today i sat in on a sec2E history lesson with a young teacher fresh from NIE. it reminded me of my relief teaching stint at unity secondary school eons ago - everything was the same, except that i was much younger than she is.

seeing things from a different perspective highlighted the difficulties of teaching a subject like history. at the lower secondary level, history is very much a content-based subject, with the emphasis on memorising key dates, events, and personalities rather than on building analytical skills. the challenge thus lies in presenting such a dry subject in as fresh and engaging a manner as possible in order to capture and maintain the attention and interest of students. it's also imperative that every nugget of information is presented in bite-sized portions clearly and logically.

seated at the back of the class with the students, i experienced a paradigm shift. it suddenly struck me how truly difficult it can be to strike the right balance when managing a class and for a teacher to tailor her teaching style according to her students' needs and personalities.

the teacher i observed was very soft-spoken. she didn't seem very comfortable handling her class, but then again, she's only been here for two weeks. her inexperienced showed, as mine must have too when i taught at unity. classroom discipline was not enforced - a couple of boys sat together in front instead of at their own seats. students who dozed off, passed notes, or talked in class escaped punishment. the class was on the whole rather well-behaved, so the teacher's soft approach didn't result in her losing control of her students. i imagine that the same approach in a much rowdier class would have brought about pandemonium.

her teaching style was nothing out of the ordinary - which probably explains the number of students who nodded off. she taught mainly from the textbook, instructing the students to read certain sections and then asking them questions. a powerpoint presentation perked the students up a little, but they were generally bored. the alarming thing is that these are students who take the initiative to learn: i saw plenty of textbooks with highlighted sections and notes scribbled at the side. if it's this difficult to engage students who try, i can't even begin to imagine how much of a mission impossible it must be with students who can't be bothered.

all in all, the observation was an enlightening experience. i'm looking forward to sitting in on more history lessons in classes of different levels and streams. i planned my observation schedule to fit in teachers from the different categories of teaching experience: 0-2 years, 3-10 years, and >10 years. it'll be interesting to see how different they are in the classroom.

ying @ 3:10 PM

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