Life has been pretty eventful since college ended.. I've been teaching at my old school, SMK Seksyen 9, taking charge of roughly 30 IT students, although my classes are never that full.. My classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays, 2.30pm - 4.30pm, and so far I've covered some fundamental Visual Basic stuff to get them ready for SPM but there's still a lot more to go through.. The trouble with my group of students is that on one end, you've got these bunch of supersmart kids who'd actually go 2-3 times more advanced than what you had asked them to do, but on the other end, you're still struggling with the select few who still don't understand what you've taught, and thus invariably holding up the whole class considerably.. I've also met my first 'problem student' who can't seem to put down his handphone, even with me towering behind him.. Sigh.. I definitely empathize with teachers worldwide.. Whoever thought teaching's a piece of cake should be shot dead right between the eyes :/
Still, there aren't many things that can keep me motivated, and I have to say teaching's one of them.. Despite the highs and the ultra-lows, it's a challenge I can't seem to let go :) Although it would be far better if I actually got paid for what I'm doing.. As of right now, I'm technically working voluntarily i.e. FOC.. The school's senior assistant offered me a paid job as a temporary teacher but guess what I would have to teach: Chemistry.. Plus the fact that office hours are from 7.30am to 2pm, I'm thinking maybe working for free isn't so bad after all.. Besides, on days when I would question myself, I knew that even without any compensation, I'd still go back to school, year after year, to make sure our IT students aren't neglected.. As it is, the current IT teacher has been on seminars, courses, etc. for 3 months out of this year's 6 months of school.. The least I can do is to make sure my school doesn't churn out failures in IT.. Last year, nobody scored less than a C, which is a stark improvement - my batch had an E - so I've got an image to uphold here :P
My old school's principle, Pn. N is leaving for another job at Damansara Utama.. This morning, I went to her farewell party organized at school.. I met a few of my ex-schoolmates and as the alumni, we all sat onstage together with the teachers.. We even sat on the 2nd row, right behind the VIPs! The whole event was so heartwarming, from the parting song to the prize-giving procession.. Everybody was clearly sad to let her go.. Even before Pn. N's speech, she actually huddled behind the rostrum and cried.. She was so touched that in her speech, she said that it was terribly difficult to leave, saying, "Saya macam dah gila talak!" :P
She's been like a mother to all of us.. From time to time, I could still remember her famous phrase, "It's the thought that count".. And who could forget her wonderfully affectionate words, "Saya sayang putera puteri saya." :) Some people didn't like her strict ways of running the school, but God knows that if it weren't for her, nobody would know where SMK Seksyen 9 is.. Well, a lot of people still don't know where it is, but at least our students aren't as kampung as some people might think.. She inspired us to do more than we ever thought we could.. Her jokes never failed to liven up our 2-hour Monday assemblies :) She used to scold my class a lot for being the noisiest bunch of students she had ever known.. People might call her dictatorial, but once you get to know her, you'll see that she's just like a loving mother who has her children's welfare close to heart.. It's a shame that she's going to DU, especially since I don't really like DU that much (old rivalries, don't ask).. Everybody here will definitely miss her..
Pn. N, you rock! :)
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NHA at 8:40 AM ::
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