Last week, my Head of Department asked me if I could present a book review to the entire school during Reading Tuesday in two weeks’ time. Efficiency is my brand name, so I knew that she was counting on me to deliver. So, I accepted the assignment.

Though why should I do it when I can enlist the help of my students? But enlisting my students’ help will be distorting reality a bit because no one in their right mind will volunteer to do a book review as a public speaking task in front of a large audience, me included.

If nothing else, I understand human nature well, so I “deviously” concoct a plan. You see, the Student Leadership Committee is selecting student councillors among the seventh graders. It so happens that 8 of my seventh graders wish to be appointed as leaders for pride and glory. Power to them.

As their form tutor, I distributed each of the 8 students a copy of the first chapter of a leadership book. Now, many teenagers find reading boring, but because I just gave them 3 pages, they had no choice but to suck it up and READ. I then instructed them to write one takeaway on each page.

They weren’t taking me seriously at first. Little did they expect that I was working conscientiously with the most motivated student among them. He dutifully completed my task, granted that I had to sit down beside him and ask him probing questions to elicit his takeaways. But I think this is meaningful engagement that most educators won’t shun away from.

I incorporated his three takeaways into my slides. We even did a dry run in front of the whole class today, using a microphone no less. Boy, did some of the remaining 7 students sweat. The FOMO is strong!

I’m sure I would be able to harvest more takeaways tomorrow.

I’m quite proud of them for having the ambition and gumption to become a student councillor. Speaking in front of the entire school would deter many people, including adults, but these youngsters are eager to prove their worth to me, their Form Tutor. I’m the one who decides if I should back their nomination, obviously!