Weekly Reflection
Week 3 (31 October 2021)
Assalamualaikum and bismillah. I would like to begin my weekly reflection with an anecdote. Imagine you are in a situation where you are teaching and your principal is at the back of your class observing you. Your students do not seem to cooperate and the session is far from what you have expected. It is very painful to watch but the lesson must go on. The principal is looking at you. One boy is hitting the desk as if he’s stirring the whole class against you. The other keeps yelling your name seeking your attention Your students’
crabbiness leads to petty annoyances, spiralling into disorder making you shake yourself into little sense. Perhaps, making eye contact with your favourite student (which I always did), would ease the sadness behind the soft smile. At this moment all the theories and principles of being a good leader come flashing and flickering in the corner of your eyes. You are well aware of all those traits and ethics of being a good leader in handling your class and they are at your fingertips. At that moment, you are thinking of adopting those traits into practise and how to change the traits accordingly to resolve the current and existing problem.
This is where leadership traits come into the picture. To adapt according to the situation, a leader must acquire the Big 5 Model of Personality. Group one who presented these personality traits has drawn me to reflect on them.
Gazing back on the anecdote earlier, these 5 traits have a strong relationship with teachers as it affects the quality of teachers’ instructions towards their students. Teachers appear to be particularly interested in listening to the problems of others (Openness), connecting with people, and caring for others (Agreeableness). So yes, the Big 5 Personality does make a good teacher/leader in whatever situation he is confronting.
The group also presented on Traits of Effective Leaders. If you encounter a situation as in the anecdote earlier, one of the traits of an effective teacher/leader is flexibility. An effective teacher/leader excels at being adaptable and being flexible, which means they can adapt to any kind of situation; hectic or stressful; yet still make the students feel attached and feel valued. As the teacher grows in his or her job and acquires more experience with each new challenge, this effectiveness in terms of flexibility emerges.
Other than that, the presenters also discussed Theory X and Theory Y approaches which I found fascinating. Two approaches (Theory X and Y) to encourage employees are described as this is also closely related to teachers in their teaching practice. At the school level, the use of theories X and Y might lead to the principal stigmatising the teachers. Thus, school principals who understand this theory well will use Theory Y that will guide them to have better outcomes in the teaching profession. Reflecting on the earlier anecdote, a good principal should and always support the teachers who are struggling with their students. Rather than criticizing, the school principal should motivate the teachers and not label them as not capable.
Last but not the least, I would like to pour my opinion on Pygmalion Effect. The group one presenters talked about how the Pygmalion effect occurs in leadership traits and ethics as well as in the teaching profession. According to the theory, the increased expectations of a person contributes to higher performance. The contrary is also true: if someone is held to low expectations, they are more likely to do poorly. This suggests that a teacher's belief in a student's skills may have an impact on the student's future accomplishment. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in the teaching field, particularly when it comes to teachers who intentionally and unintentionally push their students to meet their predetermined expectations. As a piece of advice, we as the teacher must know our students’ capabilities not to push them beyond the level they couldn’t achieve.
All in all, the third session with Dr Roslizam was fruitful and insightful. I have learnt a lot through discussions shared by classmates and Dr Roslizam himself. Sharing his experiences on Leadership Traits and Ethics was an eye-opener for my future reference.
