Friday, May 28, 2010

Holidays

Things to unscrew this June holidays
  1. Forget about handing in travel declaration/ remedial forms.
  2. Amaths: Ten Year Series Questions (refer to instruction paper)
  3. Amaths: TEST:
    -Quadratic equations and inequalities
    -Exponential and Logarithmic functions
    -Coordinate geometry
    -Modulus function
    when school reopens.
  4. HCL: Rewrite paper one (Compo and Situational)
    - If you are rewriting on the same topic, minimally achieve an A1
    - If you are rewriting on a new topic, minimally achieve a B3
  5. HCL: 挑选两篇文章(微型小说、报章、小说、网上文章都允许),便自己造出三个与文章有关系的问题。问题像是理解问答里头的题目。
    Q1: “可以抄”类题
    Q2: “可以抄,也要想”类题
    Q3: 发挥题
    * 并自问自答。
  6. HCL: 阅读笔记本 计划
    最低要求读两本书,多读不限,要有下列的要求:
    1 目录 (20 m)
    2 生字 (抄并解释)(20 m)
    3 好句、好段落摘抄 (20 m)
    4 读后感 (没有字数限制)(40 m)
  7. EL: EL TYS page 7-11
  8. EL: Rewrite paper one (Compo and Situational)
  9. EL: Complete oral discussion worksheet; more in depth discussion if possible
  10. Pure Geog: Natural vegetation practice worksheet
  11. Physics: All outstanding worksheets
  12. Physics: Ten Year Series (Hejin please enlighten me on what to do)
  13. Sec3 Camp: Purchase things you need, report to school at 6.15am on 21st June.
    * Reporting attire: PE T-shirt with jeans (not encouraged) OR track pants OR school long pants (for guys)
  14. Turn up for any remedials.
  15. Enjoy your june holidays!
bren.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Hey, Ms Tan finally sent the emails, to most of us I think. But if you hadn't received it, or if your name isn't below, please tag on the tag board.

Dear All

I have finally gotten round to writing all of you Thank you emails :) for your lovely cards and words which made teaching you worthwhile. THANK YOU!

Qianling - Thank you for recalling the things I say (although not necessarily in the way I'd hoped for). Keep striving to do your best. P.S I do not do bimbo actions as I am not a bimbo! You, on the other hand, use 'like' waaay too often in your sentences :) I really hope brain cells do not die when I chase students for work. Otherwise, I will not longer have a brain.

Wai Kit - Thank you for the paparazzi (not the Lady Gaga song) shots. They are perfectly unflattering attempts to portray me! And your 'something' is very cryptic.

En jie - I hope you speak up in class and enjoy lessons!

Benedict - Thank you for your advice on how to be a teacher! I shall remember it.

Anqi - Thank you for writing to me twice :)

Hui Si - Thank you for the mirror writing. It was a challenge I enjoyed. Please be responsible with your work!

Iris - I somehow do not relate you to Ris Low, although now that you mention it... :) I enjoyed our chats.

Priscilla - I love how your note to me is to apologise for leaving work at home. Sigh. It will enable me to remember you and your annoying irritant ways more authentically.

Fang Ning - Love the language! Spiffy is indeed a lovely turn of phrase. Keep writing!

Yee Siang - Bye!!!

Ying Shuang - Yo. :) Keep handing in your HW!

Si Xiu - Jianle tells me you have low motivation to hand in HW now, but I am sure you are actually more intrinsically motivated that you realise. I want to watch you dance!

Lay Siew - Thank you - I hope you did enjoy lessons!

Litong - I will miss you rolling your eyes at me when I make illogical comments :)

Zhi Min - Thank you for lending me your pen and for your kind words!

Pei Xing - Love the unidentifiable drawing of pei pei de xing :)

Zi Yan - I need a translator! I only know how to tell people not to go (kajima?) and that they're smart (to to kei?) or pretty (Ipude?)

Charlene - Thank you for being a great rep!

Julia - Thank you for your kind words. And for being responsible. It is a relief to have Julia's in my class!

Doreen - Please be less blur and do work :)

Yun Jin - I did receive the lovely card! I hope you got my thank you email too!

Yong Qin - I wish all the boys had handwriting as neat as yours!

Si Ying - I will miss all of you too!

Bernard - Your dedication to Kelly Clarkson is amazing. I hope life is not sucky - that would be a pity and also quite full of saliva. ;)

Hui Qi - Thank you for telling me that I look nice :) It is an ego boost.

Dong Yan - You are very welcome! I wish you sat nearer the front.

Quan Yao - Your penchant for MSN language is slightly worrying. But c u sn 2 XD

Bao Cai - You are such a joy in class - eager to learn and very entertaining. I enjoy having you in class!

Hejin - Aww You have hidden depths. When they are not buried in itouch gaming. I don't want to say good bye to you either - but tian xia wu bu san zi yan si or so my chinese teacher taught me.

Jian Le - Thank you for keeping in touch with me! I'm honoured by your high esteem of me (or appalled at the quality of English teachers you have had previously). But I was very happy with 302!

Xiao Tong - I will visit. Actually maybe the word should be... haunt. :)

Beng Kang (who lacks an email address someone tell him to get one) I will email you properly when you have one! Hopefully one day I will get to try your cooking.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

:D

Good luck for those taking Elit, Clit, HArt, MSP (and chinese listening compre). Last few papers, don't give up now.

And if you don't have any business to do in school tmr, no need to go lah hor.

bren.

Friday, May 7, 2010

hello people!!The june holidays are coming,so if you're quite free you can commit your time in doing community services which can earn you lots of cip hours:DD
i've included some links for you all to find out more on these prgrammes,sign up if you are interested!after all,what's there to lose by helping people?:DD

if you want ,you can also go as a group,but please teake note that some organisations,e.g. SPCA doesn't allow too big a group for cip:DD

Happy holidays!
http://www.bank4u.org/youth/aboutMAD.aspx
http://www.nvpc.org.sg/pgm/EventCalendar/NVPC_F_EventCalendar_DetailView.aspx
http://www.bwell.org.sg/Events/Events%2009.htm

but please take note,to check carefully at the criterias before you volunteer as some have age linits:D

of all the activities,there's at least 3 events that you can take part in:Dbest events would be flag days:DD

anyone interested can also find me cuz i can collate the people going:D
earn your CIP hours,dont waste your time away:DWe help other people for joy,and earn joy ourselves:D

share the joy of giving

cheers,
jianle:DD---care rep

Monday, May 3, 2010

Have you read your emails yet? If you haven't, here's what Ms Tan sent:

Dear Students

I am quite disappointed that despite the fact that Tuesday is my last lesson with you, some of you have not bothered to submit the work that I am waiting to mark. I feel that often teachers do so much for you and are so willing to take on extra work to help you achieve your potential, and yet our efforts and well-wishes are thrown back in our faces. I also am disappointed that I will have to punish some of you even during my final lesson with you on Tuesday.

Even if you are unwilling to do the work, I am unwilling to give up on you. Those who have not completed any work due for Tuesday will stay back every recess, lunch and after school until every single piece of work you owe me is in. (The only exception is Claudia's 2 essays). I hope you understand that it is because I want to asses how you are doing in school.

If you finish it over the weekend, please leave it in my pigeon hole before flag raising so that I can mark it. You owe me

1) E Learning
2) Nov 1998
3) SRP
4) Prepare for your picture discussion


On a different note, I am sending this as a sort of farewell. I have really enjoyed spending time with your crazy class :) from Tse Yu's Tiger picnic to Hejin's constant sleeping in class and chasing down Daryl at the Basketball court to do his work...and the girls - such joys :) Yun Jin who is so responsible (and lately always talking to Jun Hui) and Julia and her multiple personalities and Jian Le and her loud shrieks. I really cannot even begin to explain how much I will miss all of you! If I could I would write about every single one of you in this email but it will go on forever. I do want to say one thing, however. THINK about what you really want to do to be successful in life. Most of you talked about Happiness as one of the characteristics of being successful. I urge all of you to really consider this. A friend of mine told me recently that all her life, she never pushed herself. She just did well enough to get to the JC she wanted, then the Uni course she wanted, and now she is regretting it. Not because she didn't do what she wanted, but because she does not know what her potential really is. She has never worked her 110% for anything. And I can assure you, that THAT is what makes her feel dissatisfied with her life. If you want to the world's best restaurant owner (think Beng Kang) then do it. To the best of your ability.

Below, I attach a speech by the Dean to the Harvard Law school. If you have the time, I hope you can read it and feel truly inspired. I have highlighted the parts that I too want you to listen to, and re-read again and again. You may be young, but the things you do now are ALWAYS a choice. A choice that could change your entire destiny.

All the best! I wish I had more time to have an extended conversation with each of you, a cup of coffee in hand, with a sketchpad of your dreams and hopes between us. But that belongs to a different age, when each teacher had less students and each student more time. This email will have to suffice! Nevertheless, I look forward to meeting you when you have grown up, and can show me how successful you have become.

Ms Tan

PS If you ever need help, or just someone to listen to you, please email me. I may not always have the time for you, but I will definitely try my absolute best to make the time.

Speeches & Publications

Baccalaureate address to Class of 2008

Cambridge, Mass.
June 3, 2008
As prepared for delivery

In the curious custom of this venerable institution, I find myself standing before you expected to impart words of lasting wisdom. Here I am in a pulpit, dressed like a Puritan minister — an apparition that would have horrified many of my distinguished forebears and perhaps rededicated some of them to the extirpation of witches. This moment would have propelled Increase and Cotton into a true “Mather lather.” But here I am and there you are and it is the moment of and for Veritas.

You have been undergraduates for four years. I have been president for not quite one. You have known three presidents; I one senior class. Where then lies the voice of experience? Maybe you should be offering the wisdom. Perhaps our roles could be reversed and I could, in Harvard Law School style, do cold calls for the next hour or so.

We all do seem to have made it to this point — more or less in one piece. Though I recently learned that we have not provided you with dinner since May 22. I know we need to wean you from Harvard in a figurative sense. I never knew we took it quite so literally.

But let’s return to that notion of cold calls for a moment. Let’s imagine this were a baccalaureate service in the form of Q & A, and you were asking the questions. “What is the meaning of life, President Faust? What were these four years at Harvard for? President Faust, you must have learned something since you graduated from college exactly 40 years ago?” (Forty years. I’ll say it out loud since every detail of my life — and certainly the year of my Bryn Mawr degree — now seems to be publicly available. But please remember I was young for my class.)

In a way, you have been engaging me in this Q & A for the past year. On just these questions, although you have phrased them a bit more narrowly. And I have been trying to figure out how I might answer and, perhaps more intriguingly, why you were asking.

Let me explain. It actually began when I met with the UC just after my appointment was announced in the winter of 2007. Then the questions continued when I had lunch at Kirkland House, dinner at Leverett, when I met with students in my office hours, even with some recent graduates I encountered abroad. The first thing you asked me about wasn’t the curriculum or advising or faculty contact or even student space. In fact, it wasn’t even alcohol policy. Instead, you repeatedly asked me: Why are so many of us going to Wall Street? Why are we going in such numbers from Harvard to finance, consulting, i-banking?

There are a number of ways to think about this question and how to answer it. There is the Willie Sutton approach. You may know that when he was asked why he robbed banks, he replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” Professors Claudia Goldin and Larry Katz, whom many of you have encountered in your economics concentration, offer a not dissimilar answer based on their study of student career choices since the seventies. They find it notable that, given the very high pecuniary rewards in finance, many students nonetheless still choose to do something else. Indeed, 37 of you have signed on with Teach for America; one of you will dance tango and work in dance therapy in Argentina; another will be engaged in agricultural development in Kenya; another, with an honors degree in math, will study poetry; another will train as a pilot with the USAF; another will work to combat breast cancer. Numbers of you will go to law school, medical school, and graduate school. But, consistent with the pattern Goldin and Katz have documented, a considerable number of you are selecting finance and consulting. The Crimson’s survey of last year’s class reported that 58 percent of men and 43 percent of women entering the workforce made this choice. This year, even in challenging economic times, the figure is 39 percent.

High salaries, the all but irresistible recruiting juggernaut, the reassurance for many of you that you will be in New York working and living and enjoying life alongside your friends, the promise of interesting work — there are lots of ways to explain these choices. For some of you, it is a commitment for only a year or two in any case. Others believe they will best be able to do good by first doing well. Yet, you ask me why you are following this path.

I find myself in some ways less interested in answering your question than in figuring out why you are posing it. If Professors Goldin and Katz have it right; if finance is indeed the “rational choice,” why do you keep raising this issue with me? Why does this seemingly rational choice strike a number of you as not understandable, as not entirely rational, as in some sense less a free choice than a compulsion or necessity? Why does this seem to be troubling so many of you?

You are asking me, I think, about the meaning of life, though you have posed your question in code — in terms of the observable and measurable phenomenon of senior career choice rather than the abstract, unfathomable and almost embarrassing realm of metaphysics. The Meaning of Life — capital M, capital L — is a cliché — easier to deal with as the ironic title of a Monty Python movie or the subject of a Simpsons episode than as a matter about which one would dare admit to harboring serious concern.

But let’s for a moment abandon our Harvard savoir faire, our imperturbability, our pretense of invulnerability, and try to find the beginnings of some answers to your question.

I think you are worried because you want your lives not just to be conventionally successful, but to be meaningful, and you are not sure how those two goals fit together. You are not sure if a generous starting salary at a prestigious brand name organization together with the promise of future wealth will feed your soul.

Why are you worried? Partly it is our fault. We have told you from the moment you arrived here that you will be the leaders responsible for the future, that you are the best and the brightest on whom we will all depend, that you will change the world. We have burdened you with no small expectations. And you have already done remarkable things to fulfill them: your dedication to service demonstrated in your extracurricular engagements, your concern about the future of the planet expressed in your vigorous championing of sustainability, your reinvigoration of American politics through engagement in this year’s presidential contests.

But many of you are now wondering how these commitments fit with a career choice. Is it necessary to decide between remunerative work and meaningful work? If it were to be either/or, which would you choose? Is there a way to have both?

You are asking me and yourselves fundamental questions about values, about trying to reconcile potentially competing goods, about recognizing that it may not be possible to have it all. You are at a moment of transition that requires making choices. And selecting one option — a job, a career, a graduate program — means not selecting others. Every decision means loss as well as gain — possibilities foregone as well as possibilities embraced. Your question to me is partly about that — about loss of roads not taken.

Finance, Wall Street, “recruiting” have become the symbol of this dilemma, representing a set of issues that is much broader and deeper than just one career path. These are issues that in one way or another will at some point face you all — as you graduate from medical school and choose a specialty — family practice or dermatology, as you decide whether to use your law degree to work for a corporate firm or as a public defender, as you decide whether to stay in teaching after your two years with TFA. You are worried because you want to have both a meaningful life and a successful one; you know you were educated to make a difference not just for yourself, for your own comfort and satisfaction, but for the world around you. And now you have to figure out the way to make that possible.

I think there is a second reason you are worried — related to but not entirely distinct from the first. You want to be happy. You have flocked to courses like “Positive Psychology” — Psych 1504 — and “The Science of Happiness” in search of tips. But how do we find happiness? I can offer one encouraging answer: get older. Turns out that survey data show older people — that is, my age — report themselves happier than do younger ones. But perhaps you don’t want to wait.

As I have listened to you talk about the choices ahead of you, I have heard you articulate your worries about the relationship of success and happiness — perhaps, more accurately, how to define success so that it yields and encompasses real happiness, not just money and prestige. The most remunerative choice, you fear, may not be the most meaningful and the most satisfying. But you wonder how you would ever survive as an artist or an actor or a public servant or a high school teacher? How would you ever figure out a path by which to make your way in journalism? Would you ever find a job as an English professor after you finished who knows how many years of graduate school and dissertation writing?

The answer is: you won’t know till you try. But if you don’t try to do what you love — whether it is painting or biology or finance; if you don’t pursue what you think will be most meaningful, you will regret it. Life is long. There is always time for Plan B. But don’t begin with it.

I think of this as my parking space theory of career choice, and I have been sharing it with students for decades. Don’t park 20 blocks from your destination because you think you’ll never find a space. Go where you want to be and then circle back to where you have to be.

You may love investment banking or finance or consulting. It might be just right for you. Or, you might be like the senior I met at lunch at Kirkland who had just returned from an interview on the West Coast with a prestigious consulting firm. “Why am I doing this?” she asked. “I hate flying, I hate hotels, I won’t like this job.” Find work you love. It is hard to be happy if you spend more than half your waking hours doing something you don’t.

But what is ultimately most important here is that you are asking the question — not just of me but of yourselves. You are choosing roads and at the same time challenging your own choices. You have a notion of what you want your life to be and you are not sure the road you are taking is going to get you there. This is the best news. And it is also, I hope, to some degree, our fault. Noticing your life, reflecting upon it, considering how you can live it well, wondering how you can do good: These are perhaps the most valuable things that a liberal arts education has equipped you to do. A liberal education demands that you live self-consciously. It prepares you to seek and define the meaning inherent in all you do. It has made you an analyst and critic of yourself, a person in this way supremely equipped to take charge of your life and how it unfolds. It is in this sense that the liberal arts are liberal — as in liberare — to free. They empower you with the possibility of exercising agency, of discovering meaning, of making choices. The surest way to have a meaningful, happy life is to commit yourself to striving for it. Don’t settle. Be prepared to change routes. Remember the impossible expectations we have of you, and even as you recognize they are impossible, remember how important they are as a lodestar guiding you toward something that matters to you and to the world. The meaning of your life is for you to make.

I can’t wait to see how you all turn out. Do come back, from time to time, and let us know.

- Drew Gilpin Faust


For those who made it this far, here are my extended comments on each of you and what I recall!

Charlene - Thank you for being my English Rep! You have been tireless at collecting work and responsible with your own. I appreciate it! Keep writing - your desire to articulate your thoughts and ideas will see you far.
Dongyan - You have always done the extra work I give you carefully. I admire your determination to improve! Good work attitude. Keep trying your best.
Qian Ling - Remember that whether to do any piece of work well or badly is always YOUR decision. Keep focused on what you want to achieve.
Claudia - I hope that you will begin to see why you should not leave work piled up :) Your english is excellent - tap into that potential!
Yun Jin - Thank you for always greeting me every single time you see me. It brightens my day! Keep working hard.
Julia - I like hearing about your very interesting hobbies and personality. You have hidden depths :)
Jamie - I will remember your etiquette game! You have made me laugh so much!
Yan Ting - From the day you told me to stop nagging you, you have begun to hand in work much more punctually. I am greatly encouraged. Thank you for always distributing work for me.
Jian Le - You are always so full of energy and excitement. Find a way to use that in work that you enjoy! Thank you for always studying for your spelling :) and well done!
Si Xiu - I hope one day I can watch you dance. I remember that you read very well :)
Doreen - You are always so blur and yet so earnest, I sometimes am reluctant to tell you off. Keep focused on your work! I hope all my students have handwriting like yours.
Fang Ning - The sci-fi writing expert. Fingers crossed I will still see you at GB!
Shu Ping - The demure one :) Need I say more? Your opposites attract theory is clearly accurate!
Ying Shuang - I am amazed at how far you travel to school! That kind of determination is impressive.
Zhi Min - with the neat handwriting and who is super responsible. :) I appreciate your help in giving our worksheets.
Iris - Who has many admirers. Choose the right one! You have so many CCAs - make sure you have a good balance in life!
Li Tong - I think I remember you complaining to Jamie that you were going to have me for 5 hrs? Or something like that :) But then you behaved beautifully and class, despite describing yourself as 'rude' :) and told me about Biber and how cute he is! haha
Zi Yan - You and your lunch parties. I want!
Anqi - You always are so gentle and calm! Thank you for re-doing that SRP that disappeared!
Si Ying - Who looks so pretty but really need glasses :) You are surprisingly fierce!
Priscilla - With the cool but too long hair who always owes me work. Please do it for yourself!
Hui Si - Smart as a whip but too lazy to prove herself. Find something you are passionate about!
Hui Qi - Responsible and helpful! Well done on your Sec 2 History and Art. And thank you for chatting with me!
Lay Siew - Thank you for being a rep :) and for not bearing a grudge :)
Pei Xing - Who always looks like she is Alice in wonderland and yet is dreamily thoughtful about Lit.I enjoy your contributions in class.
Xiao tong - Also similarly blur but cheerful and accommodating! Why does everyone tease you about WK?
Andrew - You are like my friend who has no idea what she can achieve. Try and find out?
Ler Yang - Who is always practicing marching. You have wonderful ideas! Don't be afraid to speak. It comes with practice.
Benedict - Bene means good. I hope that is true in your life! Enjoy Sec school life and work hard! Don't avoid it. You are so able to see beyond the surface. It is a gift. Apply yourself more to find out what you can and want to do!
En Jie - Who is a good marcher in Boys Brigade! Work hard and don't be afraid to speak up in class!
Tse Yu - Act your age!! Thank you for being slowly more responsible in your work. It is always worth it. Your essays are also funny.
Beng Kang - remember to make sure your life and destiny is really your decision. dont compromise now on your school work, for what you imagine will occur in future.The future is always unknown, it is best to be prepared for everything. Don't park 20 lots away simply because you're not sure there will be a parking lot ahead.
Wai Kit - Thank you for being so hardworking. Never give up!
Daryl - Don't let bball get in the way of your future. You clearly have the potential to excel!
Bao Cai - I really enjoy your enthusiasm in learning. And how much you are unafraid of what others may say or think of you.
He Jin - Give it your 100% Enjoy tuition!!
Jun Hui - You always ask the strangest and most kaypoh question, and pretend to be a Lit student! Work harder!
Quan Yao - Ever since you moved seats, you're been very on task and have done good work! I'm impressed!
Bernard - Kelly clarkson! I love choir - if you get the chance, join the HCJC one :) I sang in it and loved it.
Yong Qin - Thank you for being a great Lit rep. Smile more!
William - Stop running away. Ask if you need help! Focus in class.
Yee Siang - Uncle? Why do they call you that! Your work is good and efficient, but you sometimes daydream at the back of the class. You always have this half amused expression on your face too!

302 what amazes me is that in spite of your various different personalities, you accept everyone! Keep it that way! You know how some teachers feel that all of you are lazy and influence each other. As a class, choose to surprise them. Make them really say that you are 'boomz'