All the Best for Your Exams

To the classes of 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207 and Year 3 probability elective students:
ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR EXAMS! :)

To 405: Continue to strive for excellence!

To the "Boliao" students who still visit a dead blog... go and study lar... :)

4 Days of conference

This week is the first time that I skipped 4 days on Mon to Thur of school because of a conference...I thanked the school for giving me the opportunity of going to the 10th Asia-Pacific Conference for Giftedness... it really opened my mind... time also to catch up with some good friends also. I am also thankful for all my colleagues who took over my lessons when I am away. They are really nice...

These are the seminars that I have attended...just to write it in my blog for future references.

1) Teaching for Leadership by RJ Sternberg
2) Teaching leadership to over best and brightest by C. Choh
3) Leadership training for the gifted by JA Nainie
4) Preparing the gifted for a multi-civilisational world by Prof Kishone Mahbubani
5) Building gifts into talents: overview of DMGT by F. Gagne
6) Teaching skills for creativity in math by LC. Tan
7) Parenting experiences of several Nobel Laureate by Echo Wu
8) The artist within every child by J. Hauroutonian
9) A pilot study on Talent identification under the DSA in S'pore by LS Tan
10) Mulitiple processes: an essential approach for identifying gifted and talented students
11) The neurobiology of giftedness. Prof J. Geake
12) Talent development in Secondary Mathematics - A Singapore context
13) Intelligence, creativity and wisdom by RJ Sternberg
14) Thinking map by Dr Suzie Oh
15) Gifted students as citizens for the future by Prf Kirsi Tirri
16) Who makes in a curriculum for the gifted by J V Tassal

Well, that is what happens in a conference:
Seminar - Tea - Seminar - Lunch - Seminar - Tea - Seminar - Home

A cycle of getting fat...

Most tiring day of my teaching career

Today marked the most tiring day of my teaching life...

2 individual classes to teach...
2 combined classes to teach... (which means 2x2 classes)
1.5 hours of small group teaching
1 afternoon class (4-6pm)
Finished marking a stack of essays
Evening keyboard lessons

Well, the few rewards is able to catch up with Hui Im and Lijie for dinner, as well as able to teach the classes that I taught last year...other than that, my bones are are so tired....

Teaching insights

Yesterday was a the day when my school celebrated the Youth Day celebrations. I'm pleased with my students who had organized the whole carnival...kudos for them!

Anyway, in the afternoon, as a teacher, I went to the MOE EXCEL Fest in Suntec. Dr Low Guat Tin....a super inspiring educator ... many went because she was super funny...but I personally find her inspiring:

Her topic was "How would children of tomorrow be like?" This was to ensure that the teachers would be able to cope with the demands of tomorrow and then teach their students well.

On the purpose of teaching:
"We should not teach them to earn a living, but to learn a living."

On the fact that most teachers are stressed out, she advised:
"We should not major on the minors in life"

She also mentioned:
"In teaching, the rewards are not only the hard cash, but the heart cash as well." And said that the greatest reward was to see her former students remembering her some even after 40 years.

It was after the talk that I got to see that 2 of my primary school teachers...wow it was so many many years that I've last seen one of them....but really glad to have known that they are still passionate about teaching. Well, they are also surprised that my brothers and I (who are also taught by them) have gone into the teaching field. I feel that this would really be a strong encouragement to them after all these years.

Went to the booth that was set up by my school...but I think that this is the best Excel Fest I have attended for the past 3 years.

First week of semester 2

This week was an hectic week....as one of my teacher friends commented: it seems almost the end of the semester, and not the start.

Anyway, despite the start of the semester, I've managed to catch the show "Get smart" starring Steve Carrell. Super lame show, but good for laughs, and for fans who had seen the original 60s show by Don Adams...

Today is a fun Saturday. In the morning, went to school to help out in the Direct Schools Admission. Then went to orchard to eat lunch with Zijie, Yenwen and Zhiwei. It was really long seen we last met...ever since my own wedding. It's always good to catch up with secondary school friends.

Then, my wife and I went to Carrefour to shop for groceries, before going back home.

In the evening, my wife and I went to Stanley's place, where more than 20 people met. Stanley would be going to Shanghai International School to teach in August, and this would be a get together to bid him farewell.

After that, we went to my brother's place to see my niece, but when we get there, his secondary school friends are there as well.

Looking forward to week 2 :)

Happy Birthday Janel Lee!

Happy Birthday Janel!!!

So glad to witness the birthday of one beautiful girl today!!! She's so pretty...even auntie Julia says that too...

Yes.... today marks the special day... the exact birthdate of my brother's daughter, Janel Lee! That means I am now an official uncle...haha....

Well....the second good news is that the Boston Celtics finally won its first Championship for NBA after I have supporting it since 1989...hoho...19 years in the waiting....way to go!!!

Rest from the fast pace of life

These 3 days, I had really had good rest from the fast pace of life... a good time to recharge...

Monday: Went to school to meet up with students for some admin work ... then in the afternoon... went to tiong bahru to watch another show, the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian... I would say that the Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe is nicer... but overall...prince caspian is still a watchable show.

Tuesday... went to school again...to meet up with 2 groups of students on their math project...and later on...went to west coast park for a walk.... a nice place...and that the beach area is nicely renovated as well...

Night time...went to keyboard lessons... though i skipped lessons last week (due to church camp and huanyang's wedding)...the teacher is still good enough to do make-up for me and some of my classmates...

Wednesday, had a good time with wife...was pondering whether to go east coast park or pulau ubin for cycling ... especially when the weather was bad... in the end tossed a coin and decided to go ubin... really fun...

Was amazed by the number of youths going there... basically....there are a number of youths from different churches going there also...apparently for some amazing races... Met with Jason Ang, as well as a student in that island as well... Youth groups are in churches are so happening...so many things to play... I personally feel that they must have prayed very hard...for the weather is really good in the afternoon....cloudy.

Anyway, we explored Chek Jawa, as well as part of the stony quarry road, before heading back to jetty. Thank God for the cycling, coz in the end, the chains of my bicycle became cranky and went off for a number of times (despite chaining it back again). That was during the last 1 km of the journey. We pointed that out to the bicycle stall owner, who gave us back a 2 dollar refund.

After ubin, we took the first available bus to braddell MRT, where we shopped in a Christian bookstore (Crusade Media) and later Jiamei joined us for dinner...good to catch up with her after the genting trip

Time flies so fast...soon this week would be over...and when next week comes, the busyness comes as well...