Venting and Kite Flying

while it is not exactly good to gossip and laugh about our students, it is, arguably, talking about the silly things that these kids do is one of the best ways to vent and destress.

i realise that a lot of the things that i say, do and blog nowadays revolve around my work. there are 2 ways to look at it.

1. sad. cos that means that i have no life anymore, that i'm being cut off from the rest of the world.
2. great. cos that means i'm dedicated to my job. and one should focus on what we do if we really want to do our best.

i prefer to think of it in the latter. though i've been driven almost to my breaking point today by one particular class that i took for relief, i still think that teaching is the job for me.

about this particular class. it's a great example of why disciplining students is like kite flying. pull tight first, then let go. but if you pull too tight, then the string breaks. and the string broke today. the class rebelled. so i've learnt a lesson.

interestingly enough, they managed to keep quiet for the last 20 minutes before school dismissal (after a more senior teacher came to my rescue). and in those 20 mintues, i managed to speak to some of the students almost on a one-to-one basis. and i find them to be very nice students. and that there are particularly 4 students in that class who are the heads. so if any teacher can win those 4 over, then the class will be kept well under control.

i hope i get a chance to talk to these 4 students more tomorrow, on an informal basis. find out how they tick, win them over. i have a cunning plan...

in other news, i was quoted in Mr Miyagi's article in Today. it was my response to Akikonomu's post about Rajaratnam's passing.

right... back to work... grr...