One month in and here I am with the lack of updates but with a billion stories to tell. (WHAT'S NEW YA?)
From getting delayed to getting our placement confirmation to placement orientation week (POW) and finally, school. Do note that, everything was really rushed because the moment we received our placement confirmation, we had to quickly attend POW and report ourselves which means rushing our documents and getting it certified to also getting to know where we're being placed and our collabs (team members in the same school).
As (some) of you may know, I am now Fellow under the Teach For Malaysia Graduate Fellowship program where I am placed in a high need public school for 2 years and while normal graduate management trainees rotate around departments, my job scope is exactly the same as a normal teacher - which means to say that I teach students in classes, run programs in school, receive my salary and benefits from the government.
The major difference between being a fellow and a normal teacher is that I have yet to own a diploma in Education because one of the requirements to be a part of the program is to NOT have a degree in Education. While most public high school teachers do have a degree in other areas other than education, they went through the normal route of gaining a diploma in teaching first before being placed in school. I on the other hand, am attending weekend classes as a fulfillment to the requirements of gaining a diploma in Education from IPG (Institut Pendidikan Guru). Other than that, as a fellow - we are required to attend workshops organised by TFM and have our own initiatives in school to empower the community around there.
I'm placed somewhere in Selangor but far away from home (well, far enough for me to rent a home nearby the school with my three other fellows who are within the same area as me!) So glad to have them with me though. I wouldn't know what I'd do without them hehe.
GY & I aka collabs for our school along with MY and HZ who are 2018 fellows and are in the afternoon session
Getting lost all the time - physically and mentally and I don't mean losing it mentally but more like I'm lost at what's going on because there were just so many things going on. I remember starting my first class and I was nervous as heck - went home after that and crashed on my bed for about 3 good hours. Climbing the stairs and getting to know where my classes are at and getting to know my students at that time made me feel lethargic but good at the same time as I've finally received my permanent timetable. However, it took me atleast a week or two to settle down and to get to know the syllabus and even now, I'm still learning.
The students in my school are generally from the B41 community and it is extremely rare to see anyone from the upper-middle class community attend my school. Majority of the students work after school and they are all usually tired when they come to school because some of them work overnight. I know that this goes against labour laws whereby students under 18 are not allowed to work over a certain amount of hours but these kids are really all out in working. They deem their life as more meaningful when it comes to working instead of being in school studying.
Exam period
I constantly make the effort to ask how they are because I find it important for them to know that there are people out there that actually do care about how they really are and how they are doing in life - not just studies but their personal life as well. I also try very hard to speak in English with them because I would like to instill the 'I can do it even if I think I'm bad at it' attitude in them. Some of them do try and struggle but nevertheless, they try.
And also, as kiddish as they can be sometimes (I only teach form 4 btw but in order to fulfill my 30 waktu requirements, I will have to relief some classes when their teachers are not around), their jokes can be quite hilarious sometimes because it reminds me of how silly I used to be back then and one day they will look back and realize 'Haha why was I like that back then' or even better, they'll be able to laugh with their friends as they reminisce their school memories.
Tunas Niaga club activities
I have started giving extra lessons to kids who need it, I initially thought you know that they wouldn't come but they do attend those extra lessons which makes me feel happy. Despite the rigid system which runs in our education system, these are the little things which makes my day a little bit better than before.
One of the kids who attended my extra class didn't have lunch before coming and I wasn't going to have any of it, hence going down to the canteen and bought the poor boy a nugget while he was doing his work in the library. I do not allow or like it when my students do not eat, it's not something which I encourage (skipping meals etc). If anyone saw the look on his face when I gave him the nugget, they'd feel a warm fuzzy feeling in their heart, because that's how I felt when I saw the happiness on his face when he received the nugget. He offered to pay but I refused and said the next time he comes for my class, he has to eat.
Speaking of food, the school's canteen pretty damn lit. The food is affordable (for a cheapskate, new teacher like me) and teachers get the upperhand of having the teacher's cafe where different food is served but I always buy the food served for students anyway HAHAHA. The typical canteen food that everyone MUST get would be the doughnut!! Ghaz and I are big fans of doughnuts which are sold by aunties by the roadside because it's really different from the ones we buy at J Co or Dunkin Doughnuts or even Krispy Kreme. There is just this sort of uniqueness that it has as compared to commercial doughnuts. Although, I do wish that there were more dustbins and recycling bins around. AS WELL AS STUDENTS THROWING THEIR OWN RUBBISH AWAY (ok caps, sense the annoyance in me).
On the other hand, trying to juggle with IPG (College which I attend to gain my diploma in education) has been somewhat of a pain in the ass. I used to think like 'Oh it's going to be fine' bla bla but half of the time in class, my mind seem to wander around because my brain's just too tired to brain anything. Thankfully, I have an extremely strong community who would go out of their way to help you out. The only time which I would have fun during IPG would be 'Sukan' because that's when we get out of the classroom and would do physical activities and have a great laugh AT and WITH each other.
Post SPM celebration with the ex form 5s of my school and some form 4s!
Anyhoo, that's about it for my one month in. One of the updates would also be me attending Sukantara but missing out on the actual sports day because I had IPG classes which is somewhat upsetting, yet satisfying because I had the next day off since sports day was on a Sunday. I have too many stories to share and to curate content for each and every story is pretty difficult but I can assure you that everyday is an eventful day hehe.
Want to know more about my journey as a fellow? (or maybe not lah) Follow me on my social media @cikgusofea_ (my cikgu account for students to follow)!
p/s: I'll probably have a separate post about my school's culture and students as well in a separate post. This post is more of a general one.
Signing off.
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