I think I am still getting used to this blogging thing. Feels funny writing a public diary. But it's a good way to keep touch with friends. I hope so, thus far, other than my faithful husband and Jac, I am the only one who reads my blog. Then again, don't have too many friends to begin with.

It's been a hectic week, one deadline after another. Sleep has become a stranger, and when it comes, it felt unnatural. I told myself it's "the time of the year", bad patch, rush hour etc.. Finally I took a short break in the cab, on my way home from work today. I fell asleep because my eyes just couldn't keep open. In that short quiet moment, I remember Psalm 46:10:

Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

The taxi went over a bump and I woke up. How true, I rush around all day, striving to meet all sorts of deadlines but not taking a moment to think through about what I am doing and why. I asked myself again today, "Why am I doing my Masters? Why am I working?" You know what is the scary part? I don't quite seem to know. Other then very real pragmatic reasons, there is nothing more to it. Maybe it's high time I re-think my life, well, been re-thinking for the last 20 years, not too good at thinking I guess.

I have decided I will do what is important-- spend time on things that count-- friends, family, God. I will still work, study, do the mundane things of life, but have to seriously think about why I am doing them...don't want to rush through life, what's the point?

These days, this seems to be the sticky note that I see on my desk most of the time. When I was younger, I was taught not to fall victim to the tyranny of the urgent. But now it seems everything is important, I really wonder how we differentiate?

I was doing my reading for my E-Learning course.

"An 'AHA' moment occurred for me in my ESL composition classroom a few semesters ago. My students were into Instant Messaging (IM), Blogging, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Gaming. It suddenly dawned on me, an avid technology user and consumer, that I was no longer on the cutting edge." (Malley, Susan B., 2006)

That was how I felt when I was going through all the possibilities that Web 2.0 holds for education. A lot of these tools have been around for a while, like wikis, blogs, search engines etc.. But I have never thought of using them to the fullest of their potential in an education aspect. I have always limited active learning to simulation conditions, especially in the area of gaming, and this 2 days had opened my eyes to great possibilities with some of these very basic tools. I had thought I was pretty "up-to-date" for someone my age, but this generation is running so much faster than we can even imagine.

Come to think about it, many times when we get some technology that is really "cutting edge", do we really make full use of them? I remember in those days when I was an administrator for IT equipment in a school, I found it really funny that we were issued new, cutting edge lap tops with the most up-to-date technology, USB ports, firewire etc..but the OS installed was Win 95, because the network was running on Win 95. Most of these hardware was left unused. To me, the laptop never realise its full potential.

As I design my lesson this round, I remind myself constantly, and thanks to a good friend, who reminded me that what's most important is the purpose of the lesson, that the technology I employed need not be top of the rack, but it must definitely fulfilled the educational purpose. The purpose of education? To nurture "thinkers", who will become creators of knowledge.

Still Constructing...

I took this picture when I was running a programme at a campsite in Singapore. First, I like the greenery, second, I thought the pink smiley face was cute. I wasn't feeling too good that day, and that face helped to cheer me up a bit. Sometimes it takes only a smile to get another person through a bad patch... Okay, I am in one of my "philosophical" mood.

Why do I call this blog "the unbelievable"? Because I am writing in English. Attempting to write in English. I do apologize for the many grammar mistakes that glare at you.

Why am I doing this? Perhaps to be more in tune with the new generation. I am a technophile in many ways, technology excites me. However, the rate at which it is moving forward sometimes scares me too. I am still thinking what I should put down on my blog. Two things motivated me to do this: the Master in Education course unit I am doing, and an ex-student of mine. Maybe I should find an outlet to reflect on my own learning journey.

For a start, I am getting used to the idea of learning as a student again. Academic practice seems so far off, until 2 days ago. I find that I am enjoying it. Yes, I like studying, I enjoy learning. It excites me, as much as technology. Sometimes I wonder why I did not do well in school when I was younger. I guess it's not too fair to blame the teachers entirely, but in today's context, teachers play an important role in helping kids see the relevance in their learning. I am an educator myself, and I never knew the impact we can have on the kids that we meet in class everyday till recently, when I met up with an ex-student of mine, that I taught some 13 years back. I read her blog; her little reflection on her meeting up with me. I am deeply touched, and I finally understood the impact we can have on an individual's life, and how after many years, it still lingers on.

Providing a link here to her blog http://monkeycrab.blogspot.com/2009/02/teacher-and-student.html . She scribbled her little story on Feb 10 09, "teacher and student". I hope you don't mind Jac, do allow your ex-teacher here an opportunity to flaunt her successes, lol. For now, I shall end here. And I am happy now because my 6-year old daughter just gave me a hug and said, "I love you, mummy." Small successes.