Just in case..

I ever forget the past few days, I wanna write whatever I can remember of them!! The feeling's so awesome and I think it's gonna stay!! =D

So..let's start with..

Day 1 (Wednesday)

• First day of being observed by Mdm S.! =D Was really quite nervous at first but when I stepped into the class the nervousness just kind of melted away slowly so thank GODDD!! =D
• Did origami for a CDS lesson with the kids!! Can I just say I LOVEEEEE THAT CLASS?? =D Pardon me if I repeat myself later haha I just really really thank God for giving me such an awesome class to teach!! =D
• Had observed Mdm S. doing a CDS lesson with them the day before (Tuesday) so I had an idea of what I should do during CDS! =D Actually she wanted me to come in on Tuesday to start doing CDS for the Learning Journey they had the week before! But she asked me if I've done it before and after knowing that I haven't, she told me it's okay I can do the CDS on another topic (which explains why I taught them origami) and observe her when she does the Learning Journey CDS!! So yea THANK GODDD for such an understanding teacher and for allowing me to observe her lesson!! =D
• I taught them how to fold paper hearts!! =D
• The kids were really receptive and attentive when I taught them THANK GOD!!!! =D
• Managed to complete whatever I planned on doing (teach them origami then ask them for the steps so that I could write them down on the butcher paper) THANK GOD!!!!! =D
• Okay here's the part I like best: Getting feedback from Mdm S. on how I taught!! =D Why? =D
1. She gave me a lot of valuable advice and suggestions on how I could have made my lesson better! =D And she told me the kids enjoyed the lesson so yayyy!! Haha thank God!!! =D
2. Andddd she's the teacher I/C of this whole English STELLAR programme so she knows best about the procedure and how to go about doing things so I'm really, really thankful to have her as my mentor (even if it's only for these few days)!! God really gave me the best!! =D
3. Oh and I really thank God that finally there is someone to assess my teaching so I'll know what my strengths are and what I can improve on!! =D After doing RT for so long, it's feels really nice to finally be able to have someone to tell you explicitly HOW you can do better instead of just telling me I need to be firm which is what a lot of teachers told me when I was doing RT!

• Haha speaking about that, I really thank God cause during my 1 hour lesson with the class, I smiled a lot!! I felt like myself!! There wasn't the need to shout or "be firm" (look and be strict - however you define it) because the kids were really engaged in the lesson and there was no misbehaviour at all!! =D
• Feels SUPER NICE to finally be able to teach the kids something they have zero idea of instead of just giving worksheets and making sure they keep quiet while they are doing their work which is usually what is done during RT! And sometimes you have to teach them how to do some questions because they are not clear of the concept but you were not the one who taught the students that particular concept FIRST so for me, it just doesn't feel the same. I love helping the kids understand something their teacher has already taught them but they are not sure about but I love it even more when I'm the one who teaches the concept firsthand! Haha I guess I like the sense of ownership! Haha =D

Day 2 (Thursday)

• Big book day! Was supposed to read "The Enormous Watermelon" (TEW) to the kids!! Was pretty nervous cause I was afraid I'd forget:
1. to talk about the picture BEFORE reading the words!! Cause I'm so used to just reading the words without describing the pictures in a book! Haha so yea BUT THANK GOD I DIDN'T FORGET!! WHEWWW!!
2. the questions I'm supposed to ask the kids about the book! I was supposed to ask questions on every single page and I didn't wanna miss out any of the important ones!! But yea THANK GOD I DIDN'T FORGET THIS AS WELL!! =D
• Again, I learnt a lot from the constructive feedback Mdm S. gave me! She's really an awesome teacher!! =D She didn't focus on what went wrong (thought she would at least comment on the tuning in part and how I could have checked the youtube videos I chose to see if the lyrics in it were the same as the one the kids are gonna see on the screen afterwards but she didn't mention it at all!! =D)..instead she focused on what I could have done better and how I could improve!! =D So yea throughout the process I never felt intimidated/scared!! Thank God!!!! =D
• Felt like I did better the day before but it's okay!! At least everything went pretty smoothly!! =D

Day 3 (Friday)

• Okay I think this is my favourite of the 3 days I went in to teach them!! Haha =D So many amazing things!! =D
• God gave me a really good idea the night before haha and I couldn't sleep!! Only managed to fall asleep at 2plus!!
• There was a little bit of technical error at the start of my lesson cause the projector wasn't showing what was on my computer! Pressed the PC button a number of times but it didn't work until Mdm S. came up and pressed it lolll and then the videos were a bit laggy but thank God the kids didn't complain or anything!! =D They were just like "eh? eh?" haha have I mentioned that I loveeee this class?? Haha =D
• Honestly, I was still pretty nervous at the start!! Haha cause I had to remember the whole procedure (tuning in, reread an old big book, recall and reread TEW, relate personal experiences to story, look back at some of the pages and ask the pupils why they think some words are in different colour/are in bold print, vocabulary part and lastly the speech and drama section!! A LOT RIGHT!! Hahaha) and what to say for each section and I didn't wanna forget any part of it!! Actually in the end I did but oh well! Haha at least I did cover a little bit of that section (relating their personal experiences to the story) the previous day! So thank God!! =D And thank God that Mdm S. didn't mention anything about me missing that part out at all!! Ahhh what can I say..God is soooo goood!! =D
• Okay soooo the idea God gave me was the secret agent idea hehe according to Mdm S, it was interesting and the kids have never seen something like that and that I "finally calmed down to come up with that"!! Hahaha I was like wahhh so she really believes in me!! That if I'm calm I can actually come up with super creative ideas and deliver a very good lesson!! =D Was really, really happy!! Hahaha cause I enjoyed myself and I could tell the kids enjoyed themselves too!! This is what I want for all my lessons!! =D I really, really thank God that I'M ACTUALLY LIVING MY DREAM!! I'm so blessedddd!! =D =D
• Oh yea I was quite worried about how I was gonna carry out that idea cause it seemed a bit abrupt..was playing the scenario in my head the night before and before I began my lesson to "see" how I can fit it in but thank God everything just flowed so nicely during the lesson!! =D When I started that section, I just "went into character" and didn't worry about how things were gonna work out so thank God!!!! Hehehe!! =D
• She said the roleplay part was good too! And gave me some suggestions on how I could have made it even better!! Really thankful to be able to have her feedback!! =D Oh and I really loved how I could help the different groups think of how to act out their roles!! Hehe have I mentioned how much I loveeee teaching?? =D
• So yea I've just been really, really happy since that lesson yesterday!! Hehe!! =D Gonna teach another class next week and it'll be a different subject - Math! Haha I pray that I will be calm and God will give me creative ideas that I can use during my lessons to make them fun and interesting!!

Yup yup that's alll!! =D Hope you've enjoyed reading this post!! =D God bless, take care & byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! =D

Things

• Will be observed by the VP and another teacher while I'm teaching next week and the following week!! Excited and nervous at the same time!! Haha finally gonna teach new concepts!! =D Still not assigned my own class yet but I've a temporary schedule now which I'll follow when I don't need to do any relief duties! =D Will be going to those classes stated in my timetable to help the teachers with the weaker ones! =D
• Still need to work on my classroom management!! According to 2 teachers whom I sat with yesterday during recess, the class I had difficulty managing is actually easy to control! Haha I think it's because they have had years of experience..but what they said got me thinking! Haha anyway, there are teachers who have told me it's a difficult class as well..but I'm sure I'll get better with experience! Yay! Haha =D
• I finally got my hair cut!! Hahaha it's now a few inches shorter and lighter!! Yayyy!! Haha =D
• Thank God for His grace!! Haven't been reading devo as I should/ doing QT..but God is still so good..thank You Daddy!! =D
• Oh oh I loveeee the songs that they sing at school to help them remember certain things! Haha like the 2 times table and the grammar rules song! =D Think I'm gonna incorporate a lot of songs into my lessons when I get my own class!! Haha that's how I taught Shirleen to remember some of her science concepts as well! =D

Okay that's about it! Thank God for everythingggg!! I'm a blessed girl!! Haha God bless, take care & byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! =D

My experience in school so far..

HELLO EVERYBODY!! Haha I've been wanting to do a post about my school experience but have not had the time to..but thank God for this slot of time now where I can cause it's the September holidays!! Haha =D

Okayyyyy let's see..so I've been an official contract teacher for..40 days now!! Haha cool! Guess I'd break it up into weeks so that it'll be easier to document my journey thus far! =D

1st week (30 July - 3 August)

Haha the first week was fraught with a multitude of emotions for me!! I think I put a lot of pressure on myself cause I have high expectations of myself..and so it was really quite stressful!! On my first day, we (yes there's another contract teacher that came in at the same time as me! So thank God I'm not alone! =D) had an "induction programme" (I only knew that there's a term for it last week! Haha I just called it a school tour! Haha) and we were assigned to relief a class (yes together! Haha) ! Honestly, I was still quite nervous! Haha cause after all, I haven't done RT in more than two months!! The last time I did it was 25 May, before the June holidays!! Haha but thank God it wasn't too bad!

Okay the highlight of my first week was really the last two days because the class I took was quite rowdy! I remember what I mentioned in a previous post.."If I go to the rowdiest of classes, I may not get everyone's attention but what I do is that I focus on a few students and help them as much as possible. Will try to improve over time though! Really wanna be able to make an impact on the students that teachers would usually complain about/ give up on! =D" haha yeaaa God really gave me a class where I could make the most impact on!! Hahaha but alas, all I felt was stress because I had a difficult time managing that time! I felt like my classroom management skills turned somewhat rusty from the lack of practice..and there were a lot of thoughts going on in my mind! And so..I really looked forward to the following week because..

2nd week (6 - 10 August)

On Monday and Tuesday, I was to attend the Teacher's Preparatory Programme (TPP)!! =D (yes which means I could take an official break from school! Haha) It was really apt because I knew I was gonna learn classroom management strategies! =D Haha the programme really exceeded my expectations and I had a lot of fun, credits to my awesome trainer who managed to bond the class together through the many activities we did!! =D Haha the two days made me miss being a student a lot!! Haha can't wait to get to NIE!! =D It'd be really really awesome if everyday is gonna be as fun as what I experienced over those few days!! In short, I REALLY REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO GETTING TO NIE!! =D =D

Okay so on Wednesday it was back to school for the National Day celebration!! =D haha then on Thursday, National day = public holiday and Friday was a scheduled school holiday so woohoo!! Haha thank God for such a relaxing week so that I could prepare myself mentally for the week ahead when I'll start teaching again! =D

3rd week (13 - 17 August)

Monday: Lesson observation at the class I had trouble managing during the first week!! It was an eye-opener for me because I saw how well they behaved when their form teacher was around!!

Tuesday and Wednesday: Had to relief that class!! I was pretty positive about it, having seen their perfect behaviour the day before! Haha but alas, I didn't manage to control the class for long! But oh well every day is a learning experience! Haha

Thursday and Friday: PSLE oral so no lessons for the P1s and 2s! Haha =D

4th week (20 - 24 August)

• Got my first present from my angel!! =D
• Haven't got assigned to my own class yet..other contract teacher did though! So I'm still waiting..haha

• Sometimes I still feel like I'm just doing RT again, except for quite a number of differences!! Like being required to attend meetings (feels like CDAC as well), need to go for CCA, I receive email updates from the school, I have my own table in the staffroom and that I'll actually be graded for my performance this time!! That's the most important difference! Haha

5th week (27 - 31 August)

• Last week of the term!
• Had to take that class again on Thursday and Friday! Haha seems like I really have an affinity with the class!

Oh yea I think I've been getting more than my required amount of daily exercise because I walk to school and from school everyday!! And it's a 20 minutes journey hahaha so yup not counting the total duration I spent walking/running around in school!! Hahaha yup okay God bless, take care & byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! =D