Come Monday, I will be moving on to a full time teaching position at Republic Polytechnic Centre for Educational Development. What are some of the lessons learnt (I hope!) of the almost 10 years I spent away from a full time teaching position in an educational institution when I started OURF consultancy with a fellow…
Category: values
The Orchid 兰
The more I dabbled with Chinese ink and read about the history of the 4 gentlemen – 四君子, the more I am convinced that the ancient people have their wisdom and philosophy through use of painting and poetry. By looking at nature, they are able to draw principles for living! Let me just introduce one of…
Ink. Journey into Self@NP Staff Centre
“an interesting course that helps us to bring out understanding of personalities and ourselves” “thank you pin lay for this fun filled session. Your candid and honest sharing helped us to understand how our personalities can conflict.” “thank u! i have to say ti was a lot more fun than i had expected it to…
What has team work gotta do with success?
I recently read the article, a reprint by Readers Digest on Tenzing Norgay. He was born the humble son of a Nepalese yak herder and became famous after he was one of the first two people in history to reach summit of Mount Everest on 29th May 1953. Many people asked him “Who actually reached the…
Standing firm against unreasonable demands….
Each time I read about hot education issues in the papers, iToday or even a FB post, I feel the need to blog. Tuition – should we engage tutors or not? Tuition centres overcharge. Tuition teachers are not qualified. They are out to make a fast buck. A boy get his hair cut by a…
Unschooling – Is that part of our 21st century toolkit?
Have you heard of the phrase “Unschool“? I stumbled across this term when researching on “asking questions, learning” which I typed in my search box. Dr Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College in his blogpost on Psychology Today, defined “unschooling” as follows: “Defined most simply, unschooling is not schooling. Unschoolers do not…
Visiting my goats at Kampung Temasek – a lesson learnt
The day was set. The date was set. The only thing that was left was to decide on the time to set off. A month or so ago, my ex-colleague WL, having heard me talked about the Kampung for the longest time, decided to plan way in advance and “book” me so that we can…
Can we create a “Blame-Less” culture in schools?
I was sent this picture by a friend recently. I ask myself – “Does it really capture what school is like nowadays?” Today the culture of who to point a finger to seems to start young. The BLAME culture. If a child does badly in school: – Hey why doesn’t the school give remedial? Why…
What I learnt from failing: My first and only ‘RE’ exam!
I remembered the year as vividly as if it was yesterday. It was my second year in NUS. For the FIRST time in my life, I have failed an examination. It was my Mathematics paper. I remember the day when we went to collect the results. I was with my bunch of friends, Campus Crusaders…
A post by Jack Sim: What is the purpose of school education?
Jack Sim aka the Toilet Guy, asked the question “What is the purpose of school education?” I got to know Jack through being involved as a volunteer with Kampung Temasek, a NGO of which Jack is a founder. When I asked if any one in the KT group will like to share their views on…
Reflections on “Sewing the seeds of Kindness”
Reflections by students from Singapore Sports School – by Ms Lisa Ong, SST teacher What were your initial thoughts when you were invited to sew a felt donkey for SPANA? 1. “Initially, I didn’t think this project would help SPANA much and would be a failure because many of us can’t sew well and would…
