Dinner and Karaoke

Friday, 30 March 2018

Good Friday is a public holiday in Singapore.  Religion in Singapore is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices due to its diverse ethnic mix of peoples originating from various countries.  A 2014 analysis by the Pew Research Center found Singapore to be the world's most religiously diverse nation.  Although Christianity only comprises 18% of the population, Good Friday is a religious public holiday because each major religion receives two public holidays on the federal calendar.  So there was no school today.  I spent the day catching up on school emails, emailing schools in Australia to try and visit, and working on my inquiry project.  For dinner, I met up with Katie and Carrie near Katie's apartment.  We got Indian food at the nearby hawker center and then went to a karaoke bar across the street.  It was a bizarre experience as the majority of people singing were women in ball gowns with pageant-type numbers pinned to them.  If they sang well, someone in the audience could buy them a sash for $50.  Also, they were all singing in Chinese.  We put in some English song requests (Katie and Carrie sang).  I didn't sing.  Not because I don't love karaoke, but everyone here was legit a great singer (Katie and Carrie included), and I didn't think it would be appreciated if I requested Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday, or Janis Joplin (my go to karaoke options). I prefer playing bar dice (still not sure how it say it in Mandarin).

Problem Solving class and leading a workshop

Thursday, 29 March 2018

Today I observed the problem solving class again.  Each time I am able to see new strategies that the kids seem to learn through the problem solving process.  It is interested to see the different levels of grit that kids display and to speak with them afterwards to gain more insight and ask follow-up questions.

After the problem solving class, I hosted a 3 hour workshop for about 35 teachers and school leaders about using classroom video as a tool for professional development (VPLC - Video Professional Learning Community).  I wasn't nervous about presenting, but I was a little worried about the timing and if we really needed 3 hours like they had asked me to use.  It seems like most workshops for teachers in Singapore are 3 hours (whether they need to be that long or not is another question).  The workshop went really well though and I got great feedback on the survey from the participants.  I forgot to take any pictures, except for this one of the participants during the work time.

Some of the positive feedback participants shared on their surveys:

• "Good resources, and hands-on experiences."
• "Hands-on practice, tools and strategies are useful across subjects."
• "Very clear delivery, and very useful sharing."
• "The presenter shared very real examples. She is also very empathetic to all participants.  She is able to look into everyone's perspectives."

Polytech, Uni, and Career Day

Wednesday, 28 March 2018

Polytechnics, Universities, and professional visited school today for college and career day.  Many of the career professionals that spoke to the students were previous alumni from the school.  I loved talking with students about their future goals and aspirations (and how they felt like math would help them reach their goals).

It was also a coworkers birthday and we celebrated with cake and singing happy birthday in the staff room.  Thankful to get to be a part of this school community even if for a short time.

Lazy Sunday morning and Star Vista

Sunday, 25 March 2018

We slept in this morning, wrote some postcards, and replied to school emails.  We went over to the Star Vista area to eat lunch.  On the walk to the MRT, we saw Bren's favorite vehicle here.  We decided to eat at a tasty Vietnamese place that we had never tried and it did not disappoint.  There was also a Japanese market that we got some yummy Japanese ice cream treats at too.

True Colours Performance

Saturday, 24 March 2018

The U.S. Embassy emailed me earlier this week and offered us a pair of free tickets to the True Colours indoor performance tonight.  I got tickets reserved for Bren and I and it was an amazing performance.  The True Colours Festival brought together some of the world's foremost artistes and performing talents with disabilities in a multi-faceted celebration of talent.  This was the inaugural Asia Pacific festival of music, dance, and the arts and featured an international conference, an outdoor festival of inclusion, community outreach activities, and a unique, world-class indoor multimedia concert experience.  It was truly remarkable to see the performers!  After the performance we went to dinner with Carrie and Katie in Geylang. 

Math Workshops, School, and Running

Monday - Friday, 19-23 March 2018

Spring Break and beautiful Bali beach vacations are over, and now it's back to Singapore life.

Monday:  I attended a "Math Questioning" workshop at the Academy of Singapore Teachers today hosted by two Master Teachers.

Tuesday: I observed and co-taught a Calculus class, attended a school staff meeting, ate a delicious poke bowl for dinner, and beat the down pour of rain (which is good because I was dressed for a presentation and did not have an umbrella--rookie mistake), and gave a presentation in my grad school class in the evening.  I found a snail on the sidewalk after the rain on my walk home from from the MRT coming back from class.

Wednesday:  I went to campus today at the National Institute of Education (NIE) to meet with a professor who contributed to creating the problem solving course on which I am basing part of my inquiry project.  It was a very informative and fruitful discussion (and lots of beautiful flowers on campus).  I got a lot of ideas and details for my project as well as some suggestions on new trails to run in Singapore.  After meeting with Professor Leong, I went to Katie's apartment.  She cooked us a delicious thai lemon grass soup dinner and we recorded a podcast.  She is keeping a podcast rather than a blog while in Singapore.  The Boon Tong Kee restaurant has some cool lighting.

Thursday:  After school today, Bren and I went for a run a place called "The Ditch"--which ran along side of the canal.  It was a little shorter than expected because there was construction blocking some of the initially planned route, but it was still a nice run.  These kids were fishing in the canal.

Friday: After school today, Bren and I ran the MacRitchie Reservoir.  We ran 7.0 miles and finished with the sun setting over the lake.  It was really beautiful.  The duck (pictured below) seems to live along the reservoir trail entrance.  We see him each time we run here and he always has a crazed look in his eye, not to mention all the strange, red tumors.  We got thai green curry for dinner at the thai place in Thomson Plaza, Face Timed with Marjorie and Lucy and went to bed early.