Simple and sweet. Ha...

You scored as Susie. You are Susie. Simple and sweet, you can insult Calvin in just the right way. You get perfect grades and help Calvin fail his tests. Because of you, the club G.R.O.S.S. started up. Isn't it great that you make a difference in the world? Susie 71% Hobbes 64% Mom and Dad 61% Mrs. Wormwood 50% Calvin 43% What Calvin & Hobbes character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

*****

Haha... Strange how my top two characters are the ones who always get to 'bully' Calvin... :)

Will put up a proper update soon. Who needs to go to the Himalayas, when there's already a Mount Everest of work sitting in my "To Do" tray? But... I shall not make mountains out of molehills.

Back to work...

Easter Gifts

I have such sweet students... One of the girls drew an Easter Bunny in her practical book, and wished me Happy Easter. Aww... A little gem to add to my collection of teaching anectodes... :)

Easter is a time of gifts.

When we get our long weekend (Yes! :)
When people give out Easter Eggs and Easter bunnies (the chocoholic's delight! :)

And when we remember the greatest gift of all, the very reason we celebrate Easter...

"
God --- the greatest Lover
so loved --- the greatest Degree
the world --- the greatest Number
that He gave --- the greatest Act
His only begotten Son --- the greatest Gift
that whosoever --- the greatest Invitation
believeth --- the greatest Simplicity
in Him --- the greatest Person
should not perish --- the greatest Deliverance
but --- the greatest Difference
have --- the greatest Certainty
everlasting life --- the greatest Posession!!!
- John 3 : 16 "

(Inspired from God, written by John, quoted off Martin Luther King, reminded by Pastor Lau, and taken from Hubert's blog :)

TA - ing

What Peiyan says about TA (Teaching Assistant) work is true. You can get rather amusing answers from students sometimes.

For example, in one of my Biology 1A classes, the students were asked to observe cells in a microscope, and to calculate the size of these cells. Later, they were asked to compare the size of their cells to the size given in the textbook, and to explain why they may be different.

Most of them gave the usual answer : human error, problems with calibration, miscalculations etc...

One student wrote :
'... we may need to have our eyesight checked...'

*laugh* But it was true and made sense, so I gave him the mark, and spent the rest of the night grinning as I marked the rest of the class. Was tempted to write 'I see...' but thought better of it. :)


Another question was : List 5 differences between animal cells and prokaryotic (bacterial) cells?

One student wrote :
'... animal cells have a nucleus, while prokaryotic cells do not. The reason for this is not known, it is one of the fundamental questions in Biology...'

Hmm... we have a potential philosopher here... :)


So far, I've been taking longer than the time allocated for marking their lab books, but hopefully that'll improve with experience. Just need to make sure I don't compromise on the time needed for my own labwork and experiments. However, it's providing an interesting and refreshing change in my working environment, and I find myself looking forward to each weekly practical and tutorial session.

And I do my marking in front of the television, a habit I picked up from Mum. (Shhh... you never heard that from me ;) That way, I wouldn't feel so guilty watching 'House, M.D.'. Maybe that's why it's taking longer than expected to mark everything... :)