24

Oct

Absent with apologies.

Principles of design, the Mr Laremy way.

A long time ago, a friend asked why we write ‘Absent with Apologies’ on minutes.

“If it were me, I’d write it as ‘Absent with Glee’ instead,” she said, “because I’d much rather be absent from a meeting than in it!”

Thenceforth, I decided that if I were to ever run a company or an organisation, my first mandate would be to instruct my minute-taking minions to only ever write ‘Absent with Glee’ instead of ‘Absent with Apologies’.

Otherwise, they’d find themselves the next ones listed under the ‘Absent with Apologies’ column at the next meeting.

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‘Absent with Apologies’ makes sense, because it’s much more polite than just being plain ‘Absent’.

But I’ve been absent from this space with both apologies and some degree of glee, because I’ve been busy, mainly with work.

On that note, I thought I’d share with everyone something that transpired in the classroom today – this is one of those things that has resulted in my absence.

If I can refer you to the picture above again, you can see I’ve listed out some principles for good idea design, especially ideas involving getting human beings to carry out things you want them to do.

I decided to write this down today because:

  • I found myself repeating stuff I had said before yet again because the kids hadn’t really understood what I was telling them. Or perhaps what I was telling wasn’t making sense.
  • This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I think this is one of the easiest ways to understand what makes ideas work.

For those of you without image suppork, what is written on the board in the pig-ture is as follows:

Mr Laremy’s Principles for GI = EE.

  1. Human beings are animals (piglets) – regulations/processes are needed (DON’T ASSUME THEY WILL DO IT).
  2. Human beings are like currents – they follow the path of least resistance (MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO DO IT).

From (1) and (2): [Create] INCENTIVE [for them to do what you want them to do].

If you [yourself] won’t carry out the idea, don’t suggest it!

I hope there’s some kind of ‘meta’ element to this i.e. I hope what I wrote on the board fulfills those two principles.

In any case, the juxtaposition of the student and the ideas on the board is quite unfortunate, but you have it on good authority that this is her default look… LOL.

211 days ago Short URL Comments

IMHO/School

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29

Sep

Kudos for considering touch rugby.

Dear Madam/Sir,

I REFER to “No more contact rugby for primary schools?” (Sep 22).

I applaud the move to consider running both mini rugby and touch rugby competitions in primary schools in 2012.

As a sport in Singapore, touch rugby has had to live in contact rugby’s shadow for a long time. I am glad that equal focus is now being given to both sports.

I hope this focus is extended to cater to youths of both genders at the secondary and post-secondary levels.

More opportunities should be provided for our young to explore their interests and learn about their capabilities at different stages of their development.

I also look forward to a future where touch rugby is included in the calendar of the annual Inter-School Sports Competitions.

Touch rugby deserves the recognition and prestige as an established sport in its own right.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,
Laremy LEE (Mr)

(Published as “Kudos for introducing touch rugby in primary schools” on 29 Sep 2011 in TODAYonline.)

236 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

School/Singapore

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05

Sep

Mix-tape.

So it was Teachers’ Day last week.

I think my, er, advice worked – I received enough Ferrero Rocher to set up my own distribution centre.

Jokes aside, one present which stood out was the Teachers’ Day video done by 10A04.

Initially, when they bounded up to me to give me the DVD, I was like, “Wow! Mix-tape for me?”

I was genuinely elated; I remember thinking: Wow, these piglets have grown! They put their PW skills to use and realised that a mix-tape would be a great gift for me because:

  • I like music,
  • Mix-tapes have symbolic value, in that they hearken back to an era that I often romanticise, and
  • Mix-tapes have artistic value, in that the choice of songs are not arbitrary but curated in order to achieve a certain effect on/send a certain message to the listener e.g. I’ve chosen these songs that I know you like because I want you to know I care, or I’ve chosen 12 of my favourite songs because I want to share my music with you (a deeply personal gesture, IMO).

Sadly, my happiness lasted for a while, because I soon found out that:

  1. It wasn’t a mix-tape, but a video, and
  2. ALL THE OTHER TEACHERS THAT TAUGHT 10A04 ALSO RECEIVED THE SAME VIDEO.

Wah lao eh! Felt somewhat cheated lor. LOL… Kidding, ya.

I really like the video; in fact, I like it so much that I want to share it with all of you here:

Click on this link in case you can’t see the embedded video.

Nice right? (BTW if you want to watch more stuff by Ansen Goh and Co., check out “A Measured Distance Away” and ObscuRed.sg .)

I’m so glad they came together to do this, not only because the video shows how much they’ve grown as a class, but also because receiving the gift has made me re-evaluate my ‘preferred present list’ – I’ve just included a section called ‘Digital Art’.

So thanks, kiddos, for all the love. I’m proud of all of you.

260 days ago Short URL Comments

Artsy Stuff/School

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30

Jul

What is with this excessive tree-pruning obsession?

The excessive pruning of trees - disapprove.

I’m not against the pruning of trees, because pruning does help at times in terms of improving the aesthetics or safety of a place.

What I’m against is the excessive pruning of trees all over Singapore that takes place on a regular basis.

(At the same time, I do wish more trees could be planted in Singapore, but that’s another battle for another time).

That tree gave some much-needed shade to Pooters – something I appreciate because I hate sitting on an over-heated seat and I hate knowing Pooters is exposed to the elements.

There are other benefits to trees in our urban environment too: carbon sequestration, reduction in ambient temperatures, etc. Read more here.

That’s why trees are especially important in a place like sunny Singapore and in a world stricken by global warming.

However, I’ve always felt that whoever makes decision like these – e.g. to prune trees excessively – do so in the right spirit: to neaten and hence beautify the place, to prevent tree branches from falling and killing people during a gale or a storm, etc.

Unfortunately, these decisions seem to always be made in a vacuum, without consideration of other important factors like the ones I mentioned above: shade, shelter, preventing global warming, etc.

Why?

I think this has to do with encouraging critical thinking and providing these people with an actual knowledge of circumstances in our world today.

And that’s why it has never been more important for us to move away from subjects taught in the traditional curriculum, to teaching slightly more multidisciplinary and ‘real-world’ subjects like biodiversity or environmental ethics now.

297 days ago Short URL Comments

Causes/School

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19

Mar

How to compose an e-mail message.

E-mail.

In the last few years, I’ve noticed a trend: most students don’t know how to compose e-mail messages, even if their lives depend upon it.

That’s quite a pity, because this is actually a compulsory skill taught at the ‘O’ Level. Specifically, it’s taught in the English Language Paper 1, in Section 2, or the Situational Writing section.

Perhaps it’s not made so explicit i.e. perhaps teachers don’t teach students how to write e-mail messages per se.

But I know for a fact that teachers do prepare their students to write formal letters – the structure of which can be used in e-mail messages.

So it’s either one of two things:

  • Most people need to be taught specific actions for each scenario in life, or
  • Most Singaporeans have been taught to the test so much that the ability to transfer and/or apply knowledge learnt in class has been lost entirely on them.

In any case, I’ve also learnt that if people make mistakes and aren’t corrected at specific points in their lives, they go through the rest of their lives carrying said mistake(s) with them.

THEREFORE!

So that I don’t need to keep on repeating myself over and over again, this is the Mister Laremy guide to crafting an appropriate e-mail message!

(Round of applause, please.)

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Dear student,

Thank you for your e-mail. Please take note of the following:

  1. For future correspondence, you must include a salutation that addresses the recipient of your e-mail or letter e.g. Dear Sir, Dear Madam, Dear Mr Laremy, etc.
  2. You must also include a paragraph or two of text that explains the purpose of your message. A blank e-mail message literally does not say anything.
  3. Use a valediction or a sign-off appropriate to the content and tone of the message e.g. “Yours sincerely” or “Sincerely” since you are a student writing to a teacher, in this case.
  4. An example of how you can craft a simple but appropriate e-mail message:

    “Dear Mr Laremy,

    I have attached my assignment to this e-mail.

    Thank you.

    Yours sincerely,
    A. Long-Suffering Student”

  5. Other things that you will find useful:
    • If your work is late, you must start off your letter by apologising for not being able to meet the deadline and then requesting for an extension to the deadline.
    • I believe you mean to use the word “deadline”, not “dateline”. Please consult a dictionary to ascertain the meanings of the respective words.
    • When you write to teachers, you cannot adopt a superior tone in your e-mail because we are not your subordinates. This means that I have a bit more leeway in terms of using phrases like “Please take note” – but you don’t.
    • Neither can you adopt a familiar tone with teachers in your e-mail – we may be friendly, but we are not your friends.
  6. If you’re not convinced, or you don’t see how knowing this will help you in life, you may want to refer to this website.

Have a great day ahead.

Thanks,
Laremy

430 days ago Short URL Comments

IMHO/School

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