Celebrate or Not

when students made an improvement, you like to celebrate and give a pat on the back saying well done.
when students made the efforts but still failed to make it past her/his expectations, you like to say dun give up and keep going because this journey has not reached the end for the tortoise still have the distance to go.
And I failed utterly in both while in class. Torn by the polarizing needs, I went into a blabber of words.

I stood in front of one student and felt a familiar wave of emotions swept over me: of my own struggles as a student,of the hardships I had to face because of my own decisions. And how sometimes things somehow doesnt seem to work out no matter how hard I tried.
I wondered how often will this feeling return to haunt me. Maybe forever in my capacity as a teacher but then it also reminded me that I was stronger because of it. If there is a positive trait my brother can see in me is perseverance. How I sometimes struggled on, torn and frustrated in the face of adversary, but refusing to give in until I have tried my best to the very end. I guess some pple called it stubbornness which is most probably true as well. =P

I hope all my students can also learn to pick themselves up after every fall because life, we realise, is not a smooth journey. But you can decide how you want to manage your ups and downs. And if Ups and Downs are part of this journey we are taking, there is no need to linger too long at one spot because life goes on.

Judging from the results, I realised with disappointment that there is so many things I should/could have done with students this term.
Maybe I had done it all wrong. Maybe it was the series of lectures (H1/2/3) that I had to handle. Maybe I have to think harder.

But right now, I have not given up and there is a journey to continue. Banbette!