Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Ps 119:105
YOu are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. Ps 119: 114
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
LOST....about my future? In God I trust.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Ps 119:105
YOu are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. Ps 119: 114
One Space, many paths
I woke up at 3am today. No, I am no longer jet-lagged, but cringing in fear of what is it in my future. I pondered: One space- one person, one soul, one family; Many paths- two kids, several options, many aspirations.
One God.
Dear God, as I sit staring at the screen, wondering if by chance of a divine intervention, I could see clearly a sign that indicates my future for next year. This evening Chitra asked if I would consider staying on to helm Pri/Sec PW. The possibility of having the space to "fill the gaps" for PW Pri/Sec just suddenly clicked. I know after what I have done for the mime, that I needed this "space" for me to innovate. Wasn't this why I stayed on in the system- to put PW in its rightful space in the curriculum? Yet what is holding me back? OPtions and opportunities are aplenty. DCPD suggested SST, yet the "outside world" is increasingly becoming a stronger lure (though the PB in MOE is also a factor that I really ought not to forget). Wondering aloud, what in the past year have I not gained the job satisfaction I so desire? Was it simply just the constraints of the PreU PW, the ambiguous nature of PW in Sec/Pri schools, or too much an open playing field that no one is really playing a proper game on the field? Or could it be that I was happily 'distracted' with the work IDM taskforce, or business development team of DE, or SWAT, or Innolab, or even TLLM ignite?
Two weeks back, exactly this hour- Wed 8pm in Copenhagen, you led DCPD to clearly identify for me over dinner that my heart is still that of an educator. I know that this was not of coincidence, but the works of your hands. TO hear from a woman that I have so much respect means a great deal to me. At least, I was clear that in education, this is where I am "truly free"- sincerely passionate, and highly innovative. My HQ stint has allowed me to appreciate the system- that more could be done to increase the competencies and capacities of teachers, to strengthen the "thinning" of school leaders especially on curriculum instructions, to add colour and diversity to the education landscape.
Yet God, you know the dilemma that I am struggling within. That I would like to have more focussed time to spend with the two kids. I want to nurture my own kids to be individuals who are well grounded in values, having the space to be creative and adventurous, to experience the beauty of this world beyond the confinements of a 5room HDB flat or a early childhood education trapped within 4 walls. I wish I have the ability (and support) to bring the kids to travel around. To see what is truly nature, to hear what the grass says, to talk to people of different skin colours, to have to learn what it means to be really poor.
Show me the way Lord.
Monday, March 24, 2008
My Dream School- realised in Bangkok!
In Copenhagen, after the visit to Hellerup Skole (check out my other blog-http://create-teeth-buzz.blogspot.com) I shared with DCPD the concept of my dream school-
1) Parents need be part of nurturing process in tandem with the school and the teachers collaboration
2) Students are assigned to projects based on their interest- whereby talents and skills are also evaluated on the same level of academic excellence
3) Students are able to chart their own learning progress, identify the skills, are able to reflect and evaluate own learning and style.
4) Different ways of learning- from books, to internet, to fieldtrips, to self-initiated projects, to service learning- pervasively across all subjects in the curriculum everyday.
5) Teachers to co-create the curriculum with students and community.
6) Teachers as mentors, facilitators and coaches.
7) Leadership starting from self, driven by choice, capacity, curiosity
The Funny (scary) thing is, the exact details I listed all appeared in the school below: Foreign Media Coverage on Education Issues (15 Mar 2008 - 20 Mar 2008)
A school for multiple intelligences; Vanessa Race discusses why it is important for a curriculum to address the many talents and areas of
intelligence of young students (Nuttaa Mahattana, Bangkok Post [TH], 18/3)
According to Vanessa Race, the school's first student and now its
academic consultant, the Vanessa School's curriculum is created with
the vision that future generations of its students should be able to
find their place anywhere in the world while showing compassion for
others and enjoying innate happiness.
The school was founded 23 years ago by Vanessa's mother who wanted to
create a unique learning environment for her daughter, which consists
of: An environment where children are free to ask questions; a place
where adults and children learn together in a friendly atmosphere; and
a place where freedom and versatility create a happy learning
experience. Two decades later, the objective of the school remains
unchanged.
With the master's degree in Mind, Brain and Education from Harvard
University, and being the only Thai student advisee of Dr Howard
Gardner - founder of the Multiple Intelligences Theory - Vanessa
returned to Thailand to share her knowledge and experience with
students in her school and to maximize their individual potential.
Why MI?
The theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) answered a lot of questions
in my mind, says Vanessa. I used to wonder why my friend is better
than me in ballet, and why I'm better than her in academics. Why do
people label students who are good in academics as "competent", but
usually ignore many others who might be good at music, sports, and so
on?
The Multiple Intelligences theory sensibly explains what already
exists in human nature. While IQ exams measure only a person's
mathematical, logical and linguistic intelligence, MI evaluates all
aspects of human intelligences. Everything we can be and become is
taken into account. It provides a place for everyone with special
skills and talents.
According to Dr Gardner, the MI theory includes Linguistic
Intelligence, Mathematical-Logical Intelligence, Spatial Intelligence,
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, Musical intelligence, Intrapersonal
Intelligence, Interpersonal Intelligence, and Naturalist Intelligence.
It is believed that, given the right environment, the human brain can
develop each of these intelligences to its maximum potential.
Begin with the end in mind
Asked how to bring the theory into practice, Vanessa says she designed
her school's curriculum with the end in mind. Although Vanessa School
includes kindergarten through the primary levels (Prathom 6), she does
not think her job ends there.
When designing the MI curriculum for my school I imagine the farthest
my students could go on their academic path. That could lead to
becoming a student at Harvard or becoming the prime minister of
Thailand. Then I think about what skills it takes to get there. You
need to be able to work under tremendous stress; to work within a team
and share information; to maintain your work-life balance; to have
leadership skills and at the same time to be humble and respectful of
others. All these elements plus a few other theories comprise the
curriculum at Vanessa School.
Theory into practice The school is located in the Rangsit area where
students learn through a variety of activities. They develop their
Naturalist intelligence through activities like the Nature Walk.
Kindergarten students are thrilled to see that things change in the
garden of their school every morning. They learn to love their natural
environment and at the same time learn basic science through what they
see and touch.
Music and physical activities are also applied to maximize brain
potential. Brain Gym, for example, is the physical exercise in which
two sides of the body move through the center of the body. This helps
both sides of our brain to work well together, Kru Oh, a kindergarten
teacher, explains after the school's morning class, which is filled
with dancing, singing, and a stage play that teaches the youngsters
basic discipline.
The Messy Activity is one of the most popular among the students. The
outdoor challege is divided into a few stations. Students use sand,
water tubs with balls, food, water colors, painting and cooking
equipment.
Students play with the equipment in whatever manner they wish. Through
this fun and quite messy activity, children learn to develop their
bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, and interpersonal intelligences through
sharing and playing together.
For older students, Mind Map and Project Teamwork are introduced.
Through various assignments guided by students' interests, they learn
to understand each other, apply creative thinking, share ideas, and
practice linguistic intelligence through project presentations.
The most important skill is Intrapersonal Intelligence or the ability
to understand oneself, says Sutamas Autchin, a Thai language teacher
in Primary level.
In the room is a big mirror for students to observe their reflection,
draw a self-portrait and talk about what they think is superior and
inferior in themselves. This helps them think and understand
themselves better, which enables them to excel in what they are good
at and to work on areas that need improvement.
Right environment
The school, teachers and parents work together to nurture the child.
Vanessa believes that parents should not forfeit the power to impact
their children's education at school. The child's school and home
should empower and support each other in educating the child.
We start at the selection process, she explained. I believe that there
is no best school for every child, only the school that best suits
your family. If you are an authoritarian parent, you may not be happy
with a school that uses the democratic approach with your child, and
vice versa.
It takes the right combination of teachers, staff and students to make
an MI program work best for the students.
After the school selects students based on the parent's questionnaire
and interview, the parents' role continues. At home, we ask parents to
create the right learning environment for their children. This
includes the student's food that their parents provide. The school
advises parents on what kind of food is good for the brain - brown
rice, for example.
As in the school, at home brown rice is served; and white sugar and
soft drinks are banned. Parents should talk politely with the child
and at the child's eye-level. The idea is to make the child feel that
she or he is a person, too, and is worthy of attention and respect,
just as an adult. All parents are encouraged to read bedtime
storybooks to their kids and to take them out on weekends to broaden
their horizon.
We discourage parents from buying expensive toys because the best
"toy" children can ever have is their parents. Vanessa School teaches
parents that either the father or mother - preferably both - must
spend quality time with the child every evening.
It is interesting to note that video games - which many fathers love!
- are banned from the home by the school. According to Vanessa, video
games stimulate the same part of the brain as heroin. Accordingly,
says Vanessa, no parent should ever want their child to be glued to a
video game for many hours.
Parents in the school
Parents also play an important role within the school structure and
influence the direction of the curriculum.
A parent who is a business owner once complained to Vanessa that, "My
employees earned bachelor's degree, but they can't think at all. They
cannot even do what they are told!"
From this parent's comment, Vanessa organized a brainstorming session
to find out what skills parents expect their children to have.
Qualities befitting a CEO were added to the list.
Parents want their children to have good skills in leadership; active
listening and team work skills; creative thinking, analytical
reasoning; and reading, writing and public speaking skills, among
others.
With this vision in mind, the school transformed the way students are
evaluated during their final examination.
A theme will be given to all primary level students. They will then
have to work together in a project to visualize and later to realize
the theme. At the end of the project, parents are invited to the event
and give scores to the students.
Students' scores are based on how well they utilize multiple
intelligences in their projects.
This year, the theme is "Thanks to Life and the Environment". Students
decided they want to organize a fun-fair event called "Tales in the
Garden" and have invited teachers and parents to share a good time as
a way of saying thanks and to show respect to the surrounding
environment. Students from Prathom 1 to 6 work together as a team
applying their individual skills to organize the event.
In real life, Vanessa says, there will not always be a boss to tell
you what to do or where to go. Students must learn to think, evaluate
and get things done on their own.
As promoters of the Multiple Intelligences concept, Vanessa continued,
our duty is to create an environment that enables a child to achieve
whatever they want and to be whatever they want in the future;
function well under stress and be a happy person.
Nuttaa Mahattana has a bachelor of arts degree from Chulalongkorn
University and presently works as an assistant director of
communications and customer service at the British Council.
1) Parents need be part of nurturing process in tandem with the school and the teachers collaboration
2) Students are assigned to projects based on their interest- whereby talents and skills are also evaluated on the same level of academic excellence
3) Students are able to chart their own learning progress, identify the skills, are able to reflect and evaluate own learning and style.
4) Different ways of learning- from books, to internet, to fieldtrips, to self-initiated projects, to service learning- pervasively across all subjects in the curriculum everyday.
5) Teachers to co-create the curriculum with students and community.
6) Teachers as mentors, facilitators and coaches.
7) Leadership starting from self, driven by choice, capacity, curiosity
The Funny (scary) thing is, the exact details I listed all appeared in the school below: Foreign Media Coverage on Education Issues (15 Mar 2008 - 20 Mar 2008)
A school for multiple intelligences; Vanessa Race discusses why it is important for a curriculum to address the many talents and areas of
intelligence of young students (Nuttaa Mahattana, Bangkok Post [TH], 18/3)
According to Vanessa Race, the school's first student and now its
academic consultant, the Vanessa School's curriculum is created with
the vision that future generations of its students should be able to
find their place anywhere in the world while showing compassion for
others and enjoying innate happiness.
The school was founded 23 years ago by Vanessa's mother who wanted to
create a unique learning environment for her daughter, which consists
of: An environment where children are free to ask questions; a place
where adults and children learn together in a friendly atmosphere; and
a place where freedom and versatility create a happy learning
experience. Two decades later, the objective of the school remains
unchanged.
With the master's degree in Mind, Brain and Education from Harvard
University, and being the only Thai student advisee of Dr Howard
Gardner - founder of the Multiple Intelligences Theory - Vanessa
returned to Thailand to share her knowledge and experience with
students in her school and to maximize their individual potential.
Why MI?
The theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) answered a lot of questions
in my mind, says Vanessa. I used to wonder why my friend is better
than me in ballet, and why I'm better than her in academics. Why do
people label students who are good in academics as "competent", but
usually ignore many others who might be good at music, sports, and so
on?
The Multiple Intelligences theory sensibly explains what already
exists in human nature. While IQ exams measure only a person's
mathematical, logical and linguistic intelligence, MI evaluates all
aspects of human intelligences. Everything we can be and become is
taken into account. It provides a place for everyone with special
skills and talents.
According to Dr Gardner, the MI theory includes Linguistic
Intelligence, Mathematical-Logical Intelligence, Spatial Intelligence,
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, Musical intelligence, Intrapersonal
Intelligence, Interpersonal Intelligence, and Naturalist Intelligence.
It is believed that, given the right environment, the human brain can
develop each of these intelligences to its maximum potential.
Begin with the end in mind
Asked how to bring the theory into practice, Vanessa says she designed
her school's curriculum with the end in mind. Although Vanessa School
includes kindergarten through the primary levels (Prathom 6), she does
not think her job ends there.
When designing the MI curriculum for my school I imagine the farthest
my students could go on their academic path. That could lead to
becoming a student at Harvard or becoming the prime minister of
Thailand. Then I think about what skills it takes to get there. You
need to be able to work under tremendous stress; to work within a team
and share information; to maintain your work-life balance; to have
leadership skills and at the same time to be humble and respectful of
others. All these elements plus a few other theories comprise the
curriculum at Vanessa School.
Theory into practice The school is located in the Rangsit area where
students learn through a variety of activities. They develop their
Naturalist intelligence through activities like the Nature Walk.
Kindergarten students are thrilled to see that things change in the
garden of their school every morning. They learn to love their natural
environment and at the same time learn basic science through what they
see and touch.
Music and physical activities are also applied to maximize brain
potential. Brain Gym, for example, is the physical exercise in which
two sides of the body move through the center of the body. This helps
both sides of our brain to work well together, Kru Oh, a kindergarten
teacher, explains after the school's morning class, which is filled
with dancing, singing, and a stage play that teaches the youngsters
basic discipline.
The Messy Activity is one of the most popular among the students. The
outdoor challege is divided into a few stations. Students use sand,
water tubs with balls, food, water colors, painting and cooking
equipment.
Students play with the equipment in whatever manner they wish. Through
this fun and quite messy activity, children learn to develop their
bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, and interpersonal intelligences through
sharing and playing together.
For older students, Mind Map and Project Teamwork are introduced.
Through various assignments guided by students' interests, they learn
to understand each other, apply creative thinking, share ideas, and
practice linguistic intelligence through project presentations.
The most important skill is Intrapersonal Intelligence or the ability
to understand oneself, says Sutamas Autchin, a Thai language teacher
in Primary level.
In the room is a big mirror for students to observe their reflection,
draw a self-portrait and talk about what they think is superior and
inferior in themselves. This helps them think and understand
themselves better, which enables them to excel in what they are good
at and to work on areas that need improvement.
Right environment
The school, teachers and parents work together to nurture the child.
Vanessa believes that parents should not forfeit the power to impact
their children's education at school. The child's school and home
should empower and support each other in educating the child.
We start at the selection process, she explained. I believe that there
is no best school for every child, only the school that best suits
your family. If you are an authoritarian parent, you may not be happy
with a school that uses the democratic approach with your child, and
vice versa.
It takes the right combination of teachers, staff and students to make
an MI program work best for the students.
After the school selects students based on the parent's questionnaire
and interview, the parents' role continues. At home, we ask parents to
create the right learning environment for their children. This
includes the student's food that their parents provide. The school
advises parents on what kind of food is good for the brain - brown
rice, for example.
As in the school, at home brown rice is served; and white sugar and
soft drinks are banned. Parents should talk politely with the child
and at the child's eye-level. The idea is to make the child feel that
she or he is a person, too, and is worthy of attention and respect,
just as an adult. All parents are encouraged to read bedtime
storybooks to their kids and to take them out on weekends to broaden
their horizon.
We discourage parents from buying expensive toys because the best
"toy" children can ever have is their parents. Vanessa School teaches
parents that either the father or mother - preferably both - must
spend quality time with the child every evening.
It is interesting to note that video games - which many fathers love!
- are banned from the home by the school. According to Vanessa, video
games stimulate the same part of the brain as heroin. Accordingly,
says Vanessa, no parent should ever want their child to be glued to a
video game for many hours.
Parents in the school
Parents also play an important role within the school structure and
influence the direction of the curriculum.
A parent who is a business owner once complained to Vanessa that, "My
employees earned bachelor's degree, but they can't think at all. They
cannot even do what they are told!"
From this parent's comment, Vanessa organized a brainstorming session
to find out what skills parents expect their children to have.
Qualities befitting a CEO were added to the list.
Parents want their children to have good skills in leadership; active
listening and team work skills; creative thinking, analytical
reasoning; and reading, writing and public speaking skills, among
others.
With this vision in mind, the school transformed the way students are
evaluated during their final examination.
A theme will be given to all primary level students. They will then
have to work together in a project to visualize and later to realize
the theme. At the end of the project, parents are invited to the event
and give scores to the students.
Students' scores are based on how well they utilize multiple
intelligences in their projects.
This year, the theme is "Thanks to Life and the Environment". Students
decided they want to organize a fun-fair event called "Tales in the
Garden" and have invited teachers and parents to share a good time as
a way of saying thanks and to show respect to the surrounding
environment. Students from Prathom 1 to 6 work together as a team
applying their individual skills to organize the event.
In real life, Vanessa says, there will not always be a boss to tell
you what to do or where to go. Students must learn to think, evaluate
and get things done on their own.
As promoters of the Multiple Intelligences concept, Vanessa continued,
our duty is to create an environment that enables a child to achieve
whatever they want and to be whatever they want in the future;
function well under stress and be a happy person.
Nuttaa Mahattana has a bachelor of arts degree from Chulalongkorn
University and presently works as an assistant director of
communications and customer service at the British Council.
My resident photographer/s
Joshua can really be a very creative photographer. He really takes quite amazing amazing photos. These 2 are some his best work-
a) photo taken using my new phone (last yr) when he was only 3yr old
b) photo taken this Feb when his favorite uncle Daniel was snapping our pictures
O yes, talking about Daniel, he is finally getting married on Feb 28, 09.
And I have agreed to be his bestman (yes, finally can sabo him liao) and Joshua to be his page boy....
Friday, March 21, 2008
A silly me...
Every trip sure has some interesting stories to tell. Well, I was amazed by the "flow" of the creation of the new blog http://create-teeth-buzz.blogspot.com that since I was jetlagged (or was I not??) I started creating this blog to journal the inspirations and thoughts from day 1 of the trip. However, I spent so many night hours to wake up to call Vanessa and the kids (but mostly in vain) and thereafter to blog every night for 3-4 hours. However, IT finally came. On Thursday morning, I went to bed finally at 5am and set the alarm for 7.30am. Alas, phone rang twice and finally I picked up, and realised it was 8.20am. Bus was set to depart at 8.15am.
I jumped out of bed still in my boxers, wore my shoes and jus popped in a mint to rid the morning "freshness". One hand grabbing the shirt, pants, jacket, Throwing in socks in bag, I decided to use my other hand to pluck a pud of hair gel. I really thought I could do it. Rushed out of the door, I heard a voice in a distance... worried, I decided to pull up my pants. BUT, realised then that my shoes got stuck in the pants and I was on the ground... rolling. NOt wanting to dump the gel on hand, I struggled and tried to kick out the shoes. Such a joke.It was comical that all of my belongings were all over, wanting to shout out for help, but yet super embarassed. Stupidly, I decided to just smear that pud of gel on my hair and free my other hand to help. I was almost in tears then....
Moral of the story, WAKE UP EARLY AND BLOG ONLY AT THE RIGHT TIME. Ha3
I jumped out of bed still in my boxers, wore my shoes and jus popped in a mint to rid the morning "freshness". One hand grabbing the shirt, pants, jacket, Throwing in socks in bag, I decided to use my other hand to pluck a pud of hair gel. I really thought I could do it. Rushed out of the door, I heard a voice in a distance... worried, I decided to pull up my pants. BUT, realised then that my shoes got stuck in the pants and I was on the ground... rolling. NOt wanting to dump the gel on hand, I struggled and tried to kick out the shoes. Such a joke.It was comical that all of my belongings were all over, wanting to shout out for help, but yet super embarassed. Stupidly, I decided to just smear that pud of gel on my hair and free my other hand to help. I was almost in tears then....
Moral of the story, WAKE UP EARLY AND BLOG ONLY AT THE RIGHT TIME. Ha3
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Singapore brings Sunshine to Copenhagen
Check out my new blog on Immersive Creativity and how Innovation is rocking the world of New Design and Education in Denmark....brand new blog with daily entries started just becos the air here is so inspiring. http://create-teeth-buzz.blogspot.com
In this entry, allow me to tantalise your taste buds with the goooooood food we had (but trust me, things don't come cheap ;)
Friday, March 07, 2008
Life Purpose and Future Directions
Last night, it was odd that Edmund made us do our incomplete "homework" together to answer the question using Matthew 6:19-34; and 22:34-40. It was timely as we just had round of sharing on our future directions.
AS I struggled to ponder upon what should I do next yr, I was reminded that I need to "seek ye first HIs kingdom". I am wedged between two realms, unable to find a comfortable equilibrium and conscious of the struggles of wanting to be a better dad. Whether be it to apply for the Science and Tech school OR to take one to two year to spend more time with the kids as I seek for opportunities to deepen my practise, either as a consultant with psychometric profiling or to work with institutions on Project Based Learning or the Creative Problem Solving Thinking Skills model- of which I am very very keen to facilitate action research.
Choice A)
My experience with some of the earlier future schools gave me some deep personal insights. That many of the schools that were initially selected were based on their existing programmes. I was disappointed that some of these school leaders lacked the vision of what to them is a future school. It was even more painful to have them describe how they thought technology would change their schools, without much thoughts on how their new curriculum would distinguish them from the rest. In fact, with my work as curriculum partner supporting schools on the TLLM ignite PBL cluster, I am increasingly clearer that it would be quite a arduous journey for schools to truly rise to the awakening of what it means for engaged learning to take place. One of the saddest questions I hear principals ask is "Would we be able to measure the effectiveness of the programme by comparing these classes results with the rest?" In my heart, I wish most honestly to ask them- "Would you rather your students enjoy the process of learning and thereby change the way they would learn in the future OR would you rather gain immediate gratification by seeing a 10% increase in test scores and then get more classes to use PBL just because it works?"
At times, it even irks me to hear of so-and-so boasting of how they have transformed their schools with their knowledge of curriculum design. My sense is that the heart of true curriculum innovation would require the school leader or the teacher to boldly create a learning experience that is not just solely based on single pedagogical approach but to customise the experience to reap the best means to help the child enjoy learning. Yes, I am unashamed to say that it is my deepest desire to run a school of my own- somewhat independently- so that I could work work with a selected group of teachers- of diverse interest, passions, personality and learning style types- with just a common goal to change the way learning works. Its a school of fun-where kids chart their own learning, have the autonomy to plan for how they want lessons to take place (who says UbD is good only for teachers??), teachers to be well skilled as faciltators so that deeper discussion and debates could take place on a daily basis. Who says Project Work needs be a subject in silos? It was somewhat funny to answer a call few days back when a teacher called to ask "Should PW have a grade for in the report book?" I am just wondering if this teacher lives in age of isolation- in this day and age, i wish teachers are great networkers- to tap on the communities of eager folks willing to share ideas and knowledge on the web or jut be linking up and talking. One of the deepest questions I wish to raise to the C2015 taskforce is "would we dare to challenge the notion that Structures ie. exams Drives Behaviour?" The heart of matter is it takes more then just knowledge to make transformations. Michael Fullen inspired me to believe that purposeful and courageous leadership is the heart of change. I want to build a school where the behaviour changes structures. Wrong, behaviour puts new structures in place.
Ms Ho questioned about my point that the curriculum of 2015 may arrive to level where students are ready to co-create this learning experience iwth their teachers. I believe it is possible to a large extent. If the school leader is ready to foster the right learning culture in all teachers and students. It is only with lack of passion and knowledge that many are not ready to embrace the power of co-creation-where new meaning is synthesized- that to me is true learning. During one of the Innolab meetings, DGE once commented on my point that schools lack the courage to change the education system. She said "What stopping them?" Huh.. my personal take- lack of vision and courage. NOw that the education landscape is transforming- with strong senior leadership who dares make the difference- do I still choose to abandon that dream which I publicly declared back in 2002-on my wedding?
Choice B)
Torn on the far end of my inner world, God allowed me to come to realisation that I am not such a superman afterall. (yes, 2N1's A1 size poster of Super Yeo still stands tall) In December last year, I realised that much as I love my work so much and I love my family so much, which I do love more? Action speaks louder then words, I believe its near impossible to balance both. It was ironic that as the staff welfare champion last yr, on one hand, I encouraged colleagues to go home early to spend time on own or with family, yet on the other hand, I am the culprit that frequently works til 9pm. What is work life balance? Or could it be more of work life integration-of either bringing the work home to do? Recently a principal friend shared that many of her Pri 1 parents flustered to resign from their jobs just to be a better parent. She opined (much as I hate this word) by the time the child reaches P1, it may just be a tad too late. As an educator at heart, I knew the truth in this and it sure has disturbed me quite a bi, sufficiently enough to get me make some serious actions.
Next, Vanessa told me that I really ought to spend more time teaching Joshua since he listens to me more and enjoys the "classes" we do together. She made this comment last night- "Her life purpose is that to be a helper to people" So real. Little does she realise her pivotal role in helping her man make the many life changing decisions. How she "forced" me to resign from BMG- the first job I held, which could bring in as much as $8k with commisions- but to what cost-she asked, and how we prayed together for the Zoo Curator post which I spend some good 2yr that I truly loved, and her green light for me to take my Masters and her courage when we had to abort the second child. Last Sunday, I jokingly said that I ought to resign and be a better dad and explore taking up the couple of offers. I was shocked when she said "GO ahead". I guess she knew how my perspectives have changed, and she knows where my heart and my gifts are. This is the most practical woman I ever knew and yet, here she is ready to nudge me to take the big plunge. To resign or take 1 or 2 years no pay leave or .... heaven knows.
I am clear that unless I make parenting my primary focus and career or professional development my second (rather then the other way round) life will just go on til the day, I realised that I am but the absent dad.
Where should I go from here? I promised wabbit that I will stick til the end of the year. I have many unrealised hopes that I have in CPDD. For sure, i wanna see that the TLLM schools would do well in their research projects. And for sure, I wish to build my community of practice from the 200 or so teachers I trained in creativity tools and to get them onto the next phase of creativity tools in CPS. Anyway, I am so indebted to the great learning in CPDD I just want to give back.
Finally in response to Edmund's question, I wrote: 1) To entrust EVERYTHING to God- my family, my career, my passion, my life 2) To immerse in a life being a child of God Upped the game,I have, all right.
AS I struggled to ponder upon what should I do next yr, I was reminded that I need to "seek ye first HIs kingdom". I am wedged between two realms, unable to find a comfortable equilibrium and conscious of the struggles of wanting to be a better dad. Whether be it to apply for the Science and Tech school OR to take one to two year to spend more time with the kids as I seek for opportunities to deepen my practise, either as a consultant with psychometric profiling or to work with institutions on Project Based Learning or the Creative Problem Solving Thinking Skills model- of which I am very very keen to facilitate action research.
Choice A)
My experience with some of the earlier future schools gave me some deep personal insights. That many of the schools that were initially selected were based on their existing programmes. I was disappointed that some of these school leaders lacked the vision of what to them is a future school. It was even more painful to have them describe how they thought technology would change their schools, without much thoughts on how their new curriculum would distinguish them from the rest. In fact, with my work as curriculum partner supporting schools on the TLLM ignite PBL cluster, I am increasingly clearer that it would be quite a arduous journey for schools to truly rise to the awakening of what it means for engaged learning to take place. One of the saddest questions I hear principals ask is "Would we be able to measure the effectiveness of the programme by comparing these classes results with the rest?" In my heart, I wish most honestly to ask them- "Would you rather your students enjoy the process of learning and thereby change the way they would learn in the future OR would you rather gain immediate gratification by seeing a 10% increase in test scores and then get more classes to use PBL just because it works?"
At times, it even irks me to hear of so-and-so boasting of how they have transformed their schools with their knowledge of curriculum design. My sense is that the heart of true curriculum innovation would require the school leader or the teacher to boldly create a learning experience that is not just solely based on single pedagogical approach but to customise the experience to reap the best means to help the child enjoy learning. Yes, I am unashamed to say that it is my deepest desire to run a school of my own- somewhat independently- so that I could work work with a selected group of teachers- of diverse interest, passions, personality and learning style types- with just a common goal to change the way learning works. Its a school of fun-where kids chart their own learning, have the autonomy to plan for how they want lessons to take place (who says UbD is good only for teachers??), teachers to be well skilled as faciltators so that deeper discussion and debates could take place on a daily basis. Who says Project Work needs be a subject in silos? It was somewhat funny to answer a call few days back when a teacher called to ask "Should PW have a grade for in the report book?" I am just wondering if this teacher lives in age of isolation- in this day and age, i wish teachers are great networkers- to tap on the communities of eager folks willing to share ideas and knowledge on the web or jut be linking up and talking. One of the deepest questions I wish to raise to the C2015 taskforce is "would we dare to challenge the notion that Structures ie. exams Drives Behaviour?" The heart of matter is it takes more then just knowledge to make transformations. Michael Fullen inspired me to believe that purposeful and courageous leadership is the heart of change. I want to build a school where the behaviour changes structures. Wrong, behaviour puts new structures in place.
Ms Ho questioned about my point that the curriculum of 2015 may arrive to level where students are ready to co-create this learning experience iwth their teachers. I believe it is possible to a large extent. If the school leader is ready to foster the right learning culture in all teachers and students. It is only with lack of passion and knowledge that many are not ready to embrace the power of co-creation-where new meaning is synthesized- that to me is true learning. During one of the Innolab meetings, DGE once commented on my point that schools lack the courage to change the education system. She said "What stopping them?" Huh.. my personal take- lack of vision and courage. NOw that the education landscape is transforming- with strong senior leadership who dares make the difference- do I still choose to abandon that dream which I publicly declared back in 2002-on my wedding?
Choice B)
Torn on the far end of my inner world, God allowed me to come to realisation that I am not such a superman afterall. (yes, 2N1's A1 size poster of Super Yeo still stands tall) In December last year, I realised that much as I love my work so much and I love my family so much, which I do love more? Action speaks louder then words, I believe its near impossible to balance both. It was ironic that as the staff welfare champion last yr, on one hand, I encouraged colleagues to go home early to spend time on own or with family, yet on the other hand, I am the culprit that frequently works til 9pm. What is work life balance? Or could it be more of work life integration-of either bringing the work home to do? Recently a principal friend shared that many of her Pri 1 parents flustered to resign from their jobs just to be a better parent. She opined (much as I hate this word) by the time the child reaches P1, it may just be a tad too late. As an educator at heart, I knew the truth in this and it sure has disturbed me quite a bi, sufficiently enough to get me make some serious actions.
Next, Vanessa told me that I really ought to spend more time teaching Joshua since he listens to me more and enjoys the "classes" we do together. She made this comment last night- "Her life purpose is that to be a helper to people" So real. Little does she realise her pivotal role in helping her man make the many life changing decisions. How she "forced" me to resign from BMG- the first job I held, which could bring in as much as $8k with commisions- but to what cost-she asked, and how we prayed together for the Zoo Curator post which I spend some good 2yr that I truly loved, and her green light for me to take my Masters and her courage when we had to abort the second child. Last Sunday, I jokingly said that I ought to resign and be a better dad and explore taking up the couple of offers. I was shocked when she said "GO ahead". I guess she knew how my perspectives have changed, and she knows where my heart and my gifts are. This is the most practical woman I ever knew and yet, here she is ready to nudge me to take the big plunge. To resign or take 1 or 2 years no pay leave or .... heaven knows.
I am clear that unless I make parenting my primary focus and career or professional development my second (rather then the other way round) life will just go on til the day, I realised that I am but the absent dad.
Where should I go from here? I promised wabbit that I will stick til the end of the year. I have many unrealised hopes that I have in CPDD. For sure, i wanna see that the TLLM schools would do well in their research projects. And for sure, I wish to build my community of practice from the 200 or so teachers I trained in creativity tools and to get them onto the next phase of creativity tools in CPS. Anyway, I am so indebted to the great learning in CPDD I just want to give back.
Finally in response to Edmund's question, I wrote: 1) To entrust EVERYTHING to God- my family, my career, my passion, my life 2) To immerse in a life being a child of God Upped the game,I have, all right.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
MIME
Having left the theatre with my performance in 'I Have a Date with Spring' since 2001, 'Family@doors' is the most challenging piece I have personally scripted and directed. Doors is a metaphor of the two doors in life- one that GOd receives us with His loving open arms and, the other-that man creates as an innermost thirst to feed his rebellious need to seek for freedom and power.
A modern day story of the prodigal son, presented as a Mime by a 20 strong cast from 6 to 55 years old, with a dose of abstract videos, be prepared to be blown away and torn apart by the harsh reality portrayed in this powerful mime.
Providence Presbyerian Church (Orchard Rd)
celebrates our 40th Church anniversary with this Gospel Rally during Good Friday.
21st and 22nd March (Fri and Sat). 7.30pm.
Contact me for more details
Monday, January 21, 2008
The gift to be a Father
The struggle of modern day fatherhood is so real. No matter how many great ideas I have to be a better father, the exhaustion of work itself simply drives home the need to just chill out upon stepping into the comforts of my lovely home.
Yet, the desire to spend quality time on the other hand is so real too.
Last night, I am glad I took Joshua down for a walk. Even if it was just a 5 min playing at the void deck, I felt it was time well spent.
Make believe game of spider man climbing up the wall, garang guni selling Joshua away, or having him on my tired back, ... sweet moments that I cherish.
Thank you Father for giving me the responsibilty to be a dad,,, its a challenge I need thy grace to help me live the moment
"Serious side of playing around - Experts lament young are being denied interaction" by Liz Gooch, South China Morning Post [Hong Kong 12/1]
They jumped, ran, slid, fought, squealed and screamed. In short, they played.
It was the classic scene of children doing what they've always loved to do when almost 1,000 of them descended on a sports field at Polytechnic University on Wednesday.
Child's play it may have been, but what these children were doing represented a crucial part of their development.
Experts have long recognised the importance of play in children's social, psychological and physical development. But in today's fast-paced world, concerns have emerged that children are missing out on childhood's greatest asset.
Researchers and practitioners at this week's 17th International Play Association World Conference at PolyU laid the blame on a number of factors - from the lack of open space in urban areas to the parental concern that keeps children tucked up inside, cocooned in a world where television and computers have become surrogate playmates.
The realisation that not all was well with today's children came to writer, broadcaster and consultant Sue Palmer as she encountered countless teachers who were concerned by disturbing changes in students' behaviour.
They told the former primary school teacher that children were becoming more easily distracted and impulsive, less empathetic and did not get along with each other as well as previous generations.
Addressing the conference in a pre-recorded speech (illness prevented her from leaving her home in Scotland), Ms Palmer said there had been an "explosion" in the number of children suffering from learning difficulties in the past three decades.
Ms Palmer, whose research is published in her book Toxic Childhood, said behavioural problems had doubled in the past 30 years among British children while emotional problems had increased by 70 per cent.
The increase was particularly evident in those diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, dyslexia and autism spectrum disorders. In the early 1980s, one in 50,000 children in the United States had such disorders, compared to one in 144 now, according to the American Academy of Paediatrics. Ms Palmer said it had been estimated that one in 58 British children suffered from these types of disorders.
"We've had 50 years of peace and prosperity ... Things should be getting better for our children, not worse. I think it shameful and we should be looking at why it's happening," she said.
While some of the rise in behaviour disorders can be put down to increased diagnosis, Ms Palmer believes there is more to it than that. Thanks to technological developments, the pace of life has increased dramatically since the days when kids spent their childhoods exploring the local neighbourhood.
With tasks that used to be laborious now replaced by the flick of a switch, Ms Palmer believes we have become impatient and are trying to transfer this hectic pace onto our children.
With tasks that used to be laborious now replaced by the flick of a switch, Ms Palmer believes we have become impatient and are trying to transfer this hectic pace onto our children.
"Unfortunately there are some things that can't be rushed and one of them is human development," she said. "We really can't accelerate psychological growth but at the moment we're trying to." "We are trying to rush children forward through the first years of their life and I believe that's why we're getting these developmental problems."
Ms Palmer said there was a disturbing trend in countries like Britain and the US for children to start school at a younger age. "It's very much worrying developmental psychologists because children simply aren't ready to start learning in a formal way until they're about six or seven," she said.
The pre-primary years should be dedicated to learning through play rather than formal education, according to Jaap E. Doek, who was chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2001 until last year. Although the right to play was enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Professor Doek said countries rarely reported on this aspect of children's rights.
He said it was important not to lose sight of the child's right to play when early childhood education was introduced.
He said it was important not to lose sight of the child's right to play when early childhood education was introduced.
"As soon as you call it education or school it becomes something that is linked to targets, things you want to achieve through activities at preschool," he said. "The pre-primary school shouldn't be school. It's really an instrument to strengthen certain elements of the psychological and also physical development of the child, to engage them with other children." Parents are often keen to see their children begin formal learning at a young age, but Professor Doek said the aim of pre-primary education should not be to put them in a competitive position for primary school.
While education often focused on the individual, the emphasis in the pre-primary years should be on learning to interact with others. "If you do pre-primary well, children have learnt to engage in play together, to discover things together, to get into a fight, to negotiate over things," he said. "All of those things don't happen in an education system where the focus is on the individual."
Professor Doek said Hong Kong and other places with competitive education systems could consider allocating specific time for children to play. But it was important children were given freedom when playing.
"If the activity is enforced, it's not play anymore," he said.
In addition to teaching children how to interact with others, share and learn language, playing active games outside has also kept generations of children healthy. With children free to run around the neighbourhood there was no need for such things as "fat camps" and diets designed specifically for youngsters - until today's generation, which Ms Palmer described as the least physically active generation in the "history of the planet". She said Scottish researchers had found that two-year-olds were now as sedentary as office workers.
"This is against nature and it means they're not learning through movement, which is the most basic way you play," she said.
Ms Palmer said there were various reasons for children's inactivity - children were becoming afraid to play outside, parents had become frightened of letting them out and there was now an abundance of screen-based entertainment available indoors. She said while there were no more child abductions now than in previous eras, a culture had developed where "parents are not good parents if they let their children go out to play".
A survey conducted last year by the Good Childhood Inquiry in England had shown that the average age people thought it was safe for children to play outside on their own was 14.
Ms Palmer said "screens", as she referred to televisions and computers, had invaded family life. She cited 2005 figures from the National Literacy Trust that show 40 per cent of British children under the age of four have a television in their bedroom. There were also television channels specifically for babies, despite recommendations from paediatricians that children should not watch television before the age of two. She said children's DVDs, such as the Baby Einstein series, had evolved into a multimillion-dollar industry but claims that these programmes were educational were "nonsense".
"Damaging babies' brains is now big business," she said. "If they tune into screens rather than real life and people then it becomes their default activity and it's much more difficult to convince them that they do want to play and get outside.
"I think if we try to push our children into a screen-saturated world before their brains have developed in the natural way that brains have been expected to develop for millennia, we may be doing them a disservice."
Ms Palmer stressed that technology was a great resource if used wisely but said society had not recognised what media saturation could do.
"Our technological evolution has been profound and rapid ... but we've got to give our children time to develop first," she said.
Friday, December 28, 2007
what do u do with a baby at 4am in the morning?
Tonight as I lie awake wondering what can I do to while putting joanna sweetheart to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, I came up with this idea of creating a blog for her. So much for creative parenting. Check it out.
http://joanna3117.blogspot.com/
http://joanna3117.blogspot.com/
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Women are from Venus and Mars...
I thought I knew women. yes, esp the one at home
Sigh... I must admit, perhaps it was the flu bug or perhaps the knock-out over Christmas, I was not at all feeling well the past week. Physically, emotionally, etc. I knew SHE was upset with me. The fact that I knew she was upset that I am not much a help, especially when joanna cries at night or when my wife needs a good rub. I knew that I wanted to be there for her but its just that I am a dead log when I sleeep. God forgive me. On Christmas afternoon, after a long 4 hours sleep (yes, as all good men would blame it on the drowsiness of the pill) we got into a small argument. She was sobbing as she felt just so disappointed. I sure was afraid that she may conveniently transit into PNB- figure that out on ur own. The last B- is a colour!
And out she uttered: "Don't ever tell me you want another kid.... thats the last!!!" Oh how my heart goes out to her. Like a good obedient boy, I sheepishly replied, "Yes, of course, ..." AND she continued..."and you are really not at all a dependable husband... I can't trust you!" O...how my heart aches. In my mind, I don't see myself going for flings, or late night supper or beer, ,...I am but an honest loving hubby who comes home right after work. And by THE way, I also cook too you know... But well, just let her be.... But that kind of spoiled my week. Past few days, I have been wondering, how would life be like if I have no kids, not married or even unattached. But of course, I knew being married to HEr was one of the best things that God has done for me.
The soap opera continues with a few days later, she revealed. "I hate going back to work. " Ah ha... so that was the answer to her misery "You are undependable = I hate going back to work"!!! Now that makes sense... I smiled secretly It was odd though cos she loves her work, or more correctly, she is highly committed to her work. So it really ought not to be an issue. As a well trained facilitator, I probed a little more... "I understand how you feel... why not tell me about it..." I soothed her... and the truth came out. It was not about me, it was not even about the work... it was her worries that she may not even breastmilk for the little one.
Ah yo yo .... yes, women are really wired very differently. As for terrible husbands all there who share my plight, this is for us :"No women is complete until she takes a husband- only then can she be considered finish"
Sigh... I must admit, perhaps it was the flu bug or perhaps the knock-out over Christmas, I was not at all feeling well the past week. Physically, emotionally, etc. I knew SHE was upset with me. The fact that I knew she was upset that I am not much a help, especially when joanna cries at night or when my wife needs a good rub. I knew that I wanted to be there for her but its just that I am a dead log when I sleeep. God forgive me. On Christmas afternoon, after a long 4 hours sleep (yes, as all good men would blame it on the drowsiness of the pill) we got into a small argument. She was sobbing as she felt just so disappointed. I sure was afraid that she may conveniently transit into PNB- figure that out on ur own. The last B- is a colour!
And out she uttered: "Don't ever tell me you want another kid.... thats the last!!!" Oh how my heart goes out to her. Like a good obedient boy, I sheepishly replied, "Yes, of course, ..." AND she continued..."and you are really not at all a dependable husband... I can't trust you!" O...how my heart aches. In my mind, I don't see myself going for flings, or late night supper or beer, ,...I am but an honest loving hubby who comes home right after work. And by THE way, I also cook too you know... But well, just let her be.... But that kind of spoiled my week. Past few days, I have been wondering, how would life be like if I have no kids, not married or even unattached. But of course, I knew being married to HEr was one of the best things that God has done for me.
The soap opera continues with a few days later, she revealed. "I hate going back to work. " Ah ha... so that was the answer to her misery "You are undependable = I hate going back to work"!!! Now that makes sense... I smiled secretly
Ah yo yo .... yes, women are really wired very differently. As for terrible husbands all there who share my plight, this is for us :"No women is complete until she takes a husband- only then can she be considered finish"
A long three months ago...
Didn't realise that it was exactly 3 months ago that I last put an entry into my own blogspot. Interesting how I created new stuff through multiply- www.yeojohn75.multiply.com . Liked the interface very much cos its simple and compact. Pity, not many subscribers to mutiply so will park it for the time being. Got a little crazy with Facebook. Yes, the WORLD is in it. Interesting how I have been connected to so many networks. But it really frustrates me big time with the so many redundant applications.... maybe thats why people are on it... a simple outlet to "live" out of their boredom.
Joanna's a beautiful baby. I remember the week that she was born, so many things happened at home. Parents quarrelled, dad went missing, etc. I must say, Satan really wacks hard where it hurt most. Nonetheless, our good good God really answers prayers.... the night Joanna was about to be born, my dad came back. Its a testimony cos thereafter I asked him, being uncontactable for so long, how do you know when to return. His reply, "I felt something happened at home and thus I returned." Simply amazing how God works.
With a couple more days to 2008, I can't articulate anymore resolutions, with fear of yet another unfulfilled promise.
But I do know for sure that God wants me to draw closer to Him and lean less on my own strengths. How, I don't know. Many challenges lie ahead: the mime, my studies in June and July, my work, etc. But I know Joshua and Joanna would want to have a better father.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Our God is watching
Dear friends
A lovely colleague shared this with me. Amidst little Joanna arriving anytime, a church play waiting to be rescripted, parents who are struggling with ageing, new work scopes.... so much uncertainty. This story just touched my heart ... that God is watching. Jehovah Jireh...
In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two. Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.
Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds. He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.
Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.
If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it. I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.
The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.
No luck.
The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job. Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive -in that had been converted to a truck stop. It was called the Big Wheel.
An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning. She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night. I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.
That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel. When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-- fully half of what I averaged every night. As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.
The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.
One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires!
There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.
Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered.
I made a deal with the local service station.
In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.
I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.
I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.
Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.
I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.
Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.
On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les , Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine. The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up. When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.
I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.
And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning. Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop....
THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:
1. "Yes!"
2. "Not yet."
3. "I have something better in mind."
God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar.
You maybe going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.
My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless,
and I picked you.
Let's continue to pray for one another. Here is the prayer:....
Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power.
Amen.
On a personal note, I like to thank an angel. Was not sure where I could find a stage manager to assist for the play. Prayed about it. Still lost, an angel from church came forth if she could help. She was the perfect help as she is meticulous and big picture person. Someone I know I can trust and make things happen. A Godly woman. Though none came forth to audition yesterday, I received a call again from my angel. That's God's assurance that He is Jehovah Jireh
God is just so good, and He's good all the time.
Remember, prayer does change things!
A lovely colleague shared this with me. Amidst little Joanna arriving anytime, a church play waiting to be rescripted, parents who are struggling with ageing, new work scopes.... so much uncertainty. This story just touched my heart ... that God is watching. Jehovah Jireh...
In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two. Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.
Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds. He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.
Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.
If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it. I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.
The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.
No luck.
The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job. Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive -in that had been converted to a truck stop. It was called the Big Wheel.
An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning. She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night. I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.
That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel. When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-- fully half of what I averaged every night. As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.
The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.
One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires!
There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.
Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered.
I made a deal with the local service station.
In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.
I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.
I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.
Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.
I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.
Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.
On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les , Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine. The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up. When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.
I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.
And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning. Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop....
THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:
1. "Yes!"
2. "Not yet."
3. "I have something better in mind."
God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar.
You maybe going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.
My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless,
and I picked you.
Let's continue to pray for one another. Here is the prayer:....
Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power.
Amen.
On a personal note, I like to thank an angel. Was not sure where I could find a stage manager to assist for the play. Prayed about it. Still lost, an angel from church came forth if she could help. She was the perfect help as she is meticulous and big picture person. Someone I know I can trust and make things happen. A Godly woman. Though none came forth to audition yesterday, I received a call again from my angel. That's God's assurance that He is Jehovah Jireh
God is just so good, and He's good all the time.
Remember, prayer does change things!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
A tree with two trunks at Orchard Library
Rambling Libriarian reminded me that Orchard Library is shifting....real soon. Though only been there about 4-5 times, I love the design of the library.When I first visited the library, I was woo-ed with the music stations by the sides. I am not sure if we are the only library in the world that offers this but, it sure is a very cool idea. Also the very distinct "open" concept of how the space is utilized, how the shelves are so well spaced out, and the huge number of books on art and design is simply just an arts haven.
I dropped by yesterday to look for books on directing plays. Last checked, White Sands library does not offer much of a choice. Yesterday, I picked so many wonderful books I wished I could use my family members' cards to borrow more. (NLB should do a research or test indicator on the "culture of Singapore library users: HOw kiasu are we")
The pleasant treat was, there was a manga awards ceremony -Mangaka (very interesting twist to how the Tekka market is pronounced in hokkien/teochew- very SingApor-ian). Otto Fong, a teacher in RI, was the guest judge. I like his point about how even manga art needs be innovated. He shared on how the girl drew the manga gal version of the merlion, how imagination led this kid to draw a monster manga pic out of a make up artist imagination. I loved the manga in the open category- very beautiful. WOnder if NLB will be showcasing them online too?
Time to meet my wife. Before I left, I dropped my Library books chit in the box that may allow me to win a book. I was certain I got the closing date correct: 30 Nov. Very clever way to engage readers! Along the way out, I asked the librarian at the entrance, "Is the rambling librarian working here today?" Jokingly she replied, "He doesn't ramble on Saturdays!"
I caught the photo of the lovely graffiti on the glass. Can you see the "tree"? Look carefully, a tree with magical white leaves. Can you see the short stumpy blue tree trunk? Look again. Is the trunk blue or is it black and longer?
Einstein said "No problem can be solved by the same consciousness that created it". Use a different lens to see the creative world around us.
A very lost blogger
Woke up somewhat angry with self for how silly I am in not being able to be more IT savvy (very clearly a digital alien trying to step into zone of at least a digital immigrant) and sad. Sad that I am beginning to love blogging more but not sure how I can better use this to "communicate"
So if there are any kind souls who happen to read this.... please help....
1) how do I created a forum like what you have done for people to "talk" to me?? The reason why I started to blog was to use blog as a platform to continue the friendship with my students. Somehow,,,, after changing the skin, I lost the "code"
2) HOw do I get into a "community of bloggers"? How can pp read and share on my blog or I can do likewise for others?
So if there are any kind souls who happen to read this.... please help....
1) how do I created a forum like what you have done for people to "talk" to me?? The reason why I started to blog was to use blog as a platform to continue the friendship with my students. Somehow,,,, after changing the skin, I lost the "code"
2) HOw do I get into a "community of bloggers"? How can pp read and share on my blog or I can do likewise for others?
Thursday, October 25, 2007
What I can do during a boring seminar
Though here to get some fresh ideas for Digital Exchange, nothing seems to excit me. Man, its tough to sustain my attention through talks on digital content, standards-compliant courseware, etc.... ONly thing I thought was good was on the alternative of copyrights. COPY LEFT!!! Useful insight and wonder how rapidly the world is changing through the participatory culture. What I like is the idea on how people enjoy sharing, how people find it fulfilling to adapt, modify. or co-create. Altruism. Throughout that segment, I struggle with asking myself.... So should I copyright or copyleft my Emotional Intelligence Game? Tough question...
Had an interesting conversation earlier with one participant on need to continue learning....even til old. As a son, I often feel a little uncomfortable when my dad starts talking.... is it just bad attitude on my side or is he not conscious of how others feel about what or how he talks. Mum complains of his bad temper but a son, I know that he needs to talk... is he really falling "sick" mentally? What can I do? Talk more with him? Tough. Encourage him to take courses.... perhaps. Perhaps hooking him up to a computer course would be useful.
The unfilial son...
Had an interesting conversation earlier with one participant on need to continue learning....even til old. As a son, I often feel a little uncomfortable when my dad starts talking.... is it just bad attitude on my side or is he not conscious of how others feel about what or how he talks. Mum complains of his bad temper but a son, I know that he needs to talk... is he really falling "sick" mentally? What can I do? Talk more with him? Tough. Encourage him to take courses.... perhaps. Perhaps hooking him up to a computer course would be useful.
The unfilial son...
Monday, October 15, 2007
Gift to be Simple
Its odd why I felt delighted this afternoon with just barely half an hour cleaning up the Level 12 pantry. As the SWAT chair, how can I not lead by example. Initially I thought it was silly to clean up while there were tons of more serious work to be done at my workstation. But as I started filling up the glass bottles with biscuits, I could see in my mind the happy faces on colleagues when they walk into the pantry and see it sparkling clean with biscuits all filled to the brim. I wanted people to be proud of entering into a special place that they could feel a personal touch. Someone who made it special just for them. That made me happy.
Sometimes, greatness is not in the acts of doing big things, but just the simple act of making someone else smile. I know that cos I know from the weary face of the cleaning uncles and aunties in food courts who I heard are only paid $2 per hour to clean the table. It doesn't take much to just do our small parts and always lend a "thank you" or a "xie xie" to show our appreciation. Sadly, these are the good folks that many take for granted.
I want to make the world a better place. It doesn't have to be a big move. Just start with a smile! :)
Sometimes, greatness is not in the acts of doing big things, but just the simple act of making someone else smile. I know that cos I know from the weary face of the cleaning uncles and aunties in food courts who I heard are only paid $2 per hour to clean the table. It doesn't take much to just do our small parts and always lend a "thank you" or a "xie xie" to show our appreciation. Sadly, these are the good folks that many take for granted.
I want to make the world a better place. It doesn't have to be a big move. Just start with a smile! :)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The 7 Cs by Cresswell
To the heavy hearted,
I met a friend recently at the Facilitator's Network and we were engaged in good thoughtful exchanges. Cresswell shared the following with me and I like to share with you. I hope it encourages you. Cress angled his 7 Cs from an organisational point of view. Here, I pened (typed) my thoughts on the wisdom from a more personal perspective. ANyway, my inspiration for my songs has always been drawn from looking out to the sea. Yes, I really love the analogy of C to sea.... all aboard!
The 7 "C" Success Factors behind Extra-ordinary business:
I met a friend recently at the Facilitator's Network and we were engaged in good thoughtful exchanges. Cresswell shared the following with me and I like to share with you. I hope it encourages you. Cress angled his 7 Cs from an organisational point of view. Here, I pened (typed) my thoughts on the wisdom from a more personal perspective. ANyway, my inspiration for my songs has always been drawn from looking out to the sea. Yes, I really love the analogy of C to sea.... all aboard!
The 7 "C" Success Factors behind Extra-ordinary business:
1. COURSE: Ship-wide alignment to a common course
- Before you embark on your noble journey, helps with clarifying your personal vision. "Course" alignment is essential especially in personal leadership.
- Greatness of a leader may then be measured then subsequently by your vision and values.
- Exploration of your inner territory
- Finding the strength through your style. For example, if people know that your ability to charm others through your personality, and your credible charisma simply makes things happen, synergise that to become your charming charisma to stir new directions in your life.
- "I am driven by concerns for the legacy I am leaving for my children." Gail Mayville
2. CHOICE: Everyone acts as a 'captain' of their own ship
- Outstanding individuals all share a common trait: they live and die by their initiative and creative capacity that flow from th proactive engagement of everyone.
- Choice shifts an individual from reactive to proactive stance, from passive to response-able voice, from delegation to others to trusting others and trusting self.
3. COURAGE: Go to sea, despite your fear, risk and do right things, right
- Courage carries the day in crisis, floods work with passion and purpose
- Amidst heightened uncertainty, take the right risks
- Do the right things!
4. CAPACITY: Keep ship-shape and build sea-worthiness in all 4 compass quandrants
- Maintainance of equilibrium- health (body), learning (mind), culture (emotion) and higher purpose (spirit)
- Growth requires reaching beyond current limits, expending energy, then resting and building
5. COMPANION: Get the right crew onboard, in the right relationships
- Success of your leadership is highly dependent on the sum of the people you build and the relationship between those people.
- Get them into the position that employs their gifts and the creating and sustaining empowering, co-creative relationships.
- People first! Its worth making the first connection... then soon, compassion and collaboration.
6. CURIOSITY: Cast off, explore new territory, learn and renew continuously
- Continous learning and renewal keeps you afloat in the sea of change.
- It is the key to inner transformation i order to adapt and expand your capacity to produce results
7. COMPASSION: Sail for the king and country
- How do you build a heart that will woo your people to buy-in and give their best and stay by your side.
- the unspoken code that drives good to extraordinary.
I like to add to Cress list 2 more Cs:
Contemplation?
- Need for reflection, journey out to the sea as a way to express separation from the environment;
- A renewal process that will require opening the doors you shut previously, or walking in dark spaces that are frightening, or touching the flames that will burn. BUT the end is, truth.
- from looking within then to looking out before moving on.- A practice is finding greater resonance within self and the activities you set forth (for e.g. Peter Senges book - [The Fifth Discipline]:The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation)
Creativity?
- Ability to modify your self imposed constraints and to make connections where none existed before.
- Enjoy the imagination that drives that need to change and seek that desire to experience self fulfilling success!
- Creative people would enjoy a sense of ownership, empowerment and spirit
Monday, October 08, 2007
The broken heart of a teacher
The best gift that a teacher can ever receive is when they know that they have made a difference in the lives of their students. One of those most memorable program that I facilitated was produced into a video and uploaded on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JdMDi91g64 Each time I revisit this video, dust gets in my eye.
1. A Service Learning project that went through so much from conceptualisation to preparation and 'painfully' implemented. Yet, it reaped many sweet returns with intangible lessons learnt. It really made such a big difference in many, including mine. I enjoyed seeing how a class of very intelligent students driven to get the As transformed to be caring, creative and responsible individuals. This too was one reason that held me back from resigning in Oct 2005.
1. A Service Learning project that went through so much from conceptualisation to preparation and 'painfully' implemented. Yet, it reaped many sweet returns with intangible lessons learnt. It really made such a big difference in many, including mine. I enjoyed seeing how a class of very intelligent students driven to get the As transformed to be caring, creative and responsible individuals. This too was one reason that held me back from resigning in Oct 2005.
2. A reflection of much heart break: these two videos were mostly filmed, edited and produced by one single kid. Yet, in 2006 this kid was sent to a home for thief and several other crimes. In one instance, he had even stolen a laptop from school and had it sold at the cash-mart. I know him. A clever boy. A kind hearted child deeply gentle within. A very tech savvy boy. Yet, it saddened me tremendously to hear of his misdeeds. I counselled him when his parents broke up in 2005. His dad abused him. His mum from a foreign land knew not how to manage him further but to eventually report him to the police... because she loved him. He knew not her love for him. While he left school and ran about doing odd jobs, I tried to look for him. Each time he promised to turn over a new leave, it became yet another broken promise. I too was at my wits ends. I pondered, how can society give this 17 year old boy another chance. Can't we use his talents and make him a better man... Pehaps I failed him as a teacher.
Perhaps I did.
The broken hearted teacher,
jy
The broken hearted teacher,
jy
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Saturday was a good morning.
Good becos Joshua and I went to Lim Choo Kang jetty to do our part to clean the beach. International Coastal Cleanup 2007 for SWAT. Initially was worried for the low turn up but surprise surprise when we got there, it was a good number that came forth including other volunteers who lent a hand.
Whats more meaningful was a morning where people mingled together for a common cause. TO rid the beach of stuff that are not eco-friendly. Stuff like rubber materials (we dug out a wheel of a truck), metal( rid of some screw drivers and shovel), glass and plastic stuff (plently of plastic bags, broken glass bottles, ball, etc) and plenty of interesting stuff like wheel can, clothings, fishing nets, styroform boxes that perhaps dropped off from fishing boats, etc.
Personally I always wish that I could start little Joshua off on some community projects and what better way then to get in touch with good old Mother Nature. We got really "stuck" and became the swamp thing when Josh and I ended up in the sticky gluey mud that trapped our sandals. Thank GOd for good old Oliver who came to our rescue. O, Oliver is one of the coolest people I knew way back in NUS Biological Sciences dept where he was also my tutor for some modules. I missed the days we went to Malaysia for field trips where he showed us how wonderful nature has to offer with his shapr senses and expert knowledge. Then we met again last year where I helped to review the Bio textbooks for CPDD. And guess where I ended up after that! LOL
Whats more meaningful was a morning where people mingled together for a common cause. TO rid the beach of stuff that are not eco-friendly. Stuff like rubber materials (we dug out a wheel of a truck), metal( rid of some screw drivers and shovel), glass and plastic stuff (plently of plastic bags, broken glass bottles, ball, etc) and plenty of interesting stuff like wheel can, clothings, fishing nets, styroform boxes that perhaps dropped off from fishing boats, etc.
Personally I always wish that I could start little Joshua off on some community projects and what better way then to get in touch with good old Mother Nature. We got really "stuck" and became the swamp thing when Josh and I ended up in the sticky gluey mud that trapped our sandals. Thank GOd for good old Oliver who came to our rescue. O, Oliver is one of the coolest people I knew way back in NUS Biological Sciences dept where he was also my tutor for some modules. I missed the days we went to Malaysia for field trips where he showed us how wonderful nature has to offer with his shapr senses and expert knowledge. Then we met again last year where I helped to review the Bio textbooks for CPDD. And guess where I ended up after that! LOL
I am proud of little Joshua who constantly asked to wash his muddy feet; helped me pull up stuck fishing nets (and almost pulled down my pants too) as well as did his little part in digging up the huge wheel.
Check out more photos of the event: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=748497641
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