pgp, i can almost smell your mustiness

so the teaching attachment ended and i have to say i have learnt a lot in just that 3 weeks. it was pretty intensive, which is the way it should be i think, and i did most of what i wanted to do. mdm ashikin, THE BIO TEACHER in my books and also my coordinating teacher, was amazing and she will sure as hell not be forgotten. everytime i sat for her class, it made me realise all over again why this profession was the one for me. she sat in one of my classes even and gave me such useful comments (by the by, she said she was impressed and that im a natural teacher and that i should continue using my drama in class. it's SO GOOD to hear you dont suck at your job, especially from someone as esteemed as her).

been giving tuition lots lately, mostly because their exams are all coming. but im not complaining, i need to save lotsa cash for pgp and for exchange + europe. saving is such a bitch. im thinking that i would need 10-15K for my euro-trip alone, which'll probably be 2 months long. exchange wise, MOE's got that covered. i just have to pray that the money comes in on time. admin is always a slow process. just need to save 10-15K..... somehow.

on the bright side... i am moving back into PGP. my own space again. i cannot wait. living at home turned out to be not as bad as i expected, especially in the finance department, but nothing beats having your own place. having no one to bug you. come monday, i am king again. :)

of humidity, wind, temperature and light intensity

i left my desk 5 minutes before the bell and headed for my first class. there was sufficient time but my pace was still quick as i crossed the basketball court, and as i carried my teaching gear, the laptop, the wires, worksheets and the bio text, i felt suddenly felt like my secondary school english teacher. suddenly her seemingly perpetual rushing and muttering to herself like some mad hatter of a middle-aged lady seem to make sense.

the class was not what you would call the ideal class, full of smart little things just conscientiously flipping through the pages of textbooks trying to find out answer to burning questions on factors affecting the rate transpiration. my class was nothing like that. i arrived a few minutes before the ubiquitous bell rang, signalling not only the start of the lesson, but the start of my first official lesson in class. I WAS SO EXCITED AND SCARED YOU WOULDNT BELIEVE. but like the professional i am, i didnt not let it show. i am a firm believer that when it comes to fear, students are like dogs; they can smell it a mile away and will use it against you.

unfortunately, my first foray into teaching started out with stern mr. k. apparently, the students just finished their recesses and were strolling (and i mean s.t.r.o.l.l.i.n.g.) into class. i told them to quickly get changed because we had a lot to cover and blah blah blah and all that overused crap. some listened. some didnt. after 10 minutes it was just getting ridiculous and i just rang out in a stern commanding voice that not only they were wasting their time, they were wasting mine, which i deemed infinitely more valuable then theirs, and was not afraid to let them know this. that got their attention.

they settled down in a matter of seconds after that (pats self on back) and i got down to lesson proper. the class, despite the interesting beginning, was great. better than great in fact because it wasnt perfect. you know that sappy advertisement where the indian woman goes up to give a eulogy about her dead husband and ends off with saying something like what made him perfect was his imperfections. that was how it was actually.

the kids were rowdy, somewhat disruptive (though not uncontrollable), academically weak (which really isnt their fault) and talkative. but it was great to use these imperfections. for example, if they were disruptive and talkative, i gave them an opportunity to talk and be heard by all: "answer this question...." it may sound like a really old and boring and potentially irritating technique but when done with a little flair i have to say its damn effective. i mean, i'm a fun teacher and i make it fun (at least i like to think so) so my "punishments" are fun to and sometimes intergrated with the lesson. for example, i told this dude to stand becuase he didnt bring his text (usual protocol apparently) and, as expected, he started to slouch and not stand straight. since the lesson talked about rate of transpiration and plants wiliting, i told him not to wilt and told him to get his cells turgid or else i'll send him outside into the hot sun where his transpiration rate will further increase. this not only made him stand up straight, but the class appreciated the joke (which showed that they understood the lesson THANK GOD) and so did the guy i was punishing. all was laughing and smiling.

i would be so happy to get a class like this. contrary to popular belief a super smart class is not all that. sure the intellectual stimulation is fantastic and you can push them and all but the preparation involved is tedious and tiring. plus it can get really boring. of course, on the other spectrum, much more time has to be spent on discipline and all. but i find that in classes like the ones i taught, there was a rapport, a much more relaxed feeling. in the smarter ends, there is just lessons and smart questions... only intellectual stimulation. i guess i want stimulation of other sorts, funky kids, problem kids.

it's just more satisfying.

mr k.

so i turned 23... nothing else is going to be said about this topic.

started my teaching attachment a couple of days back. all i have to say is that it is SO TIRING, partly because i have short + sweet the entire week this week, which means me waking up at 6am and only returning home at 11pm and then doing it all over again. but i really really enjoy it.

today i sat in the class i'll be teaching next week and man are they going to be a handful. they're loud, talkative, lazy, not motivated and a bunch of smart-asses generally. but for next week they are going to be my smart-asses.... and i am really looking forward to it.

their usual bio teacher, the one i'm mentoring essentially, is AMAZING. she handles it like a pro and gets whatever she needs done despite all the crap that is thrown her way. its really fantastic to see how she twist and turns her way around her students and how she handles them and eventually get the job done. a real pro. a real demanding pro though, so i am a little bit nervous at the same time. hope it goes well and i dont get swallowed by a class of 40 notorious kids.

short + sweet has been so tiring. i will probably never do this again unless the company and/or script is amazing. the first show was yesterday and it was good and all, but i really dont think we're top two material. and if we get it, it'll just be because the others overshot their 10:29 timing and were disqualified. i really dont wanna get in though.... such an incredible amount of energy is required and i really want to get this over and done with asap so that i can concentrate on the attachment and hanging out with ank, who leaving for prague on like the 17th. not been seing much of her lately and really wanna hang out with her as much as i can. when school starts we'll be busy-ish and before you know it it's the exams. after that, she's off to india and im going on exchange. we wont be on the same continent for about 7 months, missing both our 6th and 1-year anniversary. i keep thinking that we might not survive that pseudo long-dist thing, for whatever stupid reason that i choose to torture myself with, but god im not going to let that happen.