PW Insights and Reflections

It has been an interestingly stressful week

Tues
--growled at 114 because they were still lacking in urgency for fri's deadline and making noise in the comp lab

Wed
--continued to be fierce and give curt instructions to 114. but was actually half-angry because i had to research to make sense of one group's development
--shouted at another group for not editing one portion of their WR. well, that was a knee-jerk reaction and in retrospect, i could have controlled my temper. but the thing was that i did not even want to control my temper because i feared they would still be taking things easily otherwise. so, that's that. it turned out that i wronged them. think that some of the girls are still sore for me for shouting at them. oh well

Thurs (the battleground day!)
--was frantically trying to get 125 groups up to par. i felt like a general, directing how the battle was to be fought.

"Compile your references!"
"Do your contents pg!"
"Help me touch up this part"
"I need you to brainstorm for limitations"
"Search for interesting pictures now!"

Not too shabby for a newbie teacher, fresh out from NIE because i think for the most part of their time, they were meaningfully engaged in something that contributed to the Written Report

i loved that night because the process was painful but we were going through this together. because i knew that i could depend on them.

Fri
--took neoprints with 125 (as above)

Now that PW has closed a chapter, i don't find it so much of a drag. haha. It allowed me to understand my kiddos better and realise the cracks in their class dynamics. It helped me sieve out the trustworthy kiddos from the unreliable ones. It made me feel touched when i saw them helping one another even though they belonged to different groups. It humbled me when some are working hard for PW when they are in (grave) risk of being retained because of their loyalty towards one another. It steadied my nerves when some of my non-PW students voluntarily shared their perspectives. It made me feel proud because they rose to the occasion with interesting ideas and self-made graphics under pressure and time constraints

It showcased CHARACTER.