Blogpost 3: Creative Lesson

My most creative lesson was, undoubtedly, the introduction to the character of Joseph Strorm, the father of the protagonist in The Chrysalids. To get the students to have a feel of the character, I had to do a little acting during the start of the lesson.

I studied the character for a week through his appearances in the first few chapters of the novel, paying attention to his speech (the specifics words he says as well) and mannerisms. I then printed out the class rules (each rule on A3-sized paper) and taped them around the classroom, to make it look similar to the description of the protagonist's home, where rules from The Repentances (the other book that survived the nuclear fallout in The Chrysalids) are put up on every wall of the house.

The students were shocked when I greeted them with a scowl and I proceeded to discipline them about their behaviour, lack of punctuality and attitude. Their flaws did aid in the portrayal, as they genuinely thought I was disciplining them. Talks later with some of the boys revealed that they did find it odd that I used terms that seemed oddly familiar (they were from the book). The boys did say afterwards that they felt oppressed in the classroom, and it felt weird that I was so furious for a good ten minutes ("I thought Sir had lost it"). The ruse ended when I got the boys to "bow their heads and pray for repentance", something which is common in The Chrysalids after any character makes a mistake, and my CT and I started laughing that they actually did so!

The lesson continued with a handout that required them to record how they felt when put in an environment like this, as well as how my character looked, moved, and interacted with others. They then compared their observations with their knowledge of Joseph Strorm, a character who they now had to produce a character sketch of. To aid them in their task, I had two volunteers from the class to act out two key incidents from the book with me to let the boys get a visual feel of what was happening in the novel. Their character sketch and a mindmap they produced afterwards (this was also something that was required of them) did inform me about their understanding of the character and all signs did point to a successful lesson in the end.

Assessment of Literature in St. Andrew's Secondary School

St. Andrew's Secondary School mainly uses summative assessment in grading its students. Two assignments and a test or exam is used to collate the students' CA or SA marks at the end of the term. There are other projects that test their learning as well, such as the Favourtie Poem Project that the Secondary Ones do that to test on their understanding of poetry which they covered in Term 1.

Other interesting programmes available for the students, such as Poetry Slam for the lower secondary and Drama lessons for the upper secondary actually get assessed under their English marks, as part of the LangLit approach for the masses at St. Andrew's so that it benefits everyone, not just the Literature students.

As for the Secondary Three who I teach, they are mainly assessed via the two-assignment, one-common test/exam format, with the teacher being given the freedom to choose their best two assignments to include in their CA marks. Their Drama and Kite Runner project (where they read the text, produce a presentation and scrapbook about it, and make a kite to fly) will begin next term and will be included under their English CA.

Blog Post 3

I had to teach metaphors to Secondary 1 Normal Academic students for one of my lessons. As it was a follow up from a previous lesson on simile, I had to ensure that students do not confuse similes with metaphors. I did a quick assessment by raising examples on powerpoint and asking students to answer if the example was a simile using the given colored paper (green for yes, red for no). These examples included metaphors. For those that were metaphors, I used the opportunity to introduce the concept of metaphors to them. 

After they have grasped the basic concept of metaphors, I used pop music from Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Akon etc to arouse their interest at the same time to better teach them the concept of similes and metaphors. They had to listen to the music and fill up a prepared worksheet and identify the simile/metaphor present and explain what was compared and how they recognized it to be a simile or metaphor. 

It is surprising that they are able to identify the metaphors and similes in the music and categorise them accurately within a short time. They were also able to explain the some of the meaning of the metaphor/similes. They found it enjoyable and were able to learn faster. They also liked the using of paper to “voice out” their answers and not shout out as a class.Of course, they also had visual aids to help them better understand the comparisons of the metaphors/similes.

Blog Post #3: Creative Lesson

My most creative lesson was the introduction to haikus. As the 5-7-5 structure of a haiku is generally quite easy for students (these are Sec 1 NA students) to understand, I did some syllables-identification with the students as a pre-activity, and then moved on to haiku creation.

I got the 40 students into 10 groups, and gave each of them one object which could be found in the classroom, like the windows, or the whiteboard. Each group had to create a haiku that described the object, or its function; but students could not mention the name of the object in their haikus. After they created their haikus, students were given a template to fill in, and the first person to correctly guess all 10 haikus was awarded with a prize.

Students found the activity easy and enjoyable, and I was surprised that every group managed to come up with quite creative haikus. I guess the 5-7-5 structure is not that difficult to follow, and the students really liked that it was a competition.

Blog #3: Creative Lesson

         One interesting lesson I conducted was when I taught the class about the historical and social context (setting) of To Kill A Mockingbird. It required me to research on the history of slavery and important movements like the Civil Rights Movement in order to paint to the class a clearer picture of the time period in the play. I started the lesson with a trivia quiz about the book. Students were tasked to read the book during the March holidays so this was a chance for both teacher and student to assess how much was understood. Thereafter, I introduced the setting of the play and taught about the events and attitudes prevalent during the 1930s such as the segregation laws in the southern states and racism. To aid in teaching, I made a worksheet with the timeline of all the important events that students need to take note of and showed pictures of that period. I also showed a video which depicted the lives of the black slaves to the time when slavery was abolished. Having understood the idea of white slavery, I made the class take on the perspective of a black American in the 1930s and reflect about how they would have felt during that period. This is an application of what Atticus (from the play) would like everyone do: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Students were emotional and angry after the lesson as they could not understand why the blacks were so badly treated which to me, shows that the lesson was successful as they were emotionally involved with what they were learning. 

Blog Post 3

The first part of the lesson was not very interesting because it was a continuation from the previous lesson. The Literature department has come up with a set of rubrics to mark the students’ answers for Lower Secondary. As a result, I went through the rubrics with the students sitting in their groups, and asked them to assess another group’s answer on Characterisation that they have done the previous week. This is to help them to be aware of the marking scheme so they will know how they are graded.

After that I gave them a worksheet and asked them to predict what ‘Alma’ is about before showing them the short film. I paused when Alma stretched her hand towards the doll and asked the students to predict the ending. Then I showed them the ending. Many of them were able to predict accurately. The students were engaged and they enjoyed the short film. I asked them how they were able to guess the ending and introduced foreshadowing to them. I went through a few PowerPoint slides to explain to them the meaning of foreshadowing, and related it back to “The Monkey’s Paw”.

QCR523 3rd Blog Post

I’m going to admit too that I have not been really creative for my classes, partly due to the lack of time and having to squeeze so many poems in a span of a couple of weeks. For my class, one relatively creative lesson that I have conducted with the Secondary Two students is for the poem "Daffodils" by Wordsworth.

For the class, I was focusing on mood and very briefly, tone of poem. So I basically played two videos of the poem. One video was this rap version of the poem with a mascot squirrel dancing and rapping energetically. The second video is of the same poem, but with a more mellow and relaxing mood to it. After each video, I asked students on their feelings from listening and viewing these videos. Then I got the students to decide which they liked better and which they think is more suitable for the poem.

Following that, I basically explained to the students that in both instances, what influences the students in their perceptions are probably the music and images. However, since normally there will be no accompanying music when we read poetry, the focus here will lie on the images. Through the process of reading, they could visualize the images in the poem.

I got students to list down what are the images that they can see from the poem. As some students are more visual, students can draw as well what are the images that they can see. Students are to quickly do this within 5 minutes. After that I got some students to share on their lines/drawings. They are to also share of their thinking processes in deciding/drawing the images and how this impacted the overall mood of the poem at that point. Finally, I got the students to look at the last two lines, and asked the students what kind of feeling they think the poet is experiencing and how this relates to the overall mood of the poem.

QCR523 3rd Post: Creative lesson

I've to admit that I did not conduct anything wildly creative for my Sec 1 Lang-Arts class, because of very practical reasons: my Lang-Arts CT likes group activities that are fun, but prefers tried and tested activities, and I absorb her ideas and try to conduct lessons that incorporate her ideas in my own style; also, she sits in for most of my lessons, so I don't have much leeway to try things, and when I do go into the class on my own, she inserts administrative things that she did not get to settle with the class.

As it is, this post occurs before my chance to truly try out something new in my class later this week, which I am able to do so because my CT will be away 11-19 April. Hence, although I have not conducted the creative lesson, I will post my lesson idea here in advance.

I plan to teach the class about major themes in the novel Kira-kira and get them to pick out major events from the entire novel. There will be a discussion on major themes as a starter, which is a follow up of previous lessons on historical background (Japanese Internment, WWII, US-Japan tensions, racism, racial identity, Japanese-Americans poverty) to Kira-kira.

I will then ask students to quickly mark out the major events or events that they think are significant in plot/character development. They may do this in groups of 4-5. After about 10mins, I will divide the class into 2 halves. Each half would have around 4 groups. Each group would need to send a representative to the front to take turns listing the events that their groups think are significant. The 2 halves are 2 teams that are competing against each other to see who completes the list in a shorter time. They will write on the board, which would be separated into 3 blocks; 2 blocks would be for the 2 teams to list their significant events, while the 3rd would be for the teacher's input during the class discussion on the appropriateness and significance of events listed by students - the teacher would be mapping the major events along a timeline, depicting rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement.

Creative Lesson Plan (Sec 2 Animal Farm)

This lesson focused on Chapter 4 of Animal Farm, where Snowball and Boxer show their bravery in the Battle of Cowshed, for which they are given the awards of Animal Hero, First Class. The main thing I wanted the boys to focus on for this chapter was the characterisation of Boxer and Snowball. I started the lesson with a short stop-motion animation clip of the battle itself, and asked the boys what they noticed, who the main heroes of the fight were and what they did. After this we went through a short summary of the chapter, after which I moved on to the main activity. The students had to create a poster for the award of Animal Hero, First Class, for either Boxer or Snowball (I created a sample poster for the dead sheep's award, Animal Hero, Second Class, for the students to look at). On the poster, they had to state the award itself, provide a list of the character's contributions to the battle, a list of the character's exemplary traits, as well as some quotable quotes. This forced the boys to open their books and actually read them, something they don't usually do. For the visuals on their posters, I printed out different pictures of Snowball and Boxer, and brought glue and markers for the boys to use.Some of the boys got really creative, incorporating the rhetorical language that the pigs use, and making up quotes from people like Alfred Lord Tennyson, praising Snowball and his tactical genius. After the posters were completed, I put them all up on the board and let the boys do a gallery walk. In the end, I marked these against a poster rubric that I found online.

Ideally, I would have liked to carry this lesson out in the computer lab and let the boys create posters on Glogster. However, I have been advised against bringing these boys to the computer lab as the environment (the internet) usually proves too distracting for them, and they become difficult to monitor and will not stay on task. Nevertheless, I think the boys quite enjoyed the activity, and they definitely learned from it, the posters were really well done.

Post 2: Literature Assessment in St Andrew's

St Andrew's includes both cumulative and summative assessments in their CA and SA marks. Across the entire Sec 2 level, there have only been 2 standard written assignments that all students have to complete. Other than that, different teachers may assign whatever homework they wish each week; at the end of all of this, the marks will be collected, and the teacher of the class will decide which marks she will include in the SA. It is quite flexible, the teacher may choose to take whichever assignment has the highest mark.

For my classes, in addition to the 2 written assignments, I have given short writing assignments of about one or two paragraphs each week, completed in class, as well as given the students a poster task and a mindmapping task to complete. The assessments I have set are generally of a more formal sort because the students cannot be relied on to do group work, or complete projects outside of class time. I have tried to use drama as a form of assessment in class, but I have found that the boys have not taken this seriously, and that their attitudes towards paper assignments allow these to be a more effective form of assessment both of and for learning.

I am sorry this post is so late, I am also willing to bear the consequences of my lateness!

creative lesson plan

Creative Lesson Plan

One relatively interesting lesson plan I have conducted so far is with Secondary Two students for The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, focusing on the characterisation of Bruno and Father. For the hook activity, I created character identity cards with blanks that students had to fill in: this allowed students to consolidate their knowledge of the characters’ superficial traits. The main activity comprised two parts: in the first part, students had to complete a worksheet in pairs where they had to sketch in their impressions of each character based on a blank human template, and circle corresponding character traits from a list of character traits that they think best describe the character. On the alternate side of the worksheet, students had to then match the traits they have circled to quotations from the book: this was supposed to help them perform some sort of close-reading in a scaffolded manner. A couple of students/pairs were then selected to showcase what they have drawn and what traits they have picked out. The second part of the main activity, on the other hand, comprised a short dramatization based on an important scene in the book: three students were selected for the skit, and the class had to then reflect on some questions after the dramatization. On the whole, this lesson was relatively successful because it was very learner-centred: there was a lot of pair activity and discussion rather than frontal teaching, which made it more interactive and less dry. Furthermore, the activities were scaffolded, and thus students were able to engage with the tasks on their own with no major issues.

Assessment of literature in SKSS

(Sorry this is way overdue!!! Will bear all necessary consequences...sorry!)

Currently the assessment mode for literature in my school is still relatively conventional, and pretty much based on tests and examinations; there is a much bigger focus on summative rather than formative assessment. For instance, though the Secondary Two students have only just started on a novel this term, they will be faced with a graded test in week five or so, and they will have to sit for a mid-year examination based on the novel in week seven. Consequently, I feel like much of the teaching is geared towards what will be tested in the test or examinations, simply because with one 1-hr lesson a week there is not enough time to cover everything in the novel, yet there is a pressure for students to perform well in graded tests/exams at the end of the day. This is quite limiting in terms of the potential of the subject, as I feel that assessment for literature can in fact be relatively flexible and creative, taking on the form of performance tasks, creative writing, and so on. It is especially quite a pity that literature is assessed in the same way other subjects are (i.e. through conventional tests and examinations) when there is not even upper-secondary literature being offered in the school, as it hinders the level of interest and engagement that could otherwise be stimulated.

Creative Lesson Plan

As mentioned in the previous blog post, all of the Literature lessons are used for project work. I have not had any creative lessons that I could share. However, teaching of PEE using comics could be my most creative lesson as it was the only teaching period that I had since the start of practicum. The comic strip (from Baby Blues) shows a conversation between Zoe and her mother, and I asked the students to contribute adjectives to describe Zoe’s character. Using one of the adjectives that most of the students could agree on, I continued to model the writing process by asking them to pick out the examples and to elaborate on the point. However, the difficulty that I had in preparing for this lesson is to find a comic strip that has examples and sufficient information that can be used to elaborate on the point. I felt that this was effective as the students were able to write their own paragraph at the end of the lesson. 

Creative Lesson - Chung Cheng High (Main)

Due to time constraints caused by the alternate tutorial/lecture week system and unforeseen circumstances such as public holidays and school events, I have had little opportunity to conduct a creative lesson for my Secondary Two students.

The closest thing to a creative lesson is probably my 'crash course' lesson on Unseen Prose while teaching the PIE technique (Personal Response, Interpretation, Evidence) and Characterization. This is also the first (and possibly, the only) lesson on Unseen Prose for the Secondary Twos before their Mid-Year Examinations.

For this, I introduced the short film INSIDE for the trigger activity. After a very quick introduction as to what an Unseen Prose is, I screened the film and later conducted a class discussion where students had to share their opinions about what they thought was going on, who the characters were, what the relationship between the characters was like and what feelings they had for the main character and about the film as a whole. I wrote down the responses on the whiteboard and arranged them according to the different categories of the PIE technique but without labeling them as such. Instead, I asked the class to explain the link between my arrangement of the answers and how the PIE technique was to be applied. Since they are generally uncertain of their own abilities, this was to get them to first realize the connection between the individual components of the technique and to also realize that their answers given were of relevance and that they only needed to structure their answers in a proper manner. Once they came to that realization, I noticed that they became a little more confident of themselves and participated even more during the main activity where we applied the PIE technique in answering short-answer questions for another Unseen Prose.

Creative Lesson (JWSS)

This lesson was conducted for my Secondary Two students who are currently reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

I conducted a lesson on Setting and Atmosphere. Firstly, I showed them some images to help the students to understand what atmosphere is and how setting helps to create a particular atmosphere. This activity was also planned to aid the students in understanding the adjective that are appropriate when describing a particular atmosphere.  After this short activity, I introduced an essay question and got the students to underline the key words and requirements of the question. The worksheet distributed to the students is structured according to the P.E.E.L format. I went through one point with the class by eliciting answers from the students.
The next activity was a group activity. The students have to answer the essay question by coming up with one more point and a drawing of the setting allocated to them. At the end of the lesson, they pasted the A3 sized paper with their completed work on the board behind their class.

This is not exactly a creative lesson, but I only get to see these classes once a week and since they are having their mock exams and MYE soon, I have to be more practical than creative, and no, I don't think the both can go together considering the profile of the students that I'm teaching.

Creative Lesson Plan

My school is currently doing an adapted text of Robinson Crusoe for Secondary 1 students. One creative lesson plan that went quite well in my Normal Academic class was that I actually got students to discuss in groups how they think that they would survive on an uninhabited island with only canned food, coconut trees, fish and a penknife with them. I first got students to read through the 1^st page of the adapted text, and then I showed them pictures of the items that they were able to bring with them to the island. This helped them to remember more clearly what they were allowed to use, as opposed to giving them worded instructions on slides.

After that, I distributed a graphic organizer to them and asked them to come up with solutions as to how they could survive on the uninhabited island using only the items that had been provided for them. After that, I got groups to present their answers using the visualizer so that their classmates could have a look as well. This was quite interesting because some groups managed to come up with very creative answers and they were also able to identify with the experiences of Robinson Crusoe who was trapped on that island.

Creative Lesson: Question Evaluation

I have not really had any opportunity to do anything I would consider extremely out of the box, being constrained by the school’s curriculum (which had already been designed prior to our practicum posting). I have, however, tried to introduce new elements during the lessons on Question Generation (mentioned in my first post) as it is a relatively new thing that we are trying out. Given its newness, it is unsurprising that resources, guidelines, and structure for implementing Question Generation in the classroom are currently lacking. Some of the more experienced teachers in my team are now in the process of designing a Formative Assessment task requiring the students to demonstrate evidence of learned skills in generating questions. Honestly, I feel quite worried about the students’ ability to meet the demands of such an assessment when it is administered. Based on classroom interaction, my sense is that the whole idea of generating questions is still rather ill-defined, and it is really a result of both the teachers’ and the students’ uncertainty about this new process. Some of the stronger students have a better intuitive grasp of how to make their questions count, but quite distressingly many are still fumbling with questions that are lacking in either depth or clarity.

I decided, therefore, to devote one lesson in to giving students an opportunity to evaluate their own questions in a structured manner. This would require outlining a few simple criteria for them to weigh their questions with. For this lesson, I created a question evaluation form (see image above) that would allow students to work on a question of their own design. To keep things focused, I chose ‘literary elements’ questions and inserted the corresponding criteria into the form to guide the students’ thought process. This portion is meant to get students thinking about whether or not their questions had significance (depth)—literal/factual questions that do not really require much analysis will hopefully be ‘weeded out’ or at least improved on.   

Following this, students will be asked to answer the question they have generated. This is an indirect way of asking them what sort of insights they were trying to elicit through their line of questioning. One main problem I encountered during previous lessons was that many students’ phrasing of questions detracted from their actual intentions (i.e. they might be thinking of asking for certain aspects related to a literary element, but their phrasing of the question misleads the answerer into dwelling on other aspects, thus missing the ‘point’ of the question entirely). The next step would be for the students to direct their question to a friend, who will attempt to answer it either verbally or in written form. Students are to compare their own responses (to their own questions) with the responses their friend gave. This is intended to be a casual test of how clear their questions were. If their response and their friend’s response differed greatly, students will be asked to speculate on a plausible reason as to why their question was misunderstood (‘excuses’ such as ‘my friend is not concentrating’ or ‘she didn’t hear my question right’ will not be admitted). Often, re-phrasing, adding, or subtracting from the original question gave rise to improved clarity.

I have tried this lesson with two classes. For the first, I allowed them to use the form on their own, but this led to some confusion especially since students progressed at different speeds (some had to sit around to wait for their friends to be ‘free’ to answer their questions). I also discovered that some degree of modelling would help students to use the form better, and my second attempt doing this lesson was more organized. I showed the students step-by-step how I would work on a question, and gave them portions of time to accomplish each step so that no one rushed through/got left behind in the process. 

Creative Lesson Plan (Sec 3 Unseen)

The poem for this lesson is Carol Ann Duffy's "Valentine", which made use of the onion as an extended metaphor to illustrate the idea of love. My students are generally weak at analyzing ideas, and this lesson was designed to sharpen their sensitivity and analytical skills.

To cater to students' short attention spans and preference for watching films and drama rather than read text on paper, I decided to do a dramatisation of the poem. I got a boy to volunteer to be my "valentine" for the day in exchange for a pack of M&Ms, and got out an onion, which I had prepared and cut before the lesson, to use as a prop.

I told the class to observe my actions and the specific lines at which I made those actions, and started my dramatization. For the first time for all my lessons so far, the entire class was quiet and eagerly looking at me. A few students even took out their iPhones to videotape the show.

After I had done with my acting (and got applause from them), I asked the class to recall my actions and link them to specific lines in the poem. I prompted them to verbalise the significance of my actions and hence analyse the progression of the extended metaphor. Many of the students were able to give accurate answers on what the onion represented, and it was a very encouraging lesson for both my students and me.

I later got them to apply their knowledge of the extended metaphor to Lee Tzu Pheng's "Singapore River" and write an essay paragraph as homework. When I collected their homework from them during the next lesson, many of them told me that Singapore River was easy, and that they would like to have more "easy" poems like it for their examinations. This to me is an affirmation, for "Valentine" was a poem which they struggled with for their Common Test, and to me this was a clear transition from being unable to identify extended metaphors to finding the task simple and straightforward.

Creative Lesson Plan

For my Literature lesson on Impact of colours—how colours evoke emotions, I affixed 6 large pieces of vanguard sheets of different colours (black/white/blue/green/yellow/red) on the walls of the classroom. I instructed students that they are to stand in front of the vanguard sheets and write down/draw whatever comes to mind when they see that particular colour—students are to move around the class in groups of 4 as they write down/draw their associations with the different colours. After every 3 minutes, I would call out “switch” and students would rotate to another piece of vanguard sheet. I repeated this process until every student in the class had a turn at each of these stations.

The objective of the lesson was designed with the intention that students would be able to recognize the power of colours and the emotions they could bring to an individual. This is in contrast to the community in The Giver—the students’ text. In The Giver, the community is incapable of having feelings or emotions because they are unable to see colours. Therefore, this explains the purpose of the lesson—because students can see colours, they are capable of emotions, unlike the community in the novel. 

Creative Lesson Plan (Dunearn Sec)

I conducted this lesson with only 8 students(out of 22 students) in class. [Side note: I had to make do with 8-10 students for two weeks.] Generally, the class is not vocal and they don't respond well to questions. So I attempted to engage their personal response by giving them a modified tic-tac-toe/bingo sheet as a trigger. The lesson is on "Kenny's Big Break". The students have to first fill up the template (which there are 9 questions in 9 squares on a variety of questions such as ""Traitor. Quitter. Army Drifter." (208) Is this how you view Singaporeans who left for 'greener pastures overseas" and others"). After filling the template, they are supposed to go to their peers and "exchange" or discuss their responses and if they are convinced by their peers, their peers should sign on the relevant boxes. The first to get two columns/rows filled will be the winner.

After sharing, I went on to point students' attention to characters traits of Margaret and Kenny as well as exploring the theme of identity. I feel this short activity is successful because students who usually do not speak at all are able to find an opportunity to share their insights with their peers. This also creates an environment where students feel more comfortable to talk in class.

Creative Lesson Plan

The focus of this lesson was to help students to do a recap on the themes in Sing to the Dawn and as well as to teach them how to structure their paragraph effectively by using the “PEEL” structure.

Since students had been taught of the themes of the novel in previous lessons, I started off the lesson by showing them a word splash that includes words that are relevant to the themes and words that are irrelevant. Students are to identify the themes of Sing to the Dawn from the word splash and give explanation to support their answers.  

After that, I introduced the “PEEL” structure to the students. I showed them a sample “PEEL” paragraph and told them that their task was to formulate a “PEEL” paragraph by rearranging sentences.

Students worked in groups for this main activity. Each group was given an envelope that contains cut out sentences from a “PEEL” paragraph about a particular theme. To cater to students with high-ability, certain groups had irrelevant sentences in their envelopes. In their groups, students had to rearrange their sentences so that they will end up with a “PEEL” paragraph that explains the theme they are working on. After they have completed it, I went through the answers with them. (Initially, I wanted the groups to present their paragraph after they have rearranged it and allow their classmates to evaluate their work. However, due to the lack of time, I could not do that. I ended up going through the answers with them instead.)

This lesson was successful as students were excited about the task. They were engaged in their discussions and were eager to complete the task.  

Creative Lesson Plan (Coral Secondary School)

I was introducing the idea of different perspectives on an issue/topic.

I framed the entire class as a court session whereby famous criminals would be tried and given one chance to explain their side of the story. I used "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" as a trigger to show how a different perspective could be formed.

I introduced the other criminals: Stepmother of Cinderella, Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, Wolf in The Little Red Riding Hood, the Pied Piper, the Queen in Snow White.

The class was broken into six legal teams, each taking on the case for one of the criminals. Roles for the students included: legal assistants (scribe, confidentiality keeper, administrative executive), lawyers (legal representative, head of team), and the client. The teams discussed how to best tell the criminal's side of the story to place the client in a favourable light. At the end, they presented to the class, and the class would vote for whether or not the criminal was guilty or innocent.

Students were very excited and participated actively throughout the lesson. At the end, they understood that one story could have different perspectives. When touching on the theme of animal experimentation in Mrs. Frisby, they could easily identify different perspectives and why these differences occurred.

Creative Lesson Plan

I am not sure that this can be considered creative as it was a modified combination of activities which happened all at once (role-play, freeze-frames, close-reading and annotation), but it was quite successful and the kids had a great time and managed to grasp some inference skills.

It was a 45-minute lesson and we were due to cover Chapter 5 of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Since characterisation is an important aspect in the chapter, and the class has quite a handful of restless, loud boys, I decided to pick important scenes to role play. Each scene focused on a different aspect of characterisation--action, dialogue, etc. While role-playing, the actors had to form freeze frames and say out what they thought the character was thinking at that point of time (but not written in the novel). The class would then be asked to refer to the relevant passage in the book, do close-reading to interpret the textual evidence (and what the actors "thought"), and annotate their passage.

At the end of the lesson, they had interpreted textual evidence through role-playing, freeze frames and close reading, managed to identify character traits of Father and Bruno, as well as the nature of the relationship between them.

Assessment of Lit in Riverside Secondary

As literature is not an examinable subject, even for the lower secondary students, skills taught in literature classes have to be geared towards those that can be used to answer comprehension questions or write essays. The deliverables (SA) for each term, however, are rather fun activities like haiku- and glog-creations. In a way, the more 'important' (comprehension answering) skills are not formally tested during Literature assessments. This could be good, thought, as students can exercise their creativity in literature lessons.

What this means for literature teachers here is that a good balance between encouraging creativity and the teaching of examinable skills have to be struck. Students have to be made aware that their literature lessons are not just play time, but that there are also important skills to be learned.

Assessment in Fairfield

In Fairfield, the assessments are a mix of formative and summative. The formative assessments are used more for checking to ensure if students have understood what was taught in class. Often times, the literature teachers make use of the class's google site and Facebook to generate discussion on a particular topic or get them to reflect on something. These assessments are marked but not used in the collation of marks for the report book.

Each term, they usually have 2 tests which are summative in nature and other modes of assessment (OMA).  For example, this term they are reading To Kill A Mockingbird (the play) for Secondary 2s and will have their tests by week 5. The OMA this term is a film project where students have to choose to film one out of the 3 scenes given to them. This is to allow the students room to explore drama which is usually impossible to do so in class. Furthermore, the Sec 2s only does TKMB for 1 term (shows how little time we have).

Assessment of Literature at Jurong West Secondary

For Secondary 2 Literature, there is one common test, one mock examination and mid-year examinations that the students need to sit for. These are for the summative assessment. For formative assessment, the students need to write essay style answers for questions that the teacher sets in their journal books.

For examinations and tests, the students need to answer 2 essay questions using the P.E.E.L format. I think that this is rather helpful for those students who might be taking up Literature as an O'level subject. The first question will be based on a passage, students will need to extract pieces of evidence from the passage given and answer the question based on the passage. The second questions will be based on a topic covered in class.

In terms of formative assessment, I have been giving my students worksheets to do for every lesson. I make sure that there is a class work and homework component for each lesson that I plan for. This is one way for me to assess if my students are learning and understand the concepts taught in class. I also gave them a March holiday assignment to assess if they have read the whole book.

As for the secondary 1 students, apart from common tests and examinations, they need to present a dramatised version of the text which is also examinable.

Assessment of Literature in Pasir Ris

The assessment of Lower Secondary Literature is very much based on formative assessment. Here, the students do not have mid year exams for Literature. This term, my lessons are used solely for SA1 project work rather than teaching content. The Secondary Two Express students are given a choice to either create a children's book or excerpts of a journal(something like 'Diary of Anne Frank')of a particular character, based on the text that they have read in Term 1. They willbe assessed based on their weekly blog reflections and also, the planning and the work process.Since the Literature class meets once a week, students will use the time to complete as much work as they can in class. For the past two weeks, the students were not exactly on task therefore, they usually will meet again after school. The project task requires a lot of work as students are expected to complete these things- the product, group blog, individual reflection and class presentation. To facilitate the grading process and to ensure that they complete the project by the end of practicum, I have provided them with a schedule that they can follow.

However, the project task for the Normal Academic students is simply, with more focus on the creative aspects. Using the Literature text as the basis, students are to select four events that interest them and then, they are expected to create a 3d model of the event. Basically, they have to createa diorama. They are given four weeks to complete this project. In addition, the students will have to write a 50-word reflection to rationalise their choice of scenes and why they have portrayed the scenes as such. I have not started the project with them but I have been asked to teach them how to build these 3D scenes. so far, I have only managed to create a simple scene. I am still looking for a way to teach them how to build these models.What I like about this project is that it is more hands-on and thus, it will appeal to the NA students(hopefully!).

Assessment of Literature in RGS

By allowing the students to bypass the ‘O’ Level examinations, the school gains quite a lot of freedom in setting its assessment modes for Literature (and for other disciplines as well). I have to stress that a lot of attention is actually paid to the concept of assessment (its purposes and types) in the school as a whole, to ensure that the objectives of an Integrated Programme (increased rigour in each specific discipline to stretch the potential of high-ability students) are met. (Even as a trainee, I have already had to attend department-wide workshops on formative assessments). In short, not participating in the ‘O’ Level examination seems to mean that teachers feel a need to be more thorough than ever in planning assessments, to ensure that students do get something out of their education in the programme.

For Literature, I have observed a vast range of assessment tools/modes, usually referred to using acronyms (the better to write an assessment-themed rap with). So far, I have noted these:

CBA: Class-Based Assessments, usually a series of short-answered test questions to check the students’ factual knowledge of the texts (i.e. to make sure they read their texts). I have already taken part in the setting, administering, and marking of such tests.

AA: Alternative Assessments, which tends to be something a little more ‘creative’, where they are tested on their understanding of the text (usually with a focus on characterization) using character journals (diary entries where students are asked to write using the voice of key characters in the text) or fakebook (something like this).

SA or PPA: Summative Assessment or Pen-and-Paper Assessment, rather close to what you might expect of a regular Literature exam. So far, one paper I’ve seen (helped to vet) looks pretty much identical to the regular passage-based question.

PT: Performance Task, where students are asked to perform, by presenting the evidence of their learning. I have not actually seen an example of this for the level (Year 3) I am teaching, but I know that the Year 2 task for Romeo and Juliet was for the students to put up a creative re-enactment of a specified scene from the play. The students were required to change the context of the play, while retaining aspects such as characterization and plot development. E.g. Take Romeo and Juliet to Bollywood, or make them merpeople (real examples). This can get rather elaborate, as the students have to propose a reworked script, sketch (and produce) their own costumes, and put up the selected scene.

FA: Formative Assessment, which could be anything that we get students to do to test their understanding throughout the course of the unit. This could be somewhat formal (e.g. getting students to respond to close-reading questions in class) or really informal (exit cards, show of hands, etc.) 

Assessment of Literature in VJC

From what I know, in general, VJC employs mainly summative forms of assessment for Literature (tests and exams). However, individual tutors do ask the students to write reflections in their Literature journal, and the students are also tasked to compile a folder of all things related to the text they study. (Character analysis, Themes...) At regular intervals, the tutors will look through the journals and the folders. The journals help the students to articulate what they've been learning so far, and it helps as a tool to assess their writing skills as well.

In terms of formative assessment in weekly classes, students are often called upon to do dramatized readings of Othello. The thinking routine of "I see, I think , and I wonder" is also used frequently to draw out the students' learning points.

QCR523 2nd post: How is Literature assessed in SCGS?

There is a series of informal and formal assessments for the Sec 1s. In class, assessment for learning through group work and presentations is conducted. In-class work is, however, not graded. Take-home assignments, like the PEER format paragraphs and short essays that I've taught them, allow students to apply/practice the skills that are taught in class, so they act as assessment as learning. Formal assessments include class tests, level tests, and take-home essay assignments.

All handouts, notes, and worksheets are to be filed in neatly categorised files, such as writing portfolio, poetry portfolio, etc. Informal assessment also involves parents. Although filing is not graded anymore (it was in my time), the parents are involved in going through their files. On one hand, it is to allow parents to see what the teachers have been teaching in the term; on the other hand, it is to allow parents to assess the progress of their children's learning. Surveys are given out to the parents to gather their thoughts on the teachers' teaching/learning materials, their children's strengths and weaknesses, their children's needs in which areas of the subject. Parents are to assess their children's learning development and decide if they are learning at an appropriate pace.

Although I find this somewhat helpful because this process involves parents in their children's learning development and give them some say in shaping the lesson materials and skills to be taught/practised, I think such a practice also makes teaching (the profession) seem like customer service/care. Even so, I think this also serves to 'protect' teachers to some extent. With parents becoming demanding 'customers' that push blame or responsibility of educating their children to the teachers in the past 2 decades (approx.), this 'customer service' format of involving parents in shaping and commenting on the school's approach to educating their children forces parents to share responsibility with the teachers. I must admit that even after thinking through whatever I've just typed, I am still quite amused by the entire affair and the shifting nature of the teaching profession. It seems like teachers have to indirectly 'educate' parents on how to be parents. This is such an intriguing thought.

Essay assignments are usually 30% of the CA while major tests (level tests) take up 30-40% (depending on which term) and the remaining 30-40% constitutes of class tests and project/research-based assignments like the poetry portfolio and writing development file. There is usually at least one lit-based assignment and one EL-inclined assessment in each term because of the Language Arts programme.

Literature Assessment

Here in my school, literature assessments are mainly formative and they are not merely written but they also involved the use of ICT tools. The students' assessments are continual and accounts for and towards their overall grade for the subject. The same applies for all the levels. The assessment for the literature department is usually broken down and less of a class or common test but rather project or assignment based. This makes it a fairer assessment of the students in terms of their grasp of knowledge. Their summative assessment only comes in the form of mid-years.


For the lower secondary that I am teaching, students have both individual and group work. The assessments are spread throughout terms 1 and 2. Students are to independently complete characterisation for their text as the lessons move along and they are to also complete a scene summary after each scene of the play. They are also given two short essays that can be written or typed out. In their groups, they are to complete blog entries that answer the major questions that the department has posted on their e-learning portal. In addition, the groups are to also role play the scenes that are given to them and explain/teach the class about the scene. They will be assessed based on their role play and teaching.

QCR520 TG3 2011 2nd Post

Describe how Literature is being assessed in the school you have been posted to?

Literature assessment (for Sec 2) here in Macpherson secondary is done through formative assessments.

 In the first term, students were doing a small play production (only a few scenes due to time constraints) where they had to come up with a script and act out the script. The students were assessed based on their script and how they worked together and acted in their play. This would form a majority of their semester’s assessment.

What follows next in this term will be two in-class poetry tests over the course of the term (one seen, one unseen) where students are expected to complete a set of questions based on the poem.  This would also form part of their semester’s assessment. The students here do not have a literature examination for their mid-year examination.

Assessment in Boon Lay Secondary School

Assessment is still quite traditional for students at Boon Lay Secondary School. For the Secondary One students at Boon Lay Secondary School, students are involved in a program called HEARTS. There is cooperation between the English and Literature teachers for the Secondary One students to do a language arts program. They have a semestral assessment as well, while CA is tested continually throughout the year. For example, they are asked to write poems which will be counted into their CA marks.

For the Secondary Two students, they are doing The Clay Marble and this is tested for the SA as well. What is tested is the skills that they have to answer literature questions as well as familiarity with the text. They have also been asked to do a March holiday project based on one of the chapters of the text. The students are also given common tests to form part of their CA.

For the Secondary Three students that I am teaching elective literature to, this is the same thing as well with CA being formed of assignments and a major SA twice in the year. The students are assessed on the skills that they have learnt for unseen prose and poetry in the mid year exam.

#2 Assessment in NJC Junior High

In NJC Junior High the decision has been made to not teach Literature in the traditional manner characterized by close reading and rigour. This is not to say that teaching and textual analysis is fast and loose, but rather, that there is a greater humanistic focus- that literature should inform students of the human experience. To this end, assessment does include quizzes, essay writing, dramatized readings but also more unusual activities.

For example, secondary 4 students are to act out a mediation session after studying Kuo Pao Kun's Lao Jiu and Shakespeare's King Lear. In the session, students are to argue from their position with the end goal of coming to a compromise and agreement on the situation. The students are assigned external mentors (working professionals, like lawyers, engineers, family service center counselors) to help them with their analysis of certain conflicts. For example in a particular session, 2 students might represent the disgruntled siblings of Lao Jiu accusing the parents of the failure to raise Lao Jiu properly. 

Assessment of Literature in St. Marg's

For Sec 2's, assessment is a mix of formative and summative. For instance, we had a series of debates prior to the March holidays. Students were expected to fill in Peer Assessment Forms where they assessed their peer's performance and showed what they understood from the debates. There are projects that are a mix of formative and summative. For example, the Authentic Transfer Task where students were expected to demonstrate on understanding of the text (Much Ado) via costume design, music choice + write-up etc.

For Sec 3's and 4's, the focus is on exam preparation so assessment is mostly summative. So far, from what I've observed, students submit an essay every term. There are no other forms of assessment, apart from the major exams, outside of that.

Assessment of literature in Punggol Secondary School

The assessment of literature in Punggol Secondary School uses a combination of both formative and summative assessments. There will be 1 common test per term, whereby students will be tested on what they have learnt during the term. However, the questions in the common test are mostly short-answer questions about characterization, setting and plot. Students will only be tested on essay writing during the mid-year examination.

My CT places a large emphasis on formative assessments. She gives students assignments such as journal writing  (e.g. writing an entry from the perspective of a character in the novel), presentation of group work, sketching of a character, drama performance and writing creative pieces. One thing good about the assessment of literature in my school is that the marks for these assignments share equal weight as the common test for the CA results. However, marking such assignments is more difficult as it is more subjective. Therefore, one of the ways that my CT does is that she will make sure she tells the students the marks allocated for each component of the assignment and what she is looking out for before students embark on their work. In this way, students will know exactly what the teacher is looking out for and thus, it makes grading a little fairer.

Personally, I feel that the emphasis on formative assessments is a good decision made by the school. It stretches students’ creativity and it also helps them to like literature because the teacher does not always get them to focus on the written test.

Assessment of Literature in Unity Secondary School

At Unity Secondary School, Literature is mostly assessed by means of summative assessment. A student’s overall Literature grade is based on how well he/she has performed in his/her tests and examinations. For both CA1 and CA2, students were assessed based on how well they have understood the text as the questions demanded students’ application of the knowledge they have learnt in class. However, the school tries to integrate formative assessment in the form of Project Artifacts for the Secondary 2 Express/Normal Academic students. Students have to design and produce artifacts that are related to their Literature text and they are also required to exhibit and showcase their artifacts on Week 3 of Term 2. This project would take up 50% of the student’s CA2 grade. The upcoming Mid-Year Examination in May would be a form of summative assessment used to test students on their ability to analyze and interpret the text. Therefore, summative assessment accounts for a large percentage of a student’s final Literature grade.

Although think-pair share, group discussions and response logs are employed in Literature classes, students are generally not assessed while they are carrying out these activities. Hence, often times, Literature in Unity Secondary School is assessed through means of summative assessment.

Assessment of Literature in Peicai Secondary School

The Sec 1s did not have a common test in Term 1 because they have not learnt much other than script writing. The graded scripts that they have written in groups will contribute to their summative assessment. There are both formative and summative assessments. For formative assessment, there are homework, group work and also worksheets that they do in class. As mentioned in my earlier post, they will be tested on unseen prose for MYE so I am trying to get them to use PEE in their answers.

The Sec 2s and 4s had common tests last term. One Sec 2 teacher gave an Express class homework and she had so much trouble collecting homework from the students. Many of the students gave excuses such as they did not bring or did not do.

The students only have 1 hour of Literature a week so I can't really go in depth. I gave the Sec 1s a prose with a few questions to read and do as holiday homework so that I can save some time in class. The questions also served as a form of formative assessment to check if the students have read and understood the story.

Assessment of Literature in NCHS

The secondary 1 students taking the communicative arts (language arts) programme do not have a common test (summative test) in Term 1, but they have regular formative assessments that include narrative essay writing and drama. The school engaged an external vendor to introduce drama (Shakespeare's Macbeth) to the kids. They were divided into groups of 4 or 5 and had to perform some lines from Macbeth, and they were assessed on their performance. This would form a small per cent of their year-end grade. Both formative and summative assessments throughout the year would contribute towards their year-end grade (summative assessments would have higher weightage).

There are also both formative and summative assessments for the other levels. There will be common tests each term--these grades will form a certain per cent of their year-end grade. These tests include essay questions on unseen poetry and text-based questions on novels/ drama. Before the common tests, there will be practices/ practice tests that follow the same structure of the common tests. Grades for the practice tests will not affect the year-end grade. Worksheets also constitute formative assessments, and most of them do not affect the year-end grade as well.

It seems as if the school places so much emphasis on tests and exams that SOWs seem to revolve strictly around them (secondary 2-4), and it becomes difficult to factor in hands-on activities or activities that involve longer/ in-depth/ exploratory questioning and discussions. This is, of course, a subjective opinion; there may be many other things that are going on and I may be unaware of them.

Assessment of Literature in St. Patrick's School

The assessment of Literature in St. Patrick's School is a combination of both formative and summative modes. As mentioned, the Secondary 1 students have external drama vendors coming in to teach them about stage play and techniques. The boys are required to put up a play of one of the plays in the textbook for this coming week. They are required to either improvise or follow exactly on the play. So far, they have already gone through several informal assessments of their plays in class. The official assessment will be part of their CA2 marks. They also had a formative assessment where they had to make use of their knowledge of PEE/OEE in their essay writing for the examination questions on the same play. As for the secondary 2 students, the formative assessment will be based on the students' creation of books of poetry and poetry slams. The summative assessment was on unseen poetry where they also had to use the PEE/OEE method to write a piece of practical criticism. The secondary 3 students do not have much time to go through the formative assessments because most of them take Literature as combined humanities. As, the only assessment for them is summative assessment (term test). I feel that Literature in SPS can be further improved - by bringing them out for field trips and assess them on their observation skills outside the classroom to expand their potential and capacities.

Literature in St. Patrick's School

I am currently given Secondary 1-3 Express Literature at St. Patrick's School. In total, I have 6 classes of Literature to focus on during my Teaching Practice. 

In St. Patrick's School, the secondary 1 students were exposed to drama in the 1st term. The school brought in external drama vendors to teach the boys about stage play and techniques to make a play more interesting. The drama vendors did something very similar to our drama workshop - we made use of a certain object to portray other uses of it. For example, using a piece of cardboard as a handphone. It was generally very appealing to the boys because they got to express their ideas outside of the classroom. For the secondary 2 students, they were engaged in poetry. Their teachers have taught them the O-E-E or P-E-E method (point/observation-evidence-explanation/elaboration) to write a practical criticism piece. For the secondary 3, they also did poetry criticism in term 1, and they would be moving on to reading Telltale:11 Stories in term 2. 

Generally, St. Patrick's School does not have enough Literature teachers to cope with the cohort. They even used the AED educators to teach Literature to the lower secondary students. I'm hoping for a positive change to the area of interest because the boys are generally not interested in the field of Literature.


** I forgot to mention that there is a sizable amount of boys I need to "take care":
secondary 3: 82 boys
secondary 2: 80 boys
secondary 1: 40 boys

for English, it's another class of 39 boys.

can you imagine the number of boys i need to remember?

Assessment of Literature in Chung Cheng High (Main) School

There appears to be more emphasis on a summative approach to assessment rather than a formative one. For the lessons that I've seen so far (and the ones that I've conducted following a weekly plan given by the committee), there is usually a summative assessment on a particular area once it has been taught. For example, the students have been through lessons on essay writing before I joined the school and had a passage-based essay as part of their CA. They will be having lessons on an Unseen text soon (prose) and will have another component of their CA based on that before their mid year examinations. Their recent performance of a Sketch for The Outsiders will also be graded based on two areas: the actual performance itself (expressiveness, accurate depiction of characters, cooperation between group members etc.) and a written Group Reflection piece on the decisions they made for the sketch (why they chose a particular theme, what they were trying to convey to the audience etc.). However, most of the students did not quite understand the requirements for the Group Reflection and ended up writing their own personal feelings about it instead of the stated requirements. This sketch is also part of their continual assessement. In the event that the students have a valid reason for missing/being absent on the day of the test/assessment day, the weightage for the other components will be increased to make up for the one that was missed.

I am not so sure about the Secondary Ones but as stated earlier in my previous post, the Secondary Threes do have some kind of formative assessment. The teacher in charge mentioned that students' participation in additional activities and written work (taking part in school plays, journal entries) are also taken into account on top of the official modes of assessment in the school.

Assessment of Literature at Coral Secondary School

Formative assessment is conducted through completing homework assignments, worksheets, some group work (but not in every class). However, with the limited amount of time with them (2 hrs 15 min every two weeks), and the constant struggle to get students to submit their homework, formative assessment is not viewed as an ideal means of assessment. On a side note, I'm still trying to get students to even read their texts, and my lesson activities have to be based on getting them to read it in class so that they understand what I'm trying to teach. Formative assessment is a challenge, unless it assesses if students have read the text.

Summative assessment is still the primary means by which the school assesses students. I've observed that the varied teaching across classes has also led to varied instructions regarding tests. Different teachers expect different standards and responses for the test in their classes. As I was marking the test scripts for a Normal Academic class, I was asked to be more lenient; since most of them would not be taking Lit in upper secondary, it would be easier to just try to pass them. The mid-year exams will cover plot, character, themes based on Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

Assessment of Literature at Dunearn

For Secondary 2 students, there is a mixture of both formative and summative assessment. For this term, as we are doing drama, the students have to write 1-2 class tests (using the PEE structure) as well as having to act out a scene in the play (and they will be assessed for their tone, acting, language and expression). In term 1, they had to do 2 in-class tests as well as a poetry project where they have to analyse a chosen poem and present it to the class.

For Secondary 3 students, they have formative assessment such as group projects (example: the video project i mentioned in my previous entry) as well as essay assignment (homework) and in-class test. The formative assessments count towards their CA grade. There is a general shift from a mixture of both formative summative to a more focused exam preparation kind of assessment (more essays than projects) so as to prepare them for O level examinations eventually. 

How Nan Hua assesses Literature

The assessment of Secondary 2 Literature is a combination of formative and summative methods. Students will have at least 1 class test per term which requires them to write a combination of short essay-style answers and comprehension questions, and terms 2 and 3 will have students embarking on a research project and a performance project. Term 4 will focus more on essay-writing, to help students better gauge their ability to take Literature in Upper Secondary.
Secondary 3 students do not have official formative assessment, as the focus is on preparing them for the 'O' Level examinations. However, teachers have a lot of autonomy to implement formative assessments within their own classes, be it for class participation or diligence in doing and submitting work. These formative assessments will count towards students' CA grade. Tests and examinations are 'O' Level-style essay questions. In Term 1, students attempt the unseen component. The mid-year examination in Term 2 simulates an actual 'O' Level setting for students, with Unseen and set text (prose) being tested. Term 3 will see the students starting on their other set text (drama), and the end of year examination will be on all three components (unseen, set prose, set drama).

literature in SKSS

Unfortunately, there is no upper secondary literature offered in Seng Kang Secondary School, so I have to be contented with teaching literature to a class of Secondary Two students for now. From what I understand students are exposed to simple poetry and prose in Secondary One and taught basic literary devices such as personification and simile, which they revisit again at greater depth and breadth in Secondary Two. In Secondary Two they are taught basic skills on how to analyse an unseen poem, and assessed based on these skills: the format of the test is structured in a way that is more like comprehension, where there is a series of questions based on an unseen poem and students have to give short answers. However, it does differ from comprehension in that the questions asked are more specifically related to literature, for instance a student might be asked to identify a device used and explain what it shows about the theme etc. There is also a set text for Secondary Two students, which I will begin teaching immediately after the March holidays, and this year the school is intending to introduce "The Boy in Striped Pyjamas" for the first time. On one hand, this means that there aren't many resources available as yet for teachers to utilise; on the other hand, however, it also implies that there will be more flexibility in terms of how the text is to be taught, which is a good thing. Unlike for English, where there is a scheme of work outlining what skills are to be taught every single week, for literature it seems like there is more freedom, and while there are set texts to be taught and certain timeframes within which to finish teaching these texts, everything else seems to be more or less up to the teacher to decide.

QCR523 1st Post: Literature taught at SCGS.

SCGS offers the Language Arts programme to the lower secondary students and Full Literature / Elective Literature to the upper secondary students (Literature is compulsory at my school, so everyone takes Literature). I was assigned to join the lower secondary Language Arts team in my school's ELL department (for CS1: Literature) and I am currently teaching Secondary 1 LA. I have observed that LA is taught in a highly integrated manner. My department has developed a syllabus for the Sec 1s, split into 4 'modules'--1 for each term of the academic year--to designate a specific skill(s) and topical focus for each term. Term 1 (module 1) tries to bridge the gap between primary education and secondary syllabus with a module that goes easy on the students.

"Module 1: Moving Up; from Child to Teen" gets students to identify text types for different purposes, recognise formal register and tone, and practice different writing techniques to telling a story based on a collection of short excerpts. The lessons will guide students in descriptive writing tasks like narrative writing and a graded personal recount essay. Practices during lessons include informal comprehension tests that assessed students' ability to comprehend the writers' writing techniques and the intended effect/impact (this is a more Lit-based approach to setting comprehension exercises).

"Module 2: Hello, World! Subthemes: Nature, Culture & Family)" contained a selection of poetry and excerpts from novels/short stories. The aim is to get students to identify themes, develop personal response(s) to texts, explain/express what makes the texts interesting or effective in delivering their messages/central ideas. There is a comprehension test and a full-length narrative essay (Commonwealth essay) in the assessment component of this module. Classroom work involved the students in practicing the P.E.E paragraph format for writing a literary response to a text.

Because the term is affected by tournaments and the interruption of curriculum by the Outdoor Education Week (27 Feb - 2 Mar), the next part of the module, which focuses on character analysis, narrative skills (story plotting and narrative techniques), and evaluation of narrative technique, will continue after the March holidays. The assessment component includes a structured poetry test and a poetry writing portfolio to pick up from the previous focus on poem analysis. The lessons itself would prepare the students for full-fledged novel analysis in the remaining half of Term 2 and for a more 'practical criticism' reading of a literary text in Terms 3 and 4, where they will read Kira-Kira and Emily of Emerald Hill respectively.

On the whole, just by looking at the Scheme of Work for the entire year, I think the department tries hard to develop a rigorous syllabus that packs a lot of (Literature) foundation skills in a year's lessons in a progressive manner (spiral progression). Using the Understanding by Design (UbD) model, the department plans the Scheme of Work with specific goals (graded assignments/assessment and ungraded practice) in mind. It allows for a greater overlapping of EL skills and Literature skills in the teachers' development of the material (module packages 1-4). Appreciating literary techniques and devices also enhances students' writing abilities as they are taught to be consciously aware of these techniques in the text types they read for LA. I like how EL and Literature are mutually supportive in this LA programme. I am also very pleased that teachers are allowed to develop their own materials to supplement the module packages in their own lessons to suit their teaching needs (dependent on class profile etc) and styles.