the•truth•shall•set•you•free

to set the record straight, im not trying to be a 马后炮 here, but i juz want to give God all the glory He truly deserves.

since the beginning of the year, when i took over this present sec 4 class, i started praying for their results. along the way, we all put in alot of hard work together, and i told them i believe in the law of sowing wat you reap. and today, on this glorious day of 11 aug 2006, the 4e6-ers saw the fruits of their labour.

as the date of the release of the results drew nearer, i waz actually feeling more and more anxious. i had hoped dat the efforts dat we all put in would be worth it and not in vain, and dat we wld all do really well. i began to keep praying for the results. i prayed mainly for 3 things:
(1) my class, which is 4e6, wld do very well, in fact, they wld have the best results in the whole cohort. (this might sound a tad selfish, but well, they are my class wat..)
(2) the whole cohort wld all do well together, in fact, they wld achieve the best results ever. (well, i thought pray also cannot so selfish, muz pray for everyone)
(3) all the students will perform much betta than their usu standard - they wld value-add.

i waz still praying right up to the moment i went to check out the results circa 0900 hrs in the morn, and you can juz guess the exhilaration when my hod told me my class performed the best among all the classes! (i had previously set a target of 40% distinction, but guess wat, we achieved a whopping 61% distinction! 61% distinction - can you beat dat?!) i cldnt contain my excitement, and my heart waz leaping abt inside me, but i had to be sensitive to the other teachers ard me. i knew i had to keep thanking the Lord and giving Him all the glory, coz its by no means a mere mortal feat. i started writing the words 'thank God!!' on my palm, juz to keep reminding myself dat its all coz of Him, and i have nothing to be proud of.

then i had to go for invigilation. my mind waz constantly thanking the Lord, thinking how the prayers are really being answered right before my eyes. i have such little faith - praying and yet not really believing.

thereafter, i went to have a closer look at the results, and i realized we had 100% passes for the whole cohort! dat meant dat nobody in my class failed, which also meant dat some of those who were bordering perilously along the passing mark had finally cleared! praise the Lord! most of the students performed up to, or betta than, their usual standards. there were a few who missed their usual mark, but still did well nonetheless. it waz another prayer answered.

and then there waz even betta news - we achieved one of the best results in recent 5-7 years! betta than quite a few other schs in our region. gosh, dat waz juz pure jubilation.

i knew i juz cldnt keep this glorious matter to myself, i had to testify to it. of coz, there cld be a million reasons my class did esp well. perhaps the oral qn waz much easier. perhaps we got a more lenient marker. wateva. or perhaps, our efforts did pay off afterall. i remembered i first got the class to come back for extra lessons during the march hols. altho they werent really paying attention, most of them came back. the many times i made different ones stay back either for essay or oral reinforcements, they did as told, albeit sometimes rather reluctantly. many of them even did extra work or came down for extra oral practices on their own. the last sat before the paper itself, almost (if not all) all of them came down for dat lesson. they were the only class among the rest to do dat. i waz really proud of them.

and all these wld not have happened if the Lord's hands were not on our class - His favour for dat easier oral qn or more lenient exam marker, His blessings for alot of them to value-add, His answered prayers to me, which stopped me in my steps, thinking: i dun deserve such a great blessing but the Lord chose to use me and bless me in spite of me. thank you, Lord, very much.

of coz, it helped very much dat the Lord blessed our class to 'click', to have the same frequency, to like each other enuff to move together. i truly enjoyed teaching this class, and i consider it one of the highlights in my short teaching career thus far. and it will prolly be one class i will miss in time to come when they graduate.

to the 4e6-ers, i waz, am, and will be proud of you guyz. thank you for running this race with me. your efforts have definitely paid off. the law of reaping wat you sow is proven true once again. i shook all of your hands today, no matter you got an A1, A2, B3, B4, C5 or C6, coz i know you guyz have put in your share of hard work and have achieved something - either by value-adding or doing very well. i guess dats wats most impt sometimes - to beat the 'opponent' dat is really ourselves many a times. congratulations, guyz. im really very very happy for you guyz.

post-note: we shall go eat together during the sept hols. yay!