Graduation

It is with bitterweet emotion that I graduate from NIE with my Diploma in Education (Credit) tomorrow. What might have been was not to be - and that's that. I have to trust God that this is for the best. In a way, I'm glad the decision to crossover is not mine to make - God's made it easier for me somehow.

Teaching Practice: 25 Feb - 9 May 08

Despite a virtual guarantee of a credit by my main CT, I only got a pass. I intend to clarify with her why this happened, but I strongly suspect my supervisor's ill-timed and ill-prepared second observation did me, Nazir and Hui Erl in. It does leave a bitter taste in the mouth, seeing we did our best and were at the mercy of general incompetence.
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9 Apr 2008, 1843hrs
I'm geting swamped here. Have been trying to keep up with my lesson plans and as a result, am falling back with my marking. The result? I bag full of worksheets and a 0.5m stack of books. Die...
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7 Mar 2008, 1343hrs
Another treat! My CTs don't require me to write daily lesson plans in painstaking detail. They just need a weekly lesson plan with details of the procedure, resources and all that. This reduces the workload by A LOT. Of course formal observations still need the detailed one lah. But thank God for His mercy and providence.
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My, my. What a surprise. Practicum's been a breeze so far with only obervations going on. Little chance of me teaching next week due to CA and my CT's wanting to finish their incumbent unit first. Looks like I'm only starting in Term 2, which means I have the term break to piah lesson plans. Term 2 Week 7-8 should be interrupted by SA1, so I'm left with 6-7 weeks to fit 10 observations in. It might not be that bad after all. I think the P2 class will be the challenge.
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21 Feb 2008, 1843hrs
This is the biggie. Ten weeks altogether. One week of observation followed by nine weeks of teaching. I'm teaching P3 & 2 English and Maths respectively. My main CT is the P3 level head. Our practicum will include CA and SA time, so that should cut down the teaching load.

Letters to the press

1. Who's gonna unlock the bomb shelter doors in time of an emergency?
2. Why can't we connect the Hougang Ave 7 park connector to Upp Serangoon Rd? After all, park connectors are supposed to connect!
3. Why no performance bonus for Dip Ed-ers? Where's the incentive to go for distinctions?
4. If it's too dangerous for pedestrians for cyclists to be on the pavement, and too dangerous for cyclists to be on the roads, where on earth do we go? We'd prefer the road anytime if it was made safer; the pedestrians really slow you down when they walk ba-long-long.
5. Fines as punishment for everything, from train disruptions to spitting to late payments.

Listening & Speaking lesson plans

Finished both, including my calculator activities. Now for practicum.
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Took me ages to complete one. I think I'm gonna just die at practicum.

Test item construction

I can't believe I put in so much work to try and get an A by doing P5 geometry. Why do I try so hard for? I don't even get a bonus for good results; the futility of it all.

Readers' Theatre

It's finally over. I think we did well despite some last-minute changes to the timing in the morning. Our combined cab fares came to $50! The performance went ok, but I wasn't so sure about the assessment. There's a vast difference between stuff that'll work in theory and what happens in reality. I haven't quite grasped it yet.
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4 Feb 2008, 2159hrs
My groupmates selected my script as the one to be performed, despite being half-completed. I hope to repay their faith in me. That means sending it out by tonight. The good news is I do feel a little energised, so I might be able to pull this off.
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3 Feb 2008, 1959hrs
Managed to get the skeleton out, thanks to Jasmine. Now it's some intra-solar system getting-to-know-you party, seeing the planets' orbits have not intersected for 4.6 billion years. So the Sun invites all of them for a house-warming (geddit?) party. Interesting conversations entail.
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2 Feb 2008, 1059hrs
Learnt some new befangled EL integration strategy where students perform by reading from a script that's been dramatised from a fiction or (less commonly) non-fiction text. Our assignment requires to write one such script and perform it at Juying Primary. It's supposed to be 15 minutes long. I'm just thinking of the sheer number of words I need to fit in. And it's due Monday. =[

Microteaching

Kena massacred for microteaching, but I didn't even get the worst of it. Two others got it worse, including one for speaking out of turn. At least it's over.

There really isn't much reason to come on Tue and Thu any more since we're just observing our peers. I will go see Dr Hia tomorrow afternoon before he flies to Japan. Makes sense.
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19 Jan 2008, 2259hrs
Supposedly after TA, microteaching is peanuts. Well apparently I'm a monkey with digestive problems, because the same problem of mental block and creative haemorrahage seemed to happen when I was doing my lesson plan. The ideas just don't seem to flow. Can't explain it. Well, at least the lesson plan is done and ready for Thursday.

2010 Youth Olympics

Firstly, I hope I got the year right.

It's down to Singapore and Moscow for the inaugural Youth Olympics after Turin, Bangkok and some other city were eliminated. While Moscow was ranked better and Singapore lost out on the later Games Village completion date, we live in hope. It'd be a shame, after all, if the money NIE spent on a mural to commemorate all that was wasted. The IOC wouldn't be very nice if they did that, would they?

Monopoly

Dang, it clashes with my time table. However I have the option of getting someone to stand in for me before I play the other two games. I think I'll pass. Monopoly relies too much on chance for me to stake $2 and two evenings on. Scrabble maybe. =]
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21 Jan 2008, 1124hrs
Thinking of registering for a Monopoly competition in school. Sounds like fun and I've always wanted to play for some real prizes other than counterfeit paper money and bragging rights. Costs $2 to register and is organised by a new club on the block called Club Jeux. Admire them for the way they've seemed to have created a buzz about their club that ELL Club hasn't. Then again, we have different objectives: theirs revolve around fun and games, ours are more pragmatic, shall we say.

Also came played a different version of the game in KL. Involved updated locations in London to reflect its modern places, raising the stakes to the millions and having a cashless system involving Cash Cards that can be credited and debited. Certainly better than fighting over who doesn't want to be banker.

Student-centred learning? Engaged students?

You know, for all the diatribe that NIE spouts about student-centred learning and engaging students, they sure do a poor job of giving us engaging activities in a certain module. Quite auntie lah, let's put it that way.

Absolutely inconsistent with accepting reasons for latecoming. An MRT breakdown is acceptable, but a massive jam caused by an accident on the BKE is not. Go figure, and WAKE UP. Drones on and on regardless of the paralinguistic hints from students of nodding heads and intra-group backchat. As a result the whole atmosphere of the class is down in the dumps and the joy of learning has been dashed on the rocks. We can't wait for class to end and take our 10-minute break that is MANDATORY when we need it, since it is happily ignored. It seems that only children need to be engaged, but not teachers. Way to go.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Found this book in the NIE library based on the recommendation of Gayle Whitson and Jason Loh, two excellent tutors who have unfortunately moved on from NIE. They did provide a stellar list of 25 children's books they recommended us to buy, and stingy old me didn't bat an eyelid. However as I was tutoring my P6 student in English, I realised the value and importance of inculcating the love of reading. I've just started him in Roald Dahl's Esio Trot. I think Hatchet might be a bridge too far at the moment.

Anyhow, an excellent book Hatchet is, though it was written more than 40 years ago. It provides excellent dilemmas for the main character, Brian Robesen, a city kid stranded by a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness. It charts his survival techniques and personal issues he must overcome if he is to survive the physical and emotional tribulation. It gives an excellent opportunity for kids to respond in writing and speaking on what they would do in his shoes, decision-making, overcoming crises attitudes toward work etc.

I can't wait to use it in a classroom, but must pluck up the confidence to do so. Incidentally, Brian's confidence was one of the issues that he faced early in the book. A really uplifting read.

Exam Results: Yr 2, Sem 1

DCE200: B
DCM200: A-
DED200: A-
DLK200: A-
DSE200: B+
DSM200: A
Cumulative GPA: 4.45 [down from 4.54]

A little disappointed but otherwise pretty good apart from the Bs.