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
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
posted by S W at
4:13 am
1 Comments:
Aah, finally - a post. And a neat one at that :)
Sometimes, i'm amused at the relentless thread of optimism that runs thru' your posts, even when the content may be pretty disparaging. (Well, that's just a personal opinion/ affected by recent happenings perhaps) but as I said, I do love that cheery core that your writing so often hinges on ~ Kudos, dear SW!
Lovely adage/quote by Aunt - and Congrats to her for her graduation too. :)
Incidentally, the zest for Learning was something i'd only discovered (or recognised?) much later.. Old college/varsity years seemed to be some of the best times where one actually recognises one's personal Quest, by the pple/tomes/experiences we encounter, i've often mused. But yes, teachers've been there to illuminate the paths too..
And for kids who, so very often, live in worlds that spin around the central axes of 'Themselves', grasping these personal concepts such as self-knowledge, Empathy and Learning to understand others ~ and their perspectives come much later, it seems.
But, every day's a gd start, oui?
Glad to hear of your good camaraderie with kids ~ As rare as they are, perhaps these few appreciative ones will be the ones who keep us going & keep the initial flames of Hope burning.
Take care & have a restful weekend,
Hugz, minerva*
p.s. (With an *ahem* buccaneer swish-and-swagger) Whateva are U doing, up at 4ish in the mornin', eh?
Just kidding.. Take care, chum.
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minerva, at 2:18 pm
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