I walked to the carpark today and my car refused to start. I called my mechanic and asked him for advice. The car was towed to the workshop for some checkups and repairs.
Now, I might be a graduate like the mechanic but that does not mean I know how to troubleshoot what is wrong with my car. It is simply not my area of expertise.
This exact same scenario is happening to a child. The child had some issues with education and needed some analysis. Should the parent jump in and claimed he/she can troubleshoot the situation?
Or it should be left to the experts?
In my previous post, I pointed out the realisation will come when the child's grades drop for no reason and it seems very difficult to bring the grades back up.
This is a very real scenario. Many of my friends came to me for help in this same scenario.
Let me explain how this is possible.
When the child is in P1/P2, the syllabus is very easy. The child should score consistently above 90% for all subjects. The P1 syllabus is very close to the curriculum of K2 and the P2 syllabus is an extension of the P1 syllabus. The child should be performing at his/her best level because everything is like revision to him/her. The child should not be struggling at all. Any grades below 75% is a big red alarm for parents.
The P3 syllabus is an extension of the P2 syllabus. However, two new things are added. The Science subject and the heuristics in Mathematics. If the child gets very good grades in P2, P3 should be okay.
If the child's foundation in P2 is only average, there will be gaps. If these gaps are not closed, P3 syllabus will be very difficult for him/her. The strong foundation in P2 is the key to performance in P3.
"The strong foundation in P2 is the key to performance in P3."
For Science, it is an entirely new subject. It is not a language like English and it is not a problem-solving skill like Mathematics. It is an inquiry-based subject. The 'why' is the emphasis of this new subject.
In addition, there is a specific technique of answering Science questions. The child needs to remember many keywords to answer these questions.
Heuristics in Mathematics will be easy in the first half of P3. The second half will be a bit more challenging to students and will most probably be mind-boggling to parents. Heuristics are easy to memorise but very difficult to learn. It is even harder to teach.
"Heuristics are easy to memorise but very difficult to learn. It is even harder to teach."
Put them altogether and you will see why. If the child struggles in P2, he/she will need to work hard on the foundation. At the same time, the child is getting new information/knowledge/skills in Science and Math. This is overwhelming to the child.
How well the child can do in P3 hinges a lot on the school teachers and how engaged the child is in lessons. Take away one of these and your child will struggle in P3.
If the child struggles in P3 and no help is sought, he/she is actually on the way to failing P4.
In my opinion, P4 is the most crucial point. If the child still did not receive help in the first half of P4, he/she will most probably do badly in PSLE.
There is no need to talk about P5 or P6 beyond this point.
For those whose child is in P5/P6, I will usually reject the child from my tuition unless the expectations are set right in the beginning. It is nearly impossible to pull the grades up unless the child comes to my tuition three times a week and two hours for each session. On top of that, repairing the damage done is a lot of work. For every hour of tuition, I need at least three hours to prepare for it. However, I can guarantee the maintenance of a passing grade if the child attends tuition once a week.
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If you are a university graduate and you think your child is doing well, I urge you to do the following.
1. How are your child's P1 results? If they are below 90%, what are the gaps? Bridge those gaps during the holidays.
2. If your child is in P3, how is he/she doing in Math and Science? Does he/she know that there is a specific way of answering the Science questions? Does he/she understand the heuristics in Math or it is purely by memorisation?
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It is always easier to wait and see. However, this 'wait and see' strategy is going to be a very bad move for your child's education. The higher the level, the more gaps the child will have to close. The more the gaps, the more time the child needs. And time is very scarce in upper primary.
"It is always easier to wait and see. However, this 'wait and see' strategy is going to be a very bad move for your child's education."
Is it really okay to wait?
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You may not believe it, but I have met quite a few parents with this idea in their heads. It is very common for parents to have this thinking (especially for your first child).
The panic will come when the child's grades start to plummet for no apparent reason and the parent could not get the grades up no matter what he/she does.
Before I became a school teacher, I thought tutoring was easy too. I built a home tuition career around this belief in 2005 and managed to keep afloat for a year.
During the year, I bought assessment books for my students and taught them well. Some of them did well and some did not.
I realised I had very limited understanding of the syllabus and more importantly, I did not understand young children and the education system.
I decided to teach in schools to gain this knowledge.
I entered the teaching career in 2010. It was an eye-opener. Teaching well was at least 10 times harder than selling. (I was in regional sales before joining teaching.) If you know me personally, you know I am a very good salesman and can sell almost anything. For me to make this comment, it means that to teach well is indeed a very difficult thing to do.
"For me to say teaching is harder than selling, it means that to teach well is indeed a very difficult thing to do."
To teach well, you need the following:
- student/class management skills (try managing 44 kids all at the same time)
- student motivation skills (like motivating a child to complete his homework)
- counselling skills (when the child feels sad/affected by family problems)
- efficient marking skills
- excellent presentation skills (to engage the class)
- teach using multimedia tools
- stay up to date with the current trends for young children
- effective discipline skills (without using 'corporal punishment)
- quality control skills (to manage the quality of homework)
- parenting skills (to show love to your students)
- rapport building skills (to connect with the student)
- art and craft skills (to make stuff for/with students)
- music skills (to conduct music lessons)
- physical training skills (to conduct PE)
- security skills (to perform canteen duty and invigilation duty)
- project management skills (you will not believe how many projects/programs a teacher has to handle in a year)
- people skills (to work with the other educators)
- deep pool of scientific knowledge to teach Science
- parent management skills (to build relationship with parents)
Okay, I have about 21 more points but I think you get the idea.
Back to the comment the parent made. Let's do some estimation.
100 university graduates
--> 20 get into NIE
--> 15 get into schools to teach
--> 5 may become good teachers
--> 1 may become a good mentor
I am not saying this because I am a private tutor and want your business. I am fully-booked to the neck and there are still more people signing up on my waitlist everyday.
I am saying this because it is very difficult to be a good tutor.
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If you are a graduate and you think you can teach your child well, I urge you to:
1. Ask those parents whose kids are already in the upper primary and see if they agree with you. Isn't it best to ask those who had gone through the same path?
2. Compare your child's grades with the whole level and see if he/she is above average. Ask yourself if your child is under-performing. Ask yourself if your child could have done better under a proper tutelage.
3. Does your child understand the content you teach? Is there tension whenever you wanted to teach your child?
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Think again. Is it easy to be a good tutor?
Stay tuned for Part 2.
(Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/WDj6j for monthly tips on how to motivate your child to study. A free ebook is included in the newsletter.)
"Help! My daughter is scoring Band 3 for her Math and Science!"
I met up with an old friend for lunch and this was our topic for the meal. A mother's plea for help.
I told her to take a closer look at the paper and see if her girl had any particular weak areas. Brush up these areas during this holidays and prepare her for CA2 when the school reopens.
I also shared about what I do in my private tuition and asked her to try out some of the strategies with her daughter.
After chatting for about fifteen minutes, she was taken aback by how much I shared. She told me not to share such precious strategies with any other parents. Her rationale is "If the parent can do all the teaching, then the parent will not need me as a tuition teacher."
"Don't share all the strategies! Parents will not need you if they can do all these!"
However, it is not so simple.
1. When I start to talk about learning strategies, I can blabber for hours because teaching is my passion. I could not stop talking about it!
2. The strategies I talked about could all be found in books and websites. I did not create them. They were widely available.
3. I speak of this with pride. You are not me. I can give you all the tools and materials but you will not be able to teach like me. It is simply different.
4. My tuition slots are very limited. If the parent terminates my service, the parent will need to rejoin the waitlist if he/she wants to engage my services again.
"I can give you all the tools and materials but you are not me. You will not be able to teach like me. It is simply different."
Ultimately, I just could not stop talking about teaching and learning. It is especially so when they are linked to motivational strategies for young children. I am just so interested in motivating young children.
We ended the conversation with her asking me about the pricing of my services. I am fully booked, but I will let her know if I open up any new slots.
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What to do if you are in the same situation:
1. Do not panic. Go through your child's paper carefully and identify the gaps.
2. Close the gap by teaching the concepts again.
3. Let your child practice and see if he/she has understood.
4. Reteach if necessary.
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If the situation persists, it is best to engage a private tutor for your child. I would select someone who is NIE-trained and is familiar with the MOE syllabus.
I teach because it is my passion and more importantly, it is my calling in life.
I had a previous blog on motivating children to learn but it was too technical for some parents. I hope this blog will be more digestible and implementable for parents.
Stay tuned!
(Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/WDj6j for monthly tips on how to motivate your child to study. A free ebook is included in the newsletter.)
