It was a busy Tuesday. I had to cramp everything to Tuesday as I have courses to attend on other days. Attended the Read! Singapore workshop yesterday and I have Cooperative-Learning workshop to attend on Wednesday and Thursday. There goes my March holiday.

Woke up with a bad sore throat in the morning. The sore throat was aggravated during the remedial with 2E1 where the students presented their oral presentations. During the remedial, I was so angry with the irresponsible Naufal and the paranoid Brandon.

Naufal was supposed to complete the cheer lyrics and emailed it to me by last Friday. He did not do that and despite sms reminders, he did not reply. Then on Tuesday, when the students were supposed to turn up at 8am, Naufal only turned up at 8.35 am.

When I questioned him about all these, he wasn't even apologetic about that. Then his oral presentation was so badly done given the fact that he is in ELDDS and by right, he should be able to speak better than the rest. In fact, his marks was one of the lowest after deducting 3 marks for late coming.

After the oral presentation, when he was given time to demonstrate the cheer, he did not even know the tune at all, nor did he complete the last part of the cheer. How could that be possible when he's in the lyrics committee? He had the cheek to say that Jason did most of the cheer and he did not know the tune at all. He did not even bother to learn the tune from Jason. Goodness, I had to scold him for being so irresponsible. Because of his nonchalant attitude, the action committee couldn't work on the actions for the cheer as planned after oral presentation.

And when I punished him, he had the cheek to tell Basyar that he was fed up with me. What right does he have to be fed up? Imagine the frustration that other people student feel when the progress of the planning was interrupted by him. Look who should be the one who has the right to be fed up?

Another tactless person was Brandon. Before that, I was really furious with Brandon. We were discussing about the class jerseys and that we needed someone to go to Queensway to Riyaas's uncle's shop so that we can place our order for the jerseys. When no one volunteered, Brandon answered in his annoyed tone and said to me, "Why can't you go on your own?"

Oh man, I swore that question lighted the pent-up frustration in me. I had to pay for the $300 deposit first and yet, he expected me to go to Queensway on my own? Bloody hell, I'm not obliged to do all these even though I'm the form teacher. Who in the world would ask the Form Teacher to go to Queensway and place the order when it was the students' idea to have a class jersey?

Frankly, I've gone beyond what I need to do as a Form-teacher. I called for a class committee meeting to discuss about the cheer and I tried to gear the class towards the preparation for the cheer competition. I gave them time to express their suggestions and discussed with the class during curriculum. Honestly, I do not need to get myself involved in all these and yet got such a tactless question from him.

Even Riyaas could tell me that I've done so much for the class already. Students in other classes have to discuss everything on their own and settle everything on their own. When I tried to settle some issues for my own form class, I'm expected to settle everything for them. Do I need to then also go up to the stage and do the cheer for them? Isn't it ridiculous!!

Back to Tuesday when we did our oral presentation in our old classroom, Brandon was still sore about the fact that we have to swop class with 1E1 as there's a girl who has injured her leg. Yes, we did experience some inconvenience, but we have to be more understanding and considerate towards the injured. Getting angry and sore wouldn't solve the problem nor aid in the healing of her leg. Just because of that, he refused to sweep the floor when he was told to do and only did it half-heartedly, or rather quarter-heartedly.

When Naufal was struggling with the singing of the lyrics, Brandon was questioning why we had to subject ourselves to all nonsense, might as well withdraw from the competition. What kind of attitude is that? I'm really pissed and I had to send him out of the class before I flared at him.



End of Part One...



By the time I was done with the discussion of the cheer, I only had half an hour to go before I met the Speech Day MC for their practices. I quickly looked for Tan Huong and got a copy of the latest script and made five copies of it. In between that, I had to settle the 4T1's CR, SW and EL files for Grace to check. Thank God Basyar was there to serve his 45 minutes to get back his cube. He helped me to check the files.

Goodness, even though most of the files were handed in, only half of them made the mark. Some of them had certain worksheets missing and some did not update the content page and the target setting form properly. Going to get them for it when school reopens. I still had some recalcitrant students who refused to hand in their CR and SW and they can flew into a rage when I had to rush them to hand in those books, telling me that it was impossible for them to hand in everything within such a short time. For goodness' sake, if all these work were completed according to schedule, it is not an impossible task to hand them in.

A good example would be Stanley. I reminded him to hand in CR every time. For ten weeks, he had not completed a single article and yet, with determination to complete everything, he could finish everything within three days. What is an impossible task now? Not that I'm encouraging students not to do their CR until the eleventh hour, but what I'm trying to imply is that Nothing can stop a determined person to be on task.

If only Boon Kiat can have half of his determination. In terms of language ability, both Stanley and Boon Kiat are on par. Even when comparing their slack attitude, they were on par too, but what's lacking from Book Kiat is probably the determination to do well. I had no idea what's stopping this boy from completing his work. Everyday, he would promise me the sky, the moon and the stars, and every time, all I got was just a whole load of excuses and more promises and more cursing from him. Weird Boy. God, he desperately needs your guidance.

Anyway, with Basyar helping to check those files, I could pack my table. Goodness, when I went back in the morning, Staff room 1 was practically empty, except for Aida's and Hong's table, the rest of them have already shifted to the new staff room, even the tables were shifted to the Humanities Room. Can you imagine the immense pressure to just pack everything and shift? Otherwise, I will be on course for the next few days and would not have the time to move.

Grace was quite nice. Knowing that I was on course on Monday, she asked if I needed help to shift my stuff. Although I appreciated her kind gesture, I really don't know where to start if I was not there.

Soon, it was time to see the MCs. While they were looking through the script, I quickly dumped all the things that I didn't need. In a way, there would be fewer things to move.

Anyway, we had a new MC who joined us for practice today. Apparently, what was conveyed to me by him was that he was highly recommended by Mrs Tan to be the MC for Speech Day after she had viewed his presentation during some Science event. It was a last minute request for him to present during the Science event and apparently, Mrs Tan was so impressed with his performance.

Then I was wondering, if he was so fantastic, how come Purana did not nominate him for the audition? He commented that perhaps Miss Purana didn't know that he can speak so well. Ewww.

He wasn't that fantastic after all in my opinion. When he was reading the script, Jagan and Leonard were trying to contain their emotions. Before he left, he apologised for his low standard performance, saying that he could have done better than this.

Are we in desperate need for a male MC? I think Isaac can definitely do much better than him anytime. Moreover, Isaac has the charisma and presence to be an MC. Well well, I guess beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, no no, in this case, presentation lies in the ears of the beholder.



End of Part Two...



Wait, did I mention that Xiu Qi's phone was confiscated by the evil teacher? In the midst of my MC training, he looked for me in the staff room and said that his grandmother wanted to speak to me. I did not make any appointment to see his grandmother and I don't think it's fair to leave halfway through the training and keep the MCs waiting to see his grandmother. It's definitely going to take long.

I still remember the previous incident where his game cards were confiscated. He actually asked his father to take back the cards from me the next day. I was dumb enough to have relented, and he's using the same method again. I blatantly told him that if his grandmother was to see me regarding the confiscated handphone, he can ask his grandmother to go back first. I don't think there's any room for discussion. Moreover, with the implementation of the new rule and his parents had endorsed the rule by signing on the form, and he was using the handphone in the class before the remedial, I don't think I can give in on that.

Most importantly, I don't want him to form the bad habit of getting his family members to speak up for him once things go wrong. He needs to learn to be responsible for his own actions and accepts and faces up to the consequences for his wrongdoings on his own.

I still remember there was another girl who was obviously in the wrong for being rude to Patsy, Ms Gopal and Mr Kong, and yet she demanded that her mother came down to school to speak up for her. When her mother refused to do so, she threatened her mother that she would not go to school again if she's not coming down. Gosh, what is the world coming to? I think our school would be glad to do without her if she had to threaten her mother like that. A normal student would probably be too embarrassed to inform the parents if they were so rude, let alone threatens their parents like that.



Really end of Part Two...



After that, Riyaas and Leonard helped me to shift the things to the new staff room. It was really helpful of them, and Riyaas was really strong. Halfway through the shifting, he managed to borrow a trolley from Othman. Although the trolley was useful and we could put a lot of things on the trolley and just pushed, it was no mean feat to carry the trolley from the first storey to the second storey.

After fifty minutes of shifting, I had to go for the 4E/5N oral exam in the hall. Saw Naufal on my way up after he went home to bring his Geography worksheet for Candice. Didn't have time to talk to him and hurriedly went for the oral after the boys helped me to carry the box of English files, CR and SW to the HOD room and put it at Grace's cubicle. Felt bad that I could not hand in the complete set to her, and Grace was really understanding about it, but it made me feel worst.

Oral was fine, was surprised to see Youzhi as the first candidate. It's always pressurising to be the first person for oral. I used to hate it last time. Because of my surname, I was always the first for oral or the exam sitting arrangement. Anyway, he didn't do too badly.

Yuxiang was fantastic. He could talk about the picture and covered all the required points without any prompts at all. Anyway, his hair was too too long. Told him he needed a haircut before the term starts.

Jagan was busy talking when it was not his turn to speak. He was supposed to the fifth candidate I think, in the end, he became the seventh because he just couldn't stop talking. Syamsul came back from his IT workshop and took over the oral from after lamenting that he hadn't taken his lunch when I hadn't even taken my breakfast.

I quickly went back to the old staff room and continued with my packing. One hour to go before meeting the new Exco to discuss about the Councillors Investiture. The boys had really made a lot of trips to and fro the old and new staff room.

Thank God for these three boys, Riyaas, Leonard and Naufal. If not, I couldn't imagine carrying all these things all by myself, and I did not want to trouble the school attendants. They are so old already and I'm sure they had carried a lot of things already. I don't want to add on to their body aches. Was thinking of treating the boys to McDonalds, but looking at the huge amount of things that they had moved, I decided to upgrade the treat to Pizza Hut.

They were grumbling that this is the first time in their lives that they have carried so many things, and all those things were so heavy. Poor boys, the evil teacher really appreciate your help. Without your help, I don't think I can accomplish the near-impossible task.

While I was away for my EXCO meeting, those three boys went on to help Ms Tham and Candice. Wonderful boys! Does that warrant a good deed card? Haha



End of Part Three...



Met the new exco at the canteen for the meeting. By then, I was deadbeat. I was perspiring and had to trouble Hu Han to switch on the fans in the canteen. Took him some time to figure out the switch for the right fans since there were so many switches for the so many fans.

Yes, Hu Han is in the Exco. In fact, he was the only Sec two councillor amidst the whole group of Sec three councillors. We had two Sec two councillors last year, but we only had one this year. I guess this year of Sec 3s is a better cohort with more suitable candidates. I was expecting Isaac to be selected as he is a better candidate if we are talking about all-rounded performance. Anyway, like what was conveyed to the Sec 2 councillors, they still have one more chance next year. If nothing goes wrong, he should be able to be selected for the next Exco.

Somehow, I had a bad omen. I hope Hu Han wouldn't get complacent after he is selected for Exco. I wouldn't want the incident that happened to the previous Head of Operations to happen to him. Let's just hope he will be stay humble and competent throughout the whole period of being in the EXCO. Otherwise, he might be replaced during the next selection. Most importantly, or rather, what I am most concerned about is that will he be able to live up to the expectations that we will have of him, and is he able to manage his studies and his CCA on top of his commitment as the EXCO?

They were already in the midst of the meeting. Susan was there with them earlier, or rather I was twenty minutes late. Susan was really systematic and on task all the time. She has already planned out the tasks that needed to be completed and we merely assigned the tasks and fine-tuned the discussion.

There were so many things that the exco needed to do, and this year, we really assigned all the tasks to the exco to do. What surprised me was that the exco wasn't that overwhelmed by the tasks that they needed to do, instead they were so excited about being an exco and the investiture. Wow amazing, is that exhibiting a positive attitude? Wait till the stress and the scolding come in, let's see if they will still be excited. Haha. *Evil grin*



End of Part Four...



Finally all the things were settled, not exactly, had to settle some stuff for my CCA. Met Siraj and chatted for a while. He brought the new cadets to buy their new NCC uniforms. After that, it was my turn to settle some of the admin for my CCA. I have a course to attend on Thursday and hence, I couldn't bring the members for the iSpace visit @ Science Centre. Thus, I felt obliged to settle all the admin matters for Sharon first. Booked the bus for the visit, settled the consent forms and the details for the summary outing forms, did the RAM assessment and the lightning warning alert forms. Viola.

Chatted for a while with Tan Huong. Initially, we thought it was a happy occasion that we get to shift to the new staff room after three months of squatting at the other island, but it turned out that we got to see or rather hear about the ugly sides of some colleagues. Does it really matter where we are seated since we are like one big family? Does it really matter whose table is bigger and whose is not? Why must such selfishness or unpleasant mentality affect the mood of shifting to a new house aka a new and bigger staff room? Different frequency I guess, or rather different mentality.

While I was settling those admin matters, our boys still had the energy to play badminton with Raseena. Aren't they tired from all those labourious work? That's the benefit of being young. You have a whole lot of energy to exhaust. Evil teacher is probably too old to carry the badminton racket, let alone pick up the shuttlecock. Haha



End of Part Five finally...



I quickly went back to the staff room. Saw the boys disturbing Candice and bombarding her with lots of questions, with the aim of finding out who Sam was! I didn't know that boys can be so nosey too. Haha.

I looked at my messy table and fathom that I need to come back to school again on Friday to clear up the mess even though I'm most unwillingly to do that. I can't possibly start the term with a messy table where I couldn't even see the table top. Everything was just chucked there during the efficient move. I couldn't bear to take a second look at the table and it's "Boys, let's go to Pizza hut now!"

On the way to Pizza Hut, the boys grumbled about having to cross the overhead bridge when that route was supposed to be shorter, and yet they had to use up more energy to cross the bridge when they did not plan to do so earlier.

Anyway, once we were there, we were like four hungry ghosts. We had our breakfast, lunch cum dinner at Pizza Hut. We ordered the set for four-four glasses of Pepsi, four soup-of-the-day, two regular pizzas, garlic bread and an ocean platter. That was our first meal of the day at 5.50 pm.

Somehow, I enjoy bringing kids out for a meal, not that I have a lot of money to spare like what Papa would say, but it's through such informal session that I get to understand the kids better. We don't get to chat like this in school, and when we chat over dinner, the kids are more at ease to share, not gossips, but more of their views and opinions about certain matters. It is also at this time that we get to correct wrong mentality or thinking and that they will be more receptive to changes. Don't underestimate the power of eating. Haha. It's more than just a simple act of eating. It's an art of knowing the kids better.

Haha, as I was typing this, I still remember what Shaoxuan said when I brought them out for a meal at Swensons. He commented that I can be so generous now because I don't have a boyfriend yet and I don't need to spend so much. I beg to differ. Even when I have a boyfriend next time, I don't think I would sting on such treats just to save the money. If it's for a good cause, I would still do it because it's money well-spent.

Anyway, glad that the day is finally over. I was amazed how I can squeeze so many things in one day, but I'm really exhausted at the end of the day. My throat is getting worst. Time to drink more honey water.

1 Comments:

Soar throat gives lot of pain, you cant speak properly and can ruin your day, if you have to give presentations.Its better to keep little honey with you , it gives instant relief.

By  Anonymous, at 3/16/2008 3:26 am  

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