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3 things I've learnt:
- It is important to frame events and highlight what students should look out for when engaging in CCE related activities (LOs)
- How to use the facilitation strategies and in what situations would each strategy be most effective
- The importance in giving students information and context before CCE facilitation (e.g. direct teaching of values)

2 things I want to explore further:
- Strategies to create a safe space in the classroom
- Facilitation skills

1 burning question:
What's the best way to engage students through online learning? e.g. FTGP over Zoom.

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3 things I learned:
- When selecting experiential learning activities, it is important for us to be mindful of our student profile and the topic at hand.
- It can be really difficult to facilitate and also practice active listening, acknowledgement of feelings, etc. when difficult examples/scenarios are brought up/discussed.
- Ensure that we engage the students and elicit their responses rather than it being teacher-led.

2 things I want to explore:
- I want to try more facilitations strategies to see what works best for me, the topic and my students. Learning from experience  is important
- I want to try more questioning rather than always being the one carrying the discussion. I think at times it can be difficult for us to let the reins go and trust that the lesson will be conducted smoothly.

1 burning question:
- How do you deal with sensitive issues that may have been brought up during class? I believe that certain "triggering" issues could be good to discuss and may have a lot for the students to learn from. At times, I would like to discuss those issues but I am not sure how to do it in a tactful manner.

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3. - Addressing class about a teachable moment. If the moment is not addressed, students may think it is alright and continue with the behviour.

- Some topics like the reason for having a beach clean up may be difficult for students to understand. We may use some cartoons or videos to facilitate understanding better.

- When letting students to brainstorm different ideas for role play, it is important for us to see if the specific scenario chosen is suitable and to be sensitive to other classmate's feelings.

2. - I would like to more about the various facilitation strategies and see what other scenarios they could be useful for.

- Trying it out with actual students!

1. - How could I guide students in being respectful and understanding of the various perspectives and be slow to judge?

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3 learning points

Don't just tell, elicit responses from the students

Use of teacher-driven narrative

For external VIA, don't just focus on the logistics (the intention/purpose should be communicated out as well)

2 things to explore further

How to mitigate tensions during sharing

If sharing becomes too personal, how can we refocus the conversation tactfully?

1 burning question

How does teaching CCE through SLS affect their understanding?

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3 things I have learnt

1. Ensure that the strategies we used can help use achieve our learning objectives at the end of the day.

2. Allow for more student talk and interactions between students.

3. We should be sensitive to how every student might potentially feel and think about whether to address a situation specifically.

2 things I want to explore

1. I would like to explore the other strategies in Annex E and practice them, so that I can be efficient in using each strategy.

2. I would like to familiarize myself with many case scenarios and build a set of readily available resources

1 burning question

1. How can parents help support CCE learning in schools?

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3 things learnt:
- Teachers can share their own stories to help create a safe space.
- Strategies in Annex E are useful in facilitating discussion.
-  Student involvement very important.

2 things I want to explore further:
- Use of other strategies in Annex E
- Actively listening to students' opinions while still remaining in control of the discussion

1 burning question:
- What if students get offended by the sharing of other students?

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1. The importance of briefing for outing- it should be more than just logistics, which is something I’d done usually

2. Facilitation requires more than just the teacher’s voice- students’ voice as well

3. The 3 facilitation strategies- role play, line continuum and storytelling chair

1. Use of the different strategies to facilitate CCE

2. Being sensitive about the things that students share in class and how I can create a safe space for students to share willingly

1. Would small group discussions be more beneficial in a class with more shy students? Or should we still focus on whole class learning?

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Things I learnt about CCE facilitation:
- needs to be have more student voice/input
- facilitation strategies
- importance of framing experiential learning to achieve LOs, not just briefing about logistics

Thing I want to explore further:
- Use of other strategies
- how to get students to share their discussions in small group (as opposed to teacher facilitation)

Burning question:
Remote learning of CCE

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3 things I have learnt:
- Facilitation takes practice and planning (key questions and moves)
- Variety of facilitation strategies to use
- Less teacher talk, be more intentional in involving students in the discussion

2 things I want to explore further:
- Following up with what was taught in class (such that it is not simply a one-off session)
- Engaging and deepening conversations for students

1 question I still have:
- How would online learning change the way we facilitate CCE / how students learn?

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3 things I have learnt about CCE
- I learnt about the importance of being sensitive to the scenarios, while being relevant to the students
- try to make discussions more student-centric
- it will be easier for students to understand the values by connecting the experience to self

2 things to explore
- other facilitation strategies that I have not tried before
- being able to have meaningful discussions on sensitive topics

1 burning question
- How do we deal with parents that disagree with how CCE lessons are being facilitated?

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3 things learnt:
- Annex E is a helpful tool for a list of facilitation strategies
- We should be sensitive to the situations role played
- We can show some of our vulnerability to break the ice and create a safe space for learning

2 things to further explore:
- practising and figuring out what strategies work for what what profile of students
- integrating them into existing lesson plans

1 question:
- which strategies are the most well received?

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I feel that ensuring students feel that they are in a safe space to share their thoughts and feelings is both the most important and the most challenging. Different students may find different environments 'safe' and in a group discussion it is important to be sure that all opinions are respected while still encouraging students to speak up. This can result in a bit of a balancing act to find the 'optimum' conditions for facilitating CCE discussions.

I feel that I would need to work on the Paraphrasing skill as it is not something that comes to me naturally. I generally tend to ask clarifying questions to show interest in what my students are telling me which also encourages them to share more about what it is they are sharing about. I understand how it would help to repeat their point and it is something I will need to work on going forward.

I learnt that the facilitation skills cannot exist in isolation and that a combination of skills would be more beneficial in facilitating a discussion on topics both in class and in daily life.

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I think that creating a safe space for everyone to share their views honestly is the most important and possibly also the most challenging. It has to be done from the start and the teacher has to make a conscious effort to consistently maintain it throughout the year. I saw first-hand how not creating such a space from the start caused issues later in the year when the class discussions became heated as students had strong views about certain issues. I also feel that it should not be a one-off thing that is done at the start of the year. Discussions about creating a safe space should be done consistently(maybe once at the start of each term) so students understand how much you value it,

I think paraphrasing might be the hardest skill. While during the lesson I felt that it wasn’t necessary, on reflecting, I realized that it was a skill I used a lot during my contract teaching. Since us teachers are proficient speakers, paraphrasing didn’t seem necessary when we were role playing. But students tend to be less proficient and some may not be able to put their thoughts into words efficiently or accurately. So being that to paraphrase is important. Paraphrasing in s way that makes it easier to understand for students and at the same time carry the accurate meaning might be difficult and I might need to strengthen that skill.

I found it interesting how intuitive some skills are and how awkward others were for me. For example, I found acknowledging the speaker’s feelings by nodding and using silent gestures pretty normal but intentionally paraphrasing a little awkward. Seeing these skills individually made me realize the work that goes into being a good facilitator.

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3 things I have learnt about CCE facilitation

2 things I want to explore further about CCE facilitation

1 burning question I have about CCE facilitation

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I feel that helping students to learn from one another willingly might be challenging as it takes a lot of patience and skill to guide a student to acknowledge that their points might not be accurate or appropriate willingly, without feeling like the teacher is trying to shove his/her views on the student.

Personally, I have to work on active listening. Some barriers to active listening that I tend to experience includes being distracted, being too concerned with problem-solving. Hence I have to consistently remind myself to be patient and to have greater self-awareness so that I can be a more effective and active listener.

I feel that overall, having better facilitation skills (active listening, acknowledging feelings, paraphrasing, questioning) will allow me to be a better communicator in my daily life and to form better, more meaningful relationship with the people around me.

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Asking questions in a csi way.

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Among the four guiding principles for facilitating CCE, I find creating and maintaining a safe space for discussions the most challenging. This is because I believe that having a safe space is required before the other three guiding principles can naturally follow. Discussions with my peers also made me realise that while establishing rules for a safe environment may be quite straightforward, having to sustain this environment till the end of the year requires a lot more attention.

I feel that I would need further strengthening for my questioning skills. Asking the right questions that can help provoke thought in a comfortable manner is much easier said than done, and will require a lot of practice.

Today I learnt that using the CSI method, discussions can be a lot more structured, intentional and meaningful.

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I find that creating a safe space for all to share their views honestly is the most challenging guiding principle. Children may not say the most appropriate things sometimes, even if they are just sharing life experiences. It is difficult to allow them to voice their opinions freely, while still maintaining control of the class. They have to be properly guided without being corrected.

I would need to strengthen my questioning skills, especially since the CSI framework does not usually come naturally as seen in our group activity. Using the CSI framework can also come across as aggressive if not careful.

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1.  Taking a firm stand against unfair and unsubstantiated views. I find it difficult to use questions to surface misinterpretations which are unsubstantiated. I would like to have a trusting relationship with my students, by providing students with opportunities to share their thoughts and opinions in an open manner and that I would view things in a non-judgmental manner. It may be difficult to do so if I to be very firm with some views.

2. Active listening. I get enthusiastic about the sharing and would like to ask questions before I forget about them.

3. Using the "acknowledge feelings then paraphrasing then asking questions" may help me with conversing about tougher topics to my friends and family. This minimizes awkward pauses and silences.

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- I believe taking a firm stand against unfair and unsubstantiated views can be difficult and challenging. As people we generally stick to our own beliefs which do not change easily. This may make it difficult for us to change people's perspective, especially with younger children as they have not yet developed the ability to view incidents and experiences from others' perspectives. Therefore, as teachers it can be difficult for us to change their minds as students may become defensive and offended. As such, we will need to approach students tactfully.

- I think I would like to work on my questioning skills. At times it can be difficult to ask the right questions to facilitate conversation and to probe deeper. Questions need to be tactfully done in order to ensure the other party is comfortable to share more, and I believe that it takes time and practice to achieve that skill.

- I like the CSI model, I think some aspects of the model have been reflected in the way I communicate with others. It enables you to "hold space" for another person, being present and there for him/her. It also guides you to ask the right type of questions depending on the context and situation.

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Most challenging guiding principle: Taking a firm stance against unfair/unsubstantiated views - how to draw the line between free discussion and having to take a firm stance against hurtful views

Facilitation skill that requires strengthening: Questioning / Asking open-ended questions that could elicit deeper sharing without sounding like an interview or probing insensitively

The skills are also useful in conversations with friends and family - to build a sense of connection and responding empathetically.

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The guiding principles for facilitating that I find the most challenging is: Creating a safe space for all to share their views honestly.

From experience, it seems that students generally are in the good-boy, nice-girl orientation of their moral development. They perceive themselves as doing good and right, and this is what they surface in discussions. If every view is the same and good one, then there isn't points of view to offer. Maybe it is part of Asian culture; we want to preserve our image and be seen as acceptable.

The facilitation skill I want to further is questioning using the CSI framework. This scaffold is not just the satisfy the interest and curiosity of the listener, but to lead the speaker to reflect and take action based on the reflection. It's very intentional.

An insight that I appreciated from today's lesson acknowledging feelings can make connections with the speaker and deepen the sharing. With regards to facilitation, reaffirmation can promote feelings of safety and non-judgement.

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I find the guiding principle of focusing on shared values and the common good to be challenging because I do not have much experience with facilitation.

I find paraphrasing hard as I have a tendency to default to summarizing.

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Most challenging: Focusing on shared values and the common good.

Skill: TBC

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I think questioning skills are the most challenging because it is not intuitive to ask CSI questions unless intentional. We also have to be mindful of what we are trying to achieve through the question we are asking.

Therefore, questioning skills are what I would want to strengthen so that it becomes second nature for me to ask meaningful question and facilitate students to reflect on their behaviours and experiences.

I have noticed that although there is only one speaker in the group, the other group members also wish to share. It is natural to do so because they are genuinely curious and invested in the conversation. Vice versa, the speaker cannot help but poses questions to her audience as she wants to hear their thoughts on the topic as well. This reminds me that even in facilitation, a conversation is two-way and sometimes the facilitator can share how his/ she opinions, which the listeners would be curious to know. Applying this to my daily life, I understand that these skills could be mindfully practiced anywhere in any conversation. Even if there is one specific skill I want to improve on, I have to practice all the skills together for genuine and meaningful conversations with the people around me.

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I think that most of the approaches need to be used together for the best result as each approach alone would not be as effective. Explicit teaching can be used to provide the information necessary and narrative approach would help students relate better to some of the abstract values covered in CCE. It is also important for students to reflect at the end of the lesson and see how values taught in class can relate back to their lives. All these done together would produce a better lesson for students.

A question I would have would be with the lower primary, P1 and 2, students. As we learnt in Education Psychology, they might have trouble understanding 'other's points of view' as they are in that stage of development. I wonder how it is best to approach these students.

I would want to explore ways to conduct these lessons and carry out these strategies using ICT as I think that would be more engaging to students today.

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I saw experiential learning as a general way of thinking and learning that could be applied to any aspect of one's life. During the jigsaw session, I begin to realize that value clarifications, consideration theory and narrative approach are specific to developing empathy and awareness of values. Experiential learning ties in as the value of the other approaches would not be optimized if students did not reflect on their experiences/ what they have learnt from someone else's experience. Students have to find out what their stories and other people's stories are worth through reflection.

I felt that jigsaw allows everyone to work on the big picture. While we were reading up on our expert topic, it could be easy to get lost in the detail. As the saying goes, don't give up a forest for a tree. Converging into the main tutorial group and sharing every group's findings was interesting because we got to listen to how the other groups perceive the big picture.

A puzzle I have is that primary level students would probably not understand metacognition, mindfulness and deliberate practice of experiential learning. Even if we provide them with guiding questions to reflect on, intentional attention and being present in the experience are skills that would have been challenging to an adult as well. How can we help students develop awareness in this case?

I want to explore the other pedagogical approaches and think about the big picture at my own time.

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I learnt that there is a huge diversity of pedagogical approaches and strategies for teaching CCE, and that is very comforting for a clueless BT as now we have many to choose from depending on the needs of students. My question is if as teachers we'll actually have the opportunity to plan CCE lessons and apply them? Because from what I had observed, lesson plans were already provided and school leaders would expect teachers to execute them accordingly. I would like to explore the effectiveness of these strategies further as what may seem very exciting and engaging to the students may not actually translate to students truly understanding or being able to execute the ideas taught.

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I really enjoyed learning about the different pedagogical approaches to teaching CCE. I especially appreciated how more than one approach can be used within the same lesson. The different strategies I learned made me reflect on the previous FTGP lessons I did in the past and it made me think about how I could’ve approached the lesson differently.

One of my biggest takeaway from the lesson was the importance of reflection from the learning experiences that students go through. For this reflection to occur, the narrative approach is very important. Once students have the vocabulary(through the narrative approach) and they are taught the appropriate skills (through explicit teaching), when students go through an experience, they are more likely to reflect. With the teacher’s help, reflection, through discussion, can become richer.

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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 can apply in your daily life?

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It was enlightening for me to learn and see how the 6 theories are interconnected and actually form the basis of the 6 facilitation strategies. I believe that understanding the rationales behind the strategies would help us be more well-versed and effective when implementing them. I also found Annex E very insightful and helpful. It definitely is a great and clear resource for teachers to access and refer to if we need concrete facilitation strategies for CCE lessons and even beyond.

The discussions (through jigsaw strategy) with my classmates certainly added value to the articles that I had read before the lesson as well. The discussions added a different perspectives to my own understanding and also allowed me to clarify the doubts that i had when i read the articles on my own.

One puzzle or question that i have would be about how we can more seamlessly apply the facilitation strategies in our lessons such that students can reap the maximum benefits from it. As i believe that at the end of the day, how much the students can benefit from the strategies is also highly dependent on how they experienced the strategies.

Something that i am keen to explore would be the application of the facilitation strategies and how i can best cater it to my students in the future.

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I feel that the CCE pedagogical approaches form a comprehensive ‘tool kit’ which allows teachers to react to and bring in CCE lessons in a variety of scenarios. It also allowed me to understand the intention of CCE instruction and rationales of the strategies employed. Many of the approaches centre around lived experiences through authentic scenarios, role-play and dramatization as a means to contextualize core values and dispositions. I’m thankful for Annex E as it is a very powerful repository of tools which I can use in the future.

I did enjoy the jigsaw strategy as it allows me to check if I had understood the content first before presenting it to others. Furthermore, the opportunity to converse in an expert group gave me a bigger perspective on how our topic relates to CCE, which made me more cognisant of the links between our topic and the other expert topics during the home group time.

One question I have is how can I pitch my approach or strategy in a manner that is not only relevant to the students’ needs, but also facilitates an experience which they are engaged in. My worry is that discussions are not tokenistic in nature or too directed such that the learning becomes very directive and hence not internalised.

I would like to explore how we can create powerful CCE learning experiences for lower primary students as well as how we can integrate CCE lessons naturally in all school experiences.

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I quite enjoyed learning about the various approaches and strategies as it they are concrete tools to help inculcate values, and provide students with legitimate experiences to learn from and reflect on. However, some concerns I have is whether or not students would be able to utilise some of these strategies as they may not have the skills necessary to carry them out. For example with experiential learning, a lot of metacognitive skills are required in order for students to be able to carry out and complete the experiential learning cycle. From child psychology, we learned that students in primary school, especially lower primary, may not be able to reflect on their own thoughts and experiences. While it is not impossible for students to learn the skills necessary for self-reflection, I can see how this will pose a challenge for teachers.

Thus, we will need to properly assess our students capacities, and determine if such strategies will be suitable. In addition, we need to introduce the necessary skills first and guide them in utilising the skills in different situations in order for us to inculcate our students with the skills to help them succeed in learning in different situations.

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I think it is nice we have different pedagogical approaches to teach CCE. The different approaches can help us approach teaching CCE from a holistic point of view.  I sometimes do find myself struggling as I may default to certain strategies that I am more familiar with i.e think-pair-share. With the strategies I am exposed to during tutorial, I will be able to diversify the lessons I have in the future.

A question I have is how will we be able to convey such CCE lessons in an interesting way to the lower primary, without losing the core message (i.e CCE values).

I would like to explore more of the interactive types of facilitation such as hot seat and its effectiveness in an authentic school context.

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I think that it is great that there are varied approaches that can be utilized using the list of strategies in Annex E. It would make CCE lessons for the students more engaging. The 6 approaches that were discussed are useful if they could be used during different points of the lesson.

Direct teaching could be used to explicitly teach certain values. Even if we think some values are “common sense”, different upbringing may not result in them being so. It hence equips students with the understanding. They can then go through role plays or even practice the skills through experiential learning in subsequent lessons. Actions that were taken can then be reviewed through self-reflection with the teacher through the narrative method. These methods when used in tandem allow the teacher to evaluate if students have progressed to the higher stages of moral development.

A lot of these strategies focus on facilitation skills. I would like to be able to be able to guide students towards learning certain values rather than directly instructing them.

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After this tutorial, I begin to see how the approached 'mindful experiential learning, explicit teaching, and teaching empathy' stem and extend the narrative approach.

A question that I have is the age-appropriateness and hence the effectiveness of these approaches. In Brown and Tappan's article, they claimed that an essential component of the narrative approach is authorship and having necessarily lived through these experiences. Younger students may not have enough life experiences to give personal recounts. Further, in studying case scenarios, I foresee that as most students are in the law and order orientation stage in Kohlberg's theory of moral development, there is a fixed right and wrong answer, and students have no additional perspectives to offer. This can be challenging for the facilitation process.

Something I would like to explore further would be explicit teaching of discussion skills, so that students can carry out more in-depth discussions about moral dilemmas. I feel t he ability to discuss real world issues is lacking in our current curriculum and is an indictment of the examination-based school system.

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The approaches and strategies shared in class have expanded my repertoire of tools in conducting values education. It was helpful to see how the approaches relate to each other and could be used together to enrich students’ perspective and experience. The readings also reinforce what was learnt during ed psych that children go through different developmental stages with age, and hence, it was a good reminder that teachers have to consider the age appropriateness and readiness level of students when planning lessons.

The lesson covered the theoretical aspect of things, and I hope to explore the application of these strategies in the context of authentic school situations or the CCE package that would be introduced.

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A highlight for me was being able to relate to the recount by the BT of her interactions with Ryan. From the uncertainty and fear that the BT felt initially as she prepared to teach the class that Ryan was in, to when she realised a different side of Ryan that no one else seem to appreciate.

Being new and relatively inexperienced, i also found myself feeling uneasy and having self doubts about my capabilities about classroom management. Like her, i also catch myself revising strategies and lines in my mind as i walk along the corridor to the class. I also felt the stiffness in the air, the scrutinisation from students as i step in to the class for the first time. Like her, the words and comments from more experienced Teachers affected me. I often looked up to more experienced Teachers for tips and advices, sometimes i catch myself feeling and overthinking “oh dear, if the more experienced teachers are already struggling to manage, then i am in trouble! I wouldn’t be able to do it!”

However, after some time, like her, i also found confidence along the way. I learnt to see things from the students’ perspective and learnt to be free of prejudice for any student. I learnt to see the adorable side of even the ‘naughtiest’ child. I realised that when i learn to see things from the child’s perspective, everything becomes easier to understand, i become more well-informed and fair when dealing with misbehaviours, i don’t find myself steaming in anger and reacting anymore. I find that it helps to understand why a child said/did something first from their perspective, instead of jumping in at first instance to reprimand and demand respect ‘just because we are a teacher’. Teachers do learn from students as well. :)

One question that lingers on is, how did Ryan feel at the end? While i agree that he had to receive some consequences for his misbehaviour, i hope he got the resolution that he deserves. I hope he didn’t feel like it was a battle between him and the school. As ultimately i do believe that the school does stand by him and only have the best interests for all students.

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One thing I observed was how the BT saw a side in Ryan that no other teacher saw. The other teachers based his entire personality on a few outbursts he’s had in his time in the school. He was very quickly labelled as the notorious child and there were Teachers who had a preconceived notion about him even before interacting with him. This could have resulted in some level of hostility towards him, not only from the teachers, but other students as well. He may feel targeted by them and always feel like an outsider. I saw his outburst in the principal’s office as a reaction to the years of hostility by others. He had a “You’re not going to believe me anyway, so just punish me and we can move on” sort of attitude.

I appreciate that the BT was able to be a trusted adult in his life, especially in a stressful year for Ryan. While it may take time for Ryan to truly blossom into a more thoughtful and less impulsive student, provision of a caring and enabling school environment is vital for him to progress towards that. I believe that a caring and enabling school environment begins with one teacher. However, it’s very disheartening to see how the Teachers reacted towards Ryan but it’s not far from reality. It’s not uncommon to hear Teachers “warning” others about specific classes or students. But I feel like there’s a difference between “Hey you might want to keep an eye out for this student” and “Hey don’t even try with him. He’s lost cause.” Or “Oh he’s good in your class? Give it time. He’ll show his true colours.” The latter brings down the morale of the Teachers and students who are trying to be better. It was a good story for me to reflect on how my words, even if not said directly to the student, can affect him/her.

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A highlight for me was how the BT handled the situation with the NIE trainee in the latter part of the story. It is important for us to remain professional and "politically correct" with our colleagues. I was impressed with her, as I feel that I would have shared my own thoughts on how I would have handled the situation with Ryan. After all, I would have "seniority" over the trainee. Instead, she merely thanked him and kept her thoughts to herself, which was a professional move in my opinion.

Another thing I observed was that Ryan seemed to only have one teacher that he could depend on. I admired the BT for not being prejudiced against Ryan before she met him. Even after they had interacted, she believed in the boy, and not think that he was just a volcano that was laying dormant. This may or may not be the case in an actual school setting, as it is easy for people to be swayed by the opinions around us. Nonetheless, I feel that she did an amazing job in educating Ryan. The school definitely did not provide a caring and enabling environment as a whole. From the BT's observations, Ryan got along well with his classmates. Teachers should also take the time to reflect on the way they interact with students, as that has an influence on the student's actions as well.

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One thing I observed was how Ryan had no one in his corner except the BT. In the story, he seemed like a bright and reasonable boy who was maturing and would respect those who also showed him respect. I'm sure most teachers would be tired when dealing with difficult students and it is only natural to find solace in confiding in your colleagues. But, as the adults, it is important to model respectful language to our students, especially the difficult ones. I feel that no matter how tired we are it is not right to take our frustrations out on our students and I felt that that was where Ryan's teachers might have dropped the ball. It is possible that his teachers, after facing difficulties or being coloured by colleagues complains, treated Ryan differently from the start which could have led to a cycle of disrespect.

One area of improvement could be how the NIE Trainee in the story  acted and spoke to Ryan about the mirror. Telling Ryan to put the mirror away or to ask Ryan to hand over the mirror until the end of the test would have been enough and snatching it was uncalled for. Him saying "What are you going to do about it?" also showed Ryan that his teacher had no respect for him which sparked his subsequent actions. While I do believe Ryan should have apologized for acting on his anger, I have to agree with the BT in that I felt that his anger was justified. Another thing that could have helped the situation was if the trainee explained to Ryan at the point his mirror was taken why it was being confiscated, and not waited until the situation had gone downhill. Explaining to students why things are done would also help them understand why their teachers do certain things and would contribute to a better and more caring environment for them.

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In our teaching practice, we are bound to come across teachers who rant about students with difficult behaviour. Often time this results in pre-conceived notions about students which may result in teachers exhibiting bias even before interacting with the child. What struck a chord in me is that the BT took the time and effort to speak to Ryan, enabling her to better understand him and develop empathy toward him. Having the mindset to get to know your students properly before judging them creates a more caring and enabling environment. This encourages teachers to not engagement in premature labelling of students which is inherently unfair and disadvantageous to not only the student but for the overall classroom environment as well. With that being said, even though the BT was able to provide Ryan with care and enabled him, Ryan still was treated coldly by other teachers within the school. They seemed to lack any concern for Ryan’s well-being and still stuck firmly to their beliefs that he was a troublesome student. This can adversely affect Ryan’s confidence in himself and lead to more detrimental behaviours, serving to derail the efforts of the BT in providing him with a safe school environment.

One thing I felt could have been done better was to sit both the NIE trainee and student down to discuss the issues at play and come to a consensus that would allow all parties to better deal with such situations in the future. I believe  the “teacher is always right” stance is dangerous. While we “demand” respect from our students, we also need to provide students with respect as it is a basic need. Overall, I truly commend the efforts of the BT in providing Ryan with the best care and educational experience she can provide him. Her reflections were very inciteful and I think many of us can resonate with her struggles.

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I think I agree with the stand of the main character. I appreciate that she did not immediately form a perception of Ryan after hearing the endless rants of her colleagues. She did a good job in wanting to understand Ryan and was certainly rewarded for her effort in doing so. She managed to build a solid base of trust and rapport where Ryan confided in her and sought advice/guidance from her as well.

I think this is the type of mindset where we should not base a judgement of a person based on what we hear/come to know of. It is important that we make the effort to personally interact and understand the person so that we will come to know of their perspective. By doing so, we would be able to understand the underlying reasons for their actions and mitigate them in the best way possible.

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The story is a good reminder to not let comments from others cloud our judgement of the students. It is better to take their comments with a pinch of salt.

The BT showed that she really cared for Ryan and that Ryan actually noticed the difference between her and the other teachers. Again it reminds us that students know our hearts. Being sincere makes all the difference.

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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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I think we should be a bit more like the main character. After hearing about her colleagues talk about their difficulties with Ryan, it is normal to have preconceived notions about him and perhaps to project it on him when she became his subject teacher. Despite taking a while, she eventually managed to look past the assumptions of Ryan by looking back at the reason she wanted to be a teacher. This enabled her to become more open minded and allow Ryan to demonstrate his true personality to her rather than having a biased opinion from the start. As teachers, we need to remind ourselves not to let our biases and opinions cloud our judgement and how we act towards those around us, be it our students, their parents, or staff. This could lead towards a self-fulfilling prophecy as we project our opinions on others. This would allow us to not only role model to our students but also allow us to better provide a caring and enabling school environment for each and every student.

One area of improvement for me could be to remain calm in such a situation that the main character faced. It is easy to let our personal values and emotions guide us but I need to be mindful that there are two sides to a story and to listen to it in a neutral manner as we act in a role which is a teacher to Ryan as well as a colleague to the NIE trainee.

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Something that struck me throughout the story is the change in the BT's mindset about Ryan. Because of her colleagues pre-existing bias about Ryan, she was intimidated. When she got to talk to him, she started to understand and be empathetic towards Ryan. Yet, the environment doesn't really change; the teachers who are skeptical remain skeptical, cynical, curious for the sake of interest and not so much genuine concern for Ryan. A caring and enabling school environment is not shaped by just the passion of one teacher. In fact, the passion of one can be easily snuffed out by the lack of support by the other teachers, who instead choose to pile all the issues onto the BT's plate.
Things like hierarchy, 'a teacher must definitely be in the right' oppose the notion of care and enabling. Like Esther mentioned, I think it's a huge pity that the NIE trainee was never brought to settle with Ryan about both their faults in the situation. The trainee engaged in a power struggle with a  student and that was never brought to question either.
Nonetheless I feel challenged and encouraged by the change and growth in perspective of the BT. Even if she was the only teacher who managed to get through to Ryan. I was also reminded that the point is not to win over a student or make the students do what I want; our actions need to be student-centric, and result in their growth. That should be our focus to achieve a caring and enabling school environment.

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A highlight for me is seeing how despite being branded as a "trouble student" by most teachers, the author made the effort to reach out to Ryan and maintained her belief in his worth. At the start, Ryan may have been felt isolated or unsupported by his teachers who kept him at an arm's length due to his reputation. By viewing him as a person who has his own self-worth and not the label, the author managed to become a trusted adult for Ryan in school.

One question that still lingers is how one can navigate being the "Aunt Agony" for conflicting parties? Having been in the situation that the author was in before, I can empathise with her struggles and wonder to how I can better handle the situation when there seems to be no possibility of resolution.

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One thing I observed was that the BT appeared to be the only resource the school had to effectively mediate matters related to Ryan. I found it concerning that this led to the BT seeing herself as “shelter of refuge for both teachers and student”, being drawn into situations that she may not be directly involved in or taking it upon herself to be responsible for Ryan. It seemed to me that it could be a slippery slope in terms of TSR and relationship with colleagues that the BT is treading on.

It is evident that coherent and consistent messaging was absent in the school with the BT holding on to her views and beliefs about Ryan, while the school and colleagues had their own, and the difference is exemplified in the handling of the “mirror incident”. While it is normal that people look at matters from different perspective, one question that still lingers is how should educators approach situations when personal beliefs contradicts with the school (rules)?

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I think a highlight of the story for me is the 'mirror incident'. There is no doubt that being in possession of a mirror gives anyone a reason to believe that Ryan might have cheated during the test. Since he is going to be taking O-levels, this will be an important lesson because the same incident would not be taken lightly and it is very likely to affect his O-levels results.

It is also worthwhile to note that the NIE trainee teacher is inexperienced and has not figured out the boundaries he should not cross. Although his actions might not have been the best, he was performing his role as an invigilator and ensuring fairness. Similar to Ryan, the NIE trainee is learning through his own experiences as well.

While the writer has her own opinions about "whether she would apologize if she were Ryan" and "how unfair it is because the NIE trainee is perceived to be right", she should not let these thoughts cloud her judgement. As the incident occured between Ryan and the NIE trainee, it can only be resolved via a conversation between the two parties. It is no surprise that the writer found her conversations with Ryan going in circles. She could have tried to mediate the dialogue between Ryan and the NIE trainee, and have them reach to a common understanding of each other's perspectives. Maybe an apology from Ryan would then come naturally and the NIE trainee might even admit to his mistakes.

It is a pity that the school did not offer a caring and enabling environment for both the students (i.e. Ryan) and the teachers (i.e. the writer). However, I felt that the writer's influence and efforts were substantial because slightly before the incident, the situation did improve.

A seminar for the teachers about a caring and enabling environment could be held so that they can manage their prejudice and be more mindful of the language they use about "problem students". Many teachers in the story felt frustration from the inability to deal with Ryan; hence, it would help to also include concrete strategies to become a caring teacher. It was obvious that Ryan was able to achieve greater heights under the instruction of one.

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One question that still lingers is "How did this caning incident change Ryan?" He seemed to be maturing, and I'm concerned that this incident may have been traumatic to Ryan and lacking a proper resolution.

I also wish that Ryan's other teachers could have a growth mindset and practice empathy and patience to talk to him. Positive TSR has helped the author and Ryan a lot, but consistent and coherent messages across staff needs to be worked on.

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I would like to thank the main character for doing her best to help "Ryan", despite the little support she was provided with by the school environment.

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1) Pick a sentence starter.
- I wish I/we had …
- I think we should …
- I would like the group to tell me …
- The most difficult/ challenging part for me is …
- A highlight for me is …
- One thing I observed is …
- I would like to thank … for …
- One area of improvement could be …
- One question that still lingers is …
2) Take a minute to think and reflect about your learning today and how you would complete the sentence.
3) Put your name in the title of the post.