Thinking about Learning and Teaching

2007-09-27T14:06:00.000+08:00

It's Official!

In the mail yesterday, we received official confirmation from the Ministry of Education that Ethan is exempted from compulsory education.

We're all going on a learning adventure!!!

Noel

2007-09-26T16:08:00.000+08:00

My Learning Journey to the Emergenetics Brain Summit 2007
Sanya, Hainan Island 20 - 25 Sep 2007

Reasons why it was a memorable experience:
Flying on Tiger Air
Flying with Edna
Travelling with Ethan as a homeschooler
Going to China as a Family
Staying at a Hilton establishment
Drinking 4 different blends of Chinese tea in 15 minutes
Making a presentation at the Summit
Meeting American Associates and Emergenetics International Staff - Chris Cox, Mary Case, David Goldberg, Harold Suire, Cheyvanis, Karen Lang, Karen Hulett, Mark, Nora and Erika
Meeting other Asian Associates - Agnes, Zoe, Scipio, Stephen, Yvonne, Perry, Liya, Adair, Karen Smythe, Nick Tang, Seri, Mayura, Stella, Sharon, Ingrid

All in all, a very, very memorable experience.

Noel Tan
(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2007-09-26T15:51:00.000+08:00

'You can lead a horse to water and make it drink, if you give it salt'

(Dedicated to my friend Lance Fogle and his Pastor)

We've all heard the proverb 'You can lead a horse to water and but you can't make it drink' and we've probably agreed wholeheartedly. At work, you and I have probably seen co-workers like the proverbial horse. When I teach and train, I encounter participants who are like the said equine. So for as long as I can remember, I've never questioned the proverb.

Until I met Lance in June when he shared this blog entry's title with me, which was something he had heard from his pastor. What a paradigm shift and an epiphany, that statement was for me! I had never fully questioned why the horse didn't want to drink. I had assumed, now incorrectly, that the horse was as stubborn as it's close relative, the mule. I had not thought that maybe the water was foul-tasting. Or maybe the horse wasn't thirsty enough.

As educators in the largest possible sense, we probably think that with our training, intellect, know-how etc, why shouldn't/wouldn't anyone not want to listen or learn from us? Yet by thinking this way, we have removed ourselves from the most important position in the learning process - standing in the learner's shoes.

Maybe our learners at home and in school don't want to learn because the material has not been contextualised enough. Perhaps the material has been 'fouled-up', overcomplicated to such an extent that the learner can no longer see its value or relevance to him.

Maybe our learners are not 'thirsty' enough. That is, they have not come to the position when they have a real need to learn the material. Perhaps we have not aroused the learner's innate curiosity enough. Perhaps we have not created sufficient security for the learner to step out from his comfort zone and say 'I don't know about this. Can you tell me more?'. Perhaps we have not given enough 'salt' or motivation for the learner to be 'thirsty' again, to seek out the 'fount' of knowledge for himself.

Lance's words gave me a new way to look at what I need to bring to the learning process, not just for the people that I train, but also for myself. Am I modelling the very same behaviours that I expect them to have?

So Lance, thank you for sharing that insight. You probably didn't know how much it spoke to me.

Noel Tan
(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers)

2007-09-26T15:15:00.000+08:00

School-Family Education Talks

We have been privileged to speak at the following institutions over the past 13 months, to help build stronger families in Singapore. It always energises us to work with likeminded partners in Bethesda Care, Care Corner, St Andrew's Lifestreams and Tung Ling Community Services, by assisting in areas where we have expertise and access to research.

· Bedok West Primary School

· Bukit Panjang Government High School

· Junyuan Primary School (in association with Bethesda CARE)

· MacPherson Secondary School

· Presybyterian High School

· St Andrew’s Junior and Secondary Schools (in association with St Andrew’s Lifestreams)

· St Patrick’s Secondary School

· Shuqun Secondary School

· Tanjong Katong Primary and Secondary Schools (in association with Tung Ling Community Services)

· Temasek Primary School

· Unity Primary School

· Westwood Secondary School

· Yew Tee Primary School (in association with Care Corner)

This Saturday, 29 Sep 2007 - we'll be working with parents from Hougang Primary School.

Noel Tan
(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2007-08-09T15:19:00.000+08:00

Does it matter if you are first or last, if you are not in the race? Aka why can't primary school education be more like post-graduate education?

Just the other day, I read a paraphrase of today's blog entry title in an online parenting forum . The comment made by the contributor was in relation to the academic paper chase in schools. It struck a chord with me instantly.

It came at a time when we are considering home-schooling as an option for our eldest. The wife and I have been revisiting the idea, primarily due to a pressing need to realign his learning journey on several fronts - his learning style, temperament and his learning difficulties, in relation to our own beliefs and assumptions about education and development.

The wife and I went through the school system in our time and got through those years with our degrees, with a fair amount of success, I would think. I mean, I have 2 post-graduate degrees and am now in the 2nd year of my doctoral research.

However, I note that my most eventful learning was in these recent years, when learning was truly discovery, in pursuit of answers to questions that I was genuinely interested in. The individual journey has been fulfilling because it revealed the innate creativity and problem-solving resources that I could harness. I guess a deeper, more fundamental reason would be that I am no longer under the pressure of being compared or measured. If I'm only racing against myself, then it becomes a competition of an even purer form - wrestling against my own limits, struggling against habits that hinder - in order to achieve a result worthy of myself.

It's important to clarify that competition is not inherently bad. In appropriate settings and when processed properly, academic competition and testing can yield positive benefits. In my case, I've discovered how my son, is increasingly turned-off from learning because of the emphasis on results or teaching to the test. This flies in the face of recent research into social and emotional learning, multiple intelligences, learning styles and brain-based learning.

Our conversations with the eldest inevitably focuses on the homework that he has, deadlines, to stop dreaming and focus on completing his work etc. I would much rather like the conversation to be about what he has enjoyed learning and how what he's learned can connect with other things in the world. In a perfect world, we would be having that same conversation with him and he would also be able to thrive in a competitive, exam-centred environment. Since that is not something that is foreseeable, the next best solution would be to place him in a context which allows him to re-discover the joy of learning. How that will transpire will depend on our considerations over the next few weeks.

I think the deeper question here is not about protecting the child per se from the harsh realities of life. Rather, it has to do with preserving an essential attitude that is at the centre of our existence as human beings - a healthy curiosity and a love for learning. Otherwise, I might end up having a child who is well-schooled, but not at all educated.

Noel Tan

(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2007-08-04T13:12:00.000+08:00

Food for Thought: Brain-Friendly Food

Just a short post today from me. Here's a list of food that are just simply GREAT to keep your brain in fantastic shape:

1. Food rich in Vitamin B eg oats.

2. Eggs - rich in choline, which the brain uses to make the neuro-receptor acetylcholine.

(Low levels of acetylcholine are found to have a negative effect on memory and are associated with Alzheimer's.)

3. Fruit and fresh vegetables, rich in Vitamins C & E - These eliminate free radicals in our bodies.

4. Fish, a primary source of Omega-3 fatty acids eg DHA.

5. Lots of water - removes toxins from the body, including the brain.

6. Beans, nuts and legumes.

Noel Tan

(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2007-08-02T15:58:00.000+08:00

Dealing with School Pressure: Which School of Thought do you belong to?

As a parent of a school-going 7-year-old in the pressure-cooker environment that is the Singapore education system, as well as a family life educator, I've discovered that there are different schools of thought, when it comes to dealing with school pressure.

'Swim' school

Parents who belong here believe truly that 'Life is tough' and hence, school is the the induction into life. How does the learner deal with pressure? The simple message is 'Hard luck, kiddo. deal with it, because I dealt with it'.

'Live-the-moment' school

If life gives you lemons, parents who belong here are likely to say 'Make lemonade'. They accept that schooling is tough and competitive, but they emphasise to their learners to look beyond the negative and enjoy the ride.

'Cram' school

Given the exam-centric nature of the system, parents over here tell the learners to 'Forget about the Fun, and Focus on the Facts'. Learners are seen to have coped with the pressure by getting extra doses of brain work at tuition centres and other enrichment courses.

'The-road-less-travelled' school

How to cope with pressure? Parents in this school of thought believe that there IS an out-of-the-box way: be it homeschooling, boarding school overseas including the option of emigration. 'Pressure? What, pressure? (..when you have an alternative, that is)'

Simplistic, though, these labels may be, they are useful for helping us see the messages that we transmit, consciously or otherwise, to our children when they face pressure from school. They also bring out the underlying assumptions about pressure and schooling experiences as well as their respective educational outcomes.

Is there one best approach? I doubt it; the effectiveness of any approach will rest greatly on the child, how well his parents understand him and their relationship together.

Noel Tan

(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers)

2007-08-02T00:49:00.000+08:00

Role-modelling EQ: A Reflection

In the middle of the year, we were part of a consortium that recently completed a pilot project with a school to develop Emotional Literacy skills in a group of Sec 2 Normal Tech boys. Social and Emotional Learning research suggests that with enhanced EQ, students' academic performance improves.

When my facilitation team and I first met the participants, we primarily saw 2 key behaviours on display - aggression and passivity. Clearly, these belied the lack of confidence and esteem that are otherwise found in resilient kids. We saw as our primary task to model the EQ competencies which included the need to engage in thinking about consequences, recognising and harnessing emotions etc.

One pitfall in modelling EQ skills is in not knowing where to draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. We found that however clear the behavioural expectations were and however much we reiterated these expectations, these would obviously not be met by a few individuals. We also discovered that no matter how much we shared amongst ourselves what these expectations were and what would we all do if they were not met, ultimately different people have different thresholds for unacceptable behaviour.

So the key lesson through our own debriefing as a facilitation team was to have each facilitator share and account for their individual response to unacceptable behaviour. Knowing the logic for our responses allowed each facilitator to move towards a 'normed' response that everyone would adopt in the event.

Role-modelling EQ also meant that we had to come to terms with our own lack of these EQ competencies. Not being able to explain why we react a certain way when we feel stressed or fatigued, may mean that we may have limited reach into the child's life when debriefing his behaviour and feelings under stress or fatigue.

On hindsight, there is great potential in terms of impact on these kids who in their home life, have not had positive models of EQ. We showed that while we were there to model the competencies, we also had our own thresholds for negative behaviour and had to deal with them firmly. Through our positive management of our emotions, we showed them that they could too.

Noel Tan
(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2007-07-30T20:12:00.000+08:00

Sometimes the Journey is more important than the Destination

What's a Singaporean doing in Idyllwild, California anyway? That was a question I asked myself, as I woke up to a knock on my motel room door; a world away from busy Singapore. Bleary-eyed after a 30-hour journey, with my body clock all topsy-turvy, I awoke to the lesson that the Journey is sometimes more important than the Destination.

1. Suspending Judgement

New situations unfold themselves fully only when one suspends judgement and the urge to criticise or even to compare. By immersing all your senses, you begin to allow every neuron in your brain to make connections. I had never previously been to a desert, but stepping out of the airport at Palm Springs that morning in June, gave me a sense of what near 40 degree Celsius feels like. On the ride up to Idyllwild, I made a mental note of not complaining too much about the humidity in Singapore so easily.

2. Physical space parallels Thought Space

My last trip to the US was in 1992, en route to a leadership conference in the Bahamas. I remember being boggled by the size of the continental US, as I flew from San Francisco to Philadephia. This time, almost in juxtaposition, I lived in Idyllwild, a small mountain town of 2000 people, where almost everyone I met there, didn't want to live life, as they call it 'down the Hill'.

These were people who were shocked by the amount of exposure the American media placed on the exploits of Paris Hilton, and who were concerned about issues like the state of the family, education and global perspectives. Yet no matter how wide the diversity of opinions, there was a parallel respect for the other person's right to his opinion. This was manifested in the way even businesses in the town's Chamber of Commerce settled issues through dialogue to understand the perspective of the other. As I exchanged Singapore for Idyllwild, I began to see the truth that the plurality of thought does parallel the physical space.

3. It's more interesting when one is not in stasis

All of us have a propensity to want stability, to conserve what they have. A journey keeps us away from our comfort zone, on our toes as it were; just enough to tip us off-balance, so that in our search for a new equilibrium, we are open to every element in the journey. When finally we achieve a new stasis, then as travellers, we would have considered and assimilated elements of our journey. All this adding to the fact that the Journey is more important than the Destination.

When I reflect on my learning journey to Idyllwild in June 2007, I remember being thrown slightly off-balance when I responded to the knock on my door, only to hear Spanish from the chamber-maid who was there to clean the room. Jet-lagged, I surprised myself by being able to blurt out 'un momento" to her. Then, I knew that the journey to Idyllwild would hold many lessons for me.

Noel Tan

(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2007-07-08T13:15:00.000+08:00

Getting Your Teenager to Sleep

One of the questions I get asked with regularity at parenting talks is "How to get my teenager to sleep?". Living in an age of ever-increasing connectivity, it's not just adults who aren't getting enough sleep. Teens may be in their bedrooms early, but are in fact falling asleep only past midnight, and parents know that can't be right.

That is a view which is backed up by sleep researchers. Teens require about 9 hours of sleep every night, but most are in fact getting by with only 6 hours or in extreme cases 5 or less. In my conversations with parents, anecdotal evidence suggests that US research figures do parallel the Singapore situation.

The situation is not really helped given the truckload of homework given by school, and the fact that today's teens have the world in their bedrooms through TV, the computer and the telephone. The net effect is that our teens are too stimulated to get to sleep early. Entry into puberty also causes our teens' body clocks to shift to a later sleep-time.

So what do researchers say are the benefits of a healthy night's rest?

higher immunity levels and better general health

better concentration in school

cognitive operations are better - improved recall

pleasant dispositions

lowered risk of accidents

Parents can try a few ideas to help their teens sleep earlier:

move the TV, computer etc out of the bedroom

guide development of time management skills in our teens

fix dinner and sleep times - late dinners keep teens awake, while having a clear sleep time is better than having none at all

late afternoon naps

lobby the school's parents support group to organise 'Sleep Awareness' days - sometimes, teens just need to hear the message from other people, apart from their parents

get the same group to lobby the school to review the amount of homework given, after all, the MOE has reduced content already some years back

Because it's such a fundamental part of being human, we often take for granted the importance of a good sleep. Often too, we do not role model the right behaviours ourselves - I remember reading about how parents lug sleepy kids through Mustafa Shopping Centre in the early morning hours, just because the adults could not sleep - so how do we expect our teens to follow? It's time we did, for our sleepy teens' sake.

Noel Tan

(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2007-06-22T19:53:00.000+08:00

Strengthening the Meaningful things in Life -

Working on School-Family Education for Work-Life Effectiveness

As a values-based business, we live our belief that our for-profit work is only a means to meeting real needs, which in the whole scheme of things overshadow the profit motive. In today's 'push-button' world of instant gratification, it is meaningful to work with community partners whose mission goals focus on nurturing relationships. This article puts the spotlight on how parents can be Work-Life Effective and shares 3 key ideas that can immediately be put into action by our readers.

Since the middle of 2006, we have been speaking at schools on the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports' platform of School-Family Education, to help equip parents, teachers and students. Part of the work is carried out in collaboration with Care Corner Family Service Centre, Tung Ling Community Services and St Andrew's Lifestreams. (The work done by the 3 groups will be the focus of a forthcoming article)

Navigating job demands and office politics daily, and going home to the task of nurturing a family is no mean feat, even for the best of us. Balancing the competing demands of parenthood and livelihood can be made less painful if parents, both as individuals and as a couple, can align goals and resources to their values.

Clarifying Values

Our values drive our behaviour, and they reflect what's important to us. When values are not aligned, the resulting situation is conflict, both within the individual and with others. While the conflict signals a need to seek re-alignment, it is often the heat and emotion of conflict that clouds the actions and decisions of both parties in a marriage.

It is vital for parents to clarify their own personal values and to actively seek convergence on values that are not yet shared. Through an active, open and continuing dialogue, parents can work and move together in concert. That way, both spouses build trust in each other's parenting actions even if one has to make a unilateral decision first. Working spouses can then focus on matters at work

Develop a Family Life Plan

It may be a cliche, but there is truth in the saying that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. It's true not just for business, but equally vital for family, all the more when it seems the least likely aspect of life that requires a plan. A Family Life Plan essentially maps out the family's goals, key milestones in the process of achieving those goals, and the primary actions that need to be taken to achieve those goals. These goals are by no means focused only on the material, but include other priorities such as children's education, holidays, retirement and the place of work within that plan etc, the Life Plan becomes a platform for both spouses to share and work on. Couples may explore flexible work-arrangements in order to pursue their life goals together. The Life Plan is not cast in stone, but becomes a work-in-progress as the family grows and takes shape.

Stop expecting perfection

At work or at home, it's also important to remember that there's a fine line between something done well and something done to perfection. Trying to get everything done perfectly is impossible, worse when it comes to our expectations of our spouses to be able to do something to our level of 'perfection'. It makes better sense to do something well, because the person receiving it is still likely to accept it for the effort that has been put in. It's easier as then you'd be placing less stress on yourself to perform and to juggle the task along with the other priorities of life.

Noel Tan

(* All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2007-06-16T08:25:00.000+08:00

Student Leadership to Build Community through Dialogue

What is a school if it is not a community? Yet, it is hardly a given. In fact, for a school to be a living community requires a mind shift by school administrators, faculty and students alike. An active community is self-regulating and its members share common values and concerns. It also displays shared modes of life to make these values come alive - in the areas of how challenges are defined, how they are solved and what meanings are ascribed to them. For this vision to be a reality, leadership is critical.

Student leaders have a key function in the building of community and I'm not just referring to the enforcement of rules or codes of conduct. Rather, they play an important role as living symbols of the community's values, as examples for the rest in the community to follow. For example, they may personify excellence through their achievements or other virtues through their behaviour.

More important is the role of student leaders in building community in 3 key areas. First, student leaders are vital focal points for dialogue about what's important in the community. Raising awareness about issues facing the school population is a key aspect of student leadership if seen from this point of view. These issues could range from the maintenance of the school environment to changes in school rules to how the student population should manage itself to more global or societal issues. From a constructivist perspective, how student leaders understand and response to issues will reflect the extent to which the community's position to these issues take shape.

Student leaders are also vital in the creation of structures that help articulate the community's internal dialogue. As the community dialogues, structures help to create and understand the emerging common realities. Such structures could comprise town hall meetings with the student population, regular meetings with faculty representatives as well as the bodies that student leaders sit in. While these could be established by the dictates of school administrators, the ownership in these structures by the larger student population may sometimes be lacking. Should these structures even be viewed as lacking in legitimacy for whatever reason, then should it be a surprise that the notion of 'community' be lacking in a school?

Finally, for dialogue to be effective in building community, student leaders need to learn from adult modelling not just the techniques of communication and conflict resolution. In fact, they need to live the very ethos of the building process itself - viewing the opposite individual as worthy of communicating with even if we disagree with what he says. While student leaders need to be familiar with negotiation skills, assertiveness and all the entire skill-set labelled as 'effective communications', these only make sense if understood through a healthy open-mindedness that sees others as co-creators of the same community.

Noel Tan

(All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2006-12-12T07:38:00.000+08:00

Parents and 'Personal Bests' - Motivating for student achievement

It is well-documented that a supportive home environment is essential for student achievement. However, parents need to go beyond asking their children how school was or if they had finished their homework to fully flesh out such an environment. Specific behavioural actions and interventions are more effective in helping raise their child's achievement level in school.

One useful way that parents can spur their child's achievement is through the use of 'personal bests' or 'pb's'. A borrowed term from the world of sport, 'pb's' are targets that are incremental in nature, building on the student's current performance level, while taking into account his potential.

4 Ways to use PBs

Building Shared Perspectives between Parent and Child
Instead of setting unrealistic targets that do not take into account the child's abilities, parent and child can benefit from the shared perspectives that take place through the negotiation of attainable scores in school.

Building Goal-setting skills in the Child

Furthermore, the parent can use 'pb's' to help build goal-setting skills in the child, in helping the latter understand how the future is affected by present actions.

PBs as the basis of rewards and incentives

Achievement can happen only through a blend of parental support and accountability. Through the use of 'pb's', the child's performance can also be linked to rewards and incentives. Where these rewards are yet to be made systematic, parents can use the child's 'pb's' as a start-point for this process.

Motivation for achievement

As the child attains appropriate scores, his progress is thus supported through extrinsic forms of motivations, while the parent should continue to guide him to see that the achievement of his goals and 'personal bests' is the best form of satisfaction in the long run.

Personal Experience

Ethan was in the top 30% of his whole cohort in Primary One this year, but Brenda and I have seen that introducing the concept of pb's to him takes the discussion of his performance to a different level altogether. The discourse is certainly more constructive as it does not focus on the rat-race aspects such as the competition with his classmates.

Noel Tan

(* All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2006-12-04T00:12:00.000+08:00

Creating an Emotionally-Connected Classroom

Neuroscience research highlights the important function performed by emotions in assisting the processing and recall of memory. Because memories are not located in one specific part of the brain, but instead are dispersed through the brain; emotions can either encourage or discourage recall of previously-learned information. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) research also reveals that academic achievement is higher in positive, safe and supportive classrooms where learners are encouraged to take risks and to explore.

I suggest 3 ways that educators can create Emotionally-Connected Classrooms:

Know your students' contexts

You don't need to wait till the first day of the new term to do so. Find out about them from their previous teachers with the purpose of discovering their interests, passions and backgrounds. Take note of individuals with misdemeanour records and think about ways to build rapport with them. Given the fact that discipline issues surfacing in school have their origins in the home, the use of a personal details form when completed by your class would give the initial pieces of insight about your class.

Information that could be gleaned would be the presence of parents (from Next-of-Kin data including contact details if these are different from home address, and parents' marital status), the socio-economic opportunities available to the student (from the residential address and number of siblings), the personality and interests (from the choice of Co-Curricular Activity).

Establish principle-based routines

Routines help establish predictability and in turn create security in the classroom. When students know what to expect and what is expected of them, individual uncertainty and anxiety can be reduced. An educational benefit would be that students can 'tune in' to lessons with less distractions, whether in the environment or their own thoughts.

Where possible, these routines should be based on principles derived in consensus with the class. For example, the principle that 'Every student is a key member of the class' promotes inclusivity and an embracing of diversity in the class. This principle can become the foundation of the following classroom routines:

Quiet listening when there is a oral contribution, whether by teacher or fellow students
Positive critique of suggestions and ideas, to add value to; rather than to 'tear down' fellow students
Regular weekly appreciation of individuals for their contributions to the class.

'Walk gently, but carry a big stick' - Be authoritative and not authoritarian

An emotionally-connected classroom is not one where there is only emphasis on creating 'happy feelings' and 'happy campers'. Instead, it is a learning environment which recognises the place of emotions, their effects on learning processes and the management of these emotions to facilitate learning, even the negative emotions. To create such a learning environment, he must distinguish between displaying authoritative behaviour and authoritarian behaviour. The former includes knowing what situations require him to use his authority, how to use it and to what effect.

Authoritative behaviour is essentially being friendly but firm, remaining on top of things in the class. This can take the form of involving students in creating discipline standards and representative behaviours, and encouraging a consensual approach to everyday class discipline matters. The teacher uses his authority to promote interactive discussion, experimentation and finally active pupil involvement in managing their own community. Through this process, not only are the various relationships in the class intertwined, but there is a communication of values between teacher and students.

On the other hand, authoritarian behaviour involves the teacher being the sole arbiter of right and wrong, keeping authority locked in his hands, with the focus on wielding the big stick. This forces class behaviours to individually focus on preventing recrimination, punishment and fear, rather than collaborating and connecting on positive emotions and intentions, to manage discipline.

An Emotionally-Connected Classroom is one where emotions are recognised to be important elements in the life of the learning community. The teacher plays a key, vital role in promoting the vocabulary of emotions and how they can be managed so that students are aided in their learning.

Noel Tan

(* All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2006-11-29T15:10:00.000+08:00

Vulnerability Points for Character Education

About 2 weeks ago, we worked with 160 student leaders, aged between 13-15 years, from a Singapore Secondary School in their annual networking camp over four days. The participants were representatives from every leadership body in the school and the camp served as the culmination event in a series of leadership education programmes which Trailblazer Trainers had been conducting since March 2006.

The campsite was nestled in the foothills of the Panti range in Johore, about 2 hours' drive from urban Singapore. Just about 5 minutes from reaching our destination on our outbound journey, one of the participants remarked to another that there were no power lines nor street lamps. As I chuckled to myself, I realised that it was the perfect setting for character education to take place.

For urban, techno-savvy youth such as these participants, living in the jungle provided various opportunities for them to focus on the state of their character. The simple reason - placing individuals in situations where they are deliberately put 'off-balance' and in a state of relative discomfort and unfamiliarity, creates what Laurie Beth Jones calls 'Vulnerability Points' in her book 'Teach Your Team to Fish'. (A good book, I must add) These would be windows of opportunity for mentors, coaches, teachers and other adult stakeholders to literally speak into their lives; perfect for character education.

One such Vulnerability Point was created on the first evening itself, when participants were challenged to commit to higher performance standards. Caught in the transition between everyday grind and a unfamiliar new environment, participants' basic leadership disciplines became the focus of admonition, as they were not maintained. The lack of punctuality and a collective failure by the participants to organise themselves; insofar as these elements were indicators of a commitment to a successful collective experience, provided that vulnerability point.

It was not surprising therefore that the character education lesson facilitated that very first evening was the need for leaders to be committed to basic disciplines, to key tasks and of course, to each other. Personally, I was impressed with how forthcoming participants were with their thoughts about the situation and their positive reactions which led to improved behaviours that were maintained right till we said goodbye.

Character education is more likely to take place during 'Vulnerability Points'. Think about how much advice we ourselves accepted when we were comfortable and confident in our situation. Situations where individuals are 'off-balance' and need assistance are precisely when educators, coaches and mentors come into their own. We need to be mindful of situations which present themselves as these points because our advice and guidance, even a whisper, can be a precise clarion call into the lives of our charges and proteges.

Noel Tan

(*All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

2006-11-24T01:40:00.000+08:00

SELF-AWARENESS FOR EDUCATOR EFFECTIVENESS

Self-Awareness is the foundation of Personal Effectiveness which in turn also forms the basis of Professional Effectiveness. It enables individuals to accept or change who they are, and take charge of their own lives. The opposite is true: not being self-aware, may lead to them succumbing to external circumstances. Personal effectiveness arises when one operates skills related to EQ, time management, stress management, decision-making and interpersonal relationships to appropriately meet the daily challenges of life.

For educators, self-awareness is critical given the demands of the profession. Like practitioners in other 'helping' professions such as social work or nursing, the most meaningful and rewarding aspects of the job require an outpouring of oneself to one's charges, running at crossed purposes with the daily grind of the 'system'. Without self-awareness, educators may face premature burnout, high stress, an ongoing internal conflict and disillusionment, amongst other occupational hazards.

A Self-Aware Educator:

Recognises his strengths and weaknesses

All of us operate foremost based on our strengths, as they have served us well over time. Because teaching is challenging on every imaginable front, educators can only benefit from gaining clarity of their strengths as these will be the key to overcoming such challenges.

Where there are weaknesses, then self-awareness allows individuals to take steps to managing them. One way is to work consistently for improvement with a senior teacher who could function as a mentor or a coach. The other is to find a peer whose area of strength is in the same dimension as one's weakness. In other words, recognising one's weakness allows one to shore up and leverage where there is a lack.

Recognises his preferences and areas of avoidance

People also operate largely on the basis of preferences. We enjoy working on things that we prefer, because they create less internal tension and require less energy. Yet, personal ineffectiveness can occur when we act only on our preferences. That is, we may prefer to have a 'flexible' definition of deadlines, but acting on that preference alone, may lead to poor execution, limited room for manoeuvre, and also disapproval from peers and supervisors; amongst other things. Hence, educators need to identify their areas of preference and to restrain reliance on these.

In the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (aka the HBDI; a psychometric tool we use), respondents are also acquainted with the areas of avoidance - things that they do not like doing. A similar case can be made that where individuals can identify situations to avoid, then they can take pre-emptive steps to prevent these situations from emerging. Given that it is impossible to avoid such situations 100% of the time, recognising them would at least give individual educators a basis to mentally prepare for them.

Identifies his stressors and energizers accurately

Stressors are our 'buttons' that we don't want pushed. These could range from tasks that we don't enjoy or maintaining relationships with people that we can't stand. For educators, stressors could be managing a perpetually noisy class, a student who misbehaves or even a supervisor or colleague that they can't get along with. Stressors not only drain us but can also push us into the very areas of avoidance that we recognise that we do not prefer and that we may operate from weakness. Being aware of specific stressors gives us the potential to devise strategies to manage them better.

Educators should also identify their energizers: elements in their life which add zest or revive flagging spirits. These include engaging in pursuits that they enjoy - reading a good book, watching an uplifting movie, being with good friends, holidays abroad, doing community work etc. Especially in a helping profession like teaching, educators need time to be 'filled' again in order to be effective.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) research positions Self-Awareness as a key pillar of SEL thinking, where students model their social and emotional intelligence on the behaviours of teachers, so that learning can take place more effectively. It seems clear that self-awareness is not just information that is good to know, but in fact essential for schools to truly become learning communities.

Noel Tan

2006-11-23T10:00:00.000+08:00

First Post

Arising from feedback from parents and teachers on our newsletter subscribers' list, we have started http://thinking-learning-teaching.blogspot.com to be the repository for our articles on Thinking, Learning and Teaching for readers in the education sector.

Crossing Frontiers (http://crossingfrontiers.blogspot.com) will continue to host articles on Leadership, Team Excellence and Organisational Learning themes.

Core themes for articles on this blog include:

Thinking Skills
Learning Styles
Brain-based Learning
Social and Emotional Learning
Co-operative Learning
Collaborative Learning
Character Education
Outdoor Education

Our readers will benefit from perspectives, research and activities that promote efficacious learning and teaching, and the acquisition of thinking skills. Another blog; another way of serving our friends in the educational community better.

Noel Tan