Happy Teacher's Day

It seems highly ironic to me that the day that is supposed to be for the teachers, ended up being more tiring for me, the teacher, than any other normal school day.

2 of the troublemakers decided to get into repeated fights with each other, just a few pathetic minutes before I was supposed to get them all gathered up to go to the hall for the Teacher's Day concert. In the ruckus, they push over a much smaller girl, who starts crying on the spot.

Honestly, it's days like these that make me wonder why I joined this line.

We finally arrived late for the concert. I had the two boys stand outside the hall giving them one solid scolding while the rest of the students were settled in the hall waiting for the performance to start. Once I had finally cooled down enough, I dragged one of the major troublemakers to me for a calmer talking-to.

I told him something like there was no point in fighting, because even if the other kid started it first, he was equally in the wrong for continuing the fight. [and for hitting back more savagely, may I add] And in the end, only innocent bystanders like the smaller girl would get hurt in the end, and would he only be satisfied after he had killed all his classmates, or pushed his other friends down the stairs or something?

I told him to please think in the future if someone hit him. If it was accidental, then ignore it. If it was on purpose, then tell a teacher, instead of hitting back. At the end of it, I asked him to repeat what I said.

His reply: "If someone hits me, hit him back a million times." *grin*.

Teachers are the imparters of values, the principal read out from the Teacher's Day letter to schools. But what if the students are not willing to accept those values?

*Haiz* Anyway, for a lighter note, please scroll down to read the entry on Things Teachers Wish They Could Tell Their Students.

Happy Teacher's Day, all.

Things Teachers Wish They Could Tell Their Students...

But obviously, they can't.

Courtesy of Talkingcock.com

personally, I like no. 6 and 7.

1. Actually, you’ll never need to know most of what I’m asked to teach you.

2. I wish they didn’t make you come to school either.

3. Wait till you see what I’ve written about YOU on MY blog – www.siginnah.com

4. Don’t take this the wrong way, but where your father and mother brother and sister?

5. I really wish you were as smart as you think you are.

6. You know, it’s true. You really don’t have to go to study hard and go to university. I did, and look at the crappy job I got.

7. Please don’t breed. Please!

8. Jack Neo was wrong: you damn stupid (and you damn stupid too!)

PSLE Oral

These 2 days of PSLE Oral exams have been like a lull of peaceful waters after heavy 10-foot-wave storms. With a heart half of relief ["I get rid of them for 2 extra days!"] and anxiety ["Will they actually study for the CAs over the weekend? Or play and fail consequently??"] I let my bunch of ragamuffins go off on Wed, though I had to come back to school for duties on Thurs and Fri.

Now on Fri, while waiting my turn for duty, I have one observation about oral exams: They are a BORE. Unless you're an examiner, or a Big One on top who has to constantly monitor the situation and make sure nothing screws up, there is not much for the average teacher to do except take care of the kids who are waiting their turn for the examiner.

Examples:
- Walking around a 2m radius around the kid
- Leaning on the balcony railings staring at cloud formations
- Talking/Scolding to the kids waiting their turns
- Doodling frantically on any scraps of paper at hand

BUT, as boring as it all was, I am still grateful for the lull. At least in the meantime, I managed to get my LPs for the next week all done. :p Weekend here I come.

Email Feedback

I haven't posted in a while, but this email made me feel like doing it:

"u r a disgrace to the teaching
profession....displaying such a negative attitude.when
there r people dying to teach n cant! go kill urself"

Times like this........... I really wonder at some people............ here he is commenting on my negative attitude and at the same time telling me to kill myself.... [??] That's not a very positive attitude on his part now is it?

Of course, it does make me think a bit.

1. Is this guy a teacher in Singapore as well? And does he have a 100%, 24/7 positively sunny attitude towards his job everyday?

2. Is it wrong to display negative feelings? If so, then is it better that we should all never talk or do anything about our problems, and just carry a forced smile to work each day?

3. Is keeping this blog such a disgrace to the teaching profession? If so, I think you can shut down most of the teacher blogs out there.

I'm not keeping this blog to purposely throw a bad light on teaching. Neither am I out to discourage people from teaching. There are people who have emailed me about teaching in Singapore and I've tried to give them as objective a view as possible, concerning job scope, prospects and others.

But what I think this blog is about, is to give people a view of the teaching profession, from my eyes. Granted I'm not utterly happy all the time at my job, but who is anyway?

The truth is there are many people out there who are just as dissatisfied with their teaching jobs, and I'm just one of those who actually blog about it, rather than just keep silent about it.

And for all those who are dying to teach and can't? At least they don't carry any illusions in their head about what the job really entails.

Some people make me feel just.... *Phwargh!*