Jarod Yong

what the website looks like. clean & straightforward. just the way I like it. For your information (esp those of you who are not working for MoE), everybody in the ministry has to take an ICT Competency test. The officers & teachers in Perlis, Perak, Melaka, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Penang, Kedah, Labuan, Negeri Sembilan, KL & Johore have already taken the test. So from 23-31 Oct, its our turn in Sabah, Sarawak & Selangor. Here's the link to the website . Here are my thoughts... #1 FAST & SMOOTH!!! OMG!!! How many of you dread using MoE websites? Esp if it has to do with clerical data entry? It's not the data entry that we dread but the servers which tend to get crowded too often & log us out all of a sudden. Because of this, many teachers wake up in the middle of the night to key in data. Oh, this reminds me, I have to update SPPBS. Dank. No sleep tonight. When navigating & using this website, I cant help but notice how smooth thi

The students of Form 4D (the weakest class) produced this beautiful banner. I believe in employing the strengths of usually overlooked students in such projects & boasting about their good work. Our visitors loved the banner. Many Sarawakians have never heard of my school & while many express a desire to visit my school, very few actually put in the effort to travel to my school except these people & these people . For walking the talk, I salute them. So it is even harder to find foreigners who would be interested in visiting my obscure (but awesome) school in the middle of (a very romantic) nowhere. However, as I mentioned in  a previous post , God has a good plan for my school & I am only tapping into God's plan & His will for the people in this region. He set in motion the events that would lead to this: Program Jalinan Kasih Antarabangsa. The first ever visit to my school by foreign education officers. It started with a chance opportunity to be part

The workshop was held at Harbour View Hotel , Kuching. I remember, not too long ago, I said that when an individual stands up for a cause that is bigger than he/she is, good things start to happen, people want to help, resources find their way & all with little perceived effort. This was one such occurrence. By the stoke of luck (or was it?), I was called up at the last minute to attend Phase 1 of the  Remedial Instruction Workshop during the Gawai Holidays. I happened to be in Kuching at that time & I happened to have no plans (which, come to think of it, is really rare). And other teachers who were more senior or 'deserving' happened to have plans & could not attend the week long course. Besides being trained by a credible & knowledgeable specialist from the US, meeting some of the best & supportive teachers in our country was perhaps the most valuable take-away from the course. It was a great opportunity for me because teachers from obscure o

Mentors giving out congratulatory high 5s at the end of the jog. Emotional support. Last year, I conducted the PMR Motivation Programme personally & let another teacher handle the SPM Motivation Programme. This year, I wanted to personally handle the SPM group because I felt that it was more challenging to influence older kids & I didn't want to burden other teachers like I did last year. However, this left a big question mark as to who will handle the PMR group. I got my answer at the end of last year in a discussion with Sarah Lasung (a Leadership Development Officer with  Teach For Malaysia ): Get the PMR students who went through the motivation programme under me to do it for their juniors. Pure genius. And that was exactly what I did. I'd like to thank my principal, Mr Patrick Nojey for approving the funds to pay for the shirts my students used. Exercise is good for mental, emotional & physical health which contributes towards better concentrati

My transfer application. This afternoon, I was at my PPD to pursue an urgent letter they have not sent to my school. I needed this letter urgently to attend a meeting in Melaka next week &, with all the arrangements I have to make, I did not appreciate the delay. One of the officers walked by & said, "Cikgu Yong, jangan pindah lagi ya?" I looked at him for a moment to see if he was joking. He didn't look like he was joking. He could very well have been the officer assigned to handle transfers. I figured that if he had already made up his mind, there would be no point for me to reason with him. I was, after all, a mere statistic to him. I said hi, shook his hand politely but didn't say anything. He asked the question again. This time it seemed more like a statement. I took my letter, said my good byes & left. Yes, I applied for transfer. This is my second application. I did the first one last year . I only applied at the end of the year because I