The Teaching Vision- Sharing My Story

MOE is re-drafting the Teaching Vision. Today, I received an invitation from one of our Senior Teachers, Mdm Kwok to share on my experiences in teaching:

So here goes...
1. How many years of teaching experience do you have?
I first started teaching while waiting to do my M.A. I did relief teaching for about 2 terms in St Teresa's Convent. Later on, during my NIE days I did my practicum attachment at Singapore Chinese Girls School. After graduating from NIE, I was posted to Victoria School and have been teaching there since for 6 years.


2. What has kept you going in your passion for teaching?
When I realise that I can make a positive impact on my student and help him become something more. The 3 magic words for me are "Thank you, sir." Be it at the end of class, end of CCA training session, helping a student with an assigned task, or even signing a consent form- those simple words of appreciation give me a great sense of fulfilment.

The act of teaching in itself rejuvenates me no matter how tired or drained I feel during the week. Especially in Wushu, I may be drained by the day's events and work, but after training with the boys I often find that being involved with them helps me to recharge and rejuvenate as we share our common passion for martial arts and push ourselves as a team.

3. Relate an incident, an event or a response from a student, parent, colleague that is a defining moment, that makes teaching meaningful for you?
When I first started teaching in VS, I was attached as AFT to Mdm Nabilah's class. Together, we mentored a student called Ho CP (I'm sure many of the older teachers will remember him :)
Despite our best efforts from teachers and Mr Low (who was our VP then), Chong Poh eventually dropped out of school. It was a discouraging fact at that time.
One day, the PE Department received a request from ITE regarding whether we could allow one of their students to do his attachment studies with us for their Sports Management Industrial Attachment. Guess who was the candidate? Yup, our ex-Victorian Ho CP.

It seems our efforts did sink it after all- they just took abit longer. CP had matured since we teachers last saw him and we were more than willing to help him in his endeavours in his new course. He performed admirably during his attachment and scored a distinction. He subsequently managed to qualify for a place in Republic Poly. When we spoke about his progress together, Mr Low mentioned that on a visit to Republic Poly, CP saw him and immediately move out to give Mr Low a big hug.

That simple hug sums up what being a teacher in VS is all about:
Victoria School, we leave no one behind.