“Everyone Is A Genius, Including The Fish That Tries to Climb A Tree.

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” – Albert Einstein.

 

During in my childhood, I often think that I am stupid. One of the reasons is because I hardly understood what was taught by the teachers in all subjects except Art, Music and Science. Often, I received low grades and as a result, I was streamed into back classes which were known as the C, D, E, F, G or H class.

 

There were 10 classes all together and I am glad that I was located somewhere between the 3^rd – 5^th class. Well, I was the only one who is grateful with my academic performance back then because, often academic results were being compared with my other relatives whom at similar age.

 

It was not a good experience to share because after each conversation that involved academic achievement, I will end up feeling stupid, sad and disappointed with myself. Sometimes, I will even feel hopeless with myself because I know I have been trying very hard yet, the result was not promising enough to reach the community’s expectation, especially my parents’.

 

I remembered those days when I became very desperate to succeed and asked my parents to send me to tuition classes, just like my other ‘bright’ friends. I observed and interviewed their success stories with the hope that the same story can apply on me. I hate to be left behind because that kind of feeling is really torturing and unbearable.

 

I know I wasn’t as bright as my friends, but I also know that I am not stupid because I could actually understood the content of any subject taught by my teachers. However, I had an extremely hard time to express my understanding into words during exam. This frustrated me the most.

 

I still remember how I excelled in creating the best mind-map in Kajian Tempatan subject. I still remember my ‘Mini Botanic’ project (herbs and mini plants are planted in a used plastic bottle) won the first place during school’s Science week.

 

I still remember my team members and I won the best English scrapbook because of the creative content. I still remember, my artwork was selected in a local magazine competition and won a consolation prize with my school name on the magazine page. My name was being called by the teacher in duty during school assembly to receive the rewards and being complimented for making the school proud. I still remember the name of the magazine – Tunas Sains and Rakan Sains!

 

Despite of my other achievement, I still feel that I was not bright enough to belong in the ‘smart group’ because according to the school’s test score, I was just an average person. I guess, God heard my desperation and grant me a chance to excel in studies. The year following that, I was sent to Penang to continue my standard 6.

 

My lifestyle had changed and I received more attention and opportunity at school because the number of student throughout standard 6 was only 32. Besides, I had learnt study skills from various resources such as books, role models, teachers, friends and etc. Here is my turning point where everything changed from worse to good, good to better.

 

I began to excel in examination from UPSR, PMR, SPM to STPM. Although the result was not as impressive as other top scholars, still I am thankful and grateful with what I have today because seriously, it’s not easy. For someone who is a visual and audio learner, it is challenging to express ourselves through the typical school test and examination.

 

The only way to succeed is through memorization, repetition and constant practices. These are my secret to succeed which then, granted me a chance to enter University of Malaya for Bachelor of Counseling. Since then, I am happy to call myself a passionate life-long learner because finally, I have understood the meaning and joy of learning after being a typical student for more than 20 years.

 

I do not have to memorize anymore because I have found a way to understand and connecting facts.

I do not have to bore myself to death repeating the standard answer given by people from other century (sounds like alien here uh?)

I do not have to force myself to be what I am not to please people who do not understand the principal of ‘no one size fits all’ pedagogy – just like what Albert Einstein says:

 

 

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” – Albert Einstein.

 

 

Well, I lie. I am still doing it right now (though in minimal quantity). If you have been reading this whole post till here, you should know that this is actually a quarter of my assignment on Assessment and Technology Pedagogy Integration course with UUM. I could do what I like (which is to draw my thoughts and make them into video clip with special sound effect!). I am doing my assignment and that is why I have not updated my blog for few days. Well, I am applying the 4th Habit from Stephen Covey – First Thing First. Assignment is more important than blogging because it will take 25% of my coursework.

 

So, is it true that everyone is a genius?
If a fish is being forced to climb a tree or there is no possibility for survival, will it at least try? If it succeeds, will the same cycle happen to other fishes? 

 

I am the fish.

#rekomemories 3: Armpit Hairs

I was teaching my 1SP3 today on a new chapter called ‘Basic Measurement’ and focused on length and mass. So, like usual I connect my lesson with real world connection. This time, I choose the Olympic theme as my opening.

Me: So class, in what games will you we use length
Student A: Running.
Student B: Swimming.

Me: Emm… ok.
Student C: Teacher, cycling!

Me: Alright. So, what are the unit used for track and field?
Students: Meter! Kilometer too!

Me: Good. How about mass? In what games will we use mass?
Student D: Weightlifting!

Me: *feeling proud*
Wow. You guys are really good. Did you all watch weightlifting? What have you learnt from it? (what I actually mean was the type of mass unit normally used in the games).

Students E: I KNOW! Those female weightlifters have armpit hairs *raised his right hand while pointing at his armpit*

 

And the class burst into laughter.

 

 

They know because this was widely shared in the Facebook.
Kids this day… =.=!!

1SP3 and Me

Yesterday, it was quite a stressful day because I had 3 classes in a row with 2 of my challenging classes with 20 minutes of rest. Besides, my Penolong Kanan Petang wanted to observe one of my classes to evaluate and give mark on my performance.

I was teaching 1SP3 when the evaluation was carried out. Initially, I was worried because this class was pretty challenging and occasionally, I had a hard time in teaching and managing them. The experience was like riding on a roller coaster. Sometimes I triumphed like a gold medal boxer, sometimes I fell down like a humpty dumpty - worthless.

But, parts of me believe that they are talented and have promising future if they're being understood and taught purposefully. So, I give my day another fight with better preparation for the 1 hour of class.

So like usual, in the beginning of the class I asked all my students to get into groups. This time, they had to move their tables and formed 8 groups. To my surprise, they are as good as other tested class. They moved and settled within 2 minutes. I am so proud!! In the mean time, I asked them to write their group name on a recycled paper with my magic color and then stick on their group table to appear visible.

I didn't have much time to learn their group names, except the numbers because my mind was channeled to rush the lesson so that the daily objective can be achieved.
The session was a success where I managed to receive full engagement from 30/33 students with my teaching aids and see them working actively together in their group after that.

 

They even tried their best to finish up their PBS (form 1 exam) even though the time was up. Comparing to the beginning of the years, almost half of them would had given up after attempting a few questions.


As I was leaving the class with an army of students who volunteered to help me carried my bags and books to the staff room, all the group leaders handed their group names with a smile.

I didn't aware the meaning behind the smiles until I read their papers at my home (now). Probably some of them were happy that my Maths time was over but to some... they might be happy to have me as their teacher *beam*

 

I admit that, sometimes I will unintentionally look over small little detail. Sometimes, I will exaggerate small failure into disaster. Sometimes I will too focus in the big goal and forget to appreciate the relationship I have with my students.

Teaching is not just a job but something beyond the job. If you really care for the children, there is no fine line in describing your job scope as a teacher.

 

Thank you guys for the wonderful experience.
Let’s work hard together in achieving our dreams. Promise

<3

First Comic Strip On Algebra

I was feeling heart-broken today when some students, again misbehaved in my class no matter how many private conversations I have had with them. It took a heavy heart to write out their names in the discipline book after a good number of warnings given. If you still remember my 3 creative-but-not-so-smart students’ jokes on #rekomemories 2, they are the exact same students who broke the rules again.

 

Through the months, I have been working extremely hard especially when teaching is something new to me. I need to learn from the basic till something I call advance so that I could pick up and teach my students with proper lesson. However, things don’t always happen to the way you expect or want instantly. I know it can happen, but it will take times.. *hopeful*

 

*****

Ok.. enough for the emotional writing. I should come back to my main objective of this blog post (this is part of my uniqueness – always stray away from main objective/purpose. aiya..).

 

So, here is my latest investment for my students on Form 1 Algebra. I have used this in my pilot-test-class (the strong Maths basic class) yesterday and I received positive respond from them.

 

This comic was done in a rush, about 20-25 minutes. Could be better if I have more time.

 

Surprisingly, it only took them 1-2 minutes to read and understand the story and immediately, they know x equal to 16 candies and 16 candies are represented by x. They even could wrote interesting letter to Ahmad in the end of the class as a 3 minutes assignment. I had a good laugh at their funny jokes. Maybe I should share them here but those exercise books I left in the staff room. Well, never mind.. ;)

 

Students from the class already asked for Part 2. The funny thing is, before I could even reply, another invested student said, “Wait teacher draw part 2 lah.. Please be patient (in Bahasa Melayu)”.

 

Lol.. that cheer my day ;)

Lesson learnt: Whenever there is something pulls you down, remember that there is always something that will pull you up too. Just find that strengthe and you will be happy again.

 

P/s: Maybe I should turn up and me a cartoonist?

 P/s/s: I know I will not give up easily because this is what I want and my passion is here. I guess, I just need perseverance, determination and consistency – just like a marathone runner.

#rekomemories 2

I received really lame yet humorous excuses from the students today when I was teaching in one of my challenging classes. I couldn’t bring out the message better if not using Bahasa Melayu. So, here is the conversation given by the students.

 

***

Masa rehat telah tamat selama 7 minit dan beberapa pelajar 1KM4 mengetuk pintu, memberi ucapan “Selamat Sejahtera” dan menyatakan sebab lewat ke kelas (budaya kelas saya).

Pelajar A: Selamat sejahtera cikgu. Maaf kerana lambat. Tadi saya teman B ke tandas sebab dia berak.

Pelajar B: Ya cikgu. Tadi saya lambat sebab berak.

Pelajar C: Selamat sejahtera cikgu. Saya lambat sebab tadi tengok dia berak.

Saya: *Menganggok kepala sambil menulis nama mereka pada papan putih* Nama-nama ini akan dimasukkan ke dalam buku displin nanti.

Pelajar A, B dan C: *kantoi*

 

P/s: My boyfriend LOL-ed all the way on the phone just now when he listened to my sharing on the ‘berak’ word.

Love Saves Me From Fears

Lately, I am constantly being attacked by the feeling of fears and worries which I could not control by the brain. I have tried to use all the knowledge which I’ve learned from Law Of Attraction, but then.. it fails somehow. Well, I truly know why because my mind was tired and often it was distracted with my pessimistic thoughts.

 

I am facing crisis with my work at this moment. Some students started misbehaving in the class while at the same time I am handling the overloading of paperwork. Probably these are what causing me to feel lost at the moment. Teaching is really not an easy job (but with faith, it can be a rewarding one). I didn’t know how to handle till yesterday, I decided to take a break and place myself into another perspective – so that I can see another angle of the problem.

    Decided to nurture my inner child with Baby Panda on my hand ;)

 

Well, things are better when I decided to nurture myself while finding a good solution over my fears. However, my effort was not as strong as gaining the support from loved ones, especially from my partner. The power is overwhelming and it reduces the fear in me almost immediately when Calv insisted to call and discuss over my issue.

 

Although, the conversation didn’t solve much of my problem, but the feeling of knowing someone is always there and care for me cure the frightening heart. Thank you dear. I’m blessed to have you.

 

 

So, things are much better when I woke up this morning, breathing in the fresh air while listening to the bird chirping happily. I am happy that I am still alive and able to witness the beauty of mother’s earth in the town area. Besides, I am thankful that I could still plant some seeds in people and make a little different in their lives (I know I have and will still doing it).

 

Don’t worry about me folks. It is just another adventure of mine when my roller coaster is moving down. I am sure it will come up again in no time and do another 360 turns that will catch your heart and scream in excitement for me.. So ya, just stay with me and see what I am capable of to make your heart goes wild with my experiences *confident* ;)

 

Oh.. by the  day, I have already drafted a story that related to this picture. Didn’t manage to finish the post beautifully, so I decided to postpone it to another inspiring evening (or midnight).

 

 

Probably will share it by tomorrow morning. Have a good Tuesday my dear friends. Visit me again!

#rekomemories 1

Apabila saya sedang mengajar 1KM1 petang semalam, terdapat 3 murid perempuan (Form 4/5) yang turun dari tangga dan salah seorangnya menjerit, "Eeeeiiih... Cikgu baru lah.. comelnya".

Dia memberitahu kawan sebelahnya lalu bertanya saya yang sedang gigih mengajar, "Cikgu comel-lah. Cikgu, cikgu kan?". Dan saya balas, "Oohh.. bukan".

Tidak berputus asa, dia terus bertanya, "Oohh.. cikgu pratikal ke?". Pelajar lelaki 1KM1 mula ketawa apabila saya menjawab dengan senyuman manis, "Bukanlah.. saya seorang pelajar".

Tanpa disangka, mereka percaya dan akhirnya membalas, "Emmm... patutlah comel sebab masih pelajar. Kamu memang comel lah.. Ok.. bye~"

Akhirnya, saya bersama pelajar lelaki 1KM1 ketawa terbahak-bahak.

#rekomemories

What the FROG?

I have never taken frog seriously until lately, I am paying more attention to this creature – since Thursday.

 

I am serious! Like yesterday, when I was walking in the mall to do my long-time-no-do window shopping (ever since become a teacher, I am even conscious of my own spending. So, window shopping is what I did. No different when I was a student =.= ), my eyes keep spotting Frog items such as frog mug, frog soft toy, frog bottle, frog slipper, frog handphone bag, frog keychain and frog, frog froogg.. >.<

 

Before this, my focus is more on Panda because it is my casual jokes on Calv – because his eyes really like panda when he didn’t sleep well.

 

But now.. the focus is on the green creature because lately, Teach For Malaysia fellows were being invited to attend training organized by Frog in KL to explore the possibilities for future collaboration using technology in our classrooms. Here are the badges I received from their freebies. Yay! =D

 

 
Free cute badges I received from Frog *happy* ;)

 

Doesn’t it just sound 21st Century type of workshop? If you are wondering why is FROG being mentioned frequently, I shall clear your curiosity *tune in to deep, professional voice*. Frog or known as

 

“The Frog Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is a web-based learning system that replicates real-world learning by integrating virtual equivalents of conventional concepts of education. For example, teachers can assign lessons, tests, and marks virtually, while students can submit homework and view their marks through the VLE. Parents can view school news and important documents while school administrators can organize their school calendars and disseminate school notices via the Internet”. (Ctl C + V)

 

For more information, visit their website here.

 

And guess what? Frog is working together with Teach For Malaysia in all selected 17 schools in KL, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. It is awesome!  Imagine the possibility of using use technology for virtual learning in the classroom. Students are engaged, their achievement improved and you become happier teacher =)

 

A random photo of our #TFM LDOs – Sarah, Giles, Sawittri and Shannon.

 

If you can’t imagine how technology is used in the typical non-conditioning classroom in Malaysia, the photo below are good examples. They were taken during Teach For Malaysia Week when Datin Kathleen visited my school at SMK Jalan Reko with the Frog team. They brought 30+ chrome books (or known as netbook), projector and own internet 4G connection from Yes.

 

It was really cool! I can imagine myself learning with teacher who use chrome book, projector and fast speed wireless in the classroom tho I will never get the chance to taste it like a student… =(

   

Behind the scene team. My students were nervous and excited at the same time with all the attention given on them. Lol…

 

We are currently at the brainstorming stage to explore, discover and work on every possibility that we think will success and helpful for both the teacher and students. The only concern I have now is, will this sophisticated idea help the students to succeed in academic? Will the teacher save more time in teaching when implementing this method? Will all these prepare the students to be a better learner? I don’t know and I would like to find out.

 

For me, I will just need a projector, a speaker and a laptop if I want to implement this virtual classroom concept. I did it before in my Form 1 Civic class and received full engagement and participants from my students.

 

 

They even came out with creative ideas that I have never thought of. Well, technology can truly enrich the experience for both teachers and students.
But why my teachers never did that on me geh? =(

 

Well, back to my 2 days training at Jalan Sentul, KL with the passionate frog teams. The experience was really fun, enriching, inspiring and touching with all the efforts given by both Frog and Teach For Malaysia teams. Our goals are aligned, and no matter how far the discussion been brought to, the end product will still FTK – For The Kids.

 

Besides FTK, there is still FUA – For Us All.. =P

 

Our breakfast, tea time and lunch were attended warmly by the team.

See. So nice their cinnamon buns with topping.

 

I have never eaten something as nice as this. They even got the best scorn in town! I wonder why they have such a great taste? I thought they just eat flies and bugs?Impressive! =D

 

In the end of the day, we did group discussions between TFM and Frog teams. We used mahjong paper to brainstorm and our final products received recognition from the Frog! We managed to make it through for Frog’s Wall Of Fame! Famous~~ * proud for no reason*

 

This is my team’s product. Everyone brainstormed and came out with idea while I wrote and drew on the paper using marker pen. I pretty like how it turned out, especially with the frog. Now I know! Must be the cute mascot of Frog that made me having a crush on the real green creature (which I never really liked before because of the mucus and it jumps!).

 

The training was so awesome that I didn’t get the chance to do my ‘eggie’s-fashionable-note-taking’. OMG! The way they presented their material using Prezie were too attractive while the presenter showed infectious  persona. As a result, my concentration was fully on them and hardly on my purple sketchbook.

 

  I leave a large space with the hope that I could doodle what I had learned in the past two days. Now I am in day 2 after the training and it still remains empty. Lol..

 

Dunno how Captain America came into the mind when the presenter gave an example of a scene. And shit! I don’t know is Captain America real name is Steve?

 

Anyway, ya.. That's all about Frog. FROG! *jump jump*

 

P/s: Should I fund raising for a projector so that my students can benefit from it? If yes, where and how can I start it?

 

P/s/s: I won a first prize for winning the highest vote for my Frog site design (not too sure what does it call =.=!) so I got a Yes 4G top up credit from Frog. Awesome! I received a dongle from Datin Kathleen during TFMweek. Now, I can have some free credit and try it out at school. Thank you Frog and Yes! Yes! =D

 

*update*
I changed the blog post title from Frog to What The Frog. Feel cuter and unique. Lol.. what the frog =P

Jealousy Towards Other Active Bloggers

I know it is not normal to have such feeling. Well, I can’t help but feeling rather helpless and jealous towards bloggers who are actively blogging, and I can’t =(

 

I don’t know is it because of my job that keep me from blogging or because I am just not in the mood?

 

Ever since I joined Teach For Malaysia, time allocated for blogging is getting lesser and lesser each day. I could see that my main priority now is not updating myself with Facebook news, reading twitter religiously or blogging. In fact, they have been replaced with books marking, researching Maths’s teaching ideas, attempting Form 1 Maths questions, keying student’s progress and meditating in the car. Meditating in the car!? Ya, i mean self-reflecting while driving (not sleeping k?). Lol..

 

My life now is always filled with the stories of students, students and students. Though it has been the new 4th months now, I still find myself not bored thinking and talking about them (and people around me are getting bored of the stories T__T). No matter how awful they had broken me down with their mischievous behaviors and uncaring attitudes, I am still passionate to understand their phenomenology and teach the ways they learn best.

 

Each day, especially while I was driving, I will reflect on what I have and have not done in my lesson. How did my students responded? What are the successes and failures? How could I improve myself to be a better ‘CEO’ in the class? How could I make my students love and enjoy the subject? How can I unleash individual’s potential in such a limited time and such environment?  Etc.. etc.. etc..

 

My participative kids.

Meaningful lesson about the value of collaboration with students at my Civic class.

 

I used to be a very occupied person back in the past 2.5 months where I hardly relax, always in tensed condition and wear my teacher’s cap all the time, even after work. I realize it is not healthy and it actually drained me off. As a result, I couldn’t even enjoy my job and weekends, which is really bad.

 

Probably, this is the reason why I am not blogging lately because whenever I want to blog, my ‘Police Traffic Mode’ will be turned on and it will stop me abruptly from doing non-related-to-teaching-and-coursework' activities. So bad ya? Well, I am not doing my work pun. Bad uh?

 

 

When I couldn’t do what I love and seeing other bloggers updating their blogs almost daily make me jealous *pouted*. I want to blog like I used to. Post all those nice nice photos of places, food, people and myself. Write super long stories. Receive comments and etc. Well, I guess telling personal stories about myself in the class and writing small comments in students’ books (and read by other teachers and their own parents) are my new found hobby. They served the purposes (self satisfaction) too, right?

 

I put a latest (tired looking) photo of me so that you wouldn’t forget me.. =P

 

Sob.. please miss me.
T____T

 

P/s: Oh dear, I’ve spent my 1 and a half hour blogging. I need to sleep now. Kthxbai.

P/s/s: I just realized that most of the photos I  posted here are from my civic classes. I have more ‘we’ time in civic classes that can allow me to snap some pictures. In the coming week, I will have no more civic classes due to the changes school timetable. Thinking about this make my heart ache. I will miss them. Would share more about this in the coming post =(

Sad =(

All my comments have been eaten by Disqus when there was frequent switch between domain and blogspot url link (from blogspot to curryegg.com, from curryegg.com to blogspot).

 

I wish to spend some of the times fixing errors on my blog. However, the Diploma in Education assignments, school work, paper work, lesson planning and curriculum activities are driving me crazy.

 

I hope to blog more often but I can’t. Every time when I decided to face the laptop screen to type my assignment, my brain became empty and slowly I saw double (and sometimes triple!) of the images. My shoulders are aching and my face is attack by pimples *sigh*.

 

I want to maintain (at least) my passion in teaching but then, I am not sure how far these physical and mental exhaustion will lower it down. Well, I will try my best to complete my assignment by this midnight (till morning) and let see how far I can do.

 

P/s: I am an active player of ‘Draw Something’ at facebook lately. It is a result of the tiredness and low confident in answering the Take Home Exam. It is my way to keep me awake but ended up wasting time =.=

 

*sad*