Two Fridays ago we had our Speech Day. I had the easy task of being at the reception - all I had to do was to smile and receive the invited guests. My two beloved ex-students, Tiffany and Yanshan, came back without invitation and we had a good chat, although one of them had an ulterior motive (YS had a fund-raising card) - but I didn't mind because I really miss these diligent students who have done me proud by scoring A1s (In fact Science was Tiffany's only A1).
Last Wednesday we had the CT meeting, where the Cooperating Teachers discussed about our NIE trainees before we graded them. I had to leave halfway due to Earth Week matters, but according to my friend who stayed at the meeting throughout, I'd missed out all the exciting pyrotechnics. Apparently, some CTs were extremely unhappy with their trainees and fought vehemently against them. The trainee who's under me and two other colleagues was truly lucky - she was the only one who received positive feedback from all three CTs and didn't get any complaints at all. I didn't think the other trainees were that bad actually - they're TRAINEES after all and we can't really expect them to be as proficient as full-fledged teachers? As long as the trainee is humble and willing to learn, and is able to accept constructive comments and constantly improves him/herself, I feel that is sufficient.
Last Friday May and JJ conducted a sharing on dataloggers with a few other cluster schools and our whole Science department went there to support. When the event ended, ten of us adjourned to Eighteen Chefs to drink and chat. Being Science teachers, the only common topic that bound us together was probably work, but luckily we had Bash, who acted as our "work alarm". Whenever we veered anywhere near work matters, he would sound the alarm and we'd steer away immediately to some other topics. Thought it was a preciously rare occasion that everyone got together and chilled out outside school. Ironically all of us don't even get to see much of each other in the office as we're so busy with our own work.
Celebrated Dad's birthday at Crystal Jade yesterday. Then went for orchestral practice. Was made to take the seat of the principal first violinist as my teacher was absent. Pretty much embarrassed myself as I played really badly. The tone was horrible and I couldn't keep up with the orchestra. Didn't look at the scores beforehand, and my sightreading was painfully slow and full of errors. The young boy who sat beside me played much better. Bah.
Got home, and received an MSN message from Collin. This guy has found me through Friendster and has earlier invited me to join a fusion band that he'd formed. His group already consists of players of erhu, violin, cello, trombone, saxophone, etc and he wants me to be the zhongruan player. He was full of ambitions and said that gigs, concerts and even CD albums will be coming along. Thought the idea of a fusion band is quite interesting but I told him I wouldn't be able to commit and attend all practices even if I join. Seriously I'm already so busy with schoolwork and violin, and I didn't even go back to BHCO when they asked me recently - should I join this unknown band with an unknown future?
Earth Week
Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 07:01 p.m. #1488
To celebrate Earth Day (22 April), I've organised an Earth Week in my school. For the past three days, my EC members manned a few game booths at the foyer after school so that the school population could learn more about recycling while they enjoyed themselves through some simple games. The game-sets and giant banners were loaned from NEA, and I thought they were excellently-crafted educational tools to raise environmental awareness in an informal and memorable manner.
There was Tumble Blocks, where students drew chips to decide which blocks to draw out from a stack of pictured blocks (similar to Jenga) and then categorise those drawn blocks under "recyclable" or "non-recyclable" based on the pictures of various materials found on them. This was the most popular game as it could involve the most number of participants, and students somehow loved to hear the noises that the blocks make when they tumble. (Yep, those blocks are quite heavy and they tumble with a loud bang - or rather, a series of very loud bangs.)
There was Puzzle Whiz, where students complete a traditional jigsaw puzzle with a picture of recyclable bottles. Quite popular too - I guess everyone knows how to piece a puzzle and students love to play games that don't require reading complicated game rules. Some students played this puzzle over and over again to challenge their old timings.
There was also Smart Match, where students grouped pictured tiles under various categories like Metals, Plastics, Glass, Paper and Non-Recyclables. And there's Recycling Wheel, where students attempt to put the tiles which describe various recycling processes of different materials (like glass, paper, plastic and metal) in the correct order. Fantasy Fishing was another simple game for students to fish out various materials from a basin of water using a fishing rod.
Usually at the beginning of the event every day, most students wouldn't even come near our game booths, but once a few brave souls started to crowd over, the crowd grew at an exponential rate. Luckily I had my EC leaders to take charge of crowd control and discipline.
Admittedly, not everyone was interested in playing those games, but I was already quite gratified by the large crowds during the peak periods - I even spotted a few familiar faces who came back to play the same games for all the three days - and I'd like to think that those who played those games had learnt something meaningful. We gave souvenirs to all participants - transparent handmade hearts folded from straws, each with a handphone accessory loop - which my EC members had spent weeks in the making (I got the handphone accessory loops in Chinatown at a bargain price).
Initially I thought the games would be too childish for secondary school students. Surprisingly the upper secondary students were the most enthusiastic participants. Some of them enjoyed themselves so much that they joined my EC members to facilitate the games. Many of the lower secondary students were too shy to approach the booths - probably intimidated by those hordes of upper secondary students?
In general, the whole event was tiring but definitely worthwhile. I thought my EC members really rose to the occasion in facilitating the games - some of them were only in secondary one and they had to manage the upper secondary students! Shall give them a nice little treat when the exams are over. =)
One ironic incident though, which I didn't know whether to laugh to cry - one senior teacher actually came to me in the middle of the event and said, "Wow, this is quite impressive. But it's a one-man show, ya? You know, you should involve more teachers in this. You know, there's this school report which we have to compile every year about staff involvement in environment-related matters..."
The fact is, I had sent out a mass email earlier this year, politely asking for teachers to support the event - I'd even gave a few suggestions of how they could have integrated the event in their daily teaching so that they didn't need to do too much extra work. None responded to the call - NONE, except for one teacher (I was really grateful). So how should I have responded to that comment? Should I ask whether that senior teacher has read my email, and why she didn't respond? Anyway I just smiled and got on with my duties then. Hope that was politically correct enough. =)
The Whirlpool
Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 01:03 p.m. #1487
It's one thing to know that office politics exists but it's another when you hear about yourself in some malicious speculations when you don't even intend to compete with these people. Apparently, my promotion and assignments have made a few people rather unhappy (unhappy - yep, that's a very mild word to use) and they're trying to bring me down somehow. Not that I didn't expect this, but I didn't think that the things that I did could be interpreted as being so manipulative and purposeful. People who know me well will know that I'm not exactly a very 'sociable' person, but I can get along very well with people whom I work with in order to get work done in the most efficient manner. But there're people who feel that my positivity and friendliness (again, people who know me personally will know that I'm not an extremely 'positive' person either) equate to me being ambitious and trying to 'score points'.
For the past few years I have been ignoring all the office politics around me and keeping a low profile, and I think I have been very happy - and probably lucky that I'd survived all the backstabs. But today my colleague warned me about some of these gossip-mongers, and told me that my 'status' is different now, and I should be more wary.
Seriously I'm not interested in climbing the ladder - I will gladly accept whatever reward or recognition that comes along but I will not intentionally go after them. Not that I am not ambitious, but I enjoy what I'm doing now and I think I'm successful and happy in my own little way. Must all of us be at the top of the ladder or earning loads of money in order to be happy or successful? 5-6k is already enough for me right now even when I'm the main breadwinner of the house of four - maybe it won't be enough when I start a new family (but that's provided I AM going to start a new family in the first place). Then again is 5k worth killing my braincells trying to be a good teacher (which already encompasses such a wide jobscope) and thinking about what others are thinking? Or would I be happier in a 1k job, sticking stamps on envelopes (if such a job exists)?
For now I shall try to ignore the mess around me and concentrate on my work... Another major project next week - Earth Week! Hope it goes well. =)
Vamonos
Sunday, April 13, 2008, 05:41 p.m. #1486
The third season of "Prison Break" felt forced and constipated even when it has only 13 episodes (due to the Writers' Strike - thankfully). Some episodes have been exhilarating, but the formula is getting quite old and predictable - whoever gets out of prison will try to save those who're in, and then they take turns to go in and out of prison and save each other? The new characters fall flat for being rather one-dimensional too.
Are there any "third seasons" that are actually NICE?
The Queen
Saturday, April 12, 2008, 09:40 a.m. #1485
The true star of Idol Gives Back 2008 was Annie Lennox. Her "Many Rivers to Cross" was... phenomenal.
Still puts tears in my eyes when I'm replaying it for the gazillionth time. THIS is singing.
The Chilli Splatter
Saturday, April 12, 2008, 07:53 a.m. #1484
The most interesting story that happened recently must have been the Chilli Incident. A boy threw a pack of chilli sauce up at the ceiling fan last week. The pack burst and splattered all over the walls, whiteboard, laptop, teacher, students, etc. I didn't witness the incident myself but according to the accounts of teachers and students, I can easily imagine the (literally) bloody mess and chaos. The culprit didn't own up until a few usual suspects were rounded up for investigation and he realised there's no point getting the others into trouble.
To satisfy his desire for exhilaration on the spur of the moment, the boy brought down so many other people along with him - the subject teacher who was in class at that time, the form teacher, the class's reputation... I suppose the boy didn't mean to be malicious, but sometimes young kids just can't foresee the consequences and severity of their playful acts.
The Painters
Saturday, April 5, 2008, 08:08 a.m. #1483
Despite the very busy week (exam paper deadline, presentation to primary school teachers, NLB collaboration, etc), the experience which became the most memorable for me, was that of leading my class of Normal (Technical) students in decorating one of the Boys' toilets. They came up with draft designs for the first week, then the teachers chose the best design and the students went on to paint the toilet according to that design for the following two weeks.
It's a simple theme, but I thought the great attitude and effort which the students displayed were very commendable. This class has been giving a lot of trouble to many subject teachers, but in those three weeks, the kids were so focused and determined in their work - even the usual trouble-makers were exceptionally obedient when I gave the orders. They also displayed a great sense of responsibility in their work, picking up every little piece of litter and scrubbing off every tiny bit of paint on the floor after every session. There's one girl who plays truant and is perpetually sleepy - she's unusually awake throughout the painting and volunteered to do all the final cleaning-up when most people were already dead tired.
Regrettably, over the first week of painting, their work got vandalised by some other students who splashed water on the doors and tried to erase the paint. For the first time, these Technical kids were actually so vehemently against vandalism! (These are the same kids who used to enjoy scribbling and carving words mindlessly on their tables when nobody's looking!) I guess this was a great lesson learnt for them. Anyway, the vandalised portions were fixed in later painting sessions, and it was evident from their tired faces that the kids felt a great sense of ownership and accomplishment with their work. They were smiling throughout the process, and those were not smiles of mischief, but smiles of pride and joy.
