Last minute work...

It's been almost 2 years I been working my new post (which I had to write my own appoint letter) and it has been a rollercoaster ride. I got to know important people and important people got to see me at work, which probably led me to the excellence award people are crazy for. However, rollercoaster rides are not fun when you start to feel like vomiting.

I hate being given last minute work. Like, you thought you could do it all, you know, to look all important and busy. Every time I asked to hand me over some stuff to do, this staff would be all "oh no it's okay... I can do it all.." Then 2 days before due, she'd be like "Oh hey, since you haven't done anything, can you please finish this 5000 pages report I thought I could do myself..."

Yeah obviously I exaggerated a bit there... But you get the point, right? Asking me to solve your problems 2 days before due is ridiculously selfish and unprofessional. Why must people over estimate themselves when in the end, others have to pick up their failures to complete their tasks...

Urghhh...! The thing is, this person keeps doing it again and again. I can't get used to this hassle. Everytime, everytime we have to do something important, I end up stressing myself out. Cleverly, this fellow manages to sneak their way in and out all the time. Sigh...

Summary of my 6 month absence

It has been 6 months of absence from this blog. I know I havent been active since I stopped teaching CC503 Traffic Engineering. I guess they decided I suck or something at that and moved me to another course. A better one, in fact. I honestly had fun teaching my new students this new subject.

I guess, having good students is what makes a good lecturer. This semester, I am blessed to teach a group of crazy, funny and hardworking kids. Their attention was undivided, although sometimes a few "ehem..."s were required when they start to talk to each other, ignoring the lesson. But throughout the whole 5 months, I have never felt excited to enter the classes, do my lessons interactive style and actually enjoy it. Lecturing is awesome.

I remember 4 years ago I wasn't as cheerful a lecturer as I am this year. I remember scolding students, threatening to fail them and even made some cry. At one point I realize there was absolutely no reason why I should be a bitch. Teaching is the career I chose for myself. Why not embrace it. Be happy with it. And master it.

After attending KIPA, a course for new educators, I realized this job is more than my monthly income. Teaching should be sincere and fun. I cannot treat the students like how I was treated by my lecturers. I lived in an era where there was no smartphones, no Facebook and access to internet was totally difficult. Those days, we were tough, our hearts were stone hard. We took criticism like eating cake. Digested it like it was nothing. I can't do that with my students. The environment has changed. Internet plays too much a big part in their way of thinking and handling things.

In 3 years I learned to control my emotions and temper. I reminded myself to not say or do things I would regret later. I guess it worked as I don't feel much hatred or resentfulness from my students. There's so much more to learn.

This semester, I am happy.

So I have a new blog...

As usual I'm being me again with all the "wanting to try new things" drama.

I started a new blog at wordpress called "Secret Diary of a Teacher". The plan is to write all my experience as a Polytechnic lecturer. An educator. (The hardest job in the world!)

Enjoy!

Screenshot of my new Wordpress

Workaholically,
Ms Anne.

We made it! Happy 2 years.

Pretty Little Liar...

Image Courtesy of playbuzz.com

Have you ever been in  a situation where you create lies to impress people? People commonly refer this as 'white lie', usually done to avoid offending people. Of course, we all have. Denying it, is lying.

White Lies are harmless. More often it saves friendship. But wrong management of lying can end up being worse for both parties. Once a lie begins, People tend to create new lies to make them more believable. Without realizing it, they became "Serial Liars". This does not only destroys friendships. it destroys trust.

It was a few days ago when I had a conversation with my friend Carrie about Fern. They used to be best buddies in school when Fern decided to ditch the friendship and move on to blaming the world for her inability to have friends. I don't usually enjoy gossiping about others but I am human, and at times I needed to vent about how I was being treated. Fern was a bully. And I didn't realize it until Carrie enlightened me.

Let me brief you about Fern. Fern is known to be a "rich" snob. At least that's how people describe her. To me she was just a girl who knows what she wants and apparently what she wants is to appear rich and pretty. She only friends rich girls and look down on others. Especially those who are poor and/or chubby. I know this from the start but for me, she's just being herself. People are born different. Fern was different. We're friends, close friends perhaps. But recent events opened my eyes a little to be careful of what she is capable of doing.

Fern is a liar. She lies her way through people. At first, it seemed she lie to avoid hurting people. But, people ALWAYS find out about her lies and became more offended than ever. Then, she lies to impress people. To make people think and believe she is all these amazing things she labels herself as.

Rich. Up-to-date. High-taste. Smart. Open minded. Courageous. Independent. Brave. Honest.

I call Bullshit.

Fern is all the opposite of those. She created lies upon lies to put herself high on an imaginary pedestal. It makes me wonder, why did she even have to lie in the first place? Why is she so desperate to make people look up to her? Is she in that much need of respect to even lie for it?

The conversation left me in deep thought. It reminded me of the web of lies she entangled me in and I was stupid enough to believe them. She even lied her way through her career, saying one thing and meaning another. I guess, I should have been smarter than to put my trust in one person. We are, after all human, born to make mistakes.

Why do people lie?

That One Person...

The adventures of the know-it-alls

I realize in every seminar or workshop I attend, there would be this ONE person (well maybe 3 or 4) who craves attention. They would talk a lot, too much, unaware of the fact that people would doze off 20 seconds after they start blabbering. I don't get it. Why must these events be that place where you vent your anger about the education system and won't let go of that microphone once given?

Everytime... I mean EVERYTIME the facilitator opens up a Q&A session, these Mr and Mrs know-it-all would be jumping towards the microphone... Not to ask questions, but to make a long ass speech of how they feel about everything. It gets boring and lame in time...

 These people would never just "Shhh...!!!"

Sometimes I feel like no matter how old you are... there's always a point in your life where you'd feel just like in high school.

Love,
Ms Anne

Exploring another side of INTERNET...

I welcomed internet into my life in 1998 where cyber cafes were a "thing" in my hometown. Those days, we had to type out long URLs written in entertainment magazines. Photos of celebrities were hard to find, thus making it a trend to save those JPGs and Gifs into a 1.44MB disc, producing series and later, boxes of colourful discs we called "disket". mIRC and ICQs were the main source of outside communication, along with Yahoo! as the best search engine and Hotmail as the main e-mail host. We also had to learn http to create personal websites.

Fast forward to the future, Social Websites took over the internet. Almost everyone above 15 had either a Myspace or Friendster (maybe both?) account. Old friends were found, reunions were organized as easily as sleeping and wedding invitations became stingily cheap. Then came Facebook and google, who managed to take over the internet.

Attending an Interactive Learning Circle Training course, I realized there are more to internet than gossip and memes. I was introduced to a humongous list of teaching tools I never thought of finding or using. I am more motivated to apply these tools (provided, a strong internet line) to impress and attract my students. The only thing that worries me if whether I'll get the response i expected.

Web 2.0 tools proved that the internet is more than just Facebook. With collaboration tools such as Padlet, Todaysmeet, Piratepad and Voicethread as well as storyboards such as Blendspace, Storify and Wordpress, class discussion would be made easier. All that's missing is superspeed internet.