foreword
BY REBECCA CHEW
ACADEMY PRI NC I PAL
S IN GAPOR E TE ACH E RS' AC A DEMY FO R T HE ART S
What strikes a chord in this collection of
teacher reflections is the Ubuntu spirit,
where a sense of community is shared
and built because each individual – who
is recognised as unique and different –
brings their shared perspective to the
collective.
In her capacity as Master Teacher, as
mentor and coach, Siew Ling reached out
to seven teachers at different stages in
their professional development, curating
their learning experiences with the
intention of making learning practical and
applicable to their contexts in situ. In the
context of learning, the coach and mentor
stands in the interstitial spaces to enable
conversations about pedagogy, explore
higher order musicking skills, design
lessons and implement curriculum.
To enable future learning, teacher
leaders are required to be reflective and
adaptive in their learning, sometimes
using disruptive strategies in lessons to
develop social emotional competencies
through engaging in the arts. This helps
students relate to one another, respect
differences and grow up together.
We believe that such critical inventive
thinking through music instils in students
traits of resilience, tenacity of purpose
and courage to rise above failure.
We hope these insights will help facilitate
teachers’ understanding of pedagogy
and situate practical learning to achieve
learning objectives; purposeful lesson
planning strengthens the nexus between
the theoretical and the practical. Curating
these learning experiences in this
publication allows teacher practitioners
to shape their perspectives as well as
their understanding of learning and the
way students learn.
We thank all those who have made this
journey of discovery and transformation
possible, not to mention the school
leaders who believed in this project
and embarked on the journey with us.
We hope this inspires more teachers to
embark on their own teacher leadership
journeys.