Microteaching

Let's compare the 2 microteaching sessions we had this week. Please note that I am not trying to insinuate about any session being superior to the other, but I thought there is just a pertinent point to make.

Throughout our microteaching sessions, we had a perennial debate and discussion about the tension between idealism vs pragmatism, knowledge development vs assessment requirement. We saw these contrasts playing themselves out in the 2 microteaching sessions of this week. The first by Mr Tee and Mr Phoon was driven more by a realistic understanding of what Sec 4 students would need and seek for in their chosen topic, whilst the second by Ms Aw and Mr Sim was guided more by an idealistic Big Idea of educating the students of the importance of Social Justice and concern for humanity.

Which approach ought we take? As beginning teachers, idealistic keeev believes that we have the energy in us to come up with more thought-through activities, and the fact that our minds and attitudes are less steeped in the miry concerns of assessment and pragmatism helps. We read Geography in University not simply as a 3 year content training course to equip us to download and drill students of the future, rather our education ought to have tuned us to be more aware and concerned for humanity, for societies, for earth and the environment. And that is the role we ought to take, to develop in young minds a fervour and concern for issues of this world, to appreciate the beauty of the environment, to be aware of their roles as citizens of this world we live in. Geography is such a unique subject in that it is so intricately woven into every part of our living - teaching Geography really shouldn’t be guided simply by results alone.

And because the world is so diverse, the subject so multi-faceted, who are we as teachers to decide for students which subjects are important, and which ones are not? I'm pretty much a post-structuralist, and I believe each and every topic, every voice deserves an equal chance to be heard, and every mind an equal chance to discern what is true to them. And as an educator, I believe firmly in the importance of instilling a love for a subject – that is the key to achieving results. A teacher's passion and enthusiasm is contagious, and we ought to put in effort where we can and the students can and will discern.

Interestingly, we had our guests at Aw-Si's lesson reflecting that they felt the lesson non-content dense enough. They need a 20pt rehearsal for essay writing purposes, to score, to be secure. Would they have preferred a Tee-Phoon style lesson then? I guess that might be so, and that might what they have been used to. A clear structure with a clear listing of factors, and clear case studies to support the list of factors they can rehash. Helpful? Perhaps. But how many times have we heard from our friends, peers and students, 'Oh I hate GEOGRAPHY!' And why is that so? Too many listing of factors I believe! Too many view Geography as a bland subject with little purpose whatsoever, nothing more than a listing of dry factors with no correlation to their everyday life at all. Tourism, Industry, Weathering, River Processes… everything can be broken down into systematic points, every topic we can memorise a standard 3 case studies for assessment purposes. Is that the kind of Geography students we want to produce, is that they type of Geography teacher we want to be?

Time is short in Singapore schools, and for pragmatic purposes, we ought to be aware of the balance that is needed to answer to students’ exam requirements. But at the same time, let’s encourage one another to not be entirely subsumed by the system, and churn out standard 20pt lectures that so kills the subject. Perhaps we should try to think creatively for helpful ways to introduce each topic, but at the same time seek always to draw students back to important points to take home when they end each unit. To that extent, thanks guys for the many microteaching sessions we had so far, not least Aw-Sim and Tea-Phoon. To comment on what some of us has written.. I do think that the micro-teaching sessions has been helpful, it does get me thinking how real classroom environments will be like. Granted, its not the most natural of environments, with us fairies, monkeys and clowns running all over the place, but it does get one thinking and reflecting. And the passion's infectious - thanks for spreading the love for the subject and in teaching friends.