Class of MLS038 2017

MLS038 had its last class on 26 October. This bunch of teachers (HODs, Subject Heads, etc) have been most wonderful, fun and generous. Although I was teaching the class about student-involved assessment, I thoroughly enjoy learning from the teachers through their experiences and their sharing! I wish them all the best in their journey into student-involved assessment.

MLS038 2017

Today, I started the second run of my in-service course, MLS038: Student-Involved Assessment. A total of 27 teachers enrolled in the course. Just with this first session, I could tell that they are a wonderful bunch of teachers! 

Photo taken by colleague who happened to walk past my class

Fruitful Day

My colleague/ friend, Liyana and I were attended a PERI HA Professional Learning workshop by Dr Susan Brookhart which was organised by MOE at Civil Service Club@Tessensohn. There were plenty of take-away for us. :)

I continued with a fruitful session with my dessert lunch of Crumbled Apple Tart at the nearby Jewel Cafe before heading off to ITE Central to interview the Director of IT for my project.

SCGS Parents' Briefing 2017

I attended the Parents' Briefing for Secondary 1 students at SCGS in the evening. Lots to take in about school matters. 

What an Honour

I have had the pleasure of meeting up with Professor Val Klenowski over a meal. She is a renowned professor on assessment and classroom practices. I cited her work for my PhD. So you can imagine my excitement in meeting her and spending time talking about research and assessment! :) :) 

3rd Assessment Colloquium 2016 II

Today I conducted my Student Self-Assessment workshop. It was fully subscribed - 30 teachers and comprised of secondary and JC teachers as well as a few polytechnic lecturers. It is heartening to know that teachers, other than those from primary school are interested in using student self-assessment in their classrooms. :)
I treated myself to a SWEET treat after the successful completion of the 2 day Assessment Colloquium 2016. 

Korean dessert - Mango Bingsu

3rd Assessment Colloquium 2016

Today is the start of the 2-day 3rd Assessment Colloquium 2016 organised by CTL. It is my great pleasure to have been invited to be part of this annual event. :) Of even greater pleasure and honour is the fact that as part of the Plenary session, I provided a response to the keynote speaker, Professor Val Klenowski's keynote address about putting teacher judgement back in frame, using student self-assessment. Prof Klenowski is renowned scholar on assessment practice and curriculum development. I never dreamt that I would meet her in person, and much less to be on the same stage as her!

Professor Val Klenowski

My response to Prof Klenowski's keynote address! :)

Request

A top assessment journal asked me to be the reviewer for one of their manuscripts. I feel very honoured. :) 

My First Lecturing Experience

Today, we had the last lecture for our assessment course, AED 236.

It has been a most enriching and exciting experience for me, lecturing and tutoring at tertiary level. :) I will remember my first undergraduate class most fondly! :)

Assessment Seminar

I attended an Assessment Seminar this afternoon on the topics of self-assessment and feedback. Both of which I am interested in as I am embarking on a research on these two topics. The seminar gave me good insights. 

Assessment Colloquium 2015 II

Today is the second day of the Assessment Colloquium 2015. 
I conducted my Student Self-Assessment workshop, 9am-12pm. The participants were great and I had a fun time interacting with them. I also had great feedback from them which I can use to further improve on my next presentation. :)

Good News IV

My colleague alerted me to this special online issue by Taylor & Francis that collated a collection of articles around School and Teacher Assessment because my research article has been included in this special issue. What a wonderful surprise! :) Feeling proud that Singapore is represented by my article - "I can assess myself: Singaporean students' and teachers' perceptions of students' self-assessment ability". :)
For those of you who are interested in assessment, click here for a whole collection of interesting articles. Enjoy reading. :)

Privileged

I feel privileged to have been able to listen to two assessment seminars/ talks by two important names in assessment. :) I have been so caught up with the mundane, sometimes brainless but time-consuming admin work that I have not been reading up on my research interest recently. I am really glad for the time-out to listen and learn of their insights about formative assessment and self-assessment. :)

Good Bye, PSLE 2012

Today is the last paper, Higher Mother Tongue for PSLE 2012. (For most of the P6 students, the last paper was yesterday.) As I was in school for counselling, I heard the P6 students cheering when they were dismissed. Well done, Girls! All the P6 students have definitely earned their well-deserved break. :) 

PS. I can't speak for the other schools but for my counselling school, I haven't heard of any emotional breakdown from the students after the PSLE papers. Either the papers are set within acceptable range of difficulty, this cohort of students are emotionally stronger or this cohort of students are just well-prepared! Lol. I hope all of them obtained the results that they hoped for.

Learning

I was invited to a MOE Seminar on assessment. Apart from learning about MOE's latest initiative in assessment at the seminar, I also learnt about how former colleagues from schools and from MOE HQ are doing as I caught up with them at the seminar lol. :)

Dyslexia

Call it coincidence or what, but just this week (since Sunday) I have been asked three times about assessment of dyslexia. Even though I haven't conducted any assessments since 2005, I could still remember my previous "life" and slip easily into the skin of an Educational Psychologist (EP) again. Yes, being an EP was like another lifetime lol. :P I felt alive when I was advising what are the possible symptoms of dyslexia to watch for and the various options to get assessment for dyslexia. Guess some things, some lives you just can't shake and you just don't forget easily. :)

A friend asked me to let her know when I am ready to start practising again as an EP as she has work opportunities for me. Thanks. Not at the moment I think but eventually I would want to get back in. For now, I just want to get my PhD out of the way first! :)

Release of PSLE Results

The PSLE results will be released tomorrow.

I am anxious to know how my P6 counsellees did for their PSLE. I do hope their results are what they have expected or even better. :) I hope they can get into the school of their choice with their results. I also have a friend whose son is in P6 too. I wonder how he performed at his PSLE.

I pray and hope that all of them will get really good PSLE results. All the Best!

Assessment

Today, I went to an Action Research workshop which was conducted by my PI. She is a really good speaker, very entertaining but at the same time, imparting her knowledge to the teachers using her own teaching experiences as well as anecdotes from lessons that she has observed.

The participants had to talk about "problems" that they would like to do action research on so that they can inform and improve their practices. One of the problems a few of them brought up is assessment. My PI is very nice. She immediately alerted the participants that my area of focus/ interest is in assessment or as she said I am the assessment expert. Lol. I am so embarrassed by that, lol. No, I am not an expert in assessment lah. I just know about assessment such as alternative assessment, formative assessment a little more in-depth than others. I am still a long way from being an expert. Even if I do obtain my PhD, I think there is still so much for me to learn about assessment. :P

I managed to discuss about assessment with a few teachers during the various discussion times. It is not a one-sided "lecture" of what I know, rather it is more of a mutual sharing as I do learn from their experiences and frustrations with assessment too. :)

Assessment is really an interesting topic and there are some ideas bouncing in my head that I would love to investigate. I think I should quickly work on and finish my PhD as soon as I can, lol.