A sense of anticipation

Judging from the lack of blogging activities, perhaps you can tell that something my life is either too boring, too busy, or too frustrating for me to sustain a retelling.

Recently, I have lost quite a bit of interest in most school-related activities. My lit classes are frankly quite a big waste of time, with nothing valuable for us to take home at all (the whole module should be condensed into one workshop), and I'm impatient with long-drawn lectures where points are over-elaborated. Thank goodness the silly PESS inter-class games have ended - all in all I think it is such a silly idea, this oxymoronic thing called 'friendly competition', where people just play jungle ball and whack each other for lack of better skills.

At the back of my mind, I can sense the impending arrival of practicum, and appreciate the need to read/learn/do things that really does help me to be a better teacher out at school. Despite NIE's persuasions, I think everyone should prioritise their learning needs and spend time to learn what they need to know rather than get sucked into doing silly assignments and indulging NIE in 'e-learning' week.

I don't mean to always dish NIE (they do have a very good library after all), but perhaps lecturers should always have a mind on the possibility of praxis for all the abstractions thrown around in class. They should ask themselves - what is the take-home point of my lesson today? Is it absolutely applicable out in school? Is this a directly relevant exercise?

Space

I am frequently awestruck by the weather phenomena over NIE; this is probably due to the 'viewing gallery' of the PE block overlooking the hockey pitch from which one can see a huge expanse of the sky over the greenery beyond.


A view from the library window also shows up the nimbus clouds looming over the low building.


A wind-swept sky...

Updates

Am in canteen B within NTU typing this out now - Just visited the doctor here for persistent diarrhoea (suspect it's the horrible draught that TCM prescribed to me), and had lunch. There was softball lesson in the morning, I'm gonna skip a fitness class about interval running, before having a weights training class and lecture on physiology.

Schedule and sports makes me come to school early and leave late almost everyday, so my brain's hardly on anything when I return home. During the absurd long breaks on some days, I do work and read up on PE teaching resources in the library. There's this feeling that time is running short for my preparation before going into teaching, so I want to gather as much teaching resources I can get before that.

Haven't cycled in a very long time. I tried out my new wheels only once, and I just fixed up a new saddle on it and haven't got to use it still. Want to cycle to school but the long hours and the lack of security in keeping the bike has hindered plans. Also haven't been blading for a while. Tennis once a week doesn't seem enough. Badminton twice a week isn't enough. But alas, that's probably all the time I can give to sports.

Children and computers

Much has been said about the early computer literacy of children nowadays, and how parents are losing out to them in keeping up with technology's progress. The recent newspaper report on it has a curiously celebratory tone to it, as if we all should take pride on the younger generation's intelligence in mastering the use of technology and perpetual engagement with it.

So what if kids nowadays can blog, take and post photos and videos, and talk to each other through msn and network with friendster? Does that mean they can write quality essays and shoot shorts with creative and artistic values? Are they able to harness their newfound communicative abilities towards increasing their knowledge of the world and building real and enduring relationship? Their use of the internet tend to be superficial and frivolous - it doesn't take much brains to learn to play online games, and mastering any sport is definitely as difficult.

And in the first place, their use of technology is mainly possible with an interaction with Graphic User Interface; I only respect the kids who write their own scripts for their blogs - that will be the minimum standard by any measure of competency in IT skills.

A second home

Although this semester's timetable is really sucky, with very early days and crazy long breaks, and a Thursday starting at 8.30am and ending at 7.30pm, I still (somewhat) look forward to going to school to play and read. Besides doing Softball as a module, I have been playing tennis too, and even squash and table tennis when other facilities are occupied. I also started reading up on games for PE classes, and teaching strategies that I might use in the future, borrowing a few books from the library about once a week.

In a very short time, I will have to bid farewell to this place. I will remember it as the place at which I became a very focussed person like never before, thinking, playing, reading and eating as a would-be PE teacher. I live my days here exhausting myself with back to back activities and take breaks only to recharge myself for more. I would run around pitch playing different games and suddenly stop to appreciate the vast expanse of space around me. It's a lovely place.

Beep test

For 'fitness and conditioning' module, we did a multistage cardio-vascular fitness test called the beep test today, as an introduction to different forms of ability tests. It requires you to run 20m laps continuously, with the time interval for the completion of each level being shorter as you progress up the levels.

It's supposed to be a class activity, but it is inevitable that PE people take such things quite seriously. We were one of the last classes to do this, and people already spread news of the top performers from other classes; coupled with the fact that the test is a strenuous one, there's a lot of hype even before the lesson came. As a test which weeds out the unfit one by one, there is obvious pressure to perform well for the sake of ego, for the guys at least.

So anyway, it was partner work with one doing the running and the other doing the charting, and I was in the first running shift. I could walk with long strides for the first level, before having to jog. It helps to have badminton training, because you'll need to turn and get ready to go again after each 20m lap, and badminton footwork helps in the change of directions.

I was pretty much focussed on trying to use an appropriate pace and on controlling my breathing, and was pretty oblivious to the surrounding. Sometime around level 8, I glanced out to the side and discovered that less than half the field was still running. At level 9, there was like 4 of us only. Shen beside me paced me beyond to level 10, but went out 2 laps before me. I was sometimes sprinting with my head down at my max, involved in a solo sprint with no one else around me. When I put in my last burst of energy into the sprint, I reached in time but knew there was no way I could turn back to repeat that feat again.

I scored at level 10.11, which is one step short of progressing onto level 11. My class buddy kit was tops at 12.1, he's really great! Mr. Azhar told us S-league players average 12+ too, so he should be very proud of himself. As for me, I'm just glad a cocky guy in my class didn't make it near my level, after he deliberately came over to ask me how I did after my solo run. Ha, we're all vain people here.

TCM visit II

Went for my second session at the TCM clinic in Changi hospital; doctor asked me if things have improved, gave me more medicine, and dismissed me in 5 minutes. Instead of having 13 packets of granulated herb essence for my daily dosage, now I have 17 of them. I thought the last one was bitter; this new mix is positively the most bitter drink I will ever imbibe in my life.

Well at least I didn't have any allergic itches the past week, but my nose is still as cranky. Wonder how long more I'll have to continue drinking that foul brew. Though it is unreasonable to believe that I can get rid of a condition I was born with by drinking some medicine down for a week or two, still, I wonder when I should give up on TCM for allergy treatment.

Oh by the way, do you know that a blood pressure meter is actually called a sphygmomanometer?

Your daily vitamins

Guardian and Watsons have an ongoing 20% sale right now, and I took the chance to buy a bottle of Vitamin C for myself. The crazy weather, my daily workouts and the stupid semester schedule will all work to stress my body out, so hopefully with some vitamin supplements I can play just as hard.

One can't help but be boggled by the variety of supplements on the market. Even when I know I am only getting my Vit C pills, there's different dosages of 100mg, 250mg, 500mg, and 1000mg; some are 'buffered' and supposedly easier on the stomach, some can delay the release of the vitamin, and all in different quantities and at different prices. Wow.

So for those who wants to get some information about recommended daily dosage of vitamin supplements, you can take a look at this recommendation report from the Harvard school of public health. No, you don't need to consume 500mg of Vitamin C everyday, so don't a dork like me and go get that mega dosage.

Literary writings

My first literature class for the year started this morning at 8.30am, making me wake up 2 hours earlier for it. It is a 24-hour module on assessment of writing, and will examine the setting evaluating of literary writings. The teacher has an informal unpretentious leading style, and that made it a lot easier to digest this dry topic.

We read two different essays, one from a secondary 1 schoolgirl and another from a JC student taking the literature special paper, and made comparisons about the knowledge, skills and attitudes required from the students through the writing tasks. Near the end of the session, the tutor asks of us to write down five sentences on how we will want to teach writing. She did not asks us to share our opinions, but inquired if some of us had wrote down certain commonly used strategies like showing model essays, giving ample amount of writing practice to students, and setting creative writing tasks etc.

Well, what I wrote down personally was way off the mark - I wrote down my philosophy towards teaching writing rather than concrete solutions to achieve good writing standards. Here they are:

1. Personal expressions must be honest but not necessarily emotional, strong but not unreasonable.
2. Writing certain content requires certain 'templates', which serves the deliver of the message and therefore should be followed.
3. Reasoning must be explicit in the writing - it shows a clear mind.
4. To understand what is superfluous in the exposition of a certain topic/theme.
5. To see the ambiguity of messages and learn to use words appropriately and judiciously.

Anything more I should add? I shall try to impart all these to the best of my abilities.

Anonymous power

I took the morning train and experienced a mild version of the morning rush hour today, less crowded but no less uncomfortable – part of the discomfort is to continually trying to find somewhere to stare into without catching other peoples’ glances. Despite the crowd, the train was very quiet - thankfully everyone was sober enough to make the journey in peace and quiet.

I'm reminded of the vigilante project of many people using the Straits time online forum STOMP, who take pictures of people engaging in uncivillised acts such as seat-hogging and music-blaring inside the train. It's amazing that anyone on the streets can have the power to engage in such a shaming campaign, with the ability to take photographs and do publishing all by themselves, all while staying anonymous to the reading public. Question: If they were so irritated and feel so strongly about these acts, why didn't they just confront the mischief-makers on the spot, and rather shame them online?

It is a rather revolutionary use of photography really. Art has its roots on the production of portraits and landscapes for rich people to show that they have arrived. Then it takes on a narrative role in telling of a particular circumstance, and now, it is being crudely used and abused by these people in the name of propagating civil acts. Photography is valued by people only when they are in control of their self-representation - bloggers use this fact to shame people by taking photographs of subjects who are powerless to manipulate, control, or explain the images. There is no story behind the picture anymore, just a static frame of an ugly act being produced.

But there are stories still, from the producer of the picture who claims to represent the situation. For this reason, I find that such photographs shows up the character of the producers rather than the subjects who are blissfully unaware of the pictures, usually as timid self-righteous people who looks for a way to express their indignant pride. And that seems symptomatic of so many Singaporeans, who would rather complain privately about their circumstances but do not dare to step out and make a difference.

First vist to the TCM physician

Having long heard of the possibility of using TCM treatment for my allergic rhinitis condition, I finally got a chance to consult a Chinese physician for it today. The clinic is situated in Changi Hospital no less, lending quite a bit of credibility to it.

The physician was really quiet however - he just listened to me describe my condition and symptoms in full, then spent the rest of the time typing, writing a note for me to collect my medication after that. I even have to ask him about the expected period of treatment to coax more out of him (Will have a repeat visit next week probably to verify that the medication works, before given more perhaps).

The medicine is interesting - each day's medicine is a packet of 11 small individual sachets which contains a type of (presumably) herbal preparation, all which are to be poured into warm water to dissolve, and then taken in 2 separate portions. A week's worth of this thing cost me $40!

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So what is allergic rhinitis anyway? People like me afflicted with it are allergic to one or more common substances, which a 'skin prick allergy test' can determine by pricking the skin with many different types of common allergens like dust mite, bed bug, cat fur etc. It causes respiratory problems very regularly, as I usually can't breathe with my nose (it is leaky frequently) and my upper respiratory tract suffers as I have to use my mouth to breathe, and that usually affects the lower respiratory airway too.

In other words, I am a pollution detector. I can sense smoke and perfume very well, dusty air-conditioned environments (most aircon-ed places are less than pleasant to me), and tidying my room or reading old books give me the sneeze. Sitting at places with bed bugs or dust mites makes my skin itch.

It's not that I got the flu bug or cold every other day - I can go into sneezing fits just because I see the sun, just came out from air-conditioning, walked into a dusty place etc. It is not contagious. I sniff often when natural instincts prompts me to breathe through my nose but there's a blockage, and only exercise can make me breathe unconsciously. My sense of smell is often disabled, and at rare moments, I can't even taste food (oh what a torture!)

Short-term treatment - relievers such as nasal sprays and nose drops (limited use)
Long term treatment - controllers as steroid-based nasal sprays (which the body will develop tolerance to eventually, and then you have to stop using for a while or change brand), immunotherapy (where you get subcutaneous injections about every 20 days for more than 3 years!)

Or perhaps with 11 secret herbs and spices from the TCM physician...

Sports coaches

I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the local sports coaches mentioned in the papers. It is due recognition, for they are a very important part of the sports education system. They have the power to make or break an aspiring athlete, guide them to greater heights or condemn them to mediocrity.

I have went through 3 badminton coaches in the last few months - one is a very good player but has a couldn't-care-less attitude towards coaching and just teaches what he likes, another is actually a NCAP level 2 coach but who plays very slightly better than me and is totally hopeless as a coach. My current coach is thankfully very good for my level and thus far performs his coaching duties dutifully and wisely. For all the hundreds of coaches, full time or freelance, for each sport, I have a feeling that less than half of them have the proper theoretical background knowledge about sports coaching methodology and other related sports sciences.

A sports team with no coaches is almost certainly doomed to failure - that is why my school's polo team cannot hope to aspire to much. We forget as fast as we learn, we don't have progressive training, we don't set goals, we don't have feedbacks, and we don't have an authoritative voice to give directions.

Advice for would-be teachers

I am always amazed at the sort of responses I get when new acquaintances got to know that I am a soon-to-be teacher. Most of them comes in the form of advices, and that is regardless of whether the adviser is/was a teacher (and most of ain't so). Some asks me to be firm with the kids, some says I have to be careful about punishing them.

Quite a few encouraged me to have higher aspirations and go teach at a Junior College (which is supposed to be more slack because I'll only need to teach PE then), not knowing that I didn't exactly choose to teach because I want an easy job. One look at me and they know I teach PE instantly, and they will give me more on hints further lightening my teaching load.

Now, if you were to meet a lawyer or a doctor, you wouldn't exactly be dispensing professional advices to them, would you? It seems to me that teaching is a hardly a professional job now, everyone can bring up some random conversational topics about it to amuse themselves with, as if they are in a knowledgeable position to speak of it.

This is kind of a rant, but if you get to know a teacher, do politely ask about the interesting facets of the profession, but do not proceed to give free advice to them about how to go about managing their career. It's kind of rude really.

The New Year post

Well well, it's the start of the new year, and so let me try to look ahead and see what's in store for my personal growth. Yes, some random rants again...

1. Ok first of all - I'm looking forward to the academic term. The holidays get boring after a while, and I kind of miss the hectic schedule, the games and the fun, the snacking in between the games before rushing off to class etc.
2. Looking forward to studying sports physiology and fitness & conditioning, 2 topics of sports science which is highly relevant to me.
   
3. And I am no less excited about practicum too - no anxieties of all I assure you. Simply thrilled to try put theory into praxis and of course, elated if I do go to the school that I want to be in.
   

Some resolutions:

1. Play my badminton games properly and end up a noticeably much better player by mid-year.
2. Skate with ease and attempt some good moves by the same time too.
3. Get my driving license by mid year.
   
4. Take care of my canoe polo juniors and make them good enough to achieve their set team goals by the end of the competition season.
   
5. Save $300 a month.
   
6. Do professional readings and make notes on topics that will be of use.
7. Weight the worth of arguing about certain things and not agitate myself too much.
8. Always, always keep cool and go for the considered response when dealing with kids.

Erm, that's as far as I am ready to commit ha. I'm pretty much an impulsive character la, so goals are pretty much short term.