What's YOUR script for life?

I had attended this Teachers' Prepatory Course on the 20th and 21st of March just last week and I was personally inspired by what I had learnt then.

Our course instructor was this very experienced teacher called Mr Cheong Heng Yuen, who was formerly a school principal and a Director for Education under MOE. He shared vividly from all his teaching experiences and how to handle all the kids, which carved a deeper impression in me more than the notes itself!

We had a lot of fun these two days, learning about each other's teaching styles and do you know that there are actually 23 STYLES to manage a class? whoo hoo...most of us would remember very well how our own teachers had used those tactics to manage our class last time and how even we, being kids had "abused" our own teachers in return. Mr Cheong jokingly added, "You all now have a taste of your own MEDICINE!!"

He shared with conviction and with humour how we want our teaching experiences to be, giving us time to reflect also, one point which really struck me was," What's YOUR script for life?" Pretty much like the reflections we do in Church, he asked this one last question with seriousness that stunned the room after a slew of his jokes.

What's my script for life? Do I want others to write it for me? How do I want my teaching career to be carved out? What are my values and viewpoints that made me embark on teaching? I asked this question to my Papa and Mama who have a combined 70 plus years in the teaching career. So what stuck to them? What made them carry on? I had a glimpse of kids nowadays in schools from my relief teaching stint. It's their LOVE for the kids. Kids from all kinds of situations, from all backgrounds, from all races and different faiths.

Something about Mr Cheong that hinted that he was a Christian when he urged the class, "As long as I am righteous before God, why I had set myself to do and to achieve in this career as a teacher. I remember and I come back to the very basic principle that I hold on to when I take up this step in life, its that I have a passion to change the lives of the kids that I am teaching and LOVE, I would be Okay."

Still praying to God for strength and wisdom every single morning...

Every new day, Your glory unfolds

Filling my eyes with Your treasures untold,

The beauty of Your holiness brings worship anew,

My GREATEST LOVE is YOU.

Yesterday - 27th March 2006

Met my first serious case in this school. I remember before we ended the TPC, we all had bombarded Mr Cheong with questions on how to handle kids and classroom management. I had posed the question on Hyper-Active Children "ADHT" they call it..Not really ADHT for me, but this kid really needs help. I was relieving the class to do English Compo before they all go for school excursion. This kid could not calm down no matter what. His classmate had accidentally spoilt his mechanical pencil the early part of the day and he was brawling, screaming throughout the whole lesson, demanding that the friend should pay "$5 dollars for this pencil! Your pencil is stupid! My aunt will definitely hear about this!" he demanded in fluent, accented English.

Being small in size, he shoved the boys who were trying to comfort him to the ground, amazed at his strength and temper, i tried to counsel him, only to see him face tensed , fist tightly clenched, with gritted teeth wailing and crying..He was making noises that I know that this kid really need professional counselling...I nearly lost it when he screamed and threatened to hurt more boys. But something within me urged me to leave him alone. Only then I witness a true picture of love and comradarie among the boys in the class young as they were, the boys especially the class monitor was so sweet, he sat there, hugging him, talking to him, fixing his pencil for him and telling him that it was really okay.

He was so mature that he even advised me not to talk to that boy cos I would only provoke him further! The boys all wanted to calm him down, some of them even assured him and gave him their stationery with encouraging words. Even though some of them are actually quite afraid that he would yell at them or hurt them..

WOW...I am so amazed. Such sweetness...

Please Lord Jesus, preserve in them this big heart for the people around them....Please don't let them grow so harden hearted when they are older. This is the kind of love and the kind of environment that would really inspire learnng. No one is left behind, no one is discriminated. This is really the fruit of the Spirit in full display among such young boys of 8-9 years!

A learnng experience for me back there in that small classroom...:)