the ninety-nine and the one

Yesterday I had a new insight into the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:4-7) that related to being a teacher and a leader. In the story, the shepherd has one hundred sheep and one wanders off. He goes to search for the one sheep, leaving the other ninety-nine on the hills. Then he is happier about the one who was found than the other ninety-nine. "In the same way," says Jesus, "your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish."

This is a story about a loving Father who is willing to go in search of someone he loves who has wandered off from him. The story was told so that we would know that he seeks us and wants us to know him closely. And that we should also seek others and not look down on those who are not currently close to God.

The story was alluded to in a book I am currently reading, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. This is not a Christian book, though the author is open about the fact that he is a Christian. This makes it very interesting reading for me. It's the grandfather of modern success and productivity writing and has been very helpful on both a personal and professional level. A fair few Christian ideas have popped up, some overtly and some not.

I was reading about how we can make emotional investments in our relationships with others. One way we do this, the book says, is by showing personal integrity in our relationships. We can show integrity by being loyal those who are not present. This is a reason not to gossip or talk about someone behind their back. If you do this, the person to whom you are gossiping learns that you will do the same to them when they are not around. This lowers trust.

Also, a way to show integrity is to confront someone when your relationship needs to be mended or improved. "Confrontation takes considerable courage…. In the long run, people will trust and respect you if you are honest and open and kind with them. You care enough to confront."

Another way integrity is displayed is the care you show for one person who needs it. Your care for that person shows the others how you would also care for them. "The key to the ninety-nine is the one." 

Covey says that he learned this in the context of being a teacher and a parent. "It is the love and the discipline of the one student, the one child, that communicates love for the others." I realised that the care I show for one of my students can been seen by the others as the care I would also give to them when they need it. This also applies to the way I treat my team members. As I treat one of them with honour, the others should see that they will all be treated with the same respect.

This gives us an insight into Jesus' parable. Not only is the focus on the one person who is brought close to God, but the other ninety-nine see the care the Father shows. Those of us who are already in the family of God can see the care God shows to others and know that he loves us in the same way. We can take to heart that love.

I felt really blessed by this insight. It takes Jesus' story and helps me see how God's love permeates my life and can be the model for the way I treat others as well, in all of my diverse roles.

how to get out of a bad mood

Why isn't living more of a science? It would be so much easier if sometimes there was just a formula such as "If this, then that". I feel out of sorts and cranky and I don't know how to stumble forward. I would prefer the rule, "If you feel cranky, then mope for a day and the next day get on with being excellent." But it doesn't seem to work that way.

I feel out of sorts for a number of reasons. I hurt my knee while trail running and by the end of the last three working days it has been throbbing with a hot pain. In addition to this, I have had some setbacks at work that should just be minor bumps but somehow have grown to little mountains. My marking is piling up; also I am late with a few tasks that people depend on. A few parents criticized my teaching methods last week; also my students seem to be confused by things I thought they had learned.

At home I have failed to get a grip on the laundry and it seems to be taunting me from the overflowing baskets. I forgot to buy toilet paper for one day too long. And all I can find in the fridge for dinner is three red onions.

For now I am making my own life formula. It starts with "choose the success criteria for tomorrow". Since I know that I can't solve all these problems, including my foul mood, in one day, I have chosen just four tasks for tomorrow that will be the way I will judge my success. Two are for work, and two are personal tasks. One of them is to talk to God. If I can accomplish those four things, I will celebrate the day as a small success. And then tomorrow I'll set new success criteria for the next day. This is my small effort to structure my bleak days.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

I just finished this book - you may have heard about it a couple of years ago. It's about a first generation American-Chinese mother who wouldn't allow her two daughters to have free time or go to friends' houses. She forced them to practice music (piano for the elder, violin for the younger) for several hours every day and demanded their excellence in every academic subject.

Her book is somewhat tongue in cheek - and hilarious if you read it that way. But it also makes some valid (and scary) distinctions between Chinese and Western parenting (grand generalizations though they are). Western parents make an conscious choice to allow kids to choose their activities - even if it means Facebook and spending time at the mall. Chinese parents make all the choices for their children and demand compliance. This is why so many Asian children are so accomplished, Chua argues. She speculates that teenagers of both types hate their parents. And she also implies that adults of both types love their parents. So she is proud of her parenting style.

A lot of my students have parents like her, at least to some extent. They are driven by their parents' desires and they make academic gains because their parents ensure that they do. I can really tell the difference between those children and those whose parents acquiesce to their kids' wishes.

The real question is which is the right way (or better way) to parent? And how do you decide which is right? (Fortunately for me, I am only pondering in a theoretical way. Many of my friends and acquaintances are making these decisions every day.) What about you and your family?

what I'm learning: Libya, venom, and Kyrgyzs

I do not keep up to date much with current affairs. I also am terribly bad at the history questions in Trivial Pursuit. You could say I'm a little selfish about where I give my time since I don't often look outside my immediate surroundings.

As it turns out, I will be teaching a course called Theory of Knowledge next year. And it requires a broad general knowledge base. It's time for me to start paying attention to the world around a bit more.
So to start with I picked up National Geographic Magazine. I had about an hour to use in Central. Usually I would go shopping, but this time I decided to get some reading material and a snack and settle down to learn something. And so here are some two (ish) sentence summaries of what I have learned this weekend.

Libya, recently democratic, has a lot of archeological sites from Roman and Greek times and they were neglected, and hence preserved, all through the previous leader, Quaddafi's, time in power. Now they are being rediscovered, and hopefully actively protected.

Venom from poisonous snakes, insects, and reptiles can be used as cures. Researchers are collecting venom sample, analysing them, modifying them, and testing lots of new drugs.

There is a group of about 1000 people called the Kyrgyz, who live in the remote mountain ranges of isolated Afghanistan. They live in extremely harsh conditions but have close, happy families. The article I read hints that they may be connected to medical support and the modern world if a road is built to their area, but this is currently not the case.

sports day

The whole school took part in sports day when we all had to run one lap of the track to earn a "dynasty point" for our dynasties. I am in the Han dynasty and red is our colour. I sported this red wig during our run to show my dynasty spirit. Also, can you see Hanix, our mascot on the right? He won the mascots' 100 m race later in the day!

recent discoveries

I have recently discovered that:

• "reader" is my favourite one-handed typing word.
• sharing magazines with others is a clever type of recycling.
• the laundry dries more quickly in the guest bedroom than in the living room (due to the morning sun)--and it's out of the way there, too.
• pruning and washing the leaves on my indoor tree has revitalised it. (And I bet the same is true for people.)
• falling asleep on the couch for a nap with a book in hand is one version of luxury.
• persistence in rearranging my classroom furniture has finally led to a more open, spacious feeling. It's still the same number of desks and children, but they finally feel as though they fit.
• lesson planning is sometimes just "activity sequencing".

What have you discovered recently? Please share your pithy wisdom in the comments.

camping "holiday"

I just got back from a week's camping with 180 twelve year old students. We were there to expand our horizons, try some new things, and have active fun. Actually it was exhausting for the students, and not that exhausting for me. The camp was run by a group of youth leaders and they did all the work while I admired the view. :)

But then I got sick and ended up spending two days at home, lying on the couch and moaning a bit. Eventually I recovered, thankfully, and made it back to camp. Sadly I missed the best parts of the week--the hiking, kayaking, and gorging. Maybe next year?

new classroom

Above is the view from my classroom window! My classroom is on the first floor and the valley stretches out behind the school. This view is on the less inhabited side of the school. I love that although Hong Kong is a very built up area, there are still parts with trees, and all the greenery is very lush, thanks to the huge amounts of rain and sun.


I spent two days last week at work, meeting my new head of department and tidying up my classroom. I did some organising and labelling and planned some introductory lessons for my students.

So far this week of meeting my students and colleagues has been going well.

Things I like about my new school:
My colleagues from lots of places and backgrounds.
Free tea and coffee in the staffroom means people spend time there.
The maths department is NOT housed on the eighth floor--thank goodness.
The school is really safe and the students are comfortable--I have not seen any bullying.
I have been issued with a Macbook and a Wacom tablet!


I am surprised by:
The students can be a bit messy and careless--I hope they are not spoiled.
I rarely see the Principal around the school.
My lunch duty is only ten of the forty minutes for lunch.
My Octopus card pays for my train or bus fare, lunch at work, and takes out library books (and who knows what else).
A lot of the stairwells are open to the outside, so they can be very wet when it's raining.
There's a florist who sells things outside the staffroom on Tuesday mornings.

maths department

Today we took a group photo in the maths department. At lunch time we all met up in Scott's classroom and posed in front of the whiteboard. (You can see the posters of Pythagoras' Theorem and the area and circumference of a circle, so check back if you ever need to remember them!) We've got a great team of teachers in the department and I feel privileged to be working with them all.

I know that I winge (:complain) about teaching quite a lot, especially in person. I try to tone it down online.... But I realised today how much I love my job and it's mainly the pace and pressure that can get me down. I have been making more resources lately and noticed how much I enjoyed devising and creating them. And I have turned a corner (almost, I think, she said tentatively) with my most difficult class, so I am starting to feel a great sense of satisfaction with them. If they do well in their GCSE mock exams next week I will be really pleased. And my colleagues are great to work with. I wish we had more time to share ideas, both maths related and otherwise. What a great team.

busy life

The candle seems to be burning at both ends recently. Ant and I have been very busy both at work and at home. We have been flat hunting, and it is so much more involved than we thought. Hunting to buy is so much more stressful than when I did our previous lettings searches.

And work is all-go for both of us as well. I feel a bit as though I am struggling to keep up with the pace at work. I think I may need to tighten up on my productivity at my desk. But I am so tired that often I don't much feel like pushing myself; I putter around and then go home at "chucking-out time". Then work carries over into the next day and things spiral worse and worse. Sigh.

Sorry for wingeing. I have lots to be thankful for as well. I will write about those things after I get some rest.

childhood revisited

I have only a very few of my childhood books with me here in the UK. One of them is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Jodi and Ron Barrett. My copy (which actually has Micah's name scrawled moving upwards on the title page) is published in 1978. It's a story about the tiny town of Chewandswallow. There are no food stores in the town since the weather comes at three times a day and feeds the citizens. There could be soup, burgers, pancakes, or any food at all. It's a beautifully illustrated story that captivated me as a child. I have it here in the UK because I used to take it with me when I would go primary supply teaching. It was a sure-fire hit with young kids, especially because there were never any who had seen the story before.

Earlier this week I saw this amazing poster. They have made the book into a movie! I will have to go see it at some point. Hopefully it will be just as whimsical and captivating as I remember.

tutor group

I tutor a group of year nine students (fourteen year olds) and I've had them since year seven. They see me twice every day and I am meant to be their parents' first point of contact about all things school-related. I give advice and had out letters, keep communication between home and school open, and generally act as an advocate for my twenty-eight youngsters around the school. I try to solve their friendship and bullying issues and act as police for the school's policies and rules.

Do you think it would be crazy to read to them during tutor time? I thought of this last week when I was browsing on Green Metropolis, and I spontaneously bought a copy of the The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There are lots of things we are supposed to be doing during tutor time, like checking everyone has all their equipment, all the socks are black or grey or white, all the skirts are of an appropriate length, etc, etc. But really I am re-thinking my strategy with them. I have been very businesslike for the two years I have had them as a tutor group and now I want to forge a bit more of a relationship with them. Ideas certainly welcome! I started off last term with a summer pizza party, where we ordered pizza from down the road and I brought in drinks (Coke Zero, to minimise the damage to afternoon lessons!) and treats. They enjoyed it... I think. I don't actually know them very well and I think I would enjoy them more if I got to know them a bit.

back to work

Well, one week done! It was quite a tiring endeavour this week, to motivate myself and 155 students to get back down to some quality work. I am teaching a few new-to-me classes this year, for example, a bottom set of year 9s (fourteen year olds) that I am finding quite a challenge. I didn't realise how much detail I would need to go into when explaining how to round a number to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand. Actually, I decided after the first lesson, that I'd better teach about the place value positions first. Because if you can't identify the hundreds digit, then you can't round to the nearest hundred. This was a hurdle I wasn't expecting! But now I know not to assume any knowledge in the future. We will be doing lots of times table tests this year, because if these students leave school with any functional numeracy at all it will be a benefit.

Organising my classroom, resources, and mind is always a challenge as well. I have made a lot of hands-on items over the last few years, and it is a collection I want to continue building. So over the summer I reorganised them by moving them all into stackable containers on a high window sill (more than two metres off the floor). The containers are from our favourite oriental take-away food restaurant, and I have been collecting them all year--now I have about fifty, I think. All the boxes are labelled on the front with large stickers; "rounding card sort" is new this week, and a class set of "digits 0 - 9" for use with my new place value mats (laminated 50 cm long grids which hopefully will help students see how to compute 236 x 100 in their heads).

I love organising, but if only I had more time to do it! As the week went on, my desk became the resting place for piles of worksheets, incoming mail, items that my boss asked me to look at, slips of paper, and so on. This mess was compounded by the fact that I managed to run over the bell with almost every lesson this week (I must be out of practice!). So as students were leaving the room, the next set were streaming in, and I was still madly trying to find my next set of slides, worksheets, feedback slips, cards sorts, and mini whiteboards, while tidying away the ones I had finished with. Sigh.

The weekend is a welcome break. But in reality, I might be better served by going to work and trying to get back on top of things before the madness of another week begins.

career building

This week I spent a day at a maths teaching conference at the University of Hertfordshire, just north of London. I presented this poster stand during coffee breaks and also got to attend some sessions and lectures. The stand next to mine was a lot more colourful and this meant I didn't get into too many conversations with the delegates! But it was fun to go there and learn a few things.

complete these quotations

Recently I have been struck by two things I have been reading. Both were surprising to me in the way that the sentences ended. (The quotations aren't alike in any other way. Just their surprising endings.) See if you can complete the quotations.

First, from the booklet, Deep Progress in Mathematics:

All students have the right to, and are capable of, full engagement with the subject [of mathematics]. Outstanding features of mathematics which make it interesting, and which make learning easier, are __________....

Secondly, from The Prayer that Changes Everything, by Stormie Omartian:

My desperate plea was that I would never lose the most valuable thing in my life. I can't imagine anything more terrible that to live life again without ________. ___________ is the most wonderful of all the gifts the Lord gives us.

First, I was reading about deep progress in maths and was surprised that the authors were about to tell me what it is about maths that makes it accessible to low-ability learners. I was expecting something about its use in everyday life; that's certainly what the curriculum harps on about at the moment. But instead I was offered a much deeper idea. The quotation finishes this way:

Outstanding features of mathematics which make it interesting, and which make learning easier, are the inter-connections between different topics and representations, and the relationships between and within mathematical structures.

So there is something about maths that I love that is also something that can make it appealing to learners and even ones who struggle with maths. So part of my job is to bring these connections to the fore and help young people discover, or at least, see and appreciate them for themselves.

Secondly, I've been reading (off and on) this book about praising God by Stormie Omartian. It has 45 short chapters about reasons and times to praise God. I knew the ending to the sentence above because of the chapter I was reading, but I was still a little surprised! The quotation finishes like this:

I can't imagine anything more terrible that to live life again without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the most wonderful of all the gifts the Lord gives us.

I have recently been asking the Spirit to guide me more often. And to prompt me to follow through. I am so excited that I have started being more obedient to the Spirit, and so he is starting to lead me more. So today I was praising God for his most vital gift of the Holy Spirit. And asking him to continue to lead me and help me follow.

overworked, but content

I had so much marking over the half term break that I had to bring it home from work in two installments. The suitcase was the only way I could get the second half back to work; I couldn't actually lift all the marking I had done! I found it quite funny to return home on the train with my empty suitcase in the evening.

But on a positive note, I have some projects coming up that I am very excited about. I am hoping to do some research about maths A level participation at the school and I'm also taking part in a working research group about trigonometry. So although I am busy, I am enjoying things at work. I wish there was less administration (Matt says I need an adminion) and I could do with less marking. But I am learning and trying new things, which I love.

feeling a bit overworked

It's busy period at work at the moment. We are buried under reports, paperwork, and parents' evenings. I am struggling to keep up with my usual lesson planning and marking. Thursday and Friday were manic; I was observed by visitors four times and I was madly trying to get a set of reports finished as well.

I went into work today for two and a half hours and, surprising, that was a really encouraging thing to do. I finished the reports (a bit past their deadline, oh, well) and did some paperwork I have been putting off. One can only put off those things so long because all of them are time-sensitive, regardless of how much work I have on my plate. Now I feel a bit more on top of things and hope that Monday morning might not be quite so hectic.

As I mentioned before, I am reading a book about work in an advertising office in Chicago called Then We Come to the End by Joshua Ferris. I was reading it on the way to and fro work on Thursday, when I was so stressed by everything and I marked this passage about motivating oneself to work in the afternoons.

Heading back from the couches, knowing we had to toss out our ad concepts for the fund-raiser and start over again in the disagreeable hours of the afternoon--which tended to stretch on and on--we felt a bit fatigued. All that work for nothing. And if we happened to case back, in search of edification, to days past and jobs completed--oh, what a bad idea, for what had all that amounted to? And anticipating future work just made the present moment even more miserable. There was so much unpleasantness in the workaday world. The last thing you ever wanted to do at night was go home and do the dishes. And just the idea that part of the weekend had to be dedicated to getting the oil changed and doing the laundry was enough to make those of us still full from lunch to want to lie down in the hallway and force anyone dumb enough to remain committed to walk around us.

Well, at least I am feeling a bit more positive now but it still irks me sometimes that I have to do all the rubbish chores on the weekend! Such is life.

practical matters

I have several things I have been thinking about posting over the last few days. In fact, looking forward to posting. But writing them down seems to be a barrier sometimes. I am so tired that typing seems like an effort, let alone attempting to write something that will be coherent. I have successfully been battling a cold this week--with the help of my new bottle of ColdFX. (Thanks, Mum, for a very practical present that has already kept me from having a sick day.)

I have had a small timetable change this term that has resulted in a change in my marking days and now I am swamped with marking at the end of every second week. Here is the pile I was working my way through today and I ended up having to take a fair amount home this weekend. Taking work home is something I try to avoid at all costs, but I am simply going to have to do it, or use my time better in the week. I had a really profitable afternoon, though, and managed to get all the photocopying done for the next two weeks.


One thing I've been meaning to mention for a while now is that I bought a slow cooker at the beginning of January. I have used it a few times to great success. I am not a big meat fan in general but the meat cooked in the slow cooker comes out so tender and flavourful that I do enjoy it. Today I made black bean curry with gammon (ham) cubes and it was mighty tasty. Paired with a fresh salad of rocket, watercress, and cherry tomatoes it made a really nice (low fat and low GI) meal.


Well, there I got over my writer's block and wrote this post. So I will have to take the "little and often" approach and try again tomorrow to tackle some other things I want to reflect on and write about.

tiring but profitable

This year I have had a little promotion to Gifted & Talented Coordinator in Maths. And this week was the first time I ticked off some of the things on my job description. On Monday we had an INSET day. In the morning there was a whole school session, half about More Able, Gifted, and Talented education and half about Learning to Learn (shortened to MAG&T and L2L respectively). In the afternoon I led a session in the maths department about how we wish to choose to identify our gifted students. We did a little card sort activity in pairs and used the results to agree as a group the criteria we felt most delineated which students we would consider gifted in maths. I wrote this up and added it to the MAG&T policy that my Head of Maths and I wrote while we were part of the G&T action group last year.

One provision we make for the more able and gifted students in maths is to enter them into the national Maths Challenges. The first of these was on Thursday, for students in years 11 to 13. I organised two lunch time training sessions and then the event on Thursday. It was really good to see that everything went smoothly and I sent the completed papers off to the University of Leeds on Thursday afternoon. The challenge was 90 minutes long and we had 35 students participating. I think one of the students may have out-scored me, which is indicative of his ability! I'm sure he'll get a certificate and be passed on to the more advanced rounds.

This was a really tiring week with all this extra stuff going on as well as teaching, prep work, reports, and marking. But it was profitable and I feel like I will be more ready for organising the next Maths Challenge. Working with gifted students is really what I love and I hope my career will continue in this sort of vein.

some maths links and ideas

Today I just saw this brilliant YouTube video about a chef making very thin noodles. The video illustrated the powers of two really well.

Owen reminded me of the video of James Blunt singing about his love for a triangle.

I also read this article today about how to help your child learn the times tables and a book that explores patterns in the times tables. I have decided that both of my year seven classes are going to get frequent times table tests this year because it's an obstacle that must be overcome to feel confident in maths in later years. I'm also planning on doing a lot more mental maths methods teaching this year. We have been talking about the strategies we use when adding or subtracting in our heads. The questions we have been doing started with 14 - 6, for example, and we worked up to 67 - 38. The first part of the scheme of work emphasises written methods, but I think they are less useful in the long run. Students have to be able to calculate in their head, and know when to calculate mentally and when to use a written method (or a calculator).