Benchmarks and best practices

Attitude is everything!
      When I was in secondary school, my principal always says that “change you attitude first then only you can success!  Attitude is the most important thing to ensure one’s success.” I do agree with what he told us, until today I still remember  how serious of his expression when he said this during the assembly.When I started teaching, I would say this to my students too.
      Currently I am teaching Mathematics for a form 2 class, most of the students in that class are weak students. One of the boy in this class impress me most. He is a quiet and obedient boy, when I am teaching in front of the class, he would listen attentively despite other are making noise beside him, he done all the assignments I gave and hand in the exercise book on time every time. Last year, he failed his mathematics during the year end exam, but this year he got an A for his mathematics during the half year exam, this surprising me. I did interview him once, he say last year he was sitting with someone who is very talkative and this person influence him a lot, this year he is sitting with a group of  hardworking and serious students, therefore he can concentrate during the lesson. In this case, I think the attitude is the most important part to guarantee his success!


Be sure all instructions are clear and concise. What might be obvious to you is not necessarily be clear to your students.
         Giving instructions is the routine work of teachers in the class, so teachers must always make themselves clear and make sure the students understand what they need them to do in the class. I remembered once in my class, it was a form 4 chemistry class. I asked the students to do an experiment with a type of acid but I did not tell them the concentration of the acid ,  I only mentioned “ diluted acid”, I thought the students would understand what I meant, but end up, quite disappointing me, they used the acid with high concentration. After this case, every time whenever I ask them to do experiment, I will always tell them the exact concentration of the solution, and I will also write on the board clearly for them to see.  


Having students critique the design of the course to make sure everything is clear.
        Students are the clients of the teachers, and the course is the product the teachers sell to the students, so the design of the course must depend on the students’ need and be able to fulfil the students’ requirement in the class. To make sure the lesson is effective, teachers have to listen to the students’ comment to design their course.  Most of the teachers design the lessons based on their own way,  they never think whether the students learn or not with the designated lessons. 
       In my class,  some students did comment and say that using the power point to teach is boring, and they say doing experiments are more fun and make them have more interest to learn, so I try my best to let my students to do experiment frequently and I find some course related videos for them to see in the class. They are quite happy with these changing. 


Making sure you understand the technology you expect your students to use.  
   The students now are a generation so-called the millennial, they are very good  in handling the technology devices. Although they are good in handling the technology, for the educational purpose, the students still have a lo to learn. Teachers have to make sure they are understand and be able to use technology before they ask the students to use, so the teacher able to teach the students whenever they encounter problems.