The Amateur Writer

After almost a month in SMKTIS, I can proudly say that it feels right to be here. I can’t imagine being
anywhere else. If you ask me whether I was ecstatic to be placed in SMKTIS back in Institute, I would have punched you. Honestly I would. With that being said I’m not saying that I didn’t face any challenges.

Challenges:
1) Lorries! Those lorries are the bane of my existence!  My school is located near an industrial area so it is VERY noisy. Every time a lorry passes by our school, its sound will drown out pretty much anything and my kids will be super distracted. I had to stop my lesson a couple of times just to let the lorries pass.
2) Behaviour problems. My school is notorious for the students’ behaviour problems. Drug-abuse, gangs, vandalism and bullying are among the many things my students do. It is really tough and sometimes I am clueless as to what I should do to help them.
3) Lack of facilities. It’s not that my school does not put any effort but things just don’t last in our school. My own students are rough but sometimes it’s not that they’re the ones who are destroying the stuff that I put up. A lot of teachers seem to think that it could be kids from other classes or outside forces.

Wins:

1) The only value that I want to instil in my kids would be Respect. I talk about showing respect so much in my classes that every time I pass by my kids, they would scream out “Hey respect your friends!” While my kids still have a long way to go in terms of showing respect, at least now they know that I value that behaviour.
2) I’d like to think that my kids respect me when I’m in class. Like I’m able to manage them.
3) I’m slowly integrating myself with the school community here. I made an effort to smile a lot more to my colleagues and it seemed to be helping!
4) The perk of being a new teacher, kids are very curious about you so they try to talk to me whenever they can. It's a great opportunity to instil respect and manners so since I greet my kids in English (Good Morning!/ How are you?), they're now speaking a bit of English outside the classroom. Now they greet me whenever they can!