Stories of me and myself

Today was the day where the first thing people ask you is, "Where are you posted to?" Am I mail-able? Hmm. Hee.

Anyway, I'm posted to Peirce Sec. Quite excited over it actually. To tell you the truth, I was kinda worried that I would be posted to BPSS, due to some inherent but unnecessary prejudice. Anyway, I figured that there was no point worrying about it, since I have no say in where I was gonna be posted anyway! So sad hor? Heh. What I found really useful was this.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?" (Luke 12:25-26)

So I put my faith in God, to let Him place me wherever He thinks is the best place. I know not the reasons why Peirce, but I know that the dots will connect one day. And since we have been placed wherever that we've been placed, let us all just accept it with an open heart and not form any preconceptions or prejudgments which will colour our view of the school and affect our experience. Practicum is the time for us to learn as much as possible on the job, with less than half the full workload. So let us just treasure this time and have fun while learning and interacting with the students and staff!

Tutor S flashed several ppt slides containing intellectual quotes today, and we were asked to guess the time frame of which they were being written in. They consisted of stuff like the girls being unladylike, youths being unruly, rebellious, etc. And to our surprise, those quotes were written mostly in BC! From Greek thinkers like Socrates and so on! So you see, adolescence is a difficult period, where the adolescent battles with his/her hormones, friendships, relationships, self-identity and self-worth, academically, etc. And the education system here isn't exactly relaxing. But these problems have almost always existed... like there were ah-bengs and ah-lians in the past, there will still be ah-bengs and ah-lians in the future, albeit more cool-sounding terms? Hee. So if teachers could cope and handle these in the past and present, we should also be able to handle them as teachers. Let us not judge them. Let us befriend them, empathise with them, and guide them.

Whenever students throw a tantrum or are disruptive/irritable in class, let us not take it personally. There are a million and one things that could have happened before we walked into their classroom.
Perhaps they had a fight with their parents in the morning...
Perhaps they had to work part-time till late last night...
Perhaps they are stressed by their coming exams...
Perhaps they just broke up with their sweetheart...
Perhaps they just got into a fight on their way to school...
Perhaps they just need a shower from the humid weather...
Perhaps perhaps perhaps...

So let us not let them get to us. Let us always keep COOL, CALM and COLLECTED whatever the situation. And to EMPATHISE with the kids. We are the mature ones in the classroom. We are the professionals. We have the authority. Let us put these "priviledges" to good use. Easier said than done hor? But at least have a vision mah... then can practise as time passes. Without a vision or an aim, how to proceed?!