The year 2020 and 2021 has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging and tough phases for everyone, especially educators and students who were forced to continue their journey from home.
Thankfully, multi award winning teacher Samuel Isaiah who was also nominated as one of the top 10 finalists for the 2020 Global Teacher Prize, came up with an initiative called ‘Cikgu Kickstart‘ with Edufication, Teach for Malaysia and Pemimpin GSL to empower teachers to come up with innovative solutions to mitigate learning loss from the pandemic.
Cikgu Kickstart
Initially, teaching alumni from the 2017 Cohort were actively seeking for funding to retain the South Office that was to be closed down due to its transition to the Central Office. Hence, my friends and I attempted to put in an application for the Cikgu Kickstart Awards to sustain the office that has been an incubator hub for many great projects and initiatives since 2016.
However, over a cup of coffee with my dear friend Fatah ‘17, something nudged me to submit an additional submission for an initiative that we coined as Artspire Young Artiste. To my surprise, out of over 200 applicants, Artspire Young Artiste made the cut to the Top 15 when the results were announced on 13 April 2020.
One reason that motivated me to apply for the Cikgu Kickstart Award was to further champion creative arts and music education which has very much taken the sidelines in Malaysia’s educational landscape.
Growing up in a public school, there were limited avenues for students to express their authentic selves, hone their creative talents and be supported to pursue a career in the creative arts.
With this in mind, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to connect with like-minded individuals to create a platform to support young and passionate students through the creative process of songwriting and music production.
Since the start of the short-listing process, all finalists had to go through a series of project management workshops and mentorship opportunities to refine and reflect on our initial proposal and think of ways to bring more meaning and depth to our target audience. We were exposed to great topics such as design thinking, teacher leadership, gaining student’s perspectives, being a reflective practitioner, as well as approaches towards community engagement.
My key takeaways were on how deep and reflective planning alongside being intentional can greatly determine the success of an initiative. The power of collaboration and being open and humble towards feedback was also one of the highlights from the series of workshops conducted. All participants certainly felt supported and empowered to belong to a group of teachers who believe that education stretches beyond the classroom.
Artspire
Since 2017, with the tagline ‘Performing Arts Inspiring Hearts’, Artspire has provided platforms for students to improve and showcase their talents in the creative arts such as singing, dance, drama and theatre.
Like many other initiatives, Artpsire had to transition virtually due to the pandemic. The amazing work from the 2019 Artspire team led by Rheena ’19 despite the challenges of school closure has certainly brought light to many students during the dark phases of lockdown.
For this year, with the support of the Cikgu Kickstart Awards and a great team behind Artspire 2021, we decided to go in a different direction. We wanted to equip students with the required skills and mindsets needed to pursue a direction in the creative arts.
Songwriting techniques, music production and social media engagement are all required industrial skills to survive and thrive in the 21st century. Hence, our focus this year is more on teaching the art rather than providing the showcase platform.
Artspire Young Artiste aims to equip students with knowledge and empower them to take ownership of their own learning curve with conviction and self belief.
At this stage, we are recruiting our targeted 25 students for the programme. Registration started in June and taking full advantage of virtual platforms, we invite applicants aged 14-18 from all around the country who will undergo a series of workshops from July until November 2021.
For those beyond the age limit, we encourage and invite you to help us out by being mentors and facilitators to make students feel supported through their learning. All event updates will be posted on our Facebook page and Instagram account.
With the spirit of resilience and continuous learning, we hope that this initiative can reach greater heights beyond our small network.
The current committee comprises of 13 individuals from various backgrounds who are actively involved as teachers, content creators, music educators and musicians and thought partners.
We were also recently featured on the Ministry of Education’s DidikTV Channel to promote music and creative arts in education.
Ideally, we hope to engage with more stakeholders, collaborators, artistes and organizations who believe in the same vision.
We also hope that through the workshops provided, it can spread messages of hope, unity and positivity during these trying times via the student’s own music, as well as empower students to start small initiatives in their own communities.
Some parting thoughts…
For teachers, who wish to come out of this lockdown stronger by running initiatives, the first thing I can think of is strongly believe in your ideas. It may seem small at first, but you will never know how something small can have a big impact on others. Secondly, believe in the power of collaboration, there is only so little we can do alone. Actively share your ideas, ask for help and you will be surprised with those who actually resonate with your initiative and are willing to jump on the bandwagon. Lastly, be intentional.
An initiative that begins with a good cause will end with a good cause.
From the words of Malaysian recording artiste Faizal Tahir himself, “Before we start on a project, we must think of how it can benefit others first before it benefits ourselves”. Reflecting on this statement and from personal experience, it is very true that when you give openly without expectations, you receive abundantly beyond expectations.
With this in mind, I strongly invite and encourage everyone out there to creatively think of solutions on how we can make this challenging phase a valuable one not just for us but for the benefit of everyone.
© Joshua Jerome Robert ’17 (Guest Contributor)
Teach For Malaysia Alumni Network 