和40多年前教過的學生敍舊的感覺是怎樣的？
昨晚參加了當年第一間任教中學的60週年晚宴，看到很多當年教過的學生，有一些仍然認得，但經過40多年，不認得的恐怕更多。有趣的是，相隔這麼多年，今天交談時全無隔閡，這是師生關係奇妙之處。
全晚最大的發現，是原來學生仍清楚記得我當年教學的細節，例如我英文教法的activity-oriented；我對英文正確發音的堅持；我上課時如何involve每一個同學…..他們說到的很多細節，我不但很多都忘記了，甚至不察覺這些是當年自己的教學風格。
這再印證了一個格言：當老師的，不要忽略了自己的一言一行，對學生可能造成的影響。
少年時，當教師並不是我的志願，後來半意外的進入了教育界，卻成為一生其中一個最大的幸運。
昨天在一所低banding 中學觀課，又一次看見PGDE學員（在職教師)超卓的表現。
從我多年觀課的經驗(到今天我觀過的英文課已超過2000堂)，這些出色的表現反而在banding 高的學校觀課時不常看到；當然前提時學校雖然banding 不高，但老師有心，學生teachable 。
今天到這所banding 不高的中學觀課，抵達時正值學生lunch hour完畢回到學校；我進入校門時旁邊約中三的學生不停用粗口和他的同學交談；我拍拍他的手臂，請他不要在校內講粗口，他轉身看見我的衣著和年紀，立即說sorry。
作為visitor, 其實我可以詐聽不到，但我亦希望借此機會警醒他，要講粗口也要留意環境。例如如果他以後在學校附近的食肆午膳時，不再肆無忌憚的講粗口，那麼我先前的警醒也沒有白癈。
觀課開始，我坐在課室後排，兩分鐘後，有一女生敲門進入，這本來也很常見，但這女生步入班房後，卻直走到我身邊，用英語向我說話，我沒心理準備，但聽得出她大概的意思是道歉遲回課室，因先前見學校社工，以這間banding 不高的學校，這中三學生的英文已經說得很不錯了，但我因沒有心理準備，所以她道歉後我沒有特別表示。
下課離開課室時，我走到她的身邊，向她說：Your spoken English is quite good, 她聽後表情很詫異，隨即說：Really? 我加一句：Yes, your spoken English is quite fluent, 她露出半絲微笑，但看上去仍好像不相信。
離開學校後，我一直想，為何我稱讚她時她那麼詫異，這是一所banding不高的學校，莫非長久以來都沒有人肯定過她的spoken English? 今天我的一句稱讚，會否重建了她學英文的信心，重此加倍努力，成為出色的English speaker？ 又或者她因此覺得自己是一個有潛質的學生，發憤讀書，以致我今天的一句肯定成為她學習生涯的轉捩點？......
但，亦有可能，是我想多了。
自從有了ChatGPT, 在課堂中一些以前我會主動解釋的概念，現時間中我會請學員即時問ChatGPT, 其中一個目的，是讓學員看到如果是純知識，他們其實不用我去告訴他們，我亦希望借此培養他們的主動求知的精神。
這並不表示我備課變得輕鬆了，只是我的心思變為集中在設計一課的Learning activities, 怎樣的學習活動，怎樣的rundown, 才能再有效地幫助學員學到相關的知識，技能，和態度；這其實比製作一個供兩小時串講的PPT 更花時間，更考功夫，更加需要對題目有更深入的認識。
1993年美國學者Alison King 在一篇journal article 以此為題：From sage on the stage to guide on the side, 31年後的今天有了ChatGPT, 我們更加要反思自己的角色。
因著一個PD project,在三天內在一所中學內觀了15堂英文課和進行每一節課的課後debriefing, 不算輕鬆,但我可能是最大的受益人，除了在老師身上獲得教學靈感，看到他們的課室技巧外，最大的收獲是深深被整個英文科團隊的專業精神和水平所感染，他們有這麼多繁重工作，仍然可以有這樣的專業表現，教學設計這麼有創意，我還可以鬆懈嗎?
況且他們把英文教學和social and global issues 甚至學科知識結合起來，而不是為教英文而教英文，這正是我最喜歡的approach!
有時我也懷疑以香港教育界的生態，是否真的可以達至優質的教學，謝謝這團隊再次reinforce我對優質學與教的信念。
昨天和當年初為人師時教過的學生午膳敍舊，她們有快將退休的，有甚至已經提早退休的。
感嘆歲月流逝之餘，也覺得教學是一個很獨特的行業；其他人對人的專業，例如醫生，社工，臨床心理學家，服務完結後便不能，或不宜，和服務對象繼續有接觸；但當教師，分分鐘可以和舊學生保持數十年的聯繫！
我們說教育事業是生命影響生命，一般是指教師的生命影響學生的生命。但對我來說，這是相向的，教師的生命亦會被學生的生命影響。
朱子穎校長說得對，人工智能不會淘汰老師，但如果教學，或利用AI 於教學上，仍停留於純知識(其實很多時甚至不是知識而只是information)的單向傳授，那就很沒意思了。21世紀的教師，更要思考如何增强a guide on the side的角色，而不是繼續做the sage on the stage。
這亦是為什麼今天當我看見一些教師教grammar時，仍停留在單向解釋那些其實不可靠的grammar rules，然後期望學生「學會」時，我那麼大感觸。
中大盧煜明教授獲拉斯克獎，他分享經歷時，說在英國習醫時，「教授話呢個技術(無創產檢)可以改變世界喎，我都想學吓點樣改變世界。」
教書教了一段日子，你一定會有某些屆別的學生令你特別懷念，他們團結，彼此關心，彼此激勵，於是營造出積極，愉快，温馨的上課氣氛。教他們成為最enjoyable和rewarding的經驗。
這樣的class spirit背後是某些可遇而不可求的同學之間的group dynamics, 仿佛他們當中有某些很難解釋的chemistry,出現化學反應後形成團結，積極，彼此關心的氛圍。沒有這chemistry, 老師如何努力班级經營，也很難出現多年後你還很懷念的一班。
如果你的教學生涯多幾班這樣的學生，這便是幾生修到。
This study on sense of purpose in life by Greater Good Science Center, a nonprofit, may not have been a very rigorous piece of research. But the results analyed according to profession should be encouraging (but perhaps not particularly surprising) to those of us working in Education. Among the major professions, Education came second, just after Mental Health/Social Services, in terms of practitioners' sense of purpose in life.
To me, ‘a good teacher’ is a general term. The question boils down to how ‘good’ should be defined. Some people may equate ‘good’ with ‘caring’, while others may equate it with ‘being nice’. Still there will be those who define ‘a good teacher’ as a pedagogically competent teacher.
All of us want to be looked upon as good teachers. And
indeed we may receive that compliment once in a while, for example when someone
says it out of social courtesy. At the end of the day, we ourselves have to
contemplate in what ways we want to be ‘good’ as teachers.
To me, the description ‘a successful teacher’ takes into
account those on the receiving end, i.e., the students. A successful teacher
succeeds in changing the students in one way or another, whether in terms of
knowledge, or skills, or attitude.
Today, within changing students in terms of attitude, I
would highlight one teacher success factor: the successful teacher ignites in
his/her students a curiosity, enthusiasm, and even passion, in continuing to further
their investigation of the course subject matter even when the course is over.
This is because we are now living in the 21st century. With knowledge
being multiplied day by day, every university course, even those at advanced
levels, will only scratch the surface. For me, this disposition to lifelong
learning is of paramount importance. To sum up, if I see a student continuing
to explore my course subject matter even after the end of the course, that is
the kind of success that I will most value.
One major challenge in employing active learning strategies in teaching university classes for some courses (especially, the more ‘general’ ones) is certainly large class size. Students are seated in large lecture theatres, and in rows. The setting itself already encourages chalk and talk by the instructor. Even setting up group discussions is not that easy. Then, the large class size makes it difficult to administer and manage active learning activities. For example, it is difficult for the instructor to provide help to individual groups. There will never be enough time for individual to report their work to the whole class.
The lecturing to large classes may save costs, but it is a
very 20th century teaching activity. Of course, this is not to say
that all large-class lecturing should be dispensed with. But first, such
lectures should be shortened and condensed (especially given today’s shortened
attention span of EVERYBODY), and instead, should be complemented with other
modes of learning.
Fortunately (for me), today even with large classes, there
are still e-learning strategies which can facilitate some forms of active learning,
even if students are seated in rows in a large lecture theatre. For example,
there are now many useful polling and quiz apps for tapping into students’
views, previous knowledge, answers to quick questions, etc. (e.g., AnswerGarden,
PollEverywhere, QuestionPro, Quizizz, Socrative). There are also apps for students
to easily share their ideas (e.g., Padlet, Google Jamboard). There are also
apps for creating short interactive tasks, which may be administered at
intervals during a lecture (e.g., Wordwall; LearningApps.org).
To me, one way to motivate students to engage actively and participate in a lesson is when they see the purpose of the class session, and how it contributes to their future endeavours. However, sometimes this is easier said than done. If a course, or a class session, is closely related to what students HAVE TO complete soon, then this actual need will easily spice up the students, even if this is only extrinsic motivation. One example is the class session on Lesson Planning, which is usually conducted towards the end of my 17-session Subject Curriculum and Teaching (English) course on the Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme. The students, who are either preservice or inservice ESL teachers, will be supervised for teaching practicum soon after the Subject Curriculum and Teaching course. During the lesson observations, they will be assessed on, inter alia, their lesson planning skills. In this scenario, it is not difficult to motivate students to engage activity, as they will have a chance to, and in fact need to, apply the lesson planning ideas soon in their own teaching.
It is less easy, however, when the course, or the class
session, has no immediate application value to the students, especially if the course
is more theoretical in nature. For a four-year undergraduate programme, students
may not ‘feel’ the future importance of a course if it is offered in the first
or second year of study. Sometimes, even the whole programme may not be one
that is ‘practical’ or career-oriented.
It is under such circumstances that the task for course
instructions to motivate students to engage them actively becomes even more
challenging. The course instructor may then have to strive to (a) show the
intrinsic value of, and stimulate intrinsic
interest in, the course content itself, and (b) make the class sessions
themselves more interesting and rewarding, utilising a variety of teaching techniques
(e.g., ‘small teaching’ strategies (Lang, 2016)) .
Lang, J. M. (2016). Small teaching : everyday lessons from
the science of learning. Jossey-Bass & Pfeiffer.
In the 'Make a difference' movie, Teddy Stallard, MD, at his wedding, thanked his elementary school teacher Ms Thompson: "Thank you for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important, and showing me that I could make a difference. (Teddy was once an at-risk student in elementary school, but Ms Thompson turned his life around.). It's Ms Thompson's reply that has resonated with me ever since: "Teddy, you've got it all wrong. You're the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you." This reply resonates with me because it reminds me that it's the students whom I have had that have served as the stimulus to my becoming a good teacher (and perhaps, even a better human being). Without them, I won't know the true meaning of teaching, and how to be a good teacher: "I didn't know how to teach until I met you."
有時候集中精神備課，完成後放在一旁，隨後在散步時，或甚至在沐浴期間，腦中會突然就先前的備課出現新的更有趣的點子，可以在先前的設計中採用。(剛剛又在我身上出現。)
這樣的經驗不少心理學家都提過，有創意或有趣的點子，往往在第一輪專注的思考之後，在放鬆的情況下才會突然出現。
這亦提醒我，要準備一個重要的presentation, 盡可能早一點開始設計。至於被觀課的老師，也愈早準備愈好。
不少教師好像沒有怎樣放過暑假，又開學了，這因為暑假中要重新策劃開學後如何網上授課。但有教師亦覺得因此多了空間備課，多了時間思考教與學的事情，因而有滿足感。
今早開會的賽馬會翻轉教學project school, 正是當年初出茅廬任教的第一間學校，它確立了我日後對教育工作的commitment 。今早開會後我又想起當年難忘的一幕。
As someone with zero background in I.T., I dread any term with the word 'coding' in it. Anyhow, I came across the term 'vibe c...
