Department Sharing (EL) by QSS

Makoto

qssteacher — 2022-03-10 02:51:24 UTC

Used handles / routines to get students to understand concepts (e.g. literary techniques and how to write about them)

Makoto

qssteacher — 2022-03-10 02:52:05 UTC

I used PearDeck extensively this term. I found it helpful to augment lecture-style teaching to gather students' responses as a class.

Makoto

qssteacher — 2022-03-10 02:52:46 UTC

I chose texts where I could talk about values and their application to students' own situations (e.g. 'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou).

Weiling

qssteacher — 2022-03-10 05:47:10 UTC

Class bonding via 120 speeches. The kids look forward to their friends' presentations and my 1NA kids have shared very personal stories on this platform. e.g. being homeless and rough sleeping, mother passing away, helping a homeless person, parents in jail, having dyslexia

Weiling

qssteacher — 2022-03-10 05:50:47 UTC

My two favourites: Mentimeter & Peardeck.

Menti's user interface is so easy to use for a quick lesson prep. The display of responses is also in a good font size and we can select from a small but adequate range of display forms (e.g. dots, graphs, pie chart, word cloud etc.).

Padlet is great for longer posts and to allow quick likes and comments from others as well.

wong_meijing_ashley3 — 2022-03-10 05:57:20 UTC

Tried out Peardeck and Padlet mostly for this sem :) Both I find are easy to use and do allow the quieter students to have a say - although saving answers from Padlet is more intuitive (haven't quite figured out how to access older answers from students who commented on Peardeck?)

Surinder

qssteacher — 2022-03-10 06:51:05 UTC

I have used google classroom to upload materials and work that students need to submit. Marking is not as easy but it is useful when it comes to students have things to refer to in class.

Vani

dorairaj_vani1_1 — 2022-03-10 09:00:03 UTC

Used journaling with Sec 4s as a means to boost knowledge of the news/ news items and to build confidence in writing as well .

Vani

dorairaj_vani1_1 — 2022-03-10 09:01:59 UTC

Used 120s with sec 2s and 3s as a way for them to get used to producing responses to topics and issues. Students in the classes are now enjoying this and they look forward to listening to each other's prepared 120 speeches. Going forward, I would like to encourage them to speak without relying too much on their notes.

Vani

dorairaj_vani1_1 — 2022-03-10 09:06:40 UTC

I rely on google classroom quite bit to post materials and assignments. I find platforms like padlet and google slides very useful for collaborative work. Pear deck is useful but somehow I find that it may benefit short answer tasks a little more than those which require some sustained writing. I like Pear deck's templates for use during the start and end of lessons. The templates allow for students to engage with lesson material more closely - though i am still figuring out how best to use it for group or even pair work.

Vani

dorairaj_vani1_1 — 2022-03-10 09:09:14 UTC

Did this while teaching critical response. Got them to discuss how values were important especially when one posts a critical response on social media. Students were able to bring up the importance of honesty and empathy when posting critical reviews and the need also not to intentionally hurt the feelings of others.

Jaya

jayletchimi_ramasamy — 2022-03-10 09:21:47 UTC

Used Talk Moves that was piloted last year with Dr Ho from ELIS for writing. Students were able to understand what coherent structure or elaboration is but when it comes to individual execution, they falter.

Jaya

jayletchimi_ramasamy — 2022-03-10 09:26:03 UTC

Pear Deck and Nearpod really keeps the students engaged. The real time data and feedback on formative assessment is beneficial for students grasp of what is needed for writing & representing or reading and viewing. However, the downside I face is their lack of verbal and nonverbal active class discussion especially with my weak 213 class. ICT participation does not translate to active class discussion as they are shy and lack confidence.

Jaya

jayletchimi_ramasamy — 2022-03-10 09:27:45 UTC

To boost the morale of the 213 I usually will craft or use 213 as an example of exhibiting the school values.

Jaya

jayletchimi_ramasamy — 2022-03-10 09:28:53 UTC

Setting SMART goals as in the Sec 1E Unit 1 is a good way to get students to be self-directed.

Sarah

2022-03-11 00:12:27 UTC

used Peardeck for error analysis this term. while it's helpful to engage students and check for understanding, students tend to use slang when responding and need to be reminded to avoid informal language. used Padlet extensivley to engage students for discussions and get them to think about diff perspectives as well. it allows for greater student ownership of their learning (collaborative notes for revision), and the format also allows for longer responses, which is useful for ss/ lit.

Sarah

2022-03-11 00:13:15 UTC

questioning routines and handles (zoom in, zoom out; identify - connect - interpret) to help students make sense of texts and anchor their responses more closely to evidence.

Sarah

2022-03-11 00:16:24 UTC

linked values to discussion of f451 (importance of empathy, compassion) when discussing the dystopian nature of society

Audrey Woo

qssteacher — 2022-03-11 00:17:48 UTC

Used classroom routines to get students' attention and refocus on the lesson when they are getting distracted.

Sarah

2022-03-11 00:19:05 UTC

error analysis for 203 - self/ peer marking as a means of giving feedback and guiding students to avoid common errors and learn from each others' strengths. students make reference to a simplified version of the band descriptors and are engaged in class discussions on how they would grade and improve paragraphs to consolidate.

Marcus Low

2022-03-11 00:23:08 UTC

Writing has been an emphasis with 1E EL. With support and suggestions from the team, students have been given access to a wider range of reading texts, as well as more intentional opportunities to improve on their writing.

Use of Rubrics in assessing written drafts allow students to understand what is important, and how they will be assessed during a summative test. This, accompanied with the use of a mentor text, has observed an improvement in the writing of students (both 1E and 1NA)

Marcus Low

2022-03-11 00:27:14 UTC

120 was well received by 1E class. Students are visibly attempting to shift from merely listing ‘likes and dislikes’ to elaborating on select points. Class clearly takes pride, with most preparing Slides and even music accompaniment with their sharing.

Kasthuriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

KasthuriDavaraj — 2022-03-11 00:30:53 UTC

Been trying out a close reading strategy for unseen poetry with my upper sec classes. It involves slowly zooming into the use of language in poetry and developing a response to explain how the poet's choices are effective. Scaffolding the analysis of unseen poetry and breaking it down into manageable steps seem to really help the kids.

KasthuriKasthuriKasthuri

KasthuriDavaraj — 2022-03-11 00:36:38 UTC

I mostly used Padlet and Google Classroom. I find Padlet very versatile because I can use it in a variety of ways (e.g. for AfL, Peer Evaluation etc). GC is very convenient as well. Hailun and I will be running an ICT clinic on how we use Padlet next term. Pls sign up if you are interested!

Aaron

qssteacher — 2022-03-11 01:08:08 UTC

decided to focus on engaging students to re-write and continuously improve a single piece of writing, over writing multiple different essays/sit writing tasks.

Their WA1 did show surprising improvement, but need to find a way to make the marking load on the teacher a little more efficient due to the time consumption spent remarking the scripts

Aaron

qssteacher — 2022-03-11 01:08:53 UTC

Mainly use SLS to organise and control the lesson flow
While I use pallet for easy access to class response/discussion

Aaron

qssteacher — 2022-03-11 01:13:44 UTC

4NT kids did to enjoy the tediousness of writing one essay multiple times. Much time has been spent just trying to make the re-writing process less arduous by teaching them to hang on by reminding them to look at the potential pay off, instead of their short term immediate goal (go home)

Class group routines/disciplines have been helpful in teaching values such as responsibilities.

Kasthuri

KasthuriDavaraj — 2022-03-11 04:22:47 UTC

Our teaching subject lends itself well to the infusion of values. For example, during my 3N literature classes, I often talk about empathy and perspective taking because we are reading a text about a mother and son who have some kind of conflict.

Kasthuri

KasthuriDavaraj — 2022-03-11 04:23:59 UTC

EL teachers should have book sharing sessions too. Not just our students

Angela

qssteacher — 2022-03-11 04:56:05 UTC

Gamificication to excite students to discover answers to text for themselves. This encourages students' interest to mine deeper into text.

Angela

qssteacher — 2022-03-11 04:57:58 UTC

Padlet as a repository of resources eg: articles, videos, text, images and get students to discover the theme for the new unit. Accompanying task mapped to the resources. Encourages self-directed learning.

2022-08-04 01:19:18 UTC

Jaya
I have been trying to infuse student initiated feedback to get students to have a voice in processing feedback given to them based on the book Inquiry Mindset - Assessment by Trevor. The responsible and HP are able to get on board but lost the MP, LP and disengaged students. Hence, I tweaked the lesson with scaffold and DI to reach out to them.

Pedagogy (Term 3)

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 01:30:52 UTC

Sec 4s - have not really reinvented the wheel here. Lots of drill and practice. Happy to hear suggestions to make this more interesting for them.

Sec 1s - tried to get kids a bit more engaged with collaborative tasks and student choice (advertisement design task)

Sec 3 Lit - continued with group discussions - functioned as a facilitator while students discussed key questions on TGM on their own

Makoto

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 01:31:24 UTC

Have used Canva for Sec 1s to design one-page advertisements to put into practice what they learn about purpose, message, audience

Makoto

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 01:33:21 UTC

Thank you to the following people for being ever so wonderful. In alphabetical order:

Aaron
Ajaib
Angela
Ashley
Audrey Chua
Audrey Woo
Cindy
Frieden
Gayatri
Jaya
Jing Kang
Joanne
Kasthuri
Marcus
Natalie
Sarah
Surinder
Vani
Weiling

Makoto

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 01:34:08 UTC

When teaching advertisements, have talked about being responsible in terms of communicating messages.

2022-08-04 01:35:11 UTC

Jaya
Technology can be used to present the assessment tasks in different modalities. Designed SLS oral lessons for 2NT which focused on supporting students to present their performance in their preferred modality to implement differentiated instruction with SLS tools. It did help the students to be interest and do their task.

2022-08-04 01:41:31 UTC

Jaya
412 seem to be passive and apathetic especially this term. I have been using motivational videos (values infused) related to comprehension or composition topics to enthuse and energise them, not just to complete their task but to learn from their mistakes. Managed to salvage some of them. I still have many lost sheep like Fatin, Efa, Hakim, Fiqih and so forth. I am at my wits end with the exam drawing near.

2022-08-04 01:45:35 UTC

Jaya
Truly appreciate each and everyone of you in the department for being who you are and never failing to extend a helping hand to an aged senior like me. Thank you

Jing Kang

2022-08-04 02:17:26 UTC

Have tried to put in more effort in sustaining weekly newspaper readings to expose students to real-life situations of language use and the functions they serve. It's a work in progress but I want to try getting students to facilitate their own discussions and sharings in more situations.

Ashley

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 03:25:58 UTC

For 201 I've been trying to instill a sense of responsibility for their own work by getting them to request for extensions if they judge that they are unable to complete the work on time in a satisfactory manner. Across my classes I have also been trying to facilitate more (very much a work in progress)

Ashley

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 03:27:53 UTC

Discovered that Peardeck can automatically generate learning points, key takeaways, and is able to generate reference materials for each student based on what they've written in class. I've been using this for 120s so that students can review their planning. I also tried Gimkit for CM time with 104 which was very fun and good for quick class bonding activities.

Joanne

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2022-08-04 03:28:56 UTC

2E Lit: Discussed how we shouldn't lie and manipulate each other when exploring disinformation in Animal Farm. Got students to reflect on how Napoleon's leadership is a really cruel / harmful one because he wants the best for himself, not others.

Joanne

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2022-08-04 05:10:11 UTC

4N Lit: Got students to design quizzes for each other using WordWall to help the class remember specific quotes for characters in their set text. Also regularly do Kahoot quizzes to motivate them to know their text well.

2N Lit: Use Google docs to guide students to annotate extracts of the text to teach essay writing.

4E/3E EL: Often use Padlet to get students to plan essay outlines / write sample paragraphs for Continues Writing, then the class votes for which example they want to go through.

Would appreciate any suggestions for ICT though, feel like I'm repeating the same things over and over!
KIV: Would like to try out the "Among Us" game type of setup that Iryantee shared in June, perhaps to explore literary devices in poetry.

Angela

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 05:52:55 UTC

Using hot-seating as a pedagogy for Sec 1 Lit class. This is helpful as it encourages students to have deeper awareness of characterisation and themes in the text. (Curate their questions before asking)

2E EL (5-10 mins at the start of the class)
- Students given an oral package during 30 mins lesson
- They will take turns at the start of each lesson to present their planned response
- Teacher to provide feedback and point out the strengths and weaknesses of each response
- Teacher to teach structure in spoken response
- Most students are able to adopt a clear structure

Angela

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 05:53:23 UTC

Using Gimkit for revision of vocabulary

Jing Kang

2022-08-04 05:58:17 UTC

Mainly used Padlet as a discussion tool for collaboration and sharing. However, realised that it may sometimes lead to students being too absorbed in their computers and being blocked off (physically and mentally) from conversations around them. Thinking about how to strike a balance between using ICT tools and still having room for F2F conversations.

Jing Kang

2022-08-04 05:59:33 UTC

Am trying to be a bit more intentional with the infusion of values. It may come up randomly or when I see a teachable moment, but it's important not to leave the teaching of values to chance.

Vani

2022-08-04 06:07:25 UTC

Used frames shared by Makoto and other colleagues such as 5W 1H , past vs present, problem-solution with Sec 3 EL students in an effort to get them to elaborate on their spoken responses. This is to help them in their Planned Spoken Response. I also used peer feedback to get them to comment on each other's responses so that they could understand better how to make such spoken responses more engaging for the listener. Appreciated observing Ms Cindy Tan's lesson where she used mentor texts from you tube to teach students about features in a good speech. I found Michelle Obama's speech which she showed her class particularly useful for this purpose as well.

Vani

2022-08-04 06:11:06 UTC

I use padlet quite often during HBL lessons when I have students discuss a topic usually based on a news article I provide them for supplementary reading. A very simple software but one that provides me a quick way to monitor students' thoughts and writing at the same time. It also allows for a quick class discussion of the current topic from the news article and creates opportunities for students to discuss fresh perspectives.

Vani

2022-08-04 06:14:55 UTC

Brought in poems for Sec 3 EL as well at the start of this term in an effort to teach them literary language and how to analyse literary language. I found this to be helpful especially when they answer comprehension questions for the Section B text of Paper 2. The students were able to appreciate use of imagery and figurative language in poetry and identify these more quickly- works better than giving them a prose text to identify these devices from. Poetry in the EL classroom could be a good way to introduce literary language for non-Lit students!

Vani

2022-08-04 06:19:01 UTC

Usually do this intentionally with the choice of texts in the classroom. When the sec three team did the unit on Empathy at the start of term 3, I felt it was a good way to introduce this value. The texts we used centred on migrant workers and domestic helpers.

Vani

2022-08-04 06:22:29 UTC

Thanks to all EL and Lit teachers for the thought and consideration you put into planning and teaching your lessons. Appreciation also for generously sharing your lesson materials and resources with the team.

Joanne

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2022-08-04 08:26:19 UTC

3E EL: Used students' recordings of responses to Planned Response prompt for oral to discuss how to organise and develop planned responses.

Joanne

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2022-08-04 08:27:28 UTC

It's been a really tough and busy term, and everyone has worked so hard. Hang in there and let's get some proper rest when the term ends!

Weiling

2022-08-04 09:33:53 UTC

Menti still my favourite but now they have a new quiz mode! Think Kahoot but with more students on an animated leaderboard, rather than just the top 3. Great for grammar quizzes.

Weiling

2022-08-04 09:35:52 UTC

Our 1NA texts are rich in values and lifeskills. Learning about self and understanding perspectives in friendships and bullying are featured. It's not difficult to talk about values when they are weaved in our lesson materials.

Weiling

2022-08-04 09:38:29 UTC

To motivate students to read Wonder, I assigned student volunteers chapters to quiz their friends on. Students came up with their own Kahoot quizzes and led the quizzes. This was well received by the class I tried this in.

Student-led --> students owning the class. =)

Audrey

2022-08-04 10:31:38 UTC

I try to be more intentional in planning lessons where content is centered on the appreciation of values. A resource that I like is the Straits Times Generation Grit series, which comprises of short video clips that can be used to teach language features and presentation of one's ideas. The ideas (such as the importance of persevering in the face of adversity, turning over a new leaf) are directly shown, and the language used is accessible to most students. For texts centered on values, I like to use Todayonline's Gen Y speaks.

Frieden

qssteacher — 2022-08-04 15:43:10 UTC

My lorong neighbour, Zhang Yi, introduced Quizizz to me. I used its live quiz function to review vocabulary and grammar items. Very similar to Kahoot and user-friendly, but it somehow lacks the ‘drive-you-nuts’ sound effects. In order not to lose students’ enthusiasm in doing the live quiz, it is best to keep the number of questions to 10. I have not tried its asynchronous learning homework function; I may explore and use it as a holiday assignment for my NT/NA students.

Audrey

2022-08-04 23:31:34 UTC

I like the use of Google slides for collaboration and multimodal presentation of ideas! Students responded enthusiastically in using it to design a social media post with a narrative element, and they brought in features of authentic posts, e.g. hashtags, use of emojis.

Audrey

2022-08-04 23:41:58 UTC

My focus has been on getting students to plan their work before writing using the PAC framework. I wanted to encourage students to think through the purpose and context of what they are writing before starting as most tend to repeat themselves when writing. Students subsequently showed that they were more cognisant of what needed to highlighted to their audience, given the nature of the issue they had highlighted in their plans earlier. In teaching VTs, I added an element of interpreting and using colours for purpose in VTs, which was something I saw the librarians learn in a workshop in Term 2. Students responded quite keenly by writing down how they plan to use colours to achieve effect in their VTs.

Audrey

2022-08-04 23:46:49 UTC

Many thanks to all colleagues who have been so supportive of each other and spending time to bounce off ideas to engage students, sometimes even though things get busy! 🫶

Marcus

qssteacher — 2022-08-05 07:13:20 UTC

Observed Frieden using quiz-like functions (think Kahoot, Peardeck) to go through comprehension answers. Students were a lot more engaged compared to lessons just going through answers via Word doc.

Personally, used Kahoot/ Peardeck to go through paraphrasing of summary points, to get students select accurately/inaccurately paraphrased points. Follow-up through discussion of common errors.

Marcus

qssteacher — 2022-08-05 07:19:05 UTC

1E Visual Text + Writing --> drawing reference from CPDD's IMs, repeatedly touched on Purpose, Message and Audience of text (packaged differently for essay writing, of course). Objective was to have students be more intentional in their reading/comprehension as well as writing tasks.

For essays, started with shorter pieces and closely following up with feedback using mentor texts (ref. their own classmates' work). Students would then either improve on their own piece (LR, MR), or continue with the subsequent task (HR), depending on their determined ability.

Marcus

qssteacher — 2022-08-05 07:19:44 UTC

Thank you bosses for all the food and drinks during dept. meetings!

Makoto

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:06:40 UTC

SLS

I've been using SLS more to help structure my lessons as it's easy to implement the four-phase CLEARR framework. The SLS catalogue Aaron sent has also been helpful in deciding what resources I can adapt / incorporate within my lessons.

Makoto

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:09:11 UTC

For 4E Lit, I've been (perhaps belatedly) looking at using mnemonics as a framework to approach annotating poetry and the set text -

C-DRILL (Comparison, diction, rhyme, imagery, line length) {for poetry}
Cool Cats Do Important Things - Conflict, Characterisation, Description, Imagery, Time {for looking at tension in a PBQ}

Makoto

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:10:12 UTC

Have brought the kids to the Library and shared book recommendations with the students.

Joanne (Term 1)

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2023-01-25 01:19:03 UTC

For 4E EL, I shared authentic texts with them (e.g. article from The Guardian / short story by Roald Dahl) and based on these texts, crafted some comprehension questions as well as reflection questions related to the theme of Law and Justice. I felt this helped higher progress students to think about the theme more deeply while allowing all students to practice comprehension skills.

Angela

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:26:42 UTC

Target setting-Graduating classes were exposed to the N-level syllabus and given time to look at the different assessment rubrics. They were tasked to set their goals for each component via google forms. This encourages ownership on learning amongst students.

Angela

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:34:34 UTC

For 4N EL, we use mentor texts to help students understand the features of reflective writing. Students also learn about the Gibb's cycle of reflection and used the guiding questions to help them plan their writing. We find this rather helpful as students are able to extend their writing and provides more in depth analysis of their experiences.

Angela

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:37:10 UTC

4N EL- I have started using SLS for EL journalling. This allows me to provide stimuli (video, photographs, articles) for the students to respond to. Scaffolded questions are also given for students to reflect on their HBL experiences which link back to a form of reflective writing (Term 1 focus).

Cindy

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:37:45 UTC

As I am still quite unfamiliar to the new EL syllabus in terms of using the VAP, I try to follow the SOW closely. There are indeed a lot of resources for the students and I have adapted some of them and used them in a more logical way.

Jaya

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:46:59 UTC

For the 313 I am continuing with the Talk Moves and Visible Thinking Strategy for writing. The problem is the new batch of students NA need orienteering to this strategy. Also the large group of 37 students impedes effective roll out of this strategy. I am rethinking how to address this issue.

Jaya

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:49:42 UTC

Have been exploring R18 SLS features to promote DI with my History students.

Jaya

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 01:54:47 UTC

Discipline Through the Deciding Line strategy Sec 1 students came up with the routines for a conducive learning environment as they have a sense of ownership in the production of the class routines.

Cindy

qssteacher — 2023-01-25 02:07:00 UTC

I have used Padlet in class so far for students to share their thoughts. I have used the chance to highlight good responses and encourage those who didn't put in much effort to do better the next round.

Sarah

2023-01-25 03:20:46 UTC

Using Padlet/ Google Slides in class as a platform for collaborative work for students to share ideas and get peer feedback on each others' work.

Sarah

2023-01-25 03:27:25 UTC

Making Thinking Visible via questioning for Literature students to get them to draw inferences on characterisation and relationships (e.g. examine tone, reason for why the character says it, how they feel)

Wei Min

tan_wei_min — 2023-01-27 05:13:12 UTC

Pear Deck is something new to me. After trying it with my Lit class I must say it's an awesome tool. Hoping to become more familiar with it and use it more often in my lessons.

Makoto (Term 2)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:44:59 UTC

I've been looking at giving some handles - e.g. using a structure like GENERAL STATEMENT-SPECIFIC STATEMENT to provide contextual sentences in essay intros.

Makoto (Term 2)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:46:49 UTC

The SLS catalogue has been helpful for me to look for targeted resources I can use.

Sarah (Term 2)

2023-04-06 02:47:54 UTC

Padlet
More use of Padlet to get students to focus on flash analysis in Literature. Leveraged upon Joanne's traffic light system(red - amber - green) to give feedback to students. Feedback was given through comments on Padlet, as well as verbally. Found this especially useful not just in giving feedback, but also to help with improving students' motivation, as they could actually see their progress from yellow to green. I also did a snapshot of their work, showing them earlier Padlets and more recent ones, to show them the progress that they had made in terms of close reading. This has resulted in students being more motivated during flash analysis and for their work in general.

Makoto (Term 2)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:47:57 UTC

I would like to thank everyone in the dept for being excellent colleagues! You make work easier.

Having gone back to teaching a lower sec class, I've realised over strong-arming through the materials to cover the curriculum, it might be better to invest some extra time to ensure that the students have really grasped the learning task. It's far better prepare students at the lower levels with a firm grasp of the foundations, over trying to rework their basics at the upper levels.

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:48:05 UTC

Joanne (Term 2)

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2023-04-06 02:48:40 UTC

Efficient tools for giving feedback:
1. Checklists breaking down the success criteria. Students can refer to this and do self-checking / peer-feedback before handing in their work. Teacher can then use the same checklist to indicate areas done well and/or areas for improvement.

2. Traffic light system on Padlet: colour-coding posts based on level of progress. Green for good posts / yellow for halfway-there posts / red for posts that are entirely on the wrong track.

Weiling, 6 April

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:49:48 UTC

Adopted Jasvinder's Word of the Day Google Sheet for my 213 SBB English class as it is simply so hard to get these students do any work outside class. Students spend the first 5-10min writing a sentence for the word of the day, and I give them colour coded feedback and comments if necessary. Red - wrongly used, orange - some mistakes, green - perfect!

Aaron

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:50:27 UTC

Ive found that using AI powered tools to bounce ideas off helps me scope my LOs when I'm at an impasse of how to best proceed with the lesson.

Sarah (Term 2)

2023-04-06 02:50:36 UTC

Rediscovering the Joy of Learning:
Shout-out to Kasthuri for sharing ideas/ brainstorming! <3 I tried to make poetry more accessible to students by using songs this term, this seemed to help in terms of boosting their interest and showing how literary devices could actually be relatable.

Also looking at how Makoto's strategy of mnemonics can be built upon, by using a similar framework for poetry: I M Just So Done, Sigh (Imagery, Metaphor, Juxtposition, Simile, Diction, Symbolism).

Angela (6 Apr)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:51:31 UTC

Peer Assessment as a form of feedback for 1N EL class. Students are made more aware of the grammar structure being taught in class. Students are tasked to write a 50-word paragraph using the grammar structure taught.

Joanne (Term 2)

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2023-04-06 02:51:58 UTC

Introduced a local poem about cultural identity with our 3E Lit class, and Jas and I had a very interesting conversation based on what we observed about students' reactions to it. We discussed how students had difficulty relating to it because the poem featured a minority cultural experience. We talked about how Jas identified with it easily while I didn't, and we would share how our cultural experiences influenced the way we read the poem to help students reflect on cultural identity in Singapore.

Aaron

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:52:13 UTC

Using number codes to label each WS allows for easy reference down the road.

e.g. you could tell students to refer to WS 4.1 - reading text 1, as opposed to sieving through a stack of paper for a specific story name, should you need them to refer to a previous piece of work later in the year.

Weiling - Weekly EL HW Routine, 6 April

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:53:59 UTC

I have managed to maintain a routine of regular English weekend homework this year. Students know every week, they have to complete one Spelling/Vocab worksheet of 9 words, and the next two editing exercises in their purchased book.

Keeping instructions simple and the same two assignments every weekend has helped set the rhythm.

Marcu Slow (T2)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 02:58:32 UTC

I gave handles to 413, and repeated them throughout the term. E.g. students struggle with elaboration (i.e. oral, sit writing), so have repeatedly told them to 'tell stories'.

I hold weekly competitions, mostly to do with writing, in which students have to revisit some techniques such as starting a story or adding details in order to do well.

Surinder

surinder_kaur — 2023-04-06 03:10:44 UTC

During the course of a lesson, should any teachable moment come up I expand upon it. Recently in Sec 1, I showed a photo of a vaping device that was pasted in the journal of a student and used it to talk about how bad vaping is and so on.

Wei Min (Term 2)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 03:14:06 UTC

My 2E students generally look forward to and enjoy listening to their peers' 120 speeches. Quite a number of interesting topics such as Food Coma and Prisons have been touched on. A few students who are really shy and reserved managed to step up when it was their turn to present, which is heartening.

Jasvinder (T2W3)

jasvinder_kaur_pannu — 2023-04-06 03:21:20 UTC

Google Sheets --> WOTD Routine

In Term 1 I struggled to maintain the vocabulary builder routine with students.

So in Term 2, I have gotten students to tune into EL lessons by setting up a routine during the first 5-10 minutes of them settling into the classroom. Students tend to arrive at their own pace, so they open their PLDs upon arrival and start working on the word of the day (WOTD).

After the lesson, I check the cells using the traffic light system and leave comments if need be. I do this in time for students to see the feedback at the start of the next EL lesson. This is so they can reflect on their past sentences, correct their work, and then attempt the new WOTD.

It has been very meaningful for certain students, and it has been encouraging to see their spelling and grammar improve across the sentences.

However, I have noticed some students copying sentences from various dictionary websites. Despite reminders not to, some students do not put the effort in during this tuning in. So I may need to adjust my approach when using this WOTD routine in the future.

Vani (5 Apr 2023)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 04:06:55 UTC

I enjoy using Kahoot with my students especially with low progress students to revise plot and character details from the Literature texts. My students are really motivated to read on because they want to top the quiz and they know my next quiz will be on the next chapter. The digital platform also allows me to track very quickly which questions most of them are weak in and who is doing really well in the class as well. It allows me to talk them about values as well because I have had to remind them that they should not cheat(some of them managed to at first) just to secure a top spot and that it was a means for them to test what they need to know about the text! The digital quiz also serves as a hook because it is a means to grab their attention right from the start of the lesson.

Vani (5 Apr 2023)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 04:28:32 UTC

I attempted to get students to write their own success criteria as a means for them to understand their writing better. This was during a lesson I did with the students on drafting counter argument paragraphs. Using a simple frame, 'They say' , 'But I say', I modelled for them some good and not so good counter argument and rebuttal paragraphs. Then I told them to write out a success criteria for a sound counter argument paragraph for them. I could have given them an example of a success criteria here but i was surprised that without an example, some of them were able to come up with their own criteria using simple terms such as 'a topic sentence in a good counter argument paragraph must be opposite to the overall stand taken in the essay'. There were also groups that were doubtful about how to start writing a criteria so I guess the next thing might be to see how we can differentiate the learning for this.

Vani (5 Apr 2023)

qssteacher — 2023-04-06 04:34:01 UTC

Jasvinder (T2W7)

jasvinder_kaur_pannu — 2023-05-05 03:57:22 UTC

"Please use kinder words!"

I have found myself having to say this in my Sec 1 classes. It seems students are very comfortable blurting out their opinions, sometimes for reactions from peers and other times simply because they have no brain to mouth filter. I wonder if taking this phenomenon and turning it into a language use lesson activity would be a good way to address this issue. It could reinforce the PAC skills students have been building in terms 1 and 2.

Makoto

qssteacher — 2023-08-02 02:11:36 UTC

The Crystal Stair

When teaching Langston Hughes' poem Mother to Son, I used it as a platform to discuss how resilience is important in difficult times.

Makoto

qssteacher — 2023-08-02 02:15:38 UTC

I'm using short stories on Commonlit.org for extensive reading. I've been integrating this on Google Classroom.

Dora (Term 3)

qssteacher — 2023-08-02 02:26:27 UTC

I'm using padlet to get 201 to keep up with current affairs: https://padlet.com/qssteacher/201-reading-corner-lw9gafrmbwhzgwan

They have to read an article from a trustworthy source weekly, do a summary of the article and reflect about what they have read. They would also have to choose a difficult word from the article and construct a sentence using it.

Jing Kang (Term 3)

qssteacher — 2023-08-02 02:35:53 UTC

For 3E EL, to change things up a little, I got the students to do a debate (The House believes that AI is a threat to humanity) as well as a Socratic seminar (living and working in Singapore vs overseas). These lessons were mostly dependent on the students conducting their own research in order for them to benefit so it is more directed towards higher progress learners.

I used to be quite apprehensive as to the viability of the lessons but I felt that 301 was ready for the lesson so I attempted it. It was a good opportunity for them to learn from each other and through conversations, they were able to hit topics that I had also not expected. At the same time, it provided a good way for me to give feedback of their trains of thought and their logical flow of ideas.

Overall, I and the students felt that the lessons were a lot more engaging and the student-centricity of the lesson led to more relevant examples and allowed me to focus and think more about the students' work and how to provide feedback.

Vani

dorairaj_vani1_1 — 2023-08-02 02:38:53 UTC

While overseeing the O level orals, I am happy to see that by and large, the majority of our students have been very well-prepared for the exams - given the requirements of the new syllabus, adjusting to a new segment in the 1184 paper (planned response), having to speak for two minutes and being able to structure well-organised points for discussion.

Vani

dorairaj_vani1_1 — 2023-08-02 02:45:32 UTC

I find google forms aside from padlet very useful for revision exercises in writing.
Google forms can be used in compre revision - because they allow for short question answers - once done the compre answers from students can be exported to excel and the teacher can showcase strong answers as well as weaker ones to the class (could hide names of students as well!) I heard of other teachers in other schools using this tool for sec four revision and our ex-colleague Weiling also used it. Worth trying out (especially for the harder compre questions).

Surinder

surinder_kaur — 2023-10-18 02:53:40 UTC

I have been using short stories in the classroom like Story of an Hour and Straits Times Online and it is very heartening when I do not say, give time to my class on Monday to read the news online and I have kids reminding me that it is Monday today and they want to read the news! Also, some go on to read the other short stories on the website I used. And then tell me about it.

Surinder

surinder_kaur — 2023-10-18 02:55:05 UTC

I have been using GC more to update students on class content pages and then tell some parents I speak to on the phone to check their kids' GC to see all the things we have been doing in class because their children do not always tell them or do not show them their files or even have a proper filing system.

Jing Kang

qssteacher — 2023-10-18 04:17:19 UTC

Managed to link the articles that they cover weekly to values that I think are important for them in life and when interacting with people and their perspectives. I feel that keeping them up with current affairs is a good way to get them to share their perspectives and learn to respect the perspectives coming from others as well.

Joanne (EL)

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2023-10-18 04:20:09 UTC

I like to use Padlet for a little bit of friendly competition for my 4E class. To encourage my students to practice the descriptive writing strategies I taught them, I get them to write a short descriptive paragraph and we will compete to see who manages to include the highest number of appropriate descriptive phrases in their paragraphs. Padlet helps to facilitate this well as they enjoy looking at each other's paragraphs. This activity helps to get more of them excited about writing and helps them to remember the strategies I've taught them.

Jing Kang

qssteacher — 2023-10-18 04:20:32 UTC

Have created a database of articles that students are able to revisit frequently, along with a padlet sheet that they can use to regularly submit reflections.

Making it a routine to open up to one unified database of materials helps with reviewing of materials and ensuring that everyone has contributed to the conversation about the article that is being discussed.

For higher-progress learners, we can get the students to take this into their own hands and curate/update the database on their own. Currently, I have one student who is familiar with the platform. It's a bit difficult to make it a habit given the time constraints, but will try to improve on it next year!

Audrey

qssteacher — 2023-10-18 04:22:47 UTC

I conducted a lesson on listening where students had to identify the tone of music and sound effects used. They then analysed this together with the text to infer the key message of the text originator. It helped students to make sense of a multimodal text and understand how sound effects complement the message of a text to impact its audience.

A learning point I have gleaned from this experience is to allow students to apply their learning beyond comprehension of the texts - for example, they could source for and share their analysis of other model texts or even create comprehension questions for their friends to attempt. As an alternative assessment task, students could also produce their own audio text that weaves sound effects together with a spoken text task.

Audrey

qssteacher — 2023-10-18 04:24:54 UTC

I have been using Peardeck to encourage students to participate more in lesson discussions and sharing of answers. This has encouraged more interaction and allowed me to conduct AfL especially among my Sec 1 and Sec 3 students who may not be so comfortable speaking in a class of new peers at the start of the year.

Joanne

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2024-01-15 01:56:51 UTC

Teaching Process: Positive Classroom Culture

Teaching Area: Setting Routines & Expectations

Reflection: Using GREAT routine to set the tone at the start of the lesson really helps students to understand that I mean business and it's time to start the lesson.

Surinder

2024-01-15 01:57:38 UTC

I get students to tuck in their shirts and get their materials on the table while they stand before they greet me. It can get noisy so now I'm thinking of showing them the volume chart then.

Makoto

qssteacher — 2024-01-15 01:58:17 UTC

Name: Makoto

Teaching Process: Positive Classroom Culture

Teaching Area: Setting Routines & Expectations

Reflection: I don't proceed if I don't have silence at the start. I find this effective in setting the right tone for the rest of the lesson. However, to do it differently, I may use the timer system Xin Yee shared to make it more quantitative and obvious to the students.

Encourage students to respond to qns asked and probe them on their responses. After each lesson, students are asked to think about 3 things they have learnt. Each ss to have an EL notebook to take notes during lessons.

2024-01-15 02:02:26 UTC

Trying to refamiliarise myself on how to use SLS, Google classroom and padlet. Keen to learn other ICT tools for EL pedagogy.

2024-01-15 02:05:38 UTC

Have set EL class requirements and expectations on learning, routines and written work.

2024-01-15 02:08:16 UTC

Quinn

qssteacher — 2024-01-15 05:57:13 UTC

Teaching Process: Positive Classroom Culture

Teaching Area: Setting Routines & Expectations

Reflections: I usually give the entire class 3 strikes in relation to misusing of PLDs before penalising them with 1 week of pen and paper. As I was reflecting, I realised that I should walk around the classroom more to better enforce this rule.

Frieden

2024-01-15 06:41:06 UTC

1) Implement the GREAT routine before starting a lesson.
2) Use the Volume chart to remind students how to respond appropriately when speaking in class.

Jasvinder

jasvinder_kaur_pannu — 2024-01-16 07:41:22 UTC

Teaching Process:

Positive Classroom Culture

Teaching Area:

Setting Routines & Expectations

Reflection:

The GREAT routine is a great way to start. I find it helps students to organise their materials and reset their mindset so they are ready for class with me. They don't sit until we greet and we don't greet until they've checked their attire, materials, and focus.

This year I took advice from Surinder and have established certain "Grammar" and "Journal" days so students know what to bring and can be consistent with their work in order to grow.

I might start using the volume chart that Xin Yee shared to encourage my English students to speak up and guide my Literature students to use their inside voices. Having that quick way of showing students what I expect from them in terms of volume will be handy.

3 questions for reflection

qssteacher — 2024-05-08 03:42:14 UTC

1. What is DI to you?

(Consider specific examples from your own teaching experience or observations to illustrate your understanding of differentiated instruction.)

2. How is your DI journey so far?

(Share the frequency of adopting DI in your classroom and its

impact on student engagement and learning outcomes.)

3. What are challenges you face in adopting DI in your classroom?

(Share the constraints and difficulties you face, or areas for growth in carrying out differentiated instruction in the classroom.)

AARON

qssteacher — 2024-05-09 00:09:16 UTC

What is DI to me

A tool used to try and solicit engagement from the students.

How has my DI journey been

Frustrating due to a lack of time. The ideas for the DI lesson to promote engagement are there. However, time to adapt lessons are an issue.

Problems

Circling back to the previous point made. When most of my classes tend to have low attention span, it conversely places an increased strain on the teacher to create a lesson that inherently engages them. However, it takes time to adapt the lesson for that.

Makoto

qssteacher — 2024-05-09 00:13:42 UTC

1. What is DI to you?

DI to me isn't just about a fancy toolbox of teaching actions (e.g. tic-tac-toe boards or asking teachers to give you a high five when you mean raising their hands). It's a philosophy - understanding students are different within a mixed ability classroom, and catering to those different needs. To me, even something like putting a bit more scaffolding in your worksheets (e.g. helping words) is a form of differentiation - those who need it can refer to it.

2. How is your DI journey so far?

I should do more of it. Admittedly, it's tempting to go for the lowest-common denominator and help the students who are lower-progress, but we also need to stretch our higher-ability students.

3. What are challenges you face in adopting DI in your classroom?

The classrooms are very mixed. That's one obvious challenge. I think on top of that it's that the terminal end point remains the same, so any one who's deviated too far from the mean might be difficult to cater to.

Joanne

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2024-05-09 00:14:47 UTC

DI to me is about differentiating our lesson materials and activities to meet diverse learners at the various levels of progress they're at, with the goal of helping all learners develop to their fullest potential.

I often adopt DI in my Literature classroom by differentiating the materials they're given to work on (e.g. stronger students are given tougher passages to annotate) for group work. This also allows me to give targeted guidance to the weaker groups while students are working on their projects. I adopt DI in my English classroom by giving students choice and giving them different levels of goals to aim towards (e.g. in using various techniques in their writing).

I find it difficult to move beyond the above strategies for DI and to do it in a sustained way throughout the year (since the activities above only cover one area of learning). I find giving students choice is also not always an effective form of DI as students are not always motivated to push themselves beyond their comfort zone.

Kasthuri

qssteacher — 2024-05-09 00:15:41 UTC

1. What is DI to you?

Catering to the diverse needs of the students in my class by tailoring my lesson to suit different needs.

2. How is your DI journey so far?

I think it has been ok, just not extremely adventurous. I mostly use DI in my questioning technique. I also use DI for certain assignments where students have the autonomy to choose what they want to work on. But I have not really ventured past these.

3. What are challenges you face in adopting DI in your classroom?

DI can be time-consuming, so I tend to stick to the same DI strategy I usually use, which is to vary my questioning depending on the ability of the students. Also, I find it easier to implement DI in my upper sec classes since they are a smaller group and I see them more often compared to my lower sec classes.

Quinn

qssteacher — 2024-05-09 00:18:14 UTC

DI is adapting our lesson in a way that meets the learning needs of out students.
I do think DI can be difficult to implement in every lesson but I do see its value. I do not DI as often as I want to (e.g different levels of scaffolding to challenge learners of different ability, giving students the liberty to choose so that student engagement can be improved)
I think DI requires a lot of preparation at the back end to really consider the students of different profile. Especially in a larger class, it can get messy at times giving different sets of instructions to students who already struggle to pay attention.

In teaching visual texts besides teaching the identification of semiotic modes and the metalanguage of analysing visual texts, the thought processes needs to be made visual and taught to students. This I tried through the use of 'metacognitive' questionings to activate students line of thought processes.

2024-05-09 00:19:37 UTC

Jasvinder

jasvinder_kaur_pannu — 2024-05-09 00:20:13 UTC

What is DI to me?
- Literature uses the LRF (Literary Response Framework) to respond to texts. The 3 areas of questioning guide students to engage with the text at different levels. To meet my students' different readiness levels, I have done Padlet activities with 3 columns of response. First is experiencing story, second is appreciating style, and third is interpreting theme. I challenge students of higher readiness to answer each column sequentially, aiming to reach level 3. I encourage other students to focus on the first 2 levels of questions so they can focus on foundational skills such as quote identification and analysis.
How is my DI journey so far?
- I am not so versed in adopting DI in my classroom. It is an area I hope to grow in. The times I have tried it (in the way described above), students were encouraged by it and felt like they were able to move at their own pace. So students who were not ready for higher levels of questions did not feel overwhelmed. On the other hand, students who would often finish quickly (and feel bored while waiting) felt like they had more meaningful tasks to do.
What are challenges I face in adopting DI in my classroom?
- I have seen many examples for DI during my studies which are based on western classrooms. I feel that I would benefit from some examples from colleagues to see how DI can be utilised for our local curriculum.

Cindy

qssteacher — 2024-05-09 00:20:23 UTC

To me, it's about giving a student a choice of assignments based on their abilities/ interests/ readiness to learn
My most commonly used DI strategy is giving students a choice of questions to do (based on readiness) and sadly, some students tend to pick the easier/ shorter tasks to do even though they could probably pick the harder tasks to do.
Trying to use different DI strategies (based on abilities especially) is a challenge for me as I tend to do DI based on readiness and not so much on abilities.

Setting meaningful assignment

qssteacher — 2024-07-03 14:46:30 UTC

Question:

What is one actionable step you can take to implement the CAR framework and ensure your next lesson plan's assignments are both purposeful and meaningful for your diverse learners?

Aaron

2024-07-05 01:21:25 UTC

Using materials in class that the students enjoy engaging with (e.g. mainstream media ) etc

Joanne (Using CAR)

jia_en_joanne_loo — 2024-07-05 01:36:14 UTC

Finding authentic texts that relate to students' interests and allow them to share their personal experiences

Staff Learning Festival 2024

qssteacher — 2024-11-14 05:02:48 UTC

What was one key learning point from the learning festival today?
What is one possible application of the learning point in our own work in 2025?

qssteacher — 2024-11-14 05:03:35 UTC

What was one key learning point from the learning festival today?
What is one possible application of the learning point in our own work in 2025?

Kasthuri

qssteacher — 2024-11-14 05:37:23 UTC

1) Using rubrics to deepen student learning (inspired by Science sharing)

2) Useful to get students to peer/self assess their work based on rubrics. Will deepen their understanding and allow them to look at their work with a more critical lens.

Shumin

2024-11-14 05:38:08 UTC

1) Actually, I'm just heartened by all the continued efforts by teachers to innovate with the students' welfare/well-being/learning at heart. I liked the ideas shared by the MT Department on the use of AI to scaffold the learning of students.

2) I'd like to explore using more of AI to help students in generating ideas for essays, being more sensitive to the language and/or improving their own language in general (maybe as part of process writing).

Aaron

qssteacher — 2024-11-14 05:38:23 UTC

During essay writing (especially non-fictional tasks) weaker students do benefit tremendously from clear discourse markers applied at specific steps to which helps them structure their essays, however the stronger students find it restrictive which ironically ends up making it more difficult for them to express their thoughts.

Calyn

calynbluesky — 2024-11-14 05:39:13 UTC

I attended the MTL sharing on flipped learning and I thought it was useful as it helps to save time during lessons and it provides the opportunity to extend students' learning through collaborative activities.

I think that this is very applicable for Literature as I would want my students to read the text before coming to class so that the time spent during lessons can be productive and meaningful.

Frieden

qssteacher — 2024-11-14 05:40:23 UTC

SEN Sharing by Mdm Chew

Understand the needs of students and be willing to modify lessons to accommodate their needs.
Be explicit in lesson objectives at the start of the lesson. E.g. Draw 'small' or 'big' ears/ mouths to indicate when they should be listening or speaking.

Quinn

qssteacher — 2024-11-14 05:41:23 UTC

Attended Frieden and Cindy's Upper Sec sharing. I see the potential of gamification of our subject to encourage and motivate students to read. The breaking down of text into smaller portions is something we should definitely do more often for our G1 classes.

One possible application would to create more SLS resources with close reading in mind so that students can better build stamina and understanding.

Aaron

qssteacher — 2024-11-14 05:42:12 UTC

the MTL ICT sharing session involving the use of AI to aid student's discourse writing was helpful since it would be a strong tool to guide the weaker students who struggle with coming up with coherent and relevant points. however, I do think that there has to be a way to bypass the need to teach them how to use the tool, since learning to use the tool seems to take more resources than them actually using the tool to aid their writing.

Jasvinder

jasvinder_kaur_pannu — 2024-11-14 05:43:24 UTC

Experiencing an SEN student's perspective first-hand with Mdm Chew's session was eye-opening.
Engaging in play and getting to do so with the teacher's lens (metacognition in my own professional development) allowed me to gain insights into how to improve T&L experiences for any students who may need the extra support. This was especially relevant after the morning's staff-wide sharing on SEN support as a school-wide approach.

Cindy

cyewsp — 2024-11-14 05:43:44 UTC

1) Attended the one on Flipped Learning by MT. When well-planned out, it does save a lot of time as students can do their reading beforehand at home while the discussion takes place in class. During the discussions, teachers can monitor the students' learning and understanding of the texts. This is quite applicable to EL as there are also a lot of reading that we require students to do.