   
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed the set of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, you 'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troubled times of my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why you would leave me when I needed you most."
The Lord replied,"My child. My precious child. I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
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~Footprints of my Life~
 I started work this monday. Basically, I am helping out with relief teaching this week and I still don't know which class I will be taking yet. At first, I felt rather unimportant and 'extra' in school. In fact, when I knew that I would be relief teaching on monday, I was already thinking to myself that I couldn't wait for this week to end. But now, in a way, I am glad that I am only relief teaching this week. In a way, short term relief teaching is a breeze as compared to the duties and responsibilities of a full fledged teacher. I can go home straight after 130 pm everyday. I also had time to explore the school and found 'the refuge', the staffroom of the chaplains in school! I also realised that God had a purpose in allowing me to relief teach this week because by relief teaching, I get to see all sorts of classes from the p3 to the p6 level, from the best to the worst classes. And seeing these students really widened my perspective on classroom management and got me started on thinking of ways of how I can deal with children from different classes effectively. Should I have gotten a class immediately on Monday, I wouldn't have been able to see so many things. I must say that over the past few days, I have been challenged by some of the boys, esp. those from the p5 and p6 level. They would roll their eyes at me, treat me as invisible and continue to shout in the classroom and when I go up to them and ask them, "What are you doing?", they would have that defiant look on their face and tell me in a rude tone, "I do what I like to do lah!" Vulgarities (esp the f word) are also common. Really rebellious right? On the first day when I faced such a situation, I really got mad and shot back at them in a commanding manner and gave them my killer stare. They listened but I didn't feel good about it because I don't like to scold people, including students. I also know that such a method of handling the situation is a short term solution and am actually cultivating a 'hate' relationship between the student and myself. So I decided to look for better ways to deal with these students. The next day, when the students spoke to me rudely, I would just reply in a polite and firm tone and the response from them was better. There were also 2 or 3 times where I would just gently bring the student aside and talk to them about using the f word. I asked them if they knew what the word meant and most of them don't know! I explained to them the meaning and all of them felt ashamed about using that word after they knew the meaning. One boy even cried! To those who knew the meaning and used such a word, I simply told them that using such a word reflects badly on yourself and not on others. Really, even if you are unhappy with someone because they did something unfair to you, the moment you use that filthy word, you will look more like a criminal than the person who did wrong. And yes, I personally hate that word. The moment I see it or read it, it turns me off immediately. Yes, you might be upset and everything but there are sooooo many ways to express your disappointment or anger, why do you have to use that word?! It is not even related to the situation! To some of you out there who are used to using this word, I hope you are not offended because I am not condemning the user but I am condemning the word! Teaching has really convinced me that parents and adults play a huge role in influencing kids with their usage of vocabulary... the next time you want to use this word, maybe you should ask yourself honestly this question, "Would I like to see my son/daughter use this word in the future?" If the answer is no, then I think it is time that you seriously consider to stop using that word completely. On to other things, I got reunited with Kindness 4 today. And as expected, Gabriel (the most notorious boy) asked me, "Why are you back here?". I then went over and pinched his cheeks and said, "Because I missed you soooooooooo much!" Hahahaha....he actually got so paiseh but amazingly, he behaved better after that. I think his love language is physical touch and words of affirmation....HAHAHA. But I was really really happy to see all of them again. In my heart, this class is really special... they are naughty but cute in a way...think I must be nuts. =P Tmr is their sports day and I will be helping out. I am just praying that things won't become too messy and the kids will be obedient. Hopefully, it will be a good end to this week before the weekend and the school holiday comes! yay! MaRGaReT left her footprint @ 4:50 PM
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