Isn't that troublesome?

Just an observation... at one of the bus berths at Tampines bus interchange in a weekday evening...

A woman in her mid-30s was carrying her little baby. 2 young girls - one who's about the age of 10, was trying to manage 2 bagfuls of groceries, another like a lower secondary girl was packing the baby trolly. Seated beside her was an old lady in her early 70s... (her hair was all white).

They were waiting for the bus... because of 'logistics', they did not queue up...

The bus came... everybody in the queue as usual boarded the bus... while the "troop" waited patiently at the side, until the queue of people boarded... they did not jump queue though one of the passengers signaled them to go up first... hm... considerate Singaporean...

When it was the turn for the 'troop' to board the bus, it's quite obvious that the young girls were very 'well-trained' in managing the props when they board the bus, and the old grandmother also very quickly found a strategic place to 'park' herself, and of course, the mother with the baby also got a seat very quickly...

On the other hand, I was thinking, why bother to bring the 'troop' out and having to go through all the hassle to manage them (the young children, the old lady and the bags of groceries)? Also, during such peak hours, it's common sense that one has to squeeze among the crowd and it's unlikely to get a seat on the bus... aren't these very troublesome?

执著， 是为了。。。。

执著。。。 是绊脚石。。。
是执著， 还是固执？ 只是一线之差。

是的，有人因为自己的执著，忘了身边的人，忘了别人的感受， 忘了顾及其他事物接下来所受到的影响吗？当然，也忘了无形中，对自己产生的负面影响，无形中的伤害。。。

是认为，那是最好地包复？是最好地发泄吗？
包复什么？发泄什么？也要有个究竟。。。 无缘无故的, 算是损人又不利己，何必呢。。。
就是要闹得不欢而散。。。天啊！这是个什么世界呢？

究竟， 最后的胜利者是谁呢？决对不是自己。。。
究竟， 最后的失败者是谁呢？决对是自己。。。 很肯定的。

当然， 受损的，不单自己，身边的人（被挟在中间的），受气的人，当然，还有因这一份执著而影响工作的进度。反过来看， 是谁不合作呢？相反的事，幼稚罢了。

吾并非那么所谓地宽洪大量， 但，永远得记得，要沉得住气。。。
没有人喜欢身边的人不顾及全局而一天搞得全军覆没。
要记得，在这个世界上，没有人有权给脸色别人看！
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
后记。。。
觉得，用BLOG来‘发泄’也未必不是件好事。。。 至少， 不会伤害到别人，又能让心情好些。。。还记得有篇散文曾说：
Once there was a boy who had a very bad temper. One day, his dad told him. Each time he was anger, add a nail to the fence... on the first day, he nailed many. Gradually as the months passed... there were fewer and fewer nails being added to the fence... eventually, it came a day when he has nothing to nail. Daddy told him to remove the nail from the fence... eventually, the fence had no more nails... however, the holes left by the nails were unremovable... it reminds the boy how times he had hurt people around him... these holes were like the wounds created each time the person is 'knived'.

Notre Dame de Paris (12 Nov 2006)

It's great :D
Have not watched such an amazing musical for a long long time... that reminds me the days of the Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals... Wah! The stunning vocal performances... 值回票价！

http://www.notredame.com.sg/

"Gracious" Teachers

过门也时客... This is a common saying... when Asians hold the belief that no matter who you are, as far as you come to my place, I'll still treat you with courtesy and grace, just like what I will when a guest comes... Thought this is one characteristics of a gracious society.

Indeed, we were (perhaps I was the only one??) caught in a surprise when we went to a school to conduct workshop recently... It's a customised workshop, requested by the school. So, we went... This was not the first time we conducted customised workshops... many times before that, and we normally would have a short chat with the head of department to find out more background on of the participants... that helps us to sharpen the focus of the workshop, etc... and of course, basic courtesy, know the name of the department head and of course, they also find out who we are, to introduce us to the teachers... as participants, though it's their homeground, they will at acknowledge our existence even before the 'show' starts...

Nevertheless, this time was really very different...

I was in the lab... the door opened... the lady (which I thought, and indeed she was, the head of department) said, "5 more mins and the teachers are not here yet?" ... then she closed the door again... probably went to get her teachers... Hey, I asked myself, when I found a stranger in the computer lab, I would have first introduced myself and ask who she is! Well, she did not bother... The door opened again, this time, thought my 'proactive' "hi" would have caught her attention... I failed. She closed the door... eventually the door opened and several teachers scrolled in... nobody looked up... hm... they seems have not noticed a stranger standing there... er... for a moment, I thought I was 'transparent'!

Oops! Are they (the head as well as the teachers) aware that first impression counts? They forget there's a guest... there's an internal customer... they forget the most powerful media is people - not just the public, but their colleagues under the same big umbrealla! Do they bother about impression? Yes, obviously, when one reacted to SC's remark on "@@ is very nice"... the immediate reaction was, "Yes, we know, so we must also be nice too....". OK, we got the message! Overall, I felt we were the unwelcomed guests... Moreover, we were taken for granted that we need the "job", as PD is our business... our valuable time can be more well-spent!

Little little things like respect and courtesy are missing from what we hope to see from our colleagues... indeed, saw some 'mirrors' of our NT pupils... looking at the marksheet while SC was going through some new skills and pretended could not catch up when it's her turn to do it! Doing small talks while supposed to think and contribute ideas in an open discussion... the most comical part is the "mice" starting behaving when the cat "came"... so ashame!

I think the impression counts... to repair this... it's possible, but difficult... a lesson learnt...

I remember what DD said, when we go to the school, it's not just for meeting or workshop, there're lots of other things we can learn... may be unrelated to our objective of the visit, but it tells alot... Thanks alot... I'll continue to keep my eyes wide open... to learn the not obvious.

"Gracious" acts in #29

This pair of teenagers caught my eyes... only recently... both times in bus 29.

The girl, around 18 and the boy, around 15... guess they are sister and brother... and one more assumption... they had never taken public transport? or many a times, they travel with their own private transport... They are loud... they speak very fluent english, just like any of our young teenagers, who forget there are people around them... in particular, her facial expressions were quick to disclose what she did not like... eg. being in a very crowded bus... when engaged in talking, she forgets to exercise civic manners and courtesy. The most interesting part is, how she stands in the bus... while everybody will stand facing the seats, and back to back, so as to optimise the standing space... she stands diagonally and tests her own standing stability while the bus moves!!!

Well, well... how far/long more are we away from the gracious society that we hope to become... with these kind of "well-mannered" and "considerate" youngsters in the breed?

The GAP

(1) What RETREAT means to me/you?
This question arises when we worked on the RETREAT programme for the division this year.

What RETREAT means to me?

• Since the days in Ngee Ann, the term retreat comes as a working session.. be it with the SCC or the whole staff. It's when we were out of the school premises where no one comes to disturb us... and we keep our focus in the discussion. It has always got to do with strategic planning among the SCC, SEM - sharing of key findings with the staff... what else?
• Of course, we also include some elements of fun, such as ice-breaker games... however, the key is still serious matters... and nobody will question, why 'retreat' is not a 'retreat'?
• There was once the SCC has it at the Club (just beside the padang)... there we were treated with a good lunch buffet... in a nice nice conference room... (just like a hotel)... these were the incentives....
• There was another time we had it at Sofitel at JB... and the Orchid Club... well, we have the opportunity to smell the flowers and scroll a little while having breaks from serious matters... that's nice, isn't it... otherwise, there'll be calls from the office, meeting with parents, etc... all sorts of interruption...

What retreat means to others?

• Came to know that not everybody have the same definition when we organise the Retreat for the division this year... I guess, to all EOs, somehow a common understanding of the purpose of retreat is there... as I guess that's what most schools do... However, to the non-EOs... it seems that 'retreat' is a retreat from work... no work... it's relax and fun...
• So, that's the tricky part... especially when we were told that we are expected to tie the programme with the Work Plan Seminar 2 weeks ago! If the entire team is EOs, I guess it's so much easier, as all would have some idea the tone and nature of the occasion. However, with the non-EOs... to keep them involved and interested, without having serious matters... yet, to bring in some organisation directions... it's a tall order!
• What we resorted to... work behaviour and mindset, rather than content, which is mainly dealt with by the Div 1 officers...

(ii) Why so pamper them?

Up to now, I still could not accept the fact that why we must cater chartered transport to people for any form of outing... it happens not just for SWC matters...

Perhaps I'm not the 'welfare' kind of people... Singapore is not that inaccessible! There's the MRT train, that's the buses, and there's taxis!!! It's a once-in-a-blue-moon thing... there are many around who drive too! So, why bother to charter a bus? Indeed, people take for granted that there's transport... and I believe many of them see it as an entitlement rather than a privilege... Do people appreciate that? I think many... but I can see many take for granted... they put forth the request but did not turn up... do they think "the organisation has the money... and it has to spend it, anyway???"

I was totally stunned when in one occasion, some members in the organising committee consider chartering a bus to 'bring the pupils' up the little slope (when initially thought of organising the event in the NTU alumni club!) It's ridiculous!!! The resources ($$$) can be spent in some other well-purpose areas!

Technology has created an impact on the way we teach and learn

{This is contextualised based on my perception @ NIE Paro one-and-a-half years ago}

Let’s ask ourselves the following:
Has technology created an impact in the way we live and the way we behave? We all agree that technology has caused tremendous changes to almost everything!

Let’s refine the question slightly:
Has technology created a positive impact in the way we live and the way we behave? Now, I guess it’s a “yes” and “no” answer.

Technology has opened up our minds to know the once unknown. Technology has provided us the convenience that we once could not imagine. Technology has closed the gaps between people.

On the other hand, do we realise that we have also taken for granted what it offers? We have become more dependent on technology. We can become quite helpless in the sudden absence of technology. For example, how many of us will think our FIT or EIT lesson will take place if there is a blackout in the campus?

For today, we will take a look at the impact of technology on matters close to us, that is teaching and learning?

Compare the days when we were in primary schools and now at the higher institution.

Let’s revisit our primary school days:
· What technology did our teachers use? Chalk and Board.
· What did we learn with? Paper and pencil. Concrete manipulatives such as paper cut-outs.
· The learning environment has changed, too. In the past, the playground, the garden or the forest were our classroom.

With technology, computer lab has become the learning environment where we look forward to have classes, the one where we “see” the world without having to step out of the classroom! It is free and it saves us the time to travel! The world has become “smaller” and more accessible!

With technology, the content we learn has changed. We are no longer confined to information communicated by our teachers, illustrated in the books. We hear news from the radio. We watched the latest development of technology through documentaries from the TVs. We seek information from the Internet!

The Internet provides a vast pool of information, so much so that sometimes we are overwhelmed because we simply do not know how to go about finding it! We require new skills to know how to compress loads of information into something concise and useful. We also have to decipher what’s presented is truth or otherwise. Learning has become an even more complex business!

How has technology improved the way we learn? Here are some illustrations:

The use of digital resources
o CD ROMs carry lots of information – exceeding volumes of books. Imagine a full set of encyclopaedia can be shrunk into a single CD ROM! In subject-based CD ROMs, it often comes with a self-check mechanism where pupils will get immediate feedback when they key in their answers to the questions, which I think all of us agree no teacher give equal attention to a class of learners learning at their own pace.
o In subjects like science, we all know that it is dangerous to carry out experiments to compare the reaction between active metals with water. One famous experiment is the reaction between sodium and water, which is highly explosive. With CD ROMs, it is no longer a risk or hassle to ‘demonstrate’ such experiments for pupils to observe what is impossible in the normal science lab.

The use of the Internet
o We learn from the internet things that textbooks do not tell because the prints have space limitation. Moreover, the information is current and we are kept up-to-date with the world. Imagine, without the internet, how many of us now aware that “Pluto is no longer a planet” but a “dwarf planet” now? It will take months and even years for such news to cross the seas and mountains.

The use of digital manipulatives
o These digital objects provide illustrations that we cannot possible do in a conventional classroom. It generates numerous examples to help reinforce concepts and skills. Digital manipulatives also enable us to deploy other strategies to engage pupils to learn differently, such as through discovery.

For example, in a conventional classroom, how is the “Area of a Triangle” introduced? The norm is to illustrate how it is derived from the area of a rectangle. This illustration only shows that it is true for right-angled triangles. How about any non-right-angled triangles? That is when technology makes the difference. With an applet (one kind of digital manipulatives), pupils can test if the formula is true for all types of triangles! This is something we cannot offer with a chalk board.

When teaching subtraction, with the help of an applet, pupils can visualise how one bar representing ten units can be ungrouped when is shifted from the ten place value to the unit place value, how the positive and negative numbers ‘cancel’ off each other. This is probably something we cannot demonstrate effectively by chalk and talk.

The use of audio and video clips
o The recording and audio features can be employed to enhance the learning of languages!
To improve reading skills (eg. the pronunciation of words and the emotion to bring out the context), pupils can have their reading recorded so that they can review their own reading skills and get feedback from their peers and teacher.

The above have clearly illustrated how technology value-adds to the current classroom practices. So, does that mean we are going to abandon the good old ways of teaching and learning? Or will technology eventually replace teachers?

The answer is “no” to an ‘extreme’ transformation.

The important point is we have to recognise the technology can do and how we can best harness it to improve the current practices. It should not be a replacement or substitute.

Imagine the day comes when we learn the different forms of landscape from the images and video clips and do science experiments through the virtual science labs in the CD ROM and the internet. Do you think we can apply what is acquired effectively in the real world?

Let’s draw the analogy: It’s like we watch videos and read books to learn to swim without going to the pool, are we able to swim?

Technology cannot replace the nature, the real experience. We need someone who scaffold the learning, to guide the thoughts while technology widens our horizon, enriches our experience and present unlimited possibilities to us, in a safe environment.

Because of technology, because of the internet, people from all over the world are connected. In the old times, we depend on postman to deliver our greetings, to communicate to people miles away. What happens today? At a click, our message goes around the globe in seconds!

With technology invasion, do we notice any changes to our behaviour?

Look around, how many of us possess a mobile phone? How many of us have an email account? How many of us have a television set or radio at home? We are surrounded by technology.

While using technology, our behaviour, our beliefs and our values have evolved too. How? Let’s bring ourselves back to our familiar environment, at this campus. Let us to ponder over the following…

· The computer lab is where the brain juices flow. Technology helps to gather ideas and put our thoughts together for our assignments. With the internet, our resources have become richer. We download images that are relevant. At times, we cannot resist but adopted well-structured phrases and paragraphs from the webpages and put them into our write-ups. Have we taken others’ effort for granted? Has it crossed our minds that we are doing the right thing?

· How often do we really spend constructive time in front of the terminal? Have we shifted our priorities because of the mere attraction of technology? Are there times that we are lost in cyber surfing and wonder away from the original intent of going into the internet to do some important research?

· How disappointed we are when there is no free terminal in the computer lab? How we reserve the terminals – through our friends? So, the first come first serve rule does not always apply here.

· How affected we are when our work is wiped out by the system? Curse and swear? What do we do when our friends offer to let us copy their document? We thank technology that enables us to modify the work with a word processing easily! On the other hand, do we realise that technology has tested what we hold dear? Our values. Our beliefs.

Technology has definitely changed the way we perceive things and get things done – for the better or the worse. Drawing from the good old saying, “Fire can be a good slave, but a bad master”. Similarly, technology does wonders when managed well. However, it is capable of drawing out the worst of us if it takes over the command.

"Thank You" for giving up the seat

It's the first time, or I really can't remember when was the last time that I receive a "Thank You" when gave up a seat to someone in need in the MRT or the bus.

It's a pleasant surprise that today, the young mother said a sincere "thank you" when gave up the seat to her and her little daughter. Indeed, realised that she was trying to look out for a seat for me, in appreciation... and before she alighted, she signalled "returning the seat"... it's rare to find this kind of people around... isn't it? Often, we see people who received the seat would simply throw their bump onto the seat... some even without a 'cold' thank you...

OK, story has not ended here... remember the young mother leaving the train? Guess what? The moment she left her seat, a middle age man acted very swiftly... lightning speed!!! and sat onto that seat! OK! See another non-gentleman species in Singapore!

Well, another seat in front was vacant then... a young lady moved fast towards it.... but had the courtesy to ask, "Would you like to sit?" OK, since you bother to ask, at least... OK, I'm willing to let you have the seat... to reciprocate your courtesy...

The Newspapers Distributor

Some time ago, I commented about people form long queues to wait for the free newspaper (Today) distribution.

Not long afterwhich, another newspapers, 我报... also come into the market as a free newspapers... of course, there's another long long queue each morning outside and at the MRT station.

What's wrong with queueing up for the newspapers? Nothing's wrong... As long as there's something free to be given out, certainly there'll be people who are willing to spend time queuing for it... it can be 5 minutes, or it can be half an hour! Ridiculous! isn't it? People are willing to spend up to 30 minutes to queue for the free newspapers?

The yet more ridiculous thing is yet mentioned: The newspapers distributors are very abide to the clock! What does that mean? It seems like the scheduled time to issue is 7.30 am... so, even when the papers are ready, and the distributors are already there... well, it's 7.30 am... to be fair?????

1st September... Teachers' Day

This is a well-known story... a few years ago... have received it via email and also in printed forms... especially in times of Teachers' Day...

Like this quote:
There is a little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference.
The little difference is attitude.
The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.
- W Clement Stone