Ada's Reflection III - Learning Journey

1. What did you enjoy about it?

The literature learning journey is really an enriching and a fruitful one as I get to explore and learn more about places like the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Ang Siang Hill. Admittedly, I have never been to the two places before and it is really an eye-opener for me since I get to acquaint myself with the history of the places as well as the various initiatives that were implemented to ensure that the country is able to sustain its development.

I also particularly enjoyed and appreciate the tasks that were planned by my classmates as they were really relevant and it would definitely be something I would do if I decide to bring my students for such learning journeys. One of the main challenges however would be getting students to participate actively in the activity, especially since many students tend to be wary of participating in the creative dynamics in literature lessons. Students tend to be self-conscious of themselves, especially when they are in a public area and under the scrutiny of their peers and this might dampen their enthusiasm to participate in certain activities.

2. What did you learn from it?

I would say that I learnt a lot from the trip to the URA building the most as it helps to deepen my understanding and increase my awareness about the nation’s efforts to conserve our heritage places. There has been much debate recently about the country’s conservation efforts of our heritage as many considered it to be too tourism-oriented and “plastic” after all the reconstruction that took place. In a country that seems to place economic pragmatism as one of its main priority, preserving our colourful past is perhaps relegated to the backseat. However, despite all that, there is still a huge emphasis placed in retaining our identity by conserving certain heritage places and this is something that I appreciate a lot as I feel that it is better to have something to remind our future generation of our past rather than to have nothing at all. I particularly liked Mr S. Rajaratnam’s quote about how “a nation must have a memory to give it a sense of cohesion, continuity and identity … a sense of common history is what provides the links to hold a people who came from the four corners of the earth” as it reflects Singapore’s attitude to progress and yet hold on to our cultural roots and identity at the same time.

I would certainly consider bringing my students to the URA building in the future as it affords many learning opportunities for students to see how far Singapore has developed over the recent years. It would also be good for the students to learn of the various initiatives adopted given Singapore’s constraints to ensure that the country progress and take its place in the global stage, given the hardships that we have to overcome before gaining our independence.

3. What interdisciplinary possibilities are there?

The learning opportunities from this learning journey are certainly not limited to literature students as it offers great potential for many other subjects as well, particularly for English, history and geography. With learning journeys like these, students could most definitely broaden their mental horizon since they get to learn of many new possibilities that they might not have across in their every day life. History and geography students especially could capitalize on the trip to URA to learn more about the changes that occurred in Singapore over the years during the process of urban renewal. In this respect, students are also able to build on their local and even global outlook but more importantly, it could develop their empathy and stimulates their thinking as to how Singapore decide to adopt certain approaches and changes over the years. 

4. How can you design and use learning journeys for effective learning in and out of your classrooms?

Learning journeys are now considered an integral part of the curriculum as it is a powerful teaching tool that could help to maximise students’ learning. With learning journeys, education is no longer confined to the classrooms and more importantly, it enable students to see the connections and make concrete of what they learnt in the classroom to the real world. By bringing the students to Ang Siang Hill and making them do Old House at Ang Siang Hill for instance, students could then see the relevance of the poem as they could try to make links and connections of the outdoor setting that they are at with the themes that are prevalent in the poem.

Tapping on the current trend of using IT during field trips or learning journeys, it would also be good for students to take as many pictures as they would like and share it on the class’s Facebook or Twitter page. The pictures could then be the basis of the class’ post-learning journey discussion and this could then serve as the conclusion for the learning journey.