Stain

Hi all.

Sorry for not coming to school on Friday. I woke up feeling very giddy and walked like a drunken person. So I went to the doctor and he said it was because of a slight fever, lack of rest and water. As you all know, somebody stole my white water bottle so I hardly bring any water to class anymore because I really do not like my pink water bottle. So, my day was spent catching up on sleep. I feel much better now.

From Paul's blog, I gather that your relief teacher was Mr Wong. I hope that was fun. I know how dreadful post exams activities can be and how you pray for the holidays to come soon.

He also said there was some confusion about the patrol duties. Why not just stick to the schedule I gave you? The schedule will be rewritten though, to include Gabe.

There are still cases of bullying in 3G. Despite what I have always said about bullying (that it is cowardly and for the weak), you still do it. WHY? I hate to think my Lasallians are weak cowards. I will speak to some of you on Monday. Remember that when you are being scolded, it is for your own good and because I care, and not because I favour certain Lasallians over another.

Those of you who think they might have done something to hurt the feelings of a classmate or a friend, think of what you did carefully and decide why is it that you do it even though you KNOW bullying just means you are weak. The strong do not need to bully anyone.

Don't let bullying be a stain on your young hearts. I will repeat all these about bullying until you understand the seriousness of it.

How do you know if you're a bully? Just ask yourself: Have I done or said anything to purposely hurt someone's feelings? If the answer is yes, then you have been a bully to someone.

See you on Monday.

EXAMS OVER!

One of the first things I said to them today was 'Today... Is the last day of the exams'.
And everyone went 'YAY!!!'

I had the urge to join in with the cheering, but then I am, after all, a dignified teacher and must go against my every instinct to act like a nine year old.

It was a short day. The exam took close to two hours because it was really lengthy. After that, was recess. I forgot all about patrol because I was engrossed with checking your Math paper. Then it was two periods of Art when the class was deafening. Water was spilled THRICE, because Denzel's water bottle broke.

I asked him to throw it away because there is no way that bottle can hold water anymore. But Denzel said his grandmother will scold him and he looked terrified, so I said, OK and endured two more spilled water incidents. In the end, we did not manage to finish our art pieces because the school has ordered us to go to the hall for the last three periods. What a waste.

We watched Annie the Musical, starring Lasallians and Lasallian teachers. I must've watched that musical a hundred times last year. The viewing just now was bad because of the bad sound quality and the very bored Lasallians. The Gs keep running out of the hall to drink from their water bottles.

Anyway, it must be embarrassing for Charmain (Anne's sister) to watch that musical with all her friends laughing at her, when she is the main star Annie.

The day ended quickly. Some girls were hounding me and demanding to know their Math results. Their efforts are in vain because I will never reveal their marks until I am allowed to next week.

See you tomorrow!

One Hundred Is A Beautiful Number

I was very happy after school today because Mrs Ng has finally finished marking your Math paper and one of you had FULL MARKS!!! I was so jubilant (happy) that I wanted to jump off DLS and fly away. I will not reveal who it is but it is a boy. I know all of you will guess that it is Wen Xin but... Sorry Wen Xin, it is not you. The second highest is 98 and it is a girl who scored this mark.

This is the best part of being a teacher. If you're a student, you're only elated when you get high marks but when you're a teacher, your joy is multiplied!

Anyway, to that boy, this is an advance CONGRATULATIONS. You listened to my advice, you avoided your usual mistakes and you made it through! I really did not expect this person to get 100! I feel like hugging you, jumping off DLS and flying away!

OK, silliness aside. Your Math paper was not done as well as I expected but plenty of you improved.

Your English paper, on the other hand, is depressing. I shall not write about it. You will see for yourself.

Science paper will be on tomorrow. Just now, we went through Booklet B of last year's SA1 and also several questions from two books I borrowed from Mr Tan. I don't think I have anything to worry for Science and I hope I'm right, saying this.

We talked a little bit about leeches just now. I could not help fitting in a story about my encounter with a leech since there was a question on it in the book. Dylan was frightened by my story and shut his ears. I didn't think it was that scary... It was just about how leeches can climb using its mouth suction. Maybe I shouldn't have told you... I regretted it a little since some of you were really scared. For all your charm and intellect and bravado, sometimes I forget you are only nine year olds. As for me, I am terrified of leeches! They are horrible creatures!

Doctors may use them for medical purposes but I still find them to be disturbingly creepy.

After the paper tomorrow, we will spend the remaining time finishing our art pieces. I can't wait to see the final masterpiece! It will be glorious.

See you tomorrow!

The Ban

I thought the Math paper was easy. I know y'all going to say, BUT YOU'RE A TEACHER OF COURSE IT'S EASY FOR YOU! But honestly, I tried to look at it from a p3 Lasallian's point of view and I really did find it easy, except for a few questions. There are no questions there (except maybe Question 40) which we haven't done before in the form of another question! Gosh, I hope we do better than our rivals, 3E.

Today was a relief! The last paper is on Thursday. Science. I do believe we are going to ace the Science paper. We went through Booklet A of last year's SA1. I don't know if I want to go through Booklet B because most of the question is on Materials, which is not in our syllabus. I'll decide tomorrow.

There have been no real lessons for quite a while so I'm always puzzling over what to blog about, nowadays. The thief is still at large but I think we scared him off already. It's better that way. I hate to see Lasallians being punished. I prefer them learning their lesson themselves.

Speaking of punishment, one of US got punished by Mrs Ng, Second in Command of prefects, just now. It was very embarrassing. I wanted to give that person a piece of my mind just now but then I knew facing Mrs Ng was already bad enough. I'm sure that person will learn his lesson. It was still embarrassing to have someone from OUR class getting punished publicly.

I suppose I must mention that Eraser Fights are now officially banned from the 3G classroom. This is because, when you finish your work earlier than others, you start your eraser fights instead of checking your work. This ticks me off. Even though your eraser fights are mostly quiet, it is distracting and pointless and it hinders you from doing your best. The penalty for having eraser fights is instant confiscation. I just confiscated two erasers just now.

They will get it back. Eventually.

The nearer the holidays are, the rowdier the class gets. This will not last long. When you get your exam papers back, I predict a LOT of stress and fear. I know a lot of your parents have very high expectations, as do I. So don't dream of carefree post exam days. Some classes will watch movies and stuff like that. Not THIS class. We've still got a long way to go before we can sit back and "heave a sigh of relief".

Surface

It's Math exam tomorrow! This exclamation is not an exclamation of excitement but an exclamation of panic! I pray that you have done your practicing and not repeat your same silly mistakes again. The most frustrating thing when marking your work is that, it's not that you can't do the questions, it's just you don't check your work and make a lot of careless mistakes which drives me up the wall!

After the exams, we went through some problem sums and then we had a mock Science exam. In between, since the class demanded for today's dose of General Knowledge Questions, I gave in. Since they just had their English paper, I tested their vocabulary with two words, equestrian and pulchritudinous. Their meanings were correctly guessed by Jolyn and Ad'n, with the help of the rest of the class. Everybody seemed to think that an equestrian is someone who goes on quests and that pulchritudinous means something ugly or foul or bad.

I know why you think that way. Some words in the English language just doesn't sound like what they mean, you know? Like, why does 'food' rhyme with 'foot'? Being someone who creates pictures in my head, every time I eat something and think of the word 'food', instantly, in my head, a foot appears on my plate!

Pulchritudinous just sounds like an ugly goblin with warts (or a dinosaur, said Divya)! But instead, it means beautiful!

Overall, it was a long and tiring day. The class was in their exam mood, which means, they are hyperactive and tend to laugh a lot over nothing. Exams make the Gs quite loony.

The boys are noisy and forever cracking endless lame jokes. The girls... It's hard to say. Some of them are perfect angels while others are little monsters who insist on me listening to their jokes and then laugh hysterically! Jokesmaster Song Lin even brought a giant joke book which she wanted me to read. I declined politely, as I prefer hearing the jokes from her, then to read it.

Outsiders have no idea the diverse personalities of the Gs. While all are incredibly smart and charming, the personalities are all way different from each other.

In the spirit of Science and classification, I have come up with these categories:

1. The Know-It-Alls
2. The Jokers
3. The Serious and Studious
4. The Quiet
5. The Smart Mouths
6. The Drama Kings and Queens
7. The Attention Seekers
8. The Loony
9. The Whizzes
10. The Unpredictables

Which group do you fall under?

I have to go now. I am marking 3E's English scripts.

See you tomorrow!

Pep Talk

My young and impatient friends, I am finally back. I am sorry for not posting on time as a relative of mine was warded in the hospital and coming online was the last thing on my mind. She just had an operation and is fine now, thank God. Also, my brother's friend had an unfortunate accident and passed away on Saturday. I had a lot on my mind after two such horrible things happened over the course of four days (Thursday to Sunday).

I hope all of you have been studying hard over the weekend. My hands are cold right now from worry. I worry not for your Science paper and English paper as you have proven to me that you are very well read and will most certainly achieve a good mark if you bother to check your work (especially your Synthesis).

I am worried about your Math. It is not that any of you cannot do Math, it is just that some of you do not practice enough or do not take your work seriously enough. Why is it that there are some among you who do not take your studies seriously? Why is it so hard to check your work and do your homework?

I do not understand it. You are nine years old and sometimes I wish I was as smart as you are when I was nine. My dreams would all come true if I worked hard enough. But I was blessed enough to have my dream come true. A dream to teach children like you, who may be destined to be the leaders of the country one day.

But you! You are blessed with good brains and good hearts! Do not waste it in laziness! You can do great things!

If your dreams are as big as mine, you must start working now. Practice your Math at least five times a week. Read as many books as you can because in books are where you can find the most amazing things. But don't forget to have fun because even if you have Wisdom, it is nothing without Joy. Even now in my twenties, as an adult, I still take time to watch cartoons, to ride my bicycle, play my PSP and so on. But all that must also come with study and work.

You study because you love knowledge and because you want to be great men and women one day. Not because your parents force you to!

So the next time you think about how troublesome and bothersome it is having to check your work every time and having to study and sit for exams, remember that all your homework and your years in school are like a bridge to a great life of Joy and fun and wonder and learning!

If you don't work hard now, when you are young and smart and full of energy, you will regret it someday, mark my words.

Anyway, that was a long speech. I know you may not understand half of what I just wrote but it will make sense someday.

And Jojo, when I said I'm always here, it doesn't mean I'm online twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week! It just means that when you need my help, just leave a comment here, sms me or call me or come approach me in school, and I will be ready to help you. Silly girl!

So ... Remember my words, my young friends. And like what Buzz Lightyear would say,

To infinity... And beyond!