Declarations of love
Hi hi,
Hell broke loose today during our Geog lesson. :D Poor Chris. All of us were enjoying ourselves at his expense during his micro-teaching. All that declarations of love, the goading and the fainting fit are enough to drive any teacher up the wall. And the way Chris responded to all the above seemed to invite more 'naughty' responses from the class. The poor guy cannot be blamed because a student's misplaced affection is a highly prickly situation to deal with. On the one hand, he has no wish to hurt the student. But on the other, he does not want to encourage her. Try as he might, he could not balance the 2. But I don't think anyone could ever do so under today's circumstances. Students are not likely to be so so thick skinned (no offence meant to Mas), although their raging hormones may bring about lots of crushes on their teachers. But somehow, I am of the mind that maintaining a gambler's expression, ie being expressionless, is more apt than showing any other expressions (facial or body language). Because if students find a teacher's expression entertaining or amusing, the cheeky ones may be encouraged to profess love just to see how the teacher responds and get themselves nicely entertained.
The fainting incident did not turn out the way we anticipated because we did not expect Chris to personally help the fainting WH out of the class. But it was very quickly dealt with because Chris was highly alert throughout his lesson. That was very decisive of him, something necessary for such a situation. :)
However, we have a problem with a male teacher having physical contact with a female student. Didn't think it is right to do so. This is of course to protect the interest of the teacher who may be liable to answer to charges of outraging the modesty (commonly known as molest) of the student he has physical contact with. While I am not sure if there are any written rules for teachers about this, I paste our statutes here for reference:
http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/ - online statutes of Singapore
Penal Code - Chapter 224
Assault or use of criminal force to a person with intent to outrage modesty.
354.
Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any person, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage the modesty of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine, or with caning, or with any two of such punishments.
Criminal force, under the Penal Code, is defined as
Whoever intentionally uses force to any person, without that person's consent, in order to cause the committing of any offence, or intending by the use of such force illegally to cause, or knowing it to be likely that by the use of such force, he will illegally cause injury, fear or annoyance to the person to who the force is used, is said to use criminal force to that other.
One of the illustration given in the statutes pertaining to our interest:
A intentionally pushes against Z in the street. Here A has by his own bodily power moved his own person so as to bring it into contact with Z. He has therefore intentionally used force to Z, and if he has done so without Z’s consent, intending or knowing it to be likely that he may thereby injure, frighten or annoy Z, he has used criminal force to Z.
Checked with a tutorial mate, Paul, a law graduate.[Have his permission to quote him here]. He says that in order to prove molest, it must be shown that the man had intentionally touched a woman with the intention to molest her. When there is such a charge, the onus is on the man to prove that he did not molest her. And very often, it is the woman's word against the man, and hence it is very difficult for a man to prove that he did not have the intention. So he says that a male teacher should avoid contact with a female student in all circumstances, unless it is really unavoidable. And in no circumstances must the male teacher remain alone with student, out of sight and proximity from any other witness (es) who can help ensure there is no hanky-panky. And if a male teacher has to carry a female student, ensure that it is done in full view of other females.
And I vaguely remember something being mentioned briefly (probably during my first aid classes many years back) and when applied to our context, it looks something like:
Male teachers should not have physical contact with students EXCEPT:
1. when there is no other female person who can perform the task
AND
2. when by refraining from giving assistance, worsens the current condition of the student or brings about possible death
So, Chris might have gotten other female students to help WH to the sickbay. Also, being investigated on may not be such a pleasant experience we would all want to have. So, all male teachers must know how to protect themselves against such probable allegations.
And back to the fainting scene, I was trying to tell Chris that WH is malnourished since he asked, although he thought that I was punning on his teaching content. Sorry to confuse you Chris. Should have just told him she was too poor to eat breakfast and lunch. And in general, for fainting fits, we can give some glucose, since usually it is either hunger or a general low sugar level that is the cause (unless of course they are diabetic or have other probs). The rest is up to medical officers to ascertain.
The ppt slides were also a problem because no one could tell the colours apart once they were projected. Lesson learnt: When preparing for slides, we got to take into consideration the fact that they would end up a few shades brighter/lighter. So, use only picts/charts/diagrams with high colour contrasts.
Chris has a great teacher's voice and also good eye contact. To extend that further, he has the habit of searching for eye contact, so I ended up being called and stared by him because I too have the bad habit of staring straight into a person's eyes.
Arghhh... Got to get rid of my bad staring habit and my chow chow face. A senior teacher, once out of goodwill, came to me one day and told me the general sentiments of how a few other teachers, whom I have no direct contact with, felt about me and she used the word 'stuck-up'. Yes, yes. I am trying hard to smile more and to do the royal wave as often as I can. But then, maintaining a perpetual smile is next to impossible, firstly because of the physical difficulties, and secondly, I think I would end up looking like a siao person instead of a friendly person. :)Hee..
More next time,
SW
Hell broke loose today during our Geog lesson. :D Poor Chris. All of us were enjoying ourselves at his expense during his micro-teaching. All that declarations of love, the goading and the fainting fit are enough to drive any teacher up the wall. And the way Chris responded to all the above seemed to invite more 'naughty' responses from the class. The poor guy cannot be blamed because a student's misplaced affection is a highly prickly situation to deal with. On the one hand, he has no wish to hurt the student. But on the other, he does not want to encourage her. Try as he might, he could not balance the 2. But I don't think anyone could ever do so under today's circumstances. Students are not likely to be so so thick skinned (no offence meant to Mas), although their raging hormones may bring about lots of crushes on their teachers. But somehow, I am of the mind that maintaining a gambler's expression, ie being expressionless, is more apt than showing any other expressions (facial or body language). Because if students find a teacher's expression entertaining or amusing, the cheeky ones may be encouraged to profess love just to see how the teacher responds and get themselves nicely entertained.
The fainting incident did not turn out the way we anticipated because we did not expect Chris to personally help the fainting WH out of the class. But it was very quickly dealt with because Chris was highly alert throughout his lesson. That was very decisive of him, something necessary for such a situation. :)
However, we have a problem with a male teacher having physical contact with a female student. Didn't think it is right to do so. This is of course to protect the interest of the teacher who may be liable to answer to charges of outraging the modesty (commonly known as molest) of the student he has physical contact with. While I am not sure if there are any written rules for teachers about this, I paste our statutes here for reference:
http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/ - online statutes of Singapore
Penal Code - Chapter 224
Assault or use of criminal force to a person with intent to outrage modesty.
354.
Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any person, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage the modesty of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine, or with caning, or with any two of such punishments.
Criminal force, under the Penal Code, is defined as
Whoever intentionally uses force to any person, without that person's consent, in order to cause the committing of any offence, or intending by the use of such force illegally to cause, or knowing it to be likely that by the use of such force, he will illegally cause injury, fear or annoyance to the person to who the force is used, is said to use criminal force to that other.
One of the illustration given in the statutes pertaining to our interest:
A intentionally pushes against Z in the street. Here A has by his own bodily power moved his own person so as to bring it into contact with Z. He has therefore intentionally used force to Z, and if he has done so without Z’s consent, intending or knowing it to be likely that he may thereby injure, frighten or annoy Z, he has used criminal force to Z.
Checked with a tutorial mate, Paul, a law graduate.[Have his permission to quote him here]. He says that in order to prove molest, it must be shown that the man had intentionally touched a woman with the intention to molest her. When there is such a charge, the onus is on the man to prove that he did not molest her. And very often, it is the woman's word against the man, and hence it is very difficult for a man to prove that he did not have the intention. So he says that a male teacher should avoid contact with a female student in all circumstances, unless it is really unavoidable. And in no circumstances must the male teacher remain alone with student, out of sight and proximity from any other witness (es) who can help ensure there is no hanky-panky. And if a male teacher has to carry a female student, ensure that it is done in full view of other females.
Male teachers should not have physical contact with students EXCEPT:
1. when there is no other female person who can perform the task
AND
2. when by refraining from giving assistance, worsens the current condition of the student or brings about possible death
So, Chris might have gotten other female students to help WH to the sickbay. Also, being investigated on may not be such a pleasant experience we would all want to have. So, all male teachers must know how to protect themselves against such probable allegations.
And back to the fainting scene, I was trying to tell Chris that WH is malnourished since he asked, although he thought that I was punning on his teaching content. Sorry to confuse you Chris. Should have just told him she was too poor to eat breakfast and lunch. And in general, for fainting fits, we can give some glucose, since usually it is either hunger or a general low sugar level that is the cause (unless of course they are diabetic or have other probs). The rest is up to medical officers to ascertain.
The ppt slides were also a problem because no one could tell the colours apart once they were projected. Lesson learnt: When preparing for slides, we got to take into consideration the fact that they would end up a few shades brighter/lighter. So, use only picts/charts/diagrams with high colour contrasts.
Chris has a great teacher's voice and also good eye contact. To extend that further, he has the habit of searching for eye contact, so I ended up being called and stared by him because I too have the bad habit of staring straight into a person's eyes.
Arghhh... Got to get rid of my bad staring habit and my chow chow face. A senior teacher, once out of goodwill, came to me one day and told me the general sentiments of how a few other teachers, whom I have no direct contact with, felt about me and she used the word 'stuck-up'. Yes, yes. I am trying hard to smile more and to do the royal wave as often as I can. But then, maintaining a perpetual smile is next to impossible, firstly because of the physical difficulties, and secondly, I think I would end up looking like a siao person instead of a friendly person. :)Hee..
More next time,
SW
posted by S W at
10:57 pm
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