Type : Poetry- Modern
poem
Targeted
audience : Primary school children
Title : Daily Routines
Type : Prose fiction-
Flash fiction
Targeted
audience : Pre-service teachers
Title : The Worthiest
Moments
The
Worthiest Moments
By: Ting Tion Siew
It
was a cool and windy morning which—the best weather for sleeping. The alarm
clock rang ruthlessly, waking me up from my short dream. I snoozed the alarm
clock and continued to sleep. I wished that the time could stopped at that
moment forever. However, I was waken up by the alarm again. This time,
reluctantly, I woke up, telling myself that I could not sleep again, if I
slept, then, I would need to face the music. Pinching my own face, “Wake up!” I
told myself. “Even the day and the sun haven’t wake up but we already wake up.
It’s not easy to be a teacher…” I sighed.
Tick,
dock, tick, dock… The time passed when I was tidying up myself. “Oh no, it’s
almost 6:35!” I thought to myself. Quickly grabbing my bag, I rushed out of my
house and met my friends outside. We called car to go to school. Unluckily, we
only managed to call a car around 6:45 but the car fare was so high that my friends
almost blacked off! “Oh my! The fare cost a hefty amount of money and we may be
late!” grumbled my friends. “Hopefully, there wouldn’t be heavy traffic jam,” I
said. My friends kept grumbling. I comforted them, “Come on, cheer up! We also
can’t do anything about that. So, we just accepted the fate, okay?” We waited
for five minutes. Then, came the car we called. We quickly boarded the car and
off we went. It was my first time of school-based experience (SBE) in this
hectic big city—Kuala Lumpur. I was both excited and perturbed. I did not know
what a school in this big city would look like and how was the attitude of the
school children in a big city would be. I crossed my fingers and wished that
everything would be fine.
We
reached our SBE school around 20 minutes after we departed. Upon reaching the
school, as the day is still dark, we were welcomed by warm street light beside the
main gate of the school. Upon entering the main gate, we were greeted by some
teachers who were in charge to handle the pupils in the morning. We were asked
to meet the assistant headmistress, Madam Chong as the headmistress was not
around yet. We thought we could just get our mentors and started to do our assignments
straight away. However, fate made a big joke with us. When we told Madam Chong
that we needed to give test to the pupils as our “Assessment in Education”
assignment needed that, she asked us to conduct class first before we could
give the test. We explained that we were SBE students and we were not supposed
to conduct class but she insisted us to do so. All of us were down in the dumps
as we were already loaded with assignments. Apart from that, she also assigned us
as sit-in teachers, replacing the teachers who were absent. All of my friends
were not satisfied with Madam Chong’s decision but what else we could do? All
of them were desperate with the decision except Brian and I. Both of us think
that maybe it was chances for us to learn new things so we convinced them. At
last, they accepted the fate reluctantly.
That
day, the school had an assembly before class. After the assembly, I was the first
one to enter the class as a sit-in teacher. I was very nervous. When I entered
and greeted the class, they greeted me in turn. I asked whether they had
homework or not. “Yes…” they replied me. “Then, take out your homework and do,”
I said. At first, the pupils were still obedient. However, after ten minutes,
they were like dislocated horses and the whole class was in a mess. As I only
managed to finish my assignments at the eleventh hour the day before, so I
actually did not sleep well. I would get angry easily if I did not get enough
sleep. Then, they just blew my top, driving me up the wall. “Keep quiet!” I
shouted. All of the pupils were stunned, they quickly behaved themselves. They
knew that I was mad at them. They behaved themselves until the class ended.
When I went back to the office, I was so tired that I was ready to drop. I
managed to take a catnap before I entered another class.
The
fortune out of misfortune was that we were glad that we met Good Samaritans.
All of our mentors were very understandable. They held us their hands without
any hesitation and they helped us a lot during the SBE week. Children were the
gifts from God which I loved and hated at the same time. You were felt everything
you did was worthy when you saw the pupils’ smile after you taught them
something. They would also greet you during recess time and their innocent
cheerfulness which was contagious would make you felt happy and thought that
every single bit of your sacrifice to teach them something, worth it. It were
the worthiest moments when you saw their happiness all over their faces after
learning something and presented me their unique drawings. They said they were
drawing me. I felt honoured as not every Tom, Dick or Harry could had the
opportunity to have this type of experience. Only teachers—“human soul
engineers” that sacrificed, burning themselves to light up others like a candle
could experience this types of feelings.
You
can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. I think I gained a lot of new
experience although the SBE week was not easy for me. As a saying goes, “no
pain no gain”.
(946 words)
Type : Blog
Targeted
audience : Novice Teachers
Title : Walking Out from
the Comfort Zone
Walking Out from the Comfort Zone
By: Ting Tion Siew
I
know that it is easy and comfortable inside the comfort zone but nothing can
grow in there. Especially as a teacher, you should be prepared to be selfless
and try to reach out to the pupils to find out more what had happened to them.
Do not think that why I should do so much of extra work although they are not
under my responsibility. The pupils need you. You are the one that can lead
them out from their difficulties or incidents that will leave unpleasant impact
inside their growing process. No man is an island. You may also try to reach
out to other teachers for help if you really cannot help the pupils to solve
their problems.
Life
is not always a bed of roses. Do not afraid to walk out of your comfort zone.
You must be confident about yourself as you will never know what you will gain
if you have never try it. Do not let every single opportunity for you to learn
slips off. Life is about learning not about enjoying, although you should also
know how to manage your stress properly. Life is grand and full of challenges.
We should try and strive hard to overcome challenges instead of letting
challenges overcome us. Bright days and future is awaiting us, so do not give
up! Never run away from obstacles as when there is a will, there is a way.
(239 words)
