the thoughts of a (snail) murderer

I’m writing this in microsoft word so for once you’ll be getting the CAPs. And it’s going to be a l-o-n-g entry so don’t say you haven’t been warned! :) just want to log my thoughts and learning points asap before they all fall outta my head.

Before I start rambling,

A big big thank you to daphne, my very kind and encouraging observer who had nothing but kind words for me throughout the lesson itself (although I know it’s illegal)…really kept me going amidst all the madness. Thank you! :)

And another big thank you too to my dear binary opposite, I’m sorry if it got too tiring for you, but I could see that you were having fun, smiling behind the camera at my predicament.

forgot to thank mr elzap for being so nice to lend me his camera for days. too bad i'm such a bad videographer the videos for my wet weather lesson can qualify for inclusion into the blair witch project....terima kasih! :)

I also need to say a prayer for the snails I unwittingly stepped on, especially when I’m not heavy enough to deliver a fatal blow. Sigh. I’m really so so guilty and traumatized! Argh. Wherever they are now, I hope they are in a better place. Amen.

Ok here goes. Will be quite disorganized cos I’m just jotting down what I remember. Since you guys didn’t get to experience the nightmare I went through, hope this gives you an idea of what it’s like!

learning points

The thing is, I would have done such a lesson only with a class I trusted and had rapport with, or if the class is very academically-oriented and on task. So for a normal (acad) class, I would probably have to win them over first and strike up a deal with them before I dare bring them out of the class.

Pre-assigned groups with group leaders: sort of a preventive measure but well obviously it didn’t stop you guys! From my experience, if you have the support (or in chris’ case, admiration) of some of your students, sometimes they can help you to discipline their fellow classmates like telling their friends to shut up, not to run off etc. sort of peer pressure. It would be good if you manage to get the ringleaders on your side, then most misbehaviour problems solved!

but well that I should have assigned the groups BEFORE we left class but I suppose I was afraid that would give you all enough time to swap your pieces around to get back into your natural social groups…so sigh!

When people started going missing, it really threw me into disarray cos I had to re-assign some members to other groups. That really derailed my train and my instructions were really downhill from there. Think everybody was really unclear as to what they were supposed to do so that was one big blunder.

If you guys STILL don’t know, haha, I wanted each group to present at their own station lah. I came out with this idea after I found out it would be a 2 periods thing instead of 40 minutes as I previously thought. Plus I didn’t think it was a good idea for you all to hear my voice so much. Traditionally, fieldtrips are teachers being the tour guides doing the talking that’s why I said at the start that I was trying out something different.

Yup so my biggest mistake was I forgot to explain more clearly the whole activity, like what the words behind the pieces of photo were supposed to be. I also thought I should have given more scaffolding in terms of the clues/key terms. Oh and the worksheet. I must confess it was very hastily put together without as much thought as I should have given it. guess I just wanted them to jot down their own notes as we move from station to station….so more scaffolding needed here.

I did think of giving a map showing where we’ll be going but well, a map of NIE wasn’t available and I wasn’t going to subject you people to my horrendous drawing…heh.

I forgot to tell the class to assemble at station 1 after 10 minutes to start the presentations, such that ken and rezal had to walk over to join us. Instructions instructions instructions. Very important! Time management was also not too good due to the derailments. In my lesson plan I wanted 10 minutes for discussion amongst themselves, and then 10 minutes of presentation, Q&A and me clarifying any stuff at each station after that.

oops and the "diurnal" fiasco. i made mental note to self to check the pronunciation before the lesson but obviously i forgot. my secondary school teacher said it as "duh-ner" and my jc teacher said it as “dia-ner" so of course I was left utterly confused. This also tells you the importance of getting your words right because I can’t get the wrong pronunciation out of my head, thanks to my secondary school teacher :) and yes if you haven't already guessed, i am BAD at my phonetics. hurhur. hope i don't fail comm skills. must remember to stop giggling first.

when all hell breaks loose

Chanying’s refusal to join us because she had diarrhea. Yes I shouldn’t have left the class and walked in her direction but she was rooted! Grr :)

Liyan and Karen going to toilet without permission. Testing my patience these 2 were. I let them off with stern warning (did it look stern to you? Haha)

Jos and Janice going missing. Here, I realized the failure of the group leader system because rezal obviously couldn’t physically stop them and being not that familiar with them, I suppose he was quite powerless. I told them to see me after class. Detention for both it shall be, thank you :)

Ken eating. Argh argh argh! I have nothing to say except I really meant it when I threw your snickers on the ground. Of course I wouldn’t do that in a real class though so don’t worry. Ditto for all the times I rolled my eyes, frowned, laughed in exasperation, wrung my arms, stamped my feet blah blah blah. I even tried covering my eyes to stop myself from rolling them but I think some of you thought I was going to burst into tears. Hilarious :)

The snail on the whiteboard was a nice touch. But luckily daphne was nice enough to undo her action because I was too traumatized to touch it, really. I would have just left the silly whiteboard there until the snail crawled away, which could mean I can only come back and collect my whiteboard tomorrow.

My markers’ mysterious movement. Again, didn’t anticipate that! Rezal suggested afterwards that I should have carried my materials with me all the time in a bag. Yup will consider that. Then again, I won’t be bringing monkeys out in future, ever. Now I know why most teachers pooh pooh the idea of fieldwork around school. For fieldtrips outside school, you usually have more than one teacher so management is a lot easier. I had 4 other fellow attachees and one senior teacher as chaperone during the trip to sungei buloh so that didn’t give me any headache like today’s.

Oh back to the markers’ incident, I wouldn’t have revealed my informants’ identities in a real class lah. Initially I was unsure about their reliability (who can you trust in this class! Tsk tsk) but I did look straight at the offender when I was giving my ultimatum and he chose to look away. I’m not sure if it’s effective to threaten that way (“I know who you are”) though, might work sometimes if your threat is serious enough?

Mas fainting. I kind of anticipated that and i was not wearing my teacher’s hat when I was coming down the staircase. Couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Sorry girl, I’m not being heartless or evil. I just brought mas to the table and let her sit and rest. Later raksha requested to bring her to sick bay and I was actually reluctant to agree because raksha looked too happy about going off! so I said, “ok but I will check on you later so please make sure you’ll be there”.

If you didn’t already tell, I was so relieved when Kenneth truncated the whole simulation. My patience was really running thin with all the small pockets of conversation going on when shou wee was “presenting”!

Yup so pedagogy wise, I was concerned about allocating the different types of weathering and factors affecting at each station because I didn’t want the students to simply associate the factor with the type. I suppose I will have to emphasize that all the factors play a role in all types of weathering. Ken suggested I let the students think on their own and come up with their own idea of what kind of weathering occurs at their particular station.

anyways in case anyone's curious about what the groups were supposed to talk about at each station:

Station 1 (staircase with rocks alongside railing)- wanted them to explain difference between weathering and erosion, which the 2 guys did really well. thank you. Chemical weathering type: solution. Factors: relief, grain size.

Station 2 (covered tree)- ohoh! this poor group, i think they were just trying to be funny, they couldn't fix their jigsaw so i had to direct them there. actually i don't blame them, their was ALL GREEN! haha. yeah the whole jigsaw idea was introduce an element of fun while allocating the station because i didn't know a better way of doing it. can't stand at the briefing spot and point to their station far away.

ok station 2 - hydrolysis and biological weathering from the humic acid. Factors: vegetation, climate

station 3 (beside staircase)- what i called the weakest link. biological weathering through carbonation (opened up room for confusion) and oxidation. factors: rock hardness, mineral composition

station 4 (root beside pavement) - no rocks here so the group was cheeky enough to point that out. anyways biological through root and carbonation. factors: lines of weaknesses, human activities

It was a big leap of faith for me to have the groups dispersed so far apart at their own stations during the group investigation/discussion activity. I kept turning around to check on my flock when I was at each station.

Ok can’t remember anything else for now….thank you all for being so wonderfully *bleep bleep*. I had a great time really, it was a good learning experience but I wouldn’t wish it on you though. Keep the suggestions coming and enjoy your weekend while I get back to my Olympic pool of sharks.