1st Reflection

First Reflection

Invigorated! That’s how I felt once I stepped out of the room…out of my AKM101 class that is. I felt energized and refreshed..mentally..just as I felt after one of those spa sessions.

The Tangrams activity was like an appertizer. I have not been teaching Maths for two years so I was kind of out of touch..a little bit intimidated as well especially when I stepped into the class, everyone was busy at work. Initially it sounded like a mahjong session. When I was given the tangrams set..ahhh something familiar! Frustrating but still entertaining. When I was young, I was introduced to tangrams as a free form activity, just making shapes of rabbit and boat out of it. But of course over the years tangrams kept popping up now and then ..in ratios, areas and geometry lessons. It was a good trigger and engaging activity and I must say that I enjoyed it!

When the lessons progressed to the Mathematics framework, I found myself in unfamiliar territory. I have always been in the Science Department as long as I can recall. Nevertheless, Dr Yap’s delivery of the lesson was light yet packed with information that I found myself nodding as I was trying to absorb and register the salient points. The lesson unraveled things which normally most of us would not stop to ask ourselves- simple questions like why do we need Maths in our lives- which we as teachers sometimes forget to ask our pupils.

  I began to understand and appreciate the initiatives in our education system. When TSLN was launched in 1997, it was the buzz word and I was just following the flow..then when TLLM came about, I remembered we were all happy thinking that we would be cutting back on the content. Finally sitting there in the room, with my other 16 course mates, I realized that the initiatives have not just changed but metamorphosised over the years for good reasons. We want to nurture and mould our pupils to be equipped for the future challenges and have a globalised outlook. Not just exam smart!

Hmm..finally when Dr Yap rolled out his expectations for his class…GULP..blogging is something that have not caught up with me…or more accurately..I have not kept up with! But somehow when I have started on my reflections, I felt that I could not stop..probably I was intimidated with the use of IT..not being IT savvy is something I must admit.

Nevertheless, I really do look forward to my next Maths-Spa session and meeting my group members for the group work! Teaming up with Zubaidah and Angrini would be fun..Maths-Spa with the ladies!