Ultimately, the key to effective teaching is a willingness to learn and grow alongside our students. Only by embracing this mindset can we truly inspire and empower our students to reach their full potential.

This good example was highlighted to the class to show and inspire other students to be honourable citizens of Singapore and to take any opportunity to help those around us.

It was also important to share timely feedback and information with the student’s parents as it can help the student’s parents understand the situation and learning better.

Open communication assures the parents that the student is well supported by the school teachers and is safe in the school environment.

This teacher's spirit reminded me that teachers bear the responsibility of demonstrating a passionate and sustained love for learning that students might catch our flames and be motivated to be lifelong learners.

I am committed to creating an engaging and inspiring environment for my students.

I was determined to know more. I spent time with him and tried to help him assimilate to the class.

At the end of the year, he was a well-loved student in class by his peers and was even a team leader in the final groupwork.

On our own, we can learn from courses on OPAL 2.0 and workshops organised by AST. I have participated in one workshop organised by AST during my untrained teaching stint. It has made me realised that as teachers, we not only learn from our colleagues within our school, but with the administrative staff and allied educators of the different schools in Singapore.

Sofina Ng

I took some time to have a discussion with the class on how the cleaners would feel if they hear this. I also asked the class if it was their responsibility to keep the class clean or was it the cleaner’s responsibility.

Every moment is a teachable moment.

Parents appreciated the constant feedback on their children and were more open to suggestions for the development of their children.

Sofina Ng

I organised a film editing workshop where I taught the P6 students the basic concepts of film editing and let them have a hand in editing a film through Canva.

As part of our post-exam activities, I also shared my students more about filmmaking and some works I have done which made them motivated to learn more about filmmaking.

Gigi

When the students are talking to me, I give them my full attention. Learning is not only found in the textbooks, but also it can be found through our daily conversations and provide students an avenue to develop their communication and interpersonal skills.

For my Secondary 1 Mathematics class, I was able to gamify the topic "Polygons and Geometricial Construction" into the game 'Treasure Hunt', which excites student. Furthermore, we are able to promote collaborative learning. Students will also see that Mathematics is not just 'do and practice' but something that can be fun and engaging, which can allow them to look forward to future Mathematics lessons!

After that, the student did much better in the following Spellings. I praised the student at class and gave feedback to her parents.

They also shared how they support the student at home and sometimes asked for suggestions .

I asked them to write down what they could do which includes their editing skills or vocational skills. I picked out the quieter students to give them a chance to speak out and enable them to gain confidence in their skills and themselves.

This meant communicating and sharing the class’ wins during sports carnival, when their child gets an award for exhibiting good values.

I also try to speak to my form class out of lessons and during the small moments. At the end of the year, knowing that I’d be going on course, one of my students gave me a farewell card written by himself and his mother thanking me for the effort and the conversations we had.

It really touched my heart, knowing that communication and conversation goes a long way.

jasmine

I told her to be kind to herself and that she has yet to understand the concepts and will be better in English. I took the time to go through corrections with her and to explain to her the mistakes that she made.

She became more motivated to learn English and realised that it takes time and practise. Slowly she began to improve and she enjoyed English lessons.

One thing I’ve learned is teaching lit in a way I’ve never been taught before. I had to make my lessons more ‘fun’ and engaging to NA students who can’t be bothered to read the text. I was very heartened to know that students not only enjoyed my lessons but learned and understood the text.

This challenge made my students very enthusiastic and they even shared that they went back home to re-watch the videos I displayed in class so that they could include additional information in their brochure.

On the day of the tour brochure submission and presentation, I did not expect many of them to put in so much effort for this activity but it really surprised me when most of them had a brochure to show me. Their brochures were designed well and contained information and drawings that showcased their learning. This was done in Term 3 and up until the last day of school, they were still able to reiterate what they’ve learned about this particular topic clearly.

This eventually became a great lesson for me in which designing and planning a lesson that caters to my students’ learning would be able to permanently plant the lesson into their minds. 😊

H

Thankfully, I could go outside to speak with him while my CT continued the lesson, and we had a wonderful chat about purpose and finding joy in life.

Over the next few weeks, I continued to check in on him and he shared about some of the challenges that he faced - It was so heartening to see him put in any effort that he did, no matter the amount, and he would greet me with a smile and a wave every morning.

I’ll keep that warm fuzzy feeling I got when he opened up to me close to my heart - as a reminder to always see the best in, and continue to believe in my students.

~HL