This is my very treasured piece of Teacher's Day gift from my beloved class! haha i know very 肉麻 but bear with me la.. haha!
Another part of my personal life shared? :p
21 September 2006
20 September 2006
Mission Impossible
Today yet again another brush with some of the infinite problems that we have to face everyday.
There are people who insist that interest should be the top of the agenda when we are talking about character building and the teaching of values. What interest should we talk about when there is even no responsibility in the first place?
But then environment and culture does play a very important part in the shaping of hearts and minds, and it is the very thing that we hope to be instilling in the students' minds.
Having the heart to do things is just not enough.
It's the shaping of the environment.
It's tough.
It's requiring more than just the effort of 1 or 2 persons.
It takes identification of the same goals.
It takes an awful long amount of time.
But it is possible.
There are people who insist that interest should be the top of the agenda when we are talking about character building and the teaching of values. What interest should we talk about when there is even no responsibility in the first place?
But then environment and culture does play a very important part in the shaping of hearts and minds, and it is the very thing that we hope to be instilling in the students' minds.
Having the heart to do things is just not enough.
It's the shaping of the environment.
It's tough.
It's requiring more than just the effort of 1 or 2 persons.
It takes identification of the same goals.
It takes an awful long amount of time.
But it is possible.
19 September 2006
A Challenge to Ourselves
During activity today i wanted to bring the remaining sec 3s out for a run. 15 were gathered and the last i looked back, there were only 5 who came back to the finishing point.
Then reality seems to ask me: is the unit as good as it should be? What are we producing in the calibre of our cadets?
Are they determined?
Can they take hardships?
I took a piece of paper and i gave it to the squad nco and told him: this is our target before the year of 2006 is over -- complete the PE running route as a squad.
Can we do it?
Then reality seems to ask me: is the unit as good as it should be? What are we producing in the calibre of our cadets?
Are they determined?
Can they take hardships?
I took a piece of paper and i gave it to the squad nco and told him: this is our target before the year of 2006 is over -- complete the PE running route as a squad.
Can we do it?
17 September 2006
RunForHope 06
This is the finishing point after the long and wet 9km run! Shiok! oh ya.. .forgot to mention that there were a lot of people who joined the run.. hundreds... maybe even thousands! ... then after that MQ and I were discussing if we should join the full marathon.. . but then shall have to train if we do sign up! maybe run around the school or something... anyone up for grabs for the full marathon? :p
RunForHope - Terry Fox Run 2006
Haha this is the rainy Terry Fox Run. Could not take much of the scenery during the run as it was raining cats and dogs! Quite heavy so i had to deposit everything at the counter and start running 9km with my colleague cum good friend! Was quite a good run, and the feeling was great. Then after the run had to tremble in the cold cold wind... reminds me of the time when i went waterfall trekking with my Uni days OG.. haha... Now thinking of Standard Chartered Marathon... haha... 蠢蠢欲动！
16 September 2006
Teachers and Students
Can't believe i slept my saturday away! haha
auntie came and asked me," today is saturday leh, how come you not park-tawing? How come your cousin is at home too?"
Haha i seriously don't know.
Must have over-exerted yesterday. And failed to plan for saturday. And talked too much with friends over school yesterday.
And much more work to be completed.
Yes, teachers have their woes too. Students just feel that teachers come to school and teach and give homework.
And torture them.
Or suck at teaching.
But i feel every accomplishment of the teachers is the sacrifice of his or her personal life. So don't blame a teacher who is not caring, or not caring enough. Because most of the time, pardon me for being overly blunt, many students do not appreciate. (not all, some of you guys are great!)
It's always a gamble if the teacher is willing to sacrifice, and sometimes demoralizing when students do not reciprocate.
Give them a sign sometimes will ya?
auntie came and asked me," today is saturday leh, how come you not park-tawing? How come your cousin is at home too?"
Haha i seriously don't know.
Must have over-exerted yesterday. And failed to plan for saturday. And talked too much with friends over school yesterday.
And much more work to be completed.
Yes, teachers have their woes too. Students just feel that teachers come to school and teach and give homework.
And torture them.
Or suck at teaching.
But i feel every accomplishment of the teachers is the sacrifice of his or her personal life. So don't blame a teacher who is not caring, or not caring enough. Because most of the time, pardon me for being overly blunt, many students do not appreciate. (not all, some of you guys are great!)
It's always a gamble if the teacher is willing to sacrifice, and sometimes demoralizing when students do not reciprocate.
Give them a sign sometimes will ya?
The Intricate Balance
A very long day today, with fumbling with the reports slips and the lessons going on at the same time yet having also the Parent-Teacher Meeting session.
I had to run around the office talking to teachers for the PTM and also to understand more from them and how i can help better as a form teacher.. knowing their backgrounds and so on.
So practically i felt that there wasn't even much time to breathe the entire day. There was this sense of dread and stress, that it would not be possible to capture the relevant data and stuff...
1110 spelt the end of lessons and i had to go down to the canteen to meet Yoshi, as he had purposefully came down to school to visit me -- i mean i have grown to appreciate the fact that it takes a lot on the students to come down and visit an ex teacher, and thus i should make every effort to at least talk to him. But alas there wasn't enough time... felt a little apologetic though... but then bell rang before i could finish lunch (morever the elders always like to say 吃饭皇帝大！), so in the end i had to finish lunch whilst talking ...
Met a lot of parents and in midst of all those talking, its seems to me that society nowadays is so stressful and busy that parents often do not have enough time or the chance to do qualitative things with their children. Sometimes a child who does not do well may have some kind of communicative problems with his parents? Or if a child does not do well, is it because he is not in sync enough with his parents' desires for him to do well? What part does the environment play for this same child to want to do well for his studies or when we come down to things at its rawest form, there is something lacking which is causing results that do not meet expectations?
The session really bring me many thoughts each time .. .not to mention the length of it. When i ended at around 5 plus, i realised my entire level was already bare, with the auntie staring me with seemingly grudging eyes as usual.
And then went down and found out that CCA was still on! Thus began another part of my work (sometimes wonder how much a teacher can do when he is faced with so many things and yet have to be at his best every single time -- are we humans?) Saw a bit of some scenes that i wasn't very happy with and decided to do something about it. Sometimes plain talking does not get the point across to the leaders.
Being a leader is more than just standing in front of the juniors and be just looking smart. It takes more than appearance and presentation skills to impress and impart knowledge. If there is no resolve and determination to complete tasks and responsibilities, then it would all come to naught at the end of the day.
Thus i have to try to do something.. sometimes u figure that success and failure does not seem any important at all when you have at least tried to do your part. But however it also means no senseless blind trying. It must be with purpose and meaning and it must be done with such resolve that the idea will go across.
Don't ask me how it can be done as i do not know how to impart such skills, but at the end of it all i guess sincerity and heart is very important and only with the former can then let us achieve what we have set out to do in the 1st place.
To conclude, some article in the papers argued that demand and support must be given in measured proportion; all demand and no support will give rebellious kids but whereas all support and no demand will spoil them.
Balance is the key.
I had to run around the office talking to teachers for the PTM and also to understand more from them and how i can help better as a form teacher.. knowing their backgrounds and so on.
So practically i felt that there wasn't even much time to breathe the entire day. There was this sense of dread and stress, that it would not be possible to capture the relevant data and stuff...
1110 spelt the end of lessons and i had to go down to the canteen to meet Yoshi, as he had purposefully came down to school to visit me -- i mean i have grown to appreciate the fact that it takes a lot on the students to come down and visit an ex teacher, and thus i should make every effort to at least talk to him. But alas there wasn't enough time... felt a little apologetic though... but then bell rang before i could finish lunch (morever the elders always like to say 吃饭皇帝大！), so in the end i had to finish lunch whilst talking ...
Met a lot of parents and in midst of all those talking, its seems to me that society nowadays is so stressful and busy that parents often do not have enough time or the chance to do qualitative things with their children. Sometimes a child who does not do well may have some kind of communicative problems with his parents? Or if a child does not do well, is it because he is not in sync enough with his parents' desires for him to do well? What part does the environment play for this same child to want to do well for his studies or when we come down to things at its rawest form, there is something lacking which is causing results that do not meet expectations?
The session really bring me many thoughts each time .. .not to mention the length of it. When i ended at around 5 plus, i realised my entire level was already bare, with the auntie staring me with seemingly grudging eyes as usual.
And then went down and found out that CCA was still on! Thus began another part of my work (sometimes wonder how much a teacher can do when he is faced with so many things and yet have to be at his best every single time -- are we humans?) Saw a bit of some scenes that i wasn't very happy with and decided to do something about it. Sometimes plain talking does not get the point across to the leaders.
Being a leader is more than just standing in front of the juniors and be just looking smart. It takes more than appearance and presentation skills to impress and impart knowledge. If there is no resolve and determination to complete tasks and responsibilities, then it would all come to naught at the end of the day.
Thus i have to try to do something.. sometimes u figure that success and failure does not seem any important at all when you have at least tried to do your part. But however it also means no senseless blind trying. It must be with purpose and meaning and it must be done with such resolve that the idea will go across.
Don't ask me how it can be done as i do not know how to impart such skills, but at the end of it all i guess sincerity and heart is very important and only with the former can then let us achieve what we have set out to do in the 1st place.
To conclude, some article in the papers argued that demand and support must be given in measured proportion; all demand and no support will give rebellious kids but whereas all support and no demand will spoil them.
Balance is the key.
13 September 2006
Meaning of Health!
OK la i think i still can run a little distance. Now that i am permanently taken off the hook for the national IPPT exams, doing exercise has sorta become something precious to myself.
Thanks to my slipped disc, i guess i grow to appreciate health more than ever.
Was tempted to join a friend in the Standard Chartered Marathon though i know i cannot. So shall be just contented to my 5km runs instead.
Do jio me for a run at school sometime ya? (but run very slow la... have to take care not to cause further injury mah) :p
Thanks to my slipped disc, i guess i grow to appreciate health more than ever.
Was tempted to join a friend in the Standard Chartered Marathon though i know i cannot. So shall be just contented to my 5km runs instead.
Do jio me for a run at school sometime ya? (but run very slow la... have to take care not to cause further injury mah) :p
12 September 2006
Terry Fox Run
Oh ya i was told to share more of my private life! Haha okie will be trying to go to the Terry Fox run this sunday morning with MQ and do our bit for charity, and maybe to taste the 9km sun and sand route too!
MQ says he has not been running and also not such a long distance and as for me, hope the back of mine can be accomodating enough :p
So now happy of personal life sharing?
Haha actually is no personal life so how to share? LOL
yaya i know... get a life! haha...
MQ says he has not been running and also not such a long distance and as for me, hope the back of mine can be accomodating enough :p
So now happy of personal life sharing?
Haha actually is no personal life so how to share? LOL
yaya i know... get a life! haha...
Love Our Unit
Today i asked the sec 3s if they dare to rate their own lesson plans, on giving effective instructions when it comes to teaching.
Nobody said a word.
Some part of me says "this is bad" when this kind of silence takes place. We learn obedience. We learn respect. But it also means that we lose creativity and the passion to excel.
That was something i wanted to inculcate in the people just now. There was an absence of passion, of that zeal to exceed and excel, of creating and in total control of a session of learning that would seemed out of the world in experience. Of joy and fun when learning takes place, of that desire to invent and discover.
Are we losing the touch of passion? Systems overly controlled?
We complain when the environment becomes too comfortable for growth and we gain much inertia when it comes to change. But sometimes it only takes that moment of resolve to overcome the odds.
They say a single spark can light up an entire plain, so awaiting is what i will do to see that new spark rise!
I am hopeful!
Nobody said a word.
Some part of me says "this is bad" when this kind of silence takes place. We learn obedience. We learn respect. But it also means that we lose creativity and the passion to excel.
That was something i wanted to inculcate in the people just now. There was an absence of passion, of that zeal to exceed and excel, of creating and in total control of a session of learning that would seemed out of the world in experience. Of joy and fun when learning takes place, of that desire to invent and discover.
Are we losing the touch of passion? Systems overly controlled?
We complain when the environment becomes too comfortable for growth and we gain much inertia when it comes to change. But sometimes it only takes that moment of resolve to overcome the odds.
They say a single spark can light up an entire plain, so awaiting is what i will do to see that new spark rise!
I am hopeful!
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