Scout Council Offer Sunday, Apr 30 2006 

Life and Thoughts impeesa 2:06 pm

For the uninitiated, the title of this blog: The Wolf That Never Sleeps, is the English translation of Impeesa, which is the Scout Nickname of the founder of Scouting, Baden Powell. Just a little background for this post.

Just the other day I received a phone call from this fellow scouter I hardly even know. He says he’s willing to nominate me to stand for election as a scout councillor. That came as a surprise. Not that I’m in need of some ego stroking or something, but I was hardly thinking about these things at all.

I recently stepped down from a commissionership, because of, among other unpublishable reasons, work.

Not too long after I was sort of offered another commissionership, which I declined easily because I felt that it would be too close to the one I had just relinquished, i.e. the reasons for which I left were still valid.

Now the scout council offer is not as simple. It is something that needs further consideration. The opportunity is there for youth representation, and I fear that if I do not step forward, youth voice in the association will take a step backward, because an older person may fill the place and our already pathetic population of young councillors will dwindle further. The situation warrants consideration.

 

Interesting fellow educator’s blog Sunday, Apr 30 2006 

Work impeesa 1:50 pm

I bet there are thousands of these out there, but well… this one got “tomorrow-ed” on http://www.tomorrow.sg/

Here it is: http://roamer.pitas.com/

 

I hope to see a change Sunday, Apr 30 2006 

Work impeesa 12:55 am

Its hard to watch a student being reprimanded by the discipline master. You start to think about whether you were doing the right thing to highlight the situation to him, and you wonder whether everything will turn out fine in the end.

Then you have to deal with the sudden and abrupt loss of rapport with the student.

Regardless, what is done is done. All I can hope for is to see a change in behaviour.

Its often said that adults don’t understand kids, they’re right. I don’t claim to understand them. It tough and its a hard life. Well, its not an easy life and nobody claimed it to be. Take heart that there are others around you to support you through it and you will be fine.

Cop out and take the easy way and then blame it on adults who don’t understand you? One day you will be an adult.

 

What exactly is a teacher’s job scope? Tuesday, Apr 25 2006 

Work impeesa 1:59 pm

An interesting, thought-provoking and even blood boiling topic if you ask the right teacher about it. Today, what can be considered a typical day in a school, I have:

  1. Taught lessons
  2. Collected PW documents (Today is submission day)
  3. Registered students for an exam. Printed out lots and lots of sheets of paper to be distributed to them. Also did not remember my password to the system, so had it reset.
  4. Plan out how to administer a survey on behalf of an external organisation
  5. Update a guest list for upcoming school event

Tomorrow I need to:

  1. Collect fees!
  2. Issue confirmation slips
  3. Teach
  4. Plan publicity for upcoming event by EXTERNAL organisation
  5. Issue survey forms for that survey I mentioned
  6. If I can squeeze it in I need to plan some lessons and prepare some tutorials

What gives…

And it wasn’t the craziest day today. I’m not disputing the fact that we all need to earn our keep, nor do I think that I am working too hard. Fact is that the number of hats a teacher is expected to wear is increasing.

There are numerous questions that can be asked about this situation.

  1. Should we be expected to take on so many different roles?
  2. Can I be effective/excellent in these roles? (Don’t even talk to me about training if only it were that simple)
  3. Are students shortchanged because they have a relatively inexperienced mentor?

What is a teacher in the end?

 

A cry for help? Monday, Apr 24 2006 

Work impeesa 4:07 pm

Dealt with two students today. Two students worlds apart in character to say the least, whose issues are worlds apart as well. One thinks so highly of himself that he sees fit to constantly skip classes, the list is long and growing relentlessly. The other questions himself at every opportunity, casting doubts on his own ability such that there is an obvious nervous energy about him.

One I dealt with without even talking to him. Taking actions that hopefully will have the effect that speaking directly to him never had. Clearly some are not as mature or clever as they think.

The other I had a long chat with, found out a little bit about his character, and what was essentially irking him.

College is a time of great upheaval, and students will learn from this time, either through successes, or the failures that are so often hidden away in the recesses of our minds. School is where you learn, and teachers teach these lessons, either way.

 

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