Sunday, March 30, 2014

My story of becoming a teacher



Once upon a time (for some of us..), we became teachers. We started the teaching journey with a treasure chest full of experiences, hopes and expectations – all gained from early childhood experience.

There is a moment back in those times when we decided we would be teachers. I am sure each of us lived a different story that led up to this choice, the story of how we told ourselves what we can offer back to the society and how, in our particular life situation, waited for an answer.

How come? Well, the reason is that there are endless possibilities for how this might happen.

I know that some of us are born in a family of teachers and followed the family way, or maybe we were fresh graduates and full of ideals and became the first teacher in the family. Perhaps there are those who had always been great with young children and wanted to work with them, or perhaps teaching is the only career that appealed to us. Maybe we have gone through other careers before and wanted to use that knowledge to mold our future generation.

We are also most likely influenced by the memories of those teachers who touched our lives when we were young, those who nurtured our talents and sense of curiosity, infusing us with their love for teaching.

As for myself, I became a teacher after years of industry work – both locally and abroad. It took me about nine years from my graduation to my first contract in a neighborhood school. By then I had my first kid and was enjoying fatherhood. The first encounter with students in the school made me knew I was in the right profession and the help from many of my experienced colleagues and tutors made it easier for me to make up my mind to follow this path till today.

What is your story – blog about it and ask yourself when did you know you would become a teacher or to be part of the education profession? These are the treasure chest of experiences, hopes and expectations which I speak of at the start of the blog and I am sure that that chest may still contain many surprises if and only if we are willing to look back and remember them.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Why do I continue to blog?



Teaching is never easy, but right now it is an especially tough time to be a teacher.

I was reminded of this when I read the article on Heng Swee Keat thanks all school teachers, Education Minister said that “when we seek to bring out the best in every child, it takes more than good teaching curricula, strategies or experience – it takes heart.” He added that more challenges lies ahead, saying “Our children will need, more than ever, tools to guide them when the path ahead is not laid out… They will needs a compass of values and character that will keep them focused on their true North even when the terrain throws up surprises.”

I know that as teachers we still love the classroom, but like many others in the teaching profession, I recognized the truth of what my former colleague Mr Zee said to me: Teachers are struggling to find the energy to teach!

So I think the time is ripe for us teachers all to recharge ourselves, to help ourselves reclaim that energy, and capture again the love and hope that brought us into the teaching profession. Through expressing ourselves through blogging or writing and blogging or writing in community, we can return to our core beliefs and rekindle the energy needed to teach.

Into the fourth year now, I have seen what happens when teachers blog or write expressing, discovering and sharing their views within a community of other teacher writers. As we read into other teachers’ world, or tell their stories, or play with the magic of “letting it go”, teachers are energized. And when they have “listeners” who want to hear their stories or better still, share the same story, teachers feel cheered up and remember why they teach.

Hence, this is a way for us teachers to turn inward and open the “treasure chest of hopes and memories” each and every one of us carry in our teaching journey. Let us all listen to our inner voices – one of my teacher call this “self-talk” – the healthy and the unhealthy ones – and then together as a community of bloggers or writers show how to feed the healthy voice and silence the others. In this way, it will lead us back to those happy moments in our teaching career and help us wrestle with the demons that are hanging out there somewhere.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Affairs of the Heart – My Takeaway



Today when I heard my school leaders talk about us dedicating ourselves to possibilities – I told myself, “They had a lot of heart.”

In my previous job, we are often divorce our emotions from a situation and approach things purely rationally. Hence, the phrase “It’s not personal, it’s just business” is often used.

As I go about my leadership journey this year, I am holding onto a differing view about leadership – that leaders must be the most open and caring. Leaders should be able to demonstrate most affection towards others and want others to be more open to them.  

I need to be more positive and passionate, more caring, and more grateful and encouraging than before. That is why I am trying to write more “Thank You” emails and notes to both teachers and students. Why is this so? Pure and simply, there can be no improvements of human performance without paying attention to the human heart. Only when the heart is liberated both my own and others will great things can be done. I heard and agree of this “.. people work harder and more effectively for people they like.” There is definitely much deeper human connection when people are engaged with those they care about when doing things that really matter.

My school leader also spoke about “looking back and not leaving anyone behind.” I see that this can be done by understanding the needs of my teachers and interacting with them in ways that make others feel more confident and capable. In this way, my teachers can be elevated – thereby heightening their positive emotions and enhancing their well-being which can result in improved performance.

And I know that it will not be easy task – but I will say, “It will take a lot of heart to do what I intend to and I will not give up!”



Sunday, March 9, 2014

AI Student Leadership Community Outreach_Chong Pang Community Day




On Sunday 9th of March 2014, AI student councillors participated in the Chong Pang Community Day.  This is part of the AI Student Leadership Community Outreach Program which started on 1st March in collaboration between Chong Pang Community Club and the student counsellors to organise a Canned Food Collection Drive to help the needy within Chong Pang Zone who are: (i) CDC ComCare recipients, (ii) MOE Financial Assistance Scheme, etc.  AIl student councillors involved volunteered and signed up for this project.  Today’s Community Day saw AI student councillors supporting the meaningful and valuable event by collecting and helping slot canned food from residents. This is one way AI student councillors are developed as socially responsible individuals with a strong sense of connection to and volunteering in our local community. Such community work also teaches the student councillors the value of service and help in the development of lasting friendship between the school and the community as well as between schools.


Saturday, March 1, 2014

AI Student Leadership Community Outreach





AI Student Leadership Community Outreach Program started Saturday 1 March 2014 with collaboration between Chong Pang Community Club and the student counsellors in organising a Canned Food Collection Drive to help the needy who are Chong Pang residents who are (i) CDC ComCare recipients, (ii) MOE Financial Assistance Scheme, etc. Being engaged in the local community and striving to make it a better place is a key piece of our student leadership development’s vision of LEAD by Character and Service. Through the Outreach program, the student counsellors had the opportunity to get involved and contributed to community while broadening their understanding of the needy in the local community.  All student counsellors volunteered and signed up for this project as early as one week in advance and up to the day of the Collection Drive.

Today’s collection drive saw the student counsellors coming together to contribute towards the local Chong Pang “kampong”. They enjoyed the experiential learning as they discover how to connect with residents in their door-to-door asking for donations. Through our conversations, I heard the students’ message of giving back to society – something everyone (both student counsellors and residents) can do by getting those within our circle of influence to be involved in this meaningful event.  There were active participation and generous donations from residents.

Personally, my hope that this AI Student Leadership Community Outreach Program will allow my student counsellors to explore the volunteer opportunities.  My intent is that the student counsellors who participated in this program will discover that they especially enjoy such volunteer work and that they will want to continue signing up and volunteering with such projects later on. Those student counsellors who do find they enjoy and care about such volunteering work, may then want to take this to another role, such as taking on the role of volunteer advocate who spread the message of how an effort of one or many individuals can make a difference.