Thanks be to God, “The Interview” turned out to be a success! Yes, I’ve been given the appointment of a Senior Teacher (for those who don’t already know what “The Interview” was about).
For the school I guess since I’m the first to take on this appointment, there will be quite a bit of expectations, at the same time, still feeling its way around as to what exactly needs to be fulfilled for someone in my role. The good thing I forsee is that in the words of my VP, “the egg is broken”. It’s probably less daunting for other teachers in future who aspire to take on this appointment. In fact I would think more teachers would be willing and ready for it since the path has been trodden.
As for me, I still do wonder if I’m really ready and suited for the role. When my P was having a dialogue with me before he broke the good news, it didn’t sound too positive about it. It wasn’t a unanimous decision from the panel to award me the appointment. Some felt I wasn’t sure or knew what I was in for. They are right. Still right. I wouldn’t dare say I’m 100% sure of what I’m in for since there isn’t any predecessor who has done the job before. I would need to feel my way around and pray I will get it right. Some things just cannot be left to chance. Your career is one of those things.
Somehow I can’t help but feel the the panel finally decided to give it to me because they too wanted to help my school “break the egg”. I figured out that this would be one of the points of discussion after I left the interview room. Certainly if I’m one of those in the panel, that would be a major considering factor – to let one through so that more, and probably better ones can come. Well, looking at it positively, I guess I had this situation to my advantage
So what are my plans for at least till the end of the year… Firstly to continue work in staff development and honouring teachers for their efforts. Teachers Day has come and gone. I hope to make the Thursday Honouring Day an avenue for teachers to be recognised not just for their efforts with the pupils (be it CCA, competitions, etc.) but even in their individual pursuits for self-improvement and learning. These are all done in the name of education.
Second, the staff will be having a year-end Staff Retreat-cum-Teachers Day dinner. I thought it would be a good time to round up the year by having a “thanksgiving” session. You know how at Thanksgiving family members give thanks at the dinner table for all that has taken place for the year. It’s a time for staff to show appreciation to each other for the little and big things they have done to make school a better place to work in for 2009. Just another idea… not sure if it’s a good one, an awareness session for teachers to assess their personal well-being as a worker. But I would have to do much research on it as I still have a rather sketchy idea on that.
Cheesy it sounds, time flies. 2009 is coming to an end. Today is tomorrow’s yesterday. We need to make every effort count in whatever we do. At the end of the day, what counts are just these few things in life. For me, it’s God and my family. Where then does my work come in? Well, it’s a blessing from God to be where I am and what I have so that I can be a blessing unto my family.

Gosh! It had really been quite a while since I last made an entry. Had to navigate wordpress a while before getting to this page, and it didn’t help that I had to bash through my sis’s perpetually messy table to find the plug to this laptop and of course her mouse.
Interview – Gosh! It had really been quite a while since I last went for an interview. Haha! Probably the last one I did ended me up in my present job and I’ve been here since. 7 years! Wooohoo! Yea cheesy it goes, time flies, it’s been, well, erm.. 7 years. I’m glad these 7 years culminated to this interview I went for today. Not sure if I even want to mention what interview this is in case I didn’t make it through. Let’s just call it “The Interview”.
I think I did fairly well for the interview. It started on an easy note as I was asked to briefly describe the main contributions I had made in my last 7 years in the school. That was rather easy as I had to think that through while I was doing up my portfolio for “The Interview”. It eased me into talking and thinking about my contributions in terms of music for the school. Then came the next few questions which I was still able to answer rather confidently off-hand. Let me recall them….

1) What was your biggest challenge when setting up the Music Centre at my school? How did I overcome that?
2) In your fraternity, what is the biggest challenge you face?
(Ans: Parents!! It had to be them! Damn! And I’m one of them)
3) So how do you deal with them or advice others to do so?
4) In light of the subject and the number of pupils you have in your class, how credible do you think, as a Music teacher, are you able to advice other teachers about managing a class properly?
5) How do you help a new teacher bridge the gap between the theories taught at NIE and the reality of the classroom?
6) What 2 main factors allowed you to make the several contributions to the school?

This is as much as my pea-size memory space up there has allowed me to retain.

Then… THE final question that came along that I had to throw a smoke bomb before making a quick escape. To elaborate, it was a lousy, pathetic smoke bomb that didn’t help to cover my tracks as I left the room, not sure where to hide my face. I could see “that look” from the one who posed the question that says “GOTCHA there! Muahahaha!” Well, the question had to be about the well, infamous AFL which is a fad in my school now. It goes.. “How are you going to convince your colleagues into using AFL to teach Music?” or something like that. I knew very well what AFL was, and how it’s used to teach Music to the masses. My answer was lousily smokey that I couldn’t remember what I said, needless to even want to recall and put it down here. It would be detrimental to my reputation. Haha
But what I really wanted to say was this. AFL is about bridging the gap between what’s taught by the teacher and what’s received on the learner’s part. Now, it is often easy for the learner to know where he/she stands since the ear knows what music sounds like and when it sounds wrong. In that light, the student would be able to quickly make an assessment for himself/herself as to how much he/she has achieved and how much more to go. The teacher’s role would therefore be to help the student bridge that gap by providing the student with the necessary drill to master the skill of playing the missing part right.
Sure enough, this was one of those moments where the words just don’t sync with yout thoughts and you make a booboo of yourself. The first and last moments always make the most lasting impression. I had to make that last impression as such. Sigh…
All that said, the months of preparation for “The Interview” certainly did make me think through my set of values that undergirde my practices and decisions in my years as a teacher.
1) Always to try new and better ways of doing things
2) Enjoy the process
3) Provide oppurtunities
I think over the years, what had kept me going was the fact that these personal values were in line with those of the fraternity I am in. Just last week at the Mass Lecture, the vision for teaching was “Lead, Care, Inspire”. Thank God it wasn’t some bombastic sentence that no one could remember. It was 3 simple, yet powerful words that should echo the intentions of a teacher. In ensuring that students enjoy what they do in class, I’m expressing care for their learning. By trying new and better ways of doing things, I inspire and lead others into experimenting with their ideas too. Finally, caring that students’ needs are met, oppurtunities are provided to them whenever possible.
I am deeply encouraged by the Sec 2 Guitar programme that is now cruising along. The instructors are doing a brilliant job in getting the students to learn the skills. The students are kepy motivated to keep trying because the results is plain for the ear to hear. It’s easy for individual student to know where they stand and how far they have to go. Well for those who are still far from the standard, they have been taking initiatives to improve. Every Fri, they make a beeline outside the music room to borrow guitars for the weekend. It started with just a few students. As the weeks go by and it becomes more obvious where they stand in the class, more and more students are coming forward to borrow the instrument for themselves, even one whose hand is still in a cast. He has been playing the guitar like he would a cello. Amazing!
I sit here, awaiting the results from my P. If I make it through, then good for me. If I don’t, I doubt I will be upset for long. Yes I would naturally feel disappointed but the past months of preparing for “The Interview” has certainly got me to think about the reason for my being in the teaching fraternity.
Finally, a tribute to the taxi driver who drove me to the venue for my interview. He taught me to remain calm in the midst of adversities and confusion by looking up “Yishun Ring” road on a map just before the interview.

The trainee under me started teaching this week. It was a time to really reflect also on my own practices and be more aware of what works and what doesn’t. It is really true that what any teacher needs to constantly work on is the way the lesson is conducted and classroom management. After every lesson she taught, the feedback given by me was often about how to better the the lesson delivery and how to make the class a more conducive place for learning. In providing her with the feedback, I also realised how important it was to make instructions crystal clear. I am actually proud to say that I am most of the time able to make instructions clear enough, even for the lower ability students. (This is in fact something my hubby is lacking and I often get really frustrated about!) But it didn’t just come overnight. It’s years of trying and experimenting and of course, it helps being a language teacher. I know words don’t come very easily to many, and I’m glad to say I am bestowed with it
Well, coming back to teaching…this week has caused me to think back a lot on being a good teacher. Teaching is indeed a craft; an art which takes time to be perfected. In fact, in my opinion it can never be perfected. There is never 1 best way to doing something, like what I told my trainee. I often recommend her a better way of lesson delivery but I strongly encourage her to try out other ways she think may work. This is something I guess I still do, if I think I did a lousy job in the previous lesson.
Teaching is also a tool that needs to be constantly sharpened. A tool on its own is worthless unless it is being used. The mere act of using it is already sharpening itself. So, the more you use it, the better it gets.
But there’s something that I still do not have an answer to. If teaching is a tool that sharpens itself over time, why are there so many blunt and overused tools around. I’ve seen one too many experienced teachers who have dedicated half their lives to the profession but at the end of the road, they end up becoming jaded and indifferent to things. I’ve not come to that stage yet, and hope not to. Is this the law of diminishing returns? Or have these tools been put to use which are not of their original purpose? I am more inclined to think of the latter. The edge of a sharp knife often used to open a tin will soon lose its sharpness.
My mother-in-law used to boast about this good old kitchen knife she had. But she recently bought a new and better one, saying the old one has expired and no longer effective. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it has served to its fullest or has it been used like a swiss-knife; to cut, open, tear, jab, knock. Name it, and the teacher will most likely be able to do it…

This week is the start of the N level oral exams for the NT students. It’s a time language teachers dread as they have to toil every afternoon to examine candidates. Myself not spared, I have to drag my feet to a nearby secondary school to perform my teacher-ly duties
Yes on one hand it serves to once again sharpen my tools for examining / teaching students oral skills, on the other, I wonder if more provision can be made to make the job less dreadful for the countless of language teachers across the island. On Tue, I only finished lesson at 1330 but had to arrive at the school by 1415. It is an almost impossible task since any teacher knows the ring of the bell is not indicative of the time you step out of the classroom. Eventually I only got to leave school at 1345 and reached the school past 1415. I was late but not due to my doings. I later found out from other colleagues that the official release time from classes (for teachers across all schools) was only 1330. How is the teacher/examiner expected to be able to perform at optimum when there is so little provision made? Let’s not even talk about a time to breathe, less a decent lunch. My fellow examiner survives on morsels of biscuits few minutes before the start of the exams at 1430. Life of a teacher.
Well, that aside, during this week of meeting various candidates, the private candidates were the ones who left the deepest impressions in me. The private candidates were people from various walks of life. Yes, a bulk were those from the beng-lian clan who finally decided they had enough of taking orders behind the Macdonalds counter. Then there were a couple of China nationals who were ordered by their employers to get their English standards right. I must say I was impressed with them. Despite their jerky attempts at expressing themselves, they were mostly clear and understood. We highlighted what they could do rather than what they couldn’t and decided they at least deserved to pass. Then there was this lady who looked as old as my mom, sat waiting for her turn. She seemed to have a lot on her mind. I did not even know why she wanted to sit for an English exam at this age. When it was her turn, like all other candidates, she greeted us before taking her seat. It was weird having someone as old as your mom greeting you like this. She read but with some amount of difficulty. Still she managed to finish it decently. During the conversation, I found out she was even taking night classes to improve herself. I didn’t manage to find out why she decided to take an exam at this age.
But what I figured out at the end was that she had a love for learning and bettering herself. It’s something that many youngsters lack. Perhaps she didn’t have the oppurtunity to do so in her younger days and is not making up for lost time. Such are the people many can learn from, myself included.

What a way to start the term – having to go to class every morning to check the students’ temperatures. Honestly, I think the temperature check does not help in screening the affected ones. It’s been reported time and time again that infected people may not even be running a temperature. Still, I think the ministry is just getting everyone to do it to appease someone out there; that Singapore schools ARE taking active measures to curb the spread of the virus
For the first time, I actually have a trainee teacher under me. And of all people, she is my music ex-pupil!! Don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing. Bad cos it makes me feel really ancient (the photo frame she gave me during teacher’s day is still sitting on my table!) But seeing how she was once a music student becoming now a music teacher gives me some sense of accomplishment As for me, this time, I’m not imparting content knowledge to her. It’s sharing of teaching strategies and experiences. I really hope she will be able to learn a “trick” or two from me. These 2 weeks are still purely observation. I guess I will have more to share with her when she starts teaching.
It was a little uncomfortable having someone watch you at almost lesson, doing almost the same thing. It feels like a broken record being watched over and over again But it definitely made me more conscious of what I was doing in class. I even made an extra effort to make sure I didn’t say the same thing for the next Sec 1 GMP class. This experience did make me realise the extend of differences each class possess. Even amongst the 4 Express classes, they had different dynamics, thus creating a different setting for teaching to take place. I was able to share and teach more for classes that showed more enthusiasm, while the slower ones required me to repeat certain things in different ways. It REALLY does help being a language teacher At the end of it all, I was still able to accomplish what I had minimally set out for the classes to do.
I can FINALLY get to teach my form class (1N1) English! Not that I love seeing them every other day, it was a need-to basis. I felt I was more in control of them and I hope they will slowly start to take to me. At least I know I will finally be able to answer their parents with conviction the next time they ask me “How’s my boy/girl in class?”

SYF is finally over. Even though the choir got what they have hoped for (a silver!), but my stand still remains that this entire competition is an unhealthy sport. I liken this competition to the ABRSM system of Music exams many kids go through.  For 1 entire year, they do nothing but practice 3 pieces. In many cases, students attain their grade 8 just by playing 24 pieces. When asked to play something out of their repertoire, they give that blank look. The same goes for the SYF (for any group for that matter). I’ve seen once too often the dramatic reactions of students when they do not get the medal they have hoped for. It’s as if their world has crumbled to nothingness. But what they have forgotten is the journey and experience leading up to that day. It’s the journey, not the destination they say.

Yes I cannot deny that these pieces do drill in them techniques needed to be a good musician, artiste, but the original purpose of making music is lost. Students are so keen on the medal that they lose sight of the purpose and meaning in the reason for their incessant practice. For almost a year, they forget why they sing, dance or perform. The love for the art is killed because of that. How can that love for performing be reinforced if all they do is practice the same old 3 pieces every other day for a year? One can only cultivate that love for music only through constant exploration and exposure. The SYF has done nothing but to eliminate those factors which drive that passion.

I constantly have to remind the students why they sing, why they love music; that they mustn’t just be singing notes, but that the notes are vehicles of expression. Music is a universal language that expresses the emotions; this language is nulled if the expression if not conveyed. How can one then put a medal to a form of expression?

All is said, this SYF has been here since the longest time and will be here to stay. Since it’s almost impossible not to not participate in the SYF, I guess I just have to keep reminding students of the purpose of making music. Well for now, there’s 2 more years to soak in the music before the dreaded time is here yet again.

This week was Lesson Ob for me. Was a bit adverse to the video taping initially cos it’s just strange having to watch yourself unless of course you are so in love with yourself. After the video was left on my table, it took me quite a while before I decided to play it. Haha.. But in all honesty, besides STILL finding it strange watching myself, there were definitely some things I could take away with me.

 One of the things that became clearer to me after watching the video is that students really cannot be left alone to their own devices. However there’s only 1 of me and 40 of the rest. I do not know how I should deal with this? Having more instruments in the class may help to keep more students occupied but that would be a money issue. I need help with this!

The other thing I find is that I tend to repeat myself too often (sign of ageing) I try to cover as much ground as possible but it may just result in losing the students altogether if I talk too much, and not to mention too quickly sometimes. I think my talking speed has slowed down over the years. But until the video was played, I thought I was talking fine. So I’ve gotta slow down more and talk even less! Which means I’ve keep it short and sweet!

But I still enjoy hearing the sweet successes of students having learnt and mastered what they need to. It’s music to the ears, literally. I only wish they are able to play more beautiful pieces of music. However with the limited time and knowledge of music they have, it is actually quite hard. Well, I’m only but a teacher, or teaser if you can call it. In my limited capacity and resources, many opportunities opened to the student serve only to tease their tastebuds in hope of them going out to indulge in the fullness of it all.

Since last week, the Sec 2’s started their project presentations on Movie Analysis. So far only about 1-2 groups manage to do their presentation each week; thanks to the highly incompetent laptop in the music room. That aside, I was able to see how some groups have learnt how to watch a movie from a critique’s point of view while some are still in the infant stage of wanting to know the plot and worse, when their favourite movie star is going to appear next. For those who have been successful, I am glad they are able to break down the director’s intentions of camera, lighting, colour and most importantly music, for the viewer. In fact, some observations made by students were rather impressive. I in particular, like the analysis of “Twilight” done by this group from 2E1. Manygroups have chosen this movie but so far this group has done pretty well. I hope students can take this skill with them for the rest of their lives; they will no longer watch a movie the same way they used to. I remember taking a module in NUS called “Film Art”. It changed my viewer’s perspective permanently. Till today whenever I watch a movie, it is second nature to watch it critically. I hope what has been taught to the kids about movie analysis will have the same impact.

For sec 1’s, they are now in the midst of learning the 2nd song on the xylophone. I thought the song was relatively easy but i was quite wrong. Section A was but not B. Even the best class had some difficulty managing it. The difficulty came about as they had to play 2 notes at a time. Even though the 2 notes were 3 notes apart (which was why I thought made the song easy),they somehow got very confused. I tried showing to the them the pattern of the song, didn’t help much. Then I told them to memorise the tune of the song as that’s how people who don’t have music background learn music most of the time. Worked for some but many were still grappling with having to coordinate the 2 notes. The last method I tried, which is still in the process of being tried out, is getting students to play the right hand part first. Once they’ve got that,  they just need to put in the left hand which is 3 notes away from the right hand. So far I see more progress. Most students are able to manage that. Of course with the help of having already memorised the tune. Next week, they will move on to putting in the left hand and I hope it will be voila!

I’ve survived 1 term! 1 down,  3 more to go. This is the start of the 2nd; will be a fast one though.

For GMP, started the Sec 1’s on the new (and 2nd) song they will be learning on the xylo. Difficult yet easy. Some classes managed to learn it pretty well. They were probably the smarter ones who spotted the patterns in the music. Others, even after telling them about the patterns in the music, still took quite a while before they caught it. But I’m confident they will be able to master this song soon enough. Will have to get the 3rd song ready soon!

I’m getting increasingly frustrated with the disappearing (and appearing) acts of some of my Music pupils in my Sec 3 O Level Music class. They are namely from other schools. I have absolutely no way to keep track of them except through the hp. Unlike pupils from AI where I can breathe down their necks in their classes or even along the corridors. That’s the reason why many schools are often not keen in running centres. Somehow the priority of Music as a subject in the other non-music schools is undermined. As a result, students readily miss lessons for the slightest invalid reason such as “detention”.  It becomes difficult to know how many handouts I need to prepare for the class, much less on how to help these pupils when they decide to magically appear in class again. In fact a couple of them have missed CA1 because they were absent for the test. I could not do a re-test as the Music papers runs like a listening compre exam, thus pupils can’t be left at a corner to do the paper. So, as an outlet for my frustration, I initially wanted to “shoot” an email to the Principal of the school with pupils who perform the best of disappearing act. But after careful thought, I just shot the email to the HOD Aesthetics instead. He replied and apologised and told me he would look into the matter.

In this situation, in all honesty, I’m not too concerned about the learning of the disappearning students. What I’m concerned about is the dynamics of the class. Having these people disappearing and reappearing at their whims and fancies just sends out the wrong message to the rest that it’s ok to do that. I hope the rest of the class does not feel that their regular attendance has been undermined as a result of these inconsistent pupils. I try as often as I can to emphasise the need to be punctual and regular in attendance, but no and then I still do get pupils who would sometimes miss lessons because they had something on in school. Sigh…

Admist all the crazy marking and assignments for CA1, I’ve managed to keep my sanity with the music I teach everyday. The silver lining in this grey overcast week would be the fact that for the 1st time, majority of the Sec 1 pupils have successfully learnt to play the song “When You Believe” in a span of about 4 weeks. This is much faster compared to previous years where it can drag up to an entire term learning the same old song week in week out.

In retrospect, the difference between this time is that I have set bigger targets for the pupils to learn 2 lines of the music instead of 1. You see, there are altogether 5 lines in this song. Previously, I wanted them to learn the song comfortably and well, as perfect as they can. Thus the target for every week was to master 1 line. However by the time they reach 5th line, they would have forgotten the 1st. Then there would need to be a “Revision week”. All this humdrum just kills the excitement of learning a new song. It’s no longer a “new” song. This time, to tap on the enthusiasm of learning the “new” song, their target was to master 2 lines by the end of each lesson. Yes, it was stressful on their part, but it keeps the momentum going. Yes, it wasn’t perfect but at least I can see that most of them are excited and are trying. At least they get frustrated they can’t get it right. It beats the nonchalance they give to many other subjects.

The icing atop the cake had to be the minus-one accompaniment track which my dear IT-savvy hubby has so kindly put together. This accompaniment track was the finale to learning the song.  The students were to play xylophone together with the track. The end product was “nice”. It wasn’t anything very sophisticated, but at least they were able to sense that satistifaction of being able to make music as a group. The feeling I would say is indescribable… 

So next week would be onto another “new” song, and the journey begins again… Hope it’s even sweeter the next time!