Can CREATIVITY be taught?

When my eldest son was in primary school, I found out to my surprise one day, that the Mathematics teacher said this to the class, "Class, there are three methods to solve the problem as shown in the book, but I want all of you to use ONLY the first method."

I was shocked to learn about this instruction from the teacher when the Ministry of Education even at that point in time, has been talking so much about "teaching" creativity in schools. How to teach creativity assuming it can be taught in the first place, when the teacher is not even creative in her method of teaching? Can creativity be taught? Do we expect every student to play piano, write songs and sing well, and in time to come, become inventors and "creators" of things in their respective fields?

It would have made all the difference if the teacher were to say, "Class, there are three methods to solve this problem. But, I want all of you to try and think of the fourth method if you can." I think this would be more congruent with the overall objective of encouraging creativity or creative thinking in the students. Who knows, there might be a second Einstein or genius in the class!

I would like to think that creativity cannot be taught, but it can be encouraged through a creative method of teaching or instructions. The same applies to brainstorming which is a creative approach to generating ideas and solving problems.

Managing Our Expectations

We all have expectations of ourselves and others. Usually, we tend to have lower expectations of ourselves than of others. We expect others to be punctual, but it seems alright for us to be late. We expect others to do things that we cannot do or do not want to do. We expect others to be kind towards us but we are curt to others.

When expectations are not met, we feel disappointed. Hence, managing expectations is important in helping us live a life with a balanced perspective and a sense of feeling right. Expectations must be realistic and achievable, or else we would end up with disappointment very often. On the other end, expectations should not be set too low or there would be no real challenge or healthy stress to keep us on our toes so as to attain greater success.

In conclusion, we should have realistic expectations of ourselves and of others. Do unto others what we want others do unto us.

TEAMWORK at work...

Teamwork has become a buzzword not just at the workplace and schools, but in sports also.

Lately, Team Singapore has done Singapore proud at the Beijing Olympics 2008, by winning a Silver Medal for the Women's Table Tennis. This Olympic silver medal came 48 years after Singapore last won an Olympic silver medal through weightlifter Tan Howe Liang in Rome in 1960.

The win is a clear demonstration of teamwork at work. Here, TEAM means Together Everyone Achieves Miracles or Together Everyone Achieves More.

Just leave that important decision OVERNIGHT!

Most people tend to jump into conclusion and make hasty decision before getting the facts right, calming down their emotions and thinking with a clear mind. Decisions made under such state of mind would usually court troubles and bring about adverse consequences later, which often result in a sense of regret.

To prevent making hasty decision, it is good to adopt a cooling-off period, even if it is just overnight, before making that decision. Rethink the decision the following day and see if you would still make the same decision you would the day before. This suggestion could be applied to many personal and work decisions. For example, you might be so frustrated at your work, there and then, impulsively you might want to tender your resignation immediately. Now, hang on, hold that decision overnight at least, and rethink the decision the next day. If you were the boss, before you sack or fire an employee, think it through overnight. Rethink that decision the following day. This would help us make decision more logically and rationally rather than impulsively and emotionally.

Inspiration or Desperation?

"Desperation is the state of mind when you have no choice; inspiration is that when you have a choice. Be inspired so that you don't have to become desperate." ....... quote by Jonathan Ooi

Come to think about it, isn't it true that when you need a taxi badly, usually there is no taxi available to you? And on other occasions when you don't need one, there are plenty of them showing up before you on the road. It is equally true when it comes to work. When you are desperate for a job, you could hardly get one. Hence, my advice is, even if you are very happy with your present job, never stop looking for a job. In most cases, a person would only start looking for a job when his boss tells him to start looking around, makes life difficult for him or when he is retrenched. When that happens, the situation would become one of deperation. When desperation sets in, things won't usually come your way but stand in your way.

So, learn to be inspired at all times.

Be humbled by what we know!

"The more you know, the more you know you don't know." On the contrary, an empty vessel makes the most noise.

In real life, those who know little are the ones who think they know the whole world of things. And it is those who know much that have learned to be humbled by what they know. It is said, "He who knows not he knows not, shun him; he who knows he knows, follow him."

Count our blessings!

"If we cry because we don't have a pair of shoes, just think, there are some who don't even have a pair of legs." So, why are we crying?

I think we should count our blessings and be grateful for what we have instead of grumbling and complaining about what we don't have. In short, don't take things for granted.

The Significance of Training and Development

Most of us would have heard of the term, "Training and Development". But, what is its significance? What is "Training" and "Development"?

If you are working in a typical organisation, you should be familiar with this annual process called Performance Appraisal or Performance Evaluation, during which your superior would assess your work performance typically over the last one year. Besides the quantitative evaluation, the superior has to identify qualitatively, your area of weakness and strength.

Weakness in performance refers to the gap between what is expected of you and what you have actually achieved. This gap is also called the training gap and it is expected to be closed up through the process of "Training". So, training addresses the performance gap or weakness.

On the other hand, the strength is a trait or quality or attribute that you currently have, and it may be potentially relevant to your future work or career. This sort of strength could be harnessed and built up through the process of "Development". So, development addresses the strength of the person and prepares him or her for future career directions.

Hence, we should continue to identify our strengths and weaknesses in our journey of lifelong learning. Train on our weaknesses and develop on our strengths.

A Narrow Escape

This evening, I happened to be at a public apartment doing my community work when suddenly there was a strong burning smell, but it was hard to tell where it came from. As I continued my work, and when I was in front of one of the apartment units, I could see against the corridor lighting, small amounts of white smokes momentarily emerged from the window frame of the neighbouring unit. I began to pay closer attention and ascertained that that was the source of the smell.

I knocked on the door but apparently no one was at home. So, I knocked on one of the neighbours' door but there was no response. I tried the other one, and a gentleman opened the door and I communicated with him the incident. However, he did not have the contact number of the neighbour and after some deliberation, we decided that the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) be called in.

In less than 10 minutes, the firemen arrived and after some quick assessment of the situation, they decided to break the window glass and forced open the window grilles so as to get into the house. The entire house was filled with smokes, including the bedrooms. Fortunately, there was no fire.

Later, when I finished my work, I believed the owner should be back home by then, so I went up to the unit and talked to the owner and she told me it was due to unattended cooking by a family member who had left the house perhaps in the evening, while she was still at work.

She was appreciative of what we did, and she said, "Thanks for being civic-minded". At that very moment, the neighbour who had helped earlier happened to open the door, and she thanked the neighbour, too.

I observed that the other two neighbours learnt fast, they began to exchange their contact numbers, just in case.

I have always said, mistakes are caused by either a lack of knowledge or a lack of attention. This is obviously a case where the mistake was caused by the latter.

Let's be more positive in what we say...

A boy came home one day and showed his mother his spelling test results. The mother looked at it and said, "Why didn't you get 10/10? Why did you get two wrong? ". The boy looked at his mother quietly in despair, feeling disheartened deep inside.

It is far too common that we focus on the negative rather than the positive. The boy's feelings and reaction would obviously be different if the mother were to say, "Wow! You have done well. Try to get 9 or 10/10 in your next spelling test. I believe you can do it." This positive comment would bring about positive reactions and positive results.

This sort of situation does not happen just between parents and children, but also between husbands and wives, superiors and subordinates, and between teachers and students. So, let's be more positive in our communications.

Say It Right.....the next time.

It is rather common nowadays to hear people pronounce "Nowadays" as "Nows-a-day". Some would attribute such a wrong pronunciation to the uniqueness of Singlish (Singaporean brand of English). But, I feel that it is simply a mistake gone uncorrected. Frankly, most of the time, I felt it was quite discourteous to correct the person right on the spot.

Another common mistake, sometimes committed even by people in the media industry, is "Between 6 to 9". It should be "Between 6 and 9". Another common one, "It comprises of...". This is wrong. It should be, "It comprises..." or "It consists of ...".

Well, as long as we pay attention to our speech and writing and continue to learn, we should be able to improve our standard of English. This improved standard of English should start right from the junior learners in schools.

Save money and make money at the same time. Why NOT?

If you have been spending more than S$20 on your outgoing mobile call charges every month, this blog is for you.

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Every Drop Makes An Ocean.

All of us have our own stories to tell. Our stories could be very personal and unique to our own circumstances. Some of our stories might serve as inspirations to others and some might help others learn from our personal experience. Therefore, it might be a good idea to start writing our own stories. We could start by writing our diaries or journals.

Just imagine, even if we were to write just one short paragraph every night before going to bed, in one year, we would have written 365 paragraphs, and in three years, we would have written more than 1,000 paragraphs. When properly compiled, these 1,000 paragraphs could turn into a reasonably thick book. Every drop makes an ocean, doesn't it?

So, start writing your story or start blogging now! Don't be just in time to be too late!

May Your Dreams Come True!

If we would recall, we might have wished someone before, "May your dreams come true!" Sometimes, we might just take it literally and hence might not realise the significance of this wish. But, if we deliberate on the phrase, it could have profound implications in our lives.

This wish first assumes that we have a dream to begin with. Have we got a dream already? Obviously, it does not mean day dream, night dream or bad dream (nightmare) here. It refers to our vision into the future, our aspirations, our goals, our aims and our purpose in life. While dreams are something that is not yet fulfilled or realised. But, it is important in providing us with a sense of direction and purpose into our future, in terms of what we want to be and what we want to achieve in future. The dream will guide us on what to do and what not to do.

For example, it will be very inspiring for a student to have a dream of being the top student in his or her school. Once a dream is in place, the student would be guided by his or her dream as what to do or what not to do. This would help him or her make better use of his or her time and other resources. He or she would be able to understand better what constitutes a meaningful or purposeful activity. As a result, he or she would learn to make better decisions in life.

May we all begin to have a dream or dreams in our lives. May I take this opportunity to wish you, "May your dreams all come true!". May you be continuously inspired by your dream.

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