As an Educator

Teaching is a passion. 

I see myself as an educator whose responsibility is not only to teach a subject well but as a mentor who would guide each and every student to become a better person. 

For me, this passion to teach was ignited at age 18 after my 'A' Levels when I took up a History relief teaching position in a Secondary School. I had to take over a teacher who was on maternity leave and I taught History for a couple of months until I had to move on to NUS where I was awarded the MOE Scholarship for teaching. After completing NUS and I moved on to NIE for a year for my post-graduate diploma in Teaching. Finally, I become a Secondary School Teacher.  

Awards Received: 

1) MOE Scholarship for Teaching

In 2008, I was awarded the MOE Scholarship for Teaching from Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam. 

In July 2008, I went for a  MOE Scholarship Attachment Programme in Kranji Secondary School for 3 weeks. 

Subsequently, I was in Hillgrove Secondary School for my practicum and my workplace from 2009 to 2014.

2) Silver Excellence Service Award ( EXSA ) 

I received the Silver Excellence Service Award in 2013. 

The Excellent Service Award or EXSA is a national award that recognises individuals who have delivered quality service.

Qualifications: 

1) Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Merit by NUS

·         Majoring in History

·         Fulfilling MOE Scholarship requirement in the subject of English Literature.

2) Postgraduate Diploma in Education

(Specialisation in teaching at Secondary School Level) by NTU [NIE]

Teaching Subjects: 

I am trained in teaching History, Social Studies and English Literature. During my teaching career, I specialized in teaching Upper Secondary History, Social Studies and Lower Secondary English Literature. 

Teaching levels: 

History

• Secondary 3 Express
• Secondary 3 Normal Academic
• Secondary 4 Express
• Secondary 4 Normal Academic 
• Secondary 5 Normal Academic

Social Studies

• Secondary 3 Express 
• Secondary 3 Normal Academic
• Secondary 4 Normal Academic 
• Secondary 2 Normal Technical 

English Literature

• Secondary 1 Express
• Secondary 1 Normal Academic
• Secondary 2 Express 
• Secondary 2 Normal Academic

Committee Work

National Education Committee

2010-2011

Teacher in charge for:

· Racial Harmony Day

· National Day Celebration [ Concert ]

2012-2013

• Designed the NE framework for the school.

• Planned and executed the 4 main events of NE.

• Overall Teacher in charge of the National Day Parade and concert.

• Participated in the NE Seminar 2012

• Participated with the school leaders in a sharing session with Pioneer Junior College on NE programme.

• Attended Racial Harmony Day Forum on behalf of the school.

2013-2014

National Education (Citizenship Education Committee)

·         Role of the NE Coordinator : Deputy in charge of Citizenship Education Committee       

·         Advisor to teacher in charge of Racial Harmony Day and National Day.

·         Created a students’ Citizenship Education Corner

·         Set up a new Community Council (NE ambassadors) and be the overall teacher in charge.        

·         Participated in  W2 Cluster CCE Seminar

·         Coordinated and put up a Citizenship Education Wall.

Student Leadership Committee

2011

·         Organised Secondary 1 orientation.

·         Teacher in charge for student leadership training for all student leaders in the school.

·         I/C for Aesthetics CCA Leaders: Monitoring student leaders from the Aesthetic Groups.

·         Teacher in charge of the Student Activity Centre (SAC) .

2013

·         Teacher in charge of Community Council

o   Set up a new student leadership group- the community council to champion the CE cause in Hillgrove Secondary School.

o   Conducted frequent leadership trainin.

o   Planned, organized and conducted a 3D2N Leadership Camp in November 2013.

§  Camp theme: LOVE 

§  (L)eadership (O) pportunities (V)alidation (E)xploration

§  Camp objectives:

·         To build trust, friendship and bonds among the community ambassadors.

·         To equip the community ambassadors with the necessary skills to organize events effectively.

·         To bring out the leadership qualities in the community ambassadors.

o   Sourced for opportunities to help students to develop their leadership skills.

o   Trained and guides the Community Ambassadors to help out for the all Citizenship Education events.

2014

·         Overall Teacher in Charge of the Student Council.

·         Under my charge: 4 assisting teachers & 80 Student Councillors

·         Trained student councillors to take up different responsibilities such as daily morning assembly, AVA duties, recess duties, and the planning for school events such as Kindness week/appreciation day/Jonathon/investiture.

·         Trained student presenters for external local and international visitors.

·         Set up new Student Activity Centre (Gamescape)

Character Development and Guidance Committee

2010-2013

·         Role: Teacher in charge of Career Guidance

·         Liaised with the different organisations (JC/Polytechnic/ITE/Private Colleges) to conduct visits and talks for the graduating students.  

·         In charge of classroom cleanliness and grading.

School marketing Committee

2013-2014

·         Role :Marketing Coordinator for the Hillgrove Carnival Sponsorship and publicity.

·         To monitor the team’s progress in seeking cash and kind sponsorship.

·         Contacted the following organisation to ask for sponsorship

Co Curriculum Activities

St John Ambulance Bridge (SJAB) [ 2011-2013]

·         Role: Overall Teacher in Charge

·         Under my charge: 3 other teacher assistants.

·         Achievement

Ø  In 2012, SJAB was awarded Silver Award for the Best Unit Award. This was a breakthrough as it has been awarded bronze award for many years.

Ø  A tracking system was set up to monitor the progress of SJAB and the Hillgrove unit achieved silver award in year 2012 for the year 2011.

Ø  As a result of SJAB achieved a silver award, the school was awarded the Sustained Achievement Award in 2012.

·         Planned and Organised National Events for SJAB

Ø National Life Saving Day.

Ø Hillgrove was the school overall in charge of Joint HOPE Flag Day 2011 for zone 4.

·         SJAB achieved a Gold Award in the Best Unit Award in 2012.

National Cadet Corps (NCC) [ 2013-2014] 

·         Role: Teacher in Charge of NCC.  

·         Trained NCC Teacher with the rank of 2^nd Lieutenant.

·         Converted the school unit from NCC land to NCC air.

·         In charge of the National Youth Achievement Award Programme in NCC. The Sec 2s are going for the Bronze award while the Sec 3s are going for the Silver award.

·         Trained safety officer for live shooting/IMT shoots.

Major School Events

1.    Speech Day

·         Overall Teacher in charge with a team of 30 teachers under my charge.

·         Guest of Honour- Director General of Education, Ms Ho Peng.

·         I had to oversee the area of planning the big picture for the events, plan work schedule, budget and assign duties to the rest of the teachers.

·         Created platforms to develop the students.

·         Theme: “Potential + Character = Success”.

o   This theme was chosen because I felt that this new philosophy is something that the teachers and students believed in, hence, I wanted the Speech Day to highlight this belief. To support this theme, the whole speech day highlighted the Uniform Groups ( in both parade and concert). This opportunity allows the UG to show how they have developed the students to become more resilient and how they have built character in the students.

o   As the Uniform Groups took centre stage in this year’s speech day, we had our very first indoor parade with a full flag party.

o   Moreover, to walk the talk for this theme, the emcees chosen this year were new and had no prior experience. Teachers and I who believed in this theme, wanted to train students and give as many students a chance to be exposed and given roles such as emcees. As such, we selected students from the Express, NA and even NT stream and trained them hard every day after school to prepare for the event. Even though on the actual day, there was some errors made, but we still believed that it is not about getting everything perfect, but it is about educating and give each child a chance. 

o   Directed a drama play by the NCC to show how the Singapore armed forces work together to deal with external threats.

o   A Complimentary email was sent by DGE Ms Ho Peng and Professor Saito.

o   Hillgrove was also commented in the National Day Rally by PM Lee Hsien Loong citing Hillgrove as “a good school” which was in line with our theme this year.

o   The Speech Day team was nominated for the outstanding contribution team award in 2013.

2.    Hillgrove Fund-Raising Golf Tournament

·         Role: Coordinator for Publicity/Donation/Planning & executing the actual Golf Tournament event.

·         Donations: My role in the Hillgrove Fund-raising Golf Tournament is to supervise a team that will get donations or golfers from the corporate world. Cold-calls were made as the first contact before sending out the proposals that I helped prepare.

·         Executed the Golf Tournament at the Raffles Country Club.

·         A total of about $200,000 was raised.

Training received: 

2010

·         Assessment for Learning (8hrs)

·         Differentiated assessment Workshop ( 8hrs)

·         British Council: Teaching Mixed Ability Classes ( 15hrs)

·         PJC Engaging China Seminar 2010 ( 4hrs)

·         Literature Symposium 2010 (8hrs)

·         Teaching Learning Space: Lesson Studies (3hrs)

·         Singapore 1942 NE Sharing (3hrs)

·         Annual History Sharing ( 3hrs)

·         Social Studies Dialogue Session ( 3hrs)

·         British Council: Adapting Materials ( 15hrs)

·         World of Temasek Pilot Project (2hrs)

·         Structured Mentoring Programme (June 2010-June 2011) 1 hr per week.

·         Social Studies in service training Part 2 ( 18hrs)

2011

·         British Council: Teaching vocabulary (18hrs)

·         Development of Upper Secondary Teaching and Learning resources (3hrs)

·         Deepening our understanding of Lesson Study with Professor Saito (3hrs)

·         Understanding by design (27 hrs)

·         Circle Time (3hrs)

·         Master class on Drama (3hrs)

·         British Council: Teaching through Literature. (18hrs)

·         Social Studies in service training Part 2 ( 18hrs)

·         Public Service Orientation (3hrs)

·         Curriculum Development Space(12hrs)

2012

·         Historical Inquiry in the Classroom for Upper Secondary Teachers in preparation for new ‘O’ Level syllabus

·         Cooperative Learning

·         Restorative Practice

·         Teaching Learning Space: Team Learning (2hrs)

·         Curriculum Development Space(9hrs)

2013

·         Conducting Lower Secondary Historical investigation (12hrs)

·         Effective teaching of historical concepts (7hrs)

·         Teaching Learning Space 1: Study Skills (2hrs)

·         Teaching Learning Space 2 & 3: Assessment for Learning (4hrs)

·         Teaching Learning Space 4: Emergenetics

·         Causality Management Workshop (8hrs)

·         Teaching Learning Space 5: Self Directed Learning (2hrs)

·         W2 Cluster CCE Seminar (3.5hrs)

·         NCC Air Instructor course (16hrs)

·         EXSA Training Workshop (3hrs)

Mentoring and Training of new teachers.

·         Mentored NIE trainee(s) for Social Studies in Sec 3 Express.

·         Mentored NIE trainee(s) for Literature for Lower Secondary.

Professional Sharing

1.    Departmental Sharing during Curriculum Development Space in 2010

o   Game-Based Learning: Shared on how board games and game based learning strategies can be used in the classroom.

o   Assessment for Learning and how it can be used effectively in the classroom.

o   How authentic task can arouse students’ interest in learning.

2.    Teacher Learning Space (READ@Hillgrove) on 29 June 2011.

o   Title of Presentation: Our World is Our Classroom

o   Synopsis: A sharing on how teachers can utilize the world as their classroom for interdisciplinary learning.  This sharing is to take the teachers through the process of pre-trip planning, to the execution of the fieldtrip itself and finally the consolidation of students’ learning during and after the trip.

o   This sharing also highlights the administrative procedures for overseas fieldtrip.

3.    Learning Fest 2013- cluster sharing on 1 Nov 2013.

o   Shared on my Lesson study lesson (History Unit) on

o   Title of presentation: Fun with Bloom and Gardner: Teaching structured essay question with ICT and collaborative learning strategy.

o   Synopsis: This presentation explores how lessons can be fun and engaging, yet at the same time improve the quality of students’ learning. This lesson was structured with Bloom’s taxonomy while tapping on Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences. This was mainly done through visualization to appeal to visual and kinesthetic learners while teaching the technical aspects and skills needed for writing structure essay question. This presentation aims to share examples and the effectiveness of the visualisation process and how the use of ICT and collaborative learning would engage the students and aid in the quality of students’ learning by creating synergy.

4.    Curriculum Development Space 2013:

o   Lesson study: Inquiry Based Learning on the topic of the impact of Northern Ireland for the subject Social Studies.

Overseas Trips organised

1.    Overseas Humanities Trip to Malacca in March 2011.

2.    Overseas Humanities Trip to Perth 7D5N (29 May to 4 June 2011)

·         Assisted in the preparation of an overseas trip manual.

3.    Overseas Vietnam CIP trip for “at-risk” students( 30 students) 5D 4N ( 19 Nov – 23 Nov) 2012.

Hosting Local and International Visitors

2010, 2011, 2013

·         Coordinated the Visit of Mutsumi Junior High School (Japan) to Hillgrove Secondary School.

Ø  Guest consist of the Principal of Mutsumi Junior High School, 10 teachers and 30 students.

Ø  Planned their tour itinerary.

Ø  Coordinated the letter exchange between the buddies prior to the visit.

Ø  Organised and coordinated the homestay programme during the visit.

Ø  Organised a Sports Competition (Basketball/soccer) between the Japanese and Singaporean students.

Ø  Trained the Student Leaders and organised school tour.

2012

·         Hosted a Korean delegate of 20 teachers.

Ø  Planned a school tour and trained the student leaders as presenters.

2014

·         Building Educational Bridges (BEB) Programme: Singapore- United Kingdom : School Excellence

Ø  Planned and coordinated the school tour aspect for the Visit of the BEB programme (UK-Singapore).

Ø  Visitors’ profile: 12 UK Principals/ 10 Singapore Principals/2 NIE academic professionals.

Ø  Trained 13 student leaders to be presenters.

To find out more, feel free to email me at hoqianwen@gmail.com