By: VPs

Relevant Levels: All Staff

Date of Event/Programme/Item: Follow-up to Wednesday's PD

Deadline to Note: NA

Information Details:

Dear everyone, at Wednesday's PD session on restorative practice and PosEd, P opened the session with a sharing about some of the boys-centric aspects of student engagement, TSR and management. He shared from the book Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys, available in the Staff Resource/Reading Cupboard in the Staff Lounge, and urge all to give it a read, if at least the introduction chapter.

Attached here is a pdf of just the Introduction chapter, plus 2 other articles. You could download them for your reading pleasure. They are very readable, do take time to look through them, and reconnect with our personal mission that made us first come into teaching :D

Here are two extracts from the middle article "Relationships Play Primary Role in Boys’ Learning" -

"Teachers and boys alike attributed the greatest number of relational successes to teachers’ efforts to meet their individual needs, but almost twice as many boys as teachers attributed relational success to teachers’ mastery of their material, effective classroom management, and maintaining standards ... boys stressed their appreciation and admiration for teachers who established clear expectations, held them to high (but attainable) standards and, through various affective gestures, convinced them that they could succeed in meeting them."

"For their part, boys attributed relational breakdown to: • The perceived inability of teachers to present course material and performance expectations in a clear, compelling way; • The perception of teachers as aloof and uninterested in them personally; • The perception of teachers as inappropriately angry, judgmental, sarcastic, and authoritarian; and • The perceived inability of teachers to maintain order and to establish a civil, emotionally safe classroom climate. Boys’ negative accounts included little assumption of personal responsibility for the relational impasse; in their accounts of relational success, they frequently acknowledged the difficulties and challenges they presented to teachers."

We would also like to encourage everyone - do not be too disheartened about the 8% more recalcitrant boys, but to broaden the base of our good work to help the majority 92% of our boys grow in the goodness of character and heart to look after each other, build good social skills and SSR, to do good as one caring community. :D

In line with our Founder's Day & 170 Lassalle in Asia and our Lasallian Formation Day theme this year - To Dream is Our Way Forward, rallying and co-creating that better world, together!

P.S.: Boys need and respect order in order to thrive, even while ironically many boys are generally messy. Please do read the Newsletter in the Student Well-Being item below too about routines and order for the classroom - it applies to our boys in general as well. :D

By: Student Well-Being

Relevant Levels: P1 to P6

Date of Event/Programme/Item: NA

Deadline to Note: NA

Information Details: Read on to find out about Setting Expectations and Routines as we continue our journey towards a positive classroom culture. Click the link to explore additional information on establishing structured routines for your students!

Do complete these microlearning units (MLU) on OPAL to extend your understanding about building a positive classroom culture.

• (SEN) Building A Positive Classroom Culture - Unit 1 Establishing Classroom Routines (7 mins)

• SEN:se Online PD Unit 3.1 - Introduction to Building a Positive Classroom Culture (10 mins)

By: Discipline Committee

Relevant Levels: All

Date of Event/Programme/Item: Week 3 onwards

Deadline to Note: -NA

Information Details:

Dear Colleagues,

We will proceed with Morning Assemblies in the Hall by levels, following our announcements recently. Teachers involved will report to the hall by 7.15am. Please go through the enclosed slides and do take note of the SOPs in the hall.

Credere et Servire,

Yasmin