Day 1: Trip to Perth, Australia

The group of 5 of us reported punctually at 0700 h at Changi Airport T1 to board QF72 to Perth, Australia.
It is nice to see some of the family members of the group members... and how their children look like their parent :-)

Anyway, the flight to Perth took us only 5.5 to about 6 hours. When we arrived the checking out is a huge maze. There were a whole lot of people queuing to have their luggages checked as they are very tight on what is being brought into the country. We were fortunate as we all had nothing to declare and after completing about half of the human maze - we were channeled to the 'Nothing to Declare' lane and got out.

Out there at the airport, we met up with our local (Australian) travel agent, Eugene Lim, who by the way is a PR in Australia, Perth but a Singaporean by birth and our coach captain, Peter. Over in Singapore, Kwok Wei from Transinex has arranged for Eugene to help arrange our itinerary and meals. Eugene has also looked into our hotel arrangements as well as to give us phone access to contact Prof Colin as well as the respective schools' personnel. We have asked for internet access but Eugene had decided to provide us with a 3 GB portable wifi which by Day 2 ran out. We didn't have internet access and the cost of cable access to the internet in Perth is pretty expensive. The exchange rate, by the way is Aus$1 = S$1.31. We contacted Prof Colin to  inform him that we have arrived in Perth.

Anyways, we did a city tour to Lake Monggul to see the Black Swans and the beautiful lake. We observed that the weather may be sunny but the winds make the place a little chilly. Australians love to jog, run or walk. We actually see this as a daily feature even with the hotel guests.

After Lake Monggul, we proceeded to the beautiful Kings Park and typical Singaporeans, we popped by the sourvenir store. That store is BEAUTIFUL, we saw some beautiful Australian Glass work made into bowls, vases, plates, costume jewellery and even as wall pictures. The colours were very attractive. When we plough through the store, there were books, other accessories made of  different materials, T-shirts, stuff toys, scarves, beautiful cards and buttons. All beautifully displayed. We grabbed two birthday cards as one of us just had his birthday on 19 Oct and the other was going to celebrate his birthday the next day. All of us bought an item or two for our family member(s).

After Kings Park, we popped by the Bell Tower, it is wonderfully beautiful and quite picturesque as you can pose and have a good shot of the Bell Tower with the cityscape as a backdrop.

Dinner was at Olivers at St James, wonderful meal - we had a vegetable salad, bread with olive oil, a plate of calamari and deep fried prawns, followed by a pasta and pizza. To top it all off, we had some very sweet desserts in the form of a meringue as well as brownies. We enjoyed this meal. The waitress was very friendly and helpful - what a nice welcome meal.

Then we called it a day by checking into our hotel, Mecure Perth Hotel. After unloading, the pack of us went for a walk towards the nearest IGA store to grab some groceries to last us for the trip. We bought fruits, juices and titbits. The nearest IGA store was at Hay Street next to Criterion Hotel and the food supplement is to keep ourselves nourished :-) We noted that food prices in Perth, Australia is expensive. Just a simple example, we pay S$5.65 atmost for a large bar of Cadbury Mint Chocs and over in Perth, it costs Aus$5.20 a large bar. Seafood is very expensive in Perth. We really must appreciate what we are blessed with in Singapore as our food stuff are cheap and really fresh!

While in our rooms, we all set out to iron our clothes to be ready for the visits on the subsequent day...

What teachers need to do when planning the (experienced) curriculum...

For those of us who are just as keen to share and learn as us...
Today (22 Sep 10), I have the privilege to learn from Ms Karen Green, an educational consultant from Victoria, Australia.
She reminded us about what teachers need to do when planning their (experienced) curriculum...
Our teachers need to...
(1) See the 'whole' before they break it into 'parts' to teach
(2) Know what has come before and where it is going... (a good knowledge about the learners' previous knowledge viz-a-viz what they are going to teach to lead the learner to where...)
(3) Pre-test knowledge and skills (of the learners) in order to differentiate (the curriculum) appropriately
(4) Design tasks that engage ALL (types of) learners - not just those who are verbal or mathematical, etc.
(5) Develop assessment tasks that are HOLISTIC and allows the learner to demonstrate genuine understanding
(6) EXPLICITLY teach ways to think intelligently (i.e. the thinking dispositions of the learners using HOM, etc)
(7) EXPLICITLY teach the skillsof thinking (critical and creative) and cooperation
(8) Provide time for the students to understand themselves 'as' learners (i.e. allow the students time to understand their preferred learning or working styles, etc)
(9) Provide opportunities for REFLECTION and METACOGNITION for the teachers and their students.

I find these to be useful reminders... wonder what do the rest of us think... I am now reflecting on some of these points...
1. (a) Are our key personnel spending enough time (if any) to first understand the bigger picture of different
    parts of the planned curriculum (i.e. the National Curriculum) so as to plan the effective enacted curriculum
    for their subjects at the different levels and courses?
    (b) Are our teachers spending enough time (if any) to understand the bigger picture of the different parts of
    the enacted curriculum so as to plan effective experienced curriculum for their students?
2. How many of our schools do the pre-test as mentioned in point 3 above?
3. How effective have we been in the design of tasks to engage the students? What are the indicators of
    success? Is it purely the national exam results?
4. Have we provided for points 4 to 9? How effective have we been?

Do share with me your experiences and thoughts....

In the beginning....

The idea of an E1 cluster study trip for Vice-Principal was first mooted by Mdm Veronica Ng, Principal of Coral Secondary School and Mr Eric Leong, Principal of Coral Primary School.

The intent of the trip was to provide VPs with a wider perspective on, and insights into, curriculum development so as to enable them to carry out their roles as curriculum and instructional leaders more effectively. 
The idea was then tabled to Superintendent, E1 Cluster who then gave his approval for the worthwhile endeavour to proceed.
From then on, it was all systems go!

The first group of VPs to benefit from this this learning experience are:
1. Mr Pong Wen Long - VP, Greenview Secondary School
2. Mr Sasidharan Sunkanu - VP, Meridian Primary School
3. Miss Tan Yit Peng - VP, Coral Primary School
4. Mr Mohd Azhar Terimo - VP, Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School