Practicum posting

Went there for induction today. Everything was hunky-dory, but as my soon-to-be Chinese-teaching colleague succinctly put it, "let's wait till we start working and then we'll know". Words of wisdom indeed.

Principal was impressive, school grounds even more so, but I could tell straight away that expectations are high at this school. Confirmation came when the P said that she deliberately left space in our timetables so that we would take the initiative to find periods from other teachers to teach their class. Like, what?! If I were a full-fledged teacher, I wouldn't really like pesky trainees meddling with my class' grades! Especially when you're expected to do so well at Rosyth. Still, I think I can do it with God's help.

The children seem normal enough, though I heard they are smarter and richer, and by design more spoilt. So therein lies the challenge to manage the classroom rather than manage them academically..

The school building itself is a masterpiece. Canteen and hall on fourth floor, indoor basketball court, music Centre of Excellence, two staff rooms, heritage centre, etc. This place really blew me away. Pity it's so far.
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Was supposed to find out tomorrow, but found out this evening that I'm posted to Rosyth School in Serangoon for my five-week practicum. And they changed it from 3+2, meaning three weeks of observation and two weeks of guided teaching, to 2+3. That may not sound like much, but it's 20 lesson plans man!

Was really looking forward to returning to Punggol, what with my ex-students and colleagues there, but I guess it was not to be.

On the bright side, I get to experience a new school; according to Jasmine it has some gifted students, so I get to learn from the best. She said maybe I was head-hunted. Ha! I wish. Could be true though, cos I did do well in NIE. But theory and praticum are two totaly different things.

I'll contact the school tomorrow to find out when I need to go down. But really it's quite far from my home. It'll probably take me at least 30 min to get there. No joke when school starts at 7am.

I don't know anyone there, nor are any of my friends posted there. Touch and go lor. Ironically, Jonathan got posted to Xinmin, Jasmine's school, and Angelica took my place at Punggol.

Pray for good supervisor and CT, both from Rosyth and NIE. As well as a sympathetic principal, though I heard otherwise from Aishah.

Here's where it is. Far out man.