TEACHERS' DAY SPECIAL FEATURE

".. teaching is not about doing a job

   but engaging and influencing our future!"

Tan Siew Hoon
Head of Department, Humanities
ACS (International)

I consider teaching as one of my callings in life and I have taken pleasure in this vocation for many years.

My teaching journey has been like going on an Amazing Race with the many unexpected but exciting and enriching challenges.

I want to be faithful to my calling. To do so, I follow three simple rules.

Teaching is a challenge, so rise up to it.
More often than not I enjoy the process of lesson preparation and even more, the delivery of the lesson in class. It is always so creatively demanding to find ways to engage a class of students, who are unique in personality and wants. I am mindful that I have to fill the bucket, but more so I have to light the fire. It can be a baffling experience to devise a lesson that is effective for learning the syllabus AND appealing (often expected to be entertaining) to the young learners.

These days, the young faces who sit in class are very familiar with slick and highly animated performance or presentation on the digital screen, so I find myself perpetually thinking of new and vivacious ways to engage the class.

He who teaches, learns (according to a Latin proverb).
It has been an extremely enriching journey in the ever changing educational landscape in Singapore and I have learnt much from my principals, teacher mentors, colleagues and even students. In ACS (International), the East meets the West. My last 4 years in the school have been an exciting time of learning and working in a new cross cultural community. Sometimes, sparks fly during earnest discussions as different cultural experiences do result in different educational thinking or pedagogical convictions. For me, all these are great learning moments where iron sharpens iron in the process of striking the best deal for our students to learn and grow in a multicultural environment.

Lastly, I have set myself to be a blessing to my students.
As a Christian, I have been blessed in many ways, and so obeying Jesus’ command, I seek to be salt and light to those around me. Teenagers put a high premium on relationships and from these they seek affirmation and recognition of the right to be heard and noticed (just like adults). To be a blessing, I am learning to be connected empathetically with my students, even the cynics among them, by showing more care and giving more encouragement.

These guiding rules are inspired by 2 teachers who had made a great impact in my life when I was growing up and many of my teaching colleagues, past and present. These teachers have shown me that teaching is not about doing a job but engaging and influencing our future.

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