2. Write an impressionistic sketch of what type of social studies teacher you will be (or hope to be)?

Haha.. A funky SS teacher I wanna be!

A dynamic SS teacher who challenges my students to think,

To ask more questions than give answers without a blink.

To say 'Yes, you've got a good point really',

More than 'No, the truth is actually.'

To bring newspaper articles to class and debunk its totalising myth,

To look together at political cartoons and laugh at its wit.

To engage the class in critically examining state policies,

And then to challenge them to think of better alternatives.

And if they can't for goodness sake think of better alternatives,

Get the students appreciate the particular context a government is working with.

To develop students who can unabashedly say,

'I love Singapore...'

'But there is this and that we can do better and more.'

To have them wide-eyed and see the world beyond conventional truth claims,

To help them grow, mature and go beyond innocent thoughts ingrained.

'To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.'

To see for themselves that the world ain't simply what some paint it to to be,

And with that critical knowledge, know there is much more responsibility.

'It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.'

Haha.. A funky SS teacher I wanna be.

Not a very good poet I know, but do show mercy.

I'll end off this piece now (Oh thank God! I hear you say for goodness sake)

With final words from Auguries of Innocence, William Blake.

'We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.'