The Third Last Class, and counting...

Today marked my third last class with 1E and 3N, as well as my first solo invigilation attempt in this institution. It was with a bittersweet taste that I conducted class amidst their usual clamour of organized disarray. With just 4 more days to go before the end of my Teaching Practice, not merely do the matter of grades loom ahead of me, but also ambivalence towards whether I will be missed.

Catharsis and Updates

What level of teacher-sharing on a blog is considered ethical and not self-endangering?
The Twitter updates below my cbox are what you should really read because it may be updated more often than my blog, usually with cryptic one-liners. Thanks!

I construct my own fonts online

http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/

Fontstruct lets you build your own font from scratch using preloaded parts. It's like Lego for fontbuilding, minus the price tag and the technical challenges.

Pre-Teaching Practicum Notes

Translated from my Chinese transcript:

TP

• Number of teaching periods should be reasonable (16-20).


• Should assist in and observe CCA activities but not act as I/C.

TP Portfolio

• It should include lesson observation notes, self-reflection, comments from CTs and NSC, lesson plans and samples of marked assignments.

Observations in Week 1

• You can also request to observe classes by other teachers and in other subject areas. Take the initiative. These can help you in classroom management.


• Take observation notes and file them in your TP portfolio.

Lesson plans

• 5 detailed lesson plans per week. For TP purposes, one lesson plan should cover one period's worth of class. For consecutive periods, you can write 1 or 2 lesson plans, depending on the learning objectives for that class.


• Mail NSC the lesson plan at least a day before observation.


• Lesson plans are compulsory for observation periods.


• Lesson plans for other periods that fall outside the 5 are optional, subject to CT's requirements.


• Learning objectives: should be specific, measurable, clear and workable.


• Activities: should be relevant to learning objectives.


• Every lesson should have a clear introduction and conclusion.


• Attach to your lesson plan materials and resources that you will use.

Execution

• Note time management. Are you able to execute your lesson according to the schedule?


• You can include notes on foreseeable reactions from the students. Be prepared for contingencies such as equipment breakdown.


• Group work can be implemented as long as it is feasible and effective for the learning objectives defined. It has to be carried out tactfully. Details like the mechanics of grouping should be considered.


• Use differentiated instruction.


• Have activities that students will accept and which meet your objectives.


• Give clear instructions and use appropriate teacher talk. Note enunciation.


• Minimize interference. Use a portable mic if necessary.


• Use concrete classroom management measures, but discuss them first with your CT. Adopt his/her class rules for starters.

Observations

• NSC will observe best class and average class.

Tips

• Are students "naughty" in every class or only during Chinese?


• Establish your personal image. Use both the carrot and the stick.


• The students' interests should be your priority.


• Remember students' names, especially of "problem students."


• Use the Premack principle in conjunction with alternative teaching methods such as games and student-proposed activities like karaoke etc. You can also apply peer pressure this way to restrain aberrant students.


• Put your heart into your lessons and make your lesson vibrant.


• Be joyful and find satisfaction in your work. Don't let defeatism seep in.

Important notes!

• Send timetable to NSC and print a copy.


• Be present when NSC visits school to meet P, SCM and CT. (week of 23/6)


• 1st observation: 2nd week of July


• 2nd observation: August


• There will be a 1-2 week gap between the 1st and 2nd observation.


• Be proactive, humble, enthusiastic and willing to change.


• Evaluate yourself after each observation.

Googling myself

I googled myself to get some information for my resume. In the process, I discovered that this site has been indexed by Google and so is its mirror. For some reason I found weird Google ads on my blog, but couldn't find them when performing site administration. Anyway, they are gone now... weird!

More writing samples from me that I never knew existed:

RJC2000PRELIMQ4

“The Internet’s early communalist enthusiasm for open-source software-which is free, unpatented and uncopyrighted- has now given way to a land-grab. Internet companies are rushing to patent their ideas.” The Economist, July 2000

• 
  
  a. Explain the likely market structure which economic theory suggests would exist in industries where patents are prevalent. [12]
  
  

• 
  
  b. To what extent is the above trend bad for the consumer? [13]
  
  

Part a

Economic theory suggests that an oligopolistic market is likely to exist in industries where patents are prevalent. An oligopoly is a market structure that falls between a monopoly and a monopolistic market, and it refers to the situation where a market is dominated by a small number of large powerful firms.

Like in the case of internet companies rushing to patent their ideas, the oligopolistic market is characterised by barriers to entry as well as interdependence of firms. Barriers to entry may be natural or artificial. Patents are a form of barriers to entry as they create secrecy of knowledge characteristic of oligopolistic firms producing differentiated products. Patents offer legal protection.

Other barriers to entry include brand loyalty. For example, the established real player and winamp software have a large following and are hyperlinked to many other websites, and thus a new software may need great innovation and first impact to rival the number of downloads these famous names receive.

Also the extensive research and product development may raise already high start up costs in industries where patents are prevalent. For example, the software counter-strike allows internet gaming and LAN games, and has new betas published frequently, and thus other companies will need to have equal, if not better, variety and quality in their software to rival that.

Besides that, in an oligopolistic market structure, products are differentiated, and secrecy is generally maintained. Generally, non-price competition is adopted and supernormal profit is made. For example, internet companies like SingNet and Pacific Internet have long avoided price competition, until StarHub introduced free access. Pacific Internet decides to attract eyeball s to avoid direct price competition.

An important characteristic of an oligopoly, here patents are prevalent, is the interdependence of firms. This may well lead to the formation of a formal collusion (a cartel e.g. Organisation of petroleum exporting countries OPEC) or a tacit collusion. Firms tend to adopt similar pricing, advertising and marketing strategies. For instance, both winamp and real player offer a free download with the option of purchasing a better full version of its product online. Due to tacit collusion, firms are likely to base prices on barometric firm price leadership – following the most representative firm at a particular point in time, or base prices on dominant firm price leadership – i.e. a firm that has the greatest influence sets the price and all others follow.

In an oligopoly there exists price stickiness, which may be explained by a kinked demand curve, showing that if a firm raises its prices, then other firms are not likely to follow but if prices fall then other firms are likely to follow suit. However, this does not explain why the kink occurs or why the initial price was determined such. The costs of updating the WebPages etc. and other menu costs incurred may explain price stickiness.

Part b

To some extent, the evolution of the internet into an oligopolistic market is bad for the consumer. First, an oligopolistic market relies heavily on advertising in a bid to avoid non-price competition. Advertising in itself may be a form of directly unproductive activity, and therefore is a misallocation of resources. Furthermore, advertising may be a form of irritant to consumers. For instance, pop-up advertisements that appear when one accesses a certain website. Advertising costs may be passed on to consumers indirectly too.

Second, the rise of oligopolies in an internet market where patents are prevalent may lead to the presence of X-inefficiency such as a breakdowns in a Hotmail account etc. X-inefficiency arises when the firm gets bigger.

Third, this above trend may increase the difficulty of new firms breaking into the market due to the higher fixed costs, the patented designs and so on. For instance, a young entrepreneur may find it expensive to start a new internet firm and patent his designs, when his competitors may include Netscape and Microsoft. Thus, innovation is limited and consumers may lose new choices.

However, this trend of moving towards an oligopolistic internet market may not be entirely bad, for instance, large oligopolistic firms earning supernormal profits will have funds for research and development to upgrade their existing products, and these improvements in product quality will be passed on to consumers.

Also, oligopolies provide a range of differentiated products for consumers to choose from. For example, one may choose a Netscape or Internet Explorer browser and equip it with a variety of other supporting software such as macromedia etc.

Third, oligopolies earn supernormal profits and the copyrights and popularity of existing firms may encourage entrepreneurial spirit t break into these contestable markets. For example, the establishment of meshworkz was encouraged by the boom of internet gaming and the underutilisation of internet gaming capabilities. Such new firms will benefit consumers by providing them with greater variety of choices.

However, considering that the oligopolistic market is potentially allocatively inefficient as price may exceed marginal cost, thus creaming off consumer surplus and leading to welfare loss, it may be seen that the trend of internet companies rushing to patent their ideas is no perfect blessing. An oligopolistic market, like any other market structure, has its good and bad.

Huang Kailin

A03A

19/25

Notes on DISC

I am a high DC, which explains why I do not like having no options. When dealing with a D-student, give them options, even when the final outcome is likely to be the same as what you have predetermined.

For instance, instead of, "We are going to work on this topic," say, "We have a list of topics, and this is the one that the majority have chosen to work on."

Discovery of the Day: MediaFire

http://www.mediafire.com/

Free file hosting... looks simpler than Yousendit!

Education Studies Elective

This is the one I am interested in. I quote from the Jan 2008 PGDE(S) Handbook:

QED581 Differentiating Instruction for Able Learners
The promise of an ability-driven curriculum and that all students will learn is mere rhetoric if teachers lack deep knowledge of learners and the pedagogical skills necessary to help learners of diverse abilities. There is a need to help teachers better understand the traits and needs of high-ability learners and to make needs-based curricular modifications and
instructional decisions in mixed-ability settings. This course aims to help student teachers develop an overview of the conceptions of giftedness,
understand the psychology and needs of the precocious student and develop appropriate, differentiated approaches to meet the learning needs
of these students in mainstream classrooms.

My other choices, in order of preference, are:

QED560 Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)
QED576 Developing Creativity in the Secondary Classroom
QED582 Teaching Students with Behavioural and Learning Problems

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

Read the full post here. This is the winner of the most influential post at the 2007 Edublog Awards. One of his key arguments is that it does not matter if you are a digital native or immigrant - you must be technologically literate to teach.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Strongly recommended by my NIE senior and NUS peer, especially for those who will be going to neighbourhood schools, and who may be interested in other uses of drama in teaching.