Work Work Work...

It's almost the middle of April and I'm huffing and puffing and trying not to get my 'house' blown down...

School tests just over and we're gearing up for first term exams.
I find myself sitting at my table looking helplessly at exam analyses piled 6 cms thick
and the discipline master's just sent me an sms telling me some interesting things about the creativity of kids in my school.
Yeah, and also in the other millions of schools all over the world...

It's also time for school debates, choral speaking contests, forum remaja etc etc ad-absolutely-nauseam.
I'm also the absolutely insensitive administrator pushing painful stuff like debate competitions at my English teachers. Not only do I make them sit with kids and teach 'em how to debate ... I also hound them to take part in TEACHER debate competitions.

Yup, I'm absolutely mean.

But don't get me started about debates. I can go on and on about how good debates are at helping people build up confidence and becoming a more visible individual and how you can help people (not just kids) become BETTER at being leaders and worthwhile citizens of the country. Hmm, I can feel the steam building up so I better stop.

But I've never been one to let clueless people do things (especially if I have clues about it). So, in addition to normal work load, I'm also creating debate worksheets, powerpoints...stuff they can bring into class and TEACH debate. Sure hope they don't begin filling in transfer forms.

And in the midst of this mayhem, letters arrive inviting me to become a judge at Action Song competitions (say what???). I almost called the organizers up to reject but saw the fateful letters (MSSGKK) at the end of the letter. That means the competition is under the purview of our local education division. So I reluctantly decided to sacrifice one day. Not a simple matter, that. I had to 'buy and sell' my teaching periods, which meant that I 'bought' another teacher's periods and 'sold' her mine so the students don't lose out on any precious teaching time. I'm pretty much reaching the point that I'm in class from 6.50 am to 10.20 am just catching up.

But anyway in the midst of my mad mad working days, I sometimes find sparkling gems that really cleanse and refresh my soul. Like the Action Song competition. I went for it yesterday and saw absolutely sweet little kids run about onstage singing and doing their thang. By the end of the day, I was singing,"Climb up, climb down..." (original by Felix Samunting) and also the perennial "Row row row your boat...".

Aren't kids sweet...? Sigh.