A lady called me earlier on today (yesterday actually). It seems that she is the mother of the boy whom my ex-colleague was tutoring. My ex-colleague just got married and is moving to England with her husband who got posted there. So she recommended me this assignment (without telling me, thus I was really surprised when the lady called!) as the mother was panicking since the boy will be taking his PSLE in a couple of months.
My friend was tutoring him in Mathematics and Science, 1.5 hours per week, S$55.00 per session. Wow, if I have only 10 students, I only need to work 15 hours per week and I will still earn more than S$2,000.00 per month! Really easy money. Well, a few more years perhaps.
The lady said she will call me again to inform me of the status of the assignment. Honestly, I do not mind taking it up. It has been more than a year since I actually taught someone something, and I am starting to miss the life. I realise I am still happiest when I am teaching or guiding people along.
Initially when I had to do the primary curriculum course in NIE, I was horrified to see that Primary Mathematics was compulsory. I was a Humanities major, thus have not done any form of Mathematics or Science ever since after 'O' Levels. I did not even do 'A' Level Mathematics! I have never been a Mathematics or Science-inclined person.
I have always been right-brained, probably that explains why I always feel more than I think. Needless to say, the Primary Mathematics module was the one I scored the lowest in. Mind you, primary Mathematics are not easy nowadays. Someone used to all the algebra and trigonometry will not be able to solve the problem sums, as the methodology used is different. It took me lots and lots of practice on primary assessment books and lots of consultations with my youngest brother before I finally knew how to do every kind of problem sum.
But after I started teaching, I found out that Mathematics is actually easier to teach than English. That is, if you are teaching a good class. You can give challenging problems and IQ Tests to stimulate the young minds. I gave 1 IQ test every week and 1 Challenging Problems Worksheet of 5 questions every fortnightly. There were also termly quizzes, monthly class tests and lots and lots of revision papers for school tests and examinations. I have an average of 8 different kinds of work to mark per subject per day. The marking load was enough to kill me, but I loved it!
I love teaching good classes as I love challenging the kids. There was one year I taught the tail-end class and I almost died everyday. I felt myself slowing down and stagnating as I always had to reach down to the level of kids who are not so bright. That was the year when I developed serious vocal problems as well, which prompted the decision to quit. I always like challenges. A lot of teachers would prefer teaching normal classes, but for me, my challenge is to teach a good class as I enjoy stretching the kids' minds.
The year I was teaching a Primary 3 higher-ability class, the kids all wanted me to follow them up to Primary 4, but I was asked to teach Primary 2 lower-ability the following year. I suffered the whole of the year. After that, I taught another Primary 3 higher-ability class. Some of the kids have siblings in the previous Primary 3 class I took, and apparently I seemed to have a reputation of the "teacher that makes students work very hard and gives too many hard questions". I wonder what horror stories the elder siblings have been telling the younger siblings, as the first day of school that year, some of the kids begged me not to give them too much work and too many IQ tests. Hmmmmm.......
Nobody ever understands that every 3 pieces of work I give each kid, I have to collect back and mark 3 x 40 pieces (and re-mark if there are any corrections), on top of twice weekly remedial / enrichment classes after school, preparing lesson materials, photocopying resources, online learning worksheets, attending long (and I mean really long) school meetings and workshops, take care of my Choir CCA, source for songs to sing during the thrice a week Assembly singing activities, editing the school's Newsletter, brainstorm ideas on how to improve teaching materials for the various subjects, termly reports on how the classes for the level did for the tests and exams, planning out Music Committee and Arts Programme activities, bringing kids to Singapore Youth Festival and NDP shows, and preparing worksheets for every subject for the level, just to name a few.
Is it any wonder that the working hours for a teacher is 24 x 7? That was why for the few years of my life, I did nothing but teach. I had no time for other activities, except during the school holidays, and even then, we had to report back to school for a few weeks of the holidays. And I still had to cope with unreasonable demands from parents and non-support from the Principal.
A teacher's life is getting harder and harder. But I guess it also depends on the school you are teaching in and the type of students you have. If you are lucky to be posted to a good school with brilliant students, things will be a little easier I guess. If you happened to be posted to a neighbourhood school like me, then things will be harder as there will be more delinquents and unreasonable parents there. There will be more discipline problems, not to mention the all-time poor results.
I had a choice between a primary or secondary school. I chose to teach in a secondary school as English Literature and History was what I really wanted to teach, but that year all my peers were posted to primary schools as only the teachers from the post-graduate course were posted to secondary schools. But I still love teaching, without all the hassles of administration work and demands of the school policies and activites. Teaching is very fun, I love it every step along the way!
My friend was tutoring him in Mathematics and Science, 1.5 hours per week, S$55.00 per session. Wow, if I have only 10 students, I only need to work 15 hours per week and I will still earn more than S$2,000.00 per month! Really easy money. Well, a few more years perhaps.
The lady said she will call me again to inform me of the status of the assignment. Honestly, I do not mind taking it up. It has been more than a year since I actually taught someone something, and I am starting to miss the life. I realise I am still happiest when I am teaching or guiding people along.
Initially when I had to do the primary curriculum course in NIE, I was horrified to see that Primary Mathematics was compulsory. I was a Humanities major, thus have not done any form of Mathematics or Science ever since after 'O' Levels. I did not even do 'A' Level Mathematics! I have never been a Mathematics or Science-inclined person.
I have always been right-brained, probably that explains why I always feel more than I think. Needless to say, the Primary Mathematics module was the one I scored the lowest in. Mind you, primary Mathematics are not easy nowadays. Someone used to all the algebra and trigonometry will not be able to solve the problem sums, as the methodology used is different. It took me lots and lots of practice on primary assessment books and lots of consultations with my youngest brother before I finally knew how to do every kind of problem sum.
But after I started teaching, I found out that Mathematics is actually easier to teach than English. That is, if you are teaching a good class. You can give challenging problems and IQ Tests to stimulate the young minds. I gave 1 IQ test every week and 1 Challenging Problems Worksheet of 5 questions every fortnightly. There were also termly quizzes, monthly class tests and lots and lots of revision papers for school tests and examinations. I have an average of 8 different kinds of work to mark per subject per day. The marking load was enough to kill me, but I loved it!
I love teaching good classes as I love challenging the kids. There was one year I taught the tail-end class and I almost died everyday. I felt myself slowing down and stagnating as I always had to reach down to the level of kids who are not so bright. That was the year when I developed serious vocal problems as well, which prompted the decision to quit. I always like challenges. A lot of teachers would prefer teaching normal classes, but for me, my challenge is to teach a good class as I enjoy stretching the kids' minds.
The year I was teaching a Primary 3 higher-ability class, the kids all wanted me to follow them up to Primary 4, but I was asked to teach Primary 2 lower-ability the following year. I suffered the whole of the year. After that, I taught another Primary 3 higher-ability class. Some of the kids have siblings in the previous Primary 3 class I took, and apparently I seemed to have a reputation of the "teacher that makes students work very hard and gives too many hard questions". I wonder what horror stories the elder siblings have been telling the younger siblings, as the first day of school that year, some of the kids begged me not to give them too much work and too many IQ tests. Hmmmmm.......
Nobody ever understands that every 3 pieces of work I give each kid, I have to collect back and mark 3 x 40 pieces (and re-mark if there are any corrections), on top of twice weekly remedial / enrichment classes after school, preparing lesson materials, photocopying resources, online learning worksheets, attending long (and I mean really long) school meetings and workshops, take care of my Choir CCA, source for songs to sing during the thrice a week Assembly singing activities, editing the school's Newsletter, brainstorm ideas on how to improve teaching materials for the various subjects, termly reports on how the classes for the level did for the tests and exams, planning out Music Committee and Arts Programme activities, bringing kids to Singapore Youth Festival and NDP shows, and preparing worksheets for every subject for the level, just to name a few.
Is it any wonder that the working hours for a teacher is 24 x 7? That was why for the few years of my life, I did nothing but teach. I had no time for other activities, except during the school holidays, and even then, we had to report back to school for a few weeks of the holidays. And I still had to cope with unreasonable demands from parents and non-support from the Principal.
A teacher's life is getting harder and harder. But I guess it also depends on the school you are teaching in and the type of students you have. If you are lucky to be posted to a good school with brilliant students, things will be a little easier I guess. If you happened to be posted to a neighbourhood school like me, then things will be harder as there will be more delinquents and unreasonable parents there. There will be more discipline problems, not to mention the all-time poor results.
I had a choice between a primary or secondary school. I chose to teach in a secondary school as English Literature and History was what I really wanted to teach, but that year all my peers were posted to primary schools as only the teachers from the post-graduate course were posted to secondary schools. But I still love teaching, without all the hassles of administration work and demands of the school policies and activites. Teaching is very fun, I love it every step along the way!
4 comments:
Well, looks like teaching is out for me. I just wanted to do it to get summers off.....oh well.
Hey thanks for your comment. This is the life of a teacher back here where I live. It differs from country to country though. Different countries may have it easier to be a teacher. But I understand how you feel completely, because teaching is really not for just anyone. I thought I could handle but in the end I couldn't as well.
Ole'Wolvie from sonic's post.
Just decided to take a sneak peek around when this piece about teachers caught my eyes.
I agree pretty much with your observation about the state of teaching as it is currently. I too was once a teacher, and I felt that less than 40% of my time was spent actually teaching/interacting with students.
However, bright kids do pose their own problems. They might be 'easier' to teach, but that does not mean they are going to be more pleasant to interact with.
Having said that, it was a pretty good experience. My students label me the 'Physics Man' because I always try to relate simple real life items to applications of Physics.
Hi, welcome and thanks for supporting my blog. :-) Hope to see more of you!
I suppose you taught secondary school? Well maybe the kids are different for different levels. For primary schools, the kids are pretty nice to be with, especially the brighter ones cos they are more sensible and intelligent. IMO, it is harder to teach tail-end classes for primary schools as the kids are too young and not as intelligent to understand what is going on.
Having said that, I find my teaching experience fun and interesting too, but I would not go back to a government school as I find I do not have much time for real teaching and learning since I ended up doing so many more things.
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