It has been a really long day in school, starting from 7am in the morning. Was so pack with lessons, setting exam papers, test papers and editting exam papers, resolving things for students and had consultation. Left sch at 6.30pm and I was really drained... Just finished my dinner and watched some crappy korean drama with my parents. As i was travelling home, i was wondering how come my workload seemed so much suddenly and that's because I am teaching 5 different kinds of classes and each i will need to prepare a separate lesson and lesson plan and test paper too. Helped some teachers to set papers also cause they had some difficulties... so in the end... work load has increased significantly. But thankful that God added on to be efficiency and wisdom to handle challenges i face in class, with defiant students. I was really quite angry today and was about to challenge my student when i paused and just felt the holy spirit prompting me to take a different appraoch and i did. I was reminded of the verse from prov 26:4-5 also. I love this verse!! i think it really makes sense. "Do not answer a fool according to his folly or you will be like him yourself..." My student was arguing and challenging me rudely and i was having difficulty talking sense into her. I did not want to raise my voice or argue with her. i knew that that would just 'shut' her up temporarily so i ignored her and took another approach, refusing to answer according to her folly and be like her. In the end, she realised her own mistake and after some time when i came back to her, she relented and realised her mistake. Thankful for God and His word for guiding me, indeed wisdom comes from God.

Just when i thought i handled with situation well and was looking forward for my next lesson, the next challenge came up. Two students were defiant again... (my sch is prone to for defiant and rude students) and this time instead of shouting and scolding them i calmly sent them out of class and dealt with them after that. One thing I have learned over the past few months is that shouting is not the way to handle and treat students. It is to reason with them and help them to understand. By shouting at them, you have lost your cool and lost their respect for you. Even if it is to gain their attention, you will need to use another approach. However, if it is to reprimand them for their attitude and explain to them their wrong doing then it is different. While some teachers use shouting and screaming and it works for them, personally, i feel that this is not the way to deal with them as it will not have a sustaining effect and they will not learn. Disappointed with my class also as they did not do their homework again. Was really frustrated and i shared and showed my disappointment to them. It takes time for them to understand and for them to change their attitude... patience patience.

For my other normal sec 1 class, which is one of the noisiest class with poor attitude, i was glad for breakthroughs. Slowly some of them are really improving and today i praised one of the girls in class for trying and doing her best. She is suffering from ADHD and yet now she is super attentive in class. My class is also now able to do their work independently and take ownership of their learning. Just really glad that they are starting to show a change in attitude and grow to understand the importance of having good attitudes.

Everyday is like fighting a different battle and you need to be quick and wise to respond to different situation. Prayer is a must every morning and the presence of God with the bible in your head. I wont say that i handled everything well... most of them i think i can really do better but it is a growing process and i see the importance of parntering with God. I do not want to leave scars in these children lives and i really want to be a teacher who brings about the aroma of Christ, influencing them the way God wants me to.

This few weeks is really crazy with exams round the corner and I have not gotten used to setting papers with the formating. But after setting so many, i am getting better at it already :)

I need JOY, patience and LOVE!!! One more week to go before exams and after that it will be intensive marking. Growing in my spirit of excellence, to set good papers and also to check my work. To be faithful with the little things that have been entrusted to me including my sheep, relationship with people and my own personal life. To be a faithful steward :)

Gotta go set another test paper!!! This time is sec 1.

 

Signing off at 8:18 PM