Presenting........06A02 (I've never verified, but probably the noisier half of the class)

06A02........ah...this class never fails to amaze me. It's one of the most typical arts class I have seen, and where stereotypes become reality. As you can see from the picture(I'm taking the risk of being complained for spreading communist values during GP lessons here), they are in a state of political fervour after watching the video on North Korea (that's Kim Il Sung, for the uninitiated), and they chose to display their emotions in an outspoken and perspicious manner.

We have the luxury of Innovation Room 1 for our GP lessons, until Li lian's half of the class starts complaining and demanding to be given equal treatment. =p So, yah, we get the air-con(although it IS a cause of dispute for many in the class), and the clearest and sharpest projector ever (compared to the useless ones in block D second floor) in a room where I can pratically shut out all the light if I wanted to.

* I just realized Selvan was not doing the correct pose. Bad communist! Putting self expression before the collective good! *

* under construction *

Presenting.......06S18 (the more quiet half, seemingly)

06S18! As you can see, they are decimated to a mere 9 people. Haha. Actually there were only 11 to begin with because I share this class with Karen. Too bad Janice and Rayson weren't there(in fact Rayson put on a disappearing act after promos and I have not seen him since then. Gosh I pity those who are in his PW group. * tsk tsk * )

What struck me about this class is how diffident and quiescent they are (or at least pretend to be), until I took the whole of S18 one fine day when Karen was on MC. While the other half of the class is definitely more voluble (think MICHAEL), imagine my horror when even Lauren was chit chatting with the girl beside her. LAUREN! I don't even remember her talking to anyone beside her during GP classes. =p

They're a lovable bunch, always quietly submitting to my tyranny (which is not what I can say about my other two classes...haha) and they don't yield under pressure. This class is also very unfortunate, their GP classes timing is always such that I don't get to do the same things I did with the other classes, and they always complain about that. =p I didn't even get a chance to bid farewell to them properly, since I stopped seeing S18 before all the other classes. Shucks!

* under construction *

Ah...end of term. It's almost like the sweet release of death. Having no civics class, and hence not a formal ST for PW, I was not expected to be an assessor either. Which means I have practically nothing to do from now on, even though my colleagues are still in the final lap of PW.

The usual onslaught of level, departmental and school level meetings make up the most of my the last week of the term. I was retained (literally) in JC1, just as I expected, which would mean that I can look forward (bleh) to CT-ship and PW ST-ship next year. And of course another committee/ CCA, now that my period of "immunity" is over and I have to take on a full teacher's load.

Being so free, I found time to keep myself entertained even during weekdays. KTV with fellow teachers. Two movies in one week (both of which suck). With such a thin plot and lacklustre cast, Sinking of Japan was barely tolerable. At least it was in Japanese and I can use it as an opportunity to practice my listening (just trying to console myself on (my friend's) bad movie choice). If it was the Sinking of any other country I would probably cuss and swear throughout the movie. (COme to think of it I already was).

Deathnote..........yah some went ooh and aah over it, but having read the comics already I was less than impressed. I was amused that the people they found to act as those peripheral characters resemble the drawn version so accurately. I couldn't remember theirs names (like I say they are peripheral) but one look at the face I remember that he or she is going to die. Deathnote is one of those comics which do not know when to end. (Conan is another one. Although I buy each issue faithfully, I am always in a state of disgust after I have read them.) The first few books were actually pretty good, then the story got so convoluted and complicated that by the time the newest issue came out I had to re-read the previous issues to understand the plot. (Not exaggerating!) By the 11th book I seriously think even some of my university econs textbooks are lighter reading materials. The 12th and final installment lays unread on my shelf. I had bought it and actually couldn't bring myself to read it.

Hmmm...Yew Liang implored me to blog about his class. EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM. And then I have two other classes. I guess I would, but it's really a formidable task, having just wrote comments for all my students into their profile. I'll get down to it, I guess, say, when I need to take break from Guild Wars. =p

You are going to be a teacher? Get ready to face a bunch of monkeys who threaten your authority if you do not show them who is in power. You are teaching EL and Maths? Tonnes of marking which will overwhelm you and deprive you of your social life. Giving remedial. Endless admin work. Courses and seminars to attend. Forms to fill in. Sure, NIE prepares you for all these crap (sort of). Experienced colleagues show you the tricks. But I never imagined that the hardest part about being a teacher is not any of these.

The hardest part is when you see your students not doing well and are on the verge of being retained. The hardest part is when you return exam scripts to your students, and while you know that he has already made tremendous improvement, it is not sufficient for him to pass. The hardest part is when you know a student has got what it takes, but did not manage to demonstrate what he can do in a particular exam.

This is a part and parcel of teaching that I have to grapple with.

Sometimes I have to wonder whether we are pushing our students too hard. Come on, they are 17 year olds, what do you expect from them? Honours-thesis level essays? Why can't we appreciate the good in them and applaud them for showing what they can do in a controlled exam condition? What's with all the nitty-gritty? We want our students to express themselves and assert thier opinions, but everytime they do so someone tries to put them down with all this negativity. Can't a student express his own opinion without having to substantiate every single assertion? Shouldn't we be looking out for what students have done well and give them credit(even though it's not always possible), instead of making uncalled for remarks which are neither reasonble nor helpful?

I am flouting the very rule that I tell my students: NEVER bombard your reader with a barrage of questions. But sometimes we just don't have the answers to our own questions.

End-of-marking entry

Hee hee gland, of course I don't have an end-of-promos entry. To me it's only over when I've finished all my marking..which is NOW. =) So here's my end-of-marking entry.

I can't believe I have finished marking 120 essays. While it doesn't sound like much, it's actually a mammoth mind-boggling and debilitating(My dear J1s: hopefully by now you know what this word means) task. Wading through a quagmire of illegible, incoherent, poorly-organised and indistinguishable scripts unscathed takes mental acuity of the highest degree, and obviously I'm not there yet. The only good thing that comes out of this is that my list of "Ridiculous and ludicrous things that students write in their essays" has effectively doubled in length, which never fails to be an amusing topic when old friends catch up. In fact, it's only because I am a teacher of such high moral integrity that I am able to restrain myself from duplicating these hilarious essays on my blog. Interested parties can seek me out personally and enquire, but if you are a student then you need not apply. =)

People who have me on their msn lists know that I am cursed with a sporadic internet connection that only works intermittently. The situation seems to have worsened recently, nowadays it seems like I can only get connected for 5 minues, which is not good when I'm playing Guild Wars. Enough is enough and finally I lodged a formal complaint with singnet. Hopefully they'll be able to fix it soon and I can play my online games without getting frequently interrupted.

Some of my students seem to be in a state of trauma because some teachers brazenly returned them their less-than-satisfactory promo scripts, and devastated them in one fell swoop. Sigh, well at least it cushions them for the impact of seeing their GP scripts. Going to get back my class's scripts very very soon, and it's just as apprehensive for us teachers as well. How will they fare?