Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Had a staff bowling tournament in the afternoon. First time in my life I played well enough to be consistently above 100. My average for today was 123. Not too impressive, but for me, that's a marked improvement for this being my 5th time bowling. But it was fun. Getting along with my colleagues pretty well. Of course, it takes a lot more effort to get along with the older teachers. Not that they are not friendly, but rather that they are just of a different wavelength.
Just came back from the Bourne Supremacy. I'm impressed. They wrote a sequel that actually built upon the storyline of the Bourne Identity, and wove in a even deeper conspiracy. It's a really cool show, with more action than the first one. Move aside James Bond. This is the spy show of the new era.
Just came back from the Bourne Supremacy. I'm impressed. They wrote a sequel that actually built upon the storyline of the Bourne Identity, and wove in a even deeper conspiracy. It's a really cool show, with more action than the first one. Move aside James Bond. This is the spy show of the new era.
Hmm apparently my students decided to give me the cards and gifts just before the concert. Yes now I'm a happier man. What I was looking out for wasn't the form of the gifts, but the individual comments they wrote. Some were exceptionally encouraging, and I take heart from their comments that
1) they found my lessons interesting/comical/funny (or maybe it's me and not the lesson)
2) they feel that though I'm new, I'm good
3) they think I'm very patient with them
And the most notable comment was that I made chemistry interesting to them. Talk about intrinsic rewards...I guess this pretty much is it. I am definitely in the right profession.
The teachers' day performance I had to put up (with my colleagues) went fairly well. A few glitches, but still able to earn us compliments on creativity. The interesting part was when we went on stage, the classes of all six of us started shouting supportive things like "Ms/Mr so-and-so we will always support you!" in Mandarin. Then one of my classes went berserk and shouted "Mr Low, we love you!" which earned a competitive "Mr Lim, we really love you!" from another class for my colleague. And then a "Mr Low, we love you the most!" to top it off. I guess I'm an easily contented man...
1) they found my lessons interesting/comical/funny (or maybe it's me and not the lesson)
2) they feel that though I'm new, I'm good
3) they think I'm very patient with them
And the most notable comment was that I made chemistry interesting to them. Talk about intrinsic rewards...I guess this pretty much is it. I am definitely in the right profession.
The teachers' day performance I had to put up (with my colleagues) went fairly well. A few glitches, but still able to earn us compliments on creativity. The interesting part was when we went on stage, the classes of all six of us started shouting supportive things like "Ms/Mr so-and-so we will always support you!" in Mandarin. Then one of my classes went berserk and shouted "Mr Low, we love you!" which earned a competitive "Mr Lim, we really love you!" from another class for my colleague. And then a "Mr Low, we love you the most!" to top it off. I guess I'm an easily contented man...
Haven't had the time to blog much recently. Today there's a Teachers' Day Concert, and unfortunately, every year the tradition is for the new teachers to put up an item. So I've been tied down by rehearsals.
In the past few days, I have seen how teachers brighten up at receiving presents and cards from their students. They happily showcase their presents, and I can tell how much these things mean to them. I can't help but feel envious. I wonder if it's because I'm new to the school, but so far, I've not received anything at all, except for some sincere handshakes and greetings. I contemplated for a long while, and concluded that I'm affected not for the sake of competing on quality of gifts, nor for popularity, but merely the lack of appreciation thus far. Which also makes me wonder if I had not taught the way I wanted to - impactfully.
Now that I'm a teacher, I realize how much teachers value Teachers' Day, and the little things that students give really bear a world of significance. Even if the teachers do not show it in front of students, in the staff room, you can see all the presents line the cabinets, the cubicle walls, or the shelves. They are the accolades of accomplishment, and the trophies that mark the touching of someone's life.
I feel small about myself feeling this way, but I long for the day that my cubicle will be filled by class photos, little presents and cards, that mark my journey and all the lives that have passed through my hands.
In the past few days, I have seen how teachers brighten up at receiving presents and cards from their students. They happily showcase their presents, and I can tell how much these things mean to them. I can't help but feel envious. I wonder if it's because I'm new to the school, but so far, I've not received anything at all, except for some sincere handshakes and greetings. I contemplated for a long while, and concluded that I'm affected not for the sake of competing on quality of gifts, nor for popularity, but merely the lack of appreciation thus far. Which also makes me wonder if I had not taught the way I wanted to - impactfully.
Now that I'm a teacher, I realize how much teachers value Teachers' Day, and the little things that students give really bear a world of significance. Even if the teachers do not show it in front of students, in the staff room, you can see all the presents line the cabinets, the cubicle walls, or the shelves. They are the accolades of accomplishment, and the trophies that mark the touching of someone's life.
I feel small about myself feeling this way, but I long for the day that my cubicle will be filled by class photos, little presents and cards, that mark my journey and all the lives that have passed through my hands.
Monday, August 23, 2004
I had the ugly privillege of having to scold my classes for poor performance for the most recent lecture test. But they deserve it.
Clearly a lack of effort in this test, which resulted in many, many failures across the board in the 30 over classes. Those who bothered to memorize part of their notes survived it; those who didn't gave crap for answers. I think it boils down to the fact that this lecture test is not considered in the promotional exam at the end of year one. Still they deserve a scolding. They are myopic in their considerations in that case. Most of them have the misconception that last minute work will save their arses, not realizing that the A-level content is much more demanding than the O-level content. Worse still, I don't think they recognize their own calibre.
One day I must blast away their ignorance. No calibre + no effort = no pass in promos.
Clearly a lack of effort in this test, which resulted in many, many failures across the board in the 30 over classes. Those who bothered to memorize part of their notes survived it; those who didn't gave crap for answers. I think it boils down to the fact that this lecture test is not considered in the promotional exam at the end of year one. Still they deserve a scolding. They are myopic in their considerations in that case. Most of them have the misconception that last minute work will save their arses, not realizing that the A-level content is much more demanding than the O-level content. Worse still, I don't think they recognize their own calibre.
One day I must blast away their ignorance. No calibre + no effort = no pass in promos.
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Last week was one busy week. Interspersed with going out a lot, there was a lot of marking to do. Sigh. In an unfortunate turn of events, I had to re-mark 6 classes of SPA scripts, which was mainly due to the fact that I had started marking earlier than the rest when the changes to the marking standardization were made.
Suddenly I found that procrastinating wouldn't be so bad a thing in specific circumstances, such as marking scripts which need to be standardized among several markers. Not that we did not already standardize the marking, but that students are exceptionally unique in their propensity to make similarly unique errors.
Busy, busy, busy. But September holidays are coming soon. Yay!
The first National Day Rally speech by PM Lee was surprisingly interesting. I hope he drafted the speech himself, because I think that if the humour exhibited in the speech is genuinely his, it would do him good for sure. Who likes a boring minister eh? Amidst all the anecdotes, what most people were tuning in for and keeping their ears wide open for are the maternity leave issues, and the 5 day workweek for civil servants. When he announced it, I am sure that all over Singapore, NSmen and students are screaming Amen and Hallelujah, because these are the most likely people who do not wish to see anything on for Saturdays.
Frankly I remain cynical about the feasibility, but I suppose with skilled timetabling, it might be possible to allocate Saturday activities to some weekday(s). But we teachers would most probably have no life on weekdays. Compensated on Saturday of course. I wouldn't mind one day I can sleep in late peacefully though, so I shall suspend judgement. I heard from a colleague that MOE is giving us a timeline of up to Jan to accomodate the 5-day workweek change. Looks like next year will be interesting.
Civil servants are to go pak-tor-ing on Saturdays!
Suddenly I found that procrastinating wouldn't be so bad a thing in specific circumstances, such as marking scripts which need to be standardized among several markers. Not that we did not already standardize the marking, but that students are exceptionally unique in their propensity to make similarly unique errors.
Busy, busy, busy. But September holidays are coming soon. Yay!
The first National Day Rally speech by PM Lee was surprisingly interesting. I hope he drafted the speech himself, because I think that if the humour exhibited in the speech is genuinely his, it would do him good for sure. Who likes a boring minister eh? Amidst all the anecdotes, what most people were tuning in for and keeping their ears wide open for are the maternity leave issues, and the 5 day workweek for civil servants. When he announced it, I am sure that all over Singapore, NSmen and students are screaming Amen and Hallelujah, because these are the most likely people who do not wish to see anything on for Saturdays.
Frankly I remain cynical about the feasibility, but I suppose with skilled timetabling, it might be possible to allocate Saturday activities to some weekday(s). But we teachers would most probably have no life on weekdays. Compensated on Saturday of course. I wouldn't mind one day I can sleep in late peacefully though, so I shall suspend judgement. I heard from a colleague that MOE is giving us a timeline of up to Jan to accomodate the 5-day workweek change. Looks like next year will be interesting.
Civil servants are to go pak-tor-ing on Saturdays!
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
I'm building pretty good rapport with my classes so far; the downside is that they are getting noisier every week. I foresee one day I will have to address this issue, if they fail to be smart and observe my facial expressions.
My sports class is one kind of unfortunate. Their chemistry practicals are held in the biology labs to start with, and every week there are some hiccups somehow. Either missing materials or apparatus, and that kind of stuff. Now their NAFTA also clashes with their SPA assessment. Argh! Administration horror!
My sports class is one kind of unfortunate. Their chemistry practicals are held in the biology labs to start with, and every week there are some hiccups somehow. Either missing materials or apparatus, and that kind of stuff. Now their NAFTA also clashes with their SPA assessment. Argh! Administration horror!
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Sunday service was quite spectacular. Not the service itself, but that the whole church occupied the entire Suntec convention hall 6. My cell leader was late, so the whole bunch of us were ushered to the back, and I drifted to the last possible row of the entire hall, thinking that since we were going to be at the back, might as well be the furthest, and nearest the staircase out. But from that vantage point, all I saw were fellow church mates, stretching all the way to the front.
Multitudes of people. All worshipping. It was a grand, grand sight.
Multitudes of people. All worshipping. It was a grand, grand sight.
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Friday was...teacher investiture ceremony! And boy, was it boring. All the speeches were droning, especially our new minister of education. Nothing wrong with content, but I think it's just the voice was low and almost monotonous. And the 1 hr wait before the ceremony began probably did us in. 800 plus teachers went up to receive the scroll. On average one person wastes 6 seconds to walk and receive the file, so the whole process took more than an hour and a half. Just the receiving of the file. Yeah, file. Not scroll (case).
After that was the Spook Show at Suntec. Hmmm...haven't seen Senior Pastor for a while already, so it's interesting to see him doing magic again. It wasn't as scary as it was made out to be, but the new illusions were quite good. I still can't figure out the floating table thing. In the end, at least 2 of my students came, and one friend who brought his friend along, so the 7 tickets didn't completely go to waste. I'm still upset at my former students though. Flippant and irresponsible. Grrr.
I rushed like mad last night to prepare the hands on tutorial for today's IT Seminar session. I was tasked to teach Macromedia Flash, and man, I wasn't really looking forward to it. The reason being that it's extremely difficult in my opinion to teach Flash, especially since I am only given about 2 hours. It has too many functions, and certain concepts of layering and timeline are very new to most of the participants. I started off a bit nervous (teaching teachers leh, not students), but after a while, my mind went into some form of auto-pilot. It's a good thing I prepared the tutorial, because as I created it last night, it helped me unconsciously structure out the teaching process.
I got fairly good feedback from some participants, so guess I didn't go too far wrong. One commented on my patience; another commented that I was very clear in my explanation. The latter comment was very encouraging, especially since I knew it was hard to explain many things in Flash.
Next time I conduct this, I will not include additional tasks with the main tutorial. Some of them were worried because we were only at page 2 of the 6 page handout nearing the end of the session...sigh. The only encouragement I have for them is that they were making good progress, and that I took about 3 months to pick it up by myself. Of course that 3 months include picking up the sophisticated features too...so it was a slight overstatement. Hehe...
After that was the Spook Show at Suntec. Hmmm...haven't seen Senior Pastor for a while already, so it's interesting to see him doing magic again. It wasn't as scary as it was made out to be, but the new illusions were quite good. I still can't figure out the floating table thing. In the end, at least 2 of my students came, and one friend who brought his friend along, so the 7 tickets didn't completely go to waste. I'm still upset at my former students though. Flippant and irresponsible. Grrr.
I rushed like mad last night to prepare the hands on tutorial for today's IT Seminar session. I was tasked to teach Macromedia Flash, and man, I wasn't really looking forward to it. The reason being that it's extremely difficult in my opinion to teach Flash, especially since I am only given about 2 hours. It has too many functions, and certain concepts of layering and timeline are very new to most of the participants. I started off a bit nervous (teaching teachers leh, not students), but after a while, my mind went into some form of auto-pilot. It's a good thing I prepared the tutorial, because as I created it last night, it helped me unconsciously structure out the teaching process.
I got fairly good feedback from some participants, so guess I didn't go too far wrong. One commented on my patience; another commented that I was very clear in my explanation. The latter comment was very encouraging, especially since I knew it was hard to explain many things in Flash.
Next time I conduct this, I will not include additional tasks with the main tutorial. Some of them were worried because we were only at page 2 of the 6 page handout nearing the end of the session...sigh. The only encouragement I have for them is that they were making good progress, and that I took about 3 months to pick it up by myself. Of course that 3 months include picking up the sophisticated features too...so it was a slight overstatement. Hehe...
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Today had a combined tutorial with another class. That class happened to be the top chemistry class (scholar class lah), and, well, they pretty much made as much noise as my own class. But the interesting thing is after they have finished discussing questions I assigned for groupwork, while my class began to chat about all kinds of nonsense, this class was preparing the next tutorial in advance.
The sheer difference in calibre and dilligence. Dramatic contrast, I say.
Went to play pool with Shups, and her company people. They are actually practising for competition, so I was just tagging along. Boy, they were good. I was intimidated, impressed, and inspired. They were not national team player kinda standard, but still, their placing and shots were pretty accurate. I knew I was out of their league, but it was good to play against a couple of them...the next stage of growth for me is to reach their kind of standard in terms of placing the ball. I need enlightenment...where's a wise pool sage when I need one?
I am very frustrated today. Tomorrow there's this spook show my church is hosting, and I've asked some of my practicum school students to attend. 7 of them backed out on me last minute today. Today. The day before the show. They delayed confirmation till very late, which is somewhere this week, and when I saved the tickets for them (i.e. purchased them first), they tell me they cannot go. I hope I can find other people to attend. Otherwise it is a waste of opportunities for people to come and watch the show and hear the gospel too. And a waste of money. My money. Moral of the story?
Cardinal rule #1: Do not ask non-committal people to attend any event that costs money to attend, and that you probably will have to pay for them first.
Cardinal rule #2: Ask people who you have authority over, so that if they back out last minute, you can scold them upside down, lecturing them on the virtue of responsibility.
The sheer difference in calibre and dilligence. Dramatic contrast, I say.
Went to play pool with Shups, and her company people. They are actually practising for competition, so I was just tagging along. Boy, they were good. I was intimidated, impressed, and inspired. They were not national team player kinda standard, but still, their placing and shots were pretty accurate. I knew I was out of their league, but it was good to play against a couple of them...the next stage of growth for me is to reach their kind of standard in terms of placing the ball. I need enlightenment...where's a wise pool sage when I need one?
I am very frustrated today. Tomorrow there's this spook show my church is hosting, and I've asked some of my practicum school students to attend. 7 of them backed out on me last minute today. Today. The day before the show. They delayed confirmation till very late, which is somewhere this week, and when I saved the tickets for them (i.e. purchased them first), they tell me they cannot go. I hope I can find other people to attend. Otherwise it is a waste of opportunities for people to come and watch the show and hear the gospel too. And a waste of money. My money. Moral of the story?
Cardinal rule #1: Do not ask non-committal people to attend any event that costs money to attend, and that you probably will have to pay for them first.
Cardinal rule #2: Ask people who you have authority over, so that if they back out last minute, you can scold them upside down, lecturing them on the virtue of responsibility.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
I went to school today preparing to deliver a major scolding to one of my classes, for giving me crap in their assignments, even though I went through all the questions. I psyched myself up to scold them, for their own good, of course, looking at the flippant attitude they have. But I went into class, and I saw their already crestfallen faces, and the anger dissipated. Instead, I only gave them a minor ticking off, with disappointment in my voice.
It was a good thing I did not scold them though. I had meant to lecture them on poor attitude and effort originally. When I made my usual rounds to check on their tutorials, I was very pleasantly surprised that my laziest class had prepared the questions in advance. Not a single blank page for the first few questions. I don't know exactly what to make of it yet, but whatever it is, it managed to put a smile on my face. I hope this improvement in attitude keeps up. Then there's hope for them for sure.
I think I'd better pray for my classes for Friday's lecture test. They will need divine intervention...
It was a good thing I did not scold them though. I had meant to lecture them on poor attitude and effort originally. When I made my usual rounds to check on their tutorials, I was very pleasantly surprised that my laziest class had prepared the questions in advance. Not a single blank page for the first few questions. I don't know exactly what to make of it yet, but whatever it is, it managed to put a smile on my face. I hope this improvement in attitude keeps up. Then there's hope for them for sure.
I think I'd better pray for my classes for Friday's lecture test. They will need divine intervention...
Monday, August 09, 2004
The long weekend has finally arrived.
Friday there was the national day celebration, and I realized how intolerant of noise I sometimes can be. I remember shhshing (did I just invent a new word?) some cinema patrons the other day watching House of Flying Daggers, and this time, I shhshed an entire hall of noisy, disrespectful TJC students. I managed to obtain 6 seconds of respectable silence. But that was about it. My colleagues were shocked I did it, but hey, I could read it on their faces that what I did was what they wanted to do too, minus the guts or initiative.
Saturday ended up in this nice restaurant at Holland Village to chill out. Crustacean. Newly opened, nice decor with many aquariums, dim blue lighting, and a in-house singer with a guitar. The guy who was singing was quite good, I must say, but the prices are steep. I suppose we are also paying the salary of the singer.
Sunday had a nice game of mahjong. Didn't play for money though, else I could be a few bucks richer. Hehehe. Kudos to Isabel for hosting us. It was a fun evening, but I felt sorry for a couple of her friends from poly who came later than the majority. Must have been quite boring being the minority and among us, the noisy bunch.
And then we come to Monday! Happy National Day! This is an interesting season, mainly because of the big handover coming right up on the 12th (I think). The Lee dynasty has resumed. I await to see what changes would arise out of this change of lee-dership.
Friday there was the national day celebration, and I realized how intolerant of noise I sometimes can be. I remember shhshing (did I just invent a new word?) some cinema patrons the other day watching House of Flying Daggers, and this time, I shhshed an entire hall of noisy, disrespectful TJC students. I managed to obtain 6 seconds of respectable silence. But that was about it. My colleagues were shocked I did it, but hey, I could read it on their faces that what I did was what they wanted to do too, minus the guts or initiative.
Saturday ended up in this nice restaurant at Holland Village to chill out. Crustacean. Newly opened, nice decor with many aquariums, dim blue lighting, and a in-house singer with a guitar. The guy who was singing was quite good, I must say, but the prices are steep. I suppose we are also paying the salary of the singer.
Sunday had a nice game of mahjong. Didn't play for money though, else I could be a few bucks richer. Hehehe. Kudos to Isabel for hosting us. It was a fun evening, but I felt sorry for a couple of her friends from poly who came later than the majority. Must have been quite boring being the minority and among us, the noisy bunch.
And then we come to Monday! Happy National Day! This is an interesting season, mainly because of the big handover coming right up on the 12th (I think). The Lee dynasty has resumed. I await to see what changes would arise out of this change of lee-dership.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Started my SPA marking of skill C (analysis). Boy, do my eyes hurt. Reading student scripts is a real pain...I think if I mark skill A (planning) or skill D (evaluation), even worse. Will get annoyed by excessive crap. Teaching is fun; marking stifles.
My students have finally started to look for me on their own accord to ask me questions. Good sign. Although now I have less free time to do marking in school. But I think at least I can gauge an improvement in attitude, and I guess they are beginning to trust me? Hmmm...
But the most recent tutorials I have made quite a few small boo-boos. Not very happy with the mistakes. I thought I am more zai than this. Sigh.
Long, long weekend coming right up! Yay! A good break at last! I just need one day I can sleep in past 11 am and I'll be so eternally grateful.
My students have finally started to look for me on their own accord to ask me questions. Good sign. Although now I have less free time to do marking in school. But I think at least I can gauge an improvement in attitude, and I guess they are beginning to trust me? Hmmm...
But the most recent tutorials I have made quite a few small boo-boos. Not very happy with the mistakes. I thought I am more zai than this. Sigh.
Long, long weekend coming right up! Yay! A good break at last! I just need one day I can sleep in past 11 am and I'll be so eternally grateful.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
I'm typing this after watching the fireworks today...from the comfort of my own house! Bwahaha...one of the fringe benefits of staying where I am: move to the left end of the corridor, I can see the fireworks above National Stadium; move to the right end of the corridor, I can see the fireworks above Esplanade. The key word is convenience.
I'm quite excited. After ranting and raving about the inefficiency of TJC giving me a laptop, it has finally arrived. In the form of a Fujitsu lifebook tablet PC! I'm excited, although I don't know exactly why. The swivelling of the screen actually is a little pointless, and the stylus is quite insensitive on the touch screen. But the drawbacks are glaring: no floppy drive, no CDrom drive...it cannot read anything except a flash drive. Which costed me 75 bucks to get. Argh. But needed one eventually. Especially because of this tablet. Bought a wireless optical mouse for the laptop too. Can't function properly without a mouse. Touch screen or the built-in touch pad for the mouse don't work fast enough. Was looking at the optical mice, and then questioned if I'm willing to blow about 20 bucks more to make it wireless. Techie part of me succumbed. Ta-da! Wireless mouse. (Note to self: be glad I didn't go for bluetooth mouse from Microsoft...just under 200 bucks...)
Yesterday was college open-house for Temasek Academy (a.k.a as I.P. - Integrated Programme...through-train), and I was there from morning till evening. The good part is that I'm near the refreshments. So I can pop over and grab food or punch whenever I want. The other good point is that the two student helpers have good initiative, so the teachers didn't really need to talk till the throats go dry. Funny thing happened though. One of the student helpers went to play for guitar club, and this guy actually followed her to our booth. She enthusiastically told him about the elective system for the I.P., and after that he just went, "Can I have your number?" and "Can I ask you out for coffee or tea?" So after that I had a hysterical, traumatised and disgusted teenager on my hands. The turnout was quite poor overall though. We expected at least twice the number that came. Now we are all speculating if the person in charge of publicity may get his head chopped off...
Ran two SPA assessments for two of my classes on Thu and Fri. Helped supervise another two classes of my colleagues as well. I think I'm quite happy with their skill B performance overall. At least they didn't make the mistakes I warned them time and time again. For that I am thankful. Of course, they still made mistakes which are not in the checklist so they cannot be penalized. But to be fair, they have three sessions, the assessment inclusive, to do something that we used to invest half a year in...Qualitative Analysis.
I know I'm in the right profession. I may complain here and there about a thousand things, but I am happy where I am doing what I do. For that, I give thanks to the Lord.
I'm quite excited. After ranting and raving about the inefficiency of TJC giving me a laptop, it has finally arrived. In the form of a Fujitsu lifebook tablet PC! I'm excited, although I don't know exactly why. The swivelling of the screen actually is a little pointless, and the stylus is quite insensitive on the touch screen. But the drawbacks are glaring: no floppy drive, no CDrom drive...it cannot read anything except a flash drive. Which costed me 75 bucks to get. Argh. But needed one eventually. Especially because of this tablet. Bought a wireless optical mouse for the laptop too. Can't function properly without a mouse. Touch screen or the built-in touch pad for the mouse don't work fast enough. Was looking at the optical mice, and then questioned if I'm willing to blow about 20 bucks more to make it wireless. Techie part of me succumbed. Ta-da! Wireless mouse. (Note to self: be glad I didn't go for bluetooth mouse from Microsoft...just under 200 bucks...)
Yesterday was college open-house for Temasek Academy (a.k.a as I.P. - Integrated Programme...through-train), and I was there from morning till evening. The good part is that I'm near the refreshments. So I can pop over and grab food or punch whenever I want. The other good point is that the two student helpers have good initiative, so the teachers didn't really need to talk till the throats go dry. Funny thing happened though. One of the student helpers went to play for guitar club, and this guy actually followed her to our booth. She enthusiastically told him about the elective system for the I.P., and after that he just went, "Can I have your number?" and "Can I ask you out for coffee or tea?" So after that I had a hysterical, traumatised and disgusted teenager on my hands. The turnout was quite poor overall though. We expected at least twice the number that came. Now we are all speculating if the person in charge of publicity may get his head chopped off...
Ran two SPA assessments for two of my classes on Thu and Fri. Helped supervise another two classes of my colleagues as well. I think I'm quite happy with their skill B performance overall. At least they didn't make the mistakes I warned them time and time again. For that I am thankful. Of course, they still made mistakes which are not in the checklist so they cannot be penalized. But to be fair, they have three sessions, the assessment inclusive, to do something that we used to invest half a year in...Qualitative Analysis.
I know I'm in the right profession. I may complain here and there about a thousand things, but I am happy where I am doing what I do. For that, I give thanks to the Lord.