Can't think of a good title coz too many things to say

Hi hi,
Yep, as the title suggests, I have many things in my mind. But no luxury of time to mull over them. So, just wanna put them down here and see how things go:

Notre Dame De Paris
Finally, get a chance to appreciate a musical after such a long wait. The last one, I cannot recall when, is Miss Saigon. But back to this musical. I went with a lots of expectation, this being such a great story. Just that language is a problem, which the organisers fail to address fully. The translation is too far away from the stage. So, either you watch and miss out what they are singing, or you know what they are singing without looking at what they are doing. Sigh.... Could have been better. But, the performance was good. Not super duper. But am happy with it. And those stunts are a bonus. Lots of people twirling around and hanging by wires, lots of people sliding up and down the wall etc. Wow!!! Come on, they are singers. Why make them risk their lives? Half the time I was holding back my breath for them. But visually, it was superb.
And oh, the French sitting behind me were going Bravo! ever so often. Heheheh. Thought that was fabulous. If a Singaporean group is performing elsewhere, I will be jumping up and down my seats too!
And next year, we have Phantom of the Opera coming up.
But I really miss Andrew Lloyd Webber's productions most. Can we have them please?


My presentation to the skool
Did a presentation, which really heighten my profile, and my C-CA's. The part about meself is good, I think. More colleagues were came to speak to me. And they were openly giving me feedback. Really forthcoming were those feedback. And I got nicer ones more than the not so nice ones. So, am happy. But of course, there were snide remarks about my C-CA. My little boss came and told us to ignore those remarks from green-eyed monsters. I was quite depressed over some remarks for a day. But then, no luxury of time to drown in sorrows. So, pressing on. Lots of stuff to be done, C-CA or otherwise. am glad they keep me gainfully occupied, but I needed my rest too. Oh, my mentors came talking to me too. They are worried about my work load for next year. Honestly, I am worried too. But the escapist me decided to not worry about that now. Jsut do what I can first this hols. :) So, not much of a rest this hols, except for 2 short visits out of the country. In fact, am making my way to the airport in 1.5 hours' time. Gonna make a short visit to my idol, Steve Irwin. Can't wait now.

Oh, talking about C-CA. I have been weeding books from my library and it contains lots of gems there, hidden from the general pupil population, because they don't step in. So, we gonna have a make over soon. Exciting. But lots of work, especially when our budget for infra-changes were rejected straight in our faces. So, we have to be the ones to do up the place. And of course, introducing digital resources here. Am going to go on a buying spree, for online resources once I come back. Hee hee. That's so cool, right? Yep. Exciting.


My disappointed kids
Brought me kids to a comp and they didn't make it into the second round. They were disappointed. What went wrong? Partly I am to be blamed for not preparing them enough. But next year, I know what to do if I have another team to bring. So, for my really sweet kids, I tried to cheer them up as much as possible, taking pictures, drinks and cookies at cafe. The next time I saw them, they were ok. They, too, have no time to brood over their loss. They have a debate next year to prepare for. Yes, they are in the top 10 in the whole of SIN. Am so proud of them. And wallah! I am taking them for that from Dec onwards. Grooming, casting, profiling... etc Hey, nice chance to learn some movie making and directing skills. Just that I need to go do something about me messy hair because my colleague and I might have to be interviewed. Argh! Hate that. But never mind, with the nice bonus coming up, can la. Go do something to me hair.

Oh yes, got to say something about the journey to and from east to west for this comp. The kids were so lively I cannot but be affected. Some of them just had their leadership camp and were cheering throughout the journey. Yep, I miss those days when I had to do cheers too. The cheers were new to me, but I am learning. It was a nice chance to really gel with them.

Second Life
Have been on SL to check out what it can offer to us, as t'chers. But unfortunately, I got distracted by money-making. Because making money will allow me to buy stuff, hair, clothes etc... hehe, the bimbotic part of me is taking over. Hehe... Nah, just re-living those days when I played those paper dolls with my sis and aunts. We design our houses. And we can change our clothes. Just that this time round, it is digital. By the time I come back, I should get serious and start looking at the serious stuff they can offer here. And oh, a colleague challenged me to some war games and SIM city. He is into history and uses them in his lessons. Cool! Yet to find any game relevant to my areas of concern except the Mac D game introduced to me by Janinah. Still looking. :)

okie, got to run. Back soon.

SW

Catching up

Unfortunately, I have been unable to meet my target of posting at least twice per month here. :) Sad to say, this is not the only personal target I have not met this year. :(

It has been exactly 2 months since my last post. Am glad to be back here getting some musing going.

So much has happened since my last post and I really dun know where to start. Ok, how about with this quote, courtesy of my dear aunt:

I aspire to inspire before I expire.

She recently completed her dip in counselling pyschology, and the above, the essence of her course. So apt. For, without a want in learning, everything we do/say merely bounces off our dear dear 'customers'. Especially with the youths we are dealing with these days seeming to operate more on gut feelings and emotions, our ability to inspire them in developing a quest for knowledge seems to me an important mission we should all embark on. For, that and that alone can bring them far in life.

But easier said than done, is it not? Often, we remain stuck at our 'low-handed' attempts at enticing them to like a subject, or the deliverer of the subject, both of which do in fact help get our stubborn giraffes drink the water on auto-mode, albeit the wrong reasons. Sigh...


Another quote from a trainer:
Drive your kids up the wall, not let them drive you up the wall.

Nice. Just that it is impossible to sweep them off their feet for every lesson. Or perhaps the first few lessons will do the trick? Once the mechanisms of the above 'underhand' methods set in, they will stop driving us up the wall even though we are not driving them up theirs? My personal experience points to "yes".



Moving on (a different level), here is a quote from a co-worker:
I've never realised it is possible for me to dislike children so much.

She uttered the above after we delivered some post-ex activities to a huge bunch of unappreciating, unco-operative and rude kids. Sigh... We cannot but question what is wrong with the young nowadays. We can only push on, clutching on to the star fish philosophy tightly - so long as we can bring the learning to 1 kid, we will continue.
Come on. We need inspiring too. Don't let us lose our steam.


Oh, almost forgot to mention this. I think all our kids do have a sense of moral justice. When we showed "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Harry Potter", the kids go "yes!" when the badly-behaved are punished. That's a consolation. But how do we bridge the gap between that and their behaviour in skool (refer to my earlier post if interested)? How do we make them see that sometimes, what they did are also considered bad behaviour that needs to be corrected? Something that needs working on.


Another recent incident.
Had to give a kid an offence slip (my one and only so far), which is to say I hand over his case to the DM. Before doing that, did a reflection on whether his offence was due to any form of provocation coming from my part. No. So I did the necessary, only to incur the wrath of him and his 2 good friends. From then on, they try all means to squirm themselves out of my control and be unco-operative whenever possible. Had to tell them to quit putting themselves at a disadvantage by bearing a grudge against me because their results is at stake. They are only 13 years old. What I have learnt - be prepared to handle the backlash. Luckily, although there was not enough time for me to repair all the damage, the boy in question at least still acknowledges me when we happen to meet along the corridors. But not his 2 friends though.


Elsewhere, some ups and downs. The downs come mainly from the kids' assessment results. Some of those are simply appalling. Retention is inevitble. Got to work harder on them next year.


The ups are mainly the close bonding with the kids, particularly those in my CCA, and those kids sent on competitions I have to chaperone. So much collaboration is needed that we cannot but bond. :)


Okie, now that the peak of our industry is over (but no, we still have no time to shake legs), time to re-charge, catch up with dear frens, catch up with content we are not familiar with, get our tables/cabinets tidy, CCA, get ready for next year, watch some movies, go on courses, play some pc or net games and of course, travelling. Looking forward to getting closer to my idol later this month.

SW