Nominated for Innergy Award

MOE INNERGY AWARD Section A: Project Information School / HQ Division / Statutory Board Marsiling Secondary School Project Title Tamil E-Newsletter Particulars of Award Applicant (Please note that officers listed below will be the liaison officer whom ODB will contact.) POC 1 (Project Lead) Name Sumathy Thirumaran Contact No. 94236957 Work Email [email protected] POC 2 Name Govindarajalu Krishnamoorthy Contact No. 97686823 Work Email [email protected] Section B: Awards and Recognition (where applicable) State the awards and/or recognition that the project received in the period over the past three years, i.e. 1 Jan 2017 to 31 Dec 2019. N.A. Section C: Project Details Project Summary Max 150 words Actual word count: 140 Provide a summary of the project. Highlight the following: value proposition, objective(s) and outcome of the project innovation involved in the project Our curriculum innovation was conceptualized when the TL teachers got together to find ways to bring about the Joy of Learning of the Tamil language especially for our profile of students in Marsiling Secondary School. We found that didactic teaching methods were not engaging the students and they did not have a love for learning of the language. The teachers decided to use an innovative method to motivate all the Tamil students’ to improve in their writing skills. The idea was to involve the students to create their own E-newsletter that they could call their own. Based on the proficiency and writing level of the students, they could attempt any type of article of their choosing and interest. After implementing this idea in 2019, it was indeed very heartening to see the written skills of students had significantly improved.

Criterion 1: Innovativeness of solution [30%] Max 500 words Actual word count: 340 a) (i) Define the problem/challenge the team is trying to address and provide the context of the problem/challenge. (ii) Describe how the team identified the problem/challenge (e.g. adopted root cause analysis, surveys, FGDs, etc.). b) Explain how the solution implemented was bold and innovative1, or how distinct or fundamentally different was the solution from existing approaches. The challenge for our TL teachers was engaging students of mixed ability where the differences in their language proficiency could be very wide. TL teachers also used the PLT platform for professional critical inquiry where they were required to identify and work on a problem throughout the year. Early in the year, the specific problem that they agreed on was about the written skills of students in TL. The normal approach of using essays, comprehension and grammar practice was not very well received by students who felt that there was no autonomy for them to choose their assignments. The content was also too distant and they could not relate to them. To study this problem better, the team did their own research on learning using the STP as a guide and also exploring various research literature to guide them. A Learning Circle approach was adopted with various teachers in the department sharing and deliberating ideas Looking at the profile of students, it was also evident that students lacked a general passion or love for learning and were more inclined to speak in English rather than in Tamil. The environment at home was also not supportive to the learning of TL for most students. Besides this, many students also displayed lower self-esteem and confidence partly due to challenging home environment and past failures in academic subjects. This approach to use the E-newsletter as a motivation and leverage for the curriculum plan for the year was a bold and innovative move as not all teachers were convinced of its usefulness at first. The beauty of this e-newsletter was that it was by students, for students. It empowered them in the learning process and motivated them to collaborate with various resources and people helping them to be constructively engaged. Throughout the first and second semester teachers could see students’ were engaged in collaborative work to give their best. The teachers felt happy that a simple tool like an e-newsletter could bring so much Joy in Learning and indirectly help students in their Tamil Language proficiency. 1 Bold and innovative – Fresh/new perspectives, creative ways and/or ingenuity.

Criterion 2: Idea generation and development [25%] Max 500 words Actual word count: 317 a) Share how the solution was conceptualised, developed2, and implemented. Where applicable, describe how the team took calculated risks, demonstrated the spirit of dare to do, and applied learning from prior experiences (failed or successful). b) Explain how the team (i) considered the needs of users and stakeholdersand (ii) The extent of collaborative effort with others when developing the solution. The idea was conceptualised as a team, with many hours of deliberation on the design of the e-newsletter that could support the main objectives of the innovation. It had to be concept that all students could understand and execute. It would require careful and skillfulfacilitation by the teachers which will ensure that students will continue to be engaged and not give up. Students also had to acquire some technical skills in the process to be able to have something fit for publication. A redesign of the TL curriculum to incorporate this idea was also challenging with many learning outcomes that were expected of the students. Parents were also very used to seeing certain types of assignments from their children and the communication also needed to be done. The first attempt at the e-newsletter was also very challenging as not all teachers had the technical expertise. Hence the PD for the teachers had to include many aspects such as facilitation strategies, content creation and publishing software skills. Throughout this whole process of conceptualizing the content for the E-newsletter, students were also involved so that they could also collaborate and share ideas from their point of view and interest. This was very engaging to the students as they felt that they too had a voice in the design. Besides this, importance was also given to quality classroom learning and to identify exemplary work to be published in the e-newsletter. For the year 2019, the teacher i/c was solely responsible in editing and creativity and create the e- newsletter; however in 2020, the TL Unit will involve students in the editing and publishing process of the e-newsletter. If you look at the final outcome of the e-newsletter, every student is represented and no contribution is too small. This was the message that the teachers tried to imbue so that students will be motivated and proud of their work. 2 Include the pedagogies and principles (for T&L/Acad projects); productivity tools and principles (for WP projects) adopted by the team in developing the solution.

Criterion 3: Benefitsand impact to stakeholders [25%] Max 500 words Actual word count: 201 Describe the benefits achieved and the impact created by your innovation for the intended users and stakeholders (e.g. schools, students, parents, colleagues, agencies, etc.),through a pre and post comparison in both quantitative and qualitative terms (e.g. time/cost savings, higher accuracy, better student outcome, etc.) Parents, students and teachers were very happy to see the student’s work being acknowledged through the e-newsletter. Some of the parents’ commented that they were surprised that their child could write poems or draw so well to express their feelings. They also were motivated to help their child in the learning process. Indirectly students’ academic work had shown significant improvement. Through this process, parent’s also started to spend more time with their children to help them learn and participate in their article creation. The school-home partnership and effort of the school thus also led to:  reduced behavioral issues in the classroom  improved literacy and academic outcomes at major assessments  Engaged learning among diverse learners.  Increased collaboration and cooperation amongst the TL teachers  Passion and love for TL language and culture Though the process of creating the first E-newsletter was a steep learning curve for both staff and students, it was very rewarding and worth the time. The tangible and intangible benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. The cost of this E-newsletter is also close to zero as most of the work was done online or via software. Even the publication is online via links for the reading convenience of students and parents.

Criterion 4:Sustainability of solution [20%] Max 500 words Actual word count: 200 a) Provide (i) a breakdown on the cost of implementing the solution,(ii) the project implementation schedule and (iii) savings generated by the project in the table below. [Content of table is not part of the word count limit.] b) Share how the solution would be sustained beyond its implementation phase and the longer term plans for the project. c) Describe how others could adopt the solution. a) (i) Cost of Implementing the solution (Please expand list if necessary) Please be explicit, comprehensive and clear on the breakdown of the costs. Item Description Actual cost [SGD$] NIL $0 Total: $0 a) (ii) Projected Implementation Schedule Please provide the key activities that will facilitate the project implementation. (Please expand list if necessary) Activity Timeline Resource Conceptualising the E-Newsletter Jan Articles Brainstorming and Feb deployment Student team collaboration, Mar research and preparation of first draft plan Working on the content in teams Apr Writing the first draft article May MS Word Editing and layout May CorelDraw Final editing and publication May Online a) (iii) Savings generated by this project Please state the project savings generated by this project over ONE year. Cost savings: 0 Man-hour 0 hrs SGD$ savings:

B) Sustaining the E-newsletter For the year 2019, only teachers from the Tamil Department were involved in most of the final editing and putting together the e-newsletter. From 2020, students will be mostly in charge of editing, collecting the articles and preparing the e-newsletter etc. The TL teachers also hope to continue to publish this e-newsletter twice a year and make it a special feature of the TL curriculum in MSS where students can learn about Indian culture and Tamil language in a fun an engaging way. By using this differentiated approach, we are able to engage all students, no matter what their level of proficiency is. Please see Annex for the outcome of this new initiative which helped transform the TL curriculum in MSS. Please attach all your Annexes and supporting documents (e.g. photos, links to website, graphs, etc) here. 2019 E-Newsletter 1st 2019 E-Newsletter 2nd Edition Edition SCHOOL FILE FINAL (Edition 1).pdf MARSILING SCHOOL - FINAL ((Edition 2).pdf 1. Link 2. Link http://online.pubhtml5.com/qdpk/ojze/#p=1 http://online.pubhtml5.com/ciju/kutc/