Kem Jati Diri 2012 @ SMK Katibas

-
Last weekend, the Warden Board & I helped out at the Kem Jati Diri organised by the Guidance & Counselling Unit (UBK). This camp short-listed 60 at risk students & had the objective of injecting a new spirit & giving these students a new purpose at school.

Out of the 60, 39 students attended. The students were really reluctant at first & very apprehensive because they had the impression that this camp was for bad students. However, they warmed up as we used a warm, enthusiastic & friendly approach to reach out to them. I used a point system to get them to do what I wanted them to do. This works like a charm... Always. A different approach from the harsh day to day nagging & punishment they received from the Wardens almost every day.

One thing about the students from this school is, they are generally good. Even the worst student will respect the teacher & will be willing to do any kind of work. No hardcore gangsters or undertakers here. Those kinds of students would not have been able to withstand the pressure & attention the Warden Board lavishes on them every day. Unlike many Warden Boards out there, we really take care of our students.

The activities include: building your own tent, decorating it, maintaining it, cooking your own meals, self-realisation workshops, self-efficacy workshops, goal-setting workshops, late night torture, early morning physical activities & so on.
I'll let the pictures do most of the taking.

Setting up & decorating their tents.
To motivate them further, I made it a competition for points.
Participants & teachers cooked for themselves!
Some students were really good cooks!
The various activities of the weekend.
BBQ & sharing on the final night.
Some of the students were able to come up with really mature thoughts.
All in all, I think the camp achieved its objective in sowing in the students a realisation that they can actually do better & allowing them the chance to make their own decisions on the right way to go. Only time will tell if they follow through but already I can see attitude shifts in the students.

Kudos to the 2 counsellors, wardens & teachers who came down to help! You guys are really awesome! Sorry for the lost weekend though... God will reward you definitely! =)

That makes it 2 consecutive weekends at work. The weekend before, I was involved in Asrama Terbuka.
I really feel like taking a break this weekend & resupplying but we have a replacement day on Saturday. I will most likely take the day off.
What do you think? Should I?

You can check out even more pics on my FB Page.

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding The New SPM (2021) English 1119 Paper Format

-
Image
This outline & those of other SPM language papers were made publicly available on the Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia (LPM) website . I'm sure you've seen the above being circulated on the internet. But, what does it mean? How does this paper compare to the current SPM paper for English? Do we have to change our testing practices in Form 4? At this moment, information is sparse despite great public interest. As the head of the English panel at my school, my Form 4 colleagues will come to me for what to do & parents will ask me what this is about. Until we have very specific instructions from the ministry, this is what I will be telling my colleagues & parents based on the limited amount of information available to me from my intimate experience with the current SPM paper & second-hand information about the PT3 English paper. Let me know if I got anything wrong or if you have more detailed information.
Open Full Post »

What To Do When Your Unifi Service Suddenly Drops

-
Image
After finally putting my kid to sleep, I was about to settle into the couch with my wife & stream a movie, when my Unifi fiber optic internet connection suddenly dropped. When it didn't come back after 1 hour, I realized that I had to do something. Considering that I pay my bills promptly every month, it must be a technical issue. Here's what I did to fix the problem. It look me less than 20 minutes. 1. First, I checked my modem (the white machine). I checked the lights on the modem. When the modem is functioning properly, lights will be on for POWER, PON, LAN1 & TEL1. If the red light for LOS lights up, call 100 to resolve the issue. Also, I made sure that all the wire connections were tight. 2. Next, I checked my router (the black machine). Again, I checked the lights. When the router is functioning properly, lights will be on for POWER, GLOBE, WIFI, LAN1. My POWER light was blinking, so that means that there was no internet connection. Again, I made sure th...
Open Full Post »

How To Fix Logitech Options Not Loading

-
Image
I use a Logitech K380 bluetooth keyboard at home & love it to bits. Very quiet & the tactile response is just perfect. Also, it's super small so easy to put away when I need to pile exam papers on my desk. Still, there's one small problem though... It is a compact keyboard so the multimedia buttons double as function keys. I use the function keys A LOT & it's really cumbersome for me to have to hold the "fn" button every time I want to use them. I.e., try pressing alt+fn+f4 with one hand. Thankfully, with the Logitech Options software, I can default to the function keys. A few months ago, I was chagrined to learn that my keyboard had spontaneously returned to factory settings. "No problem", I thought. "I'll just change the settings in Logitech Options." Only to find that the app wouldn't load on my Windows 10 machine, resulting in the blank window you see screen-captured above. "Let me try reinstalling." Uni...
Open Full Post »

Exotic Fruit: Buah Isu

-
Image
I've been teaching in the Iban motherland for more than 1 year now & I have tasted many exotic fruits exclusively available only within these quiet secluded timber forests. Now, don't you smirk at me! You perverted baskets I call friends are thinking about a different 'fruit'! There are no innuendos here. The exotic fruits that I'm talking about are REAL fruits. First, let me introduce you to the cousin of the king of fruits... Buah Isu Buah Isu resembles it's cousin, the Durian , but I was told that it is NOT in the Durian family. The spikes are longer & they are sharper. They are also very much smaller than the Durians. It's about the size of a man's palm. It has a pleasantly sweet fragrance which is not pungent like the Durian's. Because of it's size, it is easily opened with a cleaver. After opening my first Isu, I couldn't help but bounce off the walls in gay laughter. It was all too amusing to me! I though...
Open Full Post »

A Review of Mosquito Coils In The Market

-
Image
Mosquito coils = The first line of defence against savage jungle mosquitoes. Remember when there was completely no electricity at my school ? It happened during the dry season so the nights were really really warm & hard to sleep with the windows closed. Why close the windows you ask? Because if you don't close the windows, the savages from the jungle will climb in & suck your blood! Literally! I'm talking about swarms of mosquitoes gang-banging your skin & leaving you with clusters of chickenpox-like bumps on your skin in the morning! These guys even bite through clothing!! The itchiness that ensues will practically ensure that you never have a good night sleep. In order to keep those monsters at bay, I had to go really low-tech. I eventually experimented with mosquito coils. There are so many in the market & I thought that all of them worked the same since they had the same basic ingredients. I was wrong. They had different effects on the mosquitoes ...
Open Full Post »