EXPLOITING THE STRENGTHS

It's ironic. Sometimes, it's not the quantity of a conversation that matters ultimately. It is the QUALITY.

A conversation can appear to be lousy and mediocre; just a normal conversation. Then, someone mentions something, and the whole conversation suddenly seems totally worth it. The whole conversation suddenly seems powerful. It is like discovering unexpected gold. Solid gold.

You can have an hour of conversation with someone and at the end of the day, feel unchanged. At the same time, just a 10minutes chat with another person, and you emerge feeling impacted.



I was having a conversation with one of the STs this late afternoon. We talked about numerous things, ranging from the general to the specific. The conversation somehow came to classroom management.

He asked how are the students behaving. I don't want to paint too rosy a picture as well; it's still best to be honest. "The classes are generally fine, except for one which is a tad noisy compared to the rest. I have to stop teaching, cross my arm, and keep quiet just to get their attention a couple of times. They always get the hint, though."

"Are there any other ways, Mr. L?" I asked, "Other than keeping quiet and waiting for them to bring the noise level back to normal? It is quite disruptive, but I don't want to raise my voice and shout, either."

He replied and said that all teachers work differently. Something that works for him might not work for me. Similarly, something that works for me might not work for others as well. It is the same with PowerPoint slides; which is why many educators prefer to create their own to using someone else's. Because it's not quite the same.



I agreed, and momentarily felt that I had just foolishly asked a redundant question without first thinking through my head. But something else was still bothering me, though. It has been nudging me for weeks.

"Mr. L, what do you think if I get the offenders - or, if need be, the whole class - to repetitively stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down (I kena-ed that in secondary school before, and thus have a firsthand experience that it's effective as a cough syrup)? Based on your years of experience here, do you think they'll listen well to an order like this? Would they challenge me? Is it an effective method? It feels risky."



He looked at me, and said to apply the "broken recorder" technique. "Keep repeating. Just keep repeating. Normally, it'll get through. The most important thing is: just don't lose your patience and raise your voice. In cases like this, never raise your voice or shout. And try not to send any offenders down to the DM, because this implies that you've "lost", and cannot control him/her."

"Don't beat yourself too hard over the noise level. Every single one of us here in this school, assuredly, faces the same problem. Even myself, as one of the DMs, not everyone hand in their homework. Neither do they keep quiet during my lessons as well. It's normal over here."

He continued, "Normally, it'll work. For me or Mr. T (my CT) for example, we are able to get the students down to pumping position if we really want to. Of course they might argue or challenge us, but ultimately, they'll still end up doing as commanded. This is because, simply, we're men. It is always easier for men to control and discipline them. As for you, you're new. In addition, you're young. And skinny. Thin. Most importantly, you're young. They'll try to "eat" you for sure. Not despising or putting you down; perhaps for lower secondary, it's still alright and manageable. But imagine, a Secondary 5 class, where most of the students are 17 or 18. Just by how much are you older than them? Only a bit? And also, your size is too 小 只 to carry it off."

"You're young, skinny, and a female. All these won't play to your advantage."

"Work on your strengths. Like, reasonable. Caring. Yes, being caring is important. Everybody responds to someone who cares."



"As for any weaknesses, you can always work on and improve them. At the same time, while working on weaknesses, amplify your strengths. Bank on your strengths. Make use of them. Build them up. Amplify them. Exploit them."






WOW.



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Don't just focus on the weaknesses. So many a time, we tend to just look at and concentrate on the weaknesses. Blinded. We get blinded by the weaknesses and they are all we see; to the point of being obsessed. Worse still, paralysed.



Multi-task.



Work on weaknesses; but play to the strengths. Always.