SESSION SYNOPSIS  

Seminar 1: Lesson Study (St Theresa’s Convent) by Ms Wong Ker Sin and team

Lesson Study (LS) in CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent provides the platform for staff development and promotes collaborative work and learning among teachers. Although the teachers met with several challenges while carrying out the lesson study including time, identification of broad goals for the unit, alignment of lesson goals with school goals and missions, researching for materials, etc., the teachers feel that it is a worthwhile experience because it builds collegiality among the teachers in the team. They benefited in terms of gain in content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, in particular focusing on the pupils’ learning through observation. Through this presentation, the Mathematics teachers hope to share their LS learning journey; to give an idea of why the school initiated lesson study and what their roles and expectations were in the course of implementation.

Seminar 2: Sharing on TLLM Prototype ( Clementi Town Secondary)

• Science ALIVE! by Ms Asmah Beevi d/o A. Kamalubin, Ms Charlene Seah and Mr Karmal bin Yacob

Science ALIVE! is CTSS's way of making the learning of Science more realistic and relevant to students' lives. The programme integrates the Lower Sec Science and Project Work for all students for creativity and discovery within and outside the classroom. It comprises a creative re-design of the LSS syllabus with the inclusion of four modules designed by the teachers to stretch students in specific areas of Science.

This presentation also focuses on how we use summative and formative assessments methods to provide regular feedback on students' learning of content, acquisition of process skills and development of students' character.

• CTSS Travel and Food Fair by Ms Yehidaah Beevi Shaik A and team

The teachers’ and students’ facilitators from Clementi Town Secondary School will share their experience in planning and organising this Humanities integrated learning project. Besides requiring students to research on the history, geography, culture and food of countries other than Singapore, the project also provides a platform for students to exercise their creativity and spirit of innovation, and harness their entrepreneurial spirit when they design their booths and brochures, cook the specialty dishes of the country and promote the country during the travel and food fair.

CONCURRENT SESSION A

Character4Life – Integration of Pastoral Care, CME and Life Skills by Ms Wong Ching Hun

The Pastoral Care team has worked on integrating Pastoral Care lessons with CME and life skills. This integration together with the use of popular movies such as Akeelah and the Bee and High School Musical has helped to make Character for Life lessons more interesting and relevant for the students, while imparting important values, moral messages and life skills.

CONCURRENT SESSION B

Use of Media Technologies in EL Teaching by Ms Grace Ng

The EL Department collaborated with the IT department to incorporate video production techniques and technologies into the teaching and learning of English Language for Lower Secondary students. Students learn firsthand how to script, storyboard, film and edit video clips based on story ideas inspired by our school values. Students benefited from these lessons as they picked up basic production techniques and learned to be creative in recounting a story.

CONCURRENT SESSION C

Use of Lesson Study in Humanities by Ms Tan Boon Hwee

To encourage students to develop critical thinking skills and to take charge of their own learning, the Humanities Department used Lesson Study as part of the Department’s Action Research project this year to plan more group activities for Social Studies lessons. The presentation will focus on the process of collaborative goal setting, data collection on student learning and protocols that enabled discussion on ‘research lessons’.

CONCURRENT SESSION D

Our Eco-garden – Learning Opportunities for Science by Mr Krishnan

In the spirit of TLLM, the Science Department has adopted inquiry-based learning as a model for teaching and learning. As a pilot project, students are taught to propose, suggest and explain their procedures and findings within the context of an Eco-garden. Upper Secondary students who have benefited from this project will also share their experiences with their juniors to reinforce their learning. Through this learning process, students become more curious about their surroundings and learn observation and reasoning skills.

CONCURRENT SESSION E

Integration of Cooperative Learning Strategies In Math Lessons
by Ms Chin Ann Ann & & Mr Derick Wong

To encourage independent learning and greater use of peer tutoring, various teachers in the Math Department have integrated cooperative learning and concepts from Pathways to Reasoning within their Math lessons. As a result, students have greater ownership over how they solve their Math problems. They also take the initiative to help their partners and the teacher increasingly plays the role of a facilitator. The sharing will focus on a sample lesson that was used in the classroom and how various strategies are used in Math teaching to inspire learning beyond mere computation and use of rote algorithms.

CONCURRENT SESSION F

Overseas Community Involvement by Mr Sim Swee Cheong & Ms Chan Hean Mei

In order to raise awareness of the less fortunate in society amongst our students and to provide learning opportunities for our students beyond the classroom, our teachers organized an overseas Community Involvement Programme to Batam in May 2007. The positive learning experiences have encouraged us to organize another trip for staff in June 2008 to Cambodia . This presentation focuses on the planning process for the two trips and the impact of Batam CIP on the participants.

CONCURRENT SESSION G

Integration of IT & Entrepreneurship in Teaching and Learning of Mother Tongue by Mrs Looi Lay Geok and Mrs Lui Pingxin

Outram’s Mother Tongue Department created a Chinese Language version of EBAY to encourage students to use Chinese typing software in describing the products they would like to sell online and to communicate between buyers and sellers. This website becomes a learning tool that encourages social entrepreneurship through the buying and selling of goods and the donation of all proceeds to the school’s Needy Pupils’ Fund. Students have a real world context to use Chinese software to communicate in a purposeful manner and become more interested in the Chinese Language as a result.