Hearing the music before the song is over!

I think it was Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, who put the idea in my head that the value of education is not financial or occupational, but it is personal and character building. Through education, we can become a better husband and father, wife and mother, and citizen. We learn to think analytically and creatively. We learn to write and communicate clearly and persuasively. Our basic knowledge is deepened and expanded, horizons lifted. Our ability to sympathize and appreciate increased. In every way, we can become a fuller and more integrated, more capable, wiser human being.

As a teacher, I find such a vision worthy to follow. As I move into my second month as acting head of department, I hope to keep a sense of optimism amidst the challenges, to hopefully learn as I go along so that our tomorrows are better than our yesterdays, and to be the inspirations to both my teachers and pupils. And I believe that if they are done well, I just may make a difference to our teachers and pupils.

Into my eighth year as a teacher, I have had my fair share of ups and downs. This is at times a demanding profession. As I look back at my work I have done to date, one thing makes me the proudest: I have had the privilege of hearing the music before the song is over! I am not sure that many teachers have been this fortunate. In the midst of their daily classroom experiences and the many tasks/events that teachers are involved in during school time often blind us teachers to our true accomplishments.

One of my school leaders, upon my first appointment as middle manager, informed me of the weekly reflection blog. He has started his own blog, where he blogged on learning (or rather the lack of it) – a collection of positive reflections and accomplishments that had come his way, and he revisited these whenever things seemed to start weighing on him. What a simple, but great idea! I came across this strategy as I learn through my own reflections during the last two years. I only wish that I had found it earlier.

The idea of hearing the music before the song is over should be something for all teachers where all teachers can look back on their careers and feel great pride in their accomplishments. Rarely do teachers take the time to celebrate their own accomplishments while they happen. Sometimes, they don’t even see them! That is why I can honestly say that I feel charmed – that through my reflections, I have found the saying “success breeds success” to be true and applicable to me. But such learning through reflections was not as easy for most teachers to accomplish – as we have discovered. But to me, such reflections are useful in opening me to the idea that my work is important. I have to listen to the music above the background noise of our daily teaching to hear the affirmations that we do make a difference – and so the more important my work becomes.

Fittingly this is my final reflection for the year 2012, because this is also part of the legacy my school leader’s work is all about. Hopefully, I can (and do) have the same type of influence on my teachers and pupils.