Observation

Ah yes, the best part and the main focus of this portfolio. This is where I will be describing my 2-week experience in Nexus. I apparently had been paired with Irdina who is one of my friends/ classmates/ batchmates. Due to the immense generosity as well as our very- able enthusiasm, Year 4 had been bestowed upon us. But wait, there's more, it has been segmented into 3 parts - 4N, 4E and 4X thus concluding this as big class. There are 3 teachers assigned to each class where Mr. Crews, Ms. Kit May and Ms. Rhian are in charge of, Ms. Jenny is also in charge of these 3 classes but her role is mainly as a teacher's aide (and also the one who decorates all three of the classrooms).

My partner of 2 weeks in Nexus

The first thing students would notice once they set foot into their learning environment is the classroom and it plays a very active role in their learning process. It is a very reactive role, if the classroom feels stuffy, the teachers' mood would be affected and the students' concentrate would drastically decrease as they are focusing on the temperature instead of the learning process and thus disrupting the learning experience. However, none of the class has experienced any distractions at the time.

Mr. Crews' classroom

Because the teachers are given the freedom to customize their classrooms, each of their decorations are different. Aside from that, the most default attribute in all classes of Nexus is the size and space where it allows the students to roam, it in a sense plays a psychological role on the students and the teachers, the spaciousness promotes a sense of freedom and the brightness is mostly due to the large windows which to me, I believe it stimulates the students to think beyond and challenges them to exit their comfort zones to try when it comes to learning, not only that it lightens the mood of the atmosphere so it makes them to anticipate them to come to class everyday. There were of course various posters as a recap of what they have learnt and their work on displays which the students would sometimes stop and admire at their masterpieces. Another thing that is similar to any classroom in Nexus, the seating plan of the students consist of groups of 4 or 5 in a considerably large table where they have to interact and work together whenever a task is assigned to them; apparently everyone seemed to get along pretty well with each other and had no problems to be grouped or paired with anyone in the class. Not only that, there are an assortment of stationery readily prepared for the students' convenience, in case of the students don't have enough spaces, they could place their things in their personal pigeon hole.

Our welcoming gift from Ms. Jenny, which will be accompanying us for the rest of the 2 weeks.

They get to sit wherever they like in their comfort spot.

They call it collaborative teaching, despite being segmented, the 3 teachers would take turns swapping classes to teach their students, the classrooms were not fully walled, the adjustable panels allow the students to be able to shift from 1 class to another, and from this I managed to notice that the students didn't stick to 1 teacher, one of things that I found out is that subjects such as English and Mathematics, the students are divided into 3 sets - Beginning, Developing and Mastering levels and in each of these levels had also been segmented to mini sets with the same levels as well. The purpose is to allow the teachers to know and understand every student's competency levels. Regardless whether the students noticed this or not, they don't seem to have any problems with it but rather feel motivated by this and were willing to finish their tasks. One of the best things that I wish I could experience as a Primary student is that reading period where we get to pick books of any kind to read and the students in Nexus are indeed lucky, this induces their interest in reading as well as acquire knowledge that is outside the classroom.


Mr. Crews, Ms. Kit May and Ms. Rhian have their unique way of teaching and the students seemed to enjoy their presence:

An avid tech user, Mr. crews would always include the use of technology to his students given the chance, he would assign students class work using QR codes for them to scan so that they could work individually and effortlessly. He would ensure his students wouldn't have to break a sweat in works and would willingly assist any student whenever they are in need.



A graduate from Taylor's University, Ms. Kit May is a pioneer group who is fairly new to Nexus. Her teaching style is more slanted to orderliness and would always put her classroom to full use and is always seen to be using the white board more so that she could further give her students a deeper understanding, her method is to induce a sense of group cohesiveness as she would do hands-on demonstration on questions the students find difficult.

Ms. Rhian who is a friendly yet firm teacher. She would readily call out those who misbehave but would never harshly reprimand them as they students would immediately snap out of their behavior and resume to pay attention. Rally Robin is often used by her as she wanted her students to be confident in their ideas and opinions. She would regularly discuss with her students the answers in groups.

A very effective way of teaching the students was that the teachers would mark the students' work right on the spot so that they would receive immediate feedback on their work which allows them to know their progress in an instant.

Whenever the students are sent to LOTE (language classes) they would flock together and discuss their students' progress as well as planning on what and how they are going to teach for the coming week. From their daily interactions, friendly competitiveness is evident and Mr. Crews is always the target of Ms. Kit May and Ms. Rhian where they would jokingly refer him a "show-off" when it comes to the immense use of technology.


According to Ms. Jenny, no batch is the same, she stresses that we have to think on our feet and immediately learn from our mistakes so that we will be ready to solve problems if it reoccurs. We also have to fully understand our students as well as be flexible in our teaching method where we must find a "one size fits all" teaching method so that none of the students would be left out.


In addition, there are PLA (Personal Learning Assistant) teachers to help certain students who require more attention such as Autism, Dyslexia, Hyperactivity and etc. Each PLA is assigned to a special student and they would have to recap, teach and assist the student so that they wouldn't fall behind. Being a PLA requires immense patience and must be mentally prepared over whatever they type of student behavior do they have.

Ms. Tina preparing a much more challenging question to her student

Not only that, the classroom teacher plays an active role in the special students' learning progress too. They would try in include these students to participate in Rally Robins and classroom discussions. The PLAs would report to the classroom teachers their progress too on a weekly basis.