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Lifelong Learning for Teachers

issue 57 jun 2016There is no end to learning – more so for those who teach.The recent …


Cognitive Coaching for Higher Selfefficacy inTeachers

issue 57 jun 2016At Regent Secondary School, key personnel and reportingofficers use a 4step approach of cognitive …


Learning through Making: Within and BeyondCurriculum

issue 57 jun 2016Beginning with the revamp of their Design & Technologyworkshop into a design and maker …


Instilling Positivity and Resilience with PositiveEducation

issue 57 jun 2016In an everchanging world, many students find it difficult toremain positive when they are …


Letting Learners Own Their Learning

issue 57 jun 2016No two learners are alike. Some might thrive on freedom andindependence, while others excel …

Engaging in Argumentation in Class

issue 57 jun 2016Teaching students the art of argumentation is one way tohelp nurture 21st century dispositions …

The Importance ofEffective Communication

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Learning: Fast and Slow; Big and Small

issue 57 jun 2016At the Teachers’ Conference 2016, NIE Director ProfessorTan Oon Seng gave a humorous but …


Being Creative and Taking Risks

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Mdm Nadarajah Viyaya Rani and Mr Chan YewWooi hope that participants will transfer theirlearning from the conference into theirclassrooms.

Lifelong Learning for TeachersThere is no end to learning – more so for those who teach. The recent Teachers’ Conference2016 focuses on how teachers might learn with and from one another on a lifelong journeyto provide a better learning experience for their students.

To deepen knowledge and to reexamine one’s perspectives about education – this is an ongoingprocess for every teacher in Singapore. In other words, teachers are constantly looking at betteringthemselves in their profession. But why is this important?

As DirectorGeneral of Education Mr Wong Siew Hoong mentioned during his opening address atthe Teachers’ Conference 2016: “The good work of our teachers is a key national asset, and also areason why we are able to move from the third world to first world in such a short time. Through thisgood work that we do, we can help shape our students.”

As with the previous conferences, this year’s Teachers’ Conference, with a focus on MaximisingLearning: Collaborate, Engage, Inspire, aims to support teachers in their professional learning byoffering a wide range of learning platforms – many hosted by teachers for teachers.

Maximizing Learning“Whilst the focus of the conference was onachieving broad and deep learning for ourstudents, it also highlighted the importance forparticipants to learn maximally from theproceedings and from one another during theconference,” explains Mdm Nadarajah ViyayaRani, Master Teacher at the Academy forSingapore Teachers (AST).

In doing so, Mdm Rani also hopes that teacherscan apply their learning to promote acollaborative, engaging and inspiring classroomculture for their students, who are at the heart ofall professional learning of teachers.

“Ultimately, whatever we do as teachers, the goalof any professional learning is really to help ourstudents learn better,” explains Mr Chan YewWooi, Director for Professional Development atAST. “So we hope that both our presenters andparticipants will be able to learn as much as they can at the conference.”

Learning from One AnotherWith more than 3500 participants and approximately 100 presentations (for both the preconferenceand conference from 30 May to 1 June 2016), these teachers had the opportunity to meet likeminded educators from different schools in Singapore and overseas. This allows them to interact withand learn from each other professionally.

At the conference, they had the opportunity to explore broader issues together. For example, at the2hour World Café Conversation session, local and foreign participants from diverse backgroundswere grouped together to discuss the concept of global citizenship and what it really means to be aglobal citizen. At the end of it, a facilitator collated their ideas for discussion.

“There was a lot of critical reexamination of the thinking behind Character and CitizenshipEducation”, says Mr Chan. He noted that the participants explored the concept of inclusiveness inSingapore schools.

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Teachers shared what their schools are like in this aspect and examined the facts with a critical lens.

“I thought that was useful because they were asking each other questions like, why, or why not. Andthat was really the whole purpose of the critical conversations. It was a mindopening experience forthe teachers who participated,” Mr Chan notes.

Whilst the focus of the conference was on achieving broad and deep learningfor our students, it also highlighted the importance for participants to learnmaximally from the proceedings and from one another during the conference.

– Mdm Nadarajah Viyaya Rani, Academy for Singapore Teachers

Showcasing Local ExpertiseA new feature at the Teachers’ Conference was the preconference programme. The programmewas designed to accommodate the increasing number of teachersparticipants who wanted to bepart of the signature learning event. But more than that, it allows teachers to learn from some of themost experienced teachers in Singapore.

“This preconference created the opportunity for teachers to attend presentation sessions led by ourMaster Teachers and learn with and from them,” Mr Chan says.

“As a Master Teacher, I feel that for the first time, we were given the space at the preconference toshare as local pedagogical experts,” says Mdm Rani. “So it was also recognition of how we havegrown in terms of our own teacherleader expertise.”

Aside from that, Master Teachers also worked with teacherpresenters to hone their presentationsfor the conference. The presenters “deepened their professionalism because they need to puttogether a presentation, facilitate discussion with colleagues and help them distil their key learningpoints and how they can apply them in their classrooms,” says Mdm Rani. She now feels that there isa greater sense of teacher ownership in their professional learning as more teachers are comingforward to lead professional excellence at different levels.

With Master Teachers as pedagogical leaders in their subject disciplines, both teacherpresentersand participants were also provided opportunities to reexamine their own mental models andassumptions about teaching and learning.

A Holistic ExperienceBe it a concurrent session or a keynote, Mdm Rani feels that the conference itself was a holisticexperience for everyone.

“The conference was effective in engaging the participants and presenters through the varied modesof presentation and engagement, including keynote addresses, concurrent sessions, a World Cafédiscussion, spotlight lectures and interactivity at exhibition booths, not to mention the free popcornand icecream for participants!” These activities helped to foster a sense of camaraderie andopportunities for informal networking among participants.

To her and Mr Chan, it is these little things that contribute to the positive experience of the teachersat the conference.

But most importantly, it was how the conference facilitated the professional growth of teachers, andthe networking within the teaching fraternity. Participants were seen exchanging contact details, sothat they may continue their conversations.

“We hope that these informal connections that they made will crystalize into something more fruitfulin future,” says Mr Chan “By interacting with colleagues from different schools, we expand ournetwork and our spectrum of possibilities.”

Teacher Professional Learning

As with any conference, it is always hoped that the participants will get something positive anduseful out of it. Master Teacher Mdm Nadarajah Viyaya Rani shares what she hopes theteachers will take away from the conference

Meaning Making



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“I realized that at the start of every concurrent session that I attended, the teacherpresentersoften start with the why and what,” shares Mdm Rani. “Why they are doing what they aredoing, and what are the things that they are doing to make a difference to their students’learning.”

Besides engaging the participants and helping them to enjoy the learning experience, it wasimportant for participants to contextualize and connect the new learning to their schools’contexts, for real transfer to take place.

Changing Mindsets

This conference saw a mix of both new and veteran educators. “We have a whole variety ofteacher experiences and expertise but within ourselves, we may all have different mentalmodels, values and beliefs of how we think children must learn,” she explains.

Being able to collaborate with others, being openminded and respectful of diversity, and beingable to accept multiple perspectives, to Mdm Rani, are crucial dispositions of a resilient andnimble fraternity.

Motivating Colleagues and Students

“During the conference, there were many moments of affirmation from our keynote speakersand our DirectorGeneral of Education of the good work that we do as teachers.”

With that, Mdm Rani hopes that this will, in turn, motivate participants to lead, care and inspiretheir colleagues and students.

Chan Yew Wooi is Director, Professional Development, at the Academy of SingaporeTeachers. His team is focused on enhancing the professional competencies of educationofficers, executive and administrative staff, and allied educators through the advocacy ofprofessional collaboration and teacherled professional excellence. His team includescolleagues at the MOE Heritage Centre. The programmes at the Heritage Centre help inducteducators into the values and beliefs of the fraternity through the Singapore Education Story.

Mdm Nadarajah Viyaya Rani is currently a Master Teacher (Geography) at the Standards andResearch Branch in the Academy of Singapore Teachers. She coordinates the work of theGeography Chapter to support the professional learning of Geography teachers. She stronglybelieves in working with the teachers on the ground so that the Chapter remains responsiveand vibrant. It partners relevant MOE divisions and external educational organizations, toleverage expertise that would broaden and deepen teachers’ knowledge and practice ofgeography, both within and beyond the classroom. One of her recent work is supportingteachers teaching Normal Academic students to identify and implement workable strategiesthat would better engage and motivate students in learning Geography.

Cognitive Coaching for HigherSelfefficacy in Teachers

At Regent Secondary School, keypersonnel and reporting officers

Instilling Positivity andResilience with PositiveEducation

In an everchanging world, many

Letting Learners Own TheirLearning

No two learners are alike. Somemight thrive on freedom and

Engaging in Argumentation inClass

Teaching students the art ofargumentation is one way to help

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When conversations allow forreflections by design, itbrings about a deeperunderstanding of the self,

Cognitive Coaching for Higher Selfefficacy in TeachersAt Regent Secondary School, key personnel and reporting officers use a 4step approach ofcognitive coaching to provide effective feedback to teachers. This facilitative approach isdesigned to inform and empower teachers to become key enablers who will make adifference.

With feedback comes awareness and improvement. But despite having one of the most importantjobs in the world, teachers get almost no feedback on their teaching that will help them performbetter (Gates, 2013).

As a School Staff Developer in Regent Secondary School, Madam Mohana Ratnam felt compelled tobuild the professional capacities and increase the selfefficacy of her colleagues.

When she was awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Programme, Mohana decidedto focus on using cognitive coaching to inform and empower teachers, as part of her FulbrightCapstone Project (now known as Fulbright Inquiry Project).

The Importance of Teacher Efficacy“The key enabler for making every school a goodschool are the teachers. We make the difference,”says Mohana. But first, teachers must believe theycan do the job, and do it very well.

Teachers with high selfefficacy possessconfidence. “We want our teachers to go in front ofa class of 40 students who might not be doing verywell in their studies, and say: ‘Hey, let me be yourhope,’” notes Mohana.

Teachers should also have high expectations fortheir students. Regardless of whether they are inthe Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) orExpress stream, teachers’ high expectations for students will motivate them to achieve beyond whatis stereotypically expected of them.

When Mohana visited the Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School in the US for a 4month exchangeprogramme, she saw for herself how expectations made a difference.

“These kids come from home environments that are very challenging,” she notes. “But with highexpectations from the teachers, they make it to top universities like Stanford and Harvard.”

Persisting in the face of challenges is important, stresses Mohana. On top of that, empathizing withthe challenges that students face is also necessary.

“The challenges that our students face might not be the challenges that we faced (as students),” shesays. “Therefore, we need to understand them and have empathy towards their challenges.”

“As teachers, we ought to face these challenges together with the students, and we need to keeppersisting until they can overcome.”

Providing Effective Feedback for Capacity BuildingThe answer to improving teachers’ efficacy lies inproviding effective feedback to the teachers.

“It has been studied that many teachers report positive

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understanding of the self,thereby empowering teachersto really care and inspireothers through a sharedvision.

– MohanaRatnam, Regent SecondarySchool

impact following feedback they received about theirwork, including their classroom teaching practices,”notes Mohana. “The feedback that they received ledto positive changes in both their teaching practicesand use of student assessment to improve studentlearning.”

Research literature also shows that feedback withoutcoaching is insufficient. This means that having acoach in the process of providing feedback will lead toa greater improvement on the job.

At Regent Secondary, the role of a coach falls on the shoulders of the reporting officers (RO) andkey personnel (KP), exemplified particularly during pre and postlesson observations and workreview sessions.

Even though Mohana notes the importance of a coach in evaluation and feedback, she emphasizesthat the agenda of any lesson observation or workreview session has to be set by the teacher.

“The key role of an RO is to inspire, develop and guide,” says Mohana. “Directives should beremoved when mitigating the learning gaps.” (Read more about the coaching process in the boxstory below.)

“Through this, an environment of good climate for teacher growth is created while teachers makemeaning of their own experiences,” she continues.

The Role of the Coach

Coaches should keep these in mind if they wish to provide effective feedback that will developand guide teachers.

Use clear language: During the work review sessions, coaches must be able to delivertheir thoughts and questions to teachers in a precise manner.Devise strategy: Coaches must be able to “diagnose” the teaching and envision thedesired outcomes that come with providing feedback.Change teacher beliefs: Through workreview sessions, coaches must be able to helpteachers make meaning in their own teaching experience by eliminating nonverbaljudgement messages.

“When we do cognitive coaching, we want to create confident teachers who will be able tobring out the best in our students,” Mdm Mohana Ratnam says. “We want to learn and grow,and we work with mutual trust and respect.”

The Cognitive Coaching ProcessWith all these in mind, Regent Secondary developed a 4step cognitive coaching approach with thehelp and expertise of a consultant engaged by the school. Each step is accompanied by key strategicquestions.

The steps are: identify main issues, explore possibilities of the issues, identify critical success factors,and conclude with reflections.

All ROs and KPs attended workshops to familiarize themselves with cognitive coaching.

For cognitive coaching, accountability rests with the teachers as they decide what they want toimprove on.

During her presentation, Mohana played a video of a postlesson observation session between a ROand a teacher. Mohana noted that the RO did not tell the teacher what was not done right.

Instead, in the video, the RO prompted the teacher with reflective questions. “You’ll notice that theteacher himself becomes selfcritiquing,” says Mohana. “This practice helps shift the conversationfrom one where teachers defend their practice to one where teachers discuss how their practicegoes towards attaining their own goal.”

Mohana shares that some colleagues found the process strange initially and fumbled over thequestions. But through selfpractice and video recording of the practice sessions, the process startedto feel more natural to them.






Teachers appreciate the deep conversations, as it allows them to reflect deeper on what they wishfor their students, she says.

“When conversations allow for reflections by design, it brings about a deeper understanding of theself, thereby empowering teachers to really care and inspire others through a shared vision.”

Mohana notes that teacher coaching and feedback must occur within an atmosphere of trust. “It mustbe a comfortable atmosphere in a collaborative and nonjudgmental context.”

“Today, our teachers welcome their RO’s feedback because they now trust that they are not beingjudged,” says Mohana.

With the right environment and structure in place for effective feedback, teachers will be able to bemore confident of their teaching and help even more students.

Reference

Gates, B. (May, 2013). Bill Gates: Teachers need real feedback [Video file]. Retrieved fromhttps://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_teachers_need_real_feedback

Madam Mohana Ratnam is the School Staff Developer at Regent Secondary School. She hasbeen in the teaching service for 27 years, and was awarded the President’s Award forTeachers in 2010 and the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Programme in 2014.This article is based on her presentation “Empowering Teachers to Become TransformationalLeaders through Reflective Conversations” at the Teachers’ Conference 2016.


At Regent Secondary School, keypersonnel and reporting officersuse a 4step approach of cognitive…


In an everchanging world, manystudents find it difficult to remainpositive when they are …


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Learning through Making: Within and Beyond CurriculumBeginning with the revamp of their Design & Technology workshop into a design and makerspace, teachers and students at Commonwealth Secondary School have embraced makereducation in their curriculum and beyond.

It was dark, sometimes dirty, and usually empty. Only one to two upper secondary classes used theDesign & Technology (D&T) workshop for their GCE NLevel coursework.

Noticing that the space was underutilized and taking into consideration their school’s Total CurriculumFramework, teachers from Commonwealth Secondary School (CWSS) started to look into how theycould redesign this workshop into a makerspace for all students.

An Upward Spiral: The Creativity FrameworkMr Eugene Lee, Head of Department of Research, Innovation and Design at CWSS, talks aboutConstructionism as a learning theory, and how it calls for students to apply what they learn.

“We want to make Constructionism part of our curriculum in school,” explains Eugene. “We believethat learning occurs when you connect a new experience to existing knowledge.”

“The emphasis is not on the theory, but getting the students to try it out and learn actively in a handson manner,” he adds.

And the best way to do this is to have the students make something, and then show and share it.This reflects the school’s creativity framework that resembles an upward spiral.

“We want the students to go through this process of imagining, creating, experimenting, sharing theirwork, and then reflecting before spiraling back up to imagining again,” Eugene says.

He is of the opinion that not only does maker activities inspire inventive thinking, they also helpstudents develop soft skills when they collaborate for projects.

Mdm Rubiyah Binte Kamis and Eugene Lee were part ofthe team that revamped the school’s D&T workshop in adesign and maker space.

The Making of a MakerspaceMdm Rubiyah Binte Kamis, Subject Head for Craft and Tech at CWSS, was part of the team thatworked on the redesign and renovation of the D&T space.

Along with her colleagues from the English Language (EL) and Humanities departments, shebrainstormed with facilitators from Singapore Polytechnic to conceptualize the new space.

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We believe that learningoccurs when you connect anew experience to existingknowledge.

– Eugene Lee,Commonwealth SecondarySchool

“We adopted the methodology of design thinking such as understanding users’ needs and gatheringinsights collaboratively,” shares Rubiyah.

“I enjoyed the diversity of the teachers working together, as it uncovered different perspectives as tohow we want to use the space creatively.”

The designthinking process to revamp the space took about 6 months; the renovation took about 4months. By April of 2015, the space was ready – not just for D&T teachers and students, but forstudents across all subjects.

“We had to redesign the space to make sure it was usable not just for D&T but other departments aswell, to enthuse them into making something,” Eugene says.

The new space is now bright and open and much more organized. The workshop is now separatedfrom the main space which features mobile furniture and whiteboards. These features allow teachersand students to quickly and easily shape the space to suit their use.

With the makerspace ready, the teachers began to put in place programmes that encouragestudents to become makers.

Maker Activities in the Curriculum and BeyondTo integrate maker activities into the curriculum in ameaningful way, each subject has their own alternativeassessment that utilizes handson activities.

“When we can engage students meaningfully throughmaker activities, their intense energy and focus ontheir projects can be leveraged to bring benefits forthem,” says Eugene.

Some subjects that have maker components featuredinclude Math, Science and even EL.

Rubiyah showcases some objects that students madefor their EL classes. Among them are a bag made from floppy disks and cable ties, a shield andsword, and Thor’s hammer – items that students brought to life based on the books they have read.

For Math, students did origami, made models and used software to design logos and create shapesusing graphs.

“Besides the integration of maker activities into classes, we also wanted students to drop by themakerspace to work on their own projects outside of the curriculum,” shares Rubiyah.

This led to the birth of Maker Thursdays – a weekly 2.5hour workshop facilitated by teachers fromthe Craft and Tech department conducted at the makerspace every Thursday.

“Students can come and work on anything they like within the confines of the design space”, Rubiyahremarks.

Another extracurricular programme includes a partnership with Sustainable Living Lab, wherebystudents take part in a “Repair Kopitiam” initiative (see box story below).

The Repair Kopitiam?

The Repair Kopitiam is an initiative by the Sustainable Living Lab (SLL). Members of thepublic can bring along any items that need repair, such as electrical appliances, clothes orhousehold items, and they will be checked by the Repair Coaches to see if they are repairable.

Commonwealth Secondary School engaged SLL to conduct sessions for the students to learnbasic repair skills for electronic and fabric products, before deploying them to be onsite at theRepair Kopitiam events.

“Initially, the kids were a bit apprehensive about their roles at the Repair Kopitiam,” MadamRubiyah Binte Kamis comments. “But after they fixed a chiller in school that hadmalfunctioned, you can see that aha! moment and they felt so proud of their work.”

“I was quite impressed and very happy that I did not need to pay a vendor to repair the chiller,”Rubiyah says.

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Final Piece of the Puzzle: Professional DevelopmentDuring Rubiyah’s sharing of the planning process for the makerspace, she notes, “The place andprogrammes were in place, and it’s down to the people. They were actually the most important partof the planning as you need to get teachers on board.”

Teacher capacity was built by sending the teachers, including herself, to the Centre for Research andApplied Learning in Science (CRADLƩ) – a teaching and Research & Design hub at the ScienceCentre Singapore.

“At CRADLƩ, we picked up hardware and software tools like Arduino, Makey Makey, simpleprogramming and coding and the hacking of toys using simple electronics,” shares Rubiyah. This didnot involve just D&T teachers, but the Humanities, EL and Science departments as well.

“They need to know the things that they can do, use, or make in their curriculum,” notes Rubiyah.

The school also took part in a maker symposium that was held earlier in March. Through that, theschool gained more awareness and knowledge of the current maker scene in Singapore. This helpedwhen they were implementing their maker activities.

Eugene and Rubiyah are both encouraged by what they are seeing so far, even though they areunable to quantify the project’s success based on the students’ grades.

“What’s important is to see most of them taking that first step of courage to try something new,”Rubiyah says. “Even when they failed, they knew that it was not the end of it and they didn’t give up.”

The purpose of the maker education programmes is to enrich their students’ learning experienceunder the school creativity framework. Rubiyah adds, “What better way to invoke the spirit of inquiryand curiosity than to indulge in the making and failing, and eventually realizing that there’s a lot moreyou can explore beyond textbooks?”

Eugene Lee is the Head of the Research, Innovation and Design Department atCommonwealth Secondary School. Rubiyah Binte Khamis is Subject Head of Craft and Techat Commonwealth Secondary School. This article is based on their presentation “MakerEducation: What Is It and Why Is It Critical for 21st Century Learning?” at the Teachers’Conference 2016.

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(From left) Mr Khoo Rong Huang, Ms SophiaTan and Mrs Tan Phui Lea from WestwoodPrimary School are looking at nurturingpositive mindset in their learners.

Instilling Positivity and Resilience with Positive EducationIn an everchanging world, many students find it difficult to remain positive when they areconfronted with new problems and unfamiliar situations. To help every child attainacademic success without compromising their overall wellbeing, teachers at WestwoodPrimary School encourage their pupils to cope with setbacks by nurturing resilient andpositive mindsets.

A Positive Climate for Healthier MindsAn entire cohort of Primary 4 pupils sits quietly onthe floor of the school hall with their eyes closed,some with their palms facing upward. This image ofa mindfulness session was shown during Mr KhooRong Huang, Mrs Tan Phui Lea and Ms SophiaTan’s presentation at the Teachers’ Conference2016.

Since welcoming its first batch of pupils in 2013,teachers at Westwood Primary School (WWPS)have been imparting the principles of positiveeducation to them to help them develop resilientmindsets and positive attitudes.

In a nutshell, positive education is the incorporationof the science of positive psychology into the life andwork of schools (Seligman, Ernst, Gilham, Reivich &Linkins, 2009).

What does a positive school look like? “It should seta positive climate so that every pupil and staff wouldhave a growth mindset,” says Sophia. “We believe that everyone has strengths and potential forlearning.”

To do that, teachers in WWPS conceptualized a framework called “THRIVE” in 2013 that focuses onpositive education and implemented it in 2014.

What is the THRIVE framework?

”THRIVE” is an acronym for: Thinking Mindfully, Healthy Coping, Relating Well, In theMoment, ValuesDriven Actions and Emotions of Positivity. It guides teachers in WestwoodPrimary School (WWPS) in the design and delivery of all their learning programmes as well asthe development of their pupils. This framework was adapted from the”PERMA” framework byProfessor Martin Seligman, who is widely known as the father of positive psychology.

Seligman believe there were five essential elements that led to lasting wellbeing: PositiveEmotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Achievements. (Seligman, Ernst,Gilham, Reivich & Linkins, 2009)

Like Seligman, WWPS teachers Ms Sophia Tan, Rong Huang and Phui Lea aim to developselfdirected learners who are able to reflect on their own character strengths andweaknesses, and collaborate with their peers easily. To do this, they involved students invarious activities to get them to think mindfully and develop a resilient mindset.

Once a year, WWPS organizes a THRIVE Fiesta for its students. It is an entire week ofactivities focusing on Character Strengths and Values. Every single pupil in WWPSparticipates in a variety of activities that centre on the school’s character strengths andmindfulness. Core leadership principles are also introduced through the activities.

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Three main strategies of positive education were mentioned as they tie in closely with WWPS’sschool programmes in encouraging students to have positive mindsets and resilience.

Gratitude Begets HappinessTypically, students only approached their teachers to complain about negative experiences. Thingsbegan to change last year for WWPS when students started penning down positive events on aweekly basis under its “What Went Well” programme.

This practice promotes positive reflections of their life experiences. In cases where students find itdifficult to focus on positive events, they are guided to talk about the challenges they faced insteadand how they overcame them. Through this process, students learn to identify positive aspects thatcan arise from a situation that may seem negative.

To nurture a heart of appreciation and gratitude for others, students also write gratitude cards for theimportant people in their life once a term. “Although the notes are very simple, pupils are very happywhen they give cards to and receive cards from their friends,” Sophia shares.

One of the students reflected in his journal: “We should not hesitate to show love and expressgratitude on a daily basis because a simple act of kindness may just brighten another person’s day!”

We should not hesitate to show love and express gratitude on a daily basisbecause a simple act of kindness may just brighten another person’s day!

– A student, about writing gratitude notes.

Focusing the Mind for Better EngagementMindfulness is the practice of being in the moment and clearing the mind of distracting thoughts soone can focus better. Mindfulness activities can come in the form of games.

During a game of giant Jenga, a trainer poses specific challenges for pupils to discuss. They alsohave to think mindfully about their feelings if the Jenga stack were to tumble down and how they canlearn from their mistakes to prevent it from happening again in the future.

Sophia says, “It’s very hard to tell young children to just ‘apply mindful thinking, be focused and beengaged’ because they don’t see the link.” For students to internalize the concept of mindfulness, it ismore effective to let them try handson activities as experiential learning allows them to go throughthe process, reflect on the application and draw their own learning points.

Besides mindful breathing and playing, there are other kinds of activities that teachers can work with,including mindful listening, eating and movement.

Initially, the teachers were unsure of the effects of mindful activities. But what they noticed eventuallywas that pupils were able to settle down and start work on their tasks more effectively after practicingmindfulness for 2 to 3 minutes. This was apparent even after recess, when students were especiallyrowdy and restless.

Praising the Process, Not the OutcomeIt is not uncommon to praise students for being “smart” or “clever” when they do well in a subject.However, this actually impedes students’ willingness to learn new things as they will believe that theirintelligence is fixed and cannot be developed further.

As a result, they tend to give up on subjects which they are not “smart” at and this leads to themdoing even worse. Many pupils tend to focus only on the outcome, such as results or test grades,rather than the process of learning and overcoming challenges.

Phui Lea shares that one of her pupils always thought that he cannot solve Math problems andlaments that he is not as good as his friends. To counter his negative thoughts, Phui Lea usedprocess praise (Haimovitz & Corpus, 2011).

Contrary to person praise, which praises pupils for skills that they are already good at, process praiseshows pupils how they can achieve a goal by unpacking the learning methods with them and praising



They start to reflect on theirown rather than wait for us totell them the next step totake. That is a good changeindeed.

– Khoo Rong Huang,Westwood Primary School

them for taking the right steps.

It is not enough to just give pupils instructions like “draw the model correctly” as they would notunderstand how to do that. Instead, teachers should give specific instructions like “identify the itemsand label them”. “Pupils will realize that their performance is determined by factors that are withintheir control,” says Phui Lea.

Pupils will realize that their performance is determined by factors that arewithin their control.

– Tan Phui Lea, Westwood Primary School

Another pupil caught Rong Huang’s attention when he wrote “I hate school” in his test paper. To drawfocus away from the pupil’s inability to do well, Rong Huang followed the three simple steps ofprocess praise to help the pupil see the value of learning and to instil a growth mindset in him.

Firstly, he identified the learning objectives with the pupil, which was to correct the pupil’s carelessmistakes in Math. In one scenario, he noticed that the pupil did his working steps for multiplicationcorrectly – writing 67 x 7 – but only forgot to transfer the correct number down to the answer space.As a result, his answer became 69, which was incorrect.

Next, he unpacked the process with the pupil, which was to teach the student how to work backwardsto check for careless mistakes. Instead of saying “work backwards”, which the student might notunderstand, Rong Huang tells him to use his final answer to divide by 7 and he was right if he got theoriginal answer, which was 67.

Lastly, when the student got it right, he praised thestudent for using the process correctly, saying “I cansee that you have started to work backwards to checkyour answer!”

“We need to let the pupil see that it is because of theprocess that he has undertaken that helped him tosolve the problem. It has nothing to do with whetherhe is clever or not,” Rong Huang concludes.

While process praise is the key to a growth mindset, itdoes not come without challenges. A lot of time andeffort is needed to go through the process and getfeedback from the pupils on whether the methods work. However, Sophia, Phui Lea and RongHuang have seen how it has benefitted the students immensely.

Rong Huang shares, “They start to reflect on their own rather than wait for us to tell them the nextstep to take. That is a good change indeed.”

Having shared their research on process praise with the rest of WWPS’s teachers, the team hopesthat this practice will become another common strategy that will contribute to WWPS’s culture ofpositive education.

References

Seligman, M. E., Ernst, R. M., Gillham, J., Reivich, K., & Linkins, M. (2009). Positive education:Positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, 35(3), 293–311.

Haimovitz, K., & Corpus, J. H. (2011). Effects of person versus process praise on student motivation:Stability and change in emerging adulthood. Educational Psychology: An International Journal ofExperimental Educational Psychology, 31(5), 595–609.

Mr Khoo Rong Huang, Mrs Tan Phui Lea and Ms Sophia Tan have been teachingMathematics and Character & Citizenship Education at Westwood Primary School (WWPS)since 2013. This article is based on their presentation: “A Journey of Positive Education inWestwood Primary: Changing Pupils’ Mindsets” at the Teachers’ Conference 2016.


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7/27/2016 Letting Learners Own Their Learning | SingTeach | Education Research for Teachers


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Letting Learners Own Their LearningNo two learners are alike. Some might thrive on freedom and independence, while othersexcel with structure and guidance. Leslie Toh from MOE’s Educational Support Branch(ESUB), Curriculum Planning and Development Division and a group of teachers fromdifferent schools share how they help Normal (Technical) students appreciate their learningmore.

Educating is not only about being able to impart and share knowledge to learners; it is also aboutbeing able to identify their learning needs and address them in the appropriate manner. To bring outthe best in these learners, teachers first have to understand their young learners and then assistthem to take charge of their own learning.

Understanding the Learners“We have to be aware of these students in terms of their learning attitude, learning capacity andclassroom behaviour,” Mdm Judy Lim from Siglap Secondary School says. These includeunderstanding their learning routines and the kinds of learning structures that they need in theclassroom to thrive.

Many Normal (Technical) or N(T) students require a lot of learning support from their teachers due tovarious reasons, such as having short attention span and the inability to absorb information quickly.Part of this learning support also includes creating opportunities for them to participate duringlessons and collaborate with their peers.

In providing a positive learning experience for these students, Leslie and Judy, along with two otherteachers, embarked on a programme that gives students the appropriate learning structure andguidance.

(From left) Mr Rommel Choong, Mr Leslie Toh, MsPortia Tan and Mdm Judy Lim believe that teachers playan important role in helping their students develop asense of ownership in their own learning.

Structured Teaching ProgrammeTypically, direct instruction and independent practice prevail in the classroom. “But is there sufficientscaffolding for our students’ learning needs given that they are in the N(T) stream?” Judy asks. Andeven with additional scaffolding built into this instructional method, it might still not be sufficient.

Based on the theory of Gradual Release of Responsibility, which states that the teacher should shiftthe responsibility of the learning process from him or herself to that of the learner itself withappropriate scaffolds (Fisher, 2008), MOE ’s Educational Support Branch (ESUB) piloted a

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structured teaching programme targeted at N(T) students.

“This programme was conducted from Jan 2014 to May 2015 with N(T) students across 7 schools,”Leslie shares. “It has impact on their learning, engagement and relationship with their peers andteachers.”

So how does the programme impact students?

Purpose Statements

Providing focused instruction is key to student learning. This begins with having a clear purpose forthe lesson in terms of content, language and social skills. The crafted content, language and socialpurpose statements provide focus to both teachers and students for learning throughout the lesson.

Content purpose is similar to lesson objective. For example, the content purpose of a Math lesson is:Interpret and write algebraic expressions and formulate algebraic expressions to represent wordproblem.

“But even with the content purpose, very seldom do we tell the students what type of specificlanguage and academic terms they will be learning at the end of the lesson,” explains Judy. This iswhere having language purpose statements will help students as they provide language support asacademic terms that they will learn during the lesson such as sum, multiply and subtract are postedand made visible in the classroom.

Lastly, the social purpose statements help outline classroom behaviours that are expected of thestudents during lessons. It could be as simple as “Raise your hands to ask questions.”

“The teacher will write down all these three purpose statements on the white board and articulatethem very clearly to the students,” Judy shares. “They are like layers of scaffolds to help studentsbetter appreciate their learning.”

Modelling

Consider the question in the image below and an explanation of its solution given by Ms Portia Tan, ateacher from Tanglin Secondary School, who is also part of the structured teaching programme:

Today, I am going to think about how to solve for X in this rightangled triangle. You will have to usePythagoras Theorem: A + B = C . After that, you use 62 + 82 = X . Then you will need to use yourcalculator to compute this value and finally arrive at the answer of 10.

“While the explanation might be straightforward, it does not provide student with the contentinformation,” Portia says. “This is very much direct instruction only.”

What the above example lacks is appropriate scaffolds to stimulate students’ thinking. To facilitatetheir understanding, teachers also monitored their own pronoun usage by using less of “you” (veryinstructional) and more of “I” instead.

A better way to approach the question is to model the teacher’s thinking process, rather than to solveit mechanically. This means that the teacher’s explanation will go as such: I recall that in any rightangle triangle and in order to solve for the unknown side, X in this case, I will have to use thePythagoras Theorem, A + B = C . I recall that what’s important in this formula is that I have toidentify the longer side first, which is C. The longer side is always opposite the right angle. In thiscase, I can substitute C to be my X. and the remaining 2 sides will be 6 and 8, which is A and Brespectively.

“Modelling does not only provide students with the content information but also a mental scaffold toallow them to think about the concepts that were taught to them,” Portia explains. “This way,students’ overall understanding of what they have learned may deepen.”

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Modelling does not only provide students with the content information butalso a mental scaffold to allow them to think about the concepts that were

taught to them.

– Portia Tan, Tanglin Secondary School

Questions, Prompts and Cues

But even with thoughtful scaffolds like purpose statements and modelling, some students might stillmisunderstand certain concepts.

Mr Rommel Choong, a Science teacher from Si Ling Secondary School, says that while the rest ofthe class engage in independent learning, further scaffolding has to be put in place to address thosewith knowledge gaps.

“We question students on their thoughts and through that, we can identify the conceptualmisunderstanding,” Rommel explains. And if a student struggles to explain their thoughts, theteacher will proceed to the next scaffold – prompting them with hints or reminders.

This gives students time to recall their prior knowledge and take ownership of their understanding.“They will feel that they formed the knowledge on their own, and hence, feel a greater ownership intheir learning,” he adds.

But if questioning and prompting doesn’t work, then the last scaffold is to give students cue, which ismuch more direct than prompts. The teacher can simply point to a keyword in the content orlanguage purpose statements to cue them the answer.

“When used in a group setting, questions, prompts and cues might engage our students to a higherlevel of understanding,” Rommel says.

We question students on their thoughts and through that, we can identify theconceptual misunderstanding.

– Rommel Choong, Si Ling Secondary School

Collaborative Learning

But one cannot simply assume that every student will know how to navigate within a group. Imaginereceiving a handout with a Math question with an instruction that reads:

Your team is given 3 minutes to complete the question. You can write your answer on the givenblank paper.

“How do you think you will work on that task?” asks Portia. Typically, students will instantly startdiscussing and attempt to solve it without first taking the time to understand the question thoroughly,she explains.

Now, imagine the same handout, but with a different set of instruction that were thoughtfully crafted:

1) Each of you is to complete the question, and write your answer on the given blank paper. Youhave 1 minute to provide your answer.

2) Once you are done, discuss with your team members, and agree on a common answer for thequestion. Your team is given 2 minutes to provide the common answer and also the reason(s) foragreeing to this answer.

“The second handout gives specific time to every individual to think about the question first,” explainsPortia, “then engage in a group discussion.” Providing students with specific instructions andindividual thinking time can enable an effective discussion and collaboration within the group.

“Besides having a task that provides ample room for discussion, specific instructions are alsonecessary for us to support the students in their group discussion,” she adds. “If not for such supportstructure, they might end up discussing in a random manner.”

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Structured teaching helps toopen up the students’ mindset and comfort level.

– Portia on how structuredteaching can benefit students



Safe and Positive LearningEnvironmentIt is also important to ensure a safe learningenvironment for students. Rommel explains that a“safe environment allows them to speak up and sharetheir answers and this helps them form ownership intheir learning.”

Part of creating this safe environment is making theeffort to not be evaluative of their students duringgroup discussion, which can be achieved by using thequestion–prompt–cue scaffold.

“Structured teaching helps to open up the students’ mindset and comfort level,” Portia adds.However, it takes time to build up these students’ confidence level and success definitely doesn’thappen overnight. “Initially, my students were very uncomfortable with structured teaching butgradually they became very willing to share their ideas in class.”

And these teachers’ efforts paid off when they finally see positive learning experiences happening intheir own classrooms.

Mr Leslie Toh is Senior Educational Support Officer in the Educational Support Branch,Curriculum Planning and Development Division at the Ministry of Education, Singapore. MdmJudy Lim is a Year Head teaching English Language at Siglap Secondary School and hasbeen teaching for 16 years. Ms Portia Tan is a Subject Head teaching Mathematics fromTanglin Secondary School and has been teaching for 14 years. Mr Rommel Choong is aScience teacher at Si Ling Secondary School and has been teaching for 2.5 years. This articleis based on their presentation “Structured Teaching in Normal (Technical) Classes: A GradualRelease of Responsibility Approach“ at the Teachers’ Conference 2016.









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7/27/2016 Engaging in Argumentation in Class | SingTeach | Education Research for Teachers


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(From left) Ms Pang Soh Lian, Ms Toh Bee Lengand Mr Edmund Song want to help studentsdevelop argumentation skills in the classroom.

Engaging in Argumentation in ClassTeaching students the art of argumentation is one way to help nurture 21st centurydispositions and future readiness – skills necessary in an increasingly complex world. Howcan this be applied across disciplines? We find out more from three SOTA teachers.

Argumentation Across DisciplinesDifferent disciplines require different teaching approaches. In Math, teachers help students makesense of the problem and make use of structure or repeated reasoning. In Science, students definethe problem, carry out investigations, interpret data, and make evidencebased conclusions. In theHumanities, they read complex texts, and come to understand other perspectives and culturesthrough reading, listening and collaboration.

What, then, lies at the centre of these threedisciplines?

“The centrality of the thinking across thesedisciplines lies in argumentation,” says MrEdmund Song, Dean, Curriculum, School of theArts (SOTA). “Argumentation in the classroomimplies there is reasoning, thinking and evidenceof engagement.”

Argumentation as a concept can be ratherabstract. It is the process of developing anargument involving a group of statements, basedon premises that are meant to provide support fora conclusion. Argumentation helps students arriveat a conclusion that is evidencebased.

But how does one apply argumentation in the classroom? For Edmund and two other SOTAteachers Ms Toh Bee Leng and Ms Pang Soh Lian, it is all about making every child’s thinkingvisible.

Framework to “Think”Thinking is not always as straightforward as we think.

“If you tell students to ‘think about it’, they may not know how to approach that question or concept toreach a conclusion,” shares Soh Lian, a Math teacher.

As students may feel at a loss if teachers were to ask questions they do not know how to answer, it isimportant that teachers give them a safe classroom environment, and ask questions that act asscaffolds.

Teachers may not always know intuitively how to do that, says Soh Lian. “We therefore need aframework to guide us, and Paul’s Wheel of Reasoning is one good example.” (see box story below)

In guiding these students to think visibly, the SOTA teachers adopt different methods.

Rich Questioning

“In the Physics class that I taught in the US, every student was a peer facilitator,” shares Edmund.“They went through the process of argumentation and rich questioning, verifying alternativeconceptions and diverse points of views before arriving at a final conclusion.”

In his class, Edmund used “whiteboarding” as a platform for students to make their thinking andconceptions visible. The humble whiteboard allowed students to confront their own conceptions and

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give feedback to other students.

“In the process of receiving feedback from each other, students collaborate,” says Edmund. “Andsuch collaboration and rich questioning is needed to elicit evidence of understanding from thestudents.”

In the process of receiving feedback from each other, students collaborate andsuch collaboration and rich questioning is needed to elicit evidence of

understanding from the students.

– Edmund Song, Dean (Curriculum), School of the Arts

Slow Looking, Deep Understanding

Bee Leng, a Humanities teacher, believes in using artful thinking strategies in the classroom tofacilitate thinking. One such strategy is “Slow Looking, Deep Understanding”.

Slow Looking, Deep Understanding means taking the time to carefully observe more than whatmeets the eye, and thinking through what goes on beneath the surface, explains Bee Leng.

“The purpose is to uncover the complexity of things, and help students learn how to pace inwards, byasking questions like ‘Who are we in relation to what we look at?’, ‘What do we choose to engagein?’, and ‘How do we navigate, react, and respond accordingly?’”

For example, in teaching her students about the poverty cycle, Bee Leng used a cartoon that shethought would appeal to the Visual Arts students.

“I would ask students what they think is going on based on their interpretation of the cartoon, givethem 3 to 5 minutes to think, jot down their thoughts, and then share with one another in class,” saysBee Leng.

This was followed by asking the students to make a claim about the observation, and looking forevidence to support their claims.

The next stage involved students challenging their own thinking by asking questions relating to theirclaims (e.g., can this poverty cycle be broken, and how?). This allows students to challenge thevalidity of their claims.

“When students are trained to think from both sides of an argument, they also think about evidenceand reasons why they make those statements,” says Bee Leng, who finds this exercise useful in theHumanities classroom.

When students are trained to think from both sides of an argument, they alsothink about evidence and reasons why they make those statements.

– Toh Bee Leng, School of the Arts

Perspective Thinking

Another strategy Bee Leng uses in the classroom is perspective thinking.

On the topic of migration, Bee Leng asked students: “What is migration? What do you think aboutmigration? Who are the people interested in migration?”

She showed them a photograph of migrants and invited them to look at migration from a differentperspective, such as that of a migrant, authority figure, a child or the photographer who took thepicture.

For Bee Leng, the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but having neweyes, or looking at issues from various lenses.

“Doing this helps students expand their range of experiences, evaluate assumptions, review theirown cultural beliefs, and understand how their beliefs and past experiences can influence their





reasoning and behaviour,” shares Bee Leng.

And with such scaffolds in place to enhance the spirit of questioning and dialoguing in the classroom,the SOTA team believes that students will be well on their way to creating meaningful knowledge.

Elements of Productive Thinking

Richard Paul’s Wheel of Reasoning provides eight elements of productive thinking. Theprocess is to consider a problem or concept, and move through each component in ameaningful way.

In teaching the Math topic of the relationship between discriminants and roots, the followingquestions can be considered:

1. Purpose: To teach the relationship between discriminants and the types of roots in aquadratic equation.

2. Question: What is a discriminant? What is the implication in studying the different typesof roots?

3. Information: What types of information, data or facts have you come across andlearned? How is the information relevant?

4. Interpretation and Inference: What evidence do you have and how do we infer aboutthe types of roots?

5. Concepts: What kinds of key concepts are involved here?6. Assumptions: Are claims made simply assumptions or supported by evidence? (InMath, assumptions are not usually questioned.)

7. Implications & Consequences: Are the more complicated claims supported byevidence or certain concepts? What implications can we derive about the interactionbetween a quadratic function and a linear function? What kind of conclusion can be madewhen a quadratic graph is definite positive or negative?

8. Point of View: Whose point of view is represented? Do I present the argument from ageometrical or algebraic point of view?

Having broken down the abstract notion of argumentation into bitesized, digestible forms,Edmund, Bee Leng and Soh Lian are confident this method can work across disciplines.

“Educators need courage in order for argumentation to happen in the classroom,” sharesEdmund. “It doesn’t just happen in a vacuum.”

Indeed, when students probe and think deeply for themselves, the quality of inquiry is so muchmore powerful.

Mr Edmund Song is Dean, Curriculum, at SOTA. A teacherresearcher, Edmund’s areas ofinterest include rich questioning, student voice, formative assessment, collaborative learningand transdisciplinary inquiry. Ms Toh Bee Leng is Senior Teacher, Faculty of Humanities &Social Sciences, at SOTA. Ms Pang Soh Lian is Subject Head, Faculty of Mathematics, atSOTA. This article is based on their presentation “The Case for Argumentation: Within andAcross Disciplines” at the Teachers’ Conference 2016.

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7/27/2016 Learning: Fast and Slow; Big and Small | SingTeach | Education Research for Teachers

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Learning: Fast and Slow; Big and SmallAt the Teachers’ Conference 2016, NIE Director Professor Tan Oon Seng gave a humorousbut enriching keynote address on how learning should be like for students of the 21stcentury. Here, we feature a summary of the key points from his speech “Learning: Fast andSlow; Big and Small”.

My keynote is a collation of some ideas that I thought would be helpful for us: some from research; alittle bit from wisdom; and some from learning from teachers like you.

Educational journeys don’t always have a clear direction. Are we doing more of the same things? Isthere a superficiality of knowledge? Do we look for instant answers or instant learning that doesn’tcome with the intrinsic motivation? Is there too much learning and number crunching? Do we studyonly for tests? Is there too much noise and too much hurry?

Education is not just about preparing the young today. Education is about inventing the future for allof us.

NIE Director Professor Tan Oon Seng talks about howlearning should be like for students of the 21st century.

The Three Values of TeachersIn NIE, we often talk about values, and I always like to reinforce this: The reason we’re professionalsis because we have a wonderful set of values.

The number one value of teachers is that the teacher, more than anyone else in the world, cares,believes and is truly an expert on helping learners. That’s the value of the teacher. You, more thanany other professionals, care deeply and believe in the learner. And because you have the expertknowledge, you can help the learner.

The number two value is what I call the teacher identity, which I also describe as teacher symbolism.

In Japan we have the sensei; in China we have lao shi; in India, the guru. The society that recognizesteacher identity is not just respecting the teacher. As teachers, we also symbolize the importance oflearning. So, I hope we’re very happy with our identity.

The last value is that, as teachers, we don’t walk alone! The teachers belong to the community.Professional Learning Networks are the way to go, and I’m so glad that in Singapore, it has taken offso well. The concept here is that all of us here are always mentoring or being mentored.

M.A.D about LearningToday, education is in need of what we call multiple perspectives. We need to inject in our lessonsthe practice of taking perspectives. Another thing is, lessons need to be authentic. I’ll introduce aGreek word, Aletheia and tell you what it means later on. And the D is, we have got to shift, not

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Meaning is key to learning,and meaning comes withintentionality and the abilityto get the students toreciprocate.

– Professor Tan Oon Seng,Director of NIE

entirely, but a little bit more, from what I call didactics to Dialogos – in the other words, from teachertalk to student conversations that are meaningful for learning.

Multiple Perspectives in EducationIn the early years, people thought that multiple intelligences mean we must incorporate all theintelligences together in the classroom. That’s not what it’s meant to be. Multiple intelligences meanthat we understand there’re multiple talents in kids, and there’re multiple ways to learn and to know.It’s our role to draw out some of these multiple talents.

You’ve got to have this paradigm that all the students that come to your class want to learn. Even themost destructive kid in your classroom wants to learn something.

Multiple perspectives and multidisciplinary learning also means that as teachers, we learn frompeople in other fields and not only from the education fraternity.

Learning is not just for the now and then. There are many ways to arrive at an answer. You can domore of this in the classroom. We need to ask ourselves: Can we overcome unwarrantedconstraints? Can we overcome premature closure? We have to move from singular perspective tomultiple perspectives.

A is for AletheiaNow, I come to the A. Aletheia is for authenticity, reality, experience and facts. Meaning is key tolearning, and meaning comes with intentionality and the ability to get the students to reciprocate.Meaning must be transcendent, meaning that it’s not just for this instant. It is always applicable tosomething else.

So just spend a little bit more time, stretch the lessonand tell your students how the contents can beapplied. We’ve got to be able to find stories, realsituations, and you’d find that the students would getit.

Research in neuroscience also supports this. Whenpeople learn with meaningfulness, and in context, thebrain connects things better.

Neuroscience also shows us that memory isincreasingly not just about simple association. Memoryis about connections. So when you provide context,when you provide the big picture, learning happens in a powerful way.

We need to make our tasks rich and make them realwork tasks, which many of you are presentingand sharing at the conference. It’s great work. I congratulate you and we need to know and inspireeach other with more of that. Knowledge shared is knowledge doubled.

So that’s why the “why” becomes very, very important. If you tell students that education is aboutempowering them to improve their own lives and the world, it is a good starting point.

From Didactics to DialogosIn the classroom, we have to shift from didactics to Dialogos. NIE research has shown that talk inclassrooms is largely teachercentric. There is a lot of good teacher talk, no question about that.When you explain something, it’s clear. I see a lot of clarity of explanation from teachers nowadays.

But it’s only one side of the coin – not good enough, especially for today’s complex world because weneed to create good conversations among the students – studentcentric conversations for learning.

B.I.G in LearningB is for bigpicture thinking. One thing we can learn from Finnish teachers is that while they teach tothe curriculum, they also teach in a thematic way. If they talk about fish such as salmon, they’ll tellstudents that consumption of salmon has gone up and they’d talk about its nutritional value to explainwhy people are eating more fish. And there’s a whole science on how they keep fish frozen andtransport them around the world. Give students more context – it will only help them broaden theirperspective, and even stimulate their interest.

Inventive Approaches to Learning





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We all need to learn to see the world anew. In his early years, Albert Einstein was actually not verygood in Math. The time when he really flourished was when he started to use a visual perspective tolearn Math.

My NIE colleague Associate Professor Toh Tin Lam is now using comics to teach Math to students.Sometimes, when you give a word problem, students cannot solve it. But when you create a pictureabout it, students start to converse about it.

Sometimes, it’s good for them to explain to one another. We have to create a context where kids canreally learn. We have to find new ways to make kids learn.

Einstein’s ideas have really changed the way we view the world today. So, in order to support kidslike him in our schools, we need to support more imaginative time, more immersion activities (thatbuild upon each other over an extended period of time).

And sometimes, kids think slow. But teachers would say, “You’d want to think fast.” Some primaryschool kids are very visual. When teachers ask them a question, they try to visualize the Mathproblem. You’ve got to give kids the time to think. Even till today, I’m still learning a simple thing likewait time. Give them the right wait time and create activities that give students the time to think.

Gamifying LearningA sense of play is important. Many schools have innovated and created environments of playfulness.Playfulness is key in an innovative culture. For inventive thinking to happen, students have to tinkerwith things.

The writer HG Wells was still playing with models and miniatures when he was very old. When hewas a student, he asked many questions. Why happens if man were to become invisible? Whathappens if there were aliens? That’s how he imagined and wrote his stories.

We need to give kids time to imagine and to play with ideas. The NobelPrize winner Richard P.Feynman said he developed his key ideas by playing with ideas. We need more of that. We need tounderstand the epistemology of play, and that play can be very powerful.

And I want to close this session by saying that teaching is fun, and that we’re all in it together.

Prof Tan Oon Seng is the Director of the National Institute of Education, Singapore. He waspreviously Dean of Teacher Education at NIE where he spearheaded the Teacher Educationfor the 21st Century (TE21) initiative as a major milestone innovation for teacher educationboth nationally and internationally. He also heads the Singapore team for the Global EducationInnovation Initiative (GEII) helmed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is alsoconvener of the World Educational Research Association (WERA) International ResearchNetwork on Teacher Education.

Prof Tan’s areas of research include teacher education, cognitive psychology and problembased learning (PBL) for which he is known internationally.

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7/27/2016 Being Creative and Taking Risks | SingTeach | Education Research for Teachers


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Being Creative and Taking RisksProfessor Louise Stoll from the UK believes that creative teacher collaboration inprofessional learning communities is essential for educators to be better practitioners andprovide the best for young learners. In her keynote address at the Teachers’ Conference2016, she shares with participants the importance of creativity and risk taking in today’schanging educational landscape.

I would like to share with you what people are saying about the changes in teacher professionalismand why these changes are essential. While we all have great challenges, we also know that we wantto provide the very best for our children and young learners. It is absolutely critical that we want thehighest quality in whatever we do because they deserve nothing but the best.

If we want our children to excel, teachers have to be adaptable and flexible, and able to change withthe times. They need to be able to think on their feet and be creative. That is why we need creativeprofessional learning communities.

Creative Professional Learning CommunitiesA professional learning community (PLC) can sometimes be seen as a small group of teachers whois given some time to get together, have conversations and investigate their practices and worktogether. But when I think of a creative PLC, I also think about a schoolwide culture whereeverybody is collaborating – not every minute of the day, but working together, feeling a professionalsense of responsibility not only for the child’s learning but for each other’s learning too.

It is where teachers deprivatize their teaching practices. It is about: “Please come and disturb mebecause there is something I can learn from you and you can learn from me, and we can worktogether to develop further.”

So teachers can’t do it alone. That means they also need school leaders and leaders at the systemlevel who are able to create those conditions that will help the teaching profession to flourish.

A creative PLC is also about investigating your practices, testing out new ones, learning with eachother, learning from each other, and sharing your learning with others. And of course, you need to becreative – to be open, to take risks and to get out of your comfort zones.

Bidding Comfort Zones GoodbyeWhen did you last try something new that took you out from your comfort zone?

Guess what I learned 3 years ago that made me ask you this question? I did a 7week standupcomedy course!

I don’t consider myself a standup comedian but I wanted to do something that would push andchallenge me, particularly since I have come out here to tell everyone you need to challenge

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One thing that we knowabout powerful professionallearning is that challengingyour thinking is afundamental part of changingyour practice.

– Prof Stoll on theimportance of challengingone’s thinking

yourself. And I thought, if I can’t walk the talk, then I am really not fit to be here. So I am suggestingto the MOE that they have compulsory comedy school for every single teacher in Singapore!

But seriously, what is it that you can do to extend and challenge yourselves and your thinking?

What we are talking about here is trying to get people to move out of their comfort zone. But weknow that we all find it much easier to stay in our comfort zone. Still, we need to encourage people toventure into the learning zone while not pushing them too much into what Tom Senninger (a Germanadventurer and pedagogue) calls the panic zone.

If we want our children to excel, teachers have to be adaptable and flexible,and able to change with the times. They need to be able to think on their feet

and be creative.

– Prof Louise Stoll, University College London, UK

Taking RisksBut to be creative, we also want you to take a risk, and also challenge and deepen your thinking.One thing that we know about powerful professional learning is that challenging your thinking is afundamental part of changing your practice. It causes dissonance, which means that you don’t easilyassimilate the learning. Instead, you start to question the way you have been doing things.

But to take risks, you also have to feel safe. As part of my research, we interviewed over 300 peoplewho told us that it was really important for teachers, staff members and leaders to feel safe in orderto feel comfortable enough to make mistakes and learn from them.

But leaders sometimes have difficulty in letting go, which is what they need to do if their teachers areto be creative and take safe risks. When we are faced with someone who seems afraid to trysomething new, we ask them: Is it a real risk if you experiment with your practice, and try and dosomething different? Isn’t it riskier never to try anything new?

What helps one person to be creative can be verydifferent for another person. I found that some peoplebecome creative when they have the time, whereasothers like to have a problem to solve; some prefer tobe on their own, while others feel more creative whenthey have the opportunity to collaborate. So, you needto find situations that will help you feel creative.

If you have powerful teacher collaborations, you willnot only do things differently, but will also be thinkingdifferently. You will be able to articulate what you aredoing differently, how and why.

When you learn together in powerful ways, it makes adifference for children and young learners. It makes adifference in terms of how they perform and also how they feel about their learning. While there aremany different ways to look at children and know if they are ready for their lives ahead, you alsoneed to be able to know their starting points so you can determine later the difference you havemade.

It is absolutely critical that you take charge of change to support your students’ learning. Now is thetime to make changes, to take action and then to check if you have made enough of a difference toyour young learners.

Professor Louise Stoll is Professor of Professional Learning at the London Centre forLeadership in Learning, University College London, Institute of Education. Her researchinterests include creative leadership, leadership development, professional learningcommunities and professional learning networks. This article is based on her keynote addressat the Teachers’ Conference 2016.

http://www.louisestoll.com/

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