At times, we may find it fustrating to have a lot of uncertainties in our lives. However, uncertainties would allow us to learn more and more as the days go by.. You would never know...

Labels: School, Thoughts

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I think for today, there are a whole lot of things that happened that I would like to thank God for.

1st - Science Challenge 2009
2nd - UT 2 Result for Cognitive.

Well, I attended the first round for Science Challenge a week ago and have been notified that I was to come down to the south agora today for the finals of the Science Challenge 2009. I felt elated then. Just before the Science Challenge, I told myself "chill Grace". I felt scared and all I did was to ask a few of my Campus Crusade, WEB and some of my close secondary school friends for the support which I would be eternally grateful to see 3 of them coming down, all of which are people that I just met a few months ago when I entered RP.

When the Science Challenge 2009 result was announced, although almost all of them left the area, I felt so happy!!! I managed to get into the top 3 positions and even gotten 2nd for the entire Science Challenge!!! I managed to get $200 credited into may bank account!!!

At the later portion of the evening, I went to check my UT 2 grade for Cognitive, one module that I perpetually hated most and disliked. I was so glad that I managed to get an A Grade for it!!!

Thank you Lord, for making my day so eventful and memorable!!!

Labels: friends., School, thanksgiving, Thoughts

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For the past few days, 9th June 2009 till today, 12th June 2009, Republic Polytechnic has been hosting the PBL Symposium.

What is this all about? Basically, this Symposium is to allow people from all over the world to learn more about PBL and share their views on PBL. Republic Polytechnic is proud to be the host for the PBL Symposium once again this year and it is certainly a privilege for me to be able to serve alongside with the rest of the Student Body from the X-Synthesis and Student Ambassadors in this event.

So what exactly is PBL? It actually stands for Problem Based Learning which is adopted by Republic Polytechnic in a large scale. In this Symposium days, delegates from different countries get to investigate how to effectively adopt this teaching method and implement it well in their countries.

I was being placed as a Presentation Helper for all 4 days. In the first day, my main role was to be in the presentation venue. I have another partner working with me. Both of us were to split ourselves to the IT half and the Admin half. The IT half is responsible for collecting 2 Laptops, 1 Charger, 1 Presentation Pointer and 1 empty Thumbdrive. As for the Admin Half, we were supposed to take note of the attendance and assist in giving out the feedback form at the end of the session. We were also required to get the backup thumbdrive from the Conference Secreteriat (if any) and to ensure that the delegates coming for the session are wearing the symposium tags. Both of us are required to stay in the presentation venue for the whole of the presentation to ensure that things run on smoothly.

From the second day till the end of today, I was placed as the Lift Lobby Usher. In this role, I was kind of in charge for the Presentation Helpers. I was then required to hold a walkie-talkie and ensure that things run on smoothly inside the rooms and ensure that required set ups are done appropriately. Things like microphones (for lecture theatres), laptops, and thumbdrives are part of my duty that it is being set up and prepared for the presenters. On top of that, I have to usher the delegates to the presentation venues and ensure that they are coming for the right sessions.

All in all, I added a few more steps to it in my last day and last session of it. I ensured that all speakers have at least one bottle of water and that if the delegates were to ask us for water, we wouldn't be saying "sorry, we don't have" but instead, to be able to produce the bottle of water for them.

Today was the most hectic day for me. I have been speaking into the walkie talkie so many times that my friend was telling me "I keep hearing your voice over the walkie talkie you know?". I know that as the situation was very chaotic in the sense that things didn't really run on very smoothly. I had to run all the way back to HQ to get water for my speaker as she asked for one. From then on, we started packing water not only for the speaker, but also the delegates. I had lots of things going on my side during the day and have been the person that they were calling, at least, kind of, as compared to the past few days.

All in all, things that I thought could be improved would be that if we had more wireless microphones, we could ensure that the presentation helpers have a microphone each and stand at the sides of the room. This would help ensure that delegates sitting at the side of the room would be able to ask the speaker questions.

I have managed to gain a lot of valuable lessons from this symposium and till now, when I stand at the lift lobby, I couldn't help to ask the people coming out of the lift "Good morning/afternoon Sir/Madam, which session are you looking for? ... This way please...Have an enjoyable session" or "Good morning/afternoon Sir/Madam, are you looking for xxx session? ... This way please...Have an enjoyable session". Great joke! But although my feet hurts everyday after my symposium duty ends, it was all worthwhile.

Labels: Events, Lessons learnt, School

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The past week has been extremely tiring for me. Other than Monday, I didn't manage to get down in doing my DJ for the rest of the days. Why? Because I simply felt too exhausted to do so. In a way, as I have mentioned in my previous posts, I felt soooo exhausted both physically and emotionally to the extent where I was asked to write my RJ on Wednesday, I wrote till I was in tears.

This was exactly what I submitted for this question 'What was the main struggle that you encountered in class today? What step(s) would you take to help you overcome it?' with a little edits here and there:

"I think the main struggle for today is the part on team work where situations really isn't better with the communication problem between me and (him) that hasn't been resolved since last week. I was struggling to get things through him especially before meeting 3 where both of us were so silent and nothing could be done to salvage it. At least, things became better when (someone) took charge otherwise I would not have known what to do. Although (the other group mates) asked me a couple of times on what questions I wanted to do, I figured that I should, instead, keep quiet to minimize the conflict level between me and (him). From what I heard, he wasn't really happy about the way I work which that itself, I couldn't do anything about it until he is willing to reconcile and start talking to me. I had time and time again wanted to sit down and talk to him but I didn't have the courage to do so, mainly because I thought that wasn't the right time for it yet since he looked so upset with me and refuses to open his mouth to even communicate with me properly. Well, till the end of the first study period, I was mainly trying to find solution to the worksheet question that I had chosen. At the start of the second meeting, (he) and (another team member) finished their part and what Sarah asked them to do was to find the answers to the questions that were posted during our class discussion in the first meeting. I was just doing my part. However, when (the rest of the team) started asking me questions on the basics of the chapter, I started explaining it to them whereby thereafter, I was working with (a team member) on the rest of the worksheet questions. At the end of meeting 2, we managed to finish most of the things without any conflict. At that point before we went for our break, we individually chose what we wanted to do. Since (one of our team member) does not have any Chemistry background and I was left with nothing to choose from (because all of them were so fast in choosing what they wanted), I paired up with her. I was quite thankful that I managed to pair up with her partly because she was the only one that could help me find out what (he) was doing. The main reason was that I had no chance of even talking to him, not even through MSN as he blocked me. I was very careful on not stepping into his path this time where I made a clear line on "things that he is explaining I shan't explain". Those were the exact words that I told (my partner) when we were working together. Another reason that made me thank the rest of the team was that they helped us through although they don't really know what was happening between both of us where I had to admit, I am not sure of it myself. All my conclusions or deductions came from what others told me. All I could say is that I really had to thank all of them for being so supportive, not of any one side, but that they managed to get thing going and done.

To answer to the second question, what steps would I take to help me overcome it. I guess really there is nothing much I could do. The only that I really hoped for is to sit down with (him) when he is ready to talk and to resolve this conflict as soon as possible because I may be the very cause of the conflict in his eyes but I really do not know what I have done that made him so upset with me. Seriously, I do not know what is the starting point of it and I am really confused at the turns of things between him and me. Not that I cared about him like a boyfriend or what but really, I can't work with someone who is clearly upset with me and is not willing to let me know what he is upset about. I am really lost at how he expects me to act and what he expects me to have done. Although I have to admit that doing things without his consent could make him upset but not to this stage where a "sorry" may not be enough. I really do not know how to get out of this struggle that I have. The only solution that I could think of is to wait. Wait until he is willing to speak up and when he is ready to sit down and talk to me properly. Otherwise, with this hot-headed state that he is in and with my personality, before we start to get to the point, we would definitely start quarreling and nothing it would all go to nothing. All I could say is that I am really tired and confused at the turn of events where I know there are a lot of other things that I have to focus on. I am still WAITING for the time that he wants to resolve this problem. If we do not resolve it, I am sure that no matter what happens, we would definitely be confronted with it again and we would definitely be in the exact same state and there would really be no way out. "

Really, I know it has been an extremely long RJ, I didn't know what to write for that question other than that that came to my mind the moment I saw that question. Some of my friends even suggested that I confront him. I really don't know what I should do. For the rest of the week, we were having cold war towards each other and things hasn't been better.

Yesterday, I just installed internet at home. At the end of the Youth Service in church, I talked to my spider about what I should do. I told her the whole story once again and I told her that I have been emotionally and physically exhausted. She asked me to think of the the things that I could control and what I couldn't and suggested that maybe I was trying to control the things that I can't, that's why I felt so exhausted. I have been trying to find out what I could control. Really, the obvious one is my reaction. Both how I react to him and how I react when I fell agitated when someone else said something that is sensitive to both of us. All I could do now is to trust God to give me the wisdom and to soften his heart to be willing to speak to me. Also, I have to place this whole matter into God's hand and allow him to show me the way that I should respond, what I should do and the best time to do what I should do.

Labels: School, WEB, Week

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I was sooooo happy when I saw my results last week....

This was what my faci told me......

"Hi Grace,

You participated actively during the class discussion and contribute your understanding based on your prior knowledge. On the other hand, I also noticed that when the rest of the team was discussing and consolidating ideas towards to end of the meeting 1 and study period, you were more passive.

It's good that you were back on track actively exploring the worksheet questions using excel program. In addition, you were able to ask critical questions.

You did well in your presentation which showed that you have indeed understand what's involved in working out the solution. Great Job!

On the other hand, you provided relatively more reasoning than your team mate. I hope you could encourage your team mate to take up bigger piece of the pie and assist them in their presentation.

RJ:
It's good that you are willing to allow your self to pick-up new tools and new skills. The more you use it the easier it becomes. "


Also, the comments for my team was also fairly positive:

"Hi Team 1,

After the class discussion, the team member are able to quickly get together to consolidate understanding. The team continue to collaborate closely in meeting 2 and were able to explore the worksheet questions using the excel program.

Although all the team members participated in the team presentation, I felt that the team can do better in distributing the workload more evenly. In fact, I notice that only 1 team member is working on the quiz question at the start of meeting 3. It would be better if every team member could participate mainly because it helps to strengthen your understanding. Nevertheless, I could see that the team members were able to demonstrate basic understanding of how the solution was derived. "

Was really glad that I could get it. Hope and pray that I could maintain my standard.

Labels: Mathematics, School

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This was supposed to be my favorite module but this morning, I started having 'it' and hence, not really in a good mood. Anywayz, pulled myself out of bed to class and now, I'm trying my best find information that could help the group in the presentation...... To be continued.... (L)

Labels: School, Sick

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