AED105

Life is getting tougher in university....with tutorials...lectures...assignments and most definitely projects all piling up on my schedule.
The english lectures are still the same as of the 1st day..."caught no ball".
Maths seem to get more abstact by day.
The educational courses are also "killers" in terms of the amount of essays and research we had to subject ourselves to.....
Sometimes I just get this sinking feeling inside me.....work never seem to end

Anyway, it was a week of first.

My first project presentation on Moral Education, which hopefully turned up quite all right despite the few glitches.
My first collaboration in an all girls team for the project, which I have to admit was pretty fun, though I was once again deemed by them to be "bully-able".

Prior to the presentation, I was kind of apprehensive and afraid...but well...being me...I was just naturally worried. Though the mood at the beginning of the presentation seemed rather tensed, we were rather fortunate that we soon became accustomed to ourselves presenting and even managed to crack jokes and all to lighten up the mood. Though I would not to go as far as to say it is the best presentation that I had ever gave, it sure was the most fun one that I had been a part of.

Anyway...it was only the first stage of my career...and I'm pretty sure that more presentations are to come.

Read the strait times the other day about the awards given to 12 dedicated teachers. Kudos to them all for remaining so passionate and dedicated in their craft...and it only serves as inspiration to the future batches. Anyway....a particular picture stood out and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my former Chinese teacher in primary school was one of the selected few. If my memory serves me well....she had begun her teaching career in my school when I was in primary 3...and presently she is already the HOD of the chinese department in a well-known primary school. I felt happy for her as it goes to prove that her work had been recognised.

I apologised to anyone reading this ( if there are indeed any) for the use of sub standard English...my mind is all about pronounced "dead" with all the draining and toiling during the past couple of night in preparation for the presentation.....and I added an entry only to leave myself a memory the day when I had my first presentation.....truly memorable..........

CCC-----Civilian Conversion Course

A new dawn approaches....

I attended the NIE camp over the weekend and truth be told....it was considered fun. Though I was "sabo-ed" a couple of times( imagined being picked to be nominee for best camper despite me being the quietest amidst the cheers, the least active in the games and definitely the last to volunteer to perform the tasks assigned.) Thank goodness I did not win....trust me....I would not hesitate to dig myself a hole if I did.

Perhaps I would what many termed as a slow starter...with the exception to the few people I knew before entering...it seems I have yet to warm up to anyone else in particular. I do not know why...but it seems NS may have robbed me of the ability to even engaged in a decent conversation with an unfamiliar face. The conversations either do not veer far away from NS related issues or any feeble attempts are usually met with awkward one-liners. Perhaps what a friend said was indeed true......I do need a " Civilian-conversion Course"....or so we often joke about.

Time will most probably allay the awkwardness I felt initially...yet it seems the NS-ness within me will not subside in the foreseeable future. Not to be mistaken...I derived much joy as well as sorrow amidst the 2 years...yet I guess it is a rightful price to pay for gaining such an experience.

No wonder it is said that NS is a "life-changing" experience.

Anyway...my journey as a teacher has begun albeit as a trainee...After listening to the speeches by full fledged teachers who were seemingly trying to convince us that we had made the right decision...all I can do is hope that it indeed is. A particular moment resonated within the walls of my mind when a speaker quoted from the Robin William's movie, Patch Adams.

"If you treat a patient, you may win or lose.

If you treat a person, I guarantee you will win."

Applying the analogy on the education front...if all a teacher cares about in a student are merely his grades..he may either only pass or fail. However...should a teacher look beyond that...what presents ahead is instead an opportunity to mould a person's character and perception in his pursuit of the meaning of life...a cause far greater than meeting the pass or fail grade.