RGS Perl

Symposium
Sharing for ELL
Open Classroom (Lesson Observations)

English - Literature -
1. Use of ICT 1. Lesson Focus - PEEL
2. Lesson Focus - Taking 2. Students’ Responses
Perspectives
3. Students’ Responses
 English
Situational Writing
 Lesson Objectives
Evaluate situations based on PAC
Discuss appropriateness of written response
Make recommendations to make response fit the
situation
Prior lessons...
◉ Write letter(s) to various parties, addressing a case of food
poisoning that broke out in the school after an event
◉ Students had to write to the various parties involved, e.g.
government agency, catering company, Principal etc.
◉ Test of their ability to see the same issue from different
perspectives
Pre-lesson...
◉ Students were shown a photograph of migrant workers
taking a nap in an open area (park benches)
◉ Individually, they wrote a letter to the town council to share
their perspectives and give feedback (online)
During open classroom...
◉ Teacher showed touching video about a migrant worker’s
tragic life in Singapore
◉ Group discussion: After watching the video, what would
you change in your letter? Why?
During open classroom...
Class sharing
◉ Students changed tone; more empathetic (e.g. not ordering town
council to take action NOW)
◉ Content focused less on what WE wanted the town council to do
for US
◉ Eliminated language that was too harsh (e.g. “migrant workers are
a nuisance”/ “disturbing the residents” → e.g. “find a win-win
solution for all” etc.)
◉ Highlighted importance of connotations
During open classroom...
Closing
◉ Padlet posts
◉ ONE truth you have learned about
communication
◉ Short, 1-sentence responses only →
brevity and depth, not length
◉ Homework: full letter (hard copy)
 Learning Points:
● Instead of telling students to vary their tone,
showing them to purpose behind it and making
them see how & why to vary might have a
better impact on their writing
● Using more recent, even controversial issues
as situational writing tasks to make them see
the relevance & importance
● Focus on brevity & depth, not length
Literature
Using PEEL
Theme!
Lesson Objectives
Lesson set-up : Whiteboard, Text (Animal Farm), PBQ
Worksheet.
Pre-lesson...
◉ Students had read through the
assigned chapters and
annotated before the lesson.
◉ They were asked to give their
opinion and make a stand.
During open classroom...
◉ Start:
◎ The teacher started off with a quick definition of
some key concepts and the theme.
◉ Discussion:
◎ The rest of the lesson consisted of responses
elicited from the students.
◉ Closing:
◎ Homework (A full essay, submitted in soft copy).
During open classroom...
◉ Discussion:
◎ Thematic Approach: Power
◎ Scaffolding provided in the teacher’s questions.
◎ Modelled close-reading.
◎ Extension: Discussion of cause and effect.
 Learning Points:
● Students’ responses were developed and
mapped to the PEEL essay structure.
● The teacher focused on bringing in
real-world examples (cause & effect,
political leaders).
● The lesson was quite simple, but clear.
Plenary: Birds Out of Cages (Ed Talk for
teachers)
● What are our cages?
● Why must I change?
● What are the possibilities?
● Celebrating the breakthrough.
 Some interesting things we
observed….

No, we were not sneaking around!

1-1 Macbook Use
◉ Each student had individual Macbooks which they brought along
for all their lessons.
Adv.
- Convenience when having to
conduct ICT-based lessons or use
ICT tools
- Students own personalised
Macbooks so little/no start-up or
login issues
- When giving online
tasks/assignments no excuse that
they cannot do
- Less worksheets to be printed as
they can be shared via Google
Docs/email
Disadv.
- Distraction (although in RGS,
students were on task)
- Since students have the
devices, teachers have to
ensure that they incorporate
ICT into lessons more
frequently
- Students still need the practice
of pen & paper, cannot be
online writing tasks all the
time
RGS Library
◉ Selection of magazines available -
having a wide range that targets
different interests
◉ Besides just current affairs & politics,
there was baking, craft and music
◉ *Can expand our collection of
magazines on top of the non-fiction
books we have for these genres
RGS Library
◉ Top 10 books for a genre of the
month → E.g. Sci-fi
◉ Similar to our themed lib &
pop-up lib displays, a monthly
genre display with the top picks
of that genre
◉ Posters on recommended reads
based on a particular genre →
can be a guide for lower sec/NT
students
RGS Library
◉ Dedicated corner for Teacher’s
Picks with a simple photo of
teacher holding their favourite
book
◉ Similar to the photos we have
posted on cwssreads of teachers
reading but we can consider
putting hardcopies in the library
RGS Library
◉ Social media: Instagram - rgsreads
◉ Their focus is more on what happens in the library (e.g.
displays of artwork, visits by VIPs, well-known local authors
visits)
◉ Some of the posts are printed out and put up as posters on their
noticeboard
◉ We have our cwssreads! Maybe we can get some inspiration
from theirs too.
 Thanks!
Done by: Danna, Nivaa,
Victoria