Peace

  This year I had resolved to be at peace with myself. I promised myself not to say bad things about other people. I also strived to be nice to everyone. I promised myself to put my head down, shut my mouth and do my work.  But it is very hard to do so.

  This is because there will always be someone one in the office who talks a lot but do very little. In the end, you will end up carrying his/ her slack.  Then this resentment will start boil inside you and slowly eats itself out of you. Then one day, when you are tired and frustrated, you start to grumble and  bad things come out of your mouth.  As a result, your peace has been disturbed and life becomes unpleasant.

  Why do people act this way? It is puzzling. I hope I can be at peace with myself this year. Nonetheless.

Technological Headache

  A few years back, I started a blog for my class and suddenly I found myself at the forefront of technology. There were not my teachers blogging at that time and a class blogs was a real novelty.  Nowadays, having a blog is so yesterday. You will need to be on MSN, Facebook and perhaps Twitter too.

  Trying to remember all these accounts and passwords is already a massive headache. Finding the time to log in to them is another. Thinking of what to share and what to share is another great one. We responsible teachers would not our impressionable charges to get the wrong idea of anything.

  While technology is fun to play with, it certainly made my life many times more complicated.

Form Teacher

In most Singapore schools, every class will be assigned a form teacher.  If the form teacher is lucky, he/she will have a co-form teacher.  The function of the form teacher is to handle all the adminstrative aspect of his/her pupils.

Some teachers in our school joke that we are called "form teachers" because we have to issue and collect forms almost a daily basis.  Sometimes the number of forms can be so numerous that I feel like I am standing in the middle of a blizzard.

Every time when I give out a stake of forms, my heart weep for the tree that had be chopped down to make them.  I hope to see the day when we can replace forms with online versions of them.  I am not sure if this innovation will make teachers' life more pleasant but at least we do not have to chop down a small forest a day to print the forms.

How to Wear A Mask

Amid all the hustle and bustle of the year end, I was "arrowed" to attend a course on how to put on a mask. Now this is no ordinary mask we are talking about.  It's the latest invention by 3M which can filter particles of size larger than 0.3 microns. 3M, no doubt, would have boasted that it is very effective in preventing H1N1.  Consequentially, the administrators will not look good if they don't equip the schools with it.

Any lesser organisation will buy the mask, dump it in front of its staff and tell them to figure out how to put it on.  Fortunately or unfortunately, I belong to an organisation which takes education seriously.  So I have to get on bus at two in afternoon to attend the training session on putting on this mask.

On arrival at the venue, I was told to report to a lecture theater. I braced myself for another afternoon of mind numbing lecture and was surprised to see only 5 other people attending the "lecture".  The participants includes: two security guards, two office staff, another teacher and myself.

The instructor/ lecturer was clearly knowledgeable about the mask and it is evident that he had conducted this training many times.  But it was also obvious that he was trying to drag out the session so that the participants will find our trip there worthwhile.  Despite his best effort, the training ended in thirty minutes.  I quickly grabbed my bag and headed out of the lecture theater to catch the bus home.

A Stab in the Back

I co-teach a class with a certain HOD and I had the illusion that we got along well. Therefore, I was shocked to learn that that she had recently gone behind my back to rat on me. First, she approached my RO (Reporting Officer) and complained about my work. My RO dutifully looked into the matter and I was exonerated. I though that was the end of things.

Unhappy that her accusations did not stick, she complained directly to the principal.  Fortunately my RO came to my rescue again an cleared everything up with the principal, or that's what my RO told me.

I feel betrayed as I have always regarded her as a friend.  We used to share gossips and jokes together. Now, I can't even stand being in the same room with her.

I wonder what makes people do such of things?  How does it profit her by hurting me? I am really puzzled. If she feels that I have done something wrong, wouldn't it be sufficient to talk to me about it? Perhaps she feels that she has to throw her weight around to magnify her importance.

Should I confront her and set her straight? Or should I lie low and hope that the storm with blow pass me after a while? What should I do?

HODs

There are HODs and there HODs. If you have spent sometime in the Singapore school system, you will know that HODs stands for Head of Departments. They are the people who had managed to climb up the education corporate ladder and earned the privilege to squat on mere teachers.

Most of the HODs I have work with are nice people or they pretend to be nice. They have ambitions, of course, otherwise they will be up there in the ladder. Most of them try to win you over and treat you as a human being. But sometimes you will get one that you wish you didn't meet.

Over the years, I have meet a few of the second type. Although they made my life miserable they also provide me with ample war stories to fill these pages in days to come.

A Beginning

I am a teacher. I teach my students how do write but I hardly write anything myself. I find it ironic. This is mainly because my employer forbids me to share my views with all and sundry. They are terrified that my words with put them to shame. Therefore I have decided to remain silent to keep my job.

Keeping quiet is a difficult task. All my students can tell you that. So I have decided to write after all. I wonder if there are any censors out there monitoring this blog already. I wonder how long I can keep writing. I wonder if I will have any readers. Nevertheless, the act of putting my thoughts into words is extremely soothing. However, I suspect what I will be writing may not be soothing to some.