4 Days of conference

This week is the first time that I skipped 4 days on Mon to Thur of school because of a conference...I thanked the school for giving me the opportunity of going to the 10th Asia-Pacific Conference for Giftedness... it really opened my mind... time also to catch up with some good friends also. I am also thankful for all my colleagues who took over my lessons when I am away. They are really nice...

These are the seminars that I have attended...just to write it in my blog for future references.

1) Teaching for Leadership by RJ Sternberg
2) Teaching leadership to over best and brightest by C. Choh
3) Leadership training for the gifted by JA Nainie
4) Preparing the gifted for a multi-civilisational world by Prof Kishone Mahbubani
5) Building gifts into talents: overview of DMGT by F. Gagne
6) Teaching skills for creativity in math by LC. Tan
7) Parenting experiences of several Nobel Laureate by Echo Wu
8) The artist within every child by J. Hauroutonian
9) A pilot study on Talent identification under the DSA in S'pore by LS Tan
10) Mulitiple processes: an essential approach for identifying gifted and talented students
11) The neurobiology of giftedness. Prof J. Geake
12) Talent development in Secondary Mathematics - A Singapore context
13) Intelligence, creativity and wisdom by RJ Sternberg
14) Thinking map by Dr Suzie Oh
15) Gifted students as citizens for the future by Prf Kirsi Tirri
16) Who makes in a curriculum for the gifted by J V Tassal

Well, that is what happens in a conference:
Seminar - Tea - Seminar - Lunch - Seminar - Tea - Seminar - Home

A cycle of getting fat...

Most tiring day of my teaching career

Today marked the most tiring day of my teaching life...

2 individual classes to teach...
2 combined classes to teach... (which means 2x2 classes)
1.5 hours of small group teaching
1 afternoon class (4-6pm)
Finished marking a stack of essays
Evening keyboard lessons

Well, the few rewards is able to catch up with Hui Im and Lijie for dinner, as well as able to teach the classes that I taught last year...other than that, my bones are are so tired....

Teaching insights

Yesterday was a the day when my school celebrated the Youth Day celebrations. I'm pleased with my students who had organized the whole carnival...kudos for them!

Anyway, in the afternoon, as a teacher, I went to the MOE EXCEL Fest in Suntec. Dr Low Guat Tin....a super inspiring educator ... many went because she was super funny...but I personally find her inspiring:

Her topic was "How would children of tomorrow be like?" This was to ensure that the teachers would be able to cope with the demands of tomorrow and then teach their students well.

On the purpose of teaching:
"We should not teach them to earn a living, but to learn a living."

On the fact that most teachers are stressed out, she advised:
"We should not major on the minors in life"

She also mentioned:
"In teaching, the rewards are not only the hard cash, but the heart cash as well." And said that the greatest reward was to see her former students remembering her some even after 40 years.

It was after the talk that I got to see that 2 of my primary school teachers...wow it was so many many years that I've last seen one of them....but really glad to have known that they are still passionate about teaching. Well, they are also surprised that my brothers and I (who are also taught by them) have gone into the teaching field. I feel that this would really be a strong encouragement to them after all these years.

Went to the booth that was set up by my school...but I think that this is the best Excel Fest I have attended for the past 3 years.