Teaching methods

2 NIE researchers are experimenting with a way to teach Math to primary school students. Instead of using Mathematical methods and steps to solve problem sums, which is incidentally the nemesis of most students, the suggested way is to underline the requirements of the question through discussions, before attempting to solve the problem sums. This will be especially useful for students who are weak in English. Once they understand what they have to do through the question, it will be easier to get the Mathematical answer. Speaking their thought processes aloud will be a tremendous help to their journey towards getting the answer. This is somewhat like literary analysis.

The strange thing is that I've been doing that with my tuition students. Hmm. No one told me to do that. It is my instinct as a teacher. It is true that this additional step will take up time, especially when teachers in school have lesson schedules to meet. It is probably better to do this for tuition. Then again, in order to help the weak students, it can be done during remedial lessons.

A reader wrote in to comment on an article on how a teacher had insulted her student. The letter exudes hurt and bitter anger over his own personal experience. The last part reveals his inability to get over his primary school experience. He requested the teacher to be removed from her job, rather than just given a warning.

I too, had similar experiences in school. It was only when I had kind teachers during my A'level days, that I finally managed to attain a pass for my Math and Accounting. As a teacher now, I ensure that I am as kind to my students as those teachers were to me. Perhaps the reader did not have the opportunity to get such kind teachers to heal his hurt.