Journal with a BT - Week 2

Key takeaways

• Showing up for others matters

• Allocate time to teach how to answer key structured questions

• Finding a balance with sleep

My learnings...

1) Gratitude for those who turned up

My grandma passed away this week and kickstarted a lot of things to be done on short notice. Finally had time to reflect on what has happened and I realised that I really appreciated the concern and those that bothered to show up to the wake. Unexpectedly, it made a difference to me, to know that people cared enough to come and ask me about it. This is something I want to do for colleagues and juniors.

This event also reminded me the importance of having a proper plan, so that I can send out relief instructions without panicking on short notice.

2) Setting aside time to teach how to answer questions

It all started with a seemingly innocuous question from my colleague who took over my Sec 3 Bio class. 'Did you teach them how to answer lock and key hypothesis question?' I was stunned for a moment, mostly because it had been like half a year since enzymes was taught, and they ought to know how to answer it.

Upon reflecting, I could have been more explicit about the structure for answering such standard questions, and providing writing frames, and repetitive practice. Indeed, my CT in my previous school who had a top Bio distinction rate also made it a point to drill students on how to answer standard structured and essay questions. Last year, when I tried to purposely teach how to answer certain key questions for WA3, students improved in performance and motivation.

Thus, I have now made the effort to identify basic structured questions that students must know how to answer and incorporated that into my personal scheme of work.

3) Sleep is necessary

Despite all that has happened this week, I actually felt good at the end of the weekend having taken afternoon naps on both Saturday and Sunday. While I had a mini panic about not having enough time to plan for lessons, I realised that it is easier to plan when I am well rested. This is a food for thought for me to better plan my weekends to balance between sleep, lesson planning and spending quality time with loved ones.

That's it for my week... Been realising that writing out the content of this blog post while travelling is helpful, so I might start doing that for future weeks.

Work never ends but life does

This is important to remember especially when work starts to consume myself. I think most people who get into teaching do have the heart to serve, but it is equally important to remember to take care of yourself and those around you!

This post was written by myself :), image created using ChatGPT