BananaSaviour

Fieldtrips

2005-10-24T17:09:00.000+08:00

Fieldtrip 1:

1) IMM.
Where it resembles Malaysia cos of the chapalang shops.
Where in Giordano, swallowapple expressed explicitly that yellow was not for geognut.
Where all of us were tempted by the colours of Giordano.

2) Sungei Buloh.
Where we spotted crabs on trees.
Where the water stinks.. (blame Malaysia?)
Where we almost got preyed upon by buayas (huge monitor lizards)!
Where we tried to spot the (common) birds with our ears.
Where we discovered that the white birds often spotted at NIE are egrets, not herons.

3) Kranji War Memorial
Where we lay on the carpet grass in front of Benjamin Sheares' tomb.
Where we reflected upon serious stuff in the serenity of the place.

4) Sime (Si Mi) river
Where we chanced upon a 'stream'.
Where we trekked and possibly disturbed the flow of the river.
Where we observed the confluence, meander and point bars (?) of the river.
Where we met uncommon monkeys and were glad we had our visa cards with us.

5) Labrador Park
Where it is interesting during low tide when the seagrass and other identifiable stuff are revealed.
Where we spotted bedding plains, joints, notches, etc.
Where we observed a snail showing off its bottom.
Where we filmed a worm on geognut's finger.
Where we caught a glance at a starfish.
Where the Gents is designed in such a way that the public can see the guys pee through an opague screen.
Where Charlie Chaplin and the angels were spotted.
Where the orh-bit First Choice umbrella was broken.
Where there's a carpark specially reserved for hanky panky couples.

6) Xi Hu restaurant
Where the kong ba pau made our day.
Where the uniform resembles some PE attire in school.

Field Trip 2:

1) Thomson Plaza
Where it resembles Malaysia cos of orh-bit clothes, orh-bit music, etc.
Where BK's whoooper burger can be "zao3 can1, wu3 can1, wan3 can1"!
Where the doggie statue gave swallowapple a fright.
Where water splashing in the toilet emerges into the public.

2) Venus Drive river.
Where the river is easily spotted.
Where the meanders are pronounced with sea cliffs and slip-off slopes.
Where the erosional and depositional processes are clear.
Where tapiocas grow rampantly.
Where people can make a spoof or a home-made movie of "Chu Lu" during the Japanese Occupation.
Where hermits can live and survive on tapioca, bananas, fish and rear a cow for banana milkshake.
Where mean uncles go there to trap poor birdies.
Where you can imagine rolling hills of England.

3) Lower Peirce Reservoir and Canal.
Where there's a pub. (read: Public Utilities Board)
Where a little sidetrack off the main path leads you through an interesting path then to a clearing.
Where you can spot families of monkeys.
Where monitor lizards do not prey on you like in SUngei Buloh.
Where turtles are either overturned to sun-tan, or tightly snucked up some hole in the canal.
Where geognut and myself surveyed the canal and jogged in the canal.
Where despite our bestest efforts to free the turtle from the hole, we failed.
Where poor geognut injured his hands in the process, but he likes pain, so... Hee.
Where we saved the overturned turtle instead.
Where we were all drenched in the pouring rain.
Where swallowapple and chouchou did unglam things in the toilette.

4) Upper Peirce Reservoir
Where there are no dustbins.
Where a wedding photographer went "Ni ai lao po mah?" while getting the couple to pose.
Where the scenery resembles some place in France.

5) Seletar Bottled Tree Club?
Where a police car jia4 zhua2 nearby.
Where you see the sea upfront.
Where geognut will bring his future (part-time?) girlfren to pat-tuo.

6) Sembawang Solo...
Where you can 'corn' yourself into thinking you are in Aussie cos of Canberra.
Where you jump out of your dream cos there's no Bengawan Solo in Aussie.
Where it also resembles Malaysia.

If everywhere in Singapore other than town resembles Malaysia... isn't that very sad?
But I'm glad we managed to discover so many interesting places, albeit kampong-ish, and had so many adventures!
It's fun to play with people of the same interests and dun go "xiao ah!"or ignore you when you suggest something out of the ordinary.
Looking forward to creating more memories despite the end of Friday Geog lessons...

Agricultural game

2005-10-22T12:05:00.000+08:00

Agricultural Game

Subsistence farming's the best. Survived and even made some profit despite the 4 kids which 'God' gave me with his tool (calculator). Thanks to the bankers who decided to work with me cos i was less of a threat than the cooperatives! Thanks to the Bo Lui Bo Berng cooperative who sold me rice during the famine. No thanks to the cocky cooperative who wanted to sell me 1kg of rice for 1 ha of land! Hmph! Doing good is better than doing evil... see what happened to that miserable cooperative in the end? Hee. And worthy of mention is chouchou who refused to let her daughters marry my sons cos she thought them too poor... but afterward during the famine, she was willing to GIVE me her daughters! See how the human mind works in times of distress?

But I discovered that you cun really stay subsistence or hermity when you are plugged into the national system and be subjected to taxes and compulsory education. But hor, acting alone served its purpose too. I was conveniently forgotten for those years which needed taxation! Hee. (But I did set aside monies for them... honest me. Haha!) Shows how many tribal slash-and-burn or other subsistence farmers can easily escape the regulations set by the government. These minorities might not even be considered citizens in some sense. But at least they dun have to worry about taxes!

Give me my simple life and leave me alone! Leave me with my banana plantation, some veggies and several chickens and mebbe a horse/donkey.I dun wanna be corrupted by all the conspiracies, cheating, bargaining, arguing, etc. Too much for little teeny weeny innocent me. Precisely why I chose teaching. A 'safe' school environment, away from all the greedy, scheming, profit-seeking, power-hungry creatures! Ew.

Food and saga seed

2005-10-15T17:47:00.000+08:00

A conversation that took place in a car last nite.

Number of snails "killed'' by someone who is apparently too light to effectively squash them.
New theory: Snails become slugs when they lose their shell, and can find another shell to continue living.
Which led to...

The topic of exotic "fear factor" food.
1) Escargot (Local vs French) vs River snails (Vietnam)
The difference between the escargot and the river snail is that the former is probably well-fed with nutrients and vitamins for all we know... and the latter just jia4 sai4. Hee.
For the french escargot, go "Bonjour!" and eat it, then finish off with an "Ooh lala!" (The supposed French way of eating escargots... haha!)
2) "Gong3 gong3", "la1 la1" and "zu4 zu4" which can be found in normal BBQ seafood stalls
3) Rabbit meat. (The cute ones are more yummy. Use the fur to make your handbag.)
4) Frog meat.
How to kill a frog? Jenny suggests using a wooden plank and walloping it.
Frog dish: chouchou's 'favourite'. Frog porridge, with frog still in whole form, in the pot of porridge. (This image has stayed in my mind ever since it was mentioned and chouchou just reinforces it from time to time! Heh.
5) Lizard tongue.
Lizard tongue is supposed to be long right? Since it needs it to catch its prey. But Luke Luke chomped on his prey... without using his tongue. What a nimble one he is! =) Yeah, so lizard tongue, curled up like a ball of noodles was suggested. With dead flies as its garnishing.
6) Live octopus tentacles from Korea.
They stick to your tongue right? So imagine your friend is sitting beside you and you open your mouth... such that the tentacles pop out and whack his/her face.

The next part of the conversation stemmed from news that in China, they are tattooing pigs as part of art. So as not to waste the pig skin.... some suggestions of further uses have been made. Hee. Synthesis. Some other suggestions for uses of pig skin other than for consumption include pig skin bag and pig skin mat/rug. Especially the roasted pork skin. Crispy bag you'll have! With cool and artistic texture. Could have pork floss as decoration... like laces on the outside or to lay the inside of the bag. And when you are hungry, just eat your bag. How cool is that? =)

K enuff of this. Dinner time soon.

Let me proceed on to talk about a particular saga seed.
Origin: Fort Siloso, Sentosa
It was taken out of a wallet and reintroduced to the world again. This time not in some nature area on an offshore island, but on mainland Singapore, in an ice-cream cafe. I think it really fulfilled its purpose in life last nite (other than reproduce?) when it provided much joy for a couple of people. Saga Seed took on various roles. First as a mini finger soccer ball, which chouchou tried 'cheem' moves with... but of cos... still missed the goalie! Haha! Second as a gor3 li4 to be popped into the cup when the cup was moving. Third Saga Seed almost ended up as topping for ice-cream. All in all, it must have had such an exciting time that it must feel so accomplished. That is, assuming it isn't suffering from serious concussion and paralysis from the frequent falls, jumps and bounces it underwent!
Final resting place: In chouchou's hands. For better or for worse? Hmmm...

2005-10-08T22:09:00.000+08:00

10 ppl went to Tiong Bahru for dinner. Tiong Bahru is a historical site man! It was like a history field trip! The housing, the restaurant's setting, the fans, the verandas, the streets, the backlanes, etc. Where we sat, it felt like we were transported back into time where ppl used to hold their wedding dinners in the open. And then some drunks would come and make trouble... and then the violent breaking of the beer-bottles scenario would take place, followed by a clash of the parangs in the backlanes. But that aside, dinner was fun and refreshing after a long week.

Just some interesting snippets from dinner.
- The youngest of us all is getting married! Wow!
- It's cheap to get married. Only $20 for certification.
- The slim girls rule at rice consumption!
- A 'fort' built around a certain special someone to prevent her from falling off her chair. =)
- Someone who had an "invisible" boyfriend and someone looking for a part-time girlfriend were "paired" up.
- No one dares to eat the last piece of food left on the plate.

Now for the next part of the story.
3 girls entered a particular restroom and waited outside 3 cubicles. They stood there for a whole 5 minutes chatting happily... while a stranger stood in line behind them. Suddenly one of them wondered aloud, "Why is it taking so long?" and subsequently gave the cubicle door a slight push. And lo and behold! It pushed opened! The cubicle was EMPTY! And you know what? ALL 3 cubicles were EMPTY! =)) They all denied that they were teachers-to-be.

Afterward they proceeded to the playground with a friend. They hopped onto the flying-fox-like swings and started on their ride. Alas, it was too slow for their liking. No loss to the 1 girl who wore a skirt. And one particular law of physics was proved wrong! Bigger size does not translate into faster speed on the swing! =) Then they tried entertaining themselves on obstacle-like balancing beams and certain wooden-stools... and even tried to fling each other off some swingy thingy and some jostling table-like thing. NIE trainees. 1 girl wanted to climb the spider-web, but resisted the temptation, cos her friend was in skirt. Hee.

Next pit stop was MacDonald's. This was educational. We watched a live nature 'documentary'. We observed how a particular lizard planned its attack strategy and preyed on a fly. We saw how it tried various techniques and finally ingeniously hopped near the fly and happily chomped it up. It was a cute light-coloured lizard with pretty "fingers" (fingerlings?) and toes. I think I shall name it Luke. Dunno why too. But we did launch into a little discussion about how you can't kill lizards and how their tails drop and they are freaky. But Luke Luke was cute. =)

To end the whole episode, we toured Singapore in Mr Zhuai's (nah, he's not THAT zhuai...) car and boy, is he a good tourguide! We went "Singapore-Malaysia-Malaysia-Singapore" when we crossed a railway track. We even entered Malaysia-like environment in unfamiliar territory! Had our feel of the built-up environment and the somewhat rustic feel of Singapore. Singapore might be small, but there is so much we don't know about!

Oh well, it was an interesting episode. I hope there are more to come!

2005-10-08T15:26:00.000+08:00

I like my Geog class. A lot. Especially my classmates... who are now friends.
They make NIE seem worth it when you question what all this is for.
I am going to treasure these times while we are still a class, before it's over. I wanna look back and reminisce on all the fun times we had. With my friends by my side.
This is a strange, out-of-the-blue posting.
But I am gonna post it anyway. =)

My microteaching

2005-09-29T22:53:00.000+08:00

Finally back to post.
About what? Microteaching. Heh. Yes, my turn to get 'sabo-ed'... heh. No lah. It's a learning experience which I treasure.
Was rather sapped off my energy today... not cos I was stressed over the actual teaching and the possible tricks that the 'students' would play... but from the planning and the lack of sleep.

Delivery

Anyway, I addressed water pollution today, pitched at Sec 2 Express. I used Captain Planet as the theme, a strategy of using pop culture to interest students and to set the context. I dunno how well the context was set. Actually my gut tells me I could have done better. Blame it on the energy level. Energizer bunny mode would have worked better. =) However, I do wonder if it's too old a cartoon for the present generation. In any case, I could introduce it to them and mebbe show them a small cip or something. Did want to do that, but couldn't find clips. And there was the time factor as well. Can't afford to squeeze so many things into a 70 min slot. Also, I was wary over the fact that too much reference to the cartoon might confuse the kids. More thinking and planning should have been devoted so as to better incoporate it into the lesson without the risk of confusion.

Talking about time factor, I had to gloss over the contents of the lesson today, cos I wanted to try out the group activity. But one thing bad was that, without the content, (not that we dunno the content, but many of us have forgotten our content) it might be a little tough to role-play cos there are no facts provided! Though in a real-case scenario, the causes and effects would have been covered in the lesson, and their notes on the worksheet. Too bad I din get to allow a group to present. What I had in mind was for the group to role-play, and the other students to jot down notes, especially of the solutions generated. And after each role-play, I would get them to contribute to the pointers being brought out during the role-play, and collate them on the board so that they all have the notes. And then I will use that to jump into the next lessons, where I will focus on solutions. I know certain students might find it hard to envision how to role-play cause, effect and solutions. But seriously, a little creativity will do. Cos I did think about this, and I believe it is possible. And more importantly, FUN! Hahhaha!

The worksheet. Actually I was wondering if the worksheets were too open-ended. With lots of empty boxes. First reaction students get might be, "Sian. Need to write so much." But then I was reminded of how they should learn to take notes and take ownership of their learning. If we just provided them the powerpoint slides, or allowed them to just fill in keywords here and then, that's spoonfeeding. Not that spoonfeeding is really a no-no, but at least they are learning an essential skill of taking notes when it is left open-ended. It allows them to interpret and understand the info being presented to them, then they jot it down in their own words. Cos some pointers on my slides only included the definition of keywords, and not the explanation process. So students will have to pay attention. The down side is that, more time has to spent to allow them to digest along the way.

I could have given clearer instructions on what to do during the group discussion. Actually it was simple. Just role-play the causes, effects and solutions (which you have to generate) relating to the category noted in the piece of paper. ("sheet", not "sh**") But maybe I could have reiterated the instructions after I got everyone's attention, and before and after the leaders draw lots.

Regarding the explanation of washing and flushing, I could have done better lah! Haha. Sorry to confuse you Wes! I was actually trying to say that flushing need not mean toilet flushing. It can be flushing water into the drains, etc. I know it's confusing with "washing", but washing can mean washing lots of things too. Like "xi2 jiao3", like how our chinese comrades put it. =)

Oh. The projector worked against me. Oops. I mean, I dunno how to use the projector! Thanks AV rep for helping me! I wasted lots of time there. I should have just launched straight into the role-play and forego the powerpoint, instead of fiddling with it and leaving the kids unoccupied. Bad move. But I had faith in that projector! Which decided to play me out... Hahah! Oh well...

Classroom management

Erm. I think I din handle it too well. Cos there were so many small pockets of problems occurring at the same time that I hardly had time to finish solving one before others popped up. Then I had to prioritise. Like how I was helping Wes's group, then chouchou and Janinah stood up and complained that they din wanna work with their chinese tong2 zhi4. In the midst of that, janinah whacked D. And KF's group needed clarification. Hahaha! Mind boggling I must say. I think I need more copies of bananasaviour! But then again, I'm glad all these happened, such that I got a rather authentic simulation.

Let me start of with CY's 'slashing' of her wrist. It was hilarious to see her red pen marks. But that's beside the point. I'm glad it wasn't a suicidal slash where it cuts the artery and the ambulance has to be called and stuff. Just the minor one. My priority was to not blow things out of proportion and alarm the whole class or the people around her, such that she'll be ostracised in future or something. Good thing is LY and K noticed, and I was informed. It's always in times like this that i wished teachers were always informed of such behaviour. At least we can start counselling. Before something drastic happens. (I'm actually glad LY din go hysterical on me when I asked her to help stop CY's possible bleeding. But if I ascertain that the cuts were bad, I would send her to the sickbay with LY to get it treated.

Confiscating superlambanana's pointer when LL and Jo were actually the ones playing with it. Confiscation and warning were the first 2 things that came to my mind. After I asked LL to give me the pointer, I knew that I could not relent and not confiscate the pointer, even though it was superlambanana's. Or else I would be deemed as a pushover. The most I could do was assure him that I knew it was not his fault and that I was not punishing him. (He din need his pointer then anyway!) Though I think I might not have communicated it too well to him. Hmm.

Cheeky smart alecks, lubricants and colonal irrigation. Hmm. Haha! That was fun actually, and I was very thankful that it was no more explicit than it had been. Frankly, I have never heard of colonal irrigation before this. Firstly, I thought Chris meant "colonial irritation", then "colonial irrigation". The impression I had was that of irrigation introduced by colonialists! Far far from it, it seems! Hee. I somehow still had to communicate that I treasure their input, yet be careful not to go along with their purpose. Yeah, so it was interesting.

China comrades. Hilarious! Especially when I spotted that YZ and swallowapple had written their chinese names on the worksheet! Hahah! But yeah, I knew the first rule is to NOT communicate with them in Chinese, or else i would have fallen into the trap of not being able to enforce English in my class. But they were really persistent in their Chinese... even to the extent of translating everything into Chinese! All I could do was to stand firm and make sure that they understand my requirement, and to continually enforce it. But I guess the main problem posed was when they proved too much for chouchou and Janinah, such that they were adamant on changing groups. I couldn't allow that to happen, or it would cause a greater rift between them, the rest of the class and the china dolls. I could only encourage them to be more open-minded, generous and accepting. Luckily Chris was the middleman. How do we effectively assimilate these kids into the group? I guess the value of inclusion should be taught in the classroom, and an accepting environment should be created. Individual differences. Refer to ed psych class. Heh.

One thing that got me thinking today was my style. I think I adopt a a hyper-active approach, the fun-loving teacher which aims to bring about a fun classroom experience and willing to incorporate any idea to make teaching and learning fun. And order and management would fall back on standards and rules which I will not compromise. Like vulgarities, insults, negative criticism (paradox?), etc. But will I lose control and allow the kids to climb all over me? Was just wondering if that was the case today, when there were so many little pockets of problems. Being strict and firm is good. But I always feel bad for being fierce, therefore I cannot carry a strict disposition (not for long), and may come across as just jovial and a 'friend'.

K I've written a thesis. Ridiculous. Haha. Anyway, it's a good and fun learning opportunity. Thank you to my fellow geogers for not sabotaging me too badly! Luckily geognut was my observer! =)

Dear Pastor

2005-09-20T06:09:00.000+08:00

Dear Pastor, I would like to go to heaven someday because I know my brother won't be there. Stephen. Age 8, Chicago

Dear Pastor, I know God loves everybody but He never met my sister. Yours sincerely, Arnold. Age 8, Nashville.

Dear Pastor, Please say in your sermon that Peter Peterson has been a good boy all week. I am Peter Peterson. Sincerely, Pete. Age 9, Phoenix

Dear Pastor, My father should be a minister. Every day he gives us a sermon about something. Robert Anderson, age 11

Dear Pastor, I'm sorry I can't leave more money in the plate, but my father didn't give me a raise in my allowance. Could you have a sermon about a raise in my allowance? Love, Patty. Age 10, New Haven

Dear Pastor, My mother is very religious. She goes to play bingo at church every week even if she has a cold. Yours truly, Annette. Age 9, Albany

Dear Pastor, I think a lot more people would come to your church if you moved it to Disneyland. Loreen. Age 9. Tacoma

Dear Pastor, I liked your sermon where you said that good health is more important than money but I still want a raise in my allowance. Sincerely, Eleanor. Age 12, Sarasota

Dear Pastor, Please pray for all the airline pilots. I am flying to California tomorrow. Laurie. Age 10, New York City

Dear Pastor, I hope to go to heaven someday but later than sooner. Love, Ellen. Age 9, Athens
Dear Pastor, Please say a prayer for our Little League team. We need God's help or a new pitcher. Thank you. Alexander. Age 10, Raleigh

Dear Pastor, My father says I should learn the Ten Commandments. But I don't think I want to because we have enough rules already in my house. Joshua. Age 10, South Pasadena

Dear Pastor, Who does God pray to? Is there a God for God? Sincerely, Christopher. Age 9, Titusville

Dear Pastor, Are there any devils on earth? I think there may be one in my class. Carla. Age 10, Salina

Dear Pastor, I liked your sermon on Sunday. Especially when it was finished. Ralph, Age 11, Akron

Dear Pastor, How does God know the good people from the bad people? Do you tell Him or does He read about it in the newspapers? Sincerely, Marie. Age 9, Lewiston

Jo's micro-teaching

2005-09-10T15:12:00.000+08:00

Level: Sec 1 Express
Topic: Rocks
Strategy: Rock samples and worksheet

In Jo's class, everyone seemed to have some pent-up energy which was bursting to be released! I myself was hyper-active (yeah, forgot to take my ADHD medicine!) and even the usually guai ones seemed to be on cloud nine and broke loose! Hahah! Mebbe it was a Fri, and the beginning of a supposed break... I dunno.

But poor Jo was left with so little time she had to start in the middle of the class. And then there were technical difficulties and all. But what I liked was that it was a very hands-on lesson... it's the best way to introduce students to rocks. However, mebbe due to instructions and her petite size and voice and our hyperactivity, we were really disruptive. I guess we should never trust young kids with water. Was just wondering what kids would do if we trusted them with water (even if it's just one drop). One they will definitely spill it all over the place. Two they will play with water. My pet Rock fish. Hahahaha! It's just too tempting. You have a bag and water, and a rock. What do you do? *grin* Sorry ah... I was just being naughty. It has nothing to do with Jo's instructions. And taking the rock out of the bag will definitely cause confusion. Mebbe the rocks and the bags should be labelled with mebbe sample 'A', 'B' and so on?

Worksheet... I couldn't understand the rationale of the colour. So what if I wrote down black, white and grey for the granite? It doesn't mean anything. And the drawing of the texture just din make sense. The obvious thing to do is to trace it like the bark of the tree. Mebbe some examples should have been given beforehand or mebbe more description on that instruction? But then she did ask the class if there was anything we didn't understand. Maybe it could have be pre-empted? I think CY's comment on the 'soft rock' was ingenious. I can totally picture students asking that. But I'm sure Jo would have covered it in the beginning of the lesson that we had missed.

Truancy. WH and I went out to throw the tissue. She walked on and on, in search for a big dustbin. I mentioned that she could throw it in a small bin, but she replied, "Whatever. I'm not going back." Hahaha! What happened to our usually guai WH?? =) Hmm... Is it right to send kids out to look for their classmates? Can we trust them to do that? For one, it didn't work when chouchou was sent to look for us, cos it was an opportunity for her to leave class and play. And if we dun send someone to look for them, are we sending the message that kids can just disappear from class? I think what is important is to take note of the kids' names... and have a good talk with them. Get to the bottom of why they skipped class. And see if we can work round it after instilling into them that it is wrong and irresponsible to do so. If we show that we care, and that what they are learning is relevant, it should work. This was what my CT taught me on handling truancy cases.

Confiscation. I think we should always protect ourselves when we confiscate things. Draw parellels to OBsunsetLY's confiscation of EZlink cards. It'll be trouble if we dun notice students 'stealing' their own stuff from us and then demanding that we return it to them after class. We might be accused of theft! As superlambanana suggested, it's best to put it into our bags, or place it on the board when we confiscate it. (But if we put it on the board, we have to remember it!)

Oh, I felt that Jo kinda ignored us when we tried to ask questions. Maybe we were too soft? I dunno. But I tried to ask her questions twice, but was ignored. I noticed someone asking her too... but she kinda bo-chup. Maybe the class was too luan, and we din ask properly... But I felt picked on. Initally after she gave out the rock samples, Wes did something and everyone at our table laughed. But Jo shouted my name, as if I had done something naughty again. I am innocent! Now I understand why certain naughty students always give up, or are frustrated in class because they get picked on by the teachers, even though they are being guai. Teachers should always be alert and pay attention to the naughty kids and their potential mischief, but we should also give them some credit, so as not to totally condemn them. Or we might lose them in an attempt to win them over.

I cun comment anymore cos I wasn't in class! But I did hear of the rock-and-roll music, soft rock koala, ballet classes and scissors-paper-stone! Hahaha! What fun!

A day at NIE

2005-09-10T12:39:00.000+08:00

I bought my Apple ibook today. YAY!! Finally. Thanks to superlambanana for clearing my doubts.

My creative mp3 went scuba-diving and drowned.
Hence I was in a little foul mood in the morning and got irritated at comments by 2 boys in class. Argh. And then it was topped off by the ringing of the New York bell by our tutor. Reminded me of what Ray said about us being cows going "moooooo" when the bell rang. Argh! Got so much on my nerves I wanted to smash that innocent-looking toy! When it ended up in my hands, I twisted the wire in it so that it would ring no more. Not a permanent damage though. I'm not up to that kind of malice. Hee. (I think the tutor got the idea, cos she no longer rang it.)

But at the next class, I got even more irritated by the tutor who spoke in spurts about various stuff. She doesn't organise her thoughts before she speaks. And talks about different unrelated things all the time, when we are supposed to be working on our presentations. And if you ask her a question, she goes one whole big round and sometimes you end up at the same point if you are lucky. If not, you end up at Pasir Ris, if initially you were at Ang Mo Kio! I thought maybe it's just me being in a foul mood. But then I talked to my classmates and realised that they had all switched off and had not listened to a single thing she had said. And this isn't the first time. I must make conscious effort to make sure I never become like her.

But my day improved when I rushed to buy my ibook and had a little rest and social interaction before class. Thanks to buddy who SMSed me thru out the day to keep me sane too!

I really enjoyed Geog class today. There were many tips and pointers which I am happy to learn about. Such as tutor K's basketball moves in teaching grid references. I will try that myself. For 4-digit grid reference, first you dodge to the right (easting), then u jump up (northing). I guess for 6-digit, you can dodge to the right, jump up and then try to aim for the basket. Instead of jumping a little to the right, which I cannot fathom why. Yet. And bringing in the decimal analogy for 6-digit references. Like 44 'point' 6, 55 'point' 3. But we have to remember to remove the decimal terminology once the students internalize the idea, before they get it stuck into their heads!

K shall go for lunch.

Update on micro-teachings

2005-09-10T12:29:00.000+08:00

Aiyoh. Haven't written for so long... I think I should restart the engine again.
Since my last entry, WH, Sir Elzap, K, Mas and Miss Teo have had their hands dirty at teaching us. Wow! That's how backdated I am!

Anyway, what struck me was superlambanana's courteous handling of congenial Sec 5 loanshark: D. "Thank you", "gentleman", "I dun want to say 'thank you' a fourth time" (even though it WAS the 4th time) were all used, to good effect. Thank you Elzap for demonstrating so well. And his choice in allowing students have some freedom in his class, as long as they are not too distracted is a move which I buy to myself.

vintagemz's virtual fieldtrip was incredible... filled with sounds and pics, a fieldtrip journal worksheet and making us act as environmentalists designing an anti-pollution poster. Great activity to sum up everythng the students have learnt. And she was just so nice, firm yet gentle... making you wanna learn and do the best for the teacher. Her firmness was demonstrated in her making all of us remain standing after greeting her, so that she could ask us revision questions. (Good move.) Reminded me of my Physics teacher and Chinese teachers who stressed us out so much we could break out in cold sweat! I liked the way she defined nature reserve and the description of it being "1/2 of Sentosa". Acknowledging the students' possible poor sense of spatial dimensions and addressing it with something familiar... hmmm. Yeah, all in all, I desired to be a teacher's pet. Hahaha! Great lesson Mas!

Miss Teo ah... SUPER FIERCE! Her stares threaten to throw a dozen daggers and pierce right through you. *shiver* I was basically traumatized. Was wondering if crying cos the teacher is so scary was practical. I decided not to. So yeah, class management was basically settled. Hee. Miss Teo's lesson was very well thought through, I felt. She emphasized on the basics of map reading - grid references. She introduced us to the eastings and northings and drilled us pretty well. I liked the pre-prepared mahjong paper which illustrated the grid points. The L-shaped labelled 1 and 2 was clear on the worksheet as well. (Thanks to OBsunsetLY for the analogy of 'you learn to crawl before you walk'. Took me a while to get it. But once I did, it'll stay with me, I think.)

The best was the labelling off of us students and getting us to identify each other through grid references. (Though more rows would have done the job better... but since the class is structured in that inflexible way.... it's understandable.) Getting Wes to be the West demonstrates great flexibility and the ability of Miss Teo to think from the students' point of view. She is also adept at turning situations into learnable points, such as Chris's use of maps to 'find treasure' and grabbing the opportunity of Rak's loss of wallet to preach about being careful and responsible about one's belongings. I leatnt alot. Thanks Miss Teo. (Please dun stare at me anymore...)

Hmm, searching of bags... I think the student should never be allowed to touch another student's bag, and never given the liberty to search their bags, esp since she is the one who is the victim and the accuser. Mebbe the teacher should check it herself. But the teacher standing closely and watching the student check is also feasible, I guess. As long as the teacher is alert and neutral. Another issue is allowing Wes's bag to be checked. Does this mean that a student can just accuse anyone and demand that their bags be checked? Is there a fairer option than that? Like checking everyone's bags? (Though it'll be time-consuming...)

Yep, that's all for now.

L's micro-teaching

2005-08-26T16:52:00.000+08:00

Just some notes on Miss L's class.

Level: Sec 1 N(A)
Topic: Earthquakes
Strategy: Powerpoint, video clip and related worksheet, writes keywords on whiteboard and mindmapping

I think she tried the constructivist method by trying to pique our prior knowledge of what earthquakes were and put it simply through her nephew's conception of earthquakes. Something about the earth shaking. As we are dealing with the younger kids, it is a good idea to keep it simple.

Several points were brought up. What happens when we are supposed to do groupwork and a student (qris) is being ostracised cos 1) he's a loner, 2) the class knows that he is smart and prefers to work alone. Initially if we foresee problems in larger groups, we scale it down to pairwork. And if this still doesn't work? Miss L asked him for the answer and he gave a perfect answer, reinforcing the pointthat he is smart and doesn't need a partner to drown him. Will the rest of the class feel inferior if this was not addressed properly? And how do we address it properly?

Miss L was prompt in settling kids down when there were disruptions... but her main method was to settle everything after class, so as not to disrupt her teaching. But this might be perceived as merely brushing everything aside. I felt that Miss L could have pinpointed the root of the problem instead of 'procastinating'. However, I also realised that probably 1) she was unsure over who had started the problems, 2) she din wanna waste time addressing these somewhat 'trivial' issues. So, do we as teachers actually spend time clarifying what had happened at the expense of the rest of the class? Cos by brushing it aside, it created a feeling that the teacher couldn't care more about the students and was only focused on the lesson proper. This resulted in "smelly pineapple" being 'accused' of being the culprit... when it was actually wesley whohad started the commotion.

Another point: What do we do if we have a foreigner in our class who doesn't understand english that well? How much time can we afford to give he kid private tuition after school? And do we really have the expertise to translate geographical terms into other languages?? Or can we even communicate properly with them in the first place?

During my 4-weeks stint, I encountered a Sec 1 N(A/T) class which I had to relief. I was thrown some English worksheets for them. So I handed them out after giving them the instructions. There was this girl who struck me. I wondered if she had autism.... cos she hadn't moved at all since I passed out the worksheets!! And she din move at all even though I was talking to her!! And in the end, her classmate told me that she doesn't understand English! My my... I peered at her nametag. She was a Thai! Hmm... though I had jsut returned from Chiangrai YEP, I still couldn't communicate with her too effectively lah! But I tried to explain to her what she was supposed to do to the best of my ability. And in the meantime... the whole class was just going bizarre!! And I learnt that you cun afford to focus on them at the expense of the whole class... even though you are just relieving not teaching!

I asked my CT how she would handle the situation. She said to come early every morning to coach her, and to be consistent in it. Ok, feasible idea. But will it really work with just 15 minutes every morning?! And what if you have more than 1 such student in your class... since we are becoming so much more global now?? Hmmm....

Aiyah, anyway, I think Miss L did a good job in handling the students' behaviour and din let anything blow out of proportion. And she is attentive to students' behaviour and picks on the quiet students to involve them. Good job. =)

GESL

2005-08-26T16:44:00.000+08:00

Excited over GESL.
Something that is non-traditional makes it more exciting.
Praise God for letting me find favour in the group.
Thank God for the courage and wisdom.
Thank the Holy Spirit for teaching me humility.
Thank God for answering my prayer!! =)

Service learning is learning through service. You might not know the learning objectives at this moment, but as you work through it... you'll realise that learning does take place in areas which you might not thave expected.

Teaches us to keep our hearts and minds open and to be optimistic. Cos everything happens for a reason. If there is no intrinsic value, there must be an extrinsic value. Find it.

Pronunciation

2005-08-24T10:29:00.000+08:00

TOMATO: "te-mah-toe" or "too-mah-toe" or "te-meh-toh" or "toh-mah-toh"?

POTATO: "pe-teh-toe" or "poh-teh-toh" or "per-tah-toe"?

SALMON: "seh-men" or "sell-mon" or "sell-men"?

SINGAPORE: "Sing-er-por" or "Sing-Gar-Por"?

ASIA: "A-she" or "A-zia" or "Ah-sia"?

Groupwork/ Cooperative learning

2005-08-24T09:24:00.000+08:00

"In human societies the individuals who are most likely to survive are those who are best enabled to do so by their group."
(Ashley Montagu, 1965)

"I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun."
(John D. Rockefeller)

It seems like interpersonal and small-group skills are very much valued. And there has als been an emphasis on student-centred learning. "Form into your small groups and discuss..." But the problem is, there has been little emphasis on teaching students HOW to interact with their peers and working together as a team. It seems to be taken for granted that all kids have innate social skills and know how to work in a group naturally.

How often have we encountered kids who complain that they dun wanna work in a group cos working individually is more efficient? Or some free-rider in a group? Or kid A refusing to work with kid B? Or a group which does their work individually but talk about unrelated stuff? Or an arugmentative group where assertive members refuse to compromise their ideas for someone else's? (This would actually make me beam, cos at least they are thrashing out ideas!)

There are several methods in which teachers can facilitate this cooperative learning process more effectively, such as coming up with guidelines and projects which ensure that the group either "swims or sinks together". (Think jigsaw... if one piece is missing, it will never be completed. This prevents free-riders.) But all in all, groupwork has to be planned properly, such that there are clear objectives for working in a group, and that it really exposes students to different viewpoints. If students are aware of the benefits, they will support groupwork. And the benefits are long-lasting... such as strenghtened relationships and social skills.

But the teacher has to take step-by-step efforts in getting to know the dynamics of the class first, proper groupings of the class, facilitate and drill in a cooperative learning environment through different projects. Mebbe for a start, one could organise pairwork first before venturing into larger 'natural social groups'. Hee.

""Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up...And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastics 4:9-12

Role play/Simulation

2005-08-24T09:07:00.000+08:00

Role-play/Simulation. I was convinced of its benefits today.

Initially, I was a critic of it. Such as it being time-consuming, students having more fun than learning, effort not matching outcome, etc. But I have been bought over to the 'dark side'. I learnt about its merits. That of learning through fun, involvement of all students including the shy ones, creating empathy and an impact on the students' learning process. It trains students to use and apply their creativity and multiple intelligences (eg, IQ, EQ, AQ). It allows them to take on different perspectives and outcomes, which are now being tested in contrast to the regurgitation of facts. Affective learning. Holistic learning.

All these made possible only with the proper guidance of the teacher, the importance of debrief, the drilling of specific notable points, reflection with the students ("in-and-out" of role)...

I was reminded of a tourism module where a team presented in the form of a talk show. They had team members dressed up as an officer with the STB, an American tourist and a roti prata man from Serangoon Road. By imitating them through humour, they presented the general views held by these social groups. Through it all, the whole class learned through fun and laughter.

But role-plays require tremendous planning and preparation... so too many will kill us in the process! And as the tutor pointed out, it kills the novelty of it all.

Assessment... how would assess role-play? What if the acting sucks? Haha! But the best solution I thought, was to have peer evaluation. Of course one cun just rely on that solely... pre-role-play work such as scripting and post-role-play work such as reflections could be taken into account. Role-play can be highly-effective, only if it is conducted well.

Heh. This makes me all excited yet nervous! Am I up to it? Sometimes I wish I was still a student....

2005-08-22T13:03:00.000+08:00

A teacher does not only teach. He/She is an admin officer, a counselor, a motivator, an observer, a babysitter... even a parent! Sometimes even first-aid skills are necessary... (actually everyone should learn first-aid!) The brain is stretched in all ways... from coming up with detailed lesson plans, creative teaching strategies, maintaining class discipline with 'monstrous' kids, handling an entanglement of admin stuff, having a hand in psychology... motivating students in order to produce good results, pushing for CCA achievements, dealing with kis with problems, being a friend yet maintaining the status quo, working in various school committees, etc. You wonder, how does one cope? In fact, some excel at it! The secret: Passion. Not $.

Gone are the days where teachers just teach and students listen obediently. Gone are the days where teachers work half-day. "Like sands through the hourglass... those are the days of our lives."

Let's embrace the new all-rounder, "bao1 gao4 liao4" teaching profession! Where we "mould the future". See? Teaching is a profession where not only your brains are invested, but your heart and soul, your emotions, your physical self, everything. We are dealing with 'malleable' young minds and tugging at the hearts of young kids, preparing them for the future. It's an important job. It's not an easy job. It's NOT a dumping ground! Argh!

Hmm... pay rise? Hee.

Special Watch's microteaching

2005-08-22T11:45:00.000+08:00

Miss Tok's class.

Level: Sec 1 NA
Topic: Vulcanism
Strategy: Powerpoint, workheet to jolt preconceived memory of volcano through sketching, simulated lava flow (styrofoam as volcano and tapioca flour as lava with different viscosity) which students can time, with worksheet to describe activity.

"The bar has now been raised" (geognut, 2005) I cun concur more! =) Miss Tok really impressed me! I think all the experience really paid off! Solid teacher she is! She gives the impression that she is a no-nonsense teacher, but yet eludes this caring persona.

A good strategy is to get the students to clear everything on their tables except what is needed, or else she will confiscate it. She gave out worksheets which were different-coloured. This allows students to differentiate between them easily. Another plus point. And if Tutor K had not pointed out that her powerpoint slides were so zai... I would never have noticed it! Miss Tok tested our surface knowledge first by allowing us to draw an impression of a volcano, then she displayed a childish sketch... followed by 'slicing' the childish sketch into a proper volcano, etc. It was very gradual, which is perfect for weaker students.

Miss Tok throws her voice very well and is very firm in class management... always one step ahead of our 'pranks'. I think it was amazing how she quietly walked over to YZ and took away her history textbook, even before YZ could start reading it. I tried walking around the class like some students do when they are bored, but the moment I took my second step, she called upon me and asked me what I was up to. (She never gave me the chance to pull a successful prank! Haha!) But she is also very fair, cos she didn't label anyone of us as a trouble-maker and when we did ask questions, she would patiently listen to us and address them.

Even when YZ started crying (she does it quite well!) cos superlambanana had bullied her, she swiftly broke up the fight and comforted YZ. It is here that we realised that the most Jenny can come up with is, "I don't wanna friend you." Hahaha! Also, when wes threw a piece of paper across the class while she was attending to someone else, she calmly continued to give her attention to the student and ignored Wes, hence also giving him another chance. But when he did try his trick again, she reprimanded him and threatened to inform his parents.

The ultimate, which deserves an encore, was the simulated lava flow. It's such a innovative, powerfully visual strategy! It captures the essence of the different viscosity of lava and gets students to deduce the difference between the cones formed. (Well, they can see the effect!) Can I steal the idea? Is it copyrighted?

Yep. Impressed I am. Awed I am.

YZ's microteaching

2005-08-22T11:16:00.000+08:00

Now on YZ's mircoteaching... You wouldn't believe this. I took down the points on a piece of paper... and lost it. So I re-jotted the points when we had the debrief. And now it's LOST again! Talking about scatterbrain. Hmmm... mebbe YZ stole it. Hahaha! Or mebbe it got squashed up and got thrown about in class. Or got folded into a nice aeroplane and returned to where it belonged... *grin*

Level: Sec 3 Express
Topic: Faulting
Strategy: Powerpoint and worksheets with blanks, block props to demonstrate faulting, photographs in plastic bags and markers for students to identify faultlines.

Wow... I think there were many pockets of problems for YZ! Haha! Seems like many of the goody-two-shoes are unleashing already! =) But I must say she handled them quite well. There was a different kind of disruption... (read: the intellectual teacher's-pet wannabes.) Haha!

geognut was trying to be the smart aleck (k, he doesn't need to try hard, cos this is his pet topic!) and asked 'intelligent' questions. I think this is a problem when teachers are caught in the middle. A common solution is to just admit that we are not sure and that we'll check it out and get back to the students asap. But sometimes, we are unwilling to admit that we don't know cos we don't want to lose credit... and hence shrug it off and ask the student to go research himself. I guess in this case, we might discourage these students from probing more and gradually lose interest in the subject. (Gone are the days when students keep quiet and passive about everything! Hee)

Hmm, YZ should also have picked on other students to answer her questions, and not focus too much on the attentive and smart students like Lily. Cos that seems unfair and the other students will feel discouraged and worthless. And too much focus was placed on cheeky ones like superlambanana, geognut and me. It seemed like every move we make was being picked on, even though we were genuinely discussing her lesson. And her eyes seemed set on us... such that sleepy SJ got off. Heh.

But I thought she handled it very well when she reprimanded geognut for throwing paper aeroplanes around. "Where are you? Where is this place? Where do aeroplanes belong?" She was also very firm in getting geognut to pick up the plane and dump it where it belonged... the "hangar" as geognut puts it. Haha! And when I was making some noise, she went "Do you have anything to say?" rather than just telling me to shut up. And I am super impressed by the way she handled the situation when there was a sexual comment... something like, "Cher, I like your rift valley!" She reacted promptly and shot back the question, I think. I cun really remember. It went something like, "Do you own a rift valley?" But the point is, she did not allow the sexual joke to carry on and did not show that she was embarassed... cos that would have met the purposes of the cheeky student. Yet she did not flare up and start firing at the student. Kudos to "deh" YZ! =)

The asthma case... hmm...
Firstly, bad acting by wes... such that it was comical! Hahah! Geognut and myself were wondering what that noise was! Such that YZ was confused by whether he was just playing a fool or really having asthma! Hee. But I think it was a really good idea to introduce such emergencies. Hmm.. "Call ambulance!" was too wise, I feel. But I guess YZ had no choice... like in her blog, she mentioned that if she had accompanied Wes to the sickbay... she wouldn't have to microteach anymore. But in a real situation, I think it is best if we can accompany the student to the sickbay ourselves... while setting some work for the students to keep them occupied and maybe putting someone in-charge... either the class rep, subject rep or a naughty one to maintain order in the class.

Next, I think we shouldn't kick up a big fuss and scare the class by the incident. We should handle it as calmly as we can. But on the other hand, we should also address the confusion, fears and concerns of the class. Cos I felt that YZ was brushed the issue aside so that she could stick to her lesson plan... which is why I kept saying "Wesley is going to die!", in hope of her addressing the issue. And I even thought of crying... and accusing her of not showing enough care. I think it is important to assure the class that their classmate is fine... even if he isn't at that point of time!

All in all... it's a job well done! =)

Heartprints

2005-08-22T10:32:00.000+08:00

H E A R T P R I N T S

Whatever our hands touch -
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture,
On doorknobs, dishes, books,
As we touch we leave our identity.
O God, wherever I go today,
Help me to leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion,
Of understanding and love.
Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern.
May my heart touch a lonely neighbor,
Or a runaway daughter,
Or an anxious mother,
Or, pehaps, a dear friend!
Lord, send me out today
To leave heartprints,
And if someone should say,
"I felt your touch,"
May that one sense YOUR LOVE
Touching through ME.

- Ruth Harms Calkin

Every small gesture can make a BIG difference in someone's life.

LY's micro-teaching

2005-08-22T09:43:00.000+08:00

Have been procastinating too long. Gotta blog gotta blog gotta blog..........

K firstly let me comment on OBSunsetLY's micro-teaching. Better late than never...

Level: Sec 3 Express
Topic: Karst Landscapes
Strategy: Powerpoint, video, rock samples and worksheets

Overall, I felt that the lesson was interesting... especially with the rock samples. There's visual and hands-on activity for the students. Hmmm... maybe all the rocks are fairly similar... but if they are not... mebbe students could exchange the samples so that they can observe all of them? Putting them in little bags are a good idea.... I remember how a teacher I was observing din do so... and hence had to keep reminding the students that the samples were her prized possessions when they started playing with them. The worksheet is a good way to keep the students occupied. But we weren't told how long we had to complete the worksheet... so we had no motivation.

Very cool pictures on karst as well. But the video flashed past before I could catch anything. But then again, I was being mischievous. Hmm... should we capture the students' attention first before playing the video? Cos naughty ones in general take a longer time to settle down... and hence lose out on the video, which might have sparked an interest in them in relation to the lesson... and might result in less disruption.

Hmm... on the issue of confiscating EZlink. I personally do not support it... but it is an innovative idea. Firstly, after confiscating the EZlink, it kinda gives the naughty ones more liberty and freedom to revolt. Cos there is nothing restraining them anymore. Secondly, the students know that their cards will be returned in any case, cos it is something important which the teacher has no right to keep for long. Thirdly, the case of the teacher losing the cards... which is highly possible for scatterbrain me! And finally, what do you do when a student tells you that his/her card is being 'stolen' by his/her classmates during the lesson? First, do you believe the student? Second, do you pursue the matter if you do believe? And do you raise the issue to the whole class by questioning who 'stole' the EZlink? What to do... what to do?? "Willy Wonka... Willy Wonka.." =)

And if I might say this... I think LY was speaking too fast. (I have this problem too... and was initially told by students to slow down... but I was gan-cheong lah... cos it's my first lesson!!) So I can understand LY. And mebbe there should be more variation in the tone? I guess teachers have to be animated? In order to capture the attention of the kids, cos kids nowadays are easily bored. We are actors! "Willy Wonka... Willy Wonka.." Ohoh... and the consistency in getting students to stand when answering questions. I guess if we want to make students stand when answering a question, we should apply it to all students. (Think we have a tendency to forget...)

But all aside, I still think it was a good lesson. And sorry LY, if I was too "into" the role of the pai-kia by flinging the wallet. But you know that nothing is directed towards you rite? =)

Wonder Why? woman's lesson

2005-08-17T12:53:00.000+08:00

Now to comment on Wonder Why? woman's micro-teaching.

Level: Sec 3 Express.
Topic: Tourism
Strategy: Work in groups to design a trip to 5 places in Singapore where we can bring our friends to. Explain why. Include budget. Present to the class at the end.
Resources: Postcards, mahjong paper, markers, whiteboard.

I personally felt that Wonder Why? woman was very brave to take the first step to kick off a whole series of micro-teaching in our Geog class. I'm very excited about this whole thing, and it makes my day just to know that there is Geog class that day... so I can be the cheeky kid in class! Haha! Not ALL in the name of fun lah... there are really situations which I dun think I can handle and hence wanna deal with it before I am dumped into the deep end of the pool (ie. officially teaching). So disruptive as it may be... I promise I won't cross the line to it being ridiculous. So though things do go in a full circle.... please please please have mercy on me!! Just sabo my accomplice geognut!! Hahaha! (Just joking lah...)

OK, back to Wonder Why? woman's lesson. I think the objectives of the activity and the lesson could have been more clearly spelt out. But then it might have been my own inattentiveness (ie. discussing of how to disrupt class) that caused me to think so. Erm... clearer instructions as well? I think for kids... regardless of how old they are... instructions have to be clear and concise. Cos everyone has their own mind and way of doing things... so if instructions are not clear... conflict and misunderstanding will arise. However I do have to commend the strategy of writing the instructions on the whiteboard. That prevents students from asking and asking and asking. =) Oh, and giving out instructions before distributing the materials is a good method, cos this makes them listen attentively and not get distracted with the distribution.

Hmm... distributing of materials. Yeah, I think it is more convenient to divide them into the various groups first... instead of having students come to the front. Cos they'll fight over what colours they want, etc. But having the group leaders come to the front, and not just a volunteer, is also a good way. If this is too much work, maybe we could have the monitor/monitress or the subject rep to divide the materials.

I must say that Wonder Why? woman was good at dealing with the fighting scene that Geognut and myself were involved in. (Geognut tore the mahjong paper in the middle of the fight. Then we agreed to work on a smaller piece of mahjong paper. But we listed 8 places instead of 5. We were told to redo it. So instead of just cancelling the extra places, we tore them out... resulting in a chesse-like piece of mahjong paper with holes all over. Hahahah!) But a disclaimer: we were prompted to do so... though Geognut did come up with the idea.. Hee. And it was fun! Hahah! Oops! Wonder Why? woman maintained good eye-contact with Geognut in reprimanding him... while being careful not to raise her voice (but vaired it slightly to let us know that she was not too pleased) to prevent us from losing 'face' in front of the class. I must say that her quick and forward-thinking are some stuff I cun foresee myself having! Hee. She didn't allow us to switch groups... to maintain the fairness and not allowing us to take the easy way out. This forced us to deal with the situation at hand. She also mentioned how unfair it is to our groupmates, which should have struck out conscience (though it didn't, cos it was all planned! Hee.) But it's a good move. Cos we did feel that our beautiful piece of work was wasted... or else can compete with the "Gifted students" group liao! Hahaha!

And making Geognut go off to wash his face and cool down was a good idea too. However, one down point was that I felt that she didn't focus on reprimanding me enough. (Not that I am masochistic lah!) It's just unfair for Geognut lah. And commenting on his 'big size' was erm... Hee. The boy's self-esteem might be hurt even further lah. But I understand that it's a spur of a moment to break up the fight. Mebbe if we are faced with such situations, we can pull the kids aside at the end of the lesson and do a detailed follow-up with them.

The question about whether she was focusing too much on the problematic students and neglecting the rest. I think she did find a balance there lah. If you dun control the naughty ones... how is the class gonna function? And she did make an effort to go around to the different groups rite? Hmm.. maybe to facilitate more, she could have asked them questions lor. Cos sometimes kids are shy and tend to clam in more when the teacher comes near them.

Another point of contention was about making superlambanana and wesley read the text on the postcard. For superlambanana, it was because he didn't understand the instructions... and it worked, cos he did went "Oh!" after reading it. However, I think making him stand up to read to the whole class was like a punishment, when all he did was give a wrong answer... This might discourage students from offering answers and speaking their mind. But I might be exaggerating here lah... it might not be that bad afterall. As for Wes, he was being disruptive lah. So the punishment is warranted. The benefit of making him read aloud to the whole class was so that he would understand what was going on despite being inattentive. But I think it went on for too long lah... such that it became awkward... and I think she forgot to ask him to sit down afterward. This happens all the time... and I think we should be conscious about not forgetting to ask students to sit down... or else they might think that they are still being punished. Worse still, they might think we are punishing them not for their 'crime' but 'attacking' them.

Yeah. I am looking forward to the next micro-teaching class!! WooHoooooo!!!
(I really should have gone first so that I dun incur so much wrath and create an opportunity to get shot! Hee)

Steve Job

2005-08-17T11:06:00.000+08:00

(As I'm typing this, I'm being attacked by this brave, lone warrior of a mosquito... To kill or not to kill? The power lies with you. No, with me. Heh.)

Tot I'd update my blog... =)

Kenneth played this audio clip of Steve Job's commencement speech at Stanford University. To find a copy of the speech, do look up geognut. Cos I tried creating the link but the link just won't work... and since geognut has it... Shall advertise for him then! Hee. Really just listened to it in awe. He has such an amazing never-say-die spirit! It has instantly risen up the priority chart of "must-listen" inspirational speeches. And it coincides with what I want my students to strive for... their DREAMS. To follow their hearts and to have no regrets. (Of course not harmful stuff lah...) To dare to dream, to have the courage to take the first step, and to have faith to continue and finish the race even when the whole world isn't with you... (God will never leave us nor forsake us, so we just need to stay focused on Him.)

Just several pointers that hit me.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." (Jobs, 2005) Isn't this so true? We must always believe that there is a future, so that we can move forward and find meaning in the things we do. But it order to move forward towards our future, we have to grab opportunities now... plant the seeds now, water the seeds now... so that the seeds will grow in future! So what matters is NOW, and not the past, but hope for the future! Hee. Strange huh... coming from someone with History as CS2! Hahah! No lah.... I mean that we should not be trapped in the past and entangled in regret over the things that we failed to do. We should LEARN from the past and apply to the present and the future! And that's vital... to learn from past mistakes. That's what my approach is. Not that the past is redundant.

I believe that everything is planned by God. He is the Creator and knows best how our lives are best crafted. Every trial, every tribulation, every mistake, is just a stepping stone... for us to strengthen ourselves for the future. Not to show that we are totally useless and cannot stand up to hardship. Cos with God, everything is possible! We just need to trust in Him.

"And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." (Jobs, 2005) Right on the dot! I always believed in doing what I love, cos this is where you will succeed regardless of how discouraging the situation is. It's only when we love what we do are we willing to throw in more effort and commitment... only then are we willing to brush aside all unpleasanties and not mind the hardship. It's so true about our jobs... and so true about students dealing with the subjects they love. Hence our main motivation should be to infuse the love of Geography and whatever other subjects we are teaching into our students. Our enthusiasm will be rubbed off onto them!Then I imagine it as a 'dominoes effect', where everything falls into place. Cos this is just a perfect scenario lah... but I believe it's possible! Hee. Love conquers ALL! =)

"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" (Jobs, 2005) This has always been a powerful tool... but I always seem to be just sucked into everyday life and commitment. Of course I would wanna do more exciting stuff than... erm... better not say lah! Haha! But on a more serious note, I would wanna make a difference in ppl's lives. A positive influence, I mean! But this kinda thing is a long-term 'contract', and cun be accomplished in just one day's work. But I believe that tiny gestures can be magnified in someone else's life... even though we do not see the result. So yeah, we should have a goal/s and work towards it continuously.

"Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. " (Jobs, 2005)

Courage. But with a nice mix of humility. =)

Hee. After all the 'advertisment' for Steve Job... do you think I'll get any royalty?? (And we were just talking about humility?? Hee. Courage mah. Must grab the opportunity! Hahaha!)

Podcast

2005-08-11T22:15:00.000+08:00

Podcast. If you are not in Kenneth's class, you probably wouldn't have even heard of this rite? Hee. Which makes me so proud to be in his class! Haha!

Podcast is new technology. And for a techno-idiot who usually doesn't embrace new stuff too early on in the tech cycle... this is like WOOHOOooo!! Hee. Actually I'm really quite excited about it... though I must admit I dunno much about it. I just pray that we do come up with a bright idea of incorporating Geog and boosting pedagogy in this field. (Cos Geog to me was always more visual than audio.... hmmm...) It's just exciting having a chance to experiment with this lah. And if there are any technical problems... there's always Kenneth we can turn to.

Although today's class was power-packed with technology and Mac and iPod stuff... and I must admit that I did get fidgety and restless and... err... finally dozed off in the middle. Oops! Hee. But I did pay attention for most of the parts lah! And very tempted to give in to iBook! Just concerned with the application problems... but I think it shouldn't be too much of a hassle... seeing how Rezal has been using it for quite long and how Kenneth is 'googoogaga' (if I might say that!) over Mac! "It's my MACdonald's...." Hee.

Yep, so now I just pray that my group will be committed to coming up with good podcasts...

We shouldn't give in in the midst of difficulty and say, "Aiyah... cannot make it one lah... What's the point? Put in so much work for what?!" Sometimes we need to take things into perspective as well... not to lose sight of what our goals are. And if there's an opportunity to try new things, why not? When we think we are ready, the opportunity would have left us. Additionally, if we wanna do something, we might as well put in our hearts and soul and do a good job if possible? Why settle for effortless, meaningless and skimpy results when we have the resources, the opportunity and the capability to excel, go the distance and make a difference?

I'm feeling quite strongly about this cos I was a little frustrated (k, not little...) in GESL today. Some of the vocal members in my group have the 'take-the-easy-way-out' attitude. For eg, "Let's just chopchop and get it done." I understand efficiency. I understand the workload. But corny as it may be, I really believe in service learning. My two YEPs have taught me that. And for NIE to set aside so much time to incorporate this, it should mean something lah... (eh? politically correct? Hee) other than governmental stipulations and what not. That doesn't concern me. But c'mon... here's a chance to strive to come out with an excellent project... and it involves the community, (which grows in significance for me) and we are just gonna chopchop and just go do a one-day project cleaning up old folks' homes or a one-day beach clean-up and that's it? Never to bother about any of our so-called volunteer work again? What crap.

I'm not saying that this kinda volunteer work is pointless... What I do mean is that we are already doing this kinda volunteer work in our own free-time... Therefore we are not achieving the objectives of this GESL, whereby with our pool of resources, we can actually achieve a WHOLE LOT more! Like a project which will make an impact on the community and can be sustained even after this ends.

Don't people seek the sense of satisfaction in ploughing and harvesting the fruits of labour anymore? Other than just 'getting by' and producing 3rd grade harvests... if there is a harvest in the first place! Brrrr....

Career options

2005-08-11T11:44:00.000+08:00

Remember when we were young... people were fond of asking us what we wanted to be when we grew up? (Hmm... do they really keep track of our answers anyway??) Oh well, I was thinking about it and I recall some of my 'proper' answers being... police officer, pilot, sportswoman, explorer, etc. How varied the answers were (sometimes ridiculous!) and how often they were changed, according to our whims and fancies!! Haha!

As I matured, (yes, I did mature ok!) I began thinking more seriously about it... I knew there were some careers which were total no-nos for me. For instance, sales.... not when I needed to convince strangers of my product, present my pitch and perform... definitely not in the light of "the customer is always right" attitude. (Cos we all know that customers are NOT always right! So why go against our principles just to cut the deal?!) I'm saying this from a specific experience... when I worked in outdoor sales... the most basic and 'xiong' sales. Directly face-to-face pitching by catching any Tom, Dick or Harry on the street. You name it, I've done it. From peddling watches to office workers on the streets to ah-pehs lim-ming kopi or Guinness Stout at kopitiam to selling perfume to mechanics repairing the underneath of cars in ROV to sneaking in and out of private office's backdoors, etc. It's people-related alright, but just not my kinda tea. Deceptive promotion lah, I feel. But I do give the thumbs-up and respect to good, honest, sincere salepersons. Some people do have the flair for it, I must admit.

Similarly, when I took a marketing module, I felt like it was just deceiving consumers into buying a certain product they do not need/want through tricky measures like promotion, packaging, etc. It's just not right.... It's corrupt!! (Though I did excel in that module! Haha!) And here's an even more extreme view. I feel that charging people at selling price in order to earn profit is not too right, though it is 'natural'... So yeah, I'm definitely not cut out for business. I think I'll die from my own conscience before anything! =) Haha! I think I belong in the era of barter trading for necessities! *grin*

And to focus on my passions... there are only several career options which I can envision myself in. Other than teaching, there's working with an NGO in a developing country iimmersing in the culture and helping the villagers and especially the kids, working at a summer camp in US monkeying around indulging myself in the outdoors and loving the company of the kids, (I'm still bitter over Singapore's 'summer holidays' clashing with the US one... such that I cannot afford to go over to work anymore!!) organising local outdoor camps and workshops for kids, or become a chef and just enjoy the cooking (though the business will have to be run by someone else!).... Yeah. I guess these are the few options...

But anyway, teaching is the main course now (not just cos of the bond lah!). At least in teaching, I'll get to work with kids... it's a dynamic job (cun imagine myself in a static desk-bound job!), and 'innocent' and 'hassle-free' in the sense that I dun have to deal directly with money issues (I suck at number-crunching anyway!)... like which deal is the most profitable, etc. I'll just have to focus on my main objective, and that is to teach the kids whom I'm entrusted with well. I dun go, "Your parents pay me more, so I'll have to teach you more. Your parents don't pay me enough... I'm not gonna teach you!" And though now kids are not considered as 'innocent' anymore, in general they are still 'purer' than the adults lah. The commerical world, so-called 'adult world' is frightening! (Too luan4 for innocent young banana saviour. Hahaha!) I guess it's this attitude that I wanna remain in the school environment. Disclaimer: This is NOT self-psychoing. Heh.

Whatever it is, I trust that God will lead me. He is my perfect guide because He knows all my needs (He created me!!), and has infinite wisdom and power and riches.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5-6.

Incidents

2005-08-11T00:45:00.000+08:00

Some incidents....

You know how short my hair is now... (resulted from me telling the hairdresser "anything". Haha! So smart hor?) So yeah, with that in mind, let me tell you what happened a few days ago.
I was in the toilet and waiting for a friend, and there was this cutle little girl around 3 or 4 years old, I assume... who looked at me and went "Mummy! There's a man in the toilet!" (The mummy was in the cubicle attending to an even younger kid.) I was super amused... and was wondering what would happen next. The mummy peeked out of the toilet and went, "No... that's not a man..." Hahahaha! Interesting to see how social constructions of what constitutes male and female work out... especially in young kids! *grin*

And another incident....

A friend was having difficulty cutting a hard-boiled egg into 2 today. After she succeeded, she proceeded to remove the egg yolk and ate only the egg white. But it seemed like there was a lot of egg yolk to be removed, and I commented so. She agreed.

I went, "Because this is an egg stuffed with egg yolk."
Friend: "Is it?" And accepted it without qualms.
Me: "Yeah." Looking as convincing as possible and amused that she actually fell for it. After a while I tak boleh tahan and burst out laughing. It was then that she realised. Cute friend I have.

2005-08-09T03:20:00.000+08:00

I never thought that one day, I would become a blogger too! And I thought I could be 'one of a kind' by not succumbing to blogging! Haha! Anyway, this blog will have many uses. I'm gonna make it a tool that will be a source of encouragement for my teaching career, allow me to learn, and remind me of the past when I do look back someday.

K firstly, why banana saviour? I LOVE bananas. Those YUMMY, potassium-filled soft, tender, white thingy wrapped in smooth yellow, easily-peel-able skin. And hence I am doing them a great favour by rescuing them from a slow, painful death of rotting... by finishing them off fast. A theory that buddy helped come up with in a spur of a moment. =)

Anyway, why I took up teaching... It's not for the money... and I am not just trying to be politically-correct here just because this blog might be made public and it might affect whatever reputation I have! I have always loved kids... I still do... and I wanna love them even more! (K, now this sounds corny.) Aiyah, kids in general lah... from the huggable, googoogaga kind to the unsteady ones who have just learnt to walk to the ones who just learnt how to talk to the innocent ones who ask this and that and imitate you to the ones who are easily fascinated and entertained by your actions to the ones who start to learn how to socialise in school etc etc.... all the way to the ones who enter their teenage (mutant ninja turtles!!) years.

I have always loved camps and the outdoors... and so I ended up working part-time doing primary and secondary camps. I would describe it as a period of ups-and-downs... laughter, enjoyment, exhiliaration, excitement, satisfaction, bonding, maturity, opportunities, learning, perserverance, miracles, fatique, disbelief, sadness, tears and frustration all weaved in together. But it's all so so worth it!! At camp, you have to interact with them, teach them, faciliate them, discipline them, bring the shy students to the forefront, have fun with them, go crazy with them... We are the leader, the disciplinarian, the facilitator, the actor, the clown... many roles which a teacher has to take up. And at the end of the road, the satisfying part is when they achieve the goals (be it a group goal, or personal ones) that you have set with them, and motivated them towards... Awwww... the feeling is just AWESOME! (Eg. When a shy kid actually volunteers to do something at the end, or when the group bonds at the end though they were strangers in the beginning, or when I played a huge part in helping a kids step out of his/her comfort zone to achieve something they never thought possible, or helped someone overcome certain fears, etc.) Hee. All the low points would then miraculously disappear! Only the high points will shine and you feel such an uplifting in your heart that it will leave you grinning like it was the best thing that ever happened to you. Hee... especially when you know you are appreciated! Be it explicitly or implicitly! *grin* Who doesn't like to feel appreciated?

Though camps are like miniscule examples compared to the teaching profession in whole, I know that teaching is what I really really wanna do. I wanna mould lives (corny as it sounds!) and motivate/influence young minds at this age when they are searching for their identity and place in the world. I wanna do what God has in plan for me. And when I am doing God's will, He will definitely provide.