4G’09 – learners & leaders

“A dynamic community of learners and leader with a passion for learning and a heart for people”

yep, i really do like my sch’s Vision……..

yesterday was Leaders Day celebrated in conjunction with National Day. Of course no parade cos of H1N1. But Leaders Day took centre stage regardless, and i must have been the proudest teacher around that day……….. for one reason…

                            

its unprecedented for a Normal Academic class to have 6  CCA heads…..

Boys Brigade Captain, ‘B’ Div Boys Badminton Captain, Environmental Club President, ‘B’ Div Boys Basketball Captain, 
‘B’ Div Girls Badminton Captain, ‘B’ Div Soccer Captain

when i was their class mentor in sec 1, i hoped that they will carve out a place for themselves in sch/society someday. recommended some for prefectorial board, but none of them wanted to be prefects. submitted some for student sport committee, and 1 got in, though there were some issues.

and now, its my only hope and wish for my class: do well for ‘N’ levels and makes a statement for everyone in NA stream. that your future and progress solely depends on how determined you are to achieve it. whether its in academics or cca or any other interest that you might have.

frankly, once you leave sec sch, no one really bothers whether you are from NA or Exp, whether you are from RGS or a typical sch in the neighbourhood. we all start on the same plane at every new step of our life and its up to us to make the difference we want to see. so i think every NA student must stop the thought that “because we are in NA, we arent as good..”

and here, i want to congratulate all the other ppl in my class who have stepped up to the plate. my chairpersons and other enthusiastic ppl in my class, band recruit IC, Env club treasurer, bball team manager, NCC section IC, etc… you guys have come a long way and have ben recognised. so continue to do right, make good decisions, live by principles, and stay positive always.

CH always said, “leadership is influence”. even after he left this sch, his shadow lingers. because CH was the face of student leadership. i too have much to learn from him. and so do student leaders. remember, dont let pride get to you. there’s still much to learn from everyone else. and humility is a real virtue. once you close your mind to learning and think that you are the best, learning stops. and good leadership fails. so celebrate with humility and dont show off…

🙂

4G Jumpshot photo after National Day Celebrations. with some missing in photo.

4G, i’m very proud of all of you, though some of you disappointed me and some of you are still a cause for concern…. but all of you were born as nice kids, and remember that you have the choice of deciding who you want to be…. a role model for others or a piece of trash that no one respects… it’s all up to you…

do not disappoint me with your behaviour / attitude / integrity / ‘N’ level results… and even if i dont follow you guys up next yr, dont disappoint me with your ‘O’ level results…

4G makes things happen!!!

 

Ant-based boat to save queen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A042J0IDQK4

you guys just have to check out this video…. its amazing!

 

fate/past life/astrology and a web of intertwined mess

my mom is a strong believer in astrology. i dont quite know what to think of  astrology..

after reading books and reflecting, i think, if something was meant happen, it will. but can we link our future to our past?

Hindus believe in re-births. 7 to be exact. what happens after the last re-birth i ask. i was told that our soul goes to Shivan. my scientific mind immediately thought of whether there’d be enough space to accomodate the millions of souls. im sorry.

im told that what we did in our previous birth moderates our existing life. i choose to believe because i havent found a reason not to.

so how does an individual’s astrology come into the picture? well, what we’ve done in a past life will determine how we will be in the next life, and our fate is more or less written out at the time of conception. which then determines our time of birth, which is collected as data and a typical Hindu family will go to the astrologer to find out the few-days-old-baby’s entire life story. good or bad person, rich or poor person, happy or sad person, healthy or weak person, character, job, marriage, death, etc….. to be honest, i’d be rather interested myself too…… its like knowing the future.

and even if we are professed to have bad incidents, our existing life can be changed by doing parigarams and prayers. so then, at least the bad effects of our past life deeds wont affect us so much. but here’s the catch. even the possibility of doing the parigarams might be affected by out past deeds. so we might never get the chance to turn things over.

a complicated web of intertwined mess? i said so already.

but it is a wonder whether ive done the things ive done in this life because that was what my fate said i was supposed to have done. the fate which was determined by my past life. it is a scary notion to think that all the things we do now are being done. (i sound like the oracle in the matrix)

you know, in the Mahabharata, there are several short stories abt how someone’s curse / good deed is used in the next life to destroy or save someone. i’ve not read it for a long time and i cannot remember the stories specific to this. but im inspired to re-read my book now. and i will write on it one day.

in any case, i think my life now is dependant on now, and whatever happens happens for a reason (whether its a past life deed or a current life deed or for a future good). I should do whatever i need to do to get on with life, and leave the outcomes…

do your duty without expecting the goodies. and whatever goodies you get, dedicate them to God, whether its good or bad.

 

why are corals important?

when i showed students photos of corals and stuff, they asked me why corals were important. afterall these things dont move, they look like non-living things.

actually, i just assumed that ppl all knew that all living things served some purpose and therefore they were important.

anyway, here’s some info on coral repro and why they are important to the marine ecosystem..

How do corals reproduce?

corals are one of those organisms that  can under go sexual and asexual reproduction.

their sexual reproduction (coral spawning) is quite typical of many other marine organisms. some release eggs into the waters that float around. others released sperms that float around. somewhere in te waters, an egg meets a sperm and they form a fertilised egg called planula (not zygote). these continue to float around until they land on a hard surface (mostly rocks) and then they divide and grow into the polyps of corals that you see.

(sperm??? yes. sperm. corals are actually tiny tiny animals…) each section contains tiny animals.

– hard coral from pulau semakau, singapore.

asexual reproduction is the most common. for matured corals that get broken off from the parent coral for whatever reason, the fragmented corals are capable of attaching and regrowing into a new colony. but on a more normal note, the polyps continue to develop into a huge coral mostly my asexual reproduction. as new polyps form, the old ones become the calcium based skeleton that works as the foundation.

through these 2 methods, colonies of corals form and they become known as coral reefs. very few great coral reefs are still in existence, although corals are still around. this is because it takes many many many yrs to form a coral reef (like each coral can grow as slow as 1 cm per yr) and destroying reefs take just a short time.

Do corals eat?

hard corals have photosynthetic algae. these are actually algae that are found within the polyps. so yes, they can photosynthesize if they get enough light. which is why most hard corals are nearer to water surface. the soft corals, i dont think they have photosynthetic algae. they also feed on passing plankton. hard corals do too. remember what else feeds on plankton? the 2 biggest sharks.

Why are coral reefs important?

cos as corals need to feed, other animals need to feed too. sea stars love to eat corals. a number of sea slugs, like nudibranches too eat corals.

because corals are home to so many species that gather around or near it, coral reefs are known as rainforests of the sea. so as with rainforests which have many valuable medicinal specimens that have yet to be discovered, so do reefs, which provide this opportunity. seems that scientists have already found some positive indication that are might be treatments for HIV and cancer.

ppl also claim that corals protect coastline from stormy seas. though i dont know how effective that is. the seas are really bad when it gets bad.

and of course, for tourism purposes and money makers who sponge on divers and snorkellers….

so yes….. dont destroy corals and coral reefs, because what we have today are already reefs that started developing 100s and 1000s of yrs ago………….. so lets not be small minded… reasons not to destroy are as good as any reason why rainforests shouldnt be destroyed. or why national and historical monuments shouldnt be destroyed… 🙂

 

best looking caterpillars

*drumroll*

and the countdown begins…………..

1o. Monarch caterpillar

9. Snowtail caterpillar

8. Kaibara

7. Stinging rose caterpillar

6. Apaletodes sp.

5. Polygonia interrogationis

4. Kunugia divaricata

3. Tinolius eburneigutta

2. Spicebush swallowtail caterpillar

1. Tussuck Moth caterpillar

 

arrogance vs humility

heard this quote from a male participant in misschennai and chennai man 2009.

“what you think of yourself when you have nothing and what you think of others when you have everything, is who you are”

struck a chord with me……….

how easy is it to get arrogant when you think you have everything you need. how difficult is it to be humble and learn.

i tell my students that even the lady who sweeps the roads can teach us things. its whether we want to learn.

most of the time we are so preoccupied with how intelligent we are, that we almost ever stop to realise that life isnt abt how intelligent you are. but who you are as a person.

of course i cant dictate how to live, because i dont think i have found the formula myself. but im guessing that self belief and humility must form a major part of it.

not easy isnt it. to have self belief and yet not be arrogant. to be proud of yourself but not proud. to have confidence, but not overbearing. to be intelligent, yet to question. to be a teacher and a student.

who am i when i have nothing? who am i when i have everything?

 

T3W5 roundup..

generally eventful and tiring. sometimes feeling like im not being appreciated. or being over looked. felt like you need to report everything that you do so that ppl know that you are doing all the things you are doing…. makes you wonder “why“…..

teaching was never a job i considered since young. for me, it was all just, “i want to do bio”…….. thought of research. knew i wouldnt survive, though i enjoyed every bit of it (except the writing part). would have loved to do medical stuff, forensics. but in NUS when i figured that i would go into teaching, i accepted it and developed a passion for it thereafter.

even in my contract sch in 2004, i was one of those really enthusiastic ones. i was called upon for form teachership, cca duties (soccer), SEM report writing (information which only selected permanent trs are privy to), and organised the science dept for school openhouse (even after gaining entry into NIE).

2005, NIE was fun. boring but fun. practicum was enriching. one of those enthusiastic and exciting times.

now, here at my current sch. started off with such a spark. in my first yr, i didnt even know i was supposed to have 80% workload. i was already doing more than what i was expected to do. perhaps volunteering for certain events….. i was doing SW CDC stuff, NParks stuff, Website stuff, research and much more, even with a 100% teaching load. i never felt that there was a possibility that one day, i’d run out of steam.

but, when are being stretched a tad bit too thin, suddenly, it appears that you might be reaching that point someday.

why did this week bring out so much emotions? even my students asked me why i looked angry and sad. and so i put in extra effort on friday to wear something nicer and clip up my hair and put on some compact powder and lip gloss and smile more.

yet, something else brought my mood down.

i have to keep going. facing one of the downs in my teaching life now.  but ive been through even harder down times. and i came out of it. at least i know im managing better now. i know i have the strength to pull through. i must. even though ppl or students might not know the kind of effort im putting in for students, ultimately, it doesnt matter as long as they benefit from it.

though i’d like to be appreciated, im not going to claim credit for anything. im not one of those who needs to announce to the whole world how many IP coaching sessions ive conducted or how late i stay back to teach a small group of weaker students who requested for the sessions, at the expense of doing my own work. if they learn, thats satisfaction enough.

nevermind the fact that most of them wont remember who i am 10 yrs from now.

who’s to say… even i only remember 3 teachers from my sec sch and 3 trs from my JC. though i might recognise my other sec sch trs face when i see them….

i’d just be a distant memory to most students…………………

“None should ever perform virtue with a desire to gain its fruits. such a sinful trader of virtue will never reap results. Do not doubt virtue because you not see it results. Without doubt, the fruits of virtue will manifest in time, as will the fruits of sin” [Bhagavat Gita KD 245-6]