On Tuesday, I delivered the same presentation I did for the Southwest Leadership Development Dialogue session 2013 for 40 ~ of the Key Personnels (KP) South 4 Cluster at CHIJ (KELLOG). For I think to myself, the more times I share about my experiences the more worth it the many hours spent preparing for this 30 mins talk. (This speech is about 4000 words, mind you!) I also wanted to seize this opportunity to improve my public speaking skills.
What irritated me was that while I wasn’t feeling as nervous as I did before, I ended up being blurred by the speech I have prepared on my ipad and the thoughts running through my head.. Brain couldn’t tell which stream of information to use; Mouth didn’t receive a clear signal and I ended up rambling at some point during the talk. I really wished that i have done better to prevent these episodes!
The greatest challenge was to relate the difficulties of running a farm to the challenges that teachers face in their line of duty. Thanks to Mrs Aw (Principal of Gan Eng Seng Primary School) and Mdm Lee (Principal of CHIJ (KELLOG) for planting some ideas in my post analysis of the session of the similarities of running a family business and being a teacher:
1. If you are a teacher, your students are your valuable livestock (not to say that students are like animals who grunt and eat non-stop..). A farmer who invest in his livestock sees better returns while a teacher who invests his/her time and energy will be able to bond with their students and hopefully better cooperation through mutual respect and understanding.
2. Both a teacher and a farm owner will weather through bad times. If they bank in hard on the basics on why they are in this trade in the first place, lock down the positive thinking and they will survive!
3. Facing a hyperactive student is akin to working with a stubborn colleague (someone who is out of this world), be patient and polite always and wait for the light.
4. Learn from the American Bullfrogs and don’t be a fussy eater! Consider all ideas from students OR co-workers as in some quirky ways they might make sense at some point of time and to someone in this world.
5. Communicate with clarity! Whether you are speaking to your customers or students, when words get lost in translation, things don’t get done!
All in all.. teaching might be tough and sometimes results may be unpredictable as is Farming. With determination, a farmer gets a bountiful harvest. Likewise I wish for all the teachers to be able to enjoy the fruits of their labour as well in time to come!
