. So, how do we get to this students then?

3. How do we convince parents that CCE is important as well?

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1. I really like the six approaches we learnt, because it will take more than just didacticism to get students to understand the importance and applicability of CCE lessons in their lives. The bulk of students today are digital natives that have access to information at the mere click of a button, which is why it is imperative that we teach them skills to discern for themselves right from wrong, rather than dictate for them what society deems as "acceptable behaviour". I can see myself implementing the Narrative, Values Clarification and Experiential Learning Approaches in my classroom and I appreciate that these strategies are heavily student-centric, focusing on authentic experiences brought up by students. From this, students also get to hear about examples and moral dilemmas that are applicable to their own age group through mutual sharing. These strategies can allow students to develop 21st century competencies. The focus on soft skills is heartening, and will be useful to students not only during CCE, but in their life journey.

2. I am keen to find out appropriate strategies I can use to facilitate such conversations with students without subconsciously imposing my own views. From my experience with lower primary students during TA and contract teaching, many look to adults for a direction when forming opinions of their own. How then do we nudge them towards the right direction without any personal biases?

3. Many issues of contention have surfaced on social media in recent years with regards to race, sexual orientation (LGBTQ), and mental health, etc. Given the highly emotional and sensitive context of these issues, how do we tackle such topics with tact? Will these strategies be sufficient in helping students deal with the complexity of these issues that even we, as teachers, find difficulty in unpacking or are other approaches needed?

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I find that the approaches compliment each other well and all are needed for  effective teaching in the cce classroom. However, I especially like the Values Clarification approach and the Deliberate Experiential learning approach. I firmly believe that values like empathy and social/self-awareness are quintessential for the 21st cc learner. The stages of maturity in Hoffman's theory assists teachers to gauge and identify where a student's maturity stands. This offers the teacher a starting point to tailor their reasoning and explanation to the student's level, serving as a guide to help students mature and gain empathy for the world around them. Kolb's Deliberate experiential learning reminded me that I myself may have been living on "auto-pilot" mode. It emphasizes being present to experience life and thereby gain knowledge. This is a very new method of teaching and learning, and requires a great perspective shift for both the teacher as well as students. I am excited to explore and incorporate these two approaches into my teaching style and I look forward to creating real life experiences (eg. through hands on tasks) in the classroom for better learning.

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1. I think that the 6 CCE pedagogical approaches are quite comprehensive in their coverage. I see them broadly in three areas. We have Explicit Skills Instructional Approach to explicitly teach certain skills (like disagreeing respectfully), we have the cognitive approaches like the Values Clarification Approach and we also have approaches that we can use in the classrooms like the Narrative and Experimental Learning Approaches. I particularly like the Values Clarification Approach as I think it is interesting that we guide students to be aware of their own values relative to others in their environment. I think it is useful as many other reflective exercises and activities will see more success when the students have more self-awareness about their own values.

2. I am thinking about the Values Clarification Approach, and I am wondering what happens if a student presents a value that we may consider as "non-acceptable". I understand that one possible solution is guiding the student to "acceptable" values by looking at the other values of his classmates. However, what if the student continues to be adamant and stands by his values?

3. In the Narrative Approach, there is one possible application in the classroom where we give students the opportunities to "author" and tell their own moral stories. However, there are risks of vulnerabilities that goes along sharing difficult or painful stories. Nonetheless, I see the value of narrating an authentic experience and potential good learning outweighing the risks. That being said, as teachers, we play an extremely crucial part in ensuring that the risks are minimised. I am interested to explore how we can do this further. Perhaps we can use certain questions to guide the students? Perhaps we can also explicitly teach the social skill of respect to the class before such authentic sharing occurs.

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1) On a personal level, the Value Clarification Approach resonated with me most. My personality is such that I do not like to impose my values on others. Instead, I prefer hearing others share about their values, while voicing out my own values in a non-imposing manner and compare mine to theirs internally, much like how the Value Clarification Approach works. I do this so much so that it has become an unconscious habit. I often find enlightenment in the sharing and learn to appreciate certain parts of their values which differ from mine. Surprisingly, one thing I have discovered from this habit of mine is that as different as others’ values might be from mine, there are often similarities. These similarities helped to reaffirm and strengthen my existing beliefs and values. However, upon deeper inspection, it has come to my attention that this also facilitates group norms, where values of the majority become my personal values as they continuously reaffirm my values. This is also one of the limitations of the Value Clarification Approach. As such, when carrying it out in class, the majority values are likely to influence the minority values. But are the majority values necessarily right? This is where perhaps timely teacher intervention needs to come in.

I find the Narrative Approach quite interesting as well, as it recommends using stories (fiction and non-fiction) which ties in well with my English CS. As a English teacher, it shows me an opportunity to teach CCE values in my English lessons as well when it comes to story-reading time. It also highlights that close communication between the CCE teacher and English teacher will be useful in enhancing the effectiveness of CCE lessons. For instance, the CCE teacher may want to go through a particular moral fictional story, and he/she could engage the English teacher to go through the story or difficult vocabulary beforehand to facilitate the upcoming CCE lesson. In turn, the English teacher could attempt to weave this story into his lesson plan where possible.

Many of the facilitation strategies have an emphasis on reflecting on experiences. In both the Value Clarification and Narrative Approaches, self-reflection plays a big part in ensuring the success of the approach too. However, it is difficult to verify if they have really self-reflected sufficiently. Furthermore, it is not enough to merely reflect during the lesson itself. Afterall, moral dilemmas are in vast supply and cannot be fully discussed and unpacked in class with the limited number of periods. The question here is, how do we ensure that students continue to self-reflect even after the lessons?

2) With reference to Cognitive Development Approach, students are not able to progress to the higher levels of moral reasoning if they are not at the appropriate stages or maturity level. In a class with diverse life experiences, there will be students of varying level of moral reasoning, in the extremes too perhaps. How could scaffolding be effectively provided in this case?

3) I would want to explore more on the interconnections among the six approaches on my own as we were short on time when we talked about that part during the previous lesson. I would also love to explore further some of the facilitation strategies that we could use in a primary school setting, lower and upper primary respectively.

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Reflect on these questions:

- Among the 4 guiding principles for facilitating CCE, which do you find most challenging? How come?

- Which basic facilitation skill would you need further strengthening? Why so?

- What are some insights you have gained from the session today that you see in your daily occurrences? Use examples you have logged for the week.

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1. Yes. One shoe does not fit all in creating a caring and enabling school environment as student profiles can vary extensively. Not tailoring the plan will most definitely create chaos and make the environment not conducive for teaching and learning. For example, a class with 30 boys and 10 girls might vastly vary in dynamics from a class with 30 girls and 10 boys. On top of that gender difference, every school/class in Singapore comes with many other differences such as age, nationality, race, family background, socio-economic status and learning needs. It then makes every class far more unique. When a teacher does not customise his/her plan and uses the same plan for every class/environment, he/she will then notice that students are not stretched to their best potential and be totally disengaged and uninterested in school and out of school.

2. Yes. At the start of the year, the focus will be for students to understand and slowly tine to the culture that has been set. At that juncture, the teachers may hand hold the students and provide more guidance. Along the school year, it then becomes a matter of keeping up the culture through various teachable moments and events. Students should be taking ownership of keeping up to the culture and reminding each other of it by then. Towards the end, it becomes a matter of review and reflection. Both teachers and students plan for what's ahead and how to do better.

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•Among different student profiles…

Are there any differences in how teachers create a caring and enabling school environment?

Yes, there definitely are differences in how teachers create a caring and enabling school environment. A caring teacher ensures the learning environment is inclusive for her students. To establish an inclusive learning environment, a teacher has to take into consideration every student’s individual needs, their diverse family and ethnic backgrounds, and their learning abilities.

•Along the school year…

Are there any differences in how culture is created and sustained at the beginning /middle/ end of school year?

Creating a positive classroom culture is essential, yet teachers have to understand that it also takes time for the classroom culture to be learned and followed. It is always important to start building a classroom culture from Day 1 itself. Initially, it will be premeditated with consistent, multiple reminders and adult role modelling. In the middle of the year, the adult role modelling remains the same, but the reminders lessen. Because students have started to get into the routine of the rules, there will be more peer-to-peer reminders. Teachers may also find the need to add new norms in the middle of the year. Once again, to add new norms, they have to follow the same process used in the beginning of the year. Usually at the end of the school year, culture and norms that were implemented earlier in the year are already instilled in students. Trying to establish a new culture or norm at the end of the year is usually not as fruitful, as it usually takes time.

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•Among different student profiles…

Are there any differences in how teachers create a caring and enabling school environment?

Yes, there is because each student have different lived experiences - stemming from family structure and dynamics, and SES, culture, learning needs etc. The goal is whether the teacher is able to be sensitive to those differences (no matter how implicit or explicit they are) and create a caring and enabling school environment.

The creation of a caring and enabling school environment is strived for by many, albeit subjective in its definition. In essence, the school environment should facilitate the learning of the 21st Century Competencies, student outcomes and core values. This would entail embracing diversity in the classroom, addressing sensitive political or cultural issues, helping the students navigator those issues. These small activities would have to shape their beliefs, attitudes and actions of a person.

Our role as teachers is imperative in moulding the next generation of leaders. Indeed, we should create a caring and enabling school environment - no matter how different it may look like from others - but we cannot be blinded and be ignorant of the diverse student profiles.

•Along the school year…

Are there any differences in how culture is created and sustained at the beginning /middle/ end of school year?

School culture - defined as 'the guiding beliefs and values evident in the way a school operates '(Fullan, 2007) - takes on different forms across the school year despite maintaining its core values, motto and beliefs.

At the start of the year, students, who are fresh from their school holidays, would be first exposed (or reintroduced) to the values (e.g. school motto or values) and understand why they are essential in their learning journey in the school. How this would look like would be a principal sharing, and reinforced in the classroom via CCE lessons or teachable moments. This is an important step in creating positive school culture as they provide a safe, supportive, and encouraging environment for the students and staff alike.

In the middle of the year, generally most students' beliefs and core values would be aligned with the school culture and there might be a handful who are not too aligned. For the latter, we have to give them time and space yet reinforcing the importance to maintain the school culture. For the former, as creative as they are, we as teachers could provide opportunities and activities to allow them to exemplify the core beliefs and values in school (e.g. International Friendship Day, Racial Harmony day, etc).

At the end of the year, most students would be align and have gotten used to the school culture. This is where we can recap the school and students' growth through the school culture - since it encompass all the attitudes, expected behaviours and values that impact how the school operates. At the staff level, it is also important to conduct a review of the school culture - what works and not - and refine it further to ensure all students (no matter what lived experiences they have underwent) can cultivate the essential 21st century competencies core values and learning desire.

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1. Yes, there is a difference. Student profiles differ greatly in terms of diversity, family dynamics, learning needs, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc, and creating a caring and enabling school environment relies largely upon meeting these differing needs.

Creating a caring and enabling school environment often comes hand-in-hand with cultivating a sense of belonging. For international students, does the school celebrate their individual unique differences or focus only on the four main racial groups? In a classroom of students with diverse learning needs, do the students who require more guidance feel as though they're constantly having to play catch up? Does the teacher exercise consideration in addressing sensitive issues in front of the class?

How teachers react depend heavily on the student profile, and it is essential that we remain flexible and sensitive in order to contribute towards the caring and enabling school environment.

2. Yes, there is a difference. At the start of the school year, the focus of the teacher is to understand the social and learning environment of the students, such as the class and peer dynamics. Rules and expectations are set to complement the dynamics of the students and to reinforce positive behaviours that contribute to the caring and enabling classroom environment. The consistent efforts of the teacher, coupled with the actions enacted by the students then form the class culture. Throughout the school year, these rules are revisited when deemed necessary (e.g. to implement a new rule/expectation, or as reminders when students forget). Towards the end of the school year, it would be good if these rules and expectations become enforced by the students themselves as they would have become familiar with them and can now remind each other of what is expected.

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1. Yes, caring teachers always find a way to enable each student towards their potential. Once the teacher know each student well, they can enact differentiated instructions based on the readiness of the child. Class activities also differ from each class, depending on the needs of the general student profile and dynamic. Outside of the classroom, Teachers often work with other stakeholders like LSP/LSM and other supporting channels to cater to each student’s diverse needs. Another important stakeholder that teachers work with is students’ parents. By updating parents with effective feedback on their child’s performance and academic/socio-emotional needs, teachers establish a strong support system outside of the school, thus providing all-rounded growth for the child.

2. I’ve noticed that schools often hold school events every 3 months to build and keep  positive school spirit high, such as sports day, house competitions, etc. Additionally, other holiday-based celebrations such as Children’s Day, Youth Day, Teacher’s Day, all create an enthusiastic school spirit and pride. Throughout the year, national competitions wherein students represent their school also fabricates within students a sense of belonging to the school.

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•Among different student profiles…

Are there any differences in how teachers create a caring and enabling school environment?

Definitely. I think it is pretty evident when teachers plan their lessons. In a class consisting of diverse learners, teachers plan and carefully consider different learning activities for students of different needs (LP, MP and HP). Teachers take into consideration students' profiles in their lessons to ensure that all students benefit from their lessons. A one-size-fits-all approach will do the students more harm than good (if any). Other than that, I think as simple as identifying students who don't get ample attention at home. My mentor identified a student and she had to stay in school after school to complete her work or study until her mother ends work. These are just examples and they are non-exhaustive definitely.

•Along the school year…

Are there any differences in how culture is created and sustained at the beginning /middle/ end of school year?

If a teacher wishes to inculcate a class culture, it should be done at the start of the year. Reminders are necessary, especially at the start of the year and consistency is key. In the middle of the year, there should be lesser reminding on the teachers' part, but more of peers reminding each other. At the end of the school year, if a teacher tries to inculcate a new culture, it might be difficult as students need constant reminders over a period of time.

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1. Among different student profiles
Yes, there is a difference. Students come from different background, and thus in showing care, we need to cater to their different needs. For instance, showing care to a student who has good relationship with both mother and father, and constantly speaks to the caring adults at home, will be to speak to the child and listen to how their week was, and the things they find exciting. Because they are used to having adults talk to them, they would be able to express well. However, to a child who had been neglected at home or does not have good relationship with the adults at home, they might feel intimidated by the sudden presence of an adult trying to talk to them. Instead of opening up, they would clam up. So for them, showing care will be to just do an activity together with them, until they feel comfortable enough to share more about their lives. There are no one way to show care that works for every student. We have to find out who the child is before we can reach them.

2. Along the school year...
Yes, there are differences. At the start of the school year, setting of culture should be deliberate. The culture that is being set has to be re-iterated, and when students cross lines, they need to be reminded firmly the culture, yet they should also be given the benefit of the doubt that they might have forgotten. The start of the process is very driven by the teacher. As the year goes by, students should be more aware of the expectations in the class. That is when students can now take more ownership of their own behaviour. When lines are crossed, instead of telling the student directly about what they had crossed, teachers can now ask the students to reflect and identify themselves the lines that they had crossed, and how they can do better. This can come only after extensive adult role-modelling and teaching of values and culture at the beginning of the year.

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1.

Yes, there are differences. The needs of every student vary and so the way they perceive what a caring and enabling school environment is will differ as well.

For instance, let’s talk about peer support. While peer support is deployed in both the lower and upper primary, it is likely to exhibit higher effectiveness in the upper primary. This is due to the fact that peers become a stronger influence in their life as they grow up and they seek more comfort and affirmation from their peers. In cases where a student does not have strong family support, peers and teachers may be their only sources of support and it becomes even more crucial for them to have this peer support. Thus, peer support may be more reinforced in the upper primary classrooms.

Students also come with different life experiences and this creates diversity in classroom. Diversity may come in the form of different races, nationalities, culture or thinking. The more diverse a class is, the more teachers have to reinforce the idea of appreciating diversity in the classroom. One may notice that in a classroom of many nationalities, a teacher may hang more posters relating to the different countries, in contrast to another classroom where students may all be Singaporeans.

2.

At the start of the school year, teachers are often observed setting down rules and expectation together with the students. If successfully reinforced, these rules and expectations will determine the culture that a classroom has. In the beginning, a lot of adult modelling is required as children may not be familiar what the rules and expectations encompass. After each school holiday, students often forget again, due to the fact that a different set of expectations may be reinforced back at home. As a result, teachers usually have to follow up with constant reminders. This also highlights a point why teachers have to work closely with parents to develop lifelong values in their children throughout the year, in order to ensure coherence both at home and in school. By mid or end of the year, the culture should have more or less been materialized. Reminders from teachers are minimal, with students reminding one another and reinforcing the idea of the rules and expectations on their own. This is in a normal school year. However, in the past year, schools experienced HBLs which disrupted not only students' learning, but also the culture that teachers worked so hard to create. In light of such disruptions, it has become even more crucial for schools to form a strong partnership with parents as well as provide the necessary support to teachers and students.

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1. Yes, definitely. In creating a caring and enabling school environment through CCE, I believe that students’ diverse profiles and needs should ultimately drive the lessons and experiences. We cannot assume that all students will be receptive to the one-size-fits-all or any of the various approaches we take in order to provide them a safe, supportive and inclusive environment. For instance, while certain students may require more time to open up to others, some may require either more or less attention. For this last group, giving them the personal space they need may seem like an act of care by the teacher/school from their own perspective. Hence, there are differences in how teachers create a caring and enabling school environment across diverse individuals, however, if there has to be a similarity, it is that any approach must always put the student at the centre of the process/experience.

2. Yes, I would say that culture is created and sustained differently at various junctures of the school year as this is mostly dependent on the level of rapport and trust that has been progressively built throughout the year between the students and the teacher/school. With greater rapport, this would ease the entire process of maintaining the positive culture itself. Even so, students being rather unpredictable at times, may require reminders every now and then of the expectations and routines that have ensured the successful positive culture thus far, but which may also still be subjected to changes for improvement throughout the year.

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Reflect on these questions:

1. What are your thoughts about

the CCE pedagogical approaches?

the strategies that we used today?

2. What questions or puzzles do you have?

3. What do you want to explore further?

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•Among different student profiles…

Are there any differences in how teachers create a caring and enabling school environment?

•Along the school year…

Are there any differences in how culture is created and sustained at the beginning /middle/ end of school year?

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1) Yes, there are differences in how teachers create a caring and enabling school environment across different student profiles as students differ by their needs, their background, their personality and interests.

The activities and program that teachers design and implement should cater to the needs of the students. For example, more matured children especially the upper primary students need more exposure and opportunities that can help them develop self-directedness and responsibility of their own  learning, behaviour and choices as they develop into young adults. This is to prepare them for more responsibilities, more expectations that will be placed upon them when they enter secondary school. Naturally, being seniors to their lower and middle primary peers, they are expected to be better role models and student leaders. So school programs can be designed to give upper primary students opportunities to lead their younger peers and set good examples.

Students from more complicated family backgrounds or face mental health issues may benefit from special programs run by qualified personnel and suitable teachers to better support them in their learning and help them develop confidence and sense of belonging to the school.

2) Positive culture should be reviewed and reinforced since the beginning of the year so that it can be strengthened and can sustain throughout the year. Culture that is created too late in the year may not sustain as school activities are cut down towards year end school exams.

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1. I feel that some of the literature on pedagogical approaches have reflected and critically examined the real concerns and challenges that practitioners have faced and would face in enacting lessons on morality and values. I personally find that the narrative approach to moral education provides deep insight into how a story shared by a student even in a simple conversation could tell us a lot about their moral reasoning and that how we respond to them would also affect their moral development. In addition, these pedagogical approaches complement with one another. For example, one can consider the values based clarification approach procedures when adopting the cognitive development approach of moral reasoning.
I feel that because of the tight curriculum time we have in schools today, moral education have been mainly explicitly taught and teacher-led and discussions are not in-depth enough for students to share their personal experiences and moral reasoning.

2a) To what extent will children learn perspective-taking and empathy towards one another if they hardly get to listen to their friend’s sharing? Besides time being a factor, it also takes a conducive class dynamics and an appropriate context for active and upfront discussion among students. Teachers thus play a very important role in creating and fostering positive classroom culture and relationships among students and between students and the teacher.
2b) If a teacher ever learns about disturbing moral reasonings presented by students through these approaches, are parents supposed to be informed?
3. I will like to explore the possibility of holding discussion sessions in a less formal setting, that is, not in a classroom. Children feel less intimidated when they don’t see their teacher as a teacher trying to teach them into learning morality. In addition, in a big group of 30 or 40, chances are most students tend to keep to themselves especially the more reserved ones. How will they feel like sharing if they dont even trust everyone to not judge them? Facilitating a truthful discussion may be more viable within a smaller group among friends they are comfortable with in a more conducive environment.