Infographics in school

I had started thinking about the use of infographics in the context of our school since the end of last year. I thought that it is another way in which information can be communicated visually. My interest in this area went back a couple of years ago when I stumbled onto a related article in the Wallpaper magazine, where a design firm was engaged in helping corporations communicate their often crowded and complex fields of information. Immediately then, I thought it would make some sense in school. With my opportunity to contribute in the Corporate Communications Committee this year, this is one area which I wanted to explore.

I realised that more and more infographics are also being used on websites for the past year, Gizmodo and Wired have good sources of really inspiring images that demonstates ideas and relative information which would otherwise have not been so easy to understand. 2 of such examples I can think of is the explanation of how much storage can a terabyte hold and how much is a trillion dollars in physical bills.

After familiarising myself a little with vector graphics, I went on to produce 2 simple infographic so far. One for AFL and the other for one of our strategic thrusts.

3 critical questions on Assessment for Learning

Infographic on Strategic Thrust 1

I have been quite pleased with how the visuals turned out so far. The next thing I need to do is to communicate this to my team and think about how these visuals can be used, and try to find out what kind of effect they have.

Replacing beliefs

I had one of the most amazing learning experiences in my Sec 3 Art class yesterday. And yes, it is NLP related.

I had thought for a long while how NLP can be used in the overall improvement of pupils' performance during art lessons which needs to be carried out professionally. I had only gained confidence after reading about how language teachers in the US had successfully done it when they are teaching native English speakers a foreign language. What I had found out is that the language teachers will dim the lights, and with baroque music playing in the background, attempt to replace existing beliefs of the pupils with a more empowering one, one that allows them to believe that they already know and are competent in using the foreign language, and that it is just for some reason that they had forgotten how to use it. Teachers will teach in the context that empowers the pupils' belief that they already know.

Excited to know of the success of this approach in teaching languages, I was really eager to see its effect on drawing skills. For the class yesterday, the Sec 3s were doing their very first still life drawing in school. Nobody came with any prior experience on such drawing skills. Each had a capsicum as specimen and everyone went through a 1h 30min session of still life drawing after having seen a sample of a finished work and some general pointers to look out for. After the 1h 30min, a critique session was carried out to highlight the strengths and weaknesses and a short 10min break was given to allow pupils to refresh themselves.

When the 2nd part of the lesson's activity began, I did what I found out from the NLP exercises. I told everyone in the class that we are going through some mental strengthening activities, I dimmed the lights, asked the pupils to close their eyes and told them to believe that they are already accomplished artists, that all these drawing skills are already part of their talented skill set... and it is just that they have somehow forgotten about them.

When the lights went back on, I asked all the pupils to do another drawing of their capsicum, only this time totally immersed in the belief that they already have the skills, and that the activity is the most natural and effortless extension of their talented abilities. Remembering that they had already mastered this skill before and it is only a matter of reacquainting with it. This exercise was controlled at 20min, a much shorter duration compared to the first drawing session.

I collected the samples for analysis and asked the class about their responses in the activity, 2/3 of them answered 'yes' when asked if they felt they were already stronger in their drawing skills in the second drawing exercise. As we were out of time, I went on to dismiss the class.

When I checked the samples, exactly 2/3 (although I am not sure if they are the same group of pupils who felt that they were stronger in the second excercise) had shown an improvement over their previous drawing, although the time given is significanlty shorter.

Although I was really tired after a long day, the outcome of the setup lingered in my head for the whole time I was awake last night. This realisation is going to impact my approach in many areas of teaching.

This brings to mind an inspiring NLP quote, "Do not think about who you are, instead think about who you expect yourself to be."

This is neuro-science stuff is simply marvelous!

Empowering beliefs

My recent interest in NLP made me realise that I have stumbled onto a great set of skills which is crucial in human communication, and I am grateful for being exposed to such useful ideas. Having read more about this subject matter have anchored my personal conviction in the power of belief and its very knitted relation to our experience of reality. Very strong stuff, the skills are very systematic and easy to understand but require conscious and intentional practice.

What I had originally imagined to be a set of skills useful for persuasion turned out to be in fact a lot more inward looking, having the focus really on the self, and mastering one's mind in altering perception. Decisions and actions are all intrinsically linked to that. Incidentally, the mental exercises I found out in NLP are similar to the Engaged Mastery course the SMC had gone through, although they have been packaged differently.

These new found skills and ideas will find their usefulness in many educational situations and I am excited about the prospect of empowering my Sec 4N Art pupils the belief in achieving their best when everyone signs up to take their O Level Art exams this year.

The gauge to our methods

New canvas art on school walls

Yes! 2010. Brand new year to start our processes and methods. The O Level results were launched yesterday. Mixed feelings for those numbers which appeared for Art.

I am very happy that our Sec 4N pupil who bravely took up the challenge to take her O Level Art this year topped her class! I am really delighted for her achievement, for I can vividly remember that it was barely 2 years ago that the same girl belonged to the lower tier of the class in academic scores. Through her strong belief in herself, and that excellence can be derived from repeated practice, all her time and energy in this had paid off, handsomely in fact, with a glorious A1.

Her achievement serves as an excellent example for the power of belief. It serves as a reminder to all of us that decisions precede action, and that the mind will have to expect itself to succeed before the corresponding actions and behaviours kick in. She shines as a great role model for her juniors, and especially so for her contemporaries in the NA stream who can now firmly assure themselves that such levels of performance are certainly within their abilities.

Although the proportions of distinctions have improved over last year's, the results also gave us fresh perspectives on how time and energy played out their parts in the resultant equation. It is not all direct I have to say, and I can imagine our pupils' frustation when they missed their As after doing so much. We need to furthur decode this aspect of assessment and have even more clarity in guiding intent. In other words, we have to work smarter.

The thing which broke my heart is to witness for the first time an art pupil not passing in this subject. Although the candidate had also not cleared her Prelims prior to her O Levels, I had thought that the last push was sufficient to carry her over, apparently it was not. For me, a failure is both unacceptable and unnecessary. This is an additional subject taken after school, and in this selective context, should deliver premium returns to pupils so that the fruits of their labour do count towards something.

There are many lessons to learn each time the results are out.