NEWS: Drawing on talent

“I AM constantly experimenting and creating things for my students, to the point that I sometimes feel the classroom is like my own lab,” says art teacher Nur Ilyana Mohamed Anwar, with a laugh.

With a simple tool – Microsoft Powerpoint – Ilyana trains her pupils to create animated work during the art lessons at CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity, in Singapore.

The school has included the use of powerpoint as part of its arts curriculum and co-curricular activity, following overwhelming response from its pupils.

CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity art teacher Nur Ilyana Mohamed Anwar posing with her students' art work.

Ilyana, who won the Microsoft-MOE Professional Development Award (Distinction) in 2006, which recognises teachers who make effective and innovative use of ICT (including at least one Microsoft technology) to support classroom learning, says her job scope involves more than just teaching in the classroom.

A teacher should grab every opportunity to take part in local and overseas competitions to gain exposure and implement new ideas in classroom learning wherever possible, she feels.

She also won the Microsoft Educators’ Choice Award at the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Philadephia two years ago.

“When you empower children with the skills to draw, it also helps increase their self-esteem. The more they practise using the tool, the more confident they feel about themselves.”

This business-savvy teacher also sees opportunities to market her students’ art work.

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with companies that produce tissue papers packs. Instead of using Disney characters on the cover, they could consider using my students’ art work. They are just as good,” she adds.