Chun Ling, Ralph Ong Email & Phone Number

I started my teaching career in 2004 as a classroom Mathematics teacher. In 2017, I embarked on the leadership track, and my last role was the Year Head for upper secondary levels (a Head-of-Department role which oversees students' discipline, mental well-being & counselling support). I have stayed in the teaching career long enough to observe differences among individuals spanning across two generations. School experience is of no exception. When I first started teaching, the students were very obedient, diligent and more focused on what they were pursuing at that point in time. Having said that, they might be slightly more reserved in their thoughts and expressing themselves readily. In recent years, I see myself interacting with students who are more articulate and share their views and thoughts readily without the fear of being judged. The students are still as obedient and diligent as those I interacted with almost two decades ago but with a slight difference in their work attitude and ethics due to the bombardment of information and knowledge through various online platforms which make the acquisition of knowledge and skills so much more accessible. As a result, the retention of knowledge and skills may not be as long lasting as what I observed in my students at the beginning of my career. Lastly, students born in this era are digital natives and they use the technology to their advantage in terms of learning and presentation of school work.I also observe an increase in the number of students who may need socio-emotional support during their schooling years. This is a very strong message in terms of how we should prepare the youths for the world ahead of them which can be less predictable and more volatile. Therefore, I am looking at strengthening their fundamentals in terms of the socio-emotional competencies that will allow them to transcend across various domains and disciplines, as well as establish work-life balance. I am a strong advocate of Positive Psychology which looks into how individuals should focus on various domains of their lives in hopes of living a flourishing life. In school, I mainly focus on working with students on selected skills which have a more lasting impact in their lives, mainly Growth Mindset (positive accomplishment), Self-Determination Theory (positive engagement), Resilience & Mindfulness (positive health), Gratitude (positive emotions), Active Constructive Responding (positive relationships) & Character Development (positive purpose).