Puzzled

Praise be to Allah... at last I have completed the mega puzzle after two whole weeks of tweaking, chopping and pasting. This is the task which nobody wants because it involves so many people and possibly changes so many lives. However, it is important that somebody has to do it, and that unlucky somebody is me.

There were so many things to be considered, so giving everybody equal portion of the schedule is a major headache. Everybody wants to return home early; everybody wants as minimal teaching hours as they can; everybody wants to teach their favourite subjects; and the list goes on and on. 

I was told to make as few contact as possible so that nobody influence me in making my decision. I was lucky that in this school nobody tried to bribe me, so I could go about doing my task without any worry. I have done this task twice already this year, but none would be like this particular time. I was very emotional this time because a piece of the puzzle had died during its completion.

The late Mr. Mahmud Omar was a very dedicated teacher as far as I know. I knew him when the school decided to become a one-session school. He was teaching in the evening session then, and I did not see much of him until we shared the same staff room. He was already quite unwell, and he was frequenting the hospital for hemodialysis treatments. 

He never causes trouble, and I am really troubled by students who were really rude in labeling him as 'a walking zombie'. If I can, I want to get a hold of these students and ask them to apologize, which they could not possibly do because the person they are apologizing to is already gone. 

May Allah bless him.  

...

Driving needs patience. PERIOD! There are so many types of drivers on the road, and believe me, not everybody is as patient as you are. Just now at the Sultan Yahya Petra bridge, on my way back home from school, after a lengthy meeting, I was stuck in a traffic jam. There were two lanes which will eventually merge to become one at the entrance of the bridge, and I was on the right lane. Seemingly the correct lane? Not according to those inconsiderate drivers! When you think that having to compete with the left lane was bad enough, imagine my thoughts when I saw those drivers overtook from the left side of the left lane (making a third lane in the process) and popped up at the entrance of the bridge. Now that was enough to make my blood boiling, but there was nothing I could do apart from sitting tight.

Ethical driving? That was in the past.

But not all things make me mad. This morning, when I weigh myself up, I was surprised to see that my weight now is...

81 kilograms

Does Your Personality Determine What Type of Teacher You Are?

My friend pointed out a very good website about teacher training. Not a very experienced teacher myself, I find that his ideas quite educating. I always starts as the Lawmaker myself; stating a few rules and types of punishments at the start of the year; usually in the very first class. But as the year goes by, I tend to take a more lenient approach, because I easily feel sorry for them every time I punish them. As a result, I lost control of several students in the class, even though most of the others still follow me obediently. However, to my defense, the other teachers also tend to ignore the very same students in their lessons, which clearly indicates that the students are indeed problematic and my approach is not to be blamed. Nevertheless, I feel sorry for them; I try to make them reason why they come to school but to no avail. I never ignore them completely; I give them the same task as others, but they never complete it. Now, it's too late to become the Lawmaker again, because they already know that I can actually smile, and I have to find other ways to gain control over them again. Finding about why they behave that way maybe the solution, but I hardly have time to actually go to their house or talk to their parents about their behaviour. Yes, there is a programme in my school where the teachers get to meet the parents to discuss their recent examination results, but it is hardly effective when you get to meet 35 parents at the same day or time.

Any suggestions?

CASTROL Go to School

There were Mat Rempit in town, good Mat Rempits.. Actually, the Ministry of Education signed an MoU with Castrol Malaysia to initiate the Castrol Go to School Programme. The purpose of the programme is to inculcate safe and smart motorcycling culture. The programme was officially launched by Deputy Education Minister, Dato' Noh bin Haji Omar on 13th February 2007. Today, the legendary motorcycling legend, Mr. Wazi bin Abdul Hamid himself came to our school to educate the students, especially the lucky 200 participants who got the chance to ride the motorcycles brought by the organiser, on the safe and smart ways to behave on the streets. It consists of the techniques to control the motorcycle through a lane marked by cones, and also braking the motorcycle safely from a high speed. For safety reasons, the selected students wore safety pads and crash helmets.

Here are some pictures of the historical event:

Prefect & Librarian Inauguration Ceremony

The prefects of the school are like the policemen working for the school government. As such, they should be appointed accordingly so that their powers will be duly acknowledged. This is important so that their powers would not be questioned by the would be criminals. Thus, the school held an inauguration ceremony each year for all the prefects and also the librarians. They were given a certificate each to show that the school administration has given them the license to uphold the school's rules and regulations. The prefects were appointed from different ethnicity, as an evidence for the diversity of the school itself. This year's ceremony was officiated by Tuan Haji Fazam Mat Ladzim, the manager of the Community Development of KESEDAR, Gua Musang. The pledge was succesfully led by Abdul Rashizolze, the Head Prefect after the opening speech by Tuan Haji Fazam.

You can clearly see the scratch mark

Student's Revenge?

Several of the teachers' cars were scratched yesterday by a dissatisfied student. It seemed that this damage was an act of revenge either towards the discipline teacher, or towards the Penolong Kanan HEM, who both did a great job of keeping the disciplinary problems in the school at bay. Unfortunately, other teachers' cars were the victims as the perpetrator rolled his way along the parking lot. Among the cars involved were Produa MyVi, Proton Waja, Proton Satria and Toyota Vios. The culprit, who is still to be caught, might be feeling unhappy with the punishment he got for the crime he committed earlier. It was a selfish act from a disgruntled person which should not be tolerated.

What Happens to Our Children Nowadays?

Our children are not what they are supposed to be anymore. Gangsterism, vandalism, band-worshiping, fighting, etc. are common, even in a rural school in Gua Musang. We just heard about how two female students kicked and punched their teacher in front of the whole class, while one of them took out a phone and took a video. A teacher's job become more demanding each day, apart from the routine teaching and administrative works, he/she has to be a disciplinarian. I doubt that all teachers in teacher's training courses learn martial arts, as it is a very useful tools to handle (or to protect themselves?) these problems. Nor more 'Yes, teacher' type of students, but more of a 'I will sue you for all your money's worth' type of students. Even the support of their parents do not help matters, they just go about their work without getting to know what their children do at school everyday. Some of them do not bother to come when summoned by the principal, and it makes matters worst.

Teachers are Disciplinarian

Are you a discipline teacher? Are you responsible for disciplinary problems in your school? If your answer for the first question is 'No', it is acceptable because you are maybe an IT teacher or a teacher responsible for examinations. However, if your answer for the second question is also a 'No', you are absolutely wrong. Teachers are born to be a disciplinarian. They don''t have to get a title of a 'Discipline Teacher' to correct those students who committed the offenses. They can punish them accordingly or just send them to the discipline teacher, if their offenses are too serious. Either way, those students should not be let off the hook for their crimes, or they will think that there is nothing wrong with it. Among popular sins committed by students (my school included!) are fighting, bullying, skipping classes and the most popular, smoking. Almost everyday students smoke in the toilet, and they do not afraid of getting caught. It is as though smoking is not a crime, as their father and family members smoke at home. School is a non-smoking place, be it for students or teachers alike. Therefore, in order for the teachers to curb smoking among students, they must also not smoke in the school area. This is not the case, however, because we can find that teachers openly smoke, especially at the canteen.