On the Other Side of the Fence

For once, I am on the other side of the fence. I was at a field trip, not as a teacher but as a parent volunteer! Lol. :) I volunteered for Marieann's field trip to the Singapore Science Centre. There were two P6 classes who went to the Science Centre. The two classes were split into three group, with the two form teachers each taking charge of one group and the two parent volunteers (one of them is me!) taking charge of the third group. 
We arrived at the Science Centre close to 9:30am and started with the Mind Fest activities. The students each completed two hands-on activities. There was a break from 10:30am to 11am and followed by an hour at the Climate Change exhibit whereby the students had to complete a worksheet. By 12:40pm, we arrived back at SCGS. :) It was an exciting and interesting experience, accompanying my daughter on her field trip. But I am not sure if Marieann felt the same way lol. :P Read on to find out why.

Marieann and her classmate

It is quite different being on the other side of the fence, the students are not really scared of you, the parent volunteer because you are not their teacher and they usually think that you won't dare to scold them and that they can climb over your head. However, I proved their thinking wrong haha. As the other parent was soft-spoken, I had to do my teacher thing to retain order (and control) of some rowdy students in the group. I am really glad that I still have my teacher voice and look. The students obeyed me without a word haha. :) I had no problem slipping into a teacher mode! Marieann was most horrified when she heard from her friends who were in my group that I told the group off for not knowing how to line up properly. She said her classmates told her that I am scary but I am also pretty haha. :P I guess the field trip was fun for me because I became a teacher again for the morning. As a colleague from NIE mentioned, once a teacher always a teacher. She is so right. :)