Saturday, March 24, 2007

random picks for an update.

was diagnosed with a lung infection a couple of weeks ago when i went for the pre-employment check-up.. there were these Doxycycline pills or something that i had to take.. and as you know, the course of antibiotics must always be completed. haha!~ but i haven't been taking the pills, especially at work.. sometimes i forget to eat, or sometimes i just simply don't want to! i had doodoo asking me why i didn't eat the pills at work, and he also asked me why i didn't tell the teacher that i had to have my medication during lunch. i just went like.. "teacher? what teacher? i am the teacher." LOL.

hmm. whenever i observe the teachers during their teaching time.. everything looks so natural to them. but when it comes to the training time, (and soon i'll have to start teaching T_T!), i realise that everything, every single little action requires much thought and consideration, and yet at the same time, decisions must be made withtin that split second. that's' what makes me scared and nervous and all.. cos i really don't know what the kids are gonna do next, or what exactly i should do next. unpredictability can kill, but it can also provide room for laughter. :X but the training's pretty progressive, so that kinda helps. it is a rather interesting job i must say (don't ask me why, it just is!), despite the working hours i see the teachers clocking in :X! well nothing is ever too easy i guess~

what makes it easier is that some of the kids (a minority) do such funny things that i can't help but laugh for almost an entire 1/2 hour. they're innocent, and yet they try to act all grown up and stuff at times and they're not shy at doing their own thing! :X! i wouldn't usually say that the kids i've met so far in the early childhood field are cute.. but i would say that for some of the kids at where i'm at noW! o.o!!!

and i realise, that working actually helps me to seize the day. because by the time i reach home (it takes about 2 hours by bus -.-), its time to go to bed already (well of course, there's always an opportunity for me to squeeze in time for lots n lots of obsessive online shopping :X). so now, i cherish the weekends more than ever.. because i have to work for 5 days to get just 2 days off. haha! i really can't wait for the June hols.. although i've got to go back to work for several events like our staff dinner, Family Day (with other schools for children with autism) where all the teachers'll be performing, an Occupational Therapy talk and of course, a training session!

i can't believe this as well~ i had put the BA for English @ NTU as my 2nd choice because it really was a 2nd choice. the 3rd and 4th choices were more or less there just to fill up the space but now i'm thinking my 4th choice may as well be my 2nd choice because my 2nd choice (English) is really what i don't want to get into.. and guess what? they called me up for an intervie, and i can't make it due to work commitments (i'm on probation so if i take an MC its considered as unpaid).

anyway, first week of school's down! 9 more to go :) woohoo!

i just remembered something.. =/ my addiction to the Longan & Red Dates drink @ ding tai fung. sooo nice!~!~!~ and their fried rice is SO eggy - i can't help but LOVE it. its the eggiest fried rice i've ever eaten. muahahahaha!~

and i also spotted something that was lame. i mean.. yeah it had good intentions, but still, lame. it says "Value Life. Act Responsibly" and that can be found on a sign near the MRT tracks. you see, we'll never know what one's thinking of when he's entirely suicidal. What if they think that suicide is a way of valuing the lives of their loved ones around them, because they don't want to be a burden to the people who mean the most to them and trouble them with life's daily troubles? Thus, acting responsibly would mean committing suicide in that case since they would most probably view suicide as the one thing that could stop their families from worrying about their problems once and for all. Well~ we'll really never know what they think, but that's what i thought. :X!

bee at 8:55 AM

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Saturday, March 03, 2007

my "first job".

i had wanted to blog about my "last day of freedom", which was the 28th of February (why of all months must this be the shortest? :( ), but it being the "last day of freedom", i obviously had to enjoy as much and thus had no time to update. haha! *excuses for procrastination*.

aniwae, i've accepted the job offer and have started work on the first of march @ the centre. omg. i'm like the noobiest person there, and youngest as well. amazingly though, the teachers don't look like their age, they look younger. perhaps working with children make one end up in both extremes, either u end up looking faggardy haggardly stressed out or u end up looking like the passionate, i-have-anti-aging-genes kinda person.

got teased for being a "growing up girl" and a "baby" cos firstly, i wanted ice milo (i felt so bad that a fellow staff treated me on that) and i ordered noodles without chilli. haha :X one of the teachers mentioned that it is a priviledge to be young, well yeah, i agree that it is, cos everyone ages.

aniwae, it really is quite different from the typical childcare setting. lots of adjustments to make, and its demanding with the IEP, thorough lesson plans with all the objectives that can make one google-eyed just by reading through it and of course, data collection. people have been advocating for the childcare people to be viewed as professionals and i already view intervenionists as professionals. the terms they use in their reports, lesson plans and the IEP (mind u they have to state in percentage to what accuracy is a task supposed to be achieved), the theories they learn, how they choose to put it into practice, the learning materials they make and the way in which they present it, making modifications to really suit the needs of the individual child, the neverending perseverence which spurs them on in trying over and over again - it takes not only effort but a heart. i guess that's what keeps some of them in the field for so long and by so long, i mean like.. ever since the association started. anyway, it used to be strictly 1 on 1 when they were self-funded by donations and fund-raising but now that MCYS and NCSS stepped in, we'll be moving towards 1:2 or 1:3 per session. thankfully, i'll only be co-teaching 2 children for a start.

anyway, on my first day, there was a session with the occupational therapist. my first experience of seeing one and seeing what one does. she was so outgoing and she kept trying to engage the child but he was pretty much in a world of his own. he was an amazing kid anyway, being named after a football star, loving all kinds of balls and being able to lengthen his attention span to infinity when watching soccer matches.

yesterday was the first day where i attended a training session. i thought that the trainer was gonna say that autism can be cured cos that's what some people would think. well of course i think otherwise :X i don't know why.. maybe cos its a developmental and neurobiological disorder? its already difficult enough to change the way one behaves and thinks, so to completely cure it, no one could ever be sure~ just like how no one is ever sure for now how autism develops. anyway, i should've known better, if autism could be fully cured by one sure method, why would we be in early intervention working with the children on it for years? also, it really depends on how severe the autism is. if its mild, i suppose the child will be able to live independently when he's older.

it was during the training session that i realised i was being interviewed by big shots :X one was an executive director, and another was the head of the centre. :X!

also, for the first time ever yesterday, i interacted with children who had autism but were high-functioning. amazing, they could speak really well as compared to those in my class whom i think are struggling with speech (the kids in my class r probably younger though age doesn't determine one's functioning level). they also fetched one of the teachers pretend-medicine cos she lost her voice, and then water, and god knows what. they looked so cute being busy (and they looked like they really enjoyed being busy), running from the pretend kitchen to where the teacher was seated at. i really couldn't help but laugh seeing them dart around the room. and in the pretend kitchen, all the chefs were male (o_O!). i'm not being sexist here, but how often do u see a pretend kitchen filled with males? well of course in this case its a good thing! in the usual childcare settings (based on those that i've been to), there's usually one boy or two at the most. probably that's what we see at home as well (though i'm not sure exactly how much now), the papa sitting down and reading newspapers and waiting for the food while mommy cooks and puts everything out on the table.

on wed, there'll be an assessment of the 2 children that i'll be teaching after the school holidays. i'll be sitting in during the assessment, and honestly, i can't wait to see them, cos i can't wait to see and know what they're like. this is so new to me and as much as i feel nervous, i feel excited too.

everyone calls this my first job. but as of now, i don't' evevn know how long i'll be staying so until it is deemed as permanent, then yes i'll call it a first job. btw, mom's gonna stop giving me my allowance and she's absolutely overjoyed that her baby abby has found a job. -.-

its only been 2 days and apparently i'm used to waking up early. i woke up at 6+ today~ so now, i should try to get more shuteye =/ i don't know what's so tiring about observing a class but it is.

it feels like its been a long time since i last caught up with life which includes reading blogs. the last time i had a life was probably v-day (the guys are carnivore are funny, and i'm glad its not one of those WE-JUST-WANNA-CHARGE-YOU-EXORBITANT-PRICES-just-cos-its-v-day kinda places - i love how normal it was), and the CNY visiting time.

bee at 6:53 AM

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