Lessons in leadership and differentiation (Part 1)

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Taken from the book “Leadership for Differentiating Schools and Classrooms” by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Susan Demirsky Allan

What is differentiation?

It refers to a teacher’s reacting responsively to a learner’s needs. Understanding the students’ needs to express humor, or work with a group, or have additional teaching on a particular skill and many other needs (esp looking at the many learning styles which students have). The whole idea of differentiation is to maximise students’ understanding and individual success and gradually applying the knowledge to their life.

The book listed out many principles that eventually builds up on the concept of differentiation and apparently, it’s not just lessons, but involved the teachers (in attitudes and teaching methods) and even the supporting education staff and the environment (public/parents) which can be directly/ indirectly involved. All in the name of providing the best education for students!

(i) Student Characteristics for which teachers can differentiate

Students’ Readiness, Interest and Learning Profile

(ii) Characteristics of High-Quality Curriculum and Instruction

– Is clearly focused on the essential understandings and skills of the discipline that a professional would value.

– Is mentally and affectively engaging to learners.

– Is joyful- or at least satisfying.

– Provides choices.

– Is clear in expectations.

– Allows meaningful collaboration.

– Is focused on products that matter to students.

– Connects with students’ lives and world (isn’t this what aL.I.V.E. is all about?:))

– Is fresh and surprising.

– Seems real to the student.

– Is coherent (organized, unified, sensible) to the student.

– Is rich, deals with profound ideas.

– Stretches the students.

– Calls on students to use what they learn in interesting and important ways.

– Involves the students in setting goals for their learning and assessing progress toward those goals.

5 great teaching techniques

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here’s five teaching techniques taken from 2think2learn video clip. found this in youtube anyway. good as a reminder to me and for others :))

1. Always have a genuine purpose behind the lessons you are delivering.

2. Make sure the material is engaging and interactive.

3. Allow students opportunity to direct their own learning.

4. Mistakes are an integral part of the learning process.

5. Humour releases tension – so use it often!

alive teaching

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i really like this teaching technique. i hope one day i can do something like this in my classes. it’s so lively and engaging and i believe the students will enjoy the lesson and perhaps, learn and remember more!!

i’m so going to learn this! 🙂

teaching techniques

/ livingseri / Leave a comment

here’s five teaching techniques taken from 2think2learn video clip. found this in youtube anyway. good as a reminder to me and for others :))

1. Always have a genuine purpose behind the lessons you are delivering.

2. Make sure the material is engaging and interactive.

3. Allow students opportunity to direct their own learning.

4. Mistakes are an integral part of the learning process.

5. Humour releases tension – so use it often!

and also the power teaching techniques i’ve been checking put at youtube!
—> over at http://unpoeticpieces.blogspot.com/

when seri has nothing better to do

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this is what i do
scour people’s notes at facebook
and see if there’s anything interesting enough to try! haha!

My Debut Album
1 – Open http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
(alternatively, if the first article you hit is short, hit Random Article two more times.)—->Motivation

2 – Open http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.—->Follies and Misfortunes of Mankind

3 – Open http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. —->Only God can Judge me

4 – Use photoshop/paint or similar to put it all together.

5 – Post it to FB with “My Debut Album” in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in.

Do I have a lot of time on my hands or what?
……..
and my first indie album will be…..

but it’s kind cool, coz although it’s at random, it somehow kena la. ;P

view on me

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Just thought it’s interesting to do this survey thing from mary’s note at facebook.
somehow, there are some things which pretty much describe me~~~

Your view on yourself:
Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They’ll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
You like to flirt and behave seductively. The opposite sex finds this very attractive, and that’s why you’ll always have admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you about choosing someone to be in a relationship with?

Your views on education:
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:
You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don’t focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.

Who is your true self:
You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

2 am in the morning

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i want to do this before it’s 2 am in the morning. after so long sleeping in early, i’ve no idea why tonight i’m burning the midnight oil…hmm…so called heh.

for one thing, i’m reviving this multiply site which used to be dedicated to my teens students from a central north mosque….but i’m thinking why not make it a place or rather a space where i can dedicate my thoughts and reflections, in terms of this line i’ve chosen…of course…this blog will not be abandoned..and pretty soon, my posts will get redundant between here and there…but at least, there at the multiply site will not get mixed up with my everyday life :))

and tell me now…that setting up a place for education is EASY!! especially when the building’s already there and you have to make do with what’s given and no matter how small a room, you’ve got to utilise it because there is no other way and stretch whatever resources you might have.

to be honest, it’s scary. and exciting. and i keep thinking i cannot do any mistake this time…although making mistakes are good. it teaches you…me. and that’s what learning is all about right?
and sometimes little gestures is what makes me stand strong and reminded me that….THIS IS IT. i’m doing this. for instance,how can a teacher not be truly touched when her students bought her hot tea in the middle of a heavy rain and cold classroom? it’s the most touching and sweet gesture of them.

i so need to do this right. and there’s so many things to learn….and can i just get away from the chaos for a little while??

oklah, i admit it’s pretty exciting you know, starting from scratch and making decisions and doing things my own way haha!

but let’s put it this way…after like letting the kite fly so high, it needs to be tugged and pulled a little bit behind to set its flight back on track. so i need that now.

ps: can anyone from the americas vote adam lambert (american idol) for me? after all those seasons, now i know why some people are into this competition…especially when you have ‘set’ your heart on one of them, you just want to like support them all the way~ (ok ok not important)

so yeah, it’s 2 am. i really should be sleeping or else…i won’t get anything done tomorrow.
:))

pps: if you guys happen to have segoe script font installed, you should be able to read this blog in that font…and it’s nice!! i like~

built to last

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super business. it almost felt like my Uni days, when i had to rush from one meeting to another, went to classes back to back and attended discussions and hands practically full of assignments, readings and tests. one difference though. back then, somehow, we still had time to spend with friends!

mosque nearby is up and ready soon. very soon. went to have a look with the board last sunday. with the heavy rain and constructions here and there, the board managed to point out defects and whatnots. my only concern was the classrooms. as soon as i saw the rooms, my head was reeling with which level this class should be, how many students can fit in, where’s to put the whiteboard, shelves, table and chairs. the rooms look big enough but can’t say for now because it was bare. once furnitures’ in, it’s going to be a different story and somehow i’m worried. :/
although, i’m loving the place!! get ready to lost your way in the mosque, there’s so many doors and corridors!

and there’s still loads of things to prepare, my goodness!!! as soon as i stepped into the office, apart from the morning messages 😉 i’ll be turning on the pc, check mails and always, list down things to accomplish within the next 8 hours. and people, bear in mind, we’re not really allowed to surf at other leisure sites like blogs and facebook for instance. yes, we’re cautious on those, but really, i don’t even have the time to surf these sites now. my window tabs will include three different email accounts, dictionary.com, and googlesearch for when i need to research for my teens curriculum’s articles. i used to have headaches reading articles from the screen, but i’m really getting the hang of it by now.

also catching up on reading. i refuse to deny my right to read! haha.

slumdog millionaire is a million bucks richer now. it’s worth a watch. a child growing up in hardship and getting through it with, surprisingly fluent english (of course, it’s just a movie, film- no need to get critical about this, aright). and that every question in ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ has an answer in Jamal’s memories and experience, that’s pretty smart, to me. but i couldn’t understand why Anil the host had to call the cops. jamal and his brother salim were portrayed as muslims, although confused by circumstances and life hardship – i won’t dwell on that now.

mono: castles are built to last, aren’t they? even the rain form a memory and flowers non-wither last longer, although, dried roses will always remain fragrant in my box of heart 😉

pavlovian mats

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mats as in the ‘mat melayu’ in plural. pavlovian as in the psychologist ivan pavlov’s conditioning theory. although what i’m going to say here is not really about pavlov’s theory and how it works but believe or not, i’m thinking singaporean men, especially the malays, are getting their dose of education straight out from the tv and in the very comfort of their living room!

and it’s about time! since most tv programmes are somehow produced with women and housewives in mind. so to target men is the new trend, i think.

first there was M.A.T or Misi Anak Tempatan. and it’s an interesting show because it features young malay guys who’ve did and trying hard in their line of work or interest and who’ve somehow found success and satsifaction in the course of putting their heart, mind and body into a particular chosen line of work. whether you’re a racer, or a kompang boy, what matters is putting your best in it. and ada WAWASAN laa. and apart from that, having a positive attitude and some noble manners brings out a lot more that people forget the kental part. wait, let me correct myself, there’ll be no kentalans if a guy believes in what he wants and doing the best. it’s not about what is ‘cool’ or not, but more of passion and identity working hand in hand.

for example, you have interest in skateboarding. well that’s interest and can be a passion. but what shape your identity is not necessarily being a skateboarder, but your personality and manners, and let’s admit this, girls love smart guys.

although i haven’t watch these new drama series, i believe it’s targetted to men as well. there’s Anak Adam and Hi-Bro! and i believe it should be ‘edu-tainment’ as well somehow somewhere.

and this is my favourite : My Dad is Better than Your Dad! a gameshow in which, fathers team up with their son or daughter going through some obstacles and quizzes. if these doesn’t teach fathers out there how to be bond with your children, i don’t know what to say. who says fathers can’t be gerek?

so really, i hope there’s a paradigm shift of perspectives, of attitudes. to talk about the ‘real’ situation of what’s happening on the ground, the number of financial assistance given out because there are men with families who just can’t live up to their fatherhood. of course, there are always circumstances and difficult situations and deserving of these assistance. but there are those who JUST don’t. i think my sdo-fdo-de friends can vouch for these.

ps: the new mosque is ready soon, i’m practically rushing for time to do a good job. and i’ve relieved of a project which has been burdening me and it has always been at the back of my mind. so releasing it is such a HUGE RELIEF. i can volunteer for it but i don’t want to lead.

i’ve said it before, my da’wah is this: education. and somehow knowing i have given up the said project, i know i’ll have some hours to spare…and i’m so going to read up books to enrich myself!! not story books la but books on education or religions. i so have to catch up!! 🙂