Through my discussions with Mr Azahar, I learnt many things, but the most powerful massage I gathered was that we cannot do everything on our own. I learnt that to be truly successful as a KP, I need to build support structures in my department. I need to develop others so that they can in turn help support portions of the department. No man is an island but the success of an island is also not the result of any one man’s labour.
The group discussion was focused on exploring the use of flipped learning as a teaching tool to enhance the learner experience. It was very fruitful to all and I could see how the small geography unit of 3 teachers had complimentary strengths that they were very comfortable with leveraging on. It was a very cohesive team and hence it was a very successful unit. I understand that such relationships do not exist on their own, it takes time and effort and positive modelling by the KPs to encourage such positive cultures.
The lesson observation was interesting. The graduating Sec 4 students were tasked to embark on a Geographical Investigation project. However, the Sec 5 students were dispersed into the groupings as ‘mentor-advisors’. This very effective use of students as a resource was an eye-opener for me. It was beyond the common “peer-tutoring” framework, it allowed both the mentors and the other students to learn in an interactive manner. I hope to have a chance to try this out in my lessons.
This opportunity is valuable to me, I appreciate greatly the time that Mr Azahar and his team has set aside for me. I would recommend all new KPs to try this short attachment as the learning is rich and authentic.
Thank you.
