Of Pots And Kettles

The Pot Calling The Kettle Black

I have been in service for more than thirty years, twenty-three of which is in the teaching profession. I have seen many types of people with many different characteristics and I have definitely gone through many emotional turmoils. Nevertheless, to be fair, I have also undergone my share of wonderful and gratifying experiences.

I have also had the experience of working for several superiors. I am happy to say that a few of them have made my work as a teacher very enjoyable in which case, time just flew without me even noticing. However, there are some superiors who have made my working experience very distasteful and have made me think about whether I am in the right profession or not, more than once.

To make things worse, there are those who do not practise what they preach. They tell their subordinates to do one thing while they do something else. In some cases they keep telling you to give all you can to the profession with verbal hints of gratification, when in fact the rewards go to those less deserving. Some people can just display the little that they do and get instant gratification, while you work your hide to the bone, and you get just that; bone!!

Selesa Beach Resort is so Selesa

A Relaxing Place to Relax

This evening I just returned from a two-day meeting at Selesa Beach Resort in Port Dickson. Even though in essence it is called a meeting, to me however, is actually a brief vacation from the mundane routine that I go through every monotonous day. As the name of the Resort suggests, it is indeed a relaxing (selesa) place for an individual to wind down. Even better the stay there was free.

Actually, I have attended many meetings at this venue for the past ten years or so, ever since this resort was known as Regency Hotel until it was taken over by a new management a few years ago who decided to call it by its present name. And I have never had any complaints! One thing that I can applaud this resort is it is quite friendly. On a few occassions I reached the resort earlier than the check in time, usually after a long, hot two-hour drive. And I have always been pleasantly received by the staff at the reception counter who checked me in even though I had arrived at 12.50 p.m. By the way, the check in time is 2.00 p.m.

Unfortunately meetings conducted are usually long and time consuming and they do not leave the participants much time to go to the beach for a swim or a stroll. However, just catching a glimpse of the calm azure sea is usually enough to bring cheer and relaxation after long sessions of meetings. I'm hoping to attend more meetings at Selesa Beach Resort because it is "selesa"!

A Matter of Responsibility

Relaxing Under A Shady Palm Tree

The roads were very congested that day and all the vehicles were practically crawling inch by miserable inch under the hot four o'clock sun. Matters were made worse because for the whole month of Ramadhan a particular section of the road in the town of Gemas has been closed to make way for the annual Ramadhan Bazaar.

I had been going up and down this particular road for almost half an hour, visiting the stalls, going to the tailors and buying somethings for our break of fast. I was searching in vain for the policemen whom I had seen earlier chatting with each other, oblivious to the traffic jam which was happening right under their stumpy noses. I was hoping that, if they were still there, they would have helped to ease the traffic congestion.

And after squinting my eyes and getting them acquainted to the scorching rays of the sun, I caught sight of one of the policemen, taking shade under a palm tree. Being a busy body that I am, I stood across the road and to my dismay, noticed that he stood there for almost half an hour, merely watching the congested road in front of him. That makes a total of one hour of idling.

I am not against resting. But if a teacher were to play truant like the policeman mentioned earlier, I am sure people from every quarters would make a hell of a noise, condemning the teacher; including the policeman himself. People should be fair in passing comments and not restrict them to people from one occupation only. I'm being fair in passing my comments! Thank God for blogs!

Thanks For The Money!

A Little Goes A Long Way.....

The Prime Minister has made a wise move in announcing that all government servants will be getting RM500.00 each for the coming Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Some many groan in despair and express their dissatisfaction that this amount of money is too little and would make any kind of significant difference to their already ballooning household expenditure.

I, on the other hand, feel that money given by the government or anyone else for that matter, other than our salary, is a welcome addition to our monthly income, even though it comes once in a blue moon. It helps to ease the extra expenditure that will occur during this festival. And being the bread winner for my family, I say that this little bit goes a long way.

Let us not complain about the sum that is given to us. Let us express our appreciation by striving to work harder and make a positive contribution to our service because if this small sum were not given to us, our budget for this festival would be a little tighter!

Ask Me No Questions, And I'll Tell You No Lies

Of course people don't usually ask me any questions. First because I am the quiet type and second, because I usually shy away from people when I see them heading towards me. And especially when I know people want to converse with on topics that I don't really favour.

However, it seems very odd when people begin to lie through their teeth when nothing is asked from them. It always hurts me more when people lie because they think they want to protect me from the agony of listening to the truth; when they think that I cannot accept the truth.

I suppose that is the real reason why I shy away from people. Mostly because I already know the truth, but because people think that I may get hurt when they me the truth, they begin to tell me lies. I, on the other hand, already know the real situation.

Master of Ceremony: How Long More?

For Better Or For Worse

My first experience at being a master of ceremony (MC), actually took me by surprise almost fifteen years ago, when a colleague who was supposed to be the MC for that particular PTA meeting, was taken ill. As reluctant as I was at being asked to do something ad hoc without any advance preparation, I took the task in my stride and, I was even more surprised when the meeting went on without a hitch. The rest, as they say, is history.

And now, fifteen years later, I am still that MC, but for many more occasions other than PTA meetings, including seminars, official functions, school sports, district and state level activities and even workshops. I must say that I have enjoyed being the MC all these years, mostly because I like to create texts and also poems to be read during the occasions. I say 'I have enjoyed being the MC' because I feel the novelty (if you can call it that after all these years!) has finally started to wear off.

I also feel that it is high time that this position is filled by someone else, preferably a younger protege, a fresh face, who could take over this position. I feel that for someone whose age is pushing half a century, it is time for me to hand over the microphone to that person. I am truly honoured to hear that people still feel that I am the best person for the job, however I feel that there are many more younger and more capable people out there who are waiting for their turn to shine. And shine they should because I am not going to be around forever. Anyway, I always feel that it is always better to walk away with dignity where the choice to leave is yours and not when you are told to do so.

I suppose that is all I am asking for. Give me my dignity!

Good Luck to My Ex-Students!

Rezza Roslan

Muhammad Asyraf Khaja Mohideen

Shazwi Abdul Razak

Anis Fadzlin Abdul Razak

Every year I go through the same feeling but never has it been this poignant and exciting at the same time. Poignant because some of the students above actually went out of their way to thank me (and, I suppose other teachers too) for all that I have done to enable them to be where they are today. That place in question is where they will be studying for their tertiary education doing their first degrees. And exciting because I get to know, one by one, where they will be going to to further their studies. It is just like receiving one good news after another!

I do not take credit for my students' success, but I feel honoured and privileged when my students actually thank me for what I have done. It is true that a teacher's work is to teach his student merely because he is paid to do so, and no gratification should be elicited from this work. And in fact, a teacher does not actually ask to be appreciated! But when a student comes up to you and articulates a single word 'thank you', it makes years of teaching worth the effort. Even though, a teacher may have taught thousands of students throughout his profession, it does not really take all those thousands of students to express their gratitude. One simple thank you from one student would be enough. One student can actually make up for all those thousands who 'forgot' to say thank you.

All I can say to my ex-students, especially those whom I feature in this blog entry, who have said thank you is, thank you and that your success is reward enough for me.

Exam for Teachers!

This whole week has been exams for teachers and today is the last day. A few days is not really a short span of time when you consider the actual time spent by teachers to read up on the topics that would be coming out in the exams. Even longer, when you consider the fact that some teachers have been taking the same exam year after year without success, apparently because of a quota system that determines how many of us pass and how many of us fail. I mean, if you already know who is going to pass or otherwise, then why allow us to sit for the exam in the first place?

Apart from being unfair, I personally feel that examination can be a daunting experience and from another point of view can be quite discriminating, too. Daunting because, being one who does not have young age and an active medulla oblongata on my side, I have to sit in the same hall with younger colleagues. Discriminating because, well, examination is the time when your heads of departments start discriminating those whom they want to go up the ladder of achievement and those who will remain at the base of the ladder.

But with this particular exam being what it is in the first place, perhaps some people just don't need ladders. They can simply ride a magic carpet and fly off into the sunset enjoying their meteoric rise!

Servants and Labours : Happy Labours' Day

Wow! It has been a while since I posted anything in this blog of mine. Since today is the 1st of May, I guess it is appropriate to write about Labour's Day, what we teachers being government servants who are actually labours. If you think about it carefully, teachers are in a way like labours, which does not necessarily require us to do labourious tasks. But, teaching and everything else that comes with it, IS labourious. Much have been said about the piles of work put on a teacher's shoulders. If it were teaching per se, I am sure no teacher would complain. However, we have to express our grouses because most of what we do in school does not reflect the aspiration of teaching at all. Clerical work, meetings, courses, workshops, organising social activities and a lot of other unrelated things that people outside the teaching refuse to believe. I say, let these skeptics take over our duties for a week and see how they feel.

Am I That Invisible?

You can tell a lot about your friends based on how they react to your not being at work or in this case not being at work for three days in a row! After twenty plus years of being in the teaching profession, none of my colleagues' reactions can actually cause me to feel surprised anymore (at least, that's what I thought!). In any case, it is actually expected of them! I have been missing from duty for three days in a row; the first day I took two bus loads of students out on an excursion and the second and third day I was out on medical leave.
It was rather heart-warming to hear a few friends asking where I was and if I was feeling better; a few said they wondered why they had not seen me for three days. But it was quite disheartening (I should be immuned to this already, based on the number of years I've been in this profession!) when a few did not even realise that I was not in school! Is this a sign that I am dispensable? Or is this a sign that my presence all these years have not left any impact at all? To friends who cared, thank you. And to those who couldn't care less, I guess the feeling is mutual.

What Does A Teacher Do? Part II

After completing the before part of the lesson, now comes the while part of the lesson. This is where you see the teacher starting the lesson not with the set induction but with attempts to control the class situation due to the rowdiness of the 40 odd number of students, telling them to get ready for lessons and getting out their books, which more often than not, would take up about 10 to 15 minutes of the lesson. It takes the teacher another 5 minutes during the set induction to actually get the students ready and to listen to what the is saying.
The teacher then proceeds to Step 1, which could be a comprehension exercise which would take about 2o minutes; a task which would be preceded by reading aloud individually or in groups and with the teacher correcting the pronunciation or stress of particular words. Then, while the students are doing their work, the teacher would not be sitting down at his desk, but be walking around from student to student in order to, one, find out if any of the students are facing any difficulties and two, if the students are actually doing their work. The teacher would also be guiding the students to search for difficult words using the dictionary. The final part of the lesson would consist of a remedial or enrichment exercise, after discussing with the students the answers to the comprehension exercise. Bear in mind that for 40 minutes, the teacher has been on his feet without sitting down. Can you imagine if the teacher has eight periods for that day? He would then be on his feet for 320 minutes or 3 hours and 40 minutes! And still people insist that a teacher's work is relaxing!

What Does A Teacher Do?

The present teacher is burdened with a lot of other unrelated work besides teaching because the ministry thinks teaching is a simple thing to do. Maybe I can highlight to these people some of the things and the processes that a teacher goes through before, while and after teaching. Please take note and don't just walk away!
Before the actual teaching, a teacher has to prepare his lesson plans for the next day. If there are four classes, there will be four different lesson plans. Writing a lesson plan doesn't take much time but it is the thought into writing it that takes most of the time. First, the teacher needs to know the proficiency levels of his students. Then he would have to look for suitable materials to be used during the lesson which could take hours of pouring through the Internet and reference materials. Next, he would have to develop at least two different sets of exercises based on the materials he has found. Following this, he would have to copy the materials, type the exercises, print them and photocopy according to the number of students for that one particular class. He would also need to foresee the difficulties faced by the students in order for him to come up with remedial or enrichment exercises. Only after at least ten hours of planning would he be able to write down the lesson plan. All this is done before teaching; and that's only for ONE class and ONE period only! It would be double time for a double period!
NB: While and after teaching to follow.

A Happy Teacher Is A Productive Teacher

Many debates about the responsibilities of teachers have made the headlines in all the media for as long as I have been teaching. And consequently many promises by the ministry have been made to look into matter. However, sadly they have looked into the matter! Why do I say that it is sad? This is because that is what they normally do; that is they just 'look into' it!

Teachers say that their work is to teach but they are burdened with too much clerical work which can affect the teachers' focus and attention on their real responsibility. I say that clerical work is part and parcel of being a teacher, which does not necessarily mean I totally agree with it. But if a teacher needs to be given clerical work besides teaching, I would suggest that teachers be given less teaching periods. More than 20 periods a week consume a lot of the teachers' sane time and thus leave them less time for nothing else, especially clerical work. I mean, if you want teachers to excel in both areas that is teaching and clerical work.

Exams

We cannot run from the fact that one of the reasons why we all go to school, apart from studying and making new friends, is to eventually sit for exams. Some exams are more important than others especially the ones that determine our future. However, having said that, some students still delay revising their subjects until the very last minute. No amount of encouragement from their teachers would sway them from their couldn't-care-less attitude. These are the group of students who wait until the very last minute to do their revision, if any can be done at all, considering the tension that is building up due to the impending examinations. Not only because of the tension but also because there is really not enough time to read up on all the lessons taught in class. Nothing that has been taught in, let's say, one and a half years, can logically be crammed into one night of studying, no matter how intensive. So, especially to my students, my advice is, to start your revision when your teacher tells you to do so because, one thing is sure, the teacher only has the students interest in mind.

A Teacher's Greatest Gift

Nothing gives a teacher that feel good factor than to see his children do well, per se. And I say this in general, even though I am actually referring to the recent SPM examination results which saw quite a few of my children achieving personal goals of their own. And when I say children, I am referring to my students, who to me, are like my own children; one because of our obvious age differences and two because that is how I treat them. Like my own children. My only regret, if you can call it that is, some of my children do not see that bond that I am trying to make with them, to the extent of making my presence in class to teach them as something of a nuisance. I always think that these children who do not appreciate their teachers as elderly people, would usually treat the elders in their homes in the same manner; those elders being their parents. I pity their parents who lack the appreciation of their own children. I, on the other hand, can at least take heart in the one or two children in my school who are appreciative of me, even though they are just a fraction of the hundreds in school. They make my day!

To Boldly Go....

Teachers who have just graduated should go to schools where they are posted to, especially to rural areas. They should not, therefore, use the influence of people they know to avoid from being posted to these schools since this where their services and expertise are required the most. Being young professionals, they should take it as a challenge to go to these rural schools and see how they can best implement or adapt all those knowledge about teaching techniques that they have acquired during their three-year stint in universities. Being posted to a rural school can without doubt be very distressing. People always say that there is a first time for everything and if young teachers do not give it a try, then who will. You cannot expect teachers who are on the verge of retiring to be posted to rural areas. They themselves may have had their own share of experience in teaching students in rural areas. So, it is only fair that newly appointed teachers accept their appointments with an open heart, even though a bit heavy, and stick to what you were taught to do, that is to teach.

The Gherkin Analogy Part II

Still on the subject of 'master teachers' whose purpose of being allocated to various institutions is to help teacher trainees who will be teaching English Language in local schools, with their English. This, according to one imaginative person who has seen too much of Alice in Wonderland, will improve the English Language of these teacher trainees who, at the end of their training, will be posted to local schools where a majority of the students would not have English Language as their mother tongue. Imagine this scenario! A dedicated teacher with full mastery of English Language, thanks to the 'master teacher' and the Alice in Wonderland fan, now face to face with not less than one hundred of these local students! This teacher happily thought, with the particular skill bestowed upon him, he would be able to impart similar knowledge to the students. But to his dismay, he found it impossible to accomplish this because, unlike him, the 'master teacher' and the Alice in Wonderland fan, these students do not have basic command of English Language. In a nutshell, every one starts by building their own Wonderland, thanks to Alice and her 'fan'.

The Gherkin Analogy

All of us sit in utter silence holding our breath and await the outcome of this 'master teacher' programme where at this initial stage, about 300 English teachers from the UK are placed in several institutions to help future teachers with their English Language. With the lack of information in the media, it is assumed that one 'master teacher' is appointed to help and guide, let's say, not less than one hundred teacher trainees. I have the strange feeling that these 'master teachers' must feel exactly like the local teachers when they are placed in local schools. Let us imagine these 'master teachers' as a small cucumber each and the local environment including the teacher trainees as pickling brine. What do you think would happen? The end result would have the cucumber taste like the brine because it is immersed in something that overcomes it. You will never get the pickling brine to taste like the cucumber! Talking about cucumber, how cool is that analogy!

In The Midst of Hardship (2)

This is what we at the form 6 teachers' room are feeling right now. An unfortunate incident happened when I reached the room this morning to find that the door had been pried open. That was not the extend of the damage! Two CPUs and a printer were stolen! We had to go through a lot of difficulties to get those things only to be stolen by some heartless thieves. Some of us brought our own monitors to complete the set. One teacher even sponsored a computer table. To say that we all chipped in is understatement. We actually put in a lot of effort to get those things. Still, when the police arrived, I had to make a statement about the robbery to one of the officers, who will be doing all they can. I am skeptical that the stolen equipment will ever be retrieved.

In the Face of Hardship....

.....is where we all are now. Skeptical? On the one hand, funds are being lavishly thrown here and there, but on the other hand people like us are being made to scrimp and save until we scrape the bottom of the barrel. I earlier wrote that a nation's wealth should be common wealth, but as usual this is not true, and if those high and mighty people have their way, it probably never will. We are the people who feel the pinch. We are called for meetings but wait! No mileage claims! We are asked to hold functions, but surprises of surprises! No allocations! However, in a different situation let's give this high-flying school with it's group of extraordinary teachers and even more extraordinary students, oh! a meagre sum of RM750,000.00 because those genius students have proven that they are really genius! Others? What others? Oh! them! Let those daily schools with the mediocre students and overworked teachers die a natural death while we syphon money meant for them to these handpicked schools! He says this is a dog-eat-dog world, and he is the top dog while we are the underdog. Excuse me! If you choose to be a dog, you are welcome to it! At the end of the day, all I can say is let sleeping dogs lie. People like him, don't have anything better to do. After all, you can't teach old dogs new tricks! Tricky I'd say!