Term 2 Wk4 - 4T1 Maths - Vol and Surface Area of Pyramid

It seemed easier initially to teach this topic to 4T1 class as they can grasped the concept quickly but have difficulty remembering the formula. It could be that the students are well versed in 3D model in their D&T lesson. Decided to show the students a video clip on the how the formula come about. This solved the "remembering formula" problem = 1/3 x base area x height = relating to square prism to the no. of pyramid required to fill it up with water/sand. Students were tasked to do the textbook questions later so as to ascertain if they could do those questions that re-orientate the 3D pyramid especially those involving multiple sides with different base length. This proved difficult for some students and I had to render help along the way. Through this session, it showed that we could assume certain things about our students but we need to ascertain/re-confirm it before deciding the follow-up instructions in order to help our students to leap to the next level of understanding and skills.

Hwee Hwee's AFL on System of Marking Homework

My existing method of marking assignment is quite different from Hwee Hwee's new method. I will not give marks for each question, just a tick for correct working or cross for wrong ones. However, for wrong workings, I will give small tick to the line where the working is correct and then circle the next one where the student makes a mistake. In this way, the student is aware exactly what is wrong. Definitely some comments are necessary. I believe the AFL method of marking homework is better method to implement but will involve a little more time to just give marks tagged to each question. Will try to use this method for the next assignment onwards and see how it affects the student and our work.

Term 2 Week 3 - 4T1 Mathematics - Arc Length and Area of Sector

Did Arc Length on Monday and Area of Sector on Wednesday. Class were always ready for lesson and on task except for some disruptive boys (just being playful). Quite difficult to bring across the concept of proportion to get the formula for Arc Length and Area of Sector. What the students did were just to memorise the formula. I believe for NT class, this may be sufficient as long as they can do the questions. One major mistake is not having the habit of writing down the units (square cm or degree). Generally the class is gearing up to prepare for their N level exam this year.

Term 2 Wk1 Wed - 3E1 AMaths - Surds

Before starting the lesson, I reminded the students the need to hand in their assignment on time. This class has the habit of handing in work late. It will require more monitoring and reminding. 

Continued the lesson with Surds practice question in the worksheet. Students are still not well versed in the 6 rules especially reduction and normalising the denominator to simplify Surds expression. Some students are not good in multipling two Surds together e.g. sq root of 5 x sq root of 5 to get result of 5. Some will forget to multiply the sq root all together. Generally this is a topic that students do not really like. Have encouraged the students to simplify the question using alegrabric subsititution instead of solving the question totally in surds form. Hope this will help. 

Term 2 Wk1 Mon - 4E5 AMaths - Differentiation

Started this term with Differentiation using the first principles. I've used three chapters material to start differentiation (involving alegrabic, trigo and exponential expressions). I believed this is a better approach for the students to learn differentiation for a start instead of concentrating on each topic later. Students seemed more eager to practice in this 2 period lessons. Maybe the students knew that the Mid year exam is near. However, there were still some students who  refused to cooperate in class in their learning. They are the usual ones who are disruptive in lesson or have no respect for authority. I've sent one sitting outside the classroom entrance to isolate him and help him to focus in his learning. This 2 period lesson was spent on drilling the students on the basic techique in differentiation. We managed to go through about 15 questions. Some students were eager to use chain rule to solve some of the question. It could be that they have it elsewhere. Discovered that these students were taught the improper sequence of the differentiation technique. No doubt it is good that their "outside tutor" have taught them in advance, but it is not known if the students have mastered the basic skills.

Term 1 Week 10 (Wed) - A Maths 4E5 Further Coordinate Geometry

Students found this topic easiler to digest the content as it is quite straight forward. However, some of the students encountered problems when solving question that requires them to apply their Sec 3 coordinate geometry knowledge e.g. gradient of perpendicular bisector of a straight line, writing down equation of straight line y - y1 = m(x - x1), etc. Got to recap with the students again. Use this opportunity to ask the students whether they have started revising their Sec 3 material. Found that the students have not been revising their work and majority of the students (80%) have yet to buy ten-year series! I have been using last year's O level paper to prompt the students that the exam questions have been shifting focus to test their understanding and application, less on recalling formula nowadays. Even doing the past year ten-year series may not help them but will at least give them an idea about which strategy to use for certain type of questions. The students have been advised to get hold of the red-spot ten-year series from 2nd hand bookshop since this book provides full solution for each question.

Term 1 Week 10 (Mon) - 3E3 A Maths Partial Fractions

Completed the chapter on Partial Fractions on Monday. One thing I found useful is to use Rozi's method of writing down the logical order of the specific lesson objective(s) on the right hand side of the whiteboard. Students find that they are able to get back on track with the lesson when their attention wander off. Will continue to use this method even though the worksheet already listed down all the lesson objectives. In this lesson, also asked the students to do additional practice using the assignment questions. Discovered that most of the students could not remember the 3 defined formats for Partial Fractions. Intereviewed the students and found that students have not been using their textbook for revision. They relied heavily on teacher's worksheet for their learning. Some students also have not copied down all the notes written on the whiteboard. This is not healthy. I have since asked the class to bring 4 things to class even though I will be giving them worksheets to do class work and assignment - Textbook, Worksheet, Written Notes and writing pad. Will closely monitor this in Term 2.

Term 1 Week 8 (4E5 AM) - Further Trigo Identities

Completed a test on solving trigo equation using trigo identities last friday. Most students were able to solve the 1st question that test on basic fundamental. 2nd question is more difficult question to stretch the students further. The class were generally disappointed that they could not complete the question on time. This is a good sign. Went through the answers with the class on Monday. The better way to do this is to let the students do their correction in class. Students should be allowed time to identify their own errors through peer-tutoring. However, due to time constraint, this was not carried out. Will try this method whenever time allows (maybe starts with the Sec 3 students?).

Term 1 Week 8 (3E1 AM) - Quadratic Function (Max & Min Value)

Completed the section on Monday. Most of the students have difficulty understanding and doing the completed square format y = (x - h)^2 + k. Found out that E.Maths have yet to drill them on this. Students also not so sure about the quadratic graph which they are expected to draw. Found out that they have forgotten about the method to find x-intercepts and y-intercept. Recapped these concepts with them. After another lesson, the students could draw the graph but were not able to write down the max or min coordinate. Spent another 10 minutes explaining again. Seemed like the students do not have the habit of revising by going though the textbook since worksheet have been given to them. This is confirmed after asking the students. Need to come up with an idea to encourage the students to use their textbook more frequently. Still searching for a good idea. Have already taken out the notes in the worksheet for next chapter. What is left is the worksheet questions.

Term 1 Week 6 Tues (4E5) AMaths - Proving of Trigo Identities

Returned the 1st class test on Trigo Graphs and Ratios. About 60% of the class did well in this test. Common errors include forgetting to invert the graph (e.g. - sin x), leaving out labelling of axis and degrees and adding the degree to the basic angle (e.g. A - 30 deg = basic angle, A = basic angle + 30 deg and using this value to compute the othe quadrant solution). The class were alerted about their mistakes. The best solution is to get the class to work in group to do the class test correction together using peer tutoring. This is part of the Assessment for Learning strategy I learned on course just 3 days ago. Student tend to listen seriously to their peer feedback more than teacher's comment on whiteboard (since they can talk using their own lingo). Will try this out in the next class test (Thurs). However, this exercise will require time and may affect the teaching schedule. Started on the proving of trigo identities. Generally, the students were able to do the simple proving. They will need more practise on more challenging questions. Will gauge the class ability when they do the class assignment.

Term 1 Week 6 (Tues) 3E3 AMaths - Symmetric Properties of Roots

Recapped the basic structure to construct the new quadratic equation based on new roots. Corrected their common mistake that x^2 + (sum of roots)x + product of roots = 0 is incorrect. Students tend to use '+' throughout the expression. Class also weak in application of their algebraic formula when solving problem involving symmetric properties of roots. Got to explicitly show them the formula and asked the class to do comparsion with alpha and beta. About 60% of the students were able to grasp the concept when I illustrated with quadratic graphs, emphasising on the location of the roots of the equation and relating back to alpha and beta. Will be meeting some students on Monday 4-5pm to help out the weaker ones. It is quite difficult these days to arrange for additional informal remedial before 4pm as most students have either CCA or SRP.

Term 1 Wk 5 AM (4E5) (Mon) - Trigo Graphs

This class is a bit slow and not motivated in learning. Discipline wise also not so good as there are always about 10 students who always try to disturb the lesson progress. Some also did not hand in their work on time. Managed to hand these students over to HOD on duty on the same day to get these students to work on their assignment. This improved on work submission. I hope the class has "woken up" and know that the teacher mean business. Next step is to get the Cohort Dean to deal with extreme case of discipline problem in class. Generally weak in drawing of graphs as most of them are not paying attention in class. Have singled them out to meet me in class every Wed 4-5pm to coach them.

Term 1 Wk 5 AM (3E3) (Wed) - Factor Thm

3E3 is generally a good class and ready to learn anytime. Completed the last 3 questions ('O' level sample) with the class. Class feedback that the questions are difficult to solve. I guessed that the class has not yet been exposed to O level type of questions. Have decided to use last year O level question on remainder and factor thm to "wake up" the class and motivate them to try more O level question on their own. Will show the class this question in the next lesson.

Term 1 Week 4 (Wed) - 4E5 A Maths (Trigo Graphs)

4E5 students were as rowdy as all other previous lessons. Always need to settle them down before start of lesson and this always wasted 10 minutes or so. There are quite a few students not paying attention all the time and they are the ones that only know how to complain but do not take action about their own study. Need to spend more time in "disciplining" them. The class is slow in adapting to my style of teaching and expectation since I did not teach them in Sec 3. This could be the cause of it. However, the situation is improving as time goes by. Instead of normal lesson, I gave them two practice questions (one from 2008 O level and another from workbook). The class were generally ready to solve the O level question. This is a good start.

Term 1 Week 4 (Wed) - 3E1 A Maths (Factor Thm)

Recapped Factor Thm with class. Students have forgotten the basic concept after the long CNY break. Class especially quiet today. Went through one practice question that combines remainder and factor thm. This question acutally got the class going since I told the class it resembles mid year exam question. Also introduced how to factorise a higher power polynomials by listing down the detailed steps. This helped the students to remember the techniques better. Seems like this class preferred step by step instructions and not self-discovery. There is a need to train the class on how to copy and build up their own study notes.