Education has evolved so much since the last century. One significant shift in the focus of education is from only teaching content knowledge to holistic education. This means that we value students as individuals, and strive to help them develop both intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. With this, the teacher's role has also evolved to be one of an "educator". Not only do we teach them academic subjects, so that they have adequate knowledge to serve society in future, but we also try to mould students into morally responsible individuals by instilling good values in them as much as possible, and as often as possible. In fact, 100% of the time.
And how do we achieve this? Well, it is common sense to know that good behaviour cannot be taught in theory, but must be shown through actions. It is no use for teachers to just preach about good values, but do not practise it themselves. Whether we realise it or not, students constantly observe our every move and our every word, and form judgements about us. Therefore, if we want them to have the right values in life, we must constantly show that through our actions and words.
Unfortunately, this does not always happen in schools. I see students regularly being reprimanded for bad discipline, and yet, the teachers themselves display the same bad behaviour in front of the students! Sounds far-fetched? Not quite... Here are a few examples from my own observations in my school.
Case 1 : Teachers bring students to the library for self-study. Students are expected to be quiet throughout that period, but teachers are talking at the top of their voices at the teachers' section. The irony here is that the students are really behaving themselves this time, and the library is generally quiet, except for the voices of the teachers mentioned above, which are clearly heard even at the far end of the library.
Case 2 : Smoking is an offence in school. Any student caught smoking will be dealt with severely, including caning or suspension for repeated offences. However, the discipline teacher (of all people!) who is a chain smoker, gives no second thought of smoking in front of the students, during school hours, in the school compound! He is even seen smoking in the classroom once! How can this teacher expect students to adhere to school rules if he himself breaks the most important school rule of all? Needless to say, many students have no respect for him.
I wonder if these teachers realise what they are doing, and what message they are sending across to their students. If they are really serious about being an educator, they should really change themselves before even trying to change the students. Hmm... it would be really interesting if the principal caught their actions on tape and show the video during meetings while discussing the role of teachers as role models... Maybe looking at themselves acting that way might accelerate the transformation process!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Learning From Mistakes?
I see myself as a perfectionist, but after working in the real world for so long, I've certainly mellowed down. What's the use of upsetting yourself when things go wrong, despite all your careful planning and meticulous organisation? In the case of my school, things almost always do NOT go as planned! So, I figured that as long as I work in this school, I can either accept things the way they happen, or risk dying young from a heart attack. The truth is, no matter how much we want things to turn out as we expect them to, there are many factors that affect the end result, i.e. other people or unexpected events.
On the other hand, I still think there's a bottom line as to how much we can compromise when things go wrong. Just like in exams, there is a passing mark for every subject, likewise in anything we do, there must be a yardstick to measure if something is a success or otherwise. Too many mistakes means a project/event/plan is a failure.
I can't help but wonder why my school administration doesn't ever seem to learn from mistakes. The same problems persist year in and year out, and despite acknowledging the shortcomings, there was no action taken to improve the situation. It seems as if they have attributed whatever happened to be an act of God, in which case, there's nothing we can do to make things better. Or maybe they just choose to ignore the real problems.
Take, for example, the Co-curricular Day held recently in my school. In conjunction with this day, a futsal tournament was organised for both boys and girls. Matches were held in the morning, and only those involved, which would constitute 10% to 15% of the student population, were allowed to be in the field. Meanwhile, the rest of the students were supposed to be in class for lessons. The problem is teachers were not given the name list of students involved in the tournament, so many of these students took advantage of the situation and skipped classes to be in the field, or somewhere in the school except in their own classrooms. Consequently, no lessons could be carried out properly as the number of students in class could be counted on one or two hands. The sad thing is many teachers also took advantage of this situation to skip classes! Talk about setting a bad example... And here I was, having everything planned for a nice lesson, only to be disappointed when I discovered that only a handful of students were in class!
This happens every year. Days before the event, everything will be planned out nicely on paper, but in reality, nothing goes as planned. For three days in the week, as long as the tournament is not over, lessons come to a standstill. The way I see it, this problem is not difficult to solve. The administration should just make sure that the sports unit prepare a name list of all students involved in the tournament and distribute it to all teachers, so that students do not have an excuse to cut classes. The discipline teacher should also make a few rounds to catch those brave souls who still choose to have some fun outside the class. Those caught should be duly punished for their behaviour.
What irritates me is that the administrators are aware of this problem, but none of them wanted to deal with this with a firm hand. And yet, teachers are always pushed to improve the school's academic performance, which is among the lowest in the country. How can we expect a miracle when there's so much indiscipline in the school? Do you expect the students to excel when they prefer to be anywhere else but in their own classrooms?
I don't think it takes a perfectionist to see that there's something very wrong here. Unless and until we budge from our comfort zones and make some serious changes, history will keep on repeating itself. Come on, people! Do something, if not for yourselves, then for the sake of our students!
On the other hand, I still think there's a bottom line as to how much we can compromise when things go wrong. Just like in exams, there is a passing mark for every subject, likewise in anything we do, there must be a yardstick to measure if something is a success or otherwise. Too many mistakes means a project/event/plan is a failure.
I can't help but wonder why my school administration doesn't ever seem to learn from mistakes. The same problems persist year in and year out, and despite acknowledging the shortcomings, there was no action taken to improve the situation. It seems as if they have attributed whatever happened to be an act of God, in which case, there's nothing we can do to make things better. Or maybe they just choose to ignore the real problems.
Take, for example, the Co-curricular Day held recently in my school. In conjunction with this day, a futsal tournament was organised for both boys and girls. Matches were held in the morning, and only those involved, which would constitute 10% to 15% of the student population, were allowed to be in the field. Meanwhile, the rest of the students were supposed to be in class for lessons. The problem is teachers were not given the name list of students involved in the tournament, so many of these students took advantage of the situation and skipped classes to be in the field, or somewhere in the school except in their own classrooms. Consequently, no lessons could be carried out properly as the number of students in class could be counted on one or two hands. The sad thing is many teachers also took advantage of this situation to skip classes! Talk about setting a bad example... And here I was, having everything planned for a nice lesson, only to be disappointed when I discovered that only a handful of students were in class!
This happens every year. Days before the event, everything will be planned out nicely on paper, but in reality, nothing goes as planned. For three days in the week, as long as the tournament is not over, lessons come to a standstill. The way I see it, this problem is not difficult to solve. The administration should just make sure that the sports unit prepare a name list of all students involved in the tournament and distribute it to all teachers, so that students do not have an excuse to cut classes. The discipline teacher should also make a few rounds to catch those brave souls who still choose to have some fun outside the class. Those caught should be duly punished for their behaviour.
What irritates me is that the administrators are aware of this problem, but none of them wanted to deal with this with a firm hand. And yet, teachers are always pushed to improve the school's academic performance, which is among the lowest in the country. How can we expect a miracle when there's so much indiscipline in the school? Do you expect the students to excel when they prefer to be anywhere else but in their own classrooms?
I don't think it takes a perfectionist to see that there's something very wrong here. Unless and until we budge from our comfort zones and make some serious changes, history will keep on repeating itself. Come on, people! Do something, if not for yourselves, then for the sake of our students!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Having Fun
Teaching life can be stressful, but just like anything in life, there is always a silver lining among the clouds. For me, if we let the stress get to us, we will get burned out easily and lose hope in whatever we are doing for our future generations. The trick is to find something beautiful that we can cherish and which reminds us of the noble aspirations we had when we first chose to enter the profession.
Entering the seventh year of my teaching career, I've had my fair share of stress and depression. At one point, I got so near to the point of burning out that I could not find the passion in teaching anymore. Fortunately, I had a short break from teaching and used that time to gather myself and move on. Of course, I still face stress now, but I'm better equipped to handle it. I know I'm stating the obvious when I say that the best way to beat stress is to find joy in whatever we do.
One way of finding joy in teaching is to bond with our students. Sure, they can be a pain in the ass most of the time (where do you think our stress comes from?), but I found that if we take the time to show that we care for them, instead of giving out punishments and reprimands to establish our authority over them, they will learn to respect us more, and are more willing to cooperate with us in the future. Students love it when teachers go down to their level, and they enjoy the attention given to them. In turn, they will readily give back their love and attention to you.
I used to take the role of a teacher seriously -- too seriously, I think. I felt it important to project myself as an authority figure in class so that students would not 'play smart' with me. I tried to keep as much distance from them as possible. That didn't work out well. Over the years, I learned to loosen up and to let students feel more comfortable with me. I learned to be their friend. I learned to be goofy with them... sometimes. Of course, this change in my approach also encompasses learning how to be firm with them when the need arises. After all, as a teacher, it is my job to ensure that they learn the right values in life. This is definitely an uphill task for me, as being an introvert, I'm shy and awkward in social situations.
However, I'm pleased to say that I'm making good progress in my social and teaching skills. I'm bonding well with my students now. I love to be around my students as much as they like being around me, although I'm sure they wish they could be somewhere else when I'm dishing out homework in class.
I think having fun with my students helps me as much as it helps them. It not only takes away the stress of teaching for me, but also the stress of learning for my students. Many of them may be feeling isolated from their family or friends, and bonding with them gives them comfort that they are still likable human beings. Nothing feels better than when your students come up to you to have their picture taken with you, or when they thank you wholeheartedly after a lesson, or when they just walk up to you and start a conversation that doesn't seem to go anywhere. That just shows how much they appreciate you, even though they never express it in words.
I'm glad that I have my students to brighten up my days.
Entering the seventh year of my teaching career, I've had my fair share of stress and depression. At one point, I got so near to the point of burning out that I could not find the passion in teaching anymore. Fortunately, I had a short break from teaching and used that time to gather myself and move on. Of course, I still face stress now, but I'm better equipped to handle it. I know I'm stating the obvious when I say that the best way to beat stress is to find joy in whatever we do.
One way of finding joy in teaching is to bond with our students. Sure, they can be a pain in the ass most of the time (where do you think our stress comes from?), but I found that if we take the time to show that we care for them, instead of giving out punishments and reprimands to establish our authority over them, they will learn to respect us more, and are more willing to cooperate with us in the future. Students love it when teachers go down to their level, and they enjoy the attention given to them. In turn, they will readily give back their love and attention to you.
I used to take the role of a teacher seriously -- too seriously, I think. I felt it important to project myself as an authority figure in class so that students would not 'play smart' with me. I tried to keep as much distance from them as possible. That didn't work out well. Over the years, I learned to loosen up and to let students feel more comfortable with me. I learned to be their friend. I learned to be goofy with them... sometimes. Of course, this change in my approach also encompasses learning how to be firm with them when the need arises. After all, as a teacher, it is my job to ensure that they learn the right values in life. This is definitely an uphill task for me, as being an introvert, I'm shy and awkward in social situations.
However, I'm pleased to say that I'm making good progress in my social and teaching skills. I'm bonding well with my students now. I love to be around my students as much as they like being around me, although I'm sure they wish they could be somewhere else when I'm dishing out homework in class.
I think having fun with my students helps me as much as it helps them. It not only takes away the stress of teaching for me, but also the stress of learning for my students. Many of them may be feeling isolated from their family or friends, and bonding with them gives them comfort that they are still likable human beings. Nothing feels better than when your students come up to you to have their picture taken with you, or when they thank you wholeheartedly after a lesson, or when they just walk up to you and start a conversation that doesn't seem to go anywhere. That just shows how much they appreciate you, even though they never express it in words.
I'm glad that I have my students to brighten up my days.
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