Thursday, January 17, 2008
Ms Loh Feels Liberated!!!
Yeah, i noe NIE does a great job in preventing me frm blogging at regular intervals, but for now, there's a few reasons which makes me feel LIBERATED!!!
1) MY QED523 GROUP PRESENTATION IS OVER!!!
Yup, that's the grp proj where we hav to facilitate a class discussion for AN HOUR!!! First time doin such a proj apart frm the usual presentation ones. But it din turn out tat bad, cuz afterall, de facilitators are not the ones who do most of the talking, active participation shd come from the participants. The social issue we chose was on primary sch streaming - the hoohaa of EM1, 2, 3. At the end of the day, i still feel that i agree wif streaming, mainly cuz it helps in the long term to fill the rice bowls of academically-less-inclined students. Even though the problem of "branding" or "labelling" will surface, i feel that they shd take tis oppotunity to cope wif it and be exposed to it frm a young age. It's a cruel world, we cant escape frm labelling in Singapore since ranking, which inevitably gives room for labelling, is done so often, such that we always hav the mentality to be number 1. Even without EM1, 2, 3 and ranking of schools, the labelling of "academically-good schools" and "neighbourhood schools" inevitably still exist. So, one should learn to cope wif it since it's likely to be here to stay. If dealt with positively and properly, the academically-less-inclined students not only will find themselves not dropping out of school so easily but having their rice bowls filled, they'll also learn to deal with their social labelling in life. Or maybe i'm being too optimistic considering that i'm not a parent of a kid in EM3. Perhaps. But i still feel that it's better to "suffer" labelling than to hav an empty rice bowl in the long run. Who knows? Perhaps suffering frm being labelled might just be the impetus for them to prove their worth, which was pretty much the source of my motivation as someone who grew up in neighbourhood schools.
2) MY TRIAL CHEMISTRY MICROTEACHING IS OVER!!!
Yup, trial chem microteaching is done, and it went on relatively smoothly lah. Microteaching is basically treating your peers in your tutorial grp of 12 as students, and teaching them as if u're in school. I taught on the topic of percentage yield. Basically after my teaching and after the class gave comments, the tcher was like saying, "So, besides the good comments, wat bout some criticisms?" (hee...i din mean to boast or anything lah) And the criticism I received from him was on the definition on "Actual Yield" on one of my ppt slides. Can say that he's quite sharp for his age..haha...the mistake was tat i completely followed the textbook definition, which was nt wrong, but the way I applied tat definition to the activity i was doin wif the class made it somewhat incorrect, and incomplete, maybe. So i shd be more careful when it comes to the words and definitions, that i dun end up explaining concepts which clash wif scientific principles. Other comments i received from my fren was tat my handwriting on the whiteboard needs improvement (which i totally agree!), i tend to use fillers like "ok", "right" in teaching (yup, agreed!), and i seem more suited to teach in JC cuz i tend to ask thought-provoking questions which are indirect(do I?) haha... And my preparation for this microteaching was quite funny. I wanted to rehearse the day before, but my sis was in the room too, den i malu to rehearse and talk to the wall in front of her..haha..cuz she'll laugh at me!!! LOL!! So wat she did was listen to music using earphones at the loudest volume, while i talk to the wall and my students - bolster, pillow, fan, blanket, minnie mouse, twinkle, lion, and door. LOL!!! And i realise that i tend to overplan my lessons only after i actually practise teaching it out. I tend to plan too many activities in my lesson, such that i actually can only teach about 3/4 of wat i plan within that time frame. Have to practise more on this. =)
3) CNY!!!
I realised that this year, CNY falls on a thur and fri!! Which means a long long weekend from thurs to sun!!! (Wah those wif mon as free day even better lor! hav holiday frm thurs to mon!!)
4) EVERY FRIDAY IS MY FREE DAY!!!
Yup, i hav 4-day week for this short semester in NIE! And fri free = long 3-day weekend! muz start planning how to enjoy tis period b4 the dreaded practicum begins! So if wan to go out can ask me out on Fridays!!
5) I DRANK ANDERSONS ICE-CREAM'S MILKSHAKE FOR 2 CONSECUTIVE DAYS!!
Yeah! I realized that buying milkshakes frm Anderson's is more worth it than buying ice-cream! Double scoop ice-cream costs $6, milkshakes (milk + 3 scoops of ice-cream blended tog) costs $5.80! And the portion is quite large too! somewhere like the medium size of McDonald's drinks. Rum & Raisin is still my all-time fav! And of course, it has to be part of my milkshake too! Yummy! Another "delicacy" to be added to my list of fav foods!! haha...
6) 2-DAY WEEK FOR THE WEEK TO COME!!!
For some reason due to efficiency, i wont be having chem microteaching classes next week! And maths lecture juz ended too! So for next week, only hav to go to NIE on mon and wed!! YAY!
And now, for some reasons which make me feel less liberated... =(
1) MICROTEACHING LESSON PLANS TO BE DONE
Math lesson plan in particular, to be done by this monday...and hav to start thinking of the chem assessment microteaching too...
2) PLAYING ORGAN FOR SERVICE THIS SUNDAY
So it's back to practising my organ again since the period of intense practice for Christmas. BUT MUST SERVE GOD WIF JOY IN MY HEART!!!
3) GESL WORK TO BE DONE
Just when i tot it was almost over, it's not! More gesl work to be done...seems to spoil my beautiful thurs ya...oh wells, i need to put more positive thinking into place...
4) PRACTICUM MIGHT COME SOONER THAN I'M READY FOR IT
25th Feb is the day i return to schools to teach and interact wif students. To me, interacting with students is more enjoyable than the teaching part of it, but not when they start climbing over your head...hopefully i can prepare myself well for it when the time comes...
Okie, tats it for now...but overall, still feel more liberated than un-liberated lah...haha! Gd-Nitey!
11:13 PM
Lyna