Woke up to a perfect morning.
Whoosh 21st Jan, today's actually the first day of the year I've got some time to myself (well you can see the previous post was more than 2 weeks ago) and I must say 2009 started off really well yea.
ok yes today's 21st jan, wednesday, my blog's clock is screwed and i dont know how to change it.
Disclaimer:
The following is merely a recount of a relief-teaching stint and is no way meant to be derogatory, poignant or critical. Any unhappiness or displeasure caused is unintentional and is severely regretted for.
BACK TO SCHOOL.
Yes, how boring that could sound to any mediocre singaporean student, lugging schoolbags that weigh a ton, wearing zombie-expressions and worst of all, their motivation to go to school is to go home aft school ends. Hahaa
Eh but I was a student no more. There was no longer a need to don that same uniform day-in day-out, but instead wear comfortable work attire with shiny leather shoes.
It came to me.
I was no longer a face in the class, I was the one the class faces.
A 2-week stint to stand in for a teacher on maternity leave, culminated in one memorable experience that i'll not forget.
Hmmm it wasn't for the money, nor was it to kill-time, i really wanted the experience.
2 weeks wasn a long time, neither was it too short. Whatever it was, i knew within me, I was gonna do my best at this and see what I can get.
Took classes from Sec 1 to 4, seven and half classes. Hahaa that's like 200+ students and effectively, one in every 6 students had to know who Mr. Say was. o_O
*and in my greatest embarrassment, i didn recognise some pupils when they greeted me. ooops. haha. 2 weeks isn long enough ok, imagine having to rmb 200+ names*
Four Sec 2 Express classes, Half a Sec 3 Normal class, Two Sec 4 Normal class, One Sec 1 Normal Tech class.
Each class presented their own challenge and frankly it was all these challenges that really taught me new things.
And mind you, relief teaching isn like what is so commonly perceived, get into a class, give work, and just sit down and heck about the class. I had a real teaching load. Doing what a real teacher does.
Hmmm this is when the contract lasts for a few weeks or months yea. But for ad hoc relief teachers, that come on a day-by-day basis, the experience is like what is aforementioned. When it's like this, it becomes so much more meaningless...
Hmm i guess teaching in a secondary school isn like how teachers in JC conduct lessons yea, just enter the class and start on the tutorials right away, and maybe just chide some of those who don't do their work. Probably 90% content, 10% classroom management.
In secondary school, i guess it changes to a much larger extent! Maybe 65% content, 35% classroom management.
In JC, students are independent learners, and they'd (have to) appreciate what the teacher is going through. Those who don't care will just screw up and down they'd go. But in Sec Sch, try to put your hands off at any one moment and in a while, you'd realise, all your efforts to teach are gone to waste. Haaha (well at least in an average school like my sec sch)
12 years of education can't make me go wrong in one observation.
Sometimes, i just wished my teachers gave me more motivation, besides plainly rambling through all the content. Not to say that all of them weren inspirational enough, but i can safely say there wasn enough, i mean, take a good look at all teachers and you'd see why. This was especially so in JC, where the workload nary gave teachers sufficient energy left to inspire the students.
So, I was determined. 2 weeks wouldn have allowed me to teach much content, but if there was one thing i was gonna be able to change, that'd be their outlooks, perceptions and inspiration...
Planned the lessons, made notes and worksheets for them. I guess teaching wasn that difficult. Learnt long ago to classify, organise and present info in a way that could facilitate maximal understanding, and i guess this skill that i picked up while trying to study effectively helped me teach clearly now hmmm. Well of cos this comes after having to fully grasp the topics to be taught. They were all really simple stuff, like Sec 2E was diffusion and osmosis. Haha sure it is simple, but it's such a fundamental scientific concept that students must understand flawlessly.
OK so here came the challenging part, managing the class and whacking sense into the students.
Oh well, i dont know whether what i did actually helped cos there isn't really a yardstick to measure these things isn it.
What i'd say when,
>> i enter the class (on some occasions):
"Class, you can hear that my voice isn really good today, so if you dont want to miss out on any of the important things i'm gonna tell you today, keep quiet. If you miss anything, you don't learn, and ultimately, you wont master this topic well and you'd screw up ur exam. And of cos it's YOUR exam, not mine. SO you choose whether you wanna listen well alright?"
>> some clowns are making too much noise in a sec 2 class:
"Boys there, i'm giving you one warning, you better shut your mouths and face the front if not you won't like what's gonna happen"
2nd time,
"You again, this is your last warning"
3rd time
*just be prejudiced against those recurrent noise-makers and shoot em randomly*
they'd be feeling mistreated and unjustified and for one more time when they talk:
"Guys you know, i seriously have nothing against you, but i have a BLOODY PROBLEM with your IMMATURITY. How much longer do you want to live in such silly childishness, make noise and interrupt everyone?! Until you're sec 4?! For the rest of your life?!"
Hahha. Of cos they were angry with me at some point of time for shooting them but, aft saying this, they'd just have this overflowing conscience soaking them all over. And the rest of the lesson becomes more pleasurable to teach.
Some of them respond really well, like this guy who become so much more angelic for the subsequent lessons after i told em this.
Good signs were that those sec 2s still greet me with a smile. Coool.
For the sec 4s, theyre at this stage where theyre old enough to think and make choices for themselves. For the first lessons I mapped out this whole education route map that they could take. Being normal students, many would go to ITE and end up at work real soon. So i told them just how short are they away from making some of the most important choices in their life, which are those qn.s that stumble upon them when they start work. So they've gotta start thinking now. And whether they'd wanna regret after getting their N level results. Hmmf.
Oh yes yes, i also tried drilling into them how important it was to make full use of their youth to enrich themselves and not waste their life away with their PSPs, DOTA or lame-ass jokes. Well, having little confidence in their studies, many of them did listened up, but seemed like they were still hopeless and didn give a shit. Oh well.
Ok there were other experiences too.
Oh yea i sent out almost one-third of a Sec 2 class for not doing their homework. Forced them to sit on the ground. And of cos, they didn like it cos the school bottom was white. Hahaa
And for one of the 4N classes, i finished teaching things, they finished their work and they were playing PSP. i went up to them and said this, "Guys, first of all i am going to ask you to stop playing. 2ndly, i know you are not going to stop and i'm going to have to come back to stop you guys many times. So, do whatever you want, i have warned you, but if any teacher comes by and confiscates it, you face the consequence." And guess what, the principal walked by 15 minutes later, they got caught and PSPs confiscated. Hahaha
There were soooooooo many interesting experiences i wont be able to finish saying them here. Haaha.
2 weeks flew really fast. Some students even forgot that i was just a relief-teacher. Some of them didn want the teacher who was on maternity leave back. Some wished i stayed longer. And i just tell them "you think i want to teach you all? No one likes teaching noisy classes." hahaha. Well frankly, if i had the chance i dont mind continuing up till before NS.
Yea so that's pretty much the experience i had, a satisfying and enriching one.
Oh yes i was really fortunate to have met some super nice 'colleagues' too. Haha. Best of all was the guy who set beside me, Prathap.
He teaches bio too and helped me plan the lessons a little. But more importantly, he gave me lotsa insights to going to uni and stuff. Also mentioned about how my life in NDU was going to be, as he was in the navy back then. He said "you'll do the same things as commandoes but even more, but at the end of the day, be less recognised than them" Hmmm ok fine, i dont mind.
Prathap told me how much the uni campus will have an effect on your uni life. He was from NUS and told me that it's a place where you can't really feel for the place, everyone are just listless souls in this whole facility. He said that for e.g NUS and NTU students, even though they are able to study get results and all, many of em are just really childish and superficial, spending time clubbing, gossiping about the next hot chick/dude, or things like that. They don't really ask themselves what do they want to achieve and all.
Oh well, and he juxtaposed it to SIM. SIM's an open uni, working adults take their courses and all, but of course they admit JC, poly and other students too. He said the environment there is much more focused, much more conducive to study because everyone really wants to learn.
And also reminded me, that after all it isn the degree that's most important for your career, but how you fit your personality to a career. Hmmm, insightful, insightful.
AND he asked me to consider being a teacher cos i'd make a decent one. LOL riiiiight
My co-form teacher was the HOD of chinese. And it was the same HOD when i was still a student. Man, she really has quite some experience. Once she starts yakking, she can't stop. But her stories are really interesting tho (all in chinese). Took some pains for me to reply in proper chinese (which i think was still not grammatically correct). Hahhaa
But i must say she's a really good disciplinarian. Really good. Hmm, she rejected promotion to VP if not for her english. Mmm yeaa.
And HOD of science and my ex OC for NPCC, Mr Chan. Thanks for everything man. And no thanks for telling the sec 4s my blog address. Hahaha
Now, let me unveil, my *ahem* work space!
GOSH. Paper sticked all outside the cupboards. Stacks and stacks everywhere, files everywhere. Boxes of paper overflowing out from the table. Even look at beneath the table, boxes and files there! Woots. I got no leg room at all thank you. Only things that are mine is the pencil case, the file beneath it. and my water bottle. I put my worksheets on the table behind.
It's not economy class, it's like budget, or worst lol.
Chan told me that the table was even packed before the teacher left. Hahah now now now, interesting.
Alright so 2 weeks was over, i was supposed to be free. But on monday morning, my co-form teacher called me at 6.20am asking me to go down cos this teacher was on MC. Wooo. Ironed clothes and chionged down. Lucky school starts at 7.45am (yes, i'm not joking, are you jealous now. haha) Eh it's bad for the heart and soul you know, i was planning to blaze the roads and hit the hills, aka. run. Haha but there i was sitting infront of that table on a monday mrng, preparing for lessons for the day, which i had no initial plan at all.
Man that's why i was saying, it gets meaningless for ad hoc relief. You dont really get anywhere. Hmmm
And guess what, on tuesday morning, i was called again. This time at 6am. Hahaa, the same teacher i stood in for the whole 2 weeks, on a one-day MC again.
Today, i'm free and imma go paddle later :D Got some serious business with the juniors.
Who knows i might get the call tomorrow, or the day after? Hahaa
So that's very much the experience, hope this looong post didn bore you.
I've still yet to post on many things, gosh. Perth, New year gatherings, etc
in the meanwhile,
Hope everyone's doing fine (:
Happy CNY!
