To teach or to manage?

The Education Ministry should come up with guidelines that strictly define the role of teachers who are assigned to carry out administrative tasks and those who teach.

HAVE teachers not enough to teach that they are crying out to be “allowed to teach”? Or, have teachers been so drawn away from their teaching duty that they are pleading hard to “get (back) to teach”? Sadly, it is the latter that is of concern.

Teachers lament that they are not able to concentrate on their teaching because too many non-teaching activities and responsibilities are thrust upon them. There are the numerous analyses to do, reports to write, data to enter online, meetings, functions, seminars and workshops to attend. They also complain that they have co-curricular activities and games to manage and students to counsel.

Granted that some of these activities do have educational value that may indirectly contribute to classroom teaching effectiveness, teachers are not happy at the seemingly uncoordinated and inordinate manner by which they are called upon to be involved.

The contention is that much of the “paper work” teachers are required to do serve only the purposes of officials higher up. Teachers do not see any benefits to their charges at all.

With all these distractions, the committed teachers are worried sick that they may labour in vain in their classroom teaching; or they may themselves be burnt out. Others may already have thrown in the towel.

On the other hand, the less-than-responsible ones are enjoying the “outings” and “deviations” and unashamedly claiming that teaching is after all an “easy” life.

For the newly recruited teachers, this is indeed a confusing scenario!

There is indeed a case for the Ministry and education authorities to better coordinate and reassess the true needs of the paper work given to schools and expecting their feedback to be uploaded usually within short notice.

On the other hand, teachers must also recognise that some extracurricular activities are essential and therefore rightly become part of their duties.

Yet, with consent, approval and support from the authorities higher up, schools can do better. Here are my thoughts and suggestions.

A normal secondary day school with a student population of around 2,000 and running two sessions will have a principal, three senior assistants, an afternoon supervisor, four heads of academic departments, five student counsellors and a teaching staff of about 120.

This means that the school has 14 administrator-teachers, that is 12% of the staff.

Premier and other schools of acclaim may even have more academic and administrative staff. Smaller schools need no afternoon supervisors, have a proportionate number of counsellors whilst other positions are all intact.

These school administrators are called administrator-teachers because besides administering and managing their respective “office”, they are required to also teach some (10 to 14) periods a week. This may seem minimal as compared to a normal teacher’s load of 24 to 28 periods.

But, consider the minds of these administrator-teachers. Their first concern must be that they administer well the “office” they have been promoted and assigned to. They must also realise that what they do and decide now affect more than their own classes. They are helping to administer the whole school.

Their teaching periods may average two per day. But the timetable could be such that it is one period in the early half and the other period in the latter half of the day. Being conscientious and committed, they are teachers who want to perform well in their given tasks.

So, it is not just about going into classes for 40 minutes per period. There must also be necessary preparations to ensure that each lesson is enriching and benefiting to their charges.

Usually, they are torn between the demands of their administrative offices and the teaching needs of their classes. More often than not, our school structures and expectations being such, their administrative duties take precedence.

To accommodate, the more experienced administrator-teachers opt to teach “less important” subjects and classes.

This has resulted in their teaching becoming, much to their own chagrin, less than exemplary to their colleagues. Worse, there are some teachers who use the situation to justify their own lackadaisical demeanour.

This sad scenario begets the question: Why not allow administrator-teachers to be full-time administrators? They can then focus on the administrative tasks, take over the paper work now being assigned to teachers, “represent” teachers in many out-of-school activities and most importantly reduce the burden from teachers who are not “teaching-centric”.

After all, these administrator-teachers have to prove their administrative prowess rather than teaching for their next career move.

And, may I point out that former teachers who have taken on administrative positions in the ministry or the various education departments are not required to teach at all?

So why should teachers carrying out adminstrative work be expected to teach even if its just a few periods a week?

We really need a transformational change here. Would the Education Ministry allow schools to be administered by full-time administrators who were teachers before?

By LIONG KAM CHONG

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Happy Valentine, bring in all elements of love!

Teacher Talk  By NITHYA SIDHHU

Kindness, compassion and understanding are qualities that we should nurture in ourselves and those around us to make our lives more meaningful in the long run.  Give a man the respect, recognition and reward he deserves and see how far he will go in life

A COUPLE of weeks ago, I dropped by at one of the schools I had taught in before. When a group of my ex-students spotted me, they came rushing up to say “Hello”.

A cheeky girl, now in Form Five, quickly covered her name tag and asked me, “Teacher, tell me my name. See if you still remember me.”

Much to her surprise, I remembered. The reason was simple. I had taught her when she was in Form Three and one day, I had given her class a set of open-ended questions to evaluate my teaching.

I must share with you that my favourite questions are based on Edward De Bono’s lateral thinking PMI (plus, minus interesting) set. I would ask my students to tell me, using whatever vocabulary they had, be it in sentences or in words, in Malay or in English, the PMI elements about my teaching.

Attentive: Teachers should not only teach but make it a point to nurture and interact with their students.

This student, wrote very simply that I was a “nice teacher” who had a “nice nose, nice face, nice lipstick, nice hair, nice personality and nice manners.” To round up, she wrote in every column – regardless whether it was ‘plus, minus or interesting’ that I was “nice, nice, nice”.

Reading out her evaluation to my daughters, I remember the older one going “aawww”.
That explains why when met I this student again, I could really remember her full name. With her simple appreciation, she had left an impression on me.

But while I chatted casually with them all, I noticed a Chinese boy hanging back, unsure whether to approach me or not. With my acute sense of “with-it-ness”, I could feel his hesitancy and trepidation.



Since I recognised him, I called out to him warmly to join us. I even remembered his name! The minute I did that, a transformation came over his face and he broke out into a big smile. Soon, he was among the cluster of students around me, laughing and joking.

Caring teachers: Sometimes all it takes is a hug and some counselling to bring about positive changes in a student. – File photo  

The 3A’s
You may wonder what my point is. It is this.

Students cherish the human touch. They need the “3A’s” in their life as much as we teachers do – attention, acknowledgment and appreciation.

In our social interaction, it is a boost to our heart and spirits (brushing ego aside) when we are told, either in words or in actions, that we matter.

An older teacher is gratified when she is told that her contributions make a difference. A younger teacher goes home happy when she has been given a complimentary shot in the arm. A disgruntled employee feels better after his issues have been heard out. A dissatisfied man relaxes when his boss listens to his complaints and then acts on them.

Even the people of a country sleep better when they know they have a government that cares about their welfare.

Say what you will, but it is love that makes the world go round.

Kindness, compassion, understanding, good deeds, empathy – all these go hand in glove with achievement and true progress.

Give a man the respect, recognition and reward he deserves and see how far he will go in life. Deprive him of it, and you may get some results but one that is without much soul and passion.

“These days,” said an old teacher friend, “I do what I can and nothing more than that. Why should I work so hard all the time when others are taking it easy and yet make as much as I do? What more – I’m fed up with the boorish behaviour from people who think so highly of themselves! ”

She was talking about the disparity in attitude shown by her principal to her in comparison to how he behaved and favoured another colleague who did not work as hard as she did.

I told her what I tell all the teachers I give talks to — “Whatever you do, go ahead and be angry, sad, unhappy or miserable, but after that, you should let it go and let love triumph in your heart.

Be focused on the good that you can do, particularly with your students. Come to school with the mind to teach and teach well.

If you let negativity roll in, it will lodge in your mind and fester only pain and disillusionment.

When you teach, you have to give. The giving may seem lop-sided at first and not at all in your favour, however in the long run it always works out for the better.

I may sound like a Maharishi from the Himalayas but I speak from personal experience.

In my teaching years, I was proven right time and time again, that I was a happier and better teacher when I rolled out the good punches in my professional life and worked out the bad ones on punching bags outside school!

This, being the month of February, I think it’s time we ought to give love more room in our hearts.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.

Malaysia Toray Science Foundation (MTSF) - Winning ways with Science creations

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Winning ways with Science creations

Teacher Talk By NITHYA SIDHHU

What one needs is passion, persistence, patience, precision and perfection for a creative idea to take off and make an impact.

<< Malaysia Toray Science Foundation

IT was easy to see why Tan Mun Wai was all smiles when I met her recently a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

As one of the 2011 Winner Prize recipients of the Science Education Award given out annually by the Malaysia Toray Science Foundation (MTSF) to creative teachers and educators, she had every reason to be proud.

A lecturer with Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Pendidikan Teknik, Kuala Lumpur, Tan’s winning idea and the one that booked a berth at the 18th MTSF prize presentation ceremony was a model of the moon’s eclipse and its path relative to the sun.

Tan Mun Wai: Teachers should not feel that their creative ideas have no value or significance.

 

Sitting not too far away from her at the ceremony was another prize recipient, Dr Tan Ming Tang, a lecturer at the Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Batu Lintang, Sarawak.

He had created a simple winning model, using a tilting plastic bottle and a ball, to explain how the Earth’s seasons occur.

For those of you who are in the dark as to what the MTSF is all about, Toray is a Japanese foundation which has taken its corporate social responsibility role to the level of doling out lucrative annual science and technology research grants as well as science education awards to Malaysian researchers and educators.

Research projects

As was explained by the MTSF chairman, Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Omar Abdul Rahman in his message, the foundation has, since its inception in 1993, “funded 191 basic research projects and awarded 36 outstanding scientific achievements and 289 creative and innovative teaching methods.”

I can vouch for the truth of what he says because over the span of 10 years (from 1998 to 2009), I myself, as a government secondary school Biology teacher, submitted my own creative ideas to the MTSF and won seven Science Education Awards from it.

Dr Tan used a tilting plastic bottle and a ball to explain how the Earth’s seasons occur at the competition. 

I was named winner on three occasions, a runner-up once and won three consolation prizes.
The reward, recognition and respect awarded to a teacher like me by the foundation, not to mention the learning experience is unforgettable. I can honestly say that the MTSF spurred me to grow creatively as a teacher.

The jitters 

I still remember how nervous I felt the first time I participated in the competition in 1998 and was shortlisted and called to Kuala Lumpur to present my idea to the examination committee panel of the Science Education Award then.

At that time, the chairman of the Examination Committee was Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz and I was understandably concerned as to what impression I would leave on him.

I shouldn’t have worried. The man was engaging, humble and a good listener, as were the other members of the committee.

Encouraged by my first win, I made it my personal and professional goal to “dare to be different” in the classroom and kept submitting my tried-and-tested ideas to the committee.

Lest you think I was motivated by the money (recipients are rewarded with cash prizes ranging from RM2,000 to RM6,000), I must tell you that my entries were often sparked off by my students themselves — who yearned for something “novel” , “fun” or just-the-right analogy to clarify their understanding of the material I taught them.

As a child of the 60’s, I spent countless hours playing outdoors. With no money to buy proper toys, I was often forced to fashion many of my own — from rubber bands, cardboard, stones and paper.

This allowed my mind a creative bent and as a teacher, I noticed early that I found it easier to “think out of the box” compared to some of my other colleagues.


Interacting or alone, in nature or in the man-made things that surrounded me, I would find inspiration for new ideas.

Today, I am no stranger to the MTSF prize giving ceremony which, by the way, is held yearly in the month of December.

I was honoured last year however, to attend the ceremony, not as a winner but as an invited guest.

The sight of its secretary, Susan Lim, was familiar and comforting. An MTSF stalwart, she is the woman with the kindly face who offers words of encouragement and advice before any teacher steps into the assigned room to present his or her ideas to the committee.

Talking to Tan Mun Wai and Dr Tan, two of the prize recipients at the ceremony, I was not surprised by their positive and winning attitude towards teaching and life.

Both their awards were definitely bred from their desire to do their best for their students and the willingness to work hard on their projects.

All winners know it takes time, passion and commitment to bring a good idea to fruition.

At school, despite having new ideas to improve their teaching or even using them in the classroom, many teachers stop there.

Some of them feel that their creative endeavours lack merit and some do not bother to take the trouble to write up their ideas or submit them in ‘innovative teacher’ competitions organised by the foundation or the district and state education departments.

Tan Mun Wai explained, “such teachers should not feel their creative ideas have no value or significance. They should just come out and say, ‘Hey, I have this idea and I want to share it with you’. Besides, whenever a teacher takes the trouble to communicate and make her ideas presentable to others, she clarifies it all over for herself.”

Dr Tan and I agree that it’s a boomerang effect. “Every idea of mine,” he shared with me, “starts with a misconception or misperception on the student’s part.It comes from them and then goes back to them.”

Simplfying matters 

“When there’s a frown on the face of one of my students, I start thinking to myself — how can I simplify this? What method can I use to make them understand it better?”

I enjoyed talking to them.The others whom I spoke to included two teachers from Sabah, Mr Wong Fu (from SMK Putatan) and his protégé, Ho Pui Shan (from SM All Saints, Kota Kinabalu) — both Physics teachers.

Wong Fu, a Guru Cemerlang (excellent teacher), is an old hand at the game. This is his sixth Science Education Award from MTSF and he plans to keep “charging” his brain to generate even more ideas to benefit his students.

His told me that his winning entry on the “lost dimension of the prism” came to him when he saw how the water in his son’s water bottle curved when the bottle was lying in a horizontal position.

Ho, meanwhile, had created a sensitive Bourdon gauge using a paper whistle and a straw pointer. She too confessed that the idea struck her when she saw a young child playing with a paper whistle.

By the way, the MTSF Science Education award attracted a record number of 131 entries last year.

As a platform for Science and Mathematics teachers to channel and share their ideas with the teaching community at large, the MTSF is doing a commendable job.

In his address to the audience and press, the current deputy chairman for the Science Education Award, Datuk Dr R. Ratnalingam, appealed once again for more corporate organisations to offer incentives and rewards to teachers who are innovative.

“Teachers often have to fork out their own money to work on their creative ideas. The expense incurred can be a strain on them. While planning and thought are needed to generate ideas, grants would be hugely beneficial to these teachers. ”

Supportive

I agree with him. I know for a fact that the MTSF motivated and supported many of my own creative endeavours at school.

My feelings on the matter were shared. Mr Lau Yong Fuei (from SMK Convent Ipoh, Perak), who was runner-up for his idea on how to trap mosquitoes as well as by Mr Yip Chi Kong (consolation prize winner from SMJK Chan Wa, Seremban, Negri Sembilan), who submitted the idea that impressions made by waves in sand were a useful teaching device.

Sitting at my table for lunch were also See Yik Chu (a winner of the Selangor State Innovative Teacher Award) and Eng Guan Guch (of SMK St. Thomas, Kuching, Sarawak) who were also recipients.

Like me, they too realise that while nothing can take the place of seeing “our students do well when we put them first”, it is always nice to be appreciated and acknowledged for our ideas in our own right.

As Seow Yoke Hock from HELP Academy, another winner said his speech as the representative of the 14 recipients who won this year, “it takes 5Ps to make it – passion, persistence, patience, precision and perfection!”

If you are interested to participate this year and you think you have these 5Ps, please visit the MTSF website at

www.mtsf.org and the closing entry for all submissions is May 31, 2012.

Why not give it a shot?

Sunday January 8, 2012 The Star

Acknowledging excellence

UNIVERSITI Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) vice president (Internationalisation and Academic Development) Prof Dr Ewe Hong Tat and Universiti Malaya Faculty of Medicine’s Prof Dr Mary Anne Tan Jin Ai have won the Science and Technology Award under the Malaysia Toray Science Foundation (MTSF).

The MTSF awards recognise the excellent achievements of scientists, researchers and secondary school educators, and were presented at a ceremony last month. Prof Ewe and Prof Tan received RM30,000 each.

A total of 16 young researchers were given the Science and Technology Research Grants for their research projects while the Science Education Award went to 14 secondary school teachers/educators.

Prof Ewe (fourth from left) and Prof Tan (sixth from left) pose with their RM30,000 mock cheques at the awards ceremony with Dr Sharifah Zarah (fifth from left) and Dr Omar (seventh from left).

 

Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry deputy secretary-general (Policy) Datuk Dr Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad represented deputy minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof at the event.

Reading Fadillah’s speech text, she said: “In this ever-evolving, complex and competitive global economy, science, technology and innovation as well as human capital are important and add value to our agricultural and industrial sectors.

“It also enhances our nation’s economic growth, and is in line with the ministry’s vision,” she said.
Also present was MTSF chairman Tan Sri Dr Omar Abdul Rahman.