Monday, September 17, 2012

Already 3 months...

...Hello! It's been a LONG time since I last wrote about the happenings in my life. In my last post, I updated about my transfer to a new school. It is SMK Hillcrest, Taman Seri Gombak. The first month, I was placed in the morning session and taking over another teacher's time table. It took awhile to get the hang of it. First, it was the waking up early in the morning...I am not an early riser. So waking up and driving early in the morning didn't come naturally to me. Especially after almost 3 years of just walking a few metres to get to school, this was not easy for me. Second, was the relearning process. I had to relearn the culture, the students, the system, and it was more complicated than the previous school. Next, was the students. Certainly not easy as now I am teaching more students with a variety of attitudes, abilities, problems etc. After a month teaching the morning session, I was then placed in the afternoon session where I was supposed to be placed initially. Teaching the lower forms, huh? May sound easy to some, but it comes with its own challenges. Younger students seem to be more active. They are definitely more childish, still playing all sort of games and many of them could care less about exams as they just sat for the UPSR. Besides that, the new PBS system that has no exams makes them even more free to think less about studying. Kids being kids could care less about the effects or repercussion they will face in the future if they do not study now. It was quite a challenge for me to instill some interest in studying for them especially when the motivation is not scoring in the exams. I mean, to tell you the truth, when I was a school student myself, I saw learning simply as means for me to do well in exams that is crucial for my future (tertiary education and career). Our immature minds were never exposed to seeing learning as the acquisition of knowledge for the betterment of oneself, while putting exams and career advancement out of the equation. It sort of came in a package. I find that, the younger generation, especially the one I am teaching, is no different. They do not know how to take their studies seriously, let alone think about the purpose of learning for their future. Seeing beyond what's in the nearest future to them is I suppose, almost impossible. Hence, disciplining them in class becomes the hardest task. To top it up, now the teaching periods I have is more than what I was used to. Every day I feel so tired and the last thing I want to do each day is think about school. Seriously. I am also replacing a teacher who is on her maternity leave and picking up where someone else has left off can be quite confusing. All in all, everything takes time. Once everything started to sink in and I began to understand my responsibilities and slowly established a routine, I was beginning to feel fine. Some things just can't be changed so you have to adjust yourself to follow suit with the system. Alhamdulillah, so far I am surviving and already can't wait for the year-end school holidays!!!
Liking the quote. Credit to google ;) Cheers