T1W4 updates

1. Study skills workshop has been draining my life over the past 2 wks. its over. now, what else is left to do? lets see..

- Mtg for Cambodia trip and planning and execution
- Mtg with CE committee for review of 1st month
- Mtg with SWC for Staff CIP
- ExCel Fest Preparation
- coordinating 3NT Elective Modules
- preparation of SEL lesson packages

for now, thats all there is in my agenda. just this little bit. not too much isnt it.

oh, i forgot the most important thing. need to teach, conduct IP, mark homework, set tests and mark. that reminds me, i better start setting common tests soon..

2. Mon sch is half day. sch ends at 10am. i want to be home by 3pm, so that i can go for a run at 330pm. rehearsal for the run next sat.

3. Concept Plan 2011. found this on www.wildsingapore.blogspot.com

so it seems the govt wants our feedback on some things they’d like to plan over the next 40 yrs.

i’d encourage ppl to take the survey. pls do voice out on behalf of our nature parks and beaches. we have more than enough concrete buildings. time to make our biodiversity grow.

4. Some of us visited Dialogue in the Dark at Ngee Ann Poly on saturday. an amazing experience it was, to be able to keep your eyes open and not be able to see a single thing. not even ray of light entered the room, means, there is nothing for us to see. even if the guide’s voice was right beside you, and you touch his hand, there no light reflected so you cant SEE him, even with your eyes WIDE OPEN.

made me heighten all my other senses. suddenly, you can hear how shallow waters sound. feel a small waterfall running down the wall, water wrap around your hands, trinkle down the wrist. turn your head towards the direction of birds chirping. feel how corners of the wall feel like.

i was initially darn nervous. i’d rather be blindfolded and not be able to see anything, than to be able to open my eyes and not be able to see anything. but, the moment we heard the guide’s voice, i felt calm and reassured. the guide’s name is Wesley. he is visually impaired, though not from birth.

the able became the disabled. the disabled became the abled.

im considering arranging this trip for the students during CE period. maybe not for sec 4/5s. maybe for sec 3s.

it was amazing and im wondering if i should consider adding a once a mth session in my schedule for voluntary services somewhere….

5. collected my safari zoo run 2010 race pack yesterday. its my first run, and here are my silly thoughts.

- the bib is made of paper. im wondering if that wouldnt tear.
- do we need to bring anything? handphone, money, sunglasses, cap, towel, mp3, wrist band, etc?
- are we supposed to carry them? means, i need to buy an arm band is it? to put my hp and some $. my silly omnia 2 is so huge, can i even stuff it inside an armband?
- till now ive not tried running under the sun. and im still sick. how am i going to make it for the run?
- what if i take 2 hrs to complete 6.2km??? embarassing!

6. its the first time in my teaching career, or maybe in my life, where i have fallen sick twice in a month. i dont remember the last time i fell sick every 2 wks.

this is taking a toll on me. and i got to learn how to work smart. because if i carry on like this, i’ll break down by the time i reach the march holidays.

7. and apparently, its not publically announced what they intend to do with the marine park at RWS. here’s a good article from wildshores, following the news.

 

I Love-Hate my babies

i wish i could say they are all a bunch of goon-du-fied irritants…

sigh… emo session yesterday and today, was like… expected for students. but, i didnt expect to feel the way i felt. not when they were feeling emo. but when the trainers were trying to break them.

even i never scolded my babies in that manner. even their parents never used those words to scold them. what gave them the right to scold my babies that way in such a demeaning manner? 

i tried to wipe my tears before any student saw. KS tried to cover my face with an A4 paper. but, dont how whoever saw, when the group was dismissed for break, some of them immediately came up to me to ask why i cried.stunned, i turned to KS, who conveniently left me to get interrogated by my babies. i explained to them. i couldnt stand seeing my confident and daring babies, being slaughted by the trainer. well, regardless of the rationale, i guess there’d be other ways to make ppl realise right…

anyway, as sweet as that was. the same goon-du-fied irritant who asked me why i cried, also said that disturbing and bullying me was a way of releasing stress. FINE!

i hope all my babies learnt some things over the last 3 days. study skills, determination, persistence, motivation, chihuahua dance, and the meaning of HUNGER. i hope all my babies will remember this as part of a changing moment. years from now, they’d all be great ppl anyway. but you cant deny the emotions you felt over the last few days. and you cant deny that you love your parents as much as they love you. remember, you are fortunate to be here because of your parents.

and,

Thank you MT for voicing out that i was equivalent to a second mother. i was around by the time you spoke.

Thank you RK for wanting to say i was like a second mother. im sry i wasnt around when you spoke.

Thank you everyone who ambushed me into a group hug.

Thank you SR for waiting to see if i was going to cry. (ive got too much ego, to cry in front of students)

Thank you everyone else who said thank you to me.

Thank you parents who came to shake my hands and say thank you. this relationship couldnt have been possible without parental support.

and with this, i realised, how much i need to dedicate a new category for my babies… when i was trying not to do so for a few yrs… i think its time.

new category: my-Babies.

 

Protected: sometimes i feel….

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oh, btw…

did i ever mention that i love my class….

5A 2010 Rocks My World!!!!

5A Woosh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have this same enthusiasm when facing the O Levels! We are a team, we will excel as a team!

5A – Lead the way!

 

reflections on students

this week has been a student filled eventful week…

1) i think, regardless of whatever competitiveness, i think i’ll be happy if any 5NA wins anything. because, we are a group of ppl with a group of teachers who care for each other’s class..

2) i think, there is a certain stage i’ve reached with my class, that in some ways, i think i can trust that they will be matured. perhaps reached an extent where they know what is acceptable and what is not. whether they do the right thing is another issue. but, its heartwarming that i can ask my student, “did you guys do anything that you know will make me disappointed?” and hear the reply, “cher, we not like that one… we never do anything”.

perhaps, they are still cheeky, naughty, playful…. but, boys will be boys and 17 yrs olds will be 17 yr olds. i trust that my class, though playful, will not do anything serious enough to disappoint me, at this age.

i still want them to learn to be gracious. i hope they do. because graciousness is not as easy as it sounds. it takes courage to let go sometimes.

3) sometimes, when i see certain things going through my friend’s mind, i feel, that maybe it isnt that difficult to leave the students. all it takes is a passionate person who loves her students and have high expectations of her students, but the students dont really appreciate. once, nevermind. twice, nevermind. but when it happens a tad bit too often, sometimes, leaving those students you love isnt as hard because nothing can be more disappointing to a passionate teacher, than a student doubting her passion.

i hope she feels better soon.

4) many of these kids will become better than i am one day. what will my babies be? will they still be filial to their parents? will they make good husbands and wives? will they make good parents? will they make good employees and employers? will they still remember me?

actually i think they would. 5 yrs… they better! haha… but, the relationship then would be different. these kids, will grow to be great ppl in the future. i have that much trust in them. they have enough ambition not to waste their lives away. enough enthusiasm and drive and determination to live their lives.

5) the way i speak to my babies is different from the way i used to speak to them. obviously. now they’ve grown up. speaking to them, is like speaking to ppl who understand other’s views. of course, they are still learning. i am still learning. but, there’s no need for hand-holding. and im happy for that. i may not have influenced them much. but, im happy that at sec 5, they are who i want them to be. they can be better, but at least they are on track to becoming fantastic adults…

 

2010 World Cup predictions…

so, the qualifiers are done. new groupings are out. didnt follow the qualifiers, so went online to check things out…

so lets see my Round of 16 predictions

Group A winner (France) vs Group B 2nd place (dunno) – outcome: probably France

Group A 2nd place (South Africa) vs Group B winner (Argentina) – outcome: probably Argentina

Group C winner (England) vs Group D 2nd place (dunno) – outcome: probably England

Group C 2nd place (dunno) vs Group D winner (Germany) – outcome: probably Germany

Group E winner (Holland) vs Group F 2nd place (paraguay) – outcome: probably Holland

Group E 2nd place (Japan) vs Group F winner (Italy) – outcome: probably Italy

Group G winner (Portugal) vs Group H 2nd place (Chile) – outcome: probably Portugal

Group G 2nd place (Brazil) vs Group H winner (Spain) – outcome: probably Spain

Quarter-finals predictions

France vs England – hopefully England (but i think France will win)

Argentina vs Germany – woa… power match (maybe germany)

Holland vs Portugal – probably Portugal

Italy vs Spain – woa… power match (maybe italy)

quarter finals are already so power packed! wo hoo……………………….. i dont even dare to predict the semi finalists! yet another exciting year!

semi-finals predictions

France vs Portugal

Germany vs Italy

haha… i cant guess any further than this!!! oh man…

singtel and starhub better get the money to broadcast this man!

anyone else on predictions??

on a not so relevant note:

OMG! is david beckham not the hottest sports star ever to exist…

what did victoria do to deserve this face! argh!!

 

whales at possible splitting of species

so i didnt quite think there was just one species of killer whales, until now…

i went to wiki and found that there is indeed, only one species of killer whales.

thats Orcinus orca. though they are differentiated into 3 types, according to their body length, eye patch, dorsal capes.

so this recent article compares 2 types of orcas from the same region, and show this photograph of just 1 morphological differences… 

longer teeth, sharper teeth.

because their diet is different, their average sizes and colour and niches are different, these whales are quickly becoming too different to belong to the same species.

so… maybe we are witnessing the branching and evolving of orcas…. thats cool isnt it…. its like history in the making…

 

T1W3 updates

let it be officially recorded that i hate admin work. i hate having to rush deadlines for things that i think are uselessly redundant. let it be recorded that i think some of the things some ppl do are really just for show. i hate having to feel miserable that i have to do certain redundantly useless things for the ppl who do these things…..

but all is good when it comes to students. they make me smile and love what im doing. (for students).

overall, the one and only thing that made me smile this week was the fact that my students totally showed teamwork. they seems to be getting a little obsessed with the YOG decor, but, im happy they are working together, rather than not being bothered abt anything at all. i love my babies…

spoke to my chairperson and 5C chairperson abt upcoming projects. somehow, i feel, i can rely on them (all 3 class chairpersons) to come up with their service-learning projects, and to deliver it well. i believe in this bunch of sec 5s. i think they will create history. and i love them for it.

so you see, after all the angst i had over work that i had to settle, talking abt my students immediately brings a smile.

Se challenged me regarding my birthday. and i have this sudden cold feeling that my irritating class might really just do something stupid. so im just going to stay inside the staffroom this yr. he said, “sure kena one. last year already, your birthday, you sure kena one”

errr…. if that is not threatening enough, i dont know what it… but anyway, i wont step out of the staffroom after sch on my birthday week this year.

suddenly, this post turns out to be abt my students, rather than my angry emotions.

anyway, other updates include the fact that i havent been able to run in 2 weeks, and my first every run is coming up in the next 2 weeks. i need to work out a miracle.

i missed my driving practical this week. and i booked a peak hr period. so my colleague’s only reaction was, “wah, you very rich ah…”

a stack of filling on my molar tooth dropped out on thursday. i had all my fillings done when i was in P6 and Sec 1… so its a really long time, and i have to face the dentist to get my tooth drilled and cleaned again before getting filled one more time. and im not happy abt that.

chose not to go for the free blood test my sch organised, because i didnt want to get poked. in any case, i have to get poked for my cambodia trip in march… so whatever..

i missed a major deadline this week, causing my emotional outburst. leading to me feeling like my life is in a mess. resulting in me cleaning up my table in sch on a saturday after cca. i can finally see some table space. at least i wasnt like Ash who said, “im seeing places on my table that i never knew existed!” haha…

after 3 weeks, sch seems to be going… moving. end of jan, means there’s just 10 mths left for the yr to end. so… things got to get moving.

this week has been tough. and ive learnt alot. ive learnt alot abt alot of things. and if i had to live this week all over again, i’d get through this week much efficiently…. we all learn and grow, dont we…..

oh, and did i mention i love my babies…….

 

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proud of my babies

rarely have they been this passionate abt classroom decor. being sec 5s, i guess they really want to make the best out of this year.

this yr, the classroom decor is not abt CNY. its abt YOG. my class is doing based on Australia, and they’ve been so fantastic that, they really just made my day.

the past few days have been hard. with little time to do anything but work. but, today, spending those 2 hrs, supporting my kids, saw them work together… theyve matured SO much. so much. all the sec 5s have. and im proud of all the sec 5s.

but, more so for my class. they arent the typical kind of NA class that most ppl tend to stereotype with. when they are passionate, they are comparable to any kind of class. great teamwork. laughter. fun. great discussion. the ability to shout at each other and still get work done. haha…

heard W shout at M yesterday, “hey, can you listen or not!” haha…

today so many ppl took charge. they finally worked together, with one aim. rather than have disputes over which idea was better. im so proud of them.

regardless of whether they win the classroom decor competition or not, i think they’ve succeeded in many ways. just by being involved together. my only fear is that the class will feel disappointed if they dont win. after so much of effort, that will be sad.

but im still really proud of them anyways. theres only more to come, more passion, more drive, more love, more generosity. and i hope the class takes the word “graciousness” seriously. and be a gracious class too. with greater maturity after they graduate.

kss will never be the same ever, after they leave this yr. its like, a part of me being torn away… haha…

a little too emo for a bunch of students. but, i guess, being their mentor for 5 yrs give me the right to feel this way right?

5A – All stars!