As this year inches towards its end, with preparation & invigilation of national exams, with a litany of ‘why?!’s scrawled on scripts, with minutiae thickening and threatening to cascade down, I have to pause and give thanks.
Here are the wonderful people who made my professional life worth living:
Indeed, without them, what would life be? I can hardly imagine.
I’m (sincerely) thankful for the kids who took the time and energy to pen down messages. You’re kind people and I’ll return to these thoughtful messages whenever I’m marking.
Surprisingly, I was recognised on stage as a comedian despite the awkward silence after every joke I say to a captive audience.
Here are some exemplars:
“Joke” 1
“Do we need values?” (while gesturing to an energy profile diagram.)
“We always need values, to guide us in this volatile, uncertain, complex & ambiguous (V.U.C.A.) world.”
“Joke” 2
(Students didn’t include the + sign for enthalpy change.)
“Class, signs are very important. Britney Spears even has a song about this. ~Give me a sign~~~” (offkey, increasingly embarrassed.)
‘Joke” 3
(Students just did their project work presentation.)
“I noticed that many use filler words. ‘actually’ , ‘ erm’ etc in your presentations. I tend to use ‘kay’. do you know what ‘kay means?”
(Let students describe, ‘kay stands for okay.)
“k means the rate constant or the equilibrium constant and they are not the same thing.”
“Joke” 4
(Recounting a “joke” to a teacher friend about cis-trans isomerism in organic chemistry.)
“Joke” 5
(Recounting another joke about orbital overlapping to form bonds.)
Once again, deeply thankful for the people who make everything so fulfilling.
Hope this year has been filled with meaningful growth.
