emPowereD Issue 6

emPowereD PD FOR SELF . PD FOR OTHERS MAY 2022 | ISSUE 06

CHARACTER AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION HOW CAN TEACHERS GUIDE OUR STUDENTS TO NAVIGATE THE COMPLEXITIES OF TODAY'S FASTCHANGING WORLD?

FROM THE EDITORS Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) is fundamental for the balanced, holistic growth of our students. CCE constitutes an important way through which schools can promote the development of our students' character, social-emotional well-being and citizenship dispositions.

How should we engage students effectively so that they can internalise key principles and values and apply them to current and future situations? How can we be intentional in helping students make links and reinforce what they learn during CCE lessons and experiences beyond the classroom? In what ways can we draw out students’ individual strengths and nurture their talents so that they can soar to greater heights?

In this sixth issue of EmPowereD, we explore how CCE can serve as a powerful and effective platform for students to develop the skills and attitudes that enable them to become confident people, self-directed learners, active contributors and concerned citizens.

CONTENTS CHECK-IN

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PD FEATURE

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ONE IDEA

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Use hot seating as a technique to discuss contemporary issues and facilitate discussions.

Read about the importance of CCE in nurturing in our students the values, skills and dispositions to deal with future challenges.

Read about how empathy is fostered through English Langauge and Literature.

FROM THE EXPERTS

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Find out more about social-emotional learning in the classroom.

EMPOWERED ASKS

Find out more about the role of the Professional Development Planning Office (PDPO) in our interview with the former Director of PDPO, Mr Teoh Tiong San.

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Using hot-seating as a technique to discuss CCE issues

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HOT-SEATING THE CCE TEACHER Hot-seating is a drama convention in which a character is questioned by the group about his or her background, behaviour and motivation. It's a technique that can be used in CCE lessons.

Given the current educational landscape, CCE teachers are faced with challenges such as facilitating the discussion of contemporary issues and sensitive topics. Do you feel like you are sometimes put in the hot seat? Read this issue to find out how you can build your students' character, social-emotional well-being and citizenship dispositions!

How do I discuss contemporary issues?

How do I manage diverse views?

How do I facilitate challenging discussions?

Find out the importance of CCE in nurturing in our students the values, skills and dispositions to deal with future challenges!

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In Singapore, CCE is at the heart of education. Through a school-wide approach, students learn values, social-emotional competencies, and develop citizenship dispositions and a sense of purpose that enable them to grow holistically.

The Taxonomy of Teacher Competencies for CCE articulates the knowledge, skills and dispositions that teachers need to develop at the different stages of their professional growth.

It serves as a common reference for teachers to: a) reflect on current practice and learning needs, b) determine and prioritise areas for growth, and c) plan their professional development.

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How can teachers make CCE lessons interesting, engaging and meaningful for their students?

Narratives are a powerful way to engage students.

However, beyond sharing personal stories and experiences, there are a variety of other pedagogical approaches and teaching strategies to make CCE lessons interesting and meaningful. These include discussions and activities based on authentic scenarios, role-playing and a variety of other hands-on and interactive ideas.

How can students learn and demonstrate values, social-emotional competencies and citizenship dispositions?

Provide them with space to share views and ideas on issues Teach them to listen to one another's perspectives, to sensitise them to the feelings of others Encourage them to clarify their views, beliefs and assumptions Influence them to make sound, values-based decisions through highlighting consequences of their thoughts and actions Ensure that they apply empathy and fairmindedness in their views and perspectives

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It is important that teachers adopt an objective stance and allow for multiple perspectives to surface, and not shortcircuit the thinking process for students. Clarifying questions should be asked to provide the opportunity for students to explore, examine and express the thinking behind their perspectives. They should be encouraged to substantiate their views with evidence and avoid hearsay.

Views that are consistent with societal norms and/or national stances on particular issues, should also be critically considered, along with other views.

Ultimately, students will need to understand why certain positions are maintained at the national level and we should respect that point of view along with others. They also need to be aware that it is natural for social norms and conventions to evolve and change slowly over time, while some beliefs and values remain embedded in human society regardless of the passage of time.

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What are the PD opportunities available for teachers to equip themselves with skills for teaching CCE? Teachers can participate in job-embedded PD organised by their schools, CCE learning communities and professional learning teams.

PD of teachers is aligned to the ‘SkillsFuture for Educators (SFEd) PD Roadmap’ for CCE.

The 'Guide to using Taxonomy of Teacher Competencies for Self-Reflection' supports teachers with questions and examples to reflect on their development and growth in the different CCE competency domains.

Professional development in CCE will be strengthened to ensure that teachers are better equipped to teach the subject.

READ ABOUT CCE PD OPPORTUNITIES (OPAL2.0 LOGIN IS REQUIRED)

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT TAXONOMY OF CCE TEACHER COMPETENCIES (OPAL2.0 LOGIN IS REQUIRED)

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How can schools develop effective partnerships with parents to reinforce the key messages taught in CCE? A STRONG SCHOOL-PARENT PARTNERSHIP BEGINS WITH TRUST Schools need to have frequent touchpoints between teachers and parents to assure parents that their children are in a caring and enabling school environment.

Schools need to facilitate professional dialogue with parents through clear communication of rationale and intent of school processes and curriculum.

Channels of Communication Parent Engagement Portal Parents’ Portal on School Website School Newsletter Formal Letters and Phone Calls Parents Gateway MOE Facebook Schoolbag.sg SEL Resources for Parents CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ESTABLISHING A CARING AND ENABLING SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT (OPAL2.0 LOGIN IS REQUIRED)

In unexpected times like the COVID-19 pandemic when activities beyond the classroom were curtailed, how did we ensure that students had a range of CCE learning experiences?

There were many good stories of how educators continued to believe, understand, and practise the dispositions, values and social-emotional competencies that we hoped for our students to learn.

The COVID-19 pandemic had not deterred educators from capitalising on ‘Every School Experience A CCE Lesson’.

Several activities were reconfigured to accommodate the restrictions while still providing students with a variety of learning experiences.

Virtual learning journeys to Asian Civilisations Museum and National Museum of Singapore

Secondary school students from uniformed groups participated in the National Day Parade virtual marching contingent

Virtual Singapore Youth Festival celebrations and SYF Art Exhibition

Selected sports of the National School Games (NSG) were carried out for the 'A', 'B' and 'Senior' Divisions

Teachers were very adaptable and creative in maneuvering the new constraints, with many schools having success stories to share.

Greendale Primary School’s Chess Club took the eCCA route to tap on the possibilities of self-directed online learning. Teacher-incharge Mr Yuen and Coach Lee used technology to integrate CCE into the CCA by teaching students about the possible dangers of cyber space and equipping them with online etiquette.

Ms Moritza Lim of Serangoon Secondary School used Zoom to involve students from a range of academic streams in a student interview talk show. This gave students the opportunity to contribute their ideas while also equipping them with interview skills.

Click the QR codes to read the full story.

Special thanks to the Character & Citizenship Education Branch as well as Guidance Branch for contributing the resources and providing invaluable input for this segment.

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One Idea Here's a series focusing on easy-toimplement strategies which you can adopt or adapt for teaching and learning.

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Fostering Empathy through English Literature Why did you embark on your PD project, Fostering Empathy through English Literature?

Empathy provides the individual with the capacity for taking another’s perspective in order to better understand their thoughts and feelings, and to act accordingly. This ability has been directly associated with pro-social behaviour, to act for the benefit of other people and for society as a whole. As an English teacher, I want to expose my students to multiple perspectives and world views. I want them to step into the shoes of people who are different from themselves and understand them.

Stories are a wonderful vehicle to enable this! I want to focus on equipping my students with social skills that are uniquely human, such as empathy. These traits, always valuable, are even more critical today in the face of a future where automation promises to play a big role.

These are traits that cannot be replaced by machines.

How did you and your team go about creating the lesson package?

We created the lesson package using Dialogic Pedagogy as a guide. Dialogic refers to conveying the meaning of the content, building on the views of others, clarifying by seeking information through questioning, summarising information, giving reasons to support views, and listening actively and responding appropriately to other individuals.

Dialogic Pedagogy considers students as participants who have equal voices to that of a teacher's. An authentic dialogic lesson allows students to be authors of their own learning as they initiate inquiries, delve in wonderment, and draw connections from their prior experiences, or respond to questions raised by others.

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How effective is the use of stories in teaching empathy?

By giving students an idea of what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes, all literature that deals with big ideas and emotions is good for teaching empathy. It is important to select stories with characters and settings that students can relate to so as to generate deeper discussions. Hooking students with an emotion or experience that they can relate to is a great way to get them thinking about people whose lives are very different from theirs. By helping my students to feel compassion, understanding, and patience for people whose lives are nothing like their own, I hope that I can push them to grow up to be responsible citizens who will make a difference in their worlds.

Describe the strategies used to teach empathy in English lessons.

With Literature texts and movies, we allow our students to experience literature that awakens their emotions and piques their sense of wonder. We promote literary growth through reading, reflecting and re-evaluating one’s response in light of the responses of others through group discussions. Students will also be given opportunities to articulate, whether orally or in written form, their thoughts, reflection and experience of a literary work and explain what an author has done to make a story work. They will then apply their learning through assigned tasks, presentations or Values-In-Action projects.

DESMOND LIM Outstanding Youth in Education Award Recipient (2020) Level Head, English Language Oasis Primary School

From the Experts Social and Emotional Learning in the Classroom

What is SEL? Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the acquisition of competencies (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes) that would help students to: Handle challenges Develop healthy identities Recognise and manage their own emotions Relate to others and develop positive relationships Develop a sense of responsibility, care and concern for others Make responsible decisions and act for the good of self, others and society.

Having strong Social-Emotional (SE) competencies helps students to develop personal effectiveness and well-being, live out their values and demonstrate good character and citizenship. These SE competencies are explicitly taught and learnt through CCE, within the broader context of values learning and application so that students can understand the purpose and meaningfulness of acquiring them. In our schools, SEL is explicitly taught in CCE lessons.

Students will learn the SE skills from these 5 interconnected SE domains: Self-awareness Self-management Social Awareness Relationship Management Responsible Decision-Making Source: CCE OPAL2.0 Wikipage

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Are you able to match the following SE DOMAINS to its descriptor?

Source: CCE2021 Teaching and Learning Guide

CLICK THE QR CODE TO FIND OUT IF YOU'VE MATCHED THEM ACCURATELY!

FOSTERING GROWTH MINDSET FOR SEL

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A growth mindset is important for the learning of social-emotional skills. Deep learning of skills takes place through a continual cycle of practice, receiving feedback, reflecting and incorporating what we have learnt into practice again. Some strategies to foster a growth mindset include: Providing attainable challenges Giving opportunities to face obstacles Changing the language used in the classroom Gamifying the learning process Encouraging multiple strategies for learning Viewing failure as learning Celebrating positive improvements Praising students for taking on challenges and persevering

How will you respond to your students in the following context(s)?

Source: Growth Mindset Information Discussion Evening Ben Ellis

Were you able to identify a fixed mindset response amongst the responses for the different contexts? Flip to the next page to find out!

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FOSTERING GROWTH MINDSET FOR SEL The responses highlighted in YELLOW are examples of a Fixed Mindset Response

Source: Growth Mindset Information Discussion Evening Ben Ellis

CLICK on the images below to find out more about the growth mindset!

Getting to the Can-Do Mindset

10 Ways Teachers Can Instill a Growth Mindset in Students

Scared of failure?

Here’s How Having a Growth Mindset Can Help

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Research has shown that we make thousands of decisions every day, often subconsciously. Just like adults, our students too, make many decisions every day, often sub-consciously. In fact, decision-making starts as soon as the alarm rings in the morning. Can I sleep in for a while more? Should I skip breakfast so that I can sleep in a while more?

Responsible decision-making enables us to apply moral reasoning and sound valuesbased judgement in the choices we make. So, how do we ensure that the decisions that we make are responsible decisions that are good not only for ourselves, but also for the good of others and society as well?

Here’s an activity that can be incorporated into our lessons/classroom activities: Problem-solving Strategy: The POOCH STRATEGY POOCH is a process that can guide students to generate solutions to problems by getting students to thoroughly analyse the situation, and to think through various possible options and solutions to the problem with consideration to the various moral issues involved. The steps are as follows: Identify the problem

Explore different options to solve the problem

Choose an option that is responsible

Discuss an outcome for each option

Reflect on how things went

CLICK THE QR CODE TO WATCH A VIDEO ON RESPONSIBLE DECISION MAKING Source: A Guide to the CORE SEL Competencies, Cap Aguilar & Clarissa Bridges, Panorama Education

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RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT Relationship management is a critical component of Social Emotional Learning.

According to ‘The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’ (CASEL), relationship management refers to the ability to build positive relationships, especially with diverse individuals and groups through applying SE skills such as active listening, and communication and conflict resolution skills.

It also includes the ability to resist pressure and to seek out and offer help.

Building relationships serves as a springboard to having a positive and healthy classroom environment, where everyone benefits. Investing time and effort in developing relationship skills contributes towards a positive class culture and students' sense of belonging.

Take a moment and reflect on strategies that you have used in your classrooms to foster healthy relationship managment skills amongst your students.

Some broad strategies to consider:

Model and Promote Positive Communication Skills

Incorporate Group Learning Strategies into Lessons

Teach Social Skills and Relationship Education

Teach Conflict Resolution Skills

CLICK the QR CODES to find out more!

Relationship Skills for Youths

Social-Emotional Learning: Relationship Skills

MLUs on Developing SE Competencies in Students (OPAL2.0 login is required)

Special thanks to the Character & Citizenship Education Branch as well as Guidance Branch for providing invaluable input for this segment.

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Mr Teoh Tiong San, founding Director of the Professional Development Planning Office (PDPO), and former Director of Professional Development Branch 2 (PDB2) shares his vision and aspirations for PDPO, as well as insights on teacher professional development.

emPowereD Asks

READ@Academy book recommendations Eager to deepen your learning?

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READ@Academy book recommendations Eager to deepen your learning?

Click on the titles below and check out these electronic resources from READ@Academy!

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