The two students who I have interviewed for my survey, one in 8th grade and one in 6th grade are siblings from a Korean family who attend the International School of Yangon. I am currently tutoring both of them, and their mom has requested that we start off with the books, Midsummer night’s Dream by Shakespeare for the 8th grader, and Giver by Lowry and Holes by Sachar for the 6th grader using the textbooks they’ll be using at school in the following year. I am currently teaching SAT for the 8th grade student and TOEFL to the 6th grade student, but as teaching should be more student oriented, hence, I am redesigning the course so that we could be having weekly reading assignments and reading quizzes every week. The mom has also requested that we have more of Tedtalks – the first one I had assigned was on GRIT by Angela Duckworth – and I had assigned them essay writing based on the talk, and had shared sample essays from various students with one another (among the ten students I am tutoring) and so I’m also integrating Tedtalk further into my classes in order to meet the needs and desires of students and parents.
Also, for the 10th grade student who is currently studying SAT, she wanted to learn more about poem as she was studying Sylvia Plath in her class also at the same school, International School of Yangon. Hence, we have worked on Sylvia Plath together along with Emily Dickinson, and Edgar Allan Poe as well as Robert Frost whose poems are read in 12th grade IB English at the same school and seniors have done recently their international oral commentary (IOC) which I was able to teach with another 12th grade student. It was not only good study for her but also preparation for future studies at school, and such student-centered learning approaches will be effective ways to be shaping by weekly tutoring classes with ten of my students.
And while I was substituting at my former school, International School of Yangon, I was able to interact with the 2nd grade students who were very eager to work together and ask intriguing questions. While studying about Aung San Suu Kyi, the political leader of Myanmar, as instructed as part of the curriculum designated for the day, she had shared her experiences of going over to Aung San Suu Kyi’s home for Christmas with her family and getting Christmas cookies from her. Students would be much more intrigued to learn about people or subjects integral to their lives, and Ms. Snow, the assistant teacher was also there to help us go through some of the perspectives of the Burmese people and their relationship and ties to the key political figure of Myanmar and her influence and significance in contributing to the country. Moreover, there was a student who had shared how she believed education would be the political tool through which we could be making this world a better place, and her conviction and voice was noteworthy, along with the reflections she had shared how, despite her dad telling her that she should be going to school, yet she stopped on her way to look at the poor people on the way, and how we should all be paying attention to the poor people of the country. Though they were 2nd graders, I was very much surprised and impressed by the amount of creativity and capacity that they had as individuals with well-informed ideas and arguments, equipped with knowledge and skills to get them across succinctly and effectively. These students seemed to have had the answers within themselves, perhaps the role of teachers would be to help them find the answers and the strengths and skill sets that they have internally within them. Overall, it was a powerful and eyeopening experience for me.
EduContents 