January 10th January - Graciousness

Mr Lloyd Yeo read out a newspaper article about graciousness

He quoted MM Lee as saying "'I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it; I wish you well A gracious society will not happen so fast. 'I think it will take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people.Even the British, he said, were 'sitting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society''So it's very difficult to get a rough society onto a cultivated plane and it's very easy to bring it down. The idea of a gracious society - 'where people are considerate to one another, where you don't make more noise to upset your neighbour than you need to, where you tell the other motorist, please have the right of way' - was 'harder to come by. 'It will take time, but I hope it will come with cultivated living over a long period of time.' Mr Lee recalled how, 45 years ago, Singaporeans wanted to take their chickens with them when they were resettled from kampungs into high-rise flats. 'So it took some time to get them adjusted. A more cultivated way of life takes a very long time,' he said.

http://valuesnews.blogspot.com/2008/01/gracious-singapore-not-in-my-lifetime_10.html

Students were taught how to take notes as the article was being read:

Step 1: Concentrate on what is being said.
Step 2: Do not try to write down every word (The average person speaks approximately 125-140 words per minute, and the average note-taker writes at a rate of about 25 words per minute. )
Step 3: Translate ideas into your own words.
Step 4: Be brief. Write down only the major points and important information. Don't worry about spelling and grammar
Step 5: Organize notes into some logical form

Once notes are being taken. We begin reflection

Forms of Note-Taking

Outlining

I. Topic sentence or main idea
A. Major points providing information about topic
1. Subpoint that describes the major point
a. Supporting detail for the subpoint

Patterning: flowcharts, diagrams
Listing, margin notes, highlighting

Mr LLoyd Yeo mentioned that every key talk or lecture has got but one main thesis topic or main point. Students took notes and reflected in the assembly. They were to hand them in to their form teachers for evaluation.

They were challenged to think on whether they, their class and their families were gracious. What could they do about it? What could the school do about it?