I have great news!

Goodbye Juasseh ):

But, hello new school!

I think so too!

July is somewhat depressive. But we will get over that.

In the month of July, there were many mornings where I woke up with the thought: Yeah, 4 months to go before I end my seervice!

I was so happy. It is actually a bit absurd.

In the month of July, I lost sight of my vision. I have no drive and nothing seems to work. But, I am sure that we will get over that.

It is in the air. It is telling me that I am getting there, so I really, really should keep hanging in there. For the season of change.

I spent a pleasant 30 minutes with P and N today in the SAL Room playing boggles. It was so much fun watching them play and acting as the referee. Both of them has been promoted to better classes this month. P is in Set A while N in Set B. Set C misses her kids who left very much. But she is very proud of them. Very very proud.

It is the human touch. It has always been. It is the human touch that enables me to enjoy my position as a teacher.

100 Acts of Kindness

Under Sarah's encouragement and inspiration, we started our first classroom project last week. I never carry out projects with my much doted darlings in Form 2 because I myself was not feeling confident. I want to stick with a strong structure, I don't want to challenge my kids because I don't want to fail trying. Maybe it was because I was a little too self-aware. Maybe.

But, we started off anyway last week. Together with the project, we started the journal-writing practice as well, just like what I did with other classes (I was so terrified by the idea of asking my students to write, IN ENGLISH!).

I was proven wrong. Gladly. Most of my students have no idea about what to write (expected, of course). A few students decided to be smart and copied my sample diary entries by making single word changes, eg: burger --> roti canai (I was ecstatic seeing that!). One boy got the idea and wrote a short, but very original piece (well, one sentence) about a crush on a girl the class next door (*smitten face*). I am so proud of them!

So last week, we started our 100 acts of kindness project. Source of inspiration: Here.


The first lesson was spent dissecting the topic. Explanation. Examples.

What is an act of kindness?

During the semester exam, Nazrul voluntarily offered almost everyone in the class his examination pad because most of you came unprepared. He was not obligated to do that. He did it anyway. And he did not ask for anything in return.

That is an act of kindness.

It was followed by a session of brainstorming. We brainstormed for ideas for random acts of kindness. We shared our ideas in the class. Most students shared that they would ease their parents' burden by doing more chores around the house. And their homework was to find the opportunity to carry out these actions at home.

After that, we reported back to the class. And wrote down our acts of kindness and pasted them onto our 100 acts of kindness board at the back of the class.

100 Acts od Kindness! Can't wait for the board to be filled up completely by the end of July!

This one make me meltz -- I let Alias use my pen *so innocent*!

We are going to carry on with our 100 Acts of Kindness tomorrow in the haze! Wish us luck!

The thing with most dreams is that you eventually wake up.

I cannot believe that finally, I have put a deadline to something I thought of as a dream, a resolutin, an ambition.

It did feel like a dream.

A good one (:

I enjoy seeing my kids learning.

I am rediscovering the joy of teaching 16-year-olds! Thank you Lord!

My 16-year-olds never fail to surprise me.

Three months ago, they were so ill-behaved in the class that I had to resort to punishing everyone in the class, including the girls.

Two months ago, I think I told the class ten times, "A new teacher is coming. I will only be teaching until the end of this month."

Last month, all of the students failed in their English monthly assessment. And I think I told them another couple of times that "A new teacher is coming. I will only be teaching until the end of this month."

Last week, they surprised me by being ready to learn and being willing to learn.

Last week, they surprised me when they spelt "English" as "inglish" when they wrote in their essay "... Miss Sharon is my inglish teacher".

Today, they surprised me participating so eagerly in class. And that means we have accomplished our first skill under summary writing, which is categorizing!

This boy named A surprised me the most. He has a super bad reputation in school for being a disruptive and under-disciplined student. He behaved that way in my class when I first got into class as well.

He would smirk now and then. He would have a million reasons for not being ready, being late for class, being tardy, being forgetful. More often than other, he would skip my class entirely. He fits the description pretty well.

Maybe I did not know him well enough. Maybe there was more to than what it seems.

He gradually changed my perception towards him. And my heart warmed towards him.

He started showing up for class. Each time earlier than the last time.

He started to copy necessary notes from the board. He started doing work in the class.

He started trying to understand what is going on in the classroom.

He started doing his homework.

And today, he started participating in class. It was a tough objective, we are learning to summarize sentences using categorizing skills. This was the first lesson.

All the students shy away from question number 3 during GP. He stood up. Not entirely realizing what he was trying to do, I tried to coax another boy to attempt question 3.

A went all the way to the front of the classroom, took the marker, and asked me. "Can I try teacher?"

Later, during IP he was among the first to finish his work. And he raised his hands again and again to answer the questions on the board. I did not call upon him and he was so frustrated but he raised his hands for every question after that.

What a day for A! And what a day for me.

Thank you Lord.

I guess sometimes, teachers are wildlife warriors.

I enjoyed being associated with the word "environmental". When Dr. Noor Aini (previous Dean, Faculty of Bioscience and Bioengineering) first enquired us about our future undertakings during the first lecture of Genetic Engineering, I answered boldly that I would most definitey be involved in environmental conservation. She acknowledged the class that she liked how I knew specifically what I wanted to do.

That was approximately four years ago.

Two years ago, I almost started working for a company in Kuching specializing in environmental conservation. I could have lived my word. But that apparently did not happen.

Teach For Malaysia came along.

Environmental conservation issues came back to haunt me, knowing my insincerity probably, even when I am now teaching. Form 4 is officially moving into the theme of "Environment" this month and I was appalled actually, knowing that I knew so little, and that the passion inside me, burn so scarcely.

However, despite my pessimism, my kids touched my heart today. It had been weeks, probably a month or two after I reminded my students in my Form 4 class to bring their text books during English classes, and I almost never make use of the books in my class.

I got my kids to take out their text books to read about Wildlife Warriors in their textbook today and surprisingly, up to 85% of my students have their books. I was truly impressed when they, who always seem too laid back, too disinterested, too disengaged, too rude, too under-disciplined, too rowdy, etc. to me, actually started reading the text which was super challenging for them obediently.

And when we went through the text, there were approximately 40 words that we needed to jot down in our Word Bank (including words like biggest and crawl). And when I got them to reread the text referring to their Word Bank, they actually did as they were told.

The image was just, well, peculiar. Big, tall, noisy 16 year-olds crammed in their seats, peering over their books and their Word Bank, sweating profusely, looking so hard at their books, deciphering with all their might, what a sight.

And we actually managed to complete the objective of summary writing! Our first formal lesson on summary writing!

I am now a very happy teacher!

After spending aprroximately two years away from labs and biology and experiments, I actually start to miss all that a little. Being a teacher can draw all kinds of funny emotions.

But on the hindsight, I guess teaching is some sort of conservation on its own. Well, on very different subjects anyway.

I wanna be intelligent!

This is the second year I am in Juasseh and this is my second year training my students for the choral speaking competition. These students in the choral speaking team enjoyed choral speaking more than I have ever imagined. Probably it is the sense of achievement when they managed to remember the script. Probably because they can stand up proudly before their peers speaking in English. I don't know.

On Wednesday, I bumped into F on our way to the school hall for our practice later that afternoon. He was a shy boy when it comes to teachers and he barely said anything to me the whole year last year.

Therefore, I was delighted when he chatted up with me (He was nervous still but he was trying!. He told me about his concerns regarding memorizing the choral speaking script, which is twice the length of last year's script.

So I asked him if it was easier remembering lyrics of a song? And f he could do that, there should be no problem for our script as well.

He thought for a moment and agreed with me. But then he rebutted, saying that he never really listened to any English songs though. I was surprised.

"Oh wait, there is one English song that I know, it's "I wanna be a billionaire" by Bruno Mars! But that's about the only English song I listened to."

I almost melted. Because it was the only song that I taught the class last year. But we changed the lyrics from "I wanna be a billionaire" to "I wanna be intelligent" (copy & paste from Oga and Hawa's lyrics).

It's the little things sometimes.

Miss Sharon is slowly regaining fuel.

I am having super peculiar sleeping patterns lately. And I am guessing that it is drawn from the pressure of going into classes and the additional work I get on top of that in school. There are a few things on my mind now:

1. Running the school-wide, weekly Spell-It-Right competition more effectively (we lack student participation and to be frank, it is so boring and if I were a students, I would not want to be seen as a part of it! Butt thanks to JK, things are not too pathetic at the moment, but still, something has to be done. Any ideas on how to do that?)
2. Assembling a "perancangan strategik" (strategic planning) for the English panel for the next 5 years.
3. Trying to win a losing battle with 3UPM. 
4.  My reading project!

In that particular class today I prepared two games, a fly-swatter game for the opening of the class and a BINGO game for the guided practice. We are revisiting concord (SVA) today and students are still having trouble mastering the objective. I need to carry out another assessment on Monday I guess. A quickfire challenge!

I am prepared for them today, but the two little heartaches of mine did not show up today ): Maybe we can continue to try to like each other next week. But it has been another pretty good day, so no complains here.

We laughed, and we had fun. In one class, we even get to play Mafia together to help students develop their problem-solving skills! Super happy!

Thank you Lord Jesus, for the good day.

Amen!

Maybe, things would get better.

Of course, I did not expect it to be a perfect class. At least, not yet. I was just taken by surprise, that's all. Which makes me lose my footing a little. I did not expect them to be in the class. I did not expect them to stay in the class all the way until  I leave the class.

I am grateful all the same. I am grateful that (for whatever reason possible they were there in the class, and came back to the class after I gave them permission to leave the room to get something) and that they sat in their seats throughout the entire 40 minutes, and they came to the front when I asked them to, and despite their sniggering they listened to me when I tried to help them catch up, and the fact that we laughed (of course indirectly, we were laughing at different things).

But their expressions like they could not care less still bleeds my heart. The statement Juin made saying "I don't know why they hate English so much, but they REALLY hate English" over dinner is so painful as well. Their body movement that tells that they are not comfortable, they are not pleased, happy etc, makes me flinch.

I do not understand how I can be so weak and vulnerable. I just have to keep forcing myself to believe that they hate me because they hate English. And that time would tell, that I am a good teacher, one who really cares, and goes her way to make sure her students learn something.

But, it is a good day still. It would be the day that my boys who hate me sat through my 40-minute class, without cursing me or causing me any physical harm.

It is a good day then.

Thank you Lord.

Prepare me to brave tomorrow.

Celebrating Small Successes

Yesterday I did a sharing session with my kids on the things that I did during the school holiday. The objective was to get my students to listen and then to speak and write about their holiday as well. I used the same material in Form 1, Form 3, Form 4 and Form 5 but of course, emphasizing on different things (sentence structure for F1, tenses for F3, paragraph building for F4 and F5)

I showed them pictures of the UUM, Japanese food and pictures I took in the Trick Art Museum in iCity (thanks Angeline!). I was surprised some of my kids know UUM and even clarify with me whether UUM is in Sintok instead of ChowKit! But the rest are most amazed by the Japanese food I showed them and most expressed that they have never had Japanese food before.

*Mental note: My kids like to pore over teachers' private photos!*

So the delivery is pretty simple:

1. Let students understand the objective of the day: they need to write about the teacher's holiday and they need to share about their holiday
2. Show pictures and share about the events that lead to the picture
3. Get students to share in class according to the demonstration given by the teacher (do not pick students immediately for speaking assignments, using think, pair, share will lessen the stress)
4. Hand out worksheet for students to write about their holiday (draw a picture and write  few sentences about the picture)
5. Hand out worksheet for students to write about the teacher's holiday

Yesterday was such an amazing day because even in the class that I face most resistance in seems to be in a pretty good mood (probably from the one week holiday) and participated respctfully in classroom activities. They did not even complain  when they were cold-called to share in front of the class. Everyone tried their best to write good sentences in this particular class according to the sentence structure I emphasized in the class as well as the tenses used. I CFU extensively and most of the kids knew exactly where they were and were willing to help their friends who were not on task.

I can't wait to read their worksheet tomorrow morning!

*Happy teacher dance*

4 Steps In Class: Getting students to be ready the way you want them to be

Something else that works in my classroom: 4 Steps in Class!

One of the biggest obstacles I faced in my first year was coping with classroom management. It is distresing trying to get students to be ready for class. By the end of the third month, I wrote down my ideals. I want students to greet the teacher politely, I want students to have all their books and stationeries ready, I want them to be courteous and listen to instructions.

Therefore, I made my four steps in class chart and drill this everytime I step into the class.

I will show the students the charts when I go into the classroom and before we do anything, I ask my students to read the instructions aloud. For students with problem with pronunciation, I will get them to repeat after me.

After reading the instruction, they have to carry out the instruction accordingly. Correct the students to achieve your standards.

It acts like a "Do Now" and once tailored to meet your class' needs, it helps students to understand and be reminded of classroom expectations.

My students have memorized these instructions perfectly now and can remind each other to adhere to the four steps in class. The plus plus plus point is that it acts as classroom decor!


Good luck trying this in class!

七転び八起き

I started reading this amazing blog a few months ago and it took my breath away. The blogger is 15 and joyful. She shares her insight and all things beautiful in her blog.

Which brings me to the title. The title comes from this particular blog. This is a Japanese proverb that literally means: fall down seven times and stand up eight. How beautiful this phrase is. Fall down seven times, stand up eight! It means when life knocks you down, you stand back up. You just keep trying.

Today, I rediscovered something that works in my classroom (I tested it out in all almost all of my classrooms since last year and it works wonderfully every single time!) and this activity I am taking about is the common and humble:

BINGO!

This is a super effective activity in my classes.

You can use BINGO game for practically every subject and every topic.

Some examples:

When I am teaching Grammar, I use BINGO for guided practice. For example, simple future tense using the format of "I will ... next weekend.".

1. Get the students to list down plans for the weekend on the board first. 
2. Then fill in the BINGO worksheet with the plans. 
3. Students take turn to read something from their worksheet but they need to state in full "I will (go swimming) next weekend". Only if they can state the sentence correctly they would be allowed to cross out the item on their BINGO sheet.
4. Once they cross out five item across or down their worksheet they win the game!

When I am teaching vocabulary, I use BINGO for revision.

1. Just list down the words on the board. 
2. Get students to put them into the BINGO worksheet. 
3. For my class, I will state the Malay meaning of the words, and they need to cross off the English equivalent. 
4. The first person to get BINGO is the winner! (Idea stolen from Shannon)

You can use this for synonyms, antonyms, sentence structure, question words, SVA, literature component, reading, speaking etc. etc.


BINGO is a super game in my classes after the Flyswatter Game (NOTHING beats the Flyswatter Game, of course). And it works for almost any subject there is (History, Mathematics, Geography, Science etc.)! The kids are always super excited if you narrate the game in an upbeat tone and even better if it is organized in groups because it would add in some competitiveness amongst groups!

I am glad that we enjoyed ourselves today, and ended it with good old Friday Song (:

It's time to wrap up March! Enjoy the holidays!

In Reality

Going into this particular classroom makes me feel nauseated, dizzy, defeated and tired. It is not because thier English is too far behind. It is not because they are slow learners or that they do not want to participate in the classroom activities.

They bring the worst out of me. The way they chat in the classroom during IP, the way they slouch in their chairs when you address them, the way their eyes judge you when you talk to them, the way they take offense of every consequences for their misbehaviour.

I shout, and yell, and shriek and chase after them. All these seem hysterical when I am no longer in the class as this is definitely not how I normally look like in the public.

All I have left in me is the hope that He is still in charge and He will be the agent of change in me as well as my class.

Extending that compassion. Delaying the judgement.

It is so hard to stay focus in classes, I learn.

How do you focus in English class, when the weather is so hot?

How do you focus in English class, when you are feeling so woozy and sleepy?

How do you focus in English class, when you cannot understand a single word the teacher is saying?

How do you focus in English class, when your cousin just passed away a few days ago?

How do you focus in English class, when your boyfriend has just broke up with you?

How do you focus in English class, when you were just caught stealing?

How do you focus in English class, when you were found to be involved in a crime?

How do you focus in English class, when your mother remarried very recently?

How do you focus in English class, when your mother just lost her job?

How do you focus in English class, when your friend just got suspended?

How do you focus in English class, when you just got beaten up by some older kids in school?

How do you focus in English class, when everyone in class are picking on you?

How do you focus in English class, when you are isolated and stereotyped being a minority?

How do you focus in English class, when your teacher is always so angry?

How do you focus in English class, when you see no connection between English and solving your problems?

I realize today that some days I forgot that my kids are just like me, breathing and thinking human beings with their equal share of problems and heartbreaks.

So here I was, thinking the world of simple present tense and smple past tense and being so upset and agitated by the lack of interest in my kids when they are just too bogged up in their mind to even try.

In the quest of planning lessons that will distract kids from their existing problems!

And instant pick-me-ups for the sleepy-heads!

It's Saturday and it's MARCH!

In comes the black March! Last year around this time, most of the fellows in our first cohort were having a devastating time. I was in a terrible state myself in March last year. I was not eating on regular basis, I was always working well into the evening in school but that did not help at all in raising any sort of efficacy in the classroom, I woke up every morning finding excuses to not go to school, I lost confidence in the mission, sense of possibility running low, well you get the picture.

I coud not believe that it has been one year since that time I was in the death valley. I am still very much in a bad shape with deadlines, programs, syllabus, exercise books etc. wrestling with me for my personal time. I am still an amateur when it comes to being a teacher and every day I fear that something I did or something that I did not do will cause to my kids to kill themselves or to be depressed or be doomed in the future but I have grown so much. At least, I have learned to take things one step at a time, at least I am eating decent meals at least once a day, I can breathe better in the classroom as well as in the staffroom, I lose my temper less, I have the capacity to come up with new ideas and campaigns and programs once in a while.

This year has been so much better.

One of the things that I really fear at the moment is to become compliant of the existing system, the existing classroom culture, and also to be too much into the role of being just-a-teacher-who-dictates.

But, grace is constant in teaching, as in we are showered by grace from time to time, by the children, the parents etc. Yesterday, I totally blew up on two of my kids. One did not complete his work (which was due a week ago) when everyone else in the class has already moved ahead to a second assignment. One was having problem completing his work and was caught copying the answers from the answer sheet.

It was all teary and loud and angry noises and scoldings etc. but today they showed up in school, along with 7 other classmates to help decorate the classroom. They hold no grudge and they were still respectful despite being hammered so hard. One of the boys when asked to design something to put on the wall actually doodled my name in calligraphy (: 

After working hard the whole morning, we had lunch together
in a restaurant outside school.

Posing with their food. Super invested students who made such improvement
in English last year. We will continue to work hard this year.

I forgot to take pictures of the class, AGAIN!? But maybe I will take one after we put up the curtains and is done with the notice board.

One of our fellows shared this video on our Facebook page and I was completely blown away! It is so creative and is such a great opportunity to raise awareness of quality education. Enjoy the video!

Vocabulary Bootcamp: High Frequency Words

Happy Chinese New Year folks! I am enjoying my Chinese New Year break in Kuching with my lovely family. How are you spending your Chinese New Year Break?

I just read an inspiring Malaysian teacher blog. She writes in such confidence and conviction about her kids that I envy her passion and her dedication. Her writing motivates me to dream bigger, so what a great thing it was to have stumbled into her blog (:

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Last week, I implemented Sawittri's vocabulary bootcamp using high frequency words in my Form 2 class. I picked 5 words from the list she sent us and wrote 4 short paragraphs using these 5 words (repetitively) and made copies so that everyone in my class get a copy to read. Then I get them to read aloud. After a couple of turns, most of my kids kind of remembered how to read the sentences from listening to their friends and they read loudly as well. WHICH IS AMAZING because my students often forfeit before they even try when it comes to reading!

So this is how it works:

1. I picked 5 high frequency words.
2. I wrote 4 paragraphs using these words. The paragraphs are written using similar sentence patterns so everything is the same except for the content.
3. I made 7 copies (I have my students sit in 7 groups of four).
4. Students are to take one slip each and passed the story around in their groups everytime I said "SWITCH".
5. Students who can read are asked to read first.
6. Carry on solo reading aloud for a couple of rounds and then call on students who are less confident reading aloud.

I had carried out this activity twice in the same class last week on Thursday and Friday using the same high frequency words but in different sentence formats. I hope that by doing this more often I can encourage my kids to recognize more words and give them more confidence when it comes to reading.

I can't wait to carry out this activity more often and see how far my kids can go by the end of this term!

p/s: I lost one more student from my Form 1 class because he is transferred to another school ): All the best to him in the new school! He is starting classes there tomorrow!

Be bold. And speak English.

How many English teachers out there teaches English in Malay? I do. In my weakest English classes, I do. I feel really bad about it, but it just seemed to me, well, necessary.

I have seen successful examples of teaching using English as a medium as well as content to students with minimum proficiency. Yes, those were inspiring examples, carried out by the humblest of teachers.

However, I never did that in 1USM, and now, 2USM.

On Friday, I dreaded going into 2USM for their English class. Under the SET system, I lost a few of my students who used to help me in class. There have a better command in the language and therefore can always help me to coach some of their friends with their homework too.

I started off with a few commands that we are comfortable with in English: please repeat after me, active listening position, please raise your hand etc. Then I started giving instructions in Malay addressing the agenda for the day.

S who was sitting in the first row said to me in hushed voice "Teacher, speak English."

I was pleasantly surprised. I never thought that my kids would actually want me to speak in English.

So I started to say more English. And to my surprise, some of my kids who are more outspoken than the rest started asking me questions in their broken English: Apa you speak?

It struck me then that if I don't speak English and expose them to English, where else would they be able to do that? If I don't start somewhere, if they don't start somewhere, we will never go anywhere.

Armed with this new mindset, I am determined to make sure I speak English in my classes (: Wish me luck!

A long due post. And January is reassuring (:

This is officially week 5 into the new term. I am feeling relaxed, and more in charge this term. Experience does make the difference. So much have taken place over the past couple of weeks and I am happy and contended to be where I am today, crediting God for all the things He pushed me through.

And my students have come a long way as well, especially my students in my Form class. This is my second year with these children, and they had been really patient with me. I came in trying to be their boss, telling them that they shoould be doctors and scientists, when they actually want no such things. I belittled them and I imposed myself on them, dictating their actions and their speech.

I used to come into class bitter every day. They were irritated even though they tried their best to be compliant. They accomplished the impossible. From zeros, to a whooping 96% passing rate in English. I am really grateful of these kids of mine because their success gave me a little bit more courage, and they inspired me.

This year as I stepped into class, I sensed the difference. The difference comes from their affirmation and their confidence in me. The kind of feeling I suspect mothers get from the kids: they know that you cared and you love them amidst all the scolding and disciplining. That particular moment was extremely moving for me.

And then, they started to rebel again. Ah well, no one said anything about a mother being an easy responsibilty. But I finally feel appreciated, and that what I am doing is actually fruitful and meaningful.

There are more challenges this year:

• I am handling two exam classes this year
• I am the head of the English Panel (even though I did not contribute much)
• Facing a whole different set of students in Form 4
• Confronting more emotional struggles in terms of my relationship with myself
• Different family problems among the students
• My community project
• Trying to make an impact before leaving
• Learning from the mistakes I made last year

It is going to be a great year if I let God into more of my decisions and if I try to listen to Him.

Anything and everything is possible, and that, knowing that so much could be done, makes it so much more stressful.

On a lighter note, watch this space because soon, very soon, I am going to show off our new classroom and its beautiful new coat of paint (it's the brilliant smurf-blue! gosh!) and classroom decor.

This piture was taken in the third week in January. I was holding one Physical Education class at that time. (I know, right? PE? Me?!)

So, it is a good thing I am no longer teaching PE (thank goodness) because instead of getting my girls to exercise, I let them do things like this (see below).

The lovely girls in Form 2 were so excited and told me that they must show me this.

I am feeling contended in many ways.

Another week has gone by, praise the Lord!

I feel especially encouraged and motivated this week because of the amazing things our 2013 cohort fellows has been doing (: Their posts on Facebook are always so honest and real, and the things they did in their schools, and also their small successes and the impact they are already making in their schools, are all amazing things ! I really look forward to read about them every day.

Knowing that I am only going to teach both of my Form 4 classes for a short period of time was a suprising and disappointing news. I have already fallen for students from both classes and it is difficult to take that away. It is not because they are incredibly lovely in class. It is actually the opposite. There are so many unresolved issues that I wish I could resolve in these classes before I leave. And also names that I have yet to memorize to match those lovely faces.

One particular class this year is very difficult. We started off the wrong foot and our relationship spiralled down over the weeks. I am proud of myself because I have never doubted my students' potential to achieve more than they are achieving now academic-wise but I wish I could say the same about my faith towards the progress of their behaviour and attitude. I guess I never really give my students the chance to prove their worth, behaviour and attitude wise. Whenever a student shows actions and gestures that are disrespectful or defiant, my blood boils and that usually leads to cornering the child and bombarding him/ her with my ideals and why they should live up to my ideals.

Which is unfair, definitely. But I will continue to work on that. Maybe not by intimidating my kids but trying to understand where they came from and work on it from there (it is so much easier said than done of course, like always). And that's one of the many reasons I am reluctant to let go of these classes.

As I was pondering about all my difficult classes this year I remember how I have asked God, particularly and specifically, to make it difficult for me this year, so that there would be  more for me to contribute, the more to progress. And He has granted my wish.

TGIF!

I had a pretty bad time in one of my classes today. I did not plan for it to go this bad. In the end, the children were unhappy. I was unhappy as well. Reflecting on it make me feel even more bummed because I know very well that we could have gotten off a better start if I can stop taking everything so personally!

If a student did not behave in the way I want them to it does not really mean that they hate me or wanted to make me suffer. It is just the circumstances that they were in made it impossible for them to act otherwise. And, I am supposed to be here to give them a push so they can escape these circumstances.

Thank You Lord for being here with me all the time because despite my frustration, You reminded me over and over again my purpose of being in Juasseh and my purpose of standing in the classroom.

However the day got better (: I talked to Chia on the phone and am really happy that she came back from Medan, Indonesia feeling charged! And, guess what came in the mail today?

My books came in the mail today!

Now, all I want to so is spend the weekend curled up in bed with books and have Indie bands playing my favourite songs in the background! 

Tell me something good!

Inspired by one of my favourite teacher blogsRowdy in First Grade.

Something good, something good, something good!

Something good on my first day of school:

I did not wake up when my alarm went off by 6a.m. in the morning (sigh, why does this happen so often?) and ended up waking up by 6:45a.m. after my housemate knocked at my door, but we made it to school on time! Hooray! And, I managed to wash and shampoo and dry my hair before leaving for school! And I even managed to have breakfast as well!!! 

My kids do not show obvious signs of resentment seeing that I am STILL their form teacher, praise the Lord! We had an okay classroom session today. I was with them for 2 hours and 40 minutes! We did a few activities, nothing mind-blowing but I gathered enough information I need.

Form 1 students are extremely adorable! They are so small! I will see them in class tomorrow, now that's something to look forward to!

Some other good things today that contributed to this great day:

We had our corporate shirt made at this really fancy tailor shop in Bahau (:

Daniel sharing with me about his first day at work!

Achieving the consistency I wanted in my porridge!

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Now let's get some sleep people, it's a school night, yikes!

Far, far, far too soon!

I cry out to the Lord, I pray to the Lord for mercy. PSALM 142:1

Today is the last day of holiday before the new semester starts. I am feeling excited and a little bit anxious about starting the school term. One of my colleagues mentioned that after going back to the fishing village she is teaching in, seeing the students she teaches on the street reminds her that it is not a dream. She really is a teacher!

I wonder if all new teachers feel that way too. I am back in the village I am teaching in a few days ago and a few of the students I taught last year met me on the way to the pasar malam. They raised their hand from afar and nod their head slightly, addressing me “Teacher!”. I smiled back and was actually at a loss for words. Deep inside, I shuddered, thinking to myself that: my gosh, I am coming back to these kids and this village. It is not a bad feeling, but it just so happen to make me shudder.

Well, school starts tomorrow, so I better straighten things up! It’s going to be great tomorrow!

I have gotten ready... my stationery box!

Our classroom values flash cards!

Our 4 steps to class!

Our student survey!

and last but not least our can you find my name word search puzzle!

  

There is still so much wok to be accomplished but I guess now that I have my classroom goals ready, it should be less difficult to keep everyone on track!

March on to a brand new semester!