Teacher Profile: Madeline Khaw

Year(s) and Subject(s) Taught: Primary School - Music

How long have you been teaching?

9 years.

Why did you become a teacher? Why did you choose teaching as a profession?

I have a superpower: I teach! I love helping kids to grow into the best versions of themselves.

Tell us about your own education journey.

I hold a LLB Law Degree and graduated in music from the London College of Music. Combining music and teaching is the perfect recipe for me to have an exciting life. The great thing about teaching is that it offers a lot of variety. Each school year, I get to teach new sets of students with varying characters, experiences, and ideas. As their teacher, I can incorporate new topics, upgrade my teaching style, and design new lessons to uplift students’ spirits by introducing music, the universal language, to them.

What is the most memorable moment in your teaching career so far?

To put more than 500 students up on stage for our annual musical production. Past musical productions include Jungle Book the Musical and Peter Pan.

What do you like most about teaching?

No two days are the same!

What is the best thing about teaching at your school?

That I can integrate music into the curriculum to help young children explore and learn. Through the teacher-in-role approach, children learn by engaging in dramatic, active play. With this technique, I get the chance to bring the lesson to life and ask rich, open-ended questions that encourage children to apply critical thinking skills to activities that touch on all the STEAM fields.

Who or what inspires you?

Music from all around the world.

Tell us about your online teaching experience. Did you face any challenges?

Many students are not equipped with good internet connection that is required for online learning. Due to this, they face problems in going live for virtual learning and other platforms that require internet connection. They face technical issues as they are not much aware of technology and computer applications. A slow and fast internet connection can play an important role in how quickly you can attend the class and not miss any live sessions. Constant communication with parents via the See-saw app was helpful to diagnose the problems and together, we worked hand in hand to ensure that students participated in their lessons on Zoom and uploaded their work on Edmodo.

What lessons did you learn in 2020?

Do not take anything for granted. Always count your blessings.