Education: Celebrating ‘little’ milestones of children as they are
Context
The typical class size in Singapore local schools is between 30–40 pax. This might be different now, but it was true at least for my generation. Contrast this with schools where the teacher to student ratio is much higher like 1 teacher for every 2 student.
I bring up the class size as many of my own school years were a blur. Teachers tried hard to engage the entire class, but all too often it was learning to pass examinations, with some potentially unconscious focus by teachers on the academically brighter or vocally louder students.
For my own school years, the moments that I do remember are those where teachers managed to grow a sense of deep connection, wow and awe in the classroom. I was also touched by individual teacher’s attempts to reach out, to understand the student better, and to offer additional 1:1 revision during after school hours.
In this article, I want to highlight one occasion where I observed a teacher celebrating ‘little’ milestones of individual students.
The class
I had the opportunity to teach composting and advocacy to a class of 11 year old children over 4 days. It was one of the school’s non-academic programs that the children will get a pass-fail grade for. In the Singapore context, children at 11 years would typically be worried about the big exams that they undergo in one year’s time. They would be the seniors of the school they have been part of for 5 years.
I was very lucky — there were 20+ students in the class. Two teachers were also in the class to support me. I learnt that the children were from 2 different classes. Some of their classmates were being given the same set of lessons in a separate classroom; this happens because the teachers realised the smaller groups open up and interact easily in a more intimate setting.
One of the teachers, N, showed interest in what I was teaching. When the children are busy drawing or interacting, she would come up to let me know how to better engage her students. She was very encouraging and supportive throughout. Because of teacher N, I had the opportunity to join her in celebrating the ‘little’ milestone moments of at least 2 students.
Student A would fly into a rage at the smallest trigger. I was advised not to call on him to speak. A surprised us all when he proactively spoke up and gave the most thoughtful answers of the class. His answers showed that he was deeply listening even if the teachers thought he looked disinterested. Teacher N told me that B looked forward to the classes, and was sorry that he had to miss the last session.
Student B took lead in drawing her group’s poster. She came up with the theme ‘Save the Earth’, and wrote the words. These seemingly small actions brought teacher N joy. Teacher N shared that B had started to read and write only one year back. To watch her spell out the words so clearly and confidently was a big moment. The teacher encouraged B’s group to think of themselves as Captain Planet.
One other insight I gleaned from teacher N was that this class was more used to failing than experiencing success. Having seen these children not as another student to be educated but as humans with individual milestones to reach and celebrate, I tweaked how I engaged with the class and decided to give the teachers additional support to help the students experience success.
