Reflection on Mrs Yu Sin Tong's (DDSN) visit

I was inspired...full stop.

Mrs Yu is one of the few people who had inspired me. Another person I could not forget is my ex-conductor from AJC Symphonic Band who then became my ex-conductor in NUS Symphonic Band, Mrs Jessie Ho-Tan Wee Eng. Both ladies have this aura about them. Not only were they charismatic, they believe in what they do and they really do well in what they do. Mrs Ho is now the Senior Specialist CCA Music 3. I was once inspired to become a conductor because of her...but that's another story...

Ok back to Mrs Yu's visit. She is one person who can see things in macro or the big picture. I was talking about my responsibility as a People Developer and the different ways that I should go about developing my three different teachers. One is a trainee teacher, the second is a part-time teacher and the last, a flexi-adjunct teacher. I told her that I was still learning in this area. I need to be the role model for each of them (to be a good teacher and achieve all the targets), to understand their difficulties and also help them overcome any obstacles. I said that it was ok for them not to reach their targets as long as they had done their best. My mistake was just to stop there. I actually wanted to continue saying that they should meet their targets by the end of the year as the mid year work review should help them to identify their weaknesses and also make them realise how they could fill their gaps....(regrets..regrets...)

Mrs Yu gave me pointers on how to go about doing my job. For the flexi-adjunct teacher, he is supposed to be sharing his resources and methods with the whole department as his experience and good practices should be copied or adopted by others. As for the trainee teacher, he should be encouraged to ask questions (as we learn from being inquisitive) and to explore the different teaching pedagogies. For the part-time teacher, she said its about resource management. She expressed her disagreement with one clause on part-time teachers that allow them not to turn up for Staff and Department Meetings. I totally agree with her. I was always wondering why some teachers didn't have to attend Staff or Department eetings. I think that it was a totally wrong concept. Staff and Department meetings should be attended by all teachers, no matter what scheme they are in. Although minutes of meetings can be read by them, they would have missed the valuable discussions that the whole faculty would have been involved in. Meetings also promote collegiality and understanding on the workings of each teacher. I am really looking forward to a change in this clause.

On the whole I think Mrs Yu was talking about developing connections in the whole school. Teachers need to know their students well - ( I like the part where she said that if she went back to being a Principal, the first two weeks would be a getting-to-know-you session for all the teachers and students. ) Teachers that know their students' habits would be able to play a more significant role in adapting their teaching and how they interact with their students and thus know how to get results from them. I am also inspired to hear that a VP was once a naughty student who had turned over a new leaf after having felt being cared for by one of her school teachers. Care and motivation lead to little successes which lead to hunger (for more successes) and then to bigger successes. Middle managers and school leaders must also know their teachers in order to develop them. Developing doesn't mean saying the good things only. We have to be truthful in our observations and monitoring of our teachers. Only when we know our weaknesses do we get to change and improve for the better...

I really hope to improve my relations with my students and teachers. I do believe that if we show care and concern towards others, there will be less misunderstanding, more cooperation and thus the world will be a much better place to live in....Thank you Mrs Yu... :)