Articles Archives

SEPT 1, 2004Happy Teachers' Day, especially to these special people
I WOULD like to thank a wonderful teacher for making so much difference to the life of a child diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
The kind PAP kindergarten teacher was not put off by my child's condition. Instead, she asked for more information to help her understand ASD and volunteered to take him in, even though teaching an ASD child requires special knowledge and skills.
The teacher went out of her way to prepare herself to teach my child by reading up on ASD. She had the foresight to prepare my child's entry into the kindergarten by getting the support of the other teachers and also by orientating my child's classmates about his condition. My child's classmates did not despise him but instead accepted him fully!
What the teacher had done was simply amazing. She had created a win-win situation - for my son, a conducive learning environment; for his classmates, caring, sharing and responsibility, and for the teachers, a learning experience.
The result was that a child who, not too long ago, used to be afraid of going to school is now enjoying it.
Thank you, Miss Koh, for being an extraordinary teacher. And Happy Teachers' Day.
RAFFEE SALLEH
WE WOULD like to wish an often-overlooked group of people a very Happy Teachers' Day. Who are they? They are teachers and staff, both past and present, from the various special schools - Rainbow Centre, Minds, APSN and Asian Women's Welfare Association, among others.
Thank you for your dedication, creativity and sensitivity as you help our children grow and develop to their full potential.
BERNADETTE CARROLL (MRS)
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

posted by Marcus Ang @ 10:47 AM 0 comments

SEPT 1, 2004From bad student to ace teacher
A first-hand experience of the transforming influence of her own teacher led Miss Diana Goh to help weak students discover their strengths
By Ho Ai Li
IT WAS a teacher who helped turn her around when she was floundering in school and yesterday, Miss Diana Goh Siew Hong, 30, was herself honoured for inspiring her own students.
At Admiralty Primary, Miss Goh - one of five winners of this year's President's Award for Teachers - not only had a knack for motivating academically weak students but also for reaching out to fellow teachers, parents and even the canteen vendors.
To be presented today at the Istana, the award, first presented in 1998, recognises teachers who have shown passion, courage and perseverance in nurturing youths.
A total of 1,100 teachers from 182 schools were nominated by principals, teachers, parents and ex-students this year.
Miss Goh credits her CHIJ Punggol teacher, Mrs M. Ahino, for transforming her from a bad student who was not serious about her studies to a prefect.
Experiencing first hand the influence teachers can have on their students' lives inspired Miss Goh to join the profession in 1996.
She said: 'I was very playful. What she did was that she identified me as a leader and I think what I'm doing now is what she did.'
Just as how she was helped by her teacher, Miss Goh built her students' confidence by helping them discover their strengths.
Ex-students like Gabriel Tong, 13, now in Secondary 1, were unstinting in their praise of Miss Goh, who has been teaching for eight years.
He was doing badly in English but was good in mathematics. By getting him to help his peers in maths, his confidence - and command of spoken English - improved so much that he passed his English and made it to Si Ling Secondary.
Miss Goh said: 'I think they appreciate it when somebody notices their particular strengths and they want to show me more. In the midst of doing that, they forget about their weaknesses.'
Agreeing, Gabriel, who still keeps in touch with Miss Goh after graduating from Admiralty last year, said that she was like a friend and second mother to him and his classmates.
He said: 'She's kind and helpful. She likes children very much and really cares a lot for me and my friends.
'She changed me. In the past, I never studied and played every day. Now, I study a lot.'
Colleagues also spoke highly of her. Admiralty Primary's principal, Madam Lim Soh Lian, said Miss Goh helped to groom new teachers and also had the respect of her more senior colleagues.
The school's subject head for information technology, Mr Ramesh Mukundhan, 34, who was supervised by Miss Goh when he first joined the school four years ago, said she was a good mentor and a helpful colleague.
Miss Goh, who left the school in July to study for a biology degree at the National Institute of Education (NIE), was also credited with starting a project to get her pupils interested in the sights and history of Woodlands in 2001.
Called the Heritage Trail, it required pupils to do their research and go on field trips to farms and fishing ports in the area.
And it was with her weakest students, those in the EM3 classes, that she devoted most of her time, chatting after class, going out with them and even working with their private tutors.
She said: 'Some teachers don't think that every one wants to learn, but it's not true. Deep down in their hearts, they really want to learn. But it's just that different people have different learning styles.'
PRESIDENT'S AWARD: 4 OTHER TEACHERS' WINNING WAYS
Mrs Pramageetha Velmurugan, 44, Huamin Primary SchoolTHE veteran of 20 years, whose two siblings are also teachers, does not give up no matter how difficult the students are.
Like Miss Diana Goh Siew Hong, a winner of this year's President's Award for Teachers, she feels that it is important to focus on the strengths of weak students and encourage them.
'Sometimes it's demoralising. But I tell myself I can't give up,' said the soft-spoken senior teacher, who also picked up a school award last year for helping to raise the self-esteem of pupils in the EM3 stream for the academically weak.
Mr Koh Cher Hern, 39, St Hilda's Primary SchoolMATHS is never boring. At least not when Mr Koh teaches it.
He gets his students to play computer games during maths lessons. They pick up concepts such as profit through a game where they run a lemonade stand.
Another game requires them to plot graphs based on the numbers of M&M candies.
His innovative ways have also won him the Hewlett-Packard Innovation In Teaching Using IT award not once but thrice.
The head of department for information technology, who has two daughters, also uses maths to build the character of his pupils.
'When they come across difficult questions, they tend to give up easily,' he said. By encouragement and showing them how the sums can be solved, he teaches them perseverance as well.
Mrs Rabia Shahul, 35, Compassvale Secondary SchoolTHE head of department in English has spearheaded the drive to improve her students' English standard by introducing programmes that get them to read and speak more.
They have helped the school get more than 90 per cent passes in English for the O levels last year, said the school's principal, Mrs Wong-Cheang Mei Heng.
Secondary 4 student Lim Zi Rong, 16, said that Mrs Shahul, who teaches him English, is an effective and caring teacher.
'I think she's someone who's really balanced. Sometimes she is strict, but she can also joke with us,' he said.
Mrs Ranjit Singh, 42, Pasir Ris Secondary SchoolMRS SINGH cannot think of any 'lows' in her teaching career.
That's because of how she has armed herself for the job. In the armoury of the head for pupil welfare are: 'devotion' to teaching, 'drive' to learn more and 'desire' to try new things.
As a result, she has helped organise programmes to raise the self-esteem of pupils and promote racial harmony through home stays. Also, as head of welfare, she rallies the school in raising funds for needy students.
For her, the most gratifying thing is when former students keep in touch or even invite her to their weddings. 'A wonderful gesture', as she puts it.
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

posted by Marcus Ang @ 10:47 AM 5 comments

SEPT 2, 2004Top teachers receive President's award
FIVE teachers received the nation's highest teaching accolade from President S R Nathan (centre) at a ceremony at the Istana yesterday evening.
This year's winners of the President's Award for Teachers are (from left) Miss Diana Goh Siew Hong, 30, from Admiralty Primary; Mrs Rabia Shahul, 35, from Compassvale Secondary; Mrs Ranjit Singh, 42, from Pasir Ris Secondary; Mrs Pramageetha Velmurugan, 44, from Huamin Primary; and Mr Koh Cher Hern, 39, from St Hilda's Primary.
The annual award recognises educators who show courage, passion and perseverance in their work.
As head of department for information technology in his school, Mr Koh typified the dedication shown by this year's recipients.
He not only came up with inventive lessons to help students learn how to use computers, but his novel methods for teaching mathematics also won him thrice the Hewlett-Packard Innovation In Teaching Using IT award.
The five winners were chosen from a total of 1,100 teachers from 182 schools.
They were nominated by principals, teachers, parents and former students.
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

posted by Marcus Ang @ 10:44 AM 0 comments

SEPT 2, 2004
Teachers may get assistants in class
Teachers' union seeks approval for such aides so that teachers, relieved of chores, can focus on class instruction

By Lynn Lee

TEACHERS here might soon get Filipino aides to help out with classroom management, draw up lesson plans and supervise co-curricular activities, if the Singapore Teachers' Union (STU) gets its way.

Its new cooperative, Educare, is waiting for the Education Ministry's okay to engage two or three aides for each of 16 primary and secondary schools by year's end, so teachers have more time for classroom instruction.

If this succeeds, it wants to expand the use of such aides to other schools.

Educare, launched yesterday by Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, wants to 'go beyond the limits of merely organising professional development courses' and offer teachers help both in and out of the classroom, said STU general secretary Swithun Lowe.

The schools will have to pay the aides from their own pocket or from the manpower grant they get from the ministry, and STU will source eligible candidates and find them housing, among other things.

A handful of schools have teacher's aides, who perform basic tasks such as photocopying, but are not trained teachers.

Bukit View Secondary principal James Ong, who has two such aides in his school, said that getting more help would 'free the teachers to give them more time to do their professional teaching'.

Educare is also planning to take over some administrative duties of teachers, such as organising staff dinners and other school functions.

STU president Mike Thiruman said: 'We want to relieve our teachers in these small areas so that their work-life balance will be better.

'Instead of teachers organising Teachers' Day dinner for themselves, we can put together the whole thing and they can just enjoy the event.'

Educare intends to start an infant and child-care centre on its Yio Chu Kang premises, in partnership with Learning Vision or Kinderland, both established child-care providers. This centre will start operating as early as 6.30am, so teachers have time to drop their children off before school. Most centres open at 7am or later.

Mrs Ariel Tan, 28, who teaches at Poi Ching School in Toa Payoh, said it would be a boon to teachers in the morning session who have young children.

'It's also an encouragement to teachers like myself who are thinking of starting families,' she added.

Educare, which has $1.5 million in its kitty, will continue to offer teachers courses to upgrade themselves as well as scholarships for further studies and research grants. It is also looking to manage international schools overseas.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

posted by Marcus Ang @ 10:44 AM 0 comments