After my training I was posted to another school, a school with some problematic teachers but that's a story for another time.
I was still settling down when horror of horrors, the discipline master asked me to assist him.
THANKFULLY, it had nothing to do with disciplining problematic students. I was to assist him in implementing programmes that hopefully would instill a sense of discipline in the student population.
I carried these out with enthusiasm and diligence. The discipline master was very pleased and I think the school was very happy too.
Apparently I had made a good initial impression on the principal and vice-principal. Haha. They always seemed happy to see me.
Then one day, the senior assistant - in those days there were senior assistants - came to me and told me excitedly that I was to attend an interview to be confirmed as a teacher!
It is a very rare thing for a teacher to have to face a panel of interviewers before he/she is confirmed as a teacher, so rare that most teachers have not even heard of it!
Even my senior assistant had not heard of it which explained his excitement. From his demeanour, he probably thought the interview was for exceptional teachers. LOL
I didn't share his excitement. I didn't fancy having to face a panel of interviewers. I didn't see the interview as good news when all my friends were confirmed without any fuss.
I couldn't think of any reason why I wasn't confirmed like the rest. I had done well in my exams and my supervisors had always been very pleased with my delivery in class.
The day of the interview arrived. There were some others who had similarly been called up for the interview. I listened to their chatter and guessed that we were there because we had received unfavourable reports from our principals.
A teacher stormed out of the interview exclaiming, "How dare they accused me of not marking assignments."
When my turn came I went in expecting an unpleasant time. The interviewers - there were 3 of them - greeted me with friendly faces! Then they asked me a few insignificant questions like:
How did I like my new school? Was it very far from my home? How long was travelling time? How did I find the state of discipline in my new school?
And then the interview was over as quickly as it began! Like a mere formality that was a waste of time.
But the last question was illuminating.
Chye Huat came to my mind and the unforgettable sarcastic "Our students are devils, you know. They are not angels."
Chye Huat was the culmination of my training in my previous school, my misery towards the end of my training.
I was his form teacher and the obstacle that stood in the way of his expulsion.
While Chye Huat was the nightmare of the school, I must have been the principal's bad dream.
It would have been difficult for her to write a report to MOE to explain an expulsion that did not have the form teacher's support.
So Chye Huat didn't get expelled but I was transferred out at the end of the school year which coincided with the end of my training.
It was a blessing in disguise though because it meant that I would be appraised again but by a different principal. I must have received a glowing report from him which over-rode the report of my previous principal.
It was a also a blessing that I was asked to assist in implementing programmes relating to discipline, an opportunity to prove myself in the area where I was deemed by my previous principal to be ignorant.
Perhaps God has a sense of humour.
I was still settling down when horror of horrors, the discipline master asked me to assist him.
THANKFULLY, it had nothing to do with disciplining problematic students. I was to assist him in implementing programmes that hopefully would instill a sense of discipline in the student population.
I carried these out with enthusiasm and diligence. The discipline master was very pleased and I think the school was very happy too.
Apparently I had made a good initial impression on the principal and vice-principal. Haha. They always seemed happy to see me.
Then one day, the senior assistant - in those days there were senior assistants - came to me and told me excitedly that I was to attend an interview to be confirmed as a teacher!
It is a very rare thing for a teacher to have to face a panel of interviewers before he/she is confirmed as a teacher, so rare that most teachers have not even heard of it!
Even my senior assistant had not heard of it which explained his excitement. From his demeanour, he probably thought the interview was for exceptional teachers. LOL
I didn't share his excitement. I didn't fancy having to face a panel of interviewers. I didn't see the interview as good news when all my friends were confirmed without any fuss.
I couldn't think of any reason why I wasn't confirmed like the rest. I had done well in my exams and my supervisors had always been very pleased with my delivery in class.
The day of the interview arrived. There were some others who had similarly been called up for the interview. I listened to their chatter and guessed that we were there because we had received unfavourable reports from our principals.
A teacher stormed out of the interview exclaiming, "How dare they accused me of not marking assignments."
When my turn came I went in expecting an unpleasant time. The interviewers - there were 3 of them - greeted me with friendly faces! Then they asked me a few insignificant questions like:
How did I like my new school? Was it very far from my home? How long was travelling time? How did I find the state of discipline in my new school?
And then the interview was over as quickly as it began! Like a mere formality that was a waste of time.
But the last question was illuminating.
Chye Huat came to my mind and the unforgettable sarcastic "Our students are devils, you know. They are not angels."
Chye Huat was the culmination of my training in my previous school, my misery towards the end of my training.
I was his form teacher and the obstacle that stood in the way of his expulsion.
While Chye Huat was the nightmare of the school, I must have been the principal's bad dream.
It would have been difficult for her to write a report to MOE to explain an expulsion that did not have the form teacher's support.
So Chye Huat didn't get expelled but I was transferred out at the end of the school year which coincided with the end of my training.
It was a blessing in disguise though because it meant that I would be appraised again but by a different principal. I must have received a glowing report from him which over-rode the report of my previous principal.
It was a also a blessing that I was asked to assist in implementing programmes relating to discipline, an opportunity to prove myself in the area where I was deemed by my previous principal to be ignorant.
Perhaps God has a sense of humour.
