Lynette's reflection

1. Overall response to TP

After reading a few of your posts, I feel extremely fortunate. TP was enjoyable (aside from the very hard work, long working hours and the constant 'act' to appear happy and proactive) and the school (Yishun Town Sec Sch) was great. I was only assigned 2 classes (Sec 1 & 2 express) as the school firmly believed that they should not scare the new teachers. The school runs on an odd-even week cycle with each period lasting an hour. It was really tedious planning for the two-hour lessons and honestly I still do not understand how students are suppose to concentrate for two whole hours! The school adopts the Language Arts programme and calls it Language Studies where short stories are used to teach basic literary skills, comprehension, grammar. I did not get to teach poetry as the school had already covered it in term one, however I did get to see the completed product of performance poetry where students had to rehearse and perform a poem which was videotaped to be assessed. They had external vendors conducting drama-in-curriculum workshops once a week for the Secondary Twos where students had to write their own play/skit in groups and perform it. The best group in the level had to perform it on Speech Day and it was heart-warming that the best skit actually came from a Normal Technical class.

On the first day, my fellow trainees and i were surprised during the flag-raising assembly because the students were really quiet and orderly even as they were moving to the parade square from their classrooms, it was as though it was some military school. i soon learnt that discipline was the key focus of the school. Within the first week, I experienced a public caning session (I had never seen one in my life) and I was really traumatised. There is a year master/mistress for each level and every teacher was regarded as a disciplinarian, hence, every discipline case would involve the teacher involved, form teacher, year master, VP, and if need be the P all at once. There were regular spotchecks and the students' attire was always neat even outside of school when I see them in the neighbourhood or at NorthPoint.

The teachers are really hardworking, always going the extra mile for their students, and staying till really late. All teaching resources and materials are shared in a common network file so the working environment there is really supportive. All the trainees were allocated their own desks and laptops on the first day in the main staff room, so therefore you get to sit with those in your department. That really allowed me to learn alot- from their conversations, complaints and just seeing how hard they worked, it helped me to really be immersed in the whole atmosphere. The school tried very hard not to treat us as newbies, they were really efficient in issuing passes, laptops, extension numbers, desk labels, stationery etc and the trainees were roped into all the activities. I had to RUN in the cross-country teacher's' race, (I have NEVER had a cross-country in my life as my secondary school and JC simply had no such thing), bring the students to swimming lessons at Orchid Country Club, help out in Speech Day rehearsals and tasks like cleaning the plagues and medals for the recipients, go on the Learning journey- heritage tour with the class, a staff Amazing Race at Changi Village... There was even a Beyond the Classroom Day where all form teachers could plan anything and bring their class anywhere outside of the school. I went with a Sec 4 class to Sentosa to build sandcastles :) Oh yes, there was even a No Uniform Day where students could come in their own clothes and teachers, including the P and VPs had to wear the school uniform for the entire day!

The students are really well-behaved, and they sing the school song with such pride and gusto, probably because the school does not treat them as ''neighbourhood school kids". I would have to say that the Normal Technical students in this school are amazingly well-behaved and eager to learn, except for a handful of monkeys of course.

Learning Points

One of the main things I have learnt is probably how to elicit responses from the students effectively, I think I have a tendency to ask general questions like "Do you understand?" or "What have you learnt?" even though I know that such questions are not encouraged. However it often comes out too quickly and naturally.

I have also learnt the importance of PR-ing, I realise it is really easy for people to form an impression of you just looking at you, or with just one encounter with you. Take for instance, my fellow trainee got into the not-so-good books of the principal simply because of his slightly weird antics and his dressing (in which he unbuttoned two of his shirt buttons) This other young teacher also commented that I often looked glum just because I could not maintain a flashy smile all the time especially when I was suffering from a lack of sleep.

I have learnt much from my CTs as well. I had a young and an old CT, and this resulted in very different teaching styles, different ideas and different expectations of me as well. It was difficult at first trying to figure the old CT out because she was really temperamental and alot really depended on what mood you find her in. The young CT was a blessing, she provided a lot of guidance, hand-holding and detailed points for improvement without sounding critical. The old CT on the other hand actually sat me down sternly in the third week and told me that I was not independent and required a lot of hand-holding, simply beacause I asked her if there was anything I HAD to cover in the week and I ran through briefly the things that I would be doing with the class in the week so as to keep her in the loop. She claimed that she gave trainees FULL REIN to do anything with the class as long as it was constructive. She even said I did not have to follow the SOW if I did not want to. I was really quite angry as my two CTs had different requirenments of me and it so happened that this was not the style of this older CT, and how was I supposed to know that anyway? It did not help that I assumed that she would be more rigid and by-the-book because of her age.

Well, consequent to that run-in with her, I took full autonomy and did not consult her for anything, only telling her the necessary, like when I would like to be observed. Well, that worked for her and things went well between us for the rest of the 7 weeks. I certainly learnt how to accommodate different working styles and to flow accordingly. It was tiring trying to be on top of things and trying to read the mood and expression of that CT but I am just really glad that we got along fine after that. Ironically, she gave me better 'grades'on the apt form compared to the young, seemingly more lenient CT who often misplaced my lesson plans and was really absent-minded because of her busyness.