Acer Academy

21/09/2022

Smile billionair.
Will I ever see such a lovely child again?

Yong Rui is one of the most affectionate students that I have taught. He is the older brother of Yong Han, one of the students in the previous posts.

When it comes to siblings, fights tend to be commonplace. I experience it too. However, looking at Yong Rui and Yong Han, my thoughts changed. Yong Rui is always looking out for his younger brother, and always looks at him with such lovely eyes. It sometimes makes me feel like I'm watching a movie. I would really love for everyone to see how they interact with each other at the academy.

Yong Rui's personality makes me feel like he lived his life twice. His dedication, persistence and maturity when speaking, really makes you wonder if he is actually in Primary 3. He possesses qualities that even adults would find outstanding.

Having some background in pedagogy, I truly believe in the saying that a child's personality is reflective of their parents' behavioural tendencies. Even though I have not separately seen his parents, I can already tell that they are wonderful people, having taught and grown their kids so well. Show respect to parents who have good children.

Yong Rui is also a good student with confidence in studying, not requiring constant guidance and coaching. However, when he eventually fails to solve a challenging problem, he smiles with a laid-back expression and says, "Please help me solve this problem". He is a joy to teach and his attitude when it comes to learning makes it all the more rewarding.

Despite the difficulty level of math not being very high in Primary 3, I will continue to do my best to keep his grades steady. This is of utmost importance as many students do not learn the Primary concepts properly, and this causes fluctuations in results when they eventually enter Primary 4.

I hope I can continue to be a teacher who can value-add to the growth and development of Yong Rui, and help him keep his billion-dollar smile and affection.

20/09/2022

Even without speaking, there are much that a teacher can learn about a student from the way they solve math problems. The two key things that we look out for are students who absorb the tutor's teachings and applies it when solving, or students who develops these teachings into their own techniques. I believe that Heather belongs to the latter.

Like the goddess of Athens in Greek and Roman mythology, Heather sought solutions to challenging problems without the teacher's constant guidance, and this ability eventually showed in her grades. It showed her drive and dedication to succeed through hardwork, as it is never easy to have constant breakthroughs.

When in the centre, Heather is gentle and has commendable attitude towards learning. Despite her desire to be independent when it comes to learning, she is always cheerful in class and gets along well with students of different ages. She also never hesitates to explain her thought process and deduction, which is always welcome when it comes to learning checking a student's conceptual understanding. I tend to wonder if this is a quality of the new generation of children.

With Heather, I am calm and I have no worries about her academic progress. She has progressed well so far and this has been helped by her desire and dedication to succeed. I will continue to help her maximise her abilities and push her to greater heights, such that she can maintain, or even outdo, her already outstanding grades.

I look forward to her next exam.

19/09/2022

Ding Weng symbolises the purity and beauty of transition from a young boy to a an adult.

When teaching young students, sometimes they tend to be gentle because of their age. This can be good for teaching because it allows for smooth running for the class, and it also represents the beauty of youth. Ding Weng is such a boy. Even though his results are not exceptionally outstanding, I frequently praise him for his dedication and his drive to achieve his target score of at least 80%. His efforts were not in vain, as he eventually managed an outstanding score for his exam. He has fulfilled his duty as a student well, and I can safely say his attitude and work ethic will allow him to develop into a fine young man.

Outside of academic results, I would also like to compliment him on his interpersonal skills. One can clearly see his cheerful disposition when getting along with other students - being playful but also not crossing the line. This helps to create a fun atmosphere amongst his peers which can be important during a long studying session.

Despite having the appearance of a young boy, I am beginning to see a shift in his mentality and though process. He is increasingly curious and now asking more philosophical questions. Perhaps this is the process of puberty (laughs), but as a teacher, I would call this a holistic evolution into adulthood. I strongly believe that with the right conditions, Ding Weng will surely grow and flourish as a fine young man.

15/09/2022

Pure and Bright - after much thought, these are the two words that I would use to describe Kaiqi.

I believe that every child's personality is a culmination of the people around them, namely their friends and family. After getting to know Kaiqi, I could feel how pure of an individual she was, as well as a surprisingly calm personality.
I believe that a calm personality allows one to dream more and to better take advantage of the opportunities that come. Kaiqi's purity also makes her an extremely likeable person amongst her peers.

Despite that, as with all things, nothing is without detriment. For Kaiqi, she needed make extra effort to push herself out of her comfort zone to achieve new highs. As her teacher, I did my best to provide a conducive environment where she could be constantly challenged, allowing for improvement. Kaiqi herself is gradually becoming open and receptive to challenges, and I feel that this is an environment that she can eventually thrive in.

15/09/2022

14/09/2022

R=VD

This is the what comes to mind when I think of Bernice. “I’m going to be top of the school!”. This is the high aspiration that Bernice had, and when I first met her, I thought she was an extemely self-driven girl who sets high targets for herself.

After entering the Centre, she developed herself through proactively asking questions. Getting to know her a bit more, I felt perhaps her desire to top her cohort was a truly realistic target. Week after week, she continued to improve, and this soon manifested in her academic grades. With 6 months past, she is closing in on the 100-mark target.

Dreams are important and wonderful, regardless of how ambitious it may be. I feel that process of breaking one’s limits is truly beautiful. With regards to Bernice, I hope that she will continue to maintain her unique, bright energy and develop her dream.

13/09/2022

There are always kids that are extremely likeable - innocent respectful, independent and motivated. Giselda is such a student to us.

I truly believe that if I put effort into something and not neglect it, I can definitely achieve results. Ever since Giselda came for classes, it was clear to me that she needed a teacher to help nurture her talent, as she already had the work ethic. My responsibility was to make sure that I did my best to help me achieve her full potential as an individual.

With classes, Giselda quickly began to improve her grades, and eventually topped her cohort. Even with such achievements, she continued to remain humble and worked hard.

To me, Giselda’s greatest strength is her caring heart. Our centre does not group students according to their grades. Instead, we conduct classes according to individual progress, thereby making it rather flexible in terms of scheduling. For Giselda, when she had to make multiple changes to her class timings due to her external commitments, she repeatedly apologised for not keeping to her original slots. This humility and sincerity is something that even adults struggle with sometimes.

Looking at Giselda, I am blessed to have the opportunity to teach her, as well as the other students. I hope that she will one day achieve her potential of becoming a shining jewel.

13/09/2022

12/09/2022

Back in our school days, there are always friends who go above and beyond. The “Celebrity” I saw, was that kind of friend.

Caleb has is a very independent person, and tends to be the one bringing up the atmosphere amongst his peers, with hisnjokes that brighten the mood.

When asked what his hobbies are, he told me that he enjoys playing games. These are not the usual games students play such as Roblox or Pokemon-Go, but other MOBA games that older kids enjoy

Excessive gaming is definitely detrimental for a student. However, this is perhaps an outlet for Caleb to feed his love for problem-solving and puzzles. His parents also do not restrict how often he plays games - maybe because he is good at both his studies and games 😂

In addition, I would also want ti praise Caleb for always being open and keen to learn. When he has difficulties with concepts or questions, he is always ready to learn something new, even if it is challenging.

Despite having the skillsets and attitude to succeed, his frequent careless mistakes has sometimes led to huge losses in marks for tests. I will continue to supplement and work on this aspect to allow Caleb to achieve his full potential in PSLE next year.

I always hope to have fun classes with the “calebrity” in the future. May his positive energy always make Sunday’s last class of the day a fun one.

09/09/2022

"Infinity Score" - it is a title that I really wanted to give a student who got a perfect score.

Truth be told, Lukas didn't get an outstanding score simply because of my teachings. He was already an outstanding and bright child, with brilliant conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills. To add on to that, his kind personality makes him extremely well-liked by his peers.

Once, he told me that he had memorised the entire Singapore MRT line, and is able to draw a map of the subway from memory alone. This surprised me, and I thought that he was quite a gifted child. Despite his talents, this doesn't mean that he puts in any less effort.

At first glance, his performance in classes didn't show his ability, as he frequently made mistakes when solving questions. However, during the examination period, he had a 180-degree change in his attitude, working much harder and paying much more attention to detail when attempting questions. With this, his grades improved leaps and bounds.

As a teacher, it is important for me not to give Lukas any less attention simply because he was self-sufficient and did not require much help, since every student deserves the same attention and standard of care. I made sure to stretch Lukas even further by giving him challenging questions to provoke deeper thinking and analysis. This helped to push him even further, and is facilitated by his technical perfection to fully absorb concepts and techniques taught by the teacher.

With all the hard work that he has put in, I am extremely proud that Lukas got a perfect score for WA3. Even though Lukas is currently academically in a good spot, I hope that he continues to grow into a fine young man while maintaining his good grades.