A Reality Check on Teacher

Today has marked the third week of my teaching as a student teacher. I imagined this day ever since I signed up for this course. I used to break into a sweat just thinking about having students staring at me while teaching. The course has gone very smoothly up till this point and I have come a long way in building confidence over the last 5 years. Yup, it was a very long journey!

For the past two weeks, I realized that it was not easy to be a teacher. Preparing the lesson plans for two classes was the greatest challenge given my time constraints of only having 24 hours per day to work with. Having to deal with students who were defended and closed off to learning made it even more difficult. 

For the past two weeks, I have seen my friends working very hard to prepare their lesson plans. I have seen them rushing here and there to get their notes and worksheets for the next lesson photocopied. All this made me wonder! If only the students could see all the efforts put in by their school teachers. If only the teachers room was made up of glass wall which allowed students to see what their teachers were doing for them. If only...

For the past two weeks, I have learnt that we only truly understand things when we have the opportunity to experience them ourselves. Therefore, some people might be right: A student can never understand the work of a teacher. 

All the best, teachers. 

A Loyalty Oath

We should thank the police to control the situation. They are someone's fathers, grandfathers, brothers, husbands who were willing to put their personal agenda aside and even risking their life for protecting, not only those who were joining the rallies, but also the nation as a whole. We have to bear in mind that, the rakyat was not only them, who were participating in the rallies. There were millions others who chose to stay home and showed their love and support for Malaysia in different ways, who were counting on the men-in-uniform, to ensure peace and safety in this country.

By all means, I do not want to blame them for joining the rallies. It's their right. It's their way of showing their beliefs. As a Malaysian, I also want the best for the country. I also want corruptions, nepotism,cronyism, and mismanagement of state’s fund to be eradicated. We blame the rich and the top guns for allowing this to happen. Many wish for the election to be fairer and more transparent but yet many fail to fulfill their responsibility to map out the country's future. If we want stability and safety and real prosperity, we want a strong, educated middle class. We need strong middle class that votes! Because if we don’t vote, then elections can be bought by the highest bidder. If we don’t vote, we won’t be represented in government. Whether or not this demonstration will result in a change of government, I just pray for the best. And I hope those 20, 000 people or maybe more, who came out today to join the rally will be the same person who will be lining up to cast their votes in the next election. And if this demonstration was really about making Malaysia a better place to live in, then I hope the very same people will stand up together singing the National Anthem and pledge their loyalty to the country, not just the party. :) 

The Day I Became a Teacher.

Today was my first official day as a practicum student in SMK Taman Desa, KL. Nothing much had been done today.

As soon as we arrived, we met the Senior Assistant Teacher, Miss Nur Elisa Tee, who talked to us for a while and later introduced us to the teachers and students during the assembly. 

After the assembly ended, we had our briefing with Miss Nur Elisa Tee, who I found very welcoming and approachable.  She shared a lot of things which were very relevant and useful to our development as teacher trainees. Then, we met Miss Michelle Liew, the Head of English Panel.  Just like Miss Tee, she was very nice and helpful. She told us that an effective teaching should be clear, inspiring and dynamic, with a balance between firmness and fun. She also reminded us to be careful not to get so friendly with the students or else, they will 'eat' us up (well, not literally)! I’ll remember that! In the afternoon, we attended my first teacher meeting. It was interesting. Yes, interesting. We were quite sleepy though. Hehe..

I was assigned to Form 4K2 and Form 4K5 English. Well, originally I was given Form 4K2 and Form 4K4. However, when I went to see Mr. Teh Wee Liang, the English teacher (who was also my super2 senior from Cohort 1) for Form 4K4 to find out what topics he had already taught, where we should pick up and other stuff related to the class, he was very surprised you know! He said, 'No, no...You can't teach this class. I'll go talk to Mrs. Lau'. Of course I was very curious and worried. He then explained to me that Form 4K4 was a problematic class. They were like the students of 3D Class in Gokusen or the students of Room 203 in the Freedom Writers. So, he said he won't let me take the class because he knew that the students would definitely 'attack' and 'challenge' me and there's no way that I could handle them. Sounds scary, right? 

The funny thing was, I wanted to say 'Please give me the class. Who knows I can be that teacher who can inspire them to change?''. HAHAHA..ya, I know what you would say about that. I sounded too ambitious and poyo! Haha..maybe I watched too many movies/series such as Gokusen, Great Teacher Onitsuka,  Freedom Writers, and many other and therefore I believed I would have ways to handle those students. 

But of course it did not happen. Like I said previously, I was given Form 4K2 and From 4K5 English class. Form 4K5 was the last class out of 7 classes. The level of proficiency was quite low, but discipline-wise, it was better than Form 4K4. That's what Mr. Teh told me. 

Anyway, I should be grateful for getting both classes. It was their destiny to be my first group of students and it was their future which I should be responsible to for the next couple of months. Through this practicum, I hope to gain firsthand experience with all the aspects that must come together in order to for me to be a great teacher for the next forty years. Insya-Allah :)

Friends don’t question, they ask.

You meet someone and become friends. As time passes by, you get closer and closer and eventually he/she becomes your best pal. Both of you spend time together doing things that you believe would strengthen the relationship. You tell him/her stories that you will not share with everyone else including your mum. You believe he/she will be your best friend forever. You announce to the world that he/she will be your Best Man/Made of Honor on your wedding day. And you live your days believing that you will never bring damage to the relationship. And you enjoy your life assuming that you will always be there for your best friend whenever and wherever he/she needs you.

Unfortunately, in any battle against the reality, human always lose. Living in the real world forces you to make sacrifices. You experience new journeys, you meet new people, you face new challenges and you also find new reasons to build a better future, for you. Your life has changed. Your circle of friends has changed. Your views and beliefs on life and relationships have also changed. 

You soon realize that your life is no longer a playground. The reality teaches you that life is no longer about you. It is about you and the world around you. You are not just your parents’ child or your siblings’ brother/sister anymore. And you could be the bestfriend to not one, but two, maybe more people around you. Whether you like it or not, you are committed to every individual around you. Now you have to live your days doing things that you believe would strengthen the relationships between you and those people. You need them. 

Also, you have to admit that you are not perfect. As much as you want to make people around you happy, you are still you. A human. A normal one. Without you realizing it, some of the choices you make today will lead to resentment towards you.  

They question your choices. They question your love. They question your commitment in the relationship. They keep on questioning but sadly, they can’t find the answers that they need to know because they never ask you. Then they decide to leave you.

You blame yourself for being ignorant. You also blame them for questioning your decisions. But you never ask them why are they doing that to you.  In the end, you choose to let them walk away from your world.

You are not the type of person who would want to ruin a relationship. Ironically, a relationship is destroyed because of you. You blame YOU and they blame YOU. Is it really because of YOU? 


How can you tell?

This is my story. This could be your story too. :)

P/S: Life happens and sometimes you just need to ask.

Which one do you believe in?

This particular entry is inspired by Le Love :-

 sources: weheartit

My view?  They are both true. In other words, distance strengthens strong relationships and weakens those that are not meant to be. :) 

Thank You

Dear readers, 

I love blogging because I love words. I love to document my life, my thought and my belief through words so I can remember my life in the years to come and so I can focus on being thankful. This may sound ambitious but I also hope that my readers will walk away from my ramblings renewed in their pursuit of happiness. :)

It’s no secret, that blogs would not be anything without the people who chose to read them.

(http://imwithjoe.com/)

Though this blog has only been in existence for more than 3 months, it will not be what it is today without all the great people who take the time to read and comment. It's nice to know that my thoughts may make someone smile, or laugh, or even say, 'I feel you'. It also makes me feel a little less 'lonely' knowing someone else can relate to what I've written. So, thanks for taking the time to go through the archives.  I really appreciate you stopping by. :)

Please End the Reign of Bullies

Uproar over violent school bullies (Read here)

I was disgusted and appalled by the behaviour of those bullies who were all girls. Seriously, what is wrong with them?

I am personally not happy with the whole 14-day suspension meted out on those mean girls. Suspended for 14 days and public apology are not enough. The harrowing experience is enough to cause whole life of damages to the poor girl. How are they going to compensate her for all that? Plus, knowing these kids, a suspension is probably like a holiday to them. 

The authority said the bullies are too young to go to jail. But mind you, this is a very serious crime! I strongly feel that they ought to be thrown into juvenile center until age of 18. I believe teenagers aged 13 are able to differentiate between bad behaviour and serious wrongdoing. So they are not 'too young' to me. They are 'big' enough to know that they are bullying their classmate. Even a 6 year-old kid knows he or she cannot slap, strangle and cut other people's hair without permission. 

What a disgraceful act! 

I hope the Ministry of Education and schools nationwide will come up with better guidelines on tackling school bullies from now on or else, they might go on to raise another generation of bullies!