All In A Shot

Story of the Chocolates

When instructions to do a booklet were delivered, no one in my classes retorted with a 'why?' until much later (Jon) which I choose to ignore =P. Yet, voices were heard from other classes, demanding the purpose of this seemingly irrational or bland piece of work that does not appear to serve any merit. Why Why Why? They persisted.
This new syllabus is all about molecular biology, lamented the teachers. Your teachers are well-versed in molecular biology but at the same time, we had journeyed the old paths that observed life at the macro-level which is just as interesting - animal behaviour, plant physiology, human physiology, microbiology etc.

Biology is all about life. It does not stop at the molecular genetics as the physiologist, botanist, zoologist etc will tell you. What good is molecular biology when you cannot appreciate the system at large which surrounds us in plain view? And reading your booklets, I am sure you all had discovered new interesting facts about the plants which you can relate to another (*and so did I!)

Isaac said 'do in the love of bio' and I really hope you all did enjoy the trip and that the booklet was borne out of the love for life and not of grievances.

Choc for everyone for being so sporting about the MR walk and those booklets.
And....for the great time these past few months.... in case of any changes next year. Arigato.
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Parent-Teacher meeting was over. In my excitement to talk behind your back, I may have said too many wrong things. How wonderful.
Maybe I sounded too positive..shucks...it will haunt me in time to come.

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Gotta stop here. There is a departmental retreat tomorrow which I have to prepare.
Another set of instructionS as promisd:




The above have already been given to some of you so I will be waiting for the following:

1) a typed summary of each topic
2) a structured and an essay for each topic
3)(addition) do the TYS MCQs on topics covered thus far from 2000-2005. - i will take time to go through later. There could be mistakes in the TYS, some of which have already been noted by your classmates but I will leave it for discusion.

Dateline for each topic is to be noted.

How to do a summary: Use the learning outcomes given in that first page of your notes as the guide for your summary. You should cover all the learning outcomes!

I apologized first but I will identify the specific structured question and essay to be submitted by Thurs. I would like to have some time to do an analysis of the questions before I make the choices. Do the summary first.

We need to consolidate this year's work because the new syllabus is consistent for teh 2 years so you need knowledge from this year to carry you forth and also you will then not be swarmed by the need to cope with new topics while struggling with the old ones.

For those whom I have not asked to do the revision work, you may work on the identified questions given as well and submit to me (summary is optional). Trying working on the MCQs too.

Cheers

Nelgect

Someone complained that I have not been updating my blog. But this wasn't even intended to be a personal blog although I had slipped up once in a while with little details here and there.=P with issues that perhaps are worth pondering about.

Today I received a list of parents whom I will be attending to this coming Saturday. 12 names on my list with a min of 15 minutes each. Mmmm...how much ill news and horrible things could I spew on my students in those short time spans? I would have to think them through with descriptions best-fit. Muahahahaha. Then I lamented. Where are some others whom I might want to consult for their child's best interests?

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I received a letter from China today. From a kid whom I have been sponsoring in his education for the past 4 years because in China, the old regulation required all children to be educated up to secondary school and many rural folks faced tough times with the fees that they have to cough up for that compulsory education. So I started sponsoring 4 kids after a YEP trip to China because fate decreed so when our paths met at the most unwilling point in time which I shall not elaborate here. Supporting 4 kids is no mean feat on the pocket and since I don't get pocket money when I was in Uni and all expenses were paid through my various sources of income, there came a time when I started counting my pennies and swore off fastfood etc so that I could send them the money.
Time flies and one successfully promoted to high school while the whereabouts of the oher three are less clear. The last I heard, two have gone off to study at other high school while one started working in another province at a tender age of 14. Most of the time, I would be conversing with this one kid who consistently send me letter (and vice versa) and we would be talking about things in general although with the age gap, I served as a mentor for him.
It is sad when the latest letter indicated his decision to drop out of school soon due to financial problem (I have been unable to sponsor him due to communication breakdown with this particular china agency that was set up to handle the monetary issues with regards to education sponsorship). I felt sad because I know he has always been working hard in his study all this while, trying to be less of a burden to his family finacial situation with the aim to improve life back home but, yet as I reminded him constantly, not to forget about being considerate and compassionate to the people around him. A mature fellow. I also said little but he should have grown since we last met.
Anyway it is perhaps time to take a flight and see how life have changed for him and me and how things can be worked out.

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Tolerance

As the PSI level maintains its toxic high for the past few days, the teachers wonder if the MR tour will die a natural death after all the efforts.

Another thing that had kept its all-time high was my tolerance level. While teachers got frustrated and cranky over their classes, I seemed to be in a world of my own - a world without the white slips or any dictatorship. Yet. Am I too laissez faire with my classes or are they as good as they seem to be? Reminding someone for rude behaviour the other day came through only as an afterthought and I don't think the delayed effect was best for our students. Perhaps years of working with youths of a different league have implanted an even more accepting and tolerant streak in me but here we are talking about a group of students who are supposed to be leaders and should have good character. At this age of theirs, how much 'training' do they need? How much does it take to greet someone as a sign of respect and out of pure courtesy or do we need to rigorously enforce that? Do they understand the concept of atrocious behaviour which is the equivalent of a heart-breaking experience for the teachers when they lied so badly or even conspired with unwilling parties on undesirable deeds? Today, someone got frustrated and cried when all we want is to be able to have some faith and trust in our students. Trust, which once broken, may never mend. Talk about the mushroom of cynical teachers.

I believe my students are good people. Perhaps sometimes, they need a proper signage to direct them but they are as wonderful as they are. We all need some faith and I refuse to succumb to that cynism that festers in the reality of working life because I am afterall, supposed to be the pinnacle of optimism for some. Well, at least until proven otherwise.

Return of Scripts

Today there was a showdown upon the return of the scripts.
Scutinizing their papers, students furiously punched their marks into their calculators to derive their final results. Some were pale on the lips before they sank into relief, others were tearing their hairs at the one or half mark.
It was also a time when you noticed those crestfallen faces or even resignation, a time when you could hear that audible sigh.

There are probably many whom I would like to get a pat to for good work (or as some claimed: the most improved award) but at the same time, there are others whom I would like to console or offer a listening ear to. I may laugh along but deep down, I am concerned especially when expectations are not met with those potential or at least students reaping what they deserve. Pardon me if I could not do any of these in time or too engrossed with swarms of students that hogged me.

Taking a step at a time, do not give up because every new exam is a fresh piece of hope. We all need some belief and confidence in ourselves otherwise we will not be able to overcome that mental barrier and because I believe you can do it.

bio worksheet for macritchie

For the upcoming practical sessions, we will be heading down to MacRitchie Reservoir!!
Hipee!!

In brief, group yourselves into 4-5, produce a brochure based on the species given in the worksheet below. Each group will present 2-3 species during the tour, so each class may want to split the work up to each group on who to present what. Details of marking citeria are given in the worksheet.

www.rjc.edu.sg/newrjc/deptsite
Alternative site if the above fails:
www.geocities.com/lekowala/mac.htm

Schedule:
3S will be going to MR this Fri and hand up brochure Next Mon
3L will go to MR next Mon and hand up the brochure on the same day.
3Q will go to MR next Wed and hand up brochure on the same day.


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Hear ye!

Announcement:

RJC in-house Sci Research Proj - if you have signed up for the project, and those interested, a short briefing (< 1hr) will take place at B34 at 2pm on Wed 18/10.

movie choice

If you are into movie, especially macabre ones, try this cute site:

http://us.mms.com/us/dark/index.jsp

We awaits

A tiring week thus far and I am so glad to have handed in the deliverables this evening after the consecutive late nights and a sleepless one yesterday as I ploughed through many minute details to produce the new bio website. Voila! Hopefully it was be ready by tomorrow when the IT department upload it. Does anyone even know of its existence? Zombie-zone today as I got ready for open house as well since I was the i/c for bio unit - and that was the other mad rush, to get the poster designs out for printing by Tues morning. Whoa! Although the bio-related ones are done ahead of time, I had to rush out those for science department and abandon my street art idea when time become an issue.
Geez. I cannot be doing this too often. At my age, such late nights have serious detrimental repercussion to my body system and you just cannot rebound as readily the next day.

http://www.rjc.edu.sg/subjects/biology/bioweb2006.swf (new biosite)

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How did my class fare for Promo? No one has gotten a U so that is one piece of good news but if you are asking for personal slips, I will leave the surprise to next Mon.
Overall, the same story goes, there will be students whom I think can do much better, some I realised that they really need help in, and others who ally any concern I might have if any. Still we cannot relax too much because there is so little time left.
I havent seen the overall analysis of classes yet but one of my classes got the lowest average for MCQs and I nearly have a cardiac arrest then as I contemplate their possible fates. But they made it up in other areas later on. ;) Have faith.

Oh. Everyone will be promoted. =)

N You know what, Have a good weekend.

Agonizing Moments

This is quick break.
Because I am marking my classes.

There are times when your heart sings and there are times when your heart cries.
This emotional rollercoaster is too much for the weak-hearted.
I need more exercise to strength my heart.

Weekend is here and that pretty good news because I will be done with H2 marking by today and my good friend is getting married tomorrow so we are going to chill out tonight. So you can start imagining your classmate 10 years down the road. Throw in a baby too if you must 'cos I just met another on the road the other day with that bundle of surprise. And a balding head. =)

One More Day

After Pia-ing for hours today, I finally caught up a bit with my marking. Great! After that would be several other things on my platter.

Tutorial are ready for collection but we are not going through next wk so that is good news since everyone else is tearing his/her hair with PW.

Woes to the Teacher

The marking starts and multiple red pens are put on the stand-by.
It is an exhausting process and it is a depressing job.

Stuck in that little cubicle while other depts rejoiced in their near-completion and relaxation.
Your heart skipped a beat and the sky turned gloomier without the aid of the haze when you worried about students who dun seem to be getting the grades when you know that they have worked very hard - that caused me to drop my fishball during lunch yesterday when I was distracted. My poor fishball.
When you are the slowest in marking. Shucks!
When you can't get the tagboard out.

peace and calm, I need to meditate.

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Then I remembered something from Escaflowne.
Worrying only makes things worse. I need to have faith in them that they will/have overcome all odds so that they can move forward later on and afterall, I am only seeing a small bit of the big picture.