Education

My take on the different aspects within education which relates to ongoing societal concerns.

October 8, 2009

Preparing for exams- 3 Tips for Parents

Dominique Education, Parenting and Kids, Parenting Views exam preperations, Self-esteem

This month being the month of Examinations here in Singapore I am writing a post on Preparing for Exams as a guide on how parents can help their kids during this stressful period

With the exams just around the corner for most Singaporean kids most of their parents have caught the ” Examination Fever”. Twice a year when their kids sit for the Semestral Assessment parents get very anxious and stressed up and they themselves feel as it they too are sitting for the exam.

Here are some tips on how to make the examination period a less stressful time for both parent and child.

Have a regular study schedule for your child.
It would be more beneficial if your child studies and does revision for each subject on a regular basis. Cramming at the last minute maybe overwhelming for your child as he may not be able to remember everything at one go.I suggest to let your child start revision at the end of the topic or two topics.This would ensure that your child truly understands the concepts and theories thought to them. Any misconceptions or queries on that topic could be timely addressed and cleared promptly.
Do not have unrealistic Grades expectation of child.
Expecting your child to get at least a score of 95 marks out of 100 puts unrealistic demands on your child if he isn’t a high performer. You child can suffer from low self-esteem if he is unable to meet your expectation even though he has tried his best.It is more advisable to peg the targeted grade to about 5- 10 marks above what he is capable of achieving depending on the perceived difficult of the upcoming exam. This will make your child more motivated to work hard as they feel that the result is attainable.
Do not be harsh or impatient towards your child while you are coaching him.
The most demoralizing thing for a child is him perceiving himself as “stupid” as he is constantly being scolded for making mistakes or not understanding what is being taught.If your child believes that he is useless in Maths and will never be able to pass the subject he would have given up even without trying. This would be exasperating for both parent and child.A child would do better if the parent is constantly encouraging him to try his best and give the relevant support that he needs to reach his potential in academic excellence.

Firefighting- Classroom Style

Dominique Education, Parenting Views Classroom, Education, Teaching muses

: Image via Wikipedia

Earlier this month I wrote about how I motivate the students in my classroom. In this post I’ll be opening up to you what I face in the classroom on a daily basis.

Teaching is simply exhausting. There are 101 items which one must handle daily on top of teaching the given syllabus and performing conflict management simultaneously.

Everyday fresh new challenges are thrown as me when I enter the class and address the 42 individuals with the unique personalities. It had been a bit overwhelming for me when I first took charge of this class but I have been slowly getting to know then and their peculiarities.

On a single day I have to deal with :

students being verbally abusive to both peers and teacher
defiant students.
petty complains about other pupils.
chasing after pupils to complete and hand in their homework on time.
being constantly interrupt by students requesting to visit the toilet.

For 8 hours a day I have to deal with more then 100 different pupils as we take multiple students depending on our subject combination.

For me I take my main class English, Science, Art, Social Studies and Health Education. On top of that I have 4 additional classes of Art and 2 additional classes of Health Education.

I realized after handling this extremely large group of kids that the best way would be to treat them like toddlers. Most of my students are still extremely attention seeking and some of them are actively seeking my attention by being disruptive in class.

Here are some tips for beginning teachers/parents on dealing with kids of different personalities.

Make your expectations and rules clear from the start of the year. Ink them down and paste them in a prominent spot in the room. This will serve as a constant reminder to students what you are expecting from the students.
List down your to-do-list on a daily basis.
I do this so that the pupils know what they are suppose to do and the time frame allocated for each activity. This also ensures that they are kept on track to complete the given class work.
Give verbal warnings and follow through on any punishments if they have to be carried out. I will write down the name of the errant pupil on a corner of the board if they do not cease misbehaving after two warnings. These pupils would have to have a one to one conferencing session with me after class.
Have a tick -off list u to monitor your pupils performance. I have a multi-tabbed Excel spreadsheet for every class that I teach where I record down the grades each student received for all tests and exams administered, whether they handed in their homework punctually [ Each type of homework is dated and color coded for easy reference on the spreadsheet] I also record any offences or praiseworthy mentions of the student which could be feedback to the parent during the parent teacher meeting session.

How do your children’s teachers deal with them
in the classroom?