KUDOS TO MY BELOVED SPM 2009 STUDENTS!!

On thursday, 11 March 2010, at 10.30am many of my former students gathered in the Seminar Room to get their SPM 2009 exam results. We achieved 100% passes for both General Science and Biology. 20 students obtained A s for Science, and 4 obtained A s for Biology. There were 0 failures. A tremendous achievement, setting a new record for Sapura Smart School.

Overall Result

Total number of candidates is 73
6 students (8.2%) obtained straight A’s, compared to 1 student (2.2%) in 2008
20 students (27.3%) obtained 5 A’s and above , compared to 15 students (15.2%) in 2008
10 out of 22 subjects achieved 100% pass:
English
Science
English Literature
Pendidikan Seni Visual
Information and Communication Technology
Physics
Biology
Tasawwur Islam
Mandarin
English For Science And Technology

Educational Trip to Singapore 26 -27 Feb 2010

These are journals of two of my students who joined the trip.


Sofia’s Journal

My Trip To Singapore

Last Friday, a few students of Sapura Smart School went on science field trip to Singapore. The trip to singapore was a really eventful one. Thrilling but extraordinarily tiring at the same time. I had a really good time during the trip. It all started out as follows :-


Students gathered in school at 8am and waited for the breifing by Mr. Micheal (our bus/tour guide). He made sure we all had our passports and white card checked and warned us about the high risk of getting fined if we are to bring in certain things like ciggarettes and liquor without permission. After the breifing was done, we left for our 5 hour journey at 8.30am. During the bus ride, we made two stops. One for breakfast and the other for lunch. We entered Singapore at about 1.30pm and everyone was really excited.



The bus drove us straight to the Singapore Science Centre. I was really excited to go to the science centre because I read on the internet that the Singapore Science Centre has more than 850 exhibits in the various exhibition galleries and if a visitor sepnds 5 minutes on each exhibit, it would require about 7 days to see all of them. I wish I had more time there :(. But lucky us they had a special exhibition. Body Worlds. A worldwide exhibition about how the inner structure of the body really looks like. It was only going to last for 6 months and it was truly, truly an amazing exhibition. I was amazed by the fact that they used real bodies on the display. I must admit, it was a little disturbing for me but I learned so much from it. The science centre was so huge my friend and I got lost, twice. All of us learned a lot of things from the science centre, and for me it was especially in the physics and biology field. I gained alot as I am sitting for these paper for my SPM this year, the science centre really helped me understand the subjects more and easily.



The author (left) and friend trying out the slinky

We all left the Singapore Science Centre at 6.30pm and headed to Fragrance Hotel. All the students were devided into groups of three and these groups were all given a room stay. Everyone had a chance to freshen up after the long and tiring day. We met again at the lobby at 9pm and headed out for dinner. Some of us had dinner at the shop around the corner while others headed out somewhere else. My friends and I took a cab to East Coast to have a taste of some real singaporean food. When we came back, we met with Pn Salmah in the lobby who was apparently waiting for us and it turns out that we never really got an approval from her which we felt we felt really guilty for. Everyone went upstairs at 11pm and went so sleep.

The next morning, we got up early and packed our bags. We checked out of the hotel at 9.30am and headed for Jurong Bird Park. The bird park is one of the biggest in the world. I was really excited to go. After having breakfast at the Jurong Bird Park, the first thing we did when we entered was we catched a “Birds and Buddies” show. The birds were really cute. They even had a bird who could sing! We all walked around the park and had a chance to see lots of birds from different species. I also had a chance to see penguins! They had to specifically make the room really cold for the penguins. My friends and I also had a chance to feed the birds too. That was really interesting as the birds were all climbing onto us. We spent atleast 5 hours at the bird park. All of us were so exhausted from walking after that. We all got onto the bus at 3.30pm and left for home :).

The bus ride home took 6 hours. Everyone knocked out on the bus. We only made one stop on the way home. Mr. Micheal played a movie for us on the bus. When we arrived, all our parents were waiting for us. Everyone was happy to re-unite with their family again. The trip to Singapore, eventhough it was really tiring was an experience I’ll never forget.


SOFIA MAHARAN RASHIDI
S5 Science 1


Day 1

On Friday, the 26th of February 2010, us students arrived in school at around 7.30 in the morning and boarded the bus to Singapore at 8.40. On the bus, our tour guide, Mr.Michael briefed us about the rules and restrictions in Singapore as well as what we should do when we reach immigration at the border between Malaysia and Singapore. During the 5 hour journey, we had two rest stops in Negeri Sembilan and Johor. At around 2.30 in the afternoon, we reached Singapore.

After that, we drove straight to the Singapore Science Centre. We were given our tickets and immediately entered the centre. There were many fascinating exhibits in this centre such as the “Sound” exhibit which shows how sound is applied in daily life. One of the most fun parts of this exhibit was the “Echo Machine”. This machine
is a long tube which extends throughout the room. One end of the tube is for you to scream into. The louder the scream, the louder the echo. Another exhibit that fascinated me was the “Optical Illusions” exhibit. There were many activities given in this exhibit which tested the way we look at things. One part of this exhibit which really caught my attention was the “Crate”. Here, a few bars were arranged at a strange angle and you are supposed to stand at a certain point and look at yourself on a television screen infront of you. The camera which was placed at a certain angle makes it appear that you are inside a crate when actually, you are just standing infront of a few bars.

After that, we went into the “Body World” exhibition at around 5.00 in the evening. Here, there were many unique presentations about the human anatomy. All the models used were made up of real and preserved body parts. This exhibition really made me think as well as look at the human body from a new perspective. My favourite part of this exhibition is the way they presented the blood vessels in animals and humans. At first, I thought the models were not real but after I read about this model, I learned that plastic dye was injected into the bodies. After the dye had hardened, the tissue of the bodies were dissolved so all that was left of it was the blood vessels filled with plastic dye. This really showed me the vast network of blood vessels in our body. There was also another part of this exhibition that I really liked and that was the model of a smoker’s body. This model was also made of real organs like the rest of the models in the exhibition so it really showed an inside look of the damages smoking can do to the human body. All in all, I feel that the exhibition was an amazing experience and I would love for the people who arranged this exhibition to create a longer version in the near future.

We left the Science Centre at around 6.00 in the evening. We drove around and saw Suntec City and the Eye of Singapore which was beautifully lit up at night.
We reached our hotel at 8.00 and had our dinner at 9.30 after which we walked around the area to explore. At 11.30, we headed back to our rooms to sleep.


Day 2

The author (far right) and friends posing with En Rohaizi at the entrance
On the 27th of February, we had a wake up call at 7.30 in the morning. Most of us had a good night’s sleep and were looking forward to going to the Jurong Bird Park after eating breakfast. We checked out of the hotel and left for the bird park at 9.30 in the morning. After an hour or so of driving, we reached the bird park. We got our tickets and headed into the park half an hour after arriving. The first thing we did in the bird park was look at the penguins and puffins during feeding time. The birds looked very happy and excited once fish was dropped into the water. I loved the penguins because they were very majestic when they swam underwater and also because they are very cute. After watching the penguins, we headed to watch a show. There were hornbills, parrots and cockatoos flying over our heads. There was also a talking parrot which could count in both English and Mandarin! After the fantastic bird show, we walked around the bird park and saw many beautiful birds like the Scarlet Ibis. This bird amazed me because every feather on it’s body was brilliantly red. Even when you take pictures of this bird, it’s colour in the photo still doesn’t compare to seeing it’s unique, brilliant colour in real life. After looking at the beautiful birds, we ate lunch at 1.00 in the afternoon. We decided to head back into the bird park because there was much more to be seen. We booked a very special tour around the park. What made this tour special was that instead of walking around the park, we had to ride scooter-like vehicles called “Segways”. It was a really fun experience and after the tour, I felt like buying one of my own in the future.


At about 3.30 in the evening, we left the bird park and boarded the bus to Malaysia. We had only one rest stop in Johor and after that, we drove straight to our school. After the long, exhausting ride home, we finally reached the school at 10.00 pm. I really enjoyed this educational trip and I hope we can go to Singapore again. I am very grateful to our guide as well as our teachers who managed to organize this wonderful trip.

Tara Thiagarajan
S5 Science 2

Innovative & Creative Malaysians - Day 2

I was late starting from home. I found the jam was just like day 1. I had to park further this time from the hall, all the other parking spaces closer to the hall were occupied by participants who had arrived earlier or by other visitors to the Intekma Resort and Convention Centre.
The session started later than scheduled. I listened with interest to a presentation by Haji Hasni from Adni School on the holistic and integrated system of education at his school. I actually had been to his school, in Taman Sri Ukay, Ampang before joining SSS (formerly known as APIIT Smart School). I applied for a teaching post at the Integrated Islamic School, Kota Damansara and got accepted. I attended an orientation programme held at Adni school. The system is new to me and I was eager to learn but I was not feeling any warmth from the teachers present least of all from the members of IIS Kota Damansara who travelled with me for the week long session. I decided not to join for that reason.The pay did not entice me to stay either.
After Haji Hasni's rushed presentation, we brokeout into 5 smaller discussion groups to brainstorm on the current status of teaching and learning of Mathematics and Science (M & S) and the issues and challenges. In group 2, we had to discuss on Infrastructure and Infostructure. Prof. Dr Ong Seng Huat from the Dept of Mathematical Sciences, UM acting as rapporteur. I was elected by Prog Ong as leader of the group for reasons he knew best. I felt the group members were rather passive,quiet, shy perhaps and slow in getting organised. I felt the need to prompt, and urge them to come closer together in a tighter circle so we can look at each other and start the discussion. They were sitting classroom style, in my opinion, was not condusive for any discussion to take place. I am guessing, these proactive moves, were what got me elected. I actually was not aware that I was amongst the best teachers in the country. Nor was I aware that some members in the group were lecturers with Phd's and proffessorships. One lady was the pricipal of Adni School. It was a blessing in disguise. Had I known, I wouldn't have agreed to accept the election. I felt so small, having so little to offer.
None the less, I took the challenge in my stride and between the Prof and I, we did manage in getting some sort of discussion going. Not everyone seemed interested to contribute. The few that did gave some views. We also used the pointers given by ASM in the programme book. Nothing exciting or completely new were brought up. We came up with 4 different issues and challenges to be discussed in further detail in another session after lunch. The first breakout session was followed by a forgettable panel discussion. I was given the floor to say my two cents worth. I spoke about school/staff room culture which often hindered new trained teachers from applying their innovativeness and creativity in the classrooms.
After lunch, it did not take the four groups long to concurr and come up with some views. Raja Rohaiza, from ASM helped in keying the data in a laptop after we had the leaders of the small groups to present their findings. I got the help of Zazolnizam, a group member savvy in IT to help improve the PowerPoint presentation. in his own time after the day ended. I gave him my email address with the request to email me the slides for me to read and possibly make ammendments before my presentation to the whole hall on day 3. That apparently is one of the duties of the group leader. I had decided to rope in the small group leaders to present with me instead. This idea was opposed by Prof Dr Ong, our rapporteur, but strongly supported by Prof Ho provided we kept to the 15 minutes allocated for the presentation.
After completing the assignment,we spent the rest of the breakout session sharing success stories and ideas on how to teach maths and science creatively in school. That, I felt, was more beneficial than the panelist discussion earlier where they spent half-an-hour talking about PPSMI - teaching of M & S in English, a policy already decided by the power that be. The topic of discussion - Creative teaching of M & S, was NEVER touched. It was a big disappointment. Blame it on the chairman.
That night, I felt the fatigue from the two day workshop setting in and it was only 9.30pm but I called it a day. I managed to make some rearrangements of the data keyed in by Raja before hitting the pillows. Zazol's email never came. I checked again in the morning. Just in case but it was in vain. Again another disappointment. I hope I could present my groups's findings reasonably well come day 3.

Innovative & Creative Malaysians - Day 1

Yes, that's what we want our students to become. They have to, inorder to compete in the global economy. Its a serious enough issue for the Academy of Science Malaysia (ASM) to collaborate with MOSTI and MOE and gather about 200 excellent teachers and teacher education lecturers from all over Malaysia for 3 days and pick their brains to come up with a position paper that will be presented to MOE.
I am not an excellent teacher. Excellent teachers are nominated by Principals of government schools and a panel will award this prestigious accolade after a comprehensive selection process. I was there representing SSS together with 3 other maths & science teachers. Mind you, I am no excellent teacher.
Early Tuesday morning, 2 Feb 2010, I drove to Shah Alam, so as not to be caught in the jam after the Subang toll. I was caught inevitably in a slight snarl but it was moving. By 7.45 I was already at the Bukit Kayangan roundabout. I was quite relieved. I had studied the map e-mailed by ASM few days before and was confident of finding the Intekma resort and Convention Centre with no problem. Boy, was I wrong. I made a wrong turning and ended up somewhere else. I traced my way back to as far as Section 6, Shah Alam and took another turn towards UiTM campus. I had been there 3 years ago, but I have forgotten how to get there. This time I was still not sure if I was on the right track. Then I saw the Intekma sign but missed the right turn into it. A short distance away, I made a U turn and found a nice parking space, a short walk from the Banquet Hall where the first session was to be held at 9am. It was still early.
Up to then,I still did not know where the workshop was going to be held, because it never said so in any of the documents that I had. So, I went to the reception area, and a concierge opened the door for me. After establishing that I was there for the workshop, he directed me to the door leading to the Banquet Hall. Another participant, who arrived shortly after me, benefitted from the concierge's direction and we walked together to the hall. I never got to know him. I forgot his face and he never came to say hello. Too bad.






I registered at the reception area in front of the hall and entered the hall bearing a door gift and a participant's tag. I was also placed in group 2, for the breakout session on day 2. I was hoping to be in group 5, attracted by the title of the group's discussion. The hall was still half full, but right smack in the middle front row, were my colleagues from primary school. There was still a space next to one of them, so I sat down at the table made for three. There was still no sign of our CEO, who is one of the panelists nor of Sugendren, the other secondary rep.




I did not look at the time, but the session started with the MC welcoming everyone and the formality began. Then it was the beginning of 10/11 presentations by a list of panelists from MOE, our CEO, En Azlan Shahrom, Petrosains Education Head, Principal of Australian International School Malaysia, ASM fellow, Prof Ho and Datin Frieda from Cempaka School. The titles of the presentations were interesting enough but the presentations were long especially the first two and draggy that it puts me to sleep soon enough, except for the first ( I was still fresh and was taking notes) and En Azlan's (he was engaging with good slides and I was capturing him on video). Because of lack of time, some panelist had to rush through their presentations and despite their best efforts, the organisers completed all but one presentation. We stayed well after 6pm, when the session should have ended at 5.15pm.
We all left the hall for home or for the rooms in Intekma for those from out-station. Day two will find, Haji Hasni from Adni school, presenting first before the breakout session. He couldn't present on day 1 because of technical problems and it was already too late, everyone was exhausted and saturated.

A Visit by the Angkasawan Negara

What a day it was. I am still "star-struck" at getting the opportunity to be up close and personal with the first Malaysian medical doctor to go to space. The one and only Dato' Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. My Principal (bless you Mrs Chee!!) actually put me in charge of organising the programme to receive the Dr. To be the anchor. It was a real priviledge to accept this unexpected task. I have organised more challenging functions before but none as glamorous as this.

Dr Sheikh is a Malaysian celebrity albeit a controversial one and every Malaysian knows him (unless that person has gone to space or hiding underneath the coconut shell). It was such a short notice. I knew about it on thursday and Dr Sheikh is coming on monday!! After receiving some guidelines from the Principal, I quickly roped in some help to get things rolling.My classes went on as usual, my test papers were 90% done. But I am not going to meet the monday dateline. But I am sure, the exam sec will understand.

Everything was prepared as well as could be. Banners, posters, all the logistics, floor plan for arrangement of seating, music,script for the MC and the itenary for the day. All went like clock work - well almost anyway. Minor glitches were taken care of immediately. Thank God.

Dr Sheikh himself, despite having gone to space, was so so so down-to-earth,friendly and charming. And of course, his talk was fluent (despite negative rumours about his communication skills)and his presentation was engaging, enlightening and inspiring.

He must have got used to being mobbed and crowded upon by everyone, young and old. He was also very patient with the primary kids, answering every single question asked. He is always smiling and ready to have his photograph taken and to sign autographs.He encouraged them, saying and I quote, "Don't be shy. Always ask for what you want". And that was my cue to stand right next to him to snap a close up photo with the very sexy and handsome doctor. I managed a very intimate self potrait with him. Don't believe me? See the picture. I took it myself!! His cologne lingered on my scarf, he was that close. Something I will treasure and remember for as long as I live. You can bet your stars on that.

The story of Brad Cohen

I saw this movie on Hallmark last year. Then, I came across this Youtube in saifulislam.com
With the start of a new academic year, this rediscovery is very timely. A motivating story of a boy growing up with an incurable disability eventually becoming the best teacher of the year! Watch it and cry!!

We are back in business, yeah!!

It took a long time coming but we got connected again today!! The TM man came at 10am as scheduled and within minutes, we are connected. Its the waiting that took so long. Isn't that typical of government services? Health care, transportation, education, registration, everything!!
You wait for hours in the queue and then once you are there, in five minutes sometimes less, its over. This time, we waited for 2 weeks to get the fixed line, fixed. Then another two weeks waiting, to get Internet connection. First world technology, third world mentality.
No more trips to kopitiams. No more free cigarette smoke, no more caffiene and no more midnite walks home in the dark. The security guards at the boom gate will miss me.