Kimerlee Ami Soo Ting

#03769747

12th April, 2016

Curriculum study
I started out my curriculum study with a very clear problem in my mind concerning my students.
Having struggled for years with the whining from students who hated mathematics but had
somehow wounded up in my CAPE Economics class, it was a clear choice for me when I heard I
was required to pinpoint a problem faced in my classroom. My problem was the student aversion
to mathematical applications in Economics and their general lack of confidence in performing
these quantitative applications. The students that ultimately come to our sixth form school are the
students who had difficulty getting into their former school for various reasons and tend to be
weak academically. As hard as it is for me to admit, the students who eventually come to our
school, most times have been rejected by other schools and do not have a burning desire to be
there. Additionally, our academic requirements for entry is the bare minimum as stipulated by the
Ministry of Education. Since mathematics is not a requirement for entry into Alevels, it is not
unlikely that students who do not possess a pass in Olevel mathematics, do end up pursuing
Economics at advanced level.
I had the problem clear in my mind but the strategy I would employ posed some difficulty. I had
explained to my supervisors that I would have liked to employ a strategy of encoding and
decoding meshed with problem solving instruction, which would have seen students
manipulating quantitative data to qualitative and vice versa. I gathered that Ms. Barras in
particular foresaw I would run into problems when it came to the Literature Review. However, I
persisted with what I wanted to do because quite frankly Im a little bit stubborn. Its like she had
a premonition, because so said so done, I got extremely frustrated with the literature review
because I could not find information on encoding and decoding, even after searching through all

Kimerlee Ami Soo Ting

#03769747

12th April, 2016

the previous curriculum studies in the library. Frustrated but too arrogant to concede defeat, I
battled with Chapter two for weeks. Mrs. James eventually stepped in and suggested I go see Dr.
Lochan and of course my heart dropped straight to my big toe.
I came to campus early that Tuesday afternoon, as I was carded to have a meeting with Dr.
Lochan. My feelings of anxiety exacerbated by my belief that he does not like me. I
eventually waltzed into his office with the confidence of a lion about to devour prey. To my utter
surprise Dr. Lochan was extremely professional and got straight down to business, asking the
pertinent questions to the curriculum study. After a short discussion we agreed to focus on
problem solving instruction and a disguised use of decoding and encoding. I must admit that
after leaving his office that day I felt liberated with respect to the curriculum study. It became
clear what I was going to do, how I was going to execute my task and how to complete the
literature review. Though this journal may be the only place I would admit it, Dr. Lochan is a
man of great knowledge and he really did help me that day.
I set off to school, eager to implement my curriculum study. The curriculum study truly went
well and I honestly believe the students enjoyed a break away from the regular type of class and
enjoyed solving their own problems. Deep down inside I feel that during the curriculum study
classes the students learnt more information and felt connected to the problems before them,
however my concern was of how useful the knowledge gained would be for passing exams.
Mrs. James did attend one of my curriculum classes and indicated how much she enjoyed the
discussions on the problems and noted that the students had a lot of fun. Overall I think the
implementation of the curriculum study was a success but I do not think that I can afford to do
these kinds of classes throughout the year with an exam class, since I achieved less objectives

Kimerlee Ami Soo Ting

#03769747

12th April, 2016

than I would normally have done using traditional teaching techniques. I guess for me as a
teacher, my most challenging enemy is time and syllabus completion.
The write up of the curriculum study itself proved challenging also. I felt a feeling of nostalgia
with the data analysis as I got memories of my bachelors and masters degrees. I am still trying
to figure out if those are fond memories or not. The time crunch for curriculum submission
forced me into my former behaviour of pulling all nighters to have the work completed. With
bags under my eyes I pressed on, In hindsight, the write up was not too bad compared to all the
scanning that needed to take place for the appendices. I mashed down on the accelerator and
managed to submit two days in advance, however I believe it was out of sheer frustration and
thoughts of the big monsters looming ahead. The monsters called final teaching practice and
the portfolio. In the blink of an eye curriculum study deadline came and passed and I got no
rest because I simply had to move on to the next hump in the road, the final teaching practice.
Sigh* It shall soon be over, I thought.