Maths teacher Jonathan Kim Sing labelled as one of NSW’s best
Students at Galston High School are prone to break out in dance when Jonathan Kim Sing is at the helm but the unorthodox approach is more about engagement than a flash mob.
Students at Galston High School are prone to break out in dance when Jonathan Kim Sing is at the helm but the unorthodox approach is more about engagement than a flash mob.
“Everyone has to get up,’’ he said.
“The maths inclined were the most resistant to do this, actually.”
The fresh-faced 24-year-old was one of five high school teachers in NSW who won The Learning Edge competition, which searched for the state’s most innovative mentors going above, beyond and inspiring their students with digital methods.
As part of the Education Department and Teachers’ Mutual Bank challenge, participants created videos to demonstrate this.
Winners secured a place in a workshop at YouTube Australia’s headquarters with digital experts and Cherrybrook Technology High School star Eddie Woo, who helped him develop an online classroom.
“Students are engaging a lot online, it’s not just the lessons valuable to them that they could take home but other insights,’’ Mr Kim Sing said.
He knew he wanted to be a teacher when he was in his final year of high school at the selective North Sydney Boys’ High School.
“It was a bit of a selfish reason,’’ he said.
“I was in Year 12 and really enjoyed being with my peers and teachers and wanted to relive that, even if it was vicariously.
“I also realised in senior school the relationship I had with my teachers was different to primary school. I started to see teachers as someone who could guide an point me in the right direction.”
He still gets a kick out of solving maths problems and mentoring his students including those in the advanced maths class in Year 11.
“I hadn’t been to Galston before I worked here,’’ he said.
“A lot of kids live on acreage and that for me, as someone who was born and raised on the north shore, that’s an eye-opener.”
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