11 July 2024 6M4 Math Open Classroom by Mr Tan Shu Hong by

Shio Fung

soo_shio_fung1 — 2024-07-11 02:36:58 UTC

Make good use of technology products to improve teaching effectiveness. Students can see the data presented by the teacher on the tablet, through the screen, in a timely and synchronous manner.

The small white board is very useful for checking students' understanding.

Students have many opportunities and are very brave (safe environment) to ask questions to clarify their doubts.

Guide students to solve problems by asking (not giving) them questions.

Integrate learning content with real life (Make Connection/ Contextualising) : a student mentioned about Shu Hong showing them a video of himself cycling to teach "speed" in the previous lesson. 

The recap was done very thoroughly to ensure they were ready for the next step.

Made sure the students get the concept right and not the answers for the questions on the worksheet right.

Facilitate experimentation: Visualised 2 cars travelling at different speeds towards each other to check if they would meet in the middle, by asking 2 students to role play the cars.

White Board

soo_shio_fung1 — 2024-07-11 02:38:24 UTC

Do they own it?

If they do, will they bring it to school every day?

What if they forget to bring?

SBB

soo_shio_fung1 — 2024-07-11 02:39:34 UTC

Is it possible for you to teach the same way if the class is not grouped based on their ability?

Grace

2024-07-11 02:42:15 UTC

Physical demonstration to clarify misconception raised

Grace

2024-07-11 02:43:21 UTC

Any difference between moving in a straight line vs circle ?

Classroom routines and atmosphere

soo_shio_fung1 — 2024-07-11 02:44:04 UTC

How long did it take at the beginning of the year to build the classroom routines and atmosphere?

Grace

2024-07-11 02:54:52 UTC

Thank you for the opportunity to join the lesson and take part in the problem solving with the children. Am very heartened by your efforts to not just push through the lesson plan but to allow students to voice their questions and help them to clarify their own doubts through a variety of methods including physical movement of the 2 boys (to dispel notion that the 2 objects must meet in the middle), using a folded paper aka concrete representation (to dispel notion that there is a diff between moving in a straight line vs in circle). The strong sense of student centricity via allowing time for questions, extension of learning, peer critique is commendable - achieving the key outcome of student learning vs teacher teaching.

Grace

2024-07-11 02:55:50 UTC

Perhaps need to have certain routines to ensure students are reading the questions correctly and thoroughly and using the information provided. (circle, square, triangle)

Thank you

soo_shio_fung1 — 2024-07-11 03:05:23 UTC

Thanks for the engaging lesson. I have learnt a lot from this lesson.

After the lesson, the first thought that came to my mind was: what if my music lesson is just after your lesson.... what would my student think?

2024-07-11 11:17:00 UTC

2024-07-11 11:17:55 UTC

2024-07-11 11:19:20 UTC

Gratefulness

tan_shu_hong — 2024-07-13 07:49:41 UTC

First of all, thank you to the Open Classroom team for setting up this platform for school staff to exchange ideas and perspectives on teaching and learning.

I have a dream for the school: to one day see wall-less classrooms in NHPS, where teachers can freely enter each other's classrooms to learn from one another.

Second, I would like to thank all the "adult students," aka colleagues, who joined the lessons and provided feedback. I will definitely take this feedback into account to review my lessons.

Now for my personal reflection. I would like to share my thoughts on the entire process of designing this lesson.

I teach two math classes, one P3 and one P6. When asked to decide which class to showcase, the P6 class immediately came to mind.

Firstly, this is a class where I have seen most students mature over the past six months. However, they are still neither the easiest to engage nor the most confident in themselves. So, I thought having fellow colleagues observe might shed light on how I can better engage them.

Secondly, I strongly believe that the use of mini whiteboards in classrooms is an easy and fast way for teachers to better understand students' learning needs. However, we seldom see teachers in the upper primary use them in their classrooms. I thought I could showcase how mini whiteboards can be used at the upper primary level and hopefully encourage more colleagues to give them a try.

Based on the feedback from the lesson, I'm glad that observers also noted how effective and useful the whiteboards were for collecting feedback and determining the amount of scaffolding needed. One area I can improve on is managing time better to allow more time for concluding the lesson and for students to consolidate what they have learned.

ho_julia — 2024-07-18 09:39:41 UTC

Here are my two cents:

· Effective use of mini whiteboards and recall activity for AfL purposes: Thinking was made visible and you capitalised on students’ questions and examples to address misconceptions and reteach essential concepts.

· Constantly surfaced and challenged their assumptions: What is average speed? Same speed = uniform speed?

· Redirected their questions to their fellow learners.

· Provided an object lesson (flat versus rolled up sheet of paper) to delineate the concept (of unchanged total)

· Engaged with the higher-order thinking skills: Asking “What must happen for them to meet in the middle?” made them set criteria

· Encouraged metacognition: “Write down one thing you have not done well. Cite examples.”

I have enjoyed the lesson and gained a deeper appreciation of AfL practices. Thanks!

Atika

nuratika_azami1 — 2024-07-18 12:42:09 UTC

Thank you for the opportunity to attend your Math lesson Shu Hong. It was indeed a good learning experience for me to enter to a Upper Primary Mathematics Class. Here are some of my takeaways after attending the Open Classroom.

1.Use of Mini Whiteboards

I am indeed heartened to see the mini whiteboards are still used in a Upper Primary class. I am also an advocator for Mini Whiteboard. I believe that it is powerful tool to assess students' learning. I like how to use the IPAD app to capture their responses and share it with the rest of their classrooms. I have never thought of doing so as for the Lower Primary classes, the students are eager to share their answers to the teachers by raising up their whiteboards. I could try that method to capture and also document those responses for future uses.

2. Engaging students in higher-order thinking questions

It is evident that you engage students in higher-thinking questions. You did well to answers the questions on what happen if the track is circular? I could see how you used the paper to explain the concepts rather than answering it based on facts. Students will could relate to the demonstrations and understand the concepts better.

Thank you for having me in your classroom :)

nuratika_azami1 — 2024-07-18 12:46:12 UTC

Thank you Shu Hong for having me in the classroom. Glad to see that the method of mini whiteboard is still as effective in a Upper Primary classroom.