Social Commentary - Teachers

New motto for teachers

Vision statement reflects teachers' changing roles, captures common ideals

By Amelia Tan

OVER six months of discussions, 28,000 teachers were asked to identify their strengths and give voice to their vision for the teaching service. The huddling led to a new mantra crafted to guide them in their work: Lead. Care. Inspire.

While these are goals teachers everywhere should aim for, a vision statement is timely right now, when the education system is at an 'inflection point', said Director-General of Education Ho Peng, as she launched the tagline on Wednesday.

Speaking to about 4,000 teachers and school leaders at the annual Teachers' Mass Lecture, Ms Ho said the system had evolved over the past decade to a point where school managers have autonomy and teachers are encouraged to use innovative teaching and learning methods.

Schools will need teachers like Miss Lucy Oliver Fernandez, a Catholic High School literature teacher who refused to let her students' dislike of the subject deter her. She organised extra classes for the group, which ignited their interest in literary works and inspired them to go on and win trophies at the school's annual Literature Festival.

Ms Ho said: 'With the rapid professional growth of teachers, I see Singapore teachers as beginning to chart the future of our profession... Next year is 2010, we are entering a new decade. It is the next lap of the education journey.'

In that next lap, teachers now have a rallying cry to focus them on their goals. They need to lead students by giving them the chance to discover their talents, and their peers through mentoring, said Ms Ho.

As for the second part of the tagline, it was teaching in a rural primary school in Lim Chu Kang in the 1970s which taught Ms Ho the importance of a teacher's love.

One of her students was very shy and was teased by others for her untidy appearance. But she slowly gained confidence through the constant encouragement Ms Ho gave her. She said: 'The power of love and care can do so much to a kid's life.'

Teachers should not only care for the physical safety and social and emotional needs of their charges, but also play their part in moulding character.

And it is a great teacher - like Miss Fernandez - who inspires his or her students to love a subject and colleagues to become better teachers, added Ms Ho. Teachers said the vision statement reflects the changing role of teachers and captures common ideals for the whole teaching service to work towards.

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A Time for Teachers:

As Teachers’ Day is around the corner, every student is furiously racing into bookstores islandwide, hoping to get their best teacher a sweet little red pen. Truly, teacher’s day reminds us that teachers are indeed the foundation of the education system and the empowering force behind our future generations. And after 6 months of discussion, 28,000 teachers haves brought about a new motto to aid them as a guide and also as a model to tame innocent schoolchildren, in other words, teaching. The motto is, “Lead. Care. Inspire”, which reminds the teachers of the fundamental goal and aim of teaching and education.

Education, the system school children hate to love and love to hate, has been evolving these very years. In the above article, Ms Ho Peng, director-general of education in MOE, states that education had evolved over the past decade to a point today, where teachers use innovative and create teaching methods. As the system changes, students have a different view of the teaching system as well.

Said student Zhang Yu, from Ngee Ann Secondary School, “I think the education now is much more fun than in the past, as the use of computers provides as another medium for education to take place.”

Of course, what would a system be without the people executing it? It would heavily resemble that of an old man deprived of his walking stick. In education’s case, teachers! Schools require teachers that are committed and more than willing to go the extra mile for the student. Such example of a teacher is Miss Lucy Oliver Fernandez, a Catholic High School literature teacher who refused to let her students' dislike of the subject deter her lessons. After organizing extra classes for her pupils, she inspired them to take part at the school's annual Literature Festival, winning several commendable prizes.

Teachers should not just fulfill the social and emotional needs of his/her students, but also have to play a role model, essential to mould and develop their leadership qualities. Being role models, fellow colleagues could also learn to be more understanding towards the students, and take the first step in knowing them better. Ms Ho believes that it is a great teacher like Miss Fernandez, who has the ability to inspire his or her students to love a subject and colleagues to become better teachers.

Ms Ho also stated: 'With the rapid professional growth of teachers, I see Singapore teachers as beginning to chart the future of our profession... Next year is 2010, we are entering a new decade. It is the next lap of the education journey.'

True enough, teachers now have a motto to rely on to achieve their goals, by leading, caring and inspiring students. In light of this decade, education has already been highly prioritized amongst their parents, with technology and scientific advances; it is no wonder that education has become an important goal in life. Furthermore, teachers, the facilitators of such knowledge being passed down, are the key source where most students learn from. As such, this new age and motto will truly, bring about a significant change in the education system, as better teachers will emerge as role models we should look up to. Its time for me to buy my red pen.

“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan

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c) “My mother’s limited English limited my perception of her” (p731). Recall an incident where this quotation applies to your own perception of another person.

“You will hit if off with her,” my kindergarten teacher told me.

Anxiety gripped me in the hands as I tried to imagine what my new classroom neighbour would look like. For a week, I have been pondering on ways to introduce myself to her. As the days go by, I could vividly imagine the seat beside me taken by a sweet little girl, I figured we would be the best of friends.

Finally the day of revelation arrived. Our teacher was all smiles when she came into class, and the whole class was unusually silent. It was time to introduce our new classmate.

“I am honoured to welcome our new classmate Lee Zi Yi, which will be joining our class for the rest of this year.”

All eyes were shifted to the door, eager to welcome our new classmate. A pretty little innocent girl came in, gave a curtsy, and immediately I fell in love. She walked to the middle of the class, and began her welcome speech.

“Good… Morn…ing…fell…low…people” she stuttered.

The class roared into laughter soon after, and the poor girl stood there awkwardly, unaware of her mistake. My dreams of having a new best friend was ruined, I didn’t want such a laughing stock to sit beside me. I jeered and joined in the laughter; I was not really mature then.

After all the laughter, our teacher lectured us, and pointed to the seat beside me, motioning the girl to sit there. I snubbed her for the whole lesson, although she was constantly finding an opportunity to get me to talk to her. As the time go by, I started to dislike her even more, as I found her remarks to be nonsensical and impossible to comprehend.

I spent that whole day sulking, sore on the fact that I had someone whose vocabulary was very limited sitting beside me for the rest of the school term. It was not until a day later that I realize that Zi Yi was from Shanghai; thus not being able to converse well in English.

I started to feel guilty deep inside, as I deprived her of the chance to meet a friend here in Singapore. I decided I have to make amendments and not to judge Zi Yi by her limited use of the English language. I initiated a conversation the next day, and conversed with her in Chinese. She told me that she wanted to learn English very bad, and I took on the arduous task as being her English teacher.

After a few days, Zi Yi’s grasp of the language improved by leaps and bounds. No longer was she the girl who was laughed at; she contributed a lot in class discussions and was always praised by teachers. We were the best of friends and till now, I have learnt a valuable lesson, never to limit your perception of others by their limited English.

Construct an entry of about 350-500 words based on one of the following three questions:

Chosen Topic: We should scrap the CCTs.

Many pupils loathe the ccts. Even some teachers loathe them too, but is the CCT a really good assessment of one's capability? The term mugging is well known to every student, just doing some last minute memorizing could already assure you of passing your paper. But there really is a difference between memorizing something and understanding how it really works. The Class Common Tests only tests students on knowledge learnt through a lesson or a textbook, but do not excess on thier understanding and application of the knowledge imparted to them.

Many students loathe the tests because studying is required and also the fear of failing, this fear lasts throughout the test, and can affect ones results too. Thus, this CCT is not a really good gage for a pupil's ability as results do not necessarily show the true potential of the student.

Furthermore, with the huge workload and pressure from different curricular activities, having to prepare for the CCTs just adds to the numerous burdens we already have trouble facing. I do agree to some extent that CCTs regulates a pupil's academic progress, and keeps them prepared for the EOYs, but i strongly belive that CCTs should be slightly "scraped" and making them less frequent and having more performance task to share the weightage of marks.

Pathos Argument:

Topic:
Singaporean schools should remove the uniform system, allowing pupils to report to school in casual wear.

In the present education system in Singapore, students have to report to school in a certain uniform dress code, while pupils from other countries, such as in Britain and America need not have to. This causes a lack of individaulity and self-identity amongst the pupils, as students in Singapore could not express themself freely in front of thier peers.

Clothing, being a nessessity in daily life, is definitely a crucial way to show self-confidence and invidual identity to our peers. Having a uniform robs this prvilege as our dress code is now limited, and everyone lacks the outstanding look that each and everyone deserves.

Like freedom of speech, we should not be bounded by a uniform dress code, and instead, have our freedom in choosing what we wear to school. Thus, with the thoguht of self-identiy in mind, i believe the current uniform system should be abolished and students should be allowed to have freedom over thier attire in school.

What is Exposition?

In freedictionary.com, an exposition is defined as:

1. A setting forth of meaning or intent.

2.

a. A statement or rhetorical discourse intended to give information about or an explanation of difficult material.

b. The art or technique of composing such discourses.

3. Music

a. The first part of a composition in sonata form that introduces the themes.

b. The opening section of a fugue.

4. The part of a play that provides the background information needed to understand the characters and the action.

5. An act or example of exposing.

6. A public exhibition or show, as of artistic or industrial developments.

In the writing sort of context, we should define an exposition as the one in 2a, which is a statement or rhetorical discourse inteded to give information about an explanation of difficult material. Further more, it is a type of writing used to explain and describe information to the reader and also to persuade or even disuade him/her in taking a stand.