10 out of 28 students passed the MYE after adding the marks for their daily assignments and tests. This is the same figure as the number of students who had been highlighted and were supposed to do A Math end last year by Hwee Hwee. Hmm, I didn't do too bad then.
The rest of the students did not do very well. It was PAINFUL that one student scored zero upon 70 marks for both his papers, despite SRP and afternoon one-to-one sessions, especially after he came back from his overseas basketball trip just to make sure that he could grasp what he had missed out.
Some students in the 2/3 of the class who failed had already given up on the subject totally. In fact, one of my students' test marks are just like binary codes: 0-1-0-1. On one occasion when she left school earlier because she was unwell, she was reluctant to take the retest and told me to just write her name and give her a zero. No attempt to even try. Sad.
A check with their E Math teacher revealed that only 3 passed their MYE. OMG. If these students are not even handling their rudimentary mathematics well, how are they going to learn and do well with additional mathematics skills? I worry for them and wonder if this is the right approach to help them: just give them a subject that they cannot handle so that we keep these students in the class (instead of having them loiter around in the school) and not providing them a choice in what subject to take based on their competencies/interests?
I love to teach Mathematics and want to do it well. At the same time, I want to spend my time and effort on students who are really keen to learn and do A Math. So, I proposed to my students before school closed to think through if they want to continue to work hard for the subject. If they do, they would have to complete the 126 questions from their workbooks and submit when school reopens. They also have to pay attention during lessons, bring their notebooks all the time and submit all their work on time. Otherwise, I'll get them to sit at the back of the class where they can do their revision for other subjects silently on their own and not disturb other classmates. In this way, I can better devote my time and effort on students who wish to master A Math well and those who have no interest in A Math can channel their energy to other critical subjects that they are not so good in.
Oh ya, they also have to submit the letter to their parents (to let the latter know what work their child has to do) with signatures together with their holiday homejoy. Looking forward to seeing them put effort in their own work and stop waiting for me to provide answers all the time. Also hoping that they will hand in their work promptly from next term onwards and not let me 'beg' them for work. I always tell them, "I'm a teacher, not a beggar".
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
A Math T2W3
Lesson 1: I was again on course on my precious 2-period lesson on Tuesday. I merely assigned students to do a quadratic inequalities test and some revision questions on the previous topics.
Lesson 2: It's good to be back to see them again. I missed many many Math lessons. We finished the wordy questions on quadratic inequalities where students have to bring in the discriminant. Thankfully, most seem to find this topic manageable.
Lesson 3: I introduced students to intersection of a line and a curve. Students again have to know exactly the 3 cases where D can be >, = or < to zero and that they can only start bringing in the discriminant after they have substituted and simplified the questions.
Lesson 2: It's good to be back to see them again. I missed many many Math lessons. We finished the wordy questions on quadratic inequalities where students have to bring in the discriminant. Thankfully, most seem to find this topic manageable.
Lesson 3: I introduced students to intersection of a line and a curve. Students again have to know exactly the 3 cases where D can be >, = or < to zero and that they can only start bringing in the discriminant after they have substituted and simplified the questions.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
T2W2 A Math
Lesson 1: A question on curve-sketching was set for the class test. It should be manageable to most, since a similar question was done as revision before the test was conducted.
A variety of questions on quadratic inequalities were done. Most of the students seemed to prefer solving them using method 2, where they have to compare the different cases of inequalities and number line before concluding their answers. I personally think method 1 is faster and easier. A matter of preference...
Lesson 2 and 3: Unfortunately, I contracted sore eyes (from a HOD??) and could not come to school to go on to the next topic: intersection of a line and curve. Sad sad. Behind syllabus....
A variety of questions on quadratic inequalities were done. Most of the students seemed to prefer solving them using method 2, where they have to compare the different cases of inequalities and number line before concluding their answers. I personally think method 1 is faster and easier. A matter of preference...
Lesson 2 and 3: Unfortunately, I contracted sore eyes (from a HOD??) and could not come to school to go on to the next topic: intersection of a line and curve. Sad sad. Behind syllabus....
T2W1 A Math
Lesson 1: Students did not revise for their alpha and beta class test despite telling them beforehand before the holidays. Many feigned that they were not aware of the test. In the end, the test became a revision quiz and a retest was to be conducted a day after.
Several students did not attempt the March Holiday Homejoy too. Nonetheless, we managed to clarify some questions that some students had difficulty in solving.
Lesson 2: A retest was given. Students seemed to do a little better.
Lesson 3: We did quadratic inequalities. The two different methods of solving the inequalities were taught to the class.
Several students did not attempt the March Holiday Homejoy too. Nonetheless, we managed to clarify some questions that some students had difficulty in solving.
Lesson 2: A retest was given. Students seemed to do a little better.
Lesson 3: We did quadratic inequalities. The two different methods of solving the inequalities were taught to the class.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
T1W9 A Math
Lesson 1: The class went through questions on alpha and beta. Some find the notations daunting and needed much guidance to the questions that had been assigned as homework. We finally completed this part of the chapter, but I think I may have to ask several kids to stay back for SRP on this... next next week perhaps, now that SS is taking the even weeks.
The introduction on the nature of the roots of a quadratic equation was done. No problem so far...
Lesson 2: The nature of roots of a quadratic equation was more manageable because there are only 3 main cases to consider for each question. I highlighted the key words for determining which sign to use for the discriminant. Seeing the students presenting their answers confidently on the whiteboard brings a great sense of achievement. Hey, they can do them on their own! :)
Lesson 3: We did a few questions on completing the square. The students had done it during their E Math lessons, but some still need reminders on how it can be done. I promised them that I'll bring my laptop to class during the next lesson to show how the coefficient of x^2 will affect the shape of the graphs.
SRP: I was not able to do alpha and beta because I had already planned to cover identities and factor and remainder theorem. Only 3 students (because some had to go for E Math SRP) were made to attend this, but close to 10 students turned up. So cute.
We had the luxury of going through slowly the different methods of solving identities or even combining the methods. Then, we went back to the basic fundamentals of factor and remainder theorem and worked on several questions from the workbook. I hope they will be handle the questions pertaining to this topic when exam comes...
The introduction on the nature of the roots of a quadratic equation was done. No problem so far...
Lesson 2: The nature of roots of a quadratic equation was more manageable because there are only 3 main cases to consider for each question. I highlighted the key words for determining which sign to use for the discriminant. Seeing the students presenting their answers confidently on the whiteboard brings a great sense of achievement. Hey, they can do them on their own! :)
Lesson 3: We did a few questions on completing the square. The students had done it during their E Math lessons, but some still need reminders on how it can be done. I promised them that I'll bring my laptop to class during the next lesson to show how the coefficient of x^2 will affect the shape of the graphs.
SRP: I was not able to do alpha and beta because I had already planned to cover identities and factor and remainder theorem. Only 3 students (because some had to go for E Math SRP) were made to attend this, but close to 10 students turned up. So cute.
We had the luxury of going through slowly the different methods of solving identities or even combining the methods. Then, we went back to the basic fundamentals of factor and remainder theorem and worked on several questions from the workbook. I hope they will be handle the questions pertaining to this topic when exam comes...
Sunday, March 1, 2009
A Math T1W8
Lesson 1: I started teaching the class factorisation of cubic expressions and getting them to understand the difference between 'factorise...' and 'solve...' Some students fail to answer accurately because they do not know what the questionsare looking for.
The synthetic method in dividing polynomials made division so much faster and easier. Most of the students prefer to use this for their division, but a couple are still more comfortable using long division. I don't insist that they use a certain method as long as they can perform the division effectively.
Lesson 2: A short test on cubic expressions was given. Students were also given their marks for their CA and shown how they have done so far. As their submission of daily work is part of the assessment for their CA, some students who were more concerned with their results were determined to submit all their late work to me the next day so that they could do better.
Lesson 3: The class started on Symmetric Properties of the Roots of a Quadratic Equation. This is a fairly new topic - I only did it when I was a student and this topic had been taken out of the syllabus for the past 10 over years and only re-introduced recently. Most were comfortable with the manipulation of algebraic expressions to get the desired answers, but some were still rather weak in their basic expansions of algebraic expressions.
The synthetic method in dividing polynomials made division so much faster and easier. Most of the students prefer to use this for their division, but a couple are still more comfortable using long division. I don't insist that they use a certain method as long as they can perform the division effectively.
Lesson 2: A short test on cubic expressions was given. Students were also given their marks for their CA and shown how they have done so far. As their submission of daily work is part of the assessment for their CA, some students who were more concerned with their results were determined to submit all their late work to me the next day so that they could do better.
Lesson 3: The class started on Symmetric Properties of the Roots of a Quadratic Equation. This is a fairly new topic - I only did it when I was a student and this topic had been taken out of the syllabus for the past 10 over years and only re-introduced recently. Most were comfortable with the manipulation of algebraic expressions to get the desired answers, but some were still rather weak in their basic expansions of algebraic expressions.
A Math T1W7
Lesson 1: I missed many lessons with the class with my 2-weeks childsick leave. I was really thankful to have a relief teacher who could assist in teaching Additional Mathematics.
Problem: students did not do their part in paying attention and clarifying their doubts during lesson and wanted me to re-teach all the topics that were done. Students also did not do their homejoy that I had instructed the relief teacher to assign. For most of the assignments, only about 8 students from a class of 28 submitted.
Hence, the lesson was spent going through the homejoy Ex 1E which I gave before I went off.
Lesson 2: Some revision on Factor and Remainder Theorem was done. The answers to the test were discussed too.
Lesson 3: The lesson was spent going through the homejoy Ex 1F which the relief teacher gave. Students were pretty weak in understanding the concept behind factor and remainder theorem - that a polynomial = (quotient)(divisor) + remainder. I find myself repeating this several times.
Problem: students did not do their part in paying attention and clarifying their doubts during lesson and wanted me to re-teach all the topics that were done. Students also did not do their homejoy that I had instructed the relief teacher to assign. For most of the assignments, only about 8 students from a class of 28 submitted.
Hence, the lesson was spent going through the homejoy Ex 1E which I gave before I went off.
Lesson 2: Some revision on Factor and Remainder Theorem was done. The answers to the test were discussed too.
Lesson 3: The lesson was spent going through the homejoy Ex 1F which the relief teacher gave. Students were pretty weak in understanding the concept behind factor and remainder theorem - that a polynomial = (quotient)(divisor) + remainder. I find myself repeating this several times.
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