WhatsApp us
To Become a W@W Teacher That Wows
At the end of 2016, Teacher Eunice joined the team of WR!TERS @ WORK teachers. She is a keen learner who constantly seeks to improve her teaching. Now, let us read about Teacher Eunice’s story about her learning journey as she goes through the training sessions to prepare to teach the SA1 Revision lessons.
In the simple sense of the word Enrich, one first needs to be rich to enrich others.
Since joining WR!TERS @ WORK teaching team, I have had one simple but valuable gleaning: To enrich students’ learning, I need to put myself in the shoes of a student first.
Before I can stand in front of a classroom to deliver a lesson with passion, I need to know what it is like to be a student sitting in my class. It is my role and responsibility to understand the challenges and struggles that my students would go through before I can be rousing their minds and actions. I need to be a learner before I can be a leader.
In Richard Henry Dann’s words, “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
A teacher teaches. This is what was fundamentally expected.
A teacher learns. This is more than the prerequisite to teaching; it is at the heart of teaching.
As I embark on a teaching journey, it is important that I first share my learning journey.
Three months ago – Story Plot Assessment (For teachers)
It was a Monday morning, the time where all W@W teachers gathered for weekly meetings or training. However, that Monday morning, the trainer announced that all teachers would be doing a Story Plot Assessment. 25 story plots across three levels to be tested – the story title, the gist of the story and the twist of the story. The timer started, and all the candidates started scribbling on their respective papers. This was my first written assessment as a teacher, and it was a moment of awakening. In that instant, I knew how it felt like to be in the hot seat of a student. The assessment showed me how difficult it must be for my students to prepare for SA1. As their teacher, I knew I needed to study the story plots even harder.
Creative writing can be taught
Putting things into perspective, I became a student, studied a little harder to prepare to conduct the crucial lessons on SA1 Revision. It was more than just being a diligent student; it was the change in attitude and motivation. I was studying to be a W@W teacher for my students. Mastery of the story plots is not just for my students to regurgitate during exams but for me to teach in such a way that students are inclined to write as if they were writing their favourite stories, stories they could own, stories that would make them proud.
Weeks and months before students’ SA1 loomed ahead, I was putting in intentional and persistent time and efforts to master the story plots that I would be teaching. Of course, being trained to be a competent teacher would most likely be the main goal for any teacher’s training process. If the training were solely for my sake, I would have been rich with knowledge and skillset. However, the joy of being rich would be in looking beyond the self to enrich others. It is then the circle is complete, because training and knowledge will not deplete with each giving. That was an enriching learning point for me as a W@W teacher.
