I crashed lecture

It's term break...
And I decided to give my prof a surprise by sitting in his lecture.
The last time I went to consult him on some LaTex issues, he showed me the website for his lecture this semester.
I managed to notice that his lecture days are Tuesdays and Fridays.
But I missed the timing and venue.
So I got one of my friends to help me check.

And so...
I sneaked in from the back door of LT26 to his lecture.
The lecture had already begun went I went in and there are a lot of freshies inside the hall.
The greatest thing of all was that he didn't realise that I was listening to his lecture from the beginning right till the end. Lol.
I managed to talk a shoot of the scene during his lecture.

Seriously, I miss going for lectures and listening to him talk about the interesting mathematicians he met and the stories of mathematicians he knew.
But my objective of this lecture crash was to note how he teaches using tablet and the pdf annotator software.
It wasn't really that useful as I am not doing a lecture but a classroom teaching.
And... I don't have a high table to place my tablet on it so that I can write with more comfort.
Nevermind all these.
After the lecture, like all other students making their way out through the front door, I walk down to the front from where I was sitting and waiting at the first row of seats.
Students were crowding in front of my prof as he tries to answer their questions and pack up.
It was a nice surprise for him to see me in the lecture theatre while he was keepin his things in his bag.
Hahaha... one happy face from him.

I waited for his students to finish their questions and after that I went up to his office and had some interesting chat with him.
Prof Chan popped the question if I wanted to study Number Theory. (since I have been looking him up many times as compared to other professors)
Yeah... I wish I could study Number Theory but like he said, it is a rather difficult and challenging course.
I got a B grade for his Intro to Number Theory course because I was hardworking and I ask questoins when I a not sure.

Prof Chan shared with me some of his plans.
He was disappointed that his application to NTU has been rejected.
He is travelling to Japan this december and in September next year he is going to Collage de France as a visiting fellow.
*envious* aw...

I like to sit in his office and look at his book shelf filled with 2 layers of books on each shelf.
He told me that the estimated amount of all the books on the shelf is about $10k.
O.o

Maybe I'll pop him a visit again with my jiemei when we come back to return the graduation gown.

He's my favourite prof.
Peiyan

Chai Chee Sec: Réflexion numero deux

I stopped using the tablet and latop to teach this week for 2N2.
Because I think that the tablet is causing to much distractions to the students.
They keep asking me to let them try the tablet.
To them, the tablet looks so interesting and high tech.
I guess I am the most high tech teacher in school.
Teaching with tablet.
The limit about my tablet is that it is the wired version, meaning that I am restricted to only a certain distance away from my laptop.
I cannot walk far when I am writing on the tablet.
Perhaps oneday, I shall upgrade to the bluetooth tablet.
So that I can write and at the same time, walk around the class and also get students to participate.
I think using tablet to teach is useful as you leave the important things to write and teach in class and you are constantly facing the students most of the time.
Maybe the students in this school are not yet exposed to heavy usage of technology as a teaching tool.

The students have not in anyway improve in their attitude towards study.
Today, I had class with 3NA and 2N2.
4NA students are having their language intensive program so I would not be seeing them anymore unless they approach me for consultation.

For 3NA, I went through quadratic formula and started on fractional equations with them on the topic of quadratic equations. I'm glad that 2 students sitting at the back are listening to my class today. That makes a total of 5 students following the lesson. I have not spoken to them about my thoughts in maths class and also to answer some of their reflection feelings. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. The rest of the students couldn't even care to listen to my lesson. They were either talking amongst themselves or sleeping away. I even caught 4 boys chewing gum away and told them to either spit or swallow. Seriously, I need help in managing these students who are not interested in study.

2N2's lesson was no where getting better. Although we had a split class today, the boys are still making a lot of noise and disturbing their classmates. The foreign students are still in their little corner and couldn't care less what I am teaching.
The 2 girls who kept complaining that they don't understand when they did not even bother to listen to my class. My reply to them was simple: "You don't want to listen in class and now you keep telling me that you don't understand."

Some of the student are glad that they will not be changing maths teacher until the end of the year. They finally understand that I will accompanying them till the final year exam. To them, they are sure that now there will be safety nets to catch them when they fall.

The amount of planning seems endless. Though I have more free time to spent in school, I am always busy. Busy typing notes and creating documents. I need my afternoon naps so afternoons are always gone and I'll continue doing my work in the evening till about 10pm when I turn in for the night. I think my work management is not there yet. I should make a list of things I need to complete when I get home so that I would not feel disorganised. Planning in my mind is not helpful at all.

Well... I'm looking forward to every holiday and weekends possible. That's the only time when I can totally relax and enjoy myself as me. Teachers' Day is coming and so is the 1 week term break. My goal is that when term 4 starts, I will be ready and prepared to run the exam marathon with the students.

It's sad that lessons will be as usual for the first half on friday...

Happy Teachers' Day advance,
Peiyan

I want to be a cloud painter

I want to be a cloud painter
And fill the sky with clouds
The endless sky as my canvas
With endless space to paint with

I want to be a cloud painter
Filling the sky with my thoughts and feelings
When I am happy
When I am depressed
When I am angry
When I am furious
The clouds will show it all

I want to be a cloud painter
To paint my sadness in the sky
Fill it with dark clouds
That covers sunshine

I want to be a cloud painter
To paint my happiness in the sky
Fill it with white fluffy clouds
Under the deep blue sky

I want to be a cloud painter
To paint my anger in the sky
Fill them up with big tall clouds
And cause lighting to strike

I want to be a cloud painter
I want to be a cloud painter...

Singapore Fireworks Festival 2008

I went on an outing with the sExposers from ClubSnap to the Singapore Fireworks Festival.
The weather wasn't helpful at all.
It rained the whole day and I endured the constant light drizzle throughout the whole evening, camping at the field behind NTUC.
The group was estimated to be about 20 Exposers, ranging from experienced fireworks shooters to first timers.
It's a pity that the big field was closed to some art event next month.
So all the photographers had to move to a smaller field further up.
Luckily due to the constant rain, there wasn't many campers at the field.
The fireworks started at slightly past 9pm.
Here are some images taken during the performance.

The first shot, clean with no smoke yet.

Vetical crop of the view.

Looks like a bouquet of tulips.

The rest of the photos can be found here.

Boom,
Peiyan

Chai Chee Sec: Exhaustion

I'm tired.
I'm emotionally and mentally tired.
I'm very tired of stepping into 2N2 to yet again finding the boys not interested in attending the class.
The boys are in a gang of their own creating a lot of noise in class, the foreign students are in their small group discussing amongst themselves, the malay girls are seated together chit chatting away. The only students who are listening are those who really want to learn.
Seriously speaking, I can't handle the boys' situation in 2N2.
How can I stop them from playing in class?
How can I get them to listen to my class?
When will they grow up and be a responsible student?

I asked the students of 3NA to do a reflection about the maths class they have gone thru since the beginning of the year. In the end, only 6 students out of the 15 who were present did it. One student wrote out her feelings. She wrote that initially, she liked math but due to the constant changing of teachers in that math class. Also, the noisy boys who keep disturbing the other students from concentrating in class made her difficult to continue her interest in maths and eventually, she lost interest in the subject.

I understand her feelings.
Who doesn't want to have a good conducive class to study in?

Can someone get me the martian zapper so that I can zap the not interested students and sent them to another dimension at the start of the class and zap them back when the class ends?

Peiyan