ESE Report

ENHANCED SCHOOL EXPERIENCE:

PREPARATORY TASK FOR ICT FOR MEANINGFUL LEARNING

Enhanced School Experience: Classroom Observations of ICT Use

(I) Specific Observations

School Name: Bendemeer Secondary school

Class: Sec 2NS

Profile of the class: (For e.g., the students’ academic abilities, stream and other characteristics) This is a special class created by the school which picks out students who faced many difficulties in their learning process during their secondary one academic year. While the lessons are already taught at a slower pace since these students are from the normal academic stream, they still faced a lot of problems dealing with the speed of the lessons because their command of the English language is very weak and/or their general understanding of lesson content is very bad. Their interest in most subjects are also generally low. However, I was informed that while the previous NS class had many students with attitude problems, the demographics of this year’s batch was different from the last. They are just slower learners who tend to give up easily because they cannot seem to get the right answers; and because their secondary one class was bigger in terms of attendance, there was little chance for the subject teacher to pay them extra attention.

Subject: English Literature

What ICT tools are used in the lesson? Generally, the way the lessons are conducted in the NS classes differ from the rest of the normal academic stream as observed during my interactions with the different classes. While lesson goes on as per normal in the express as well as normal academic classes, in the NS class, the teacher tries to generate the students’ interests through the use of Youtube videos which animated and brought to life the book they were discussing- Animal Farm. To engage their minds and to help them to understand what is going on in the book, a class activity was preformed which was not only simple to carry out, but it was an alternative form of teaching that encouraged creativity as well as deepen their understanding of the text.

Describe how ICT is used for teaching and learning in the lesson. As mentioned, the videos used during class time helps those who are visual learners to better grasp what is being taught in class as the imagery captured in the Youtube videos enable the students to exercise their imagination and visualize the events from the literature book. For those who are kinesthetic learners, the extra hands on activity-which in all aspects were simple to carry out (such as the newspaper game, or building of pyramids using cups)- helped them to empathise with the characters in Animal Farm which they have already observed through the usage of the video previously. ICT was slated to enrich the learning environment of the students through sight, sound and interactivity and what was observed in Secondary 2 NS has demonstrated the positive results of ICT’s educational goals. The literature teacher has made use of this valuable tool to customize the learning approach for these students in order to cater to their learning capabilities. It has also enhanced creative thinking for the students and promoted a different form of teaching strategy for such special classes.

(II) General Observation:

How do teachers in the school feel about the use of ICT for teaching and learning? (For this question, you may want to speak to the HOD/ICT and other teachers you know in the school.)

My CT generally believes that ICT is very useful for students who have difficulties in learning and keeping up with the rest of the class. Hence, this program where such special students are identified by their teachers at the end of their first year, and picked out for the NS class in secondary two provides the very opportunity for the teachers to use ICT as a primary tool to engage their interests in the subject. Besides modifying powerpoint slides to make them simpler in language and content for them, and adding in more pictures to increase the visual aspect of the class, videos and sound clips are other tools that are employed to enhance the overall atmosphere of the class in order to provide for a more animated and fun lesson.