How To Score An Additional 10 Marks In Exams

Many parents shared with me that their children are smart, but very careless in exams. I could not agree more.

This is one of the first things I tackle in my students. Believe it or not, eliminating careless mistakes can bag you at least another 10 marks in examinations.

That means, if your child is getting 80/100, eliminating careless mistakes will help your child score 90/100.

So, how can we do it?

First, we need to dig deep into the child's mindset. There are four main patterns.

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1. Complacency - "I know my work. There is no need to check."

2. Avoid area of weakness - "I forgot to check Qs 18 (because it was too hard for me)."

3. Anxiety - "Oh no, Tom already finished. I must hurry."

4. Competition - "I am faster than John. Hence, I am smarter than him."

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Then, we need to come up with a system.


Step 1: Neat handwriting and clear working

This is the most important step. If the child has poor handwriting, he would have problems reviewing the working. This will discourage the child from checking. To counter this, train your child to write neatly first.


Step 2: Systematic checking
To check MCQ, show your child how to plug in all the options in the question to check the answer.

To check Math word problems, check that there are no mistakes in the working. Check that the models and steps are correct.

To check open-ended Science questions, check that the keywords are there.

To check the English paper, read and re-read and re-read and re-read. If it sounds strange, it means something is wrong. Check for full-stops too. 


Step 3: Manage the given time

Teach your child not to rush and not to dwell. If the question is too difficult, just move on to the next question first. Come back to the difficult question later.

By right, the time given in any exam paper is sufficient as long as the student does not dwell on certain questions.


Step 4: Show the impact of checking

This is the part where you sit down with your child and go through his past papers and ask him to check. Show him that if he checked, he would have scored more marks.


Lastly, we need to drill this into the child and make it into a habit. For me, I took the longer route. I will do the checking with the child for the first 5 papers. Then, he will show me how he does the checking for the next 5 papers. Monitor the child for a few sessions to see if he does his checking. If the habit did not stick, I will do the checking with him again. It is important that we do the checking with him and not for him.

The actual process is very long. Some students get it within 3 months. Some get it within 6 months. Some still do not get it after one year.

Unlearning a bad habit and starting a new habit is much more difficult than learning a right habit in the beginning.



I hope this little system will help your child bag another 10 marks in the upcoming exams.

Have fun and please share my post!

Stay tuned!

4 Core Skills Of A Good Parent Tutor

Mrs Tan (not her real name) is a stay-at-home mum. She does household chores and fetches her two kids from school everyday. Her older child is in P4 and her younger child is in P1 this year.

I met her at the playground and we started to talk about how difficult it is now to meet good private tutors. She already changed three tutors and she was thinking of teaching her children herself.

However, her children would not listen to her. They have difficulty focusing on their work.

She asked me if my children were like that.

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Now, I post the question to you, "Are your children like that?"

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I strongly believe that parents are the best teachers, provided that they know what they are doing. They need to upgrade their teaching skills accordingly.

When I first started teaching as a teacher, I observed countless lessons. I wanted to see what makes an excellent lesson. I wanted to learn the secrets of this trade.

My conclusion:

An excellent teacher delivers excellent lessons.

It may sound absurd but it is true. Normal people just could not deliver excellent lessons. A normal carpenter cannot produce exquisite furniture.

I have seen very good lesson plans carried out by normal teachers. The effect was not even 10% of the original lesson. The person doing the lesson is very important. So much so that the person is even more important than the lesson itself.

Hence, it is not a formula. You cannot walk into a bookstore, buy an assessment book, follow its steps and hope your child enjoy the lesson.

It is simply not so easy.

So now, the golden question:

What makes an excellent teacher?

Those who know me personally would know that I was in the sales line before. I was a good salesman. I discovered that my selling skills was directly linked to my teaching skills.


An excellent teacher possesses the following:

1. Deep content knowledge (Product Knowledge)
2. Good rapport building skills (Rapport)
3. Delivery skills (Presentation Skills)
4. Situational sensitivity (Situational Awareness)



Deep Content Knowledge

This is the first thing the child looks at when you start to teach him. If by standards, you are lower level than the child, the child will despise you. Without respect, it is impossible to deliver any lessons.

Let me give you an example.

Can you list the six characteristics of living things? 

If you can't, how are you going to convince your child to learn it from you (when you don't possess the knowledge in the first place?)

This is the first area you should master if you are serious in helping your child. Do his assessment books before you assign the work to him.


Good Rapport Skills

This is not the same as 'making your child like you'. Many parents establish the fact that if you are a friend to your child, it is more probable that he learns from you.

I beg to differ.

The position you should have is an expert co-learner. You are expert, but you are also learning with him.

To establish rapport, you have to empathise with your child. Let him share his feelings of fear of failure with you. Let him share his feelings of success with you. Let him share his struggles with you.

What you want is not to remove the obstacles, but to provide a real life example on how you have conquered your own obstacles in the past.

Share your past learning experiences in school with him. Share how you struggled with your studies. Share how you planned your revision.


Delivery Skills

This is the part where you make the lesson fun.

Convert the boring lesson into an activity. Look up the Internet for resources and ideas.

In short, change the pen and paper lesson into something more interesting.

However, not all lessons can be converted into activities. For some lessons, an introductory video should be sufficient to kickstart the work.

For this section, the Internet is your friend.


Situational Sensitivity

This is the part where effortless teaching occurs.

Your child looked at a plant dying. Seize the situation to teach 'All living things grow old and die."

He looked at a word 'cries'. Seize the situation to teach 'Verbs and Simple Present Tense."

He noticed that his mana decreased by 14 points when he cast a spell in a game. Seize the situation to teach 'Subtraction'.

This is intricately linked to Content Knowledge. Only when you have a very good grasp on the content, then you can seize the teachable moment.

All the small teachable moments add up to a big boost to your child's understanding. And more importantly, this is the missing link. 

It links what your child is learning to the world around him.

These are the four core skills you should have if you are teaching your own children.

We can only help our children excel when we achieve excellence first.

I hope you benefited from this blog post. Please SHARE!

HOW I OVERCAME FAILURE IN MATH WORD PROBLEMS (Guest post by a teacher)

Today, we have a very special guest. Shaoyang was one of the teachers I met during my contract teaching. He was motivating and was one of first teachers I learned from. He believes in doing what is right rather than what is popular.

I was pleasantly surprised when he asked me if he could post on my blog. Teachers reading and affirming my methods are always a source of motivation for me.

Today, he shares about his journey when he was younger.

Here it goes!

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Hi everyone!

My name is Shaoyang and I have been following Danny’s posts for a while. Some of his posts are on skills in solving word problems and I want to share my experience with you all on this aspect while I was a student.

By the way, I would like to thank Danny for letting me post on his blog. 

Problem

Does your child (and sometimes you yourself) GIVE UP EASILY in solving word problems? Do the both of you feel DISCOURAGED upon seeing SENTENCE AFTER SENTENCE in a word problem? If you answered ‘yes’, read on. If not…you still can read on.

When I was a Primary 4 student, I understood word problems like playing ‘tikam’: literally GUESSING the solutions to the word problems. Somehow, in the first 3 years of school, I survived through guessing. You (or your child) might also have this experience before and you can be sure it IS NOT A NICE FEELING.

More problems

Now, you would think that I could get through Primary 4 by guessing. Instead, I failed my Math exams in mid-year.

I WAS SHOCKED! It never occurred to me that I would fail Math.

THE BEST PART WAS MY UNDERSTANDING OF ‘SUBTRACTION’ IS AS FOLLOWS:

4 – 1 = 1, 2 OR 3.

That was how BAD my math was. I had to take action to pass my exams at the end of the year. 

A plan is hatched

NO MORE FOOLING AROUND. I decided to seek help from my parents and teachers in Math. They told me an important element to solving math word problems:

UNDERSTANDING

With guidance, I slowed down my reading of solving word problems to look out for information that will help me UNDERSTAND the word problems and solve them. As time went by, I gained more confidence in solving word problems when I saw that my most of my solutions were correct and more importantly, based on understanding, not guesswork.

THE GRAND FINISH

Then, came the turning point in the year end exams. 92 out of 100!

The JOY was beyond description! I had moved from failure to 92, double of what I have been doing! This was a tremendous milestone!

My point?

Solving Math word problems is still as difficult as ever. With resilience, guidance from mentors and understanding, you can turn them into opportunities of learning by deepening your understanding of Math concepts. Today, because of that breakthrough, I treat every Math problem as a challenge to strengthen my understanding of Math concepts! J

IF I CAN SOLVE WORD PROBLEMS, YOUR CHILD CAN TOO!

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I hope you benefit from this post. Please share with your friends if you find it useful.

Together, we can make a difference in educating our next generation.

Stay tuned!

What Is The Secret Behind Motivating Your Child?

Have you ever looked at your child and think "If only I can push one button to make him 'wake up' and do his work, that will be great."

The good news is: it is very possible and I have done it couple of times. The bad news is: each child has his own time span in achieving this. Some may be very fast. Some may be very slow.

In my day to day tuition classes, there are two things I want to achieve:

1. Help the child in his weaker areas
2. Push the child bit by bit towards the "I want to do my work properly without people nagging at me."

There are generally four stages a child will go through:

Level 1: I don't want to do it.
Level 2: I think I want to do it.
Level 3: I want to do it and I think I can do it.
Level 4: I want to do it because I can do it.

Apart from marking and analysing my students' work, I seek to upgrade the students' level of motivation during each tuition session.

I have a P6 student with me since she was end P4. She had low self-efficacy (meaning she thinks that she cannot do many things) and it was affecting her work. She just refused to try hard enough to achieve the breakthrough. She was borderline passing and failing in her exams then. In her recent Prelims, she got 2 'A's and 2 'B's. I am proud of her because she has improved a lot compared to Day 1.

I am going to use her as a case study for today's write up because I brought her from Level 1 to Level 3 within a span of two years. It was really hard work.


Level 1: I don't want to do it.

Betty (not her real name) came to me before her P4 final year exams and her parents engaged me to help her on Math and Science. She was very quiet and did not bother to ask any questions. The first few lessons were mostly me talking and she just sat there and doodled on the worksheets.

After the first few weeks, I found out that she had very low self-efficacy and refused to try any questions that was slightly beyond her capability. This is bad because she will never improve if she don't try on the slightly more difficult questions.

In my tuition logbook, her scores were always very low and that was scary because she had very little time before her PSLE. There was a lot of content to catch up for both Math and Science.

Transition to Level 2
To upgrade her to Level 2, I told her one success story each week. Each story is always about a child/animal who refuses to try and has big successes after the child/animal decided to try.

My logbook record: "Betty displays no response to the stories."

It was a very trying period to me. There was no visible results for at least 5 weeks.

Then, the breakthrough came.

One day, while I was explaining some science concepts to her. Suddenly, she asked me, "Do you think I can do it?"

That was the breakthrough I was looking for.

I said firmly, "I believe you can do it."

From then on, she tried a bit harder each time she hit a difficult question. Add that all up over a long period of time. Viola! A big jump in her perseverance and results. 

Transition to Level 3
To transit her to Level 3, I celebrated small successes with her. Every time she overcome a difficult question, I would praise her for her effort. Sometimes, it was a smile. Sometimes, it was just me beaming with pride in front of her.

After about 9 months, she finally asked me for more homework during one of the lessons.

That was a breakthrough because she had moved from 'not willing to try' to 'I want to do and practise more'.

This is her current stage now. Time is against us because she will be taking her PSLE this Thursday.

Transition to Level 4
If she stays in tuition with me, I will try this out with her: Setting goals and self-checking on the milestones.

This is the most time-consuming phrase. It takes a lot of coaching and guidance. It takes a lot of 'hands-off' and trust. It takes a lot of rapport built over the last few years. This is a shifu-disciple relationship.


Last thing before I end: Parents! You must strive on! Sometimes, it takes a long time of incubation before your child achieve a breakthrough. If motivation can be built overnight, we will not have so many unmotivated kids around us now.

Stay tuned!

Cheers!
Mr Danny Lim

Math Heuristic: Systematic Listing

Hi all,

Another Math Video this week. In this video, I will be touching on Systematic Listing. The key method here is 'branching'. Have fun!

If-If Heuristic: Solving It In Pictures

Hi!

The video below shows how to solve 'If-If' type of questions in Math. Many children still struggle at solving this type of questions in P6. I hope your child can benefit from the video.

Have fun!

The Hidden Trap: 3 Stages Of Giving Up On Your Child

Recently, a parent told me that she tutors her own child and saves a lot of money on engaging a private tutor. Her child is in Primary 2 and her SA1 results are:

English: 81%
Math: 84%
Chinese: 72%

I know the child personally and she is seriously underperforming. She is bright and mature for her age. She likes challenges and is strong in her Math thinking skills.

You heard it in my blog before and I will say it again: Proper foundation in P1 and P2 is crucial for your child. Do not fall into the trap of taking it easy in these two years.

It might be shocking to you but many parents actually go through three stages before giving up on their children.


Stage 1: She is Band 2 in Primary 1 and 2. It should be fine.

At this stage, the parent feels that the child is coping well and very limited guidance is given to the child. The parent feels that the child should have 'some childhood' and resists to enrol the child in extra lessons.

The child scores well and most of his/her time is squandered away.

Primary 1 and 2 syllabuses are easy to MASTER and should be mastered before the child goes to Primary 3. The child should at least score high 80s for all subjects at these levels.


Stage 2: My child is struggling! I must enrol her in more enrichment programs!

This usually happens in Primary 3. At this level, there is an additional subject (Science). English and Math have also become SIGNIFICANTLY harder.

I pity the child at this stage. The parent goes into panic mode and starts to enrol the child in various enrichment programs. The intention of the parent is good. However, this is also the point where most of the interest in learning was destroyed.

The child is already overloaded with a new subject and the increased difficulty of the other subjects. On top of this, the parent still loads the child with more classes.

The child is a child and will not think like an adult. She will go for the enrichment classes and secretly resents them. In addition, it was the parent who first instil the concept of 'It's okay' into the child. The child is confused and does not understand the change in the attitude of the parent.

At this point, the child's results drops because she is experiencing burnout. With the drop in results, the parent enrols the child in even more tuition classes. Thus, a vicious cycle ensues.


Stage 3: My child is not the 'studious type'. No amount of tuition can help her.

This is the stage where the parent gives up on the child. The child is not improving even though she is going for multiple enrichment classes.

Both the child and the parent are tired. The parent convinced himself/herself that the child is not inclined towards studying and stops all enrichment lessons.

The child got the message and also gave up on herself. She just drags her days along and hopes for a pass in PSLE.


It is very sad. Rewind a few years back and give the child a proper foundation in the subjects. Be a little more involved and proactive. Don't you think there will be another ending to this story?

I am not advocating that all children must go for enrichment classes. However, we have to be realistic. It is simply too difficult to meet good and passionate school teachers to take your child to the next level. The only alternative is private tuition.

Actually, I believe strongly that parents are the best teachers if they know the syllabus and content well. They have the highest probability to have 'teachable moments' with their children.Some parents are very good in teaching their children. However, these parents are also rare. 


If your child is in P1 or P2, be more involved in your child's education. Lay the foundation properly for your child. It will help your child in her studies in P3 and P4.

If your child is in P3 or P4, do not panic when your child's results are dropping. Encourage your child. Speak positively to him/her. Find a good tutor to help him/her. The most important thing at this stage is quality in tuition is better than quantity in tuition.

If your child is in P5 or P6. Help your child to set goals for PSLE and direct him/her to do his/her own self-study.


Remember this: Never give up on your child. 

What Is Your Learning Culture At Home? - Part 2

This is a follow-up from my previous post. How can you develop a positive learning culture at home?


4. Real life application

This is linked to constructing meaning for learning. WHY do we learn? We learn in order to solve real life problems.

When I do the topic of Money (Math) with my child, I bring him to the supermarket and give him some money. I give him a list of things to buy and tells him to check if the money is enough.

Then, he needs to find all the items and their prices. Next, he adds them up. This helps him to understand how expensive or how cheap the products are and if we have enough money for them.

Through this activity, he learned to apply his knowledge about money and the addition of money.


5. Extension of Knowledge

Sometimes, Zenith (my P1 child) will be very interested in one topic. This is when I offer to extend the knowledge with him.

For example, he was learning about materials in Science (through a game on my tablet) when he asked a question about the elements in the materials. So, I started a side project with him to list down the first 50 elements in the periodic table.

You will not believe how interested he is in this topic. He bugs me everyday to help him research on the elements.


6. Topic Linking

Topic linking is extremely important for Science and Math. 

The entire Science syllabus is based on linking the basics of Science together. 

Living things are linked to the six main groups of animals. Non-living things are linked to the materials. Cycles are broken down into life cycles and matter. Matter is then further linked to water.

The entire Science syllabus is a network of topics.

Apart from content linking in Science, it is also important to link the process skills together. You learn observing before you learn comparing. Then, you learn classifying.




Cultivating a good learning culture at home will reap huge benefits in your children's future.

Stay tuned for the next post!

What Is Your Learning Culture At Home? - Part 1

Why is it that the same lessons yield different results from different students?

It is frustrating.

When a lesson does not resonate with a student, it bothers me. I will then spend countless nights reflecting on the cause of this phenomenon.

What is the missing piece?

And yet, the exact methods and lessons I used on my sons all yield the similar results. What was the thing that I did right with them?

After mulling on it for weeks, I narrowed it down to a single factor: the culture at home.

I have a standard template on preparing my children for learning.

1. Construct meaning way in the work before actual learning
2. Set aside specific time for specific learning
3. Establish learning goals for each learning task
4. Apply the learning to real life
5. Extend the learning into projects if the child is very interested in the topic
6. Link the learning to the next topic


1. Constructing Meaning

If your child asks you “Why do we need to study this?”, what would be your answer? It will get harder to answer as the child grows up.

For example, I always asked myself the reason for learning History when I was in Secondary One. No one could answer my question then. It would be much easier for me to learn History if someone gives me a reason to learn it.

It is much easier to answer a child when he starts to ask the reason behind to learn basic arithmetic. The earlier you give meaning to your child’s learning, the less struggle they will have when they grow up.

Weeks before I start the Math topic on measurements with Zenith (my eldest boy), I asked him about the length and height of many things at home. 

I gave him real life problems. One of the questions I asked him was “Will that shelf fit into this space here?”

This creates a gap in his learning. Instinctively, he would want to solve this problem. Over the next few days, I saw him using various things to measure the shelf.

Then, at the peak of his curiosity, I introduced the Math lesson on measurements.


2. Specific Time for Specific Learning

My timing for learning at home is 8pm everyday after their shower. I will set up the space and get ready for lessons at the same timing.

The learning usually takes about 45 minutes.
Once you have a standard time set up, there is no ambiguity and there is no power struggle. We do work at 8pm, pronto.


3. Learning Goals

I always communicate the learning goals to my children BEFORE the lessons.

Following the example on measurements, the learning goal was to be able to measure the length and height of objects accurately.

After the lesson, the child must be able to complete a standard worksheet on his own.


PSLE is just around the corner. For those parents with P6 children, have you set up a study routine at home?

Share your problems in the comments section and let’s all support each other in educating our children.

Watch out for Part 2 of this blog as I share about Real Life Application, Extension of Knowledge and Topic Linking.

P3/P4 Math Heuristics (Level 3 Lesson 1)

Good day to you!

The term break is just round the corner and I hope you have planned meaningful activities for your children.

Today, I am posting a video lesson on Math. It teaches the model method (one of the key heuristics) for solving word problems. Establishing a good foundation in model drawing is important in P3/P4 because the questions will get more complicated in P5/P6. Enjoy the lesson! 

(You can change the quality of the video by clicking on the gear icon on the bottom right corner of the video.)

(Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/WDj6j for monthly tips on how to motivate your child to study. A free ebook on writing is included in the newsletter.)

How I Set Goals Using LEGO In 7 Steps (Part 1)

Happy New Year to you!

This year, my eldest son is in Primary One and it is such a big jump from Kindergarten 2. For January, I am setting goals with him and I want to share with you how I set goals using LEGO as a platform.

First if all, I need to ask. Do you set goals with your child? 

Goal-setting is important because it gives them an idea of what to aim for. Just like what Stephen Covey said in his book 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, "Begin with an end in mind."

I strongly believe that all children need to be educated in visualising their goal and how to break the goal down into achievable milestones.

To make goal-setting fun, I use LEGO as an example. (If you have not noticed by now, I am a huge fan of open-ended play like LEGO blocks.)


1. Big Picture - Ultimate goal

Before you buy any LEGO set for your child, he will look at the cover of the box. Why?

He is looking at what you are buying for him. He is looking at what he is going to own.

For any goal-setting, the big picture is important. Are you going to aim for 1st in class? Are you going to aim to top the level for Math? Are you going to aim to pass your Mother Tongue?

Without setting the Ultimate Goal is like buying a LEGO set without looking at its box. It will be random and the end product might not be what you wanted.

Hence, the Big Picture is very important.


2. Why? Why? Why? - Reasons behind the goal

The next step is to ask why. Why are you choosing this LEGO set and not the other sets? What is the appealing factor? 

This is usually easy for the child when he is choosing the LEGO set. The primary reason would be mostly he likes the set and that is why he chose it.

However, this is not so clear-cut when it comes to actual goal-setting. You have to dig deep and guide your child in this area. Some questions might include:

Why do you want to be 1st in class? Why is this important to you?

Note that this part is the most important part in goal-setting. At difficult times, revisiting these reasons will help the child endure the hardship and persevere to the end.


3. Planning - The Goal-Setting Process

You bought the LEGO set and brought it home. Do you just open the package and start building while you look at the box cover?

No, you look at the Building Instruction Manual and start building from Page 1.

Happy Lego Building = Big Picture + Emotions + Manual

In goal-setting, looking at the Ultimate Goal is useless if you do not have a plan. Therefore, you need to sit down and list down all the things you need to do to achieve your goal. Planning and creating the road map to your Ultimate Goal is important.

It gives us direction on what to do now and what to do next.

Good Goal-Setting = Ultimate Goal + Emotions + Plan


4. Small Parts - Breaking down The Ultimate Goal

For small LEGO sets, it is possible to build the whole model in one session. However, if you are looking at a very big LEGO set, you have to break down the parts you are building. 

Thankfully, it has all been done for you when they packaged the set. Usually they have Packets 1 to 5 to break a massive model into different parts.

For your child, you have to break down the Ultimate Goal with him. If you are looking at 1st place in class, how much should you get for your CA1, SA1, CA2 and SA2? To get that type of marks in the major exams, how much practice should we have and what type of marks should we get for those practices?

The small milestones should be actionable and measurable.


5. Process Vs Results - Make it fun!

To the LEGO non-builders out there, you might not know. The maximum satisfaction you get from a LEGO set is not the end result. It is actually the building process.

While it may sound ridiculous to you, the ultimate goal to goal-setting is not to achieve the goal, but to acquire the skill to plan the process of reaching a goal. The planning and troubleshooting are very big lessons the child learns from this exercise that will follow him throughout his life.

With this skill, your child can get many '1st in level' by himself. Hence, I urge you to make the process enjoyable and peaceful. Encourage your child to keep trying.


6. Commitment - Follow the plan

Lastly, have your child build a LEGO set halfway and leave it there for at least 3 days. Then ask him how he feels.

We cannot finish building the set if we do not follow the plan.

When we begin building a LEGO set, we must be committed to complete the model. Any models abandoned halfway will become useless. It is not a toy and it is not rubbish. It is just unfinished.

Hence, teach your child that any goal without commitment will also become something like that. Ask your child for his commitment during the goal-setting process. Is it one hour each day? Is it two revision papers each day?

Get him to write it down and sign his name there.


7. Chaos - They are still just children!

Tackle one LEGO set at a time. 

Imagine buying your child 5 LEGO sets and he started all of them together. He will most probably be overwhelmed and will not build all the 5 LEGO properly.

Set one Ultimate Goal with your child first. Track and troubleshoot along the way. Add one more goal when you see that your child is ready for the second one. 

Focusing on too many things = No focus



Have fun setting goals. Leave a comment for me if you have found this post useful! Encouragement is always welcomed. :P

(Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/WDj6j for monthly tips on how to motivate your child to study. A free ebook on writing is included in the newsletter.)