When I first join TFM, I join it for the sole purpose of the very apt hashtag #ForTheKids that TFM has. Some people saw joining the 2 year fellowship as a leadership development program. Back then, I couldn't see the connection of teaching and leadership. You mean teachers are leaders? Leadership in the teaching profession has never crossed my mind, simply because..well, you teach then you teach la! What is there to leadership in that?
Boy oh boy...I was wrong. There is so much about leadership to learn in the teaching profession. In fact tips and advice read in leadership books such as Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek etc. can be directly applied in the classroom. To be honest, I don't think I would be able to practice those values if I were to join corporate as a fresh grad, coz I would most probably be following another person's values and leadership instead of creating those values and being the leader of my team; however being a teacher gave me the privilege of having and doing all that.
In the past 1 year and 4 months, I had a whole class of students chanting "PJ! PJ! PJ!" while banging the table in protest style just because I had to go back on my word of bringing them out for PJ (Physical Ed) due to circumstances out of my control. (it was raining!) I had students who after being threatened by me to get 15 demerit points for misbehavior, asked for an additional 60 demerit points, just so that he can be suspended and get a week's "holiday". I have a student who ignored my punishment for her to stand outside of class because she was fashionably late and she coolly walked away even after I yelled along the corridor to ask her to stand where stood. I had students who challenge me back when I gave them punishment for coming late into class, who hurl insults to me right in front of my face as if "respect for teachers" doesn't mean a thing to them. Not to forget the countless students who I tried to wake up during lesson time, but chose to ignore me even though I know they could hear me loud and clear.
So, why am I telling you about all this? What does any of all these have to do with leadership? Being a teacher taught me that you can't force a person to do something they don't want to do; there is no such thing as "I have no choice". This is especially true in the classroom. In the workplace, you can threaten your staff of their salary or even their job if they demonstrate undesirable behavior to curb misconduct; in the classroom, there really isn't anything to hold them against (especially in my school's context) these kids don't see the point of coming to school anyway. Suspend them, they are happy they get extra holiday. Expel them, they are happy too because they don't want to be in school in the first place. Therefore being able to lead in a way where students follow you because they want to is something worth giving yourself a pat on the back for. It took me a year to gain the trust of my 5F students. It was a humbling experience of being on the ground with students instead of "Hey I'm your teacher! LISTEN TO MEEE!" Though not 100% of the class is with me, but I managed to get almost half of the class to be invested in mathematics and they now come to my extra classes regularly.
Every now and then, I get a new perspective of looking at things from the everyday situations that happens in class and in school. It reminds me of our nation, and being a teacher is a little like ruling your own small country in the school. It teaches me so much about actions and consequences in a small scale instead of at a national level (talk about Bersih 4.0)
Just my 2 cents of thoughts while invigilating exams today.
