good-looking...intelligent...like the typical RJ girl, but of course not everyone from RJ's like that...

ouch! so am i neither, nor? either, or?

hurt aside, i am really NOT your typical RJ girl. the fact that i'm in NIE is one huge piece of evidence even the CSI dudes will find hard to bag.

AND i know i'm not good-looking. i mean, 3/10 is a fail right? but if you ask me, i hope i am intelligent, otherwise it will make such a big farce out of the education system, heh heh. i know this may sound really snobbish, but i just want to say i could have gone to HC and that would have saved me from being the only one constantly being insulted now. i guess i didn't relish coming up against the smartest girl of my cohort (who went on to become our year's President Scholar, no less) because i would definitely be in her civics group aka class. how many people take Physics, Geography, Economics and Maths?

there were only 2 of us in RJ who chose that weird combi btw.

this is in blue cos it's an afterthought :) i was totally joking above! yeah i don't SOUND like i am...guess i was feeling cranky but that's what happens whenever i think about my RJC days. i miss my friends, but not the culture. anyways i just remembered the stronger reason why i didn't go HC although i was dying to. my cousin (same age) went so i guess i couldn't stand the idea of having our mothers comparing everything right down to who i hung out with.

i regret not blogging about chris' melodramatic lesson earlier because i've forgotten so much about it by now. age is catching up. i do remember myself thinking i'd found a kindred spirit when it comes to sarcasm in class but i don't remember what the borderline remark was. anyway that was so last week so let me talk about today instead.

chouchou's caffeinic coffee caper

i liked her video! the music was a nice touch. excellent! :) it captured very nicely the supply and demand side of the coffee product, especially the demand aspect. maybe our class was unusually subdued today, but i noticed we were slightly unresponsive when chouchou asked questions. actually obsunsetly and i had some problems understanding what the questions were asking for, and at one point she couldn't elicit the answer she wanted but it was good that she was quick to seize on one of our contributions and move on to the other bits first. i think the elusive answer was "colonialism" (which obsunsetly guessed correctly a little while later) but because it was mentioned very briefly in the video, it left little impression.

i thought the activity was well-designed too, covering both the causes and effects of the slide in prices with the graph first setting the context for the students. my littlest complaint about the graph is the price was in "price per lb" and i was really curious as to how many grams or kg that was, since we use a different metric system.

the readings were good, it was very easy to pick out the points and i liked how she added the column on the left to let us jot our notes/points down. another good practice i noticed was how she left blank slides in her powerpoint to facilitate the movement to the whiteboard, saved her the trouble of fiddling with the projector which like all other machines, loves to go on strike now and then.

oh, i've also decided if i'm teaching in a co-ed/boys' school, i will get my guy friends to proof-read any readings i want to give my class. this is because only boys are capable of looking at an innocent vietnamese name and see it as a rude word. sexist statement this may be, but seriously, i for one, will not be able to see that!

spatial thinker's thinking lesson

wah, very cheem! i was not surprised when i heard he hasn't taught in a school before this because he forgot to "dumb down"! again, i think the use of the video was useful in capturing students' attention and setting the context. if this lesson was pitched at JC students or even NUS undergrads, i think it would be a really good lesson because i thought the flow and link between the different parts was quite clear to me. i found his explanation logical and clear, good use of STB data to emphasize the economic impact, the question of striking a balance between tourism and environmental conservation got students to think, the example of places of worship to explain how local cultures/way of life is affected was a very good way to drive home the point....

except...i'm not sure if a sec 4 express class in a neighbourhood school can understand! terms like "locality", "landscape", maybe even "geographical perspective" may be a bit too fuzzy for them to handle. my belief is that it's good to introduce new words to the students, expands their vocabulary.... so it's not to say all such terms should be left out altogether, but we must make sure we explain them clearly and also apply depending on situation. some students really grapple with English so it won't be a good idea to build up their vocabulary bank, unless they are confident.

well, i thought we were like angels today, compared to previous weeks. the scary thing is all hell will break loose again when it's my turn to go. i volunteered to do fieldwork because i thought this would be a really good time to learn the dos and don'ts. guess i didn't bargain for such a highly creative class when it comes to misbehaviour. sigh.

two things that i feel like doing. one, turn the tables on you people. that is, i pull off a fainting stunt. but it may not be an act, seeing that my stress level is already building up. two, get my medical student friend to come down and man a First Aid booth to treat all fainting, fits, fever and what nots.

AOB

happy to hear that friday dinner plans are back on and are also not taking place at nice little restaurants. i'm not a scrooge, but i don't think i'm being paid enough to eat posh nosh. besides, it's who you eat with that matters, not what or where. however, i may not be able to go tmr because my tuition kid requires last minute assistance before her exam next week. have fun people. please do NOT discuss evil plans for my microteaching lesson behind my back. oops. did i just put that silly idea into your heads?

i wish i could say....bring it on!

sigh.