Sharing sessions of “Journey on Learning in Action: taking off from students' learning

Experience on “Acting” to “Knowing”
The relationship between ‘knowledge’ and ‘action’ is both a philosophical debate and a practical issue. What is knowledge? Where does teachers’ working knowledge come from? Is ‘action’ led by ‘knowledge’? Or is ‘knowledge’ inspired by and garnered from the experiences of ‘action’? The speaker of this session attempts to share her viewpoints and reflections based on the observation and interview data derived from various collaborative lesson preparations, seminars, workshops, sharing sessions and school visits.

......Please click here for details

C01 Joy to the world of literature
In the light of implementing Reading to Learn, teachers from two schools used story books and classical literature as teaching materials in their Chinese KLA curriculum to develop students’ reading ability and generic skills. Students acquired various reading strategies, including prediction, story grammar and graphic organizer through various learning activities. They actively participated in group discussions and were eager to express their views in the “reading journal”. In this session, teachers will share with you their experience in the curriculum design process and the use of effective teaching strategies.

......Please click here for details

C02 Integrating the old and the new Chinese KLA Curriculum
We are going to have a new Chinese KLA curriculum, what should we do to our school-based curriculum?’ Many Chinese teachers may share the same concern. How can teachers achieve a smooth transition from the current school-based curriculum to the new curriculum? How can they modify their school-based curriculum such that it can be in line with the directions of the new Chinese KLA curriculum and the learning needs of their students? Based on the experience in linking up a previous P4 module Description of Feelings and a newly devised P.5 module Description of the Mind, teachers from the supporting school are going to share the experience, practice and difficulties when they integrated the old and the new curriculum.

......Please click here for details

C03 Our journey to classical literature
Part 1  Part 2
Most students are anxious about their first attempt at reading difficult texts, especially classical literature. To arouse students’ interest and enhance their language skills, teachers from two schools designed various reading activities, including word guessing games, drama, and group discussions, to cater for students’ different abilities. Under the safe and pleasurable learning environment, students were highly motivated and they gained confidence in trying out different learning tasks. During the process, teachers found that apart from providing clear instructions and effective reading strategies, setting reasonable expectations for students and allowing them ample opportunities to appreciate the literature and express their understanding were most important.

...... Please click here for details

C04 Listening proficiency enhancing strategies
In response to the requirements of the new Chinese Language curriculum and the TSA, teachers from the Alliance Primary School (Whampoa), tried to apply strategies such as note taking, image visualizing and high order thinking in their listening skills training lessons. It aimed to enhance students’ listening proficiency. Did the strategies work? Could the students acquire the skills? In this session, teachers will share their views and feelings on the effectiveness of the teaching strategies.

...... Please click here for details

C05 Teaching fictions in primary school?
Enhancing literature learning, emphasizing the development of reading ability and boosting thinking skills are directions of the newly revised Primary School Chinese Language Curriculum. Fictions as a major genre of literature could therefore be integrated in the curriculum to maintain a balanced coverage of text types. However, fictions are seldom taught in Hong Kong primary Schools. Teachers of Christian Alliance S.Y. Yeh Memorial Primary School will share with us why and how they introduced fictions to their school-based curriculum. The sharing session will cover the rationale, planning and implementation as well as the evaluation of the initiative.

...... Please click here for details

C06 Joining hands in peer lesson observation and collaborative lesson planning
Peer lesson observation has become a common practice in primary schools. It has been perceived as a measure to gauge teachers’ performance in classrooms. However, such a perspective might hinder in-depth study and discussion on the actual process of classroom teaching and learning. Is there other perspective for classroom observation? How can we relate lesson observation experiences to collaborative lesson planning? In order to gain an understanding of how students progressed from reading to writing, teachers from the participating school linked lesson observation to collaborative lesson planning. Insights derived from lesson observation were discussed in collaborative lesson planning meetings. This helped teachers develop a better understanding of the teaching and learning process as well as the learning difficulties encountered by P. 5 students when writing expository essays. Teachers will share with us their reflections on the new lesson observation experiences.

...... Please click here for details

C07 Writing “me”, writing “deep”
Drawing on the findings from the territory-wide system assessment evaluation reports and the experiences of frontline teachers, it is evident that students often have difficulties expressing their personal emotions and in-depth feelings when writing personal recounts. Are our students unable to describe their feelings and emotions? Working on this pedagogical issue, two schools will describe how their primary 3 and primary 6 students strengthened their skills of writing recounts by enriching the plots and expressing in-depth personal feelings. Teachers will also illustrate with concrete classroom episodes and materials how these elements were incorporated into their module design, student learning tasks and classroom activities.

...... Please click here for details

C08 Reading twins – Examining reading ability development through reading strategies
Reading strategies are methods that help readers understand texts. It is evident that conscious application of these strategies boost reading comprehension. As language teachers ourselves, what should we offer to students? Do we offer only reading comprehension activities in classroom? Or, do we offer only reading strategies training? This session explores how two schools put reading related theory into reading classrooms. We will look into the following problems from different points of views: l How can teachers use reading strategies as curriculum organizers when designing teaching modules? l How can teachers facilitate students to master reading strategies and reading skills? What were the challenges teachers encountered in practice and how teachers reflected on these experiences?

...... Please click here for details

E01 Developing students' communicative competence in writing across the key stages
Spiral learning and progressive design of the language learning activities across different primary levels help students acquire linguistic structures in a systematic way and apply them in meaningful contexts. On this basis of language scaffolding, students develop their communicative competence to share their life experiences, reflect their ideas and express their feelings in different writing genres.

..... Please click here for details

E02 Balancing it right in the KS2 English KLA curriculum
What triggers changes in the perception and practice in English language teaching and learning? What brings about an awareness of the areas of concern in the school-based English KLA curriculum? Classroom decisions and the effective management of the teaching and learning process cannot be made without reference to the larger context within which teaching takes place. Neither can they be made without reference to curriculum requirements at system level.

...... Please click here for details

E03 Engaging students in in-depth English language learning experience through project learning
General Studies or Chinese teachers may realize the benefits students can get from project learning. But English teachers often have concern about how project learning can be integrated into a subject that most students have not yet mastered. With a view to engaging students, both able and less able ones, in authentic English communication experience, teachers at the Mission Covenant Church Holm Glad Primary School attempted for the first time to integrate project learning into the English language curriculum.

...... Please click here for details

E04 Linking assessment with curriculum
Teachers of Cho Yiu Catholic Primary School would like to share their experiences with you on how they started to change their assessment practices by looking at aspects of curriculum planning and teacher development. The sharing will explore how teachers made sense of the data emerged from collaborative lesson planning and staffroom discussion after trying out new forms of assessment, marking, and feedbacks.

...... Please click here for details

E05 Cooperative learning—peers literary scaffolding in developing cognitive and meta-cognitive reading skills
According to the philosophy of social constructivism, learning occurs best in a social setting with interactive peer support. It is, therefore, worthwhile to develop a culture of learning in which each member of the class is responsible for helping each other to learn and to make progress. But is it feasible for students of primary school to learn through a peer scaffolding strategy?

...... Please click here for details

E06 Enhancing multiple intelligences in story reading
What can students do after reading a story? A number of interesting activities such as jazz chants, songs, scripting and dramatizing can be designed to help students explore the deep meaning of the story and develop their multiple intelligences. Every student can, therefore, excel in some dimensions of learning.

...... Please click here for details

E07 English story writing
How to teach story writing? What skills should I teach? What if my students don’t have enough vocabulary to express ideas, should I build up their vocabulary first before they start to write?

...... Please click here for details

M01 “Comparisons” code
Many teachers find that students’ performance declines significantly when tackling the “comparison” problems. A lot of students, even at KS2, do not understand the comparison problems. They simply apply “addition” skills when they see the words “more than” in the questions, and apply “subtraction” skills when they see the words “less than”. To improve students’ learning, teachers from Buddhist Chi King Primary School have to “decode” the students’ problems and refine the teaching strategy. After repeated trails, they found that students’ understanding improved significantly and they performed better in solving the comparison problem. In this session, they would share their experiences in the teaching of ‘comparison’ problems at KS1.

 ...... Please click here for details

M02 From building to expressing Mathematics concepts
When developing the P.2 mathematics curriculum, the school emphasized conceptual building of the four operations. Although students demonstrated understanding of the concepts, evaluation showed that they could not express the concepts clearly. In this regard, teachers aimed at developing students’ ability in expressing and explaining the concepts in four operations satisfactorily in P.3. They tried out strategies on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to encourage students to explain these concepts in the lessons. While they observed students’ improvements after continuous trials, they also discovered that differentiating their roles could impact on students’ performance.

...... Please click here for details

M03 Effective use of TSA results to enhance learning and teaching in the ‘Measures’ dimension of Key Stage 1
After reading the TSA results of P.3 students in Mathematics, teachers discovered that there still existed space for improvement in the ‘Measures’ dimension for the students. Having analyzed the performances of the students in details, the teachers found that some students could not handle the measuring tools properly. Students’ performance was unsatisfactory in reading the scale of a measuring instrument accurately and in the use of appropriate units of measurements. To deal with the learning problems stated above, teachers tried out different teaching strategies in P.2 and P.3 ‘Measures’ dimension to strengthen students’ experiences in measuring objects. On completion of the teaching programme, students were found to have improved ability in estimated measurement and they could distinguish different measuring units. Their overall performance in tackling problems in ‘Measures’ dimension was enhanced.

...... Please click here for details

M04 Looking at students’ learning through problem solving
In general, schools emphasize promoting students’ problem solving skills in mathematics learning in different ways. Teachers from Hong Kong Southern Government Primary School and a seconded teacher from Ma Tau Chung Government Primary School jointly developed learning activities to promote Primary 4 students’ problem solving skills. They used a wide range of learning materials including open-ended questions to stimulate students’ thinking. Students were exposed to various problem solving strategies and participated actively in group and class discussion. Students were also required to explain or justify their answers with proper mathematics language and numerical data during the process. On completion of the programme, their problem solving skills were improved and misconceptions clarified.

...... Please click here for details

M05 School-based lesson study –multiplication of fractions

The concept of multiplication of fractions is abstract for primary students. To improve student learning in multiplication of fractions, teachers conducted in-depth analysis of the module on fraction multiplication. To help students construct meaning of the concepts in fraction multiplication, various inquiry activities in conceptual contexts were designed to engage students in discussion and close observation for patterns in fractions multiplication and the relation between concepts and calculation. In order to investigate how students constructed their understanding in these inquiry activities, Mathematics teachers conducted a lesson study to find out the effectiveness of the teaching approach on the topic. This session would explain and illustrate the findings from the study.

...... Please click here for details

M06 Simply “Perimeter”?
In solving mathematical problems, do students fully understand the mathematical concepts embedded in the problems even if they are able to demonstrate the correct calculation methods? When dealing with problems about the perimeters of “square” or “rectangle”, students may run into difficulties if they do not fully understand the perimeter formulae. In fact, most of the application problems in the textbooks are quite straight forward and they fail to improve students’ ability in solving problems. Teachers from S.K.H. Tsing Yi Chu Yan Primary School designed diversified learning activities (such as investigating the perimeters of square and rectangle, open-ended questions, problem solving group activity and project learning) to enhance students’ understanding and problem solving skills. On completion of the learning program, students demonstrated deeper understanding on the properties of “quadrilaterals” and the concept of “perimeter”

...... Please click here for details

M07 Using mathematical problems to enhance student thinking
Mathematical problems can stimulate students to think. They also provide platforms for students’ interactive discussion and cooperative problem solving. Three teachers from different schools believe that correlating problem solving and classroom interaction can promote student thinking. However, they came to realize that an understanding of the cognitive principles alone could not effectively develop teaching skills involved in correlating problem solving and classroom interaction. They needed to constantly reflect on their own practices. They organized peer observation sessions and reflected on the relationship between students’ performance and their role as a facilitator in such lessons. Through sharing their views on the teaching and learning process, they hope to improve their own teaching effectiveness.

...... Please click here for details

M08 From understanding to application of mixed operations of fractions
Division of fractions is always a difficult topic for P.5 students in the primary mathematics curriculum, especially when they tackle application problems involving mixed operations of fractions. Without a thorough understanding of the concept of division of fractions, students always make mistakes comprehending the questions and in calculation. In order to help students understand the meaning of division of fractions, teachers tried to use methods in multiplication and division of fractions together. They wanted to help students discern the difference between the two operations. During the whole learning process, students used pictorial and graphics representations to explain the problem solving process. It was found that they were more able to tackle the mixed operations of fractions. Teachers also found that small group discussion and presentation could help students build up their mathematical concepts and even strategies in solving application problems in mixed operations of fractions more readily.

...... Please click here for details

M09 School-based Mathematics curriculum
Teachers from St. Francis’ Canossian School put strong emphasis on nurturing P.5 students’ problem solving skills last year. They incorporated various problem solving activities in their daily teaching. After implementing the programme for one year, teachers tried to find out answers to such questions as: How students perceive what they have done? Do parents understand and support such a teaching programme? Through assessing students’ knowledge, skills and attitude in Mathematics problem solving last July, teachers hoped to improve students’ learning and strengthen the school-based Mathematics Curriculum. During the process, teachers gained a better understanding of student learning and reflected more critically on ways to promote student thinking.

...... Please click here for details

M10 School-based lesson study – fundamental concept of fractions
P.3 Math teachers formed a lesson study team and identified goals for student learning and long-term development. They selected the unit ‘fractions’ as the lesson study focus. The team developed the lesson together and conducted the lesson study cycle. They took turn teaching and observing lessons. In post observation meetings, the group came together to conduct thorough analysis of the lessons. They then revised and re-taught the lesson until all teachers had gone through the lesson study cycle. Through the lesson study, teachers gained a better understanding of student learning and reconstructed their belief in teaching and learning.

 ...... Please click here for details

M11 How do students handle word problems?
P.3 students from Shak Chung Shan Memorial Catholic School Primary School experienced difficulties when handling word problems. P. 3 Mathematics teachers were not aware of these difficulties until in-depth analysis of students’ works was conducted in collaborative lesson planning. In an attempt to address students’ difficulties in solving word problems, P.3 Mathematics teachers used ‘posing own word problems’ as a learning tool to help students develop understanding in tackling word problems. In this session, teachers will explain students’ learning difficulties and concept building process and share their reflections in the teaching and learning of word problems.

 ...... Please click here for details

GS01 Integrating knowledge and skill in science curriculum
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
When teachers from the Hong Kong Baptist Convention Primary School planned to organize the module on “Lives and their Environment”, they agreed that the learning objectives should not be restricted to the attainment of concepts but also the development of the observation skill. In order to foster students to integrate such knowledge and skill, teachers rearranged the modules so that students were guided to make detailed observation on focused species in building their concepts. Through such an approach, students come to appreciate more on the intimate relations between lives and their environment.

...... Please click here for details

GS02 Making good use of the community resources for carrying out life-wide learning activities
Part 1 Part 2
Teachers from two schools have made very good use of their school environments and the community resources for organizing the life-wide learning activities for their P6 and P4 students on the topics “Environmental Pollution” and “Monuments in Yuen Long” respectively. After participating in the life-wide learning activities, groups of students were requested to complete projects on a relevant sub-topic derived from the main theme. The learning experiences provide opportunity for students to apply textbook knowledge to daily life in the community. The life wide learning opportunity makes learning more authentic and it helps develop students’ understanding and concerns to their communities.

......Please click here for details

GS03 Vertical Development of General Studies Curriculum

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
The speaker will share with the audience experiences earned and difficulties encountered when developing the whole school-based General Studies curriculum from P.1 to P.6. This involves modular organization, skills frameworks including generic skills, scientific inquiry skills and project learning skills. Practical issues like deployment of staff and administration arrangements, as well as key factors facilitating vertical curriculum development and improvement will also be addressed.

...... Please click here for details

GS04 Organizing cross-border study trips
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Three schools will share their experience in organizing cross-border study trips. These trips were organized for students of different age groups varying in size, and with different focus of study. Despite of the diversity, teachers maximized the learning opportunities for students with first hand experiences these sites could offer. Teachers from the schools would reflect on their experiences and commented on the effectiveness of the different modes and arrangements they adopted for the study trips. ......Please click here for details

GS05 Understanding project learning
Project learning as one of the Four Key Tasks in the curriculum reform has been receiving good attention from schools. However, what modes and strategies in promoting project learning help students learn best? What are the key success factors in different modes of project learning? How can we facilitate the vertical skills development across levels and collaboration among different subjects? In this session, teachers from 2 schools at different developmental stages will share their experience and reflections on promoting project learning in their schools.

 ......Please click here for details

GS06 Coherence making in General Studies modules
When developing the General Studies school-based curriculum, teachers may face questions like: How to organize units into a learning module? How to make sense of the coherence? How to develop students’ high order thinking? How to enhance students’ skills in project learning? How to assess students’ learning? The P.2 teachers at C.C.C. But San Primary School attempted to address the above issues in their curriculum planning. Drawing on their reflections on teaching and learning materials, student projects and assessment papers, they will share with the audience how coherence making is achieved in the modular design in the General Studies curriculum.

......Please click here for details