Education Is What You Make out of It.

To clarify my point, I would like to tell you what happened today at lecture. It was one of those early 8a.m morning lectures where you arrive in class groggy eyed, sometimes without having breakfast. For Asian students, that can be a really daunting task...but I did. Nevermind, but that's another story.

Anyways, my lecturer Deborah G. told us of the 4th Year students who bring back disheartening reports after their final primary school practicuum (the one where they have to teach a mostly multi-age classroom class).

The thing is that at university (at least at mine), student teachers are taught the different learning pedagogies set out by the government board and supposedly adopted at school. i.e, such as using play based pedagogies, having a more child, or learner-centred classroom context, etc.

But the reality of the situation is that many primary schools still adhere to the traditional context of teaching and learning, which is really teacher-centred, although it may not be as wholly teacher-centered, rote memory based or worksheets centred at traditional Asian schools, as they incorporate some form of classroom interaction in the classroom. Many students find it disheartening that what they learn at universities, is not the same as when they go out to the real place.

This morning I was seated with a group of female students. For me, it was disheartening for me as they were busily gossiping about how the entire education system was not working for them (this is in Queensland), and going on and on negatively about the whole entire education system.

There I was thinking, hmmm..... if they think their system is bad, wait till they come to where I come from!

It was a surprise for me because I had never expected to hear such comments especially within a tertiary education context, or within a white community. Perhaps I had thought that only Asians would think that way, but it was probably I expected that white people would be more optimistic or enthusiastic about what they expected or wanted. Nonetheless.

Of course, the next thing that came to mind was what a friend of mine, Tom did. The words that came to mind was "Education is what you make out of it". More so for a teacher.

I believe that a teacher needs to be of strong will, and have an idea of what they believe in order to be able to an effective teacher. ( In this context, it does not take into account teachers who have never had professional training). Rather, it is what the teacher knows her/himself to be right, and sticks to it without being overwhelmed by the entire education system. I believe that the will to be strong is what one needs to survive.I have done it before.

I believe that others can do it too.

Social Development: Importance of "Blowing Water".

It was my first EC P-3 Curriculum Planning lecture cum tute this morning, and I was late! You could say that my lecturer, D. was not too pleased about it with everything that has happened. :-P

I will state that the rest of this entry will be about the maintanence & continuation of relationships, and its important regardless whether with both children, or adults. I had already made a prior appointment with D. after class, and she gave me some feedback which I found difficult to understand. Apart from that, we were going to have a group assessment task which was causing me undue stress from the anticipation of having to work in a group context, as I am the only Asian in class!

Out of desperation, I contacted a mate from Hong Kong, John who has been in Australia for almost 3 years now. We later went for lunch with his "Aussie mom", Mary.

An Aussie Mom is basically an Australian family or couples who volunteer to take on international students and act like their "substitute parents" for the duration of the time the international student is studying at that particular univeresity.

It was interesting to meet Mary, who spoke with an Australian accent, but had almost indistinguishable "asian features". To which I found out that she IS a child of mixed parentage. Ah, that explained it.

Anyways, some of the rare pearls of gem that John, "the man of few words" surprisingly dropped onto my platter among which included are:

• to learn to "blow water" as the Chinese call it. The english translation for this phrase is "compliment" or "persuade" which I am atrocious at. I must admit that I can be utmost willfully blunt at times (if I am on the opposite end of partiality of a motion which is not my cup of tea.)
  
• to learn to compliment and praise people where attention is due.
  
• cultivate a relationship with the person in charge. This is regardless of the context. I guess having close contact with the person of position helps a lot when you need support with the implementation of ideas or to have a head-start with a project. :-)
• John explained that every "head" or the person in position has their own style of looking at things. He said it was good practice to ask this key person for their feedback. This has some play with matters of people relationships. Of course, if the key person had initially given the green light to initiate a project, it would show them in a bad light if they refracted it later, right? This is not only relevant at university, but at home with parents or at work depending on the context.
  

It is difficult for me to "change" my ways, as I can have the will of a bull, and my temper is just as fiery although I have not red hair. I'd say that learning to "give-and-take" is important in learning how to maintain relationships. It is essential not only as an educator, but modelling to your own children as a way of maintaining peace & harmony at home, especially if there are a few siblings and they start arguing and fighting! Young people or inexperienced people who have such mentors, are able to demonstrate it as "deferred imitation" (ability to recall and act it out) and internalise it as part of their own behaviours.

Having individuals who are well versed in the arts of diplomacy is an asset to every organisation as they help to create calm in the midst of a storm and saves companies losses to threat of a situation which is tense. :-)

Australia: Primary Connections Syllabus

Wednesday was my first lecture cum tutorial for semester 2. The course content was Science and Technology Education.

The text used for this semester is Primary Connections, as well as the current Science and Technolgy syllabus published by Queensland Education. Primary Connections is an "innovative and exciting new initiative linking the teaching of science with the teaching of literacy in Australian primary schools".

It seems that Australia is currently trialling the Primary Connections syllabus, which links the key learning areas (or subjects) of science and literacy which will supercede the current Queensland Science syllabus, as well as the rest of the science syllabus used in the other states of Australia.

According to hearsay at the lecture, the govt has spent about 3 million dollars and is serious about its implementation, as the finances used to publish and republish syllabuses all over the different states costs the govt more than needed.

It seems ironic that New York city with approximately the same number of population as Australia is using ONE education syllabus, whereas the entire nation of Australia with about the same number of population has over 4-5 different education syllabus published for each state. This is a total waste of the taxpayer's money which could have been put to more productive use.

Related links:
Primary Connections

Experiences of a Canadian Teacher in Thailand.

There can be days where I totally "go into my own cave" and isolate myself away from the madding crowd, but today is not one of those days!

In fact, I am feeling on top of the world right now. At the Christian social mixer at uni tonight, I was introduced to yet another student from Malaysia who commenced studies in BECH without going through my former college. She's 32 years old, starting from Year 1, and this is her first degree! (and all this while I thought that I was old!)

Wait, actually two as of this moment of writing! One is a mature lady whose name is Maria, and is from my previous college. *laughs*. She's a mother of two grown up children (wow!). As she is Malaysian, it would be most interesting to know how she will be able to cope and handle the Australian context.

I had the most interesting conversation with Tom, a Canadian gentleman who is undertaking his first semester in Masters in Education, and has previously worked in Thailand for about 8 years. He told me how he handled his Grade 2 class in this international American school, where he

• wrote personally to both the parent and the child before the start of the year. Both child & parents had to sign a "contract" stating that they agree & understand the ground rules presented in the classroom. This contract will be referred to throughout for the rest of the year.
  
• asked the child to be present together at the parent-teacher conferences. Therefore, there would be no secrecy between the parent, child & teacher.
  
• expected the teacher-student to co-own the class.
• used a blog to interface and connect with his class children, parents and distribute home assignments. The teacher would read the letters written by parents to the child in class.
  

Of course, the other teachers in the school felt *threatened* by his actions, as he presented himself to be somewhat different from the others. I would say that I did have my fair share of such strategies which I implemented with my 4 yr kindergarten class a few years back. It would be most fair to say that I think that the parents really did appreciate the effort that I took to keep in contact to communicate with them, as well as creating an online photo gallery (which no other teacher in the school did).

Although this was only my exposure to an American international school where I had worked as an assistant for a short period of time before leaving (gasps!), but it gave me some understanding of how American schools were managed nonetheless. I am not sure how the other teachers in the school felt, but that was not of my concern, as I was the one who was enthusiastic to do my own part as a collaborator of parent-teacher relationships, and to make it a good one.

One of the questions that was on the tip of my tongue that I wanted to ask him was how different is Canada from Australia (or at least in the part of Queensland where I am at).
His answer was:

• Canada is a Commonwealth country.
• Has a Queen (Queen Elizabeth 2, who else?)
• Has almost similar issues with the indigenous groups.
• Has almost similar issues with the implementation of a National Curriculum.
• Has similar issues with political-correctness of child handling & management in schools.
  

Summary: Canadians will have less trouble adapting to the Australian context as compared to Asians anyways. Which is what I wanted to know as it confirms my understanding of the western culture and values.