December

It has been such a long time since I blogged...probably since the time that blog was about to be accepted as an English word. Updates? Too many to count. However, let's attempt to start.

Having completed my post-graduate studies, I've moved on and entered the hallowed halls of NIE. I must say I enjoyed my post-graduate studies and it was markedly less stressful than my undergraduate studies. To be honest, I was quite apprehensive towards NIE as I've heard of quite frightening stories of it but since this is the path that I've chosen, I decided to approach it with an open mind. After going through the first semester, I've some conclusions:

1. The modules are really interesting and some are quite applicable.

2. There are a lot of presentations and opportunities to present.

4. NIE is the home of assignments.

5. Practicum will be the defining moment of my time in NIE. (and a milestone in my teaching career)

It certainly helps to have great friends and I must mention that I've made a bunch of fantastic friends here in NIE. Whether it is my Math group or my Physics group or even my Education group, they are a group of fun-loving, helpful and friendly people. It seems that we can really click together and it makes surviving our semester's modules less stressful and more interesting. The friendships forged have continued to grow and we are even meeting outside of class to hang out. Hopefully, this will continue till next year and dare I say, for many years to come! :)

The Math and Physics modules were interesting as it taught us what to consider when teaching in a class. Surprisingly, there are many points to consider. At the basic level, it is imperative to understand our students' strengths and weaknesses. Only by grasping this, can we proceed to tailor-make a lesson plan for the class. Pitching to the audience comes in here as we should never made a lesson too easy or difficult for the class. The lesson plan itself is a wonderful exercise of planning. The lesson objectives to cover, activities to include and the duration of these activities are just some of the components of this humongous task. I can't say I've gotten the hang of it just yet, but I hope to keep improving it with practice. Just imagine, we have to generate tons of these for our practicum! A side-note, even though Maths and Physics are closely related, we can't use the techniques of teaching Maths to teach Physics. (it has something to do with the Nature of Science but let's not go there...)

The Education modules were equally interesting. Things like Classroom Management, meaningful use of ICT in the Classroom, Communication for Teachers and Educational Psychology. I guess I was blessed to have such wonderful lecturers for these modules and they made each lesson a new experience. To top it off, some of the stuff that I've learnt in these modules may be applicable in the classroom! It also gave me a valuable insight into the art of teaching which is anything but an easy job.

There is also a special module for Service Learning. It was sometimes a pain, but mostly an opportunity to learn. A pain because it is very time-consuming and with no let-up in the number of assignments, it was potentially a wrecking ball. However, the friends that I've made from this module, and our cooperation and collaboration would be things that I will miss. Love the group dynamics on the whole, and hope we will remain in contact even after NIE.

In terms of Hall friends, I'm grateful for my roomie CL who helped me in too many ways to count, whether it is school stuff or outside stuff. Taiwan is around the corner, so let's enjoy it!! ^ ^
I'm also in the carrom team for my Hall and I do believe we have a decent chance to at least reach the quarters. We do need to practice though and it is reflected by our training schedule which look more like an army schedule keke.

Trying to cover as much ground as possible so let's talk about Liverpool. Awesome start to the season although there were dips in form against Southampton and recently, Hull City, on the whole they do look promising! Although Sturridge is currently out with a serious injury, there is still hope with Coutinho Gerrard and Suarez picking up the slack. Let's hope for a great December period! ^ ^

Looking forward to the Taiwan trip since this will be my maiden trip there and hope to see and eat a lot!
Till next time, may the beauty of time and emotion heal all pain...

Relevance

Let's talk about problems that you may face when you are teaching. Although it may be presumptuous of me to discuss about these kind of problems when I've not been out into such a situation as of yet, I will still attempt to do so.

One of the possible problems that teachers may face is the question of relevance. Confining the subject matter to mathematics, and we find many instances that relevance becomes a big question mark in terms of a student's education.

Taking a step back, what is the purpose of education. It is not an easy question and will probably yield countless answers. One of the possible answers is that we learn about things that we can apply later in our everyday lives. Here is where relevance steps in.

How do we convince students that subjects like differentiation/integration, trigonometry, complex numbers or linear algebra have any relevance in their lives?
One possible argument is that many of these subject matters form the building blocks of more complex and possibly more applied topics which can play a part in their future jobs and aspirations. Definitely, a basic knowledge of the above-mentioned topics would be beneficial to some degree. However, unless the student's dream job is a academic, statistician or teacher, most of the topics become general knowledge at best. Doctors, lawyers and pilots probably do not need such knowledge.

So the question remains: How do we convince the students if we also need some convincing ourselves?
Even as a student of statistics for the better part of 5 years, I find myself asking the same question. The link is there but it is tenuous. We are told to try to relate the topics to real-world applications but some topics are quite specialized and only applicable to certain circumstances.

Humans have limited brainpower something I affectionately call RAM. University life has taught me a little bit more about RAM. I can probably only hold on to knowledge for 1 semester before I have to undergo a memory dump to clear the RAM in order for new knowledge to seep in. Unfortunately, we have not progressed until the point when we are able to retain memory of everything we have taught. We only keep the memorable (and sometimes useless) knowledge while dropping the rest. Unless, the education system changes into one which depends less on examinations, teachers would still be obliged to prepare the students for them and sacrifice the other goal of inspiring students to learn for their own interest and knowledge.