Sesi Petang & Camping

My honeymoon period is over.

I've been transferred to the afternoon session effective Feb 2, 09. So, instead of working from 7.20am to 1.30pm, I now work from 12.40pm to 6.50pm. The afternoon session has one Kelas Peralihan, thirteen Form 1 classes and thirteen Form 2 classes. The total number of students is 1035 while the total number of teachers is 53.

Further, instead of teaching only three Form 3 classes, I now have to teach 5 classes. They are: 1 Kreatif, 1 Nekad, 1 Tekun, 2 Qudus and 2 Intelek. Good news is: I still get to teach English. Bad news is: I have to memorise over 200 names.

I'm also the form teacher of 1 Kreatif, Perwira/Purple House teacher and the Girl Guide advisor.

I'm finding it hard to adapt to my new roles and new working hours.

Penat tau sesi petang ni. In the space of 6 hours, I to cram in around 2.5 hours of teaching, Zohor prayer, Asar prayer and lunch. Most of the time, I don't get to eat lunch since by 4.30pm, the canteen has already closed.

Kalau dulu, sempat la tanda buku in between classes. Now, I have a HUGE pile of unmarked exercise books on my table. I feel extremely disorganised. And I ran to and fro my different classes like a headless chicken. Seriously. Not exaggerating.

This week was so overwhelming. Much of the stress is due to me being a form teacher. Who knew that the job is so time-consuming? So many things to do: take the attendance on a daily basis, fill in the students' maklumat pelajar in the register, distribute the PIBG annual-meeting notifications and collect the replies, make sure all the students have got their free textbooks, etc. So many administration tasks that TEACHING & LEARNING has unfortunately taken a back seat.

There are so many things I don't know that I'm supposed to do. There wasn't a transition period whatsoever. No briefing, no orientation.

I neither blame the school nor the previous form teacher. I completely understand their constraints. We, teachers, are very very busy people. But I did wish that someone had taken the trouble to explain/mentor me on these stuff. It's too much to ask, I know... but I would have really appreciated it.

But enough whining.

Haha. Just needed to get that out of my chest.

So, tutup that cerita. Bukak cerita lain pulak. ;-)

I just got back from camping. The unwritten rule of most schools is: Guru2 bujang equals camping chaperons (!).

But I don't mind. I had a great time. The camping was organised by the prefect council. It involved 112 student prefects with 9 accompanying teachers. The 2 day, 1 night camp was held in Kem Belia Bukit Lagong in Selayang.

These are what the students did:
-heard a lecture from Mr. Amin Idris
-went jungle-trekking from 12.20am to 3.30am
-wall-climbing
-flying fox
-went through a tough+challenging+muddy obstacle course

We, the teachers, joined in their activities but forwent the "messier" final task. It was fun watching the students "rough it out".

I also got the opportunity to know the other teachers more intimately. They are a cool bunch of people.

Oh, I forgot to mention the instructors. We had 5 instructors that carried out all the physical activities with the students. They are real pros. A special mention to the chief instructor: Mr. ---, who's really funny. He had us in stitches throughout the programme.

All in all, it has been an eventful week. Looking forward to have a good rest this weekend to recover from all the excitement and prepare for more-of-the-same to come :-)

The campsite

Wall-climbing

Flying Fox

Obstacle Course I

Obstacle course II