By Sharon Ismail, School of Interdisciplinary Studies

I am not a teacher.

This was one of the earliest things I realized about “teaching” at the School of Interdisciplinary Studies (IS) in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. It is a strange assertion, compounded by the fact that, unlike the core discipline schools, we do not teach students to be experts in any particular field.

In fact, in my opinion, the one common thread that ties all IS modules together is that students get to explore something radically different from their core curriculum. This exploration includes wildly diverging modules such as “Serious Fun with eGames” and “Effective People Management”.

In the process of exploring that “Something different”, they get to explore themselves − their self beliefs, their views about the world they live in, their values and their ideals.

Let’s be honest. In any typical second year module that lasts just six weeks, it is hardly reasonable to churn out award-winning actors and poets from my “Self Expression through Drama and Poetry” module, Neither can we expect fluent speakers of French, Spanish or Japanese from our basic foreign language modules.

But the specialty of IS is this − through rigorous and often unconventional ways of learning, students begin to be aware of their own voice and realize the potential they have in becoming adults who have done some level of work on a subject not usually found in any core syllabus. They get to major in a subject tailored specially for them – themselves.

Students enjoying some self expression…

Playwriting lesson example

One of the activities I did with a playwriting lesson (in “Self Expression through Drama & Poetry”) involved using students’ individual memories to write a scene in a dramatic script. One stimulus for this activity included an early memory about a grandparent. I was humbled by the environment of trust that students established in the class as they shared memories of their grandparents and families.

Naive drama teacher that I was, this process of exploring standard theatrical devices such as plot, character and conflict took on new meaning as my students went beyond what was required to explore issues that for some of them were not resolved and cut close to the bone.

While there were poignant recollections of World War II seen through 18-year-old eyes, I will never forget how one student was able to make peace with the violent death of a grandparent through this activity. She had carried the guilt of not having liked her grandmother enough to spend time with her before her death. Another student dropped her usual bright and chirpy demeanor to share with the class her feelings about a tragic death in her family and how she and her siblings struggled to make sense of life after that incident.

Friend, mentor and rock

I realized in these defining moments that simply being a teacher for these wonderfully candid young adults would just not have been enough. I learned then that I had better be prepared to be friend, mentor and rock, whatever they needed me to be for them. This was in addition to exposing them to subjects that they would never have come into contact with as they train to be engineers, scientists and business managers. And after they started on their journeys, it was my job to make sure they could come out of the emotional experience safe and sound. Otherwise, all I had to do was get out of their way and watch the magic happen.

Sharon’s students enjoying their drama lesson…

Professional development

Because of this, I consciously looked for professional development programmes that would prepare me with the counseling and mentoring skills that I would need for such incidents. I would personally recommend that all teaching staff attend at least one such course. However, there is a caveat – while useful, these courses have to be tempered with the styles or approaches needed for any specific module. How I accompany my students on their writing and performing journeys may not be suitable for say, the “Corporate Communication” or “Business Image and Etiquette” modules.

In fact, for the arts modules, I found courses with a slant towards arts therapy very appropriate. For example, I found the course on creative and experiential arts therapy by the Melbourne Institute for Experiential & Creative Arts Therapy (MIECAT) insightful in helping me “Companion” students through their script writing and talk therapy exercises.

The useful reminders I still bring with me in such exercises can be summed up in excerpts from these haiku written by the director of the MIECAT centre, Dr Warren R. Lett:

and

Poetry and song-writing

Another humbling moment happened during the “Self Expression through Drama & Poetry” module. The assignment was to write a poem with two words randomly paired together by students to make a fairly uncommon combination. Some past examples have included Wacky Bra, Blur Watch and Confused Garden.

One student was inspired to write about his personal struggles of identity and depression in his poem. As he wrote, he was reminded of a painting he had done some years ago that resonated with the theme he wrote about. That painting became the visual anchor of this poem. And as he kept on working on “Darkness Within Me”, he was inspired to turn it into a song. This was a magic moment. Here was a shy Clark Kent-type of student who had the class speechless and transfixed when he started singing his song in class. No one knew he could sing and it was after the rapturous applause and support of the class that he found the courage to give a sample CD to Power 98 radio station for their Singapore music programme and to try out for Singapore Idol. He did not make it very far in both but he has since graduated with what I hope is a self-belief that he can do so much more than he initially thought he could.

Excerpt from “Darkness Within Me”

I am not a teacher

Like I said, I am humbled. I am not a teacher. I am only a witness privileged enough to accompany our students on their journeys to become fully dimensional and socially functioning adults.

References

Bringing Out the Best in Our Students: Positive Strategies used by Great Teachers by Dr Joel Muro, PhD (course book from seminar), 2007

Educating for Character: Teaching Values & Creating a Moral Community by Dr Hal Urban (course book from seminar), 2006

Melbourne Institute for Experiential & Creative Arts Therapy: An Experiential Procedure by Dr Warren R. Lett (coursebook), 2006

Darkness Within Me slides and lyrics by Mathen Nainan Philip

Darkness Within Me song by Mathen Nainan Philip

Author

Sharon Ismail, School of Interdisciplinary Studies