8 Posts For My 8 Months Break: Part 3

Hey guys,

I’m back for post 3! Are you ready?

My second job was one of a teacher. Of course, I’m by no means a qualified teacher, but I took part in this really awesome programme rolled out by the Ministry of Education- the MOE Teaching Internship Programme, TIP for short.

I’ve documented the entire application process, and I’ll link it here and here for those of you interested in applying for this programme. I 10/10 recommend it if you have even the tiniest bit of interest in teaching and let me tell you why.

I still remember the day I received the email that informed me of the school I was posted to. I wasn’t particularly excited, to be honest, because all I wanted at that point in time was to go back to my secondary school for the programme, but they weren’t a part of it at all. The school I was posted to was, however, just down the road from my alma mater so in a way, it felt like a cruel joke to me then. I did not see what was coming.

I also remember the very first day I reported to school was the day O Level results were released. So that day was very memorable for me because it was the first day I went back to into a school after finishing my A Levels. It was also the day I rushed like a madman back to my secondary school after my day of lessons ended to see how my juniors did for their Os. By then I hadn’t gone back for some time, so it was really great catching up with my teachers and sharing with them how my first day as a teacher was.

Over the next 10 weeks, I learnt so much from the school.

Chats with the principal and vice principal gave me an insight to how decisions are made in school. Being there during a time when everything was so uncertain (because of Covid) gave me an insight to how adaptable these leaders have to be, and how they have to make decisions often with very little notice.

Following my teacher mentors into class taught me so much about teaching. Sure I went in with a little bit of theoretical knowledge, but in every lesson, I was watching theory come alive. What I learnt sitting at the back of the classroom, what I learnt relieving classes and what I learnt in the staffroom are not things that can be learnt from a textbook.

Interactions with my students taught me that there is so much more to teaching than content delivery. I learnt that often, it is so much more important to first build a relationship with your students. From our interactions, they taught me to look beyond behaviour, they taught me the importance of trying to find out the ‘why’ in any behaviour they may exhibit. No child is born bad. No child would act out for no reason. To quote my teacher, ‘There are no bad kids. There are only kids whose needs haven’t been met.’ Through this this experience, I saw the truth in this statement.

When I first started in the school, all I wanted was to be in the school down the road. 10 weeks later, I found myself staying later and later in school everyday, looking for ways to extend my time there (by luck I succeeded!! I went back to school for another 2 weeks before full Home Based Learning started as a relief teacher). And my students are the reason why. I fell in love with being around them.

Now some people may ask, why join the programme when you can just go back to school as a relief teacher? The pay is much better what.

I’ve done both and while I’m not sure whether I can reveal what they pay as an intern is, the pay of a relief teacher is public and I can tell you straight up that the relief teacher pay is better. But, I genuinely believe that you learn more as an intern. Before we even went to school, MOE arranged for us to go through a 5 days long workshop to give us a crash course on how to be a teacher. As an intern, you are also assigned teacher mentor(s) to follow to learn from them, and they do give you feedback on how you can improve as a teacher when you take classes. You also get to take part in staff meetings and help craft material for the students. The gist of it is that really can learn a lot because it is a very structured programme. As a relief teacher, you’re essentially given free reign to go into the classroom to take over when a teacher is absent, without training of any sort. Sure, there’s a lot of freedom, but I’m skeptical about how much insight one can get into the teaching industry. Where student interaction is concerned, then it really depends on how far you are willing to go to get to know them. For me, as I spent more time in the school, the less time I spent in the staff room. I was either in class learning from my teachers, or in the canteen talking to my students during their breaks. Otherwise, I was talking to the students who were punished because they got into trouble, trying to work with them. I barely spent anytime in the staff room at all.

At this point, I also want to do a shoutout to say thank you. To the principal, vice principal and all the teachers I had the fortune to follow and learn from, thank you for being so selfless in sharing your knowledge and experience. I really learnt a lot from each and every one of you and you sparked a desire to teach I never knew I had. I look forward very much to the possibility of returning once again, whether as a relief teacher or who knows, an actual teacher. To my students, thank you for accepting me, a young unqualified ‘teacher’ who knows nothing about teaching. Thank you for trusting me enough to confide in me, to let me into your world. I hope for nothing more than to be able to walk your journey with you, not as a teacher, but as a friend. I will always be here for you guys, and I’ll always just be a text away.

So I hope you guys got a little something from this, see you tomorrow!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8