Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of…
great read everyone :k:
I hope to sketch something of my own soon too
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
Job: LEA teaching & learning consultant
Qualifications and exerience: Graduate, teaching qualification, successful teaching experience.
I arrive at a school and ask a man for the teacher(who happens to be muslim) whose lesson i am going to observe, the man asks me 'R u the wife?', i didn't bother to call him a racist, sexist pig but calmly told him my title and watched him die a death.
I observe the lesson and a fight breaks out with the teacher watching helplessly, the fight gets so big that i have no option but to intervene. I go to the front of the class and in a quiet voice give a lecture about how badly they are behaving infront of a visitor (me) at the same time i am praying 'O God help kerna', my prayers are answered and this class of 14 yr olds boys all go in chorus 'Sorry miss, we r very sorry'. I sternly tell them 'i dont want to hear sorry i want to see sorry'. The lesson proceeds, its not a good lesson but at least no more fights break out.
I then feedback to the teacher, what the strengths of the lesson were (I had to look hard for this) and what he needs to improve. I can tell he is thinking 'What would u know about teaching this lot?'
I then have a meeting with him and two other teachers. I am informing them of the lesson I will teach and what they need to look for in it. At one point the teachers burst out laughing, 'Yes I am going to ask them to work in groups!' the teachers think I will fail, that these kids are 'unteachable' and i am delusional.
the lesson goes really well, the teachers 'cannot believe the kids can behave so well', we discuss what key points they will try to incorporate into their own lessons, i remind them about taking small steps. The dept are now willing to take me much more seriously, they will listen to me now. We arrange another meeting for next week, i will deliver some training and they will feedback on the strategies they have tried.
I then have to go to another school, where the head teacher has invited me in to sit on the interview panel, they are interviewing for the post of head of department. I had looked at the interview list yesterday and it had a name i recognised, a mean,arrogant, sexist man i had worked with previously. God DOES work in mysterious ways!
The headteacher asks me about this man, I inform her, very professionaly, he is a very good teacher, which is true enough. When its my turn to ask questions, he shows signs of nervousness and asks me to repeat the question three times. Oh revenge is sweet. I help him to answer the question.
The headteacher asks him how will he fit into the catholic ethos of the school, he says' Perfectly, I belive in respect, equality (hah, I think) and love'. LOVE, he said LOVE, its not THAT kind of love the headteacher meant, I duck my head and smother my laughter. He didn't get the job.
I go home and prepare for training that i will be delivering to heads of dept next day.
Its a fascinating job, you get to meet lots of different people and you are trying to change the way people work, get them to have higher expectation of their pupils. Some are fatastic to work with, others need more support. Its varied, requires lots of people skills, ability to coach people and uptodate subject knowledge and patience, bundles of patience.
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of…
a very good read Serendipiti :k: - thank you for posting…
what does “LEA” stand for though?
Your work sounds very analogous to what I used to do as a management consultant…
but at least I had a mature professional audience to deal with - your task is more grueling.
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
Thanks UT, LEA stands for Local education authority, i think in north america they are school districts
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
A day in the life of a mother :
yes yes i know it was meant to be carrier related ....but i just feel like posting here .....sorry!
my day starts at 5:20 in the morning n ends at 11:30 most of the time!
i have 3 children .....two sons (6 &4) n a daughter (1 year old)
how my day is spent
help children getting ready in the morning ....(massage , shower , breakfast etc.)
teach them Quraan paak n Qaida...pack lunch n snack boxes .....medicine etc.
drive them to school at 8:00
do grocery, cleaning , cooking, n playing with the youngest
pick younger one from nursery at 12:00
eldest is picked up either at 3 or 4 ...depending on his schedule
then is time for some refreshments
at 5:00 in evening is the time again for qaida /Quraan paak.....while teaching ...i prepare dinner
dinner at 6:00
then comes ironing ,help with homework, tidying up ...sending kids off to sleep at 8:00
after that i plan my next day ....do what is necessary ....work as a secretary to my hubby ...i.e. writing business latters ...or other bank related activities ...plus gupshup....:)
youngest goes to bed quite late .....once she is asleep i rush to hit the sack too !
:)
i hope you professional lot won't mind me here ! :)
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
Afia :) the pay isn't all that great and the holiday package stinks...
but that one hug or that one smile really does make it worthwhile. I wish i was more regular with the Quran with my kids.
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
Afia... raising children is a noble deed and the way you’ve described your daily life, it is imperative that your kids will turn out to be virtuous people inshaAllah… what could be more rewarding than that :--)
What you go through everyday is far beyond our “professional” strife… but in the end, the fruit of your efforts will make you proud. Thank you for sharing :)
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of…
Afia, to be very honest your days seem to be much more action-filled than those of most “professionals”. :k:
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
Worked as IT operations, helpdesk, network, systems support (level 1 and 2) for a long time. Dad's passing away many years ago forced me to start taking care of family and siblings so never was able to finish college. Got stuck in one job and same position for a very long time.
We have all heard, and seen, that God works in mysterious ways......? After working for a long time, my name came up in the last layoffs two months ago (to those who might be observant... I haven't posted anything in the last few months). My company's had a few layoffs in the last two years and this time... my name came up. I was already prepared and went to work on the fatefull day with my securID token and master keys to the building. What I suspected transpired. In the meantime, my wife and mom were on the cell every 2 mins. wanting to know what happened. By 9:15am, told them that I'll will let them know in an hour. I was in my car by 10:30am. Notified my wife and mom. The world had become dark. I felt light and elated. Had a slave driving boss whom I worked under for years.
Came home. Took the next week laying low. Started to bring some focus to look for jobs around the 2nd and the 3rd week. In the mean time, started to work at my friend's gas station. Hours didn't pane out due to family activities. He hooked me up with another of his friends and I started work there to convert my afternoon/evening times to cash. This allowed me to keep my morning times free for my work. For a job in which the circumstances prevented sitting down, I had to take pain killers daily for a month. I had to keep in touch with my brother, who is a doctor, about this for a while.
Four weeks later, I got my severence pay plus remaining vacation payout. Immediately, the concern arose that if I and wife don't find anything soon then we'll begin to eat into the severence package. My wife also has been laid off for about 3.5 years -- she's Electronics Eng. Forgot to mention: many years ago we both went back to school and she finished successfully as a fulltime student while I was in part-time. We also had 4 children at that time and at one point we were ALL in school + one in daycare. Two of the older kids went to afterschool daycare. For a year during that time we paid $700.00 per month in daycare. We both were in a deep grind and time just stopped for us for a very long time. She got out with the degree, got working, we buy a house near her work, she lost her job after 14 days, I quit school to save on misc. expenses. So, moving on...... we decided to invest in a business as soon as possible. I cashed my 401K (to those living outside U.S. - this is a retirement account setup by the employer to which they contribute).
We got the severence package and the remaining 401K amount together and called a broker who turned out to be someone we've known for over 12 years...hmmm. He tells us of a fast food that's came to him few weeks ago. The owner has another investment property being built and has a timeline to be out of the current business in a few weeks. He's asking a low goodwill to make it easy on the prospective buyer to buy the business. This appeals to us. The stated location turns out to be in a busy area occupied by businesses and half a block from the highway. Wife begins to monitor and after 6 weeks, we bought the business last week.
For the last few weeks, I had been working at "my" business and the other one back to back... for almost a 16 hour day for about two weeks. I have just now quit with the other place and am trying to work at the business while working on the marketing aspect - this is something new that I am learning now.
Any available time that we had has disappeared. I have one infant now...... the fifth one. I am supposed to be working with my broker right now and going out to open a bank account... :) but this thread took my interest. I may have been lenghty but the short and sweet would have been: Wife goes to the business and opens, I go in the afternoon to relieve my wife and home after closing.... kinda ........ toooooo short and bit salty.
Chota muNh baRi baat: looking at hindsight..... Allah did create circumstances to get us here. If I had finished my eductation, I'd have moved on from my job and wouldn't have racked up the time that I did to get the severence package that ultimatly became my lifeboat.
Future plan is grand: We have 3 employees right now. I don't know what the future holds. I am fully cognizant of the fact that nothing happens without the will of Allah. My story, I believe, speaks to that. My dream is, to start a Muslim Scholarship fund, a topic I have interacted on this site before, as a way to payback for the good fortune I have been bestowed. Will I succeed? I don't know but I have a dream.
I will say this in no uncertain terms: I have not been worthy of what I have today. I have nothing in my hands, skills and knowledge that has got me to where I am starting a new phase in my life. It's only the love of my father marhoom and prayers of my mother and my grandmother. I feel absolutly humble... you can not guess even though you might say that you understand unless you've been there and felt utterly that you are being carried and cared by a higher power... and feel ashamed of how ingrateful I am in many of the ways I have to show Allah my gratitude.
I think I have said enough....... you may be yawning by now....
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
Jannu, ur post reminded me of my family, when i was growin up we had no extra money whatsoever, if we needed any luxuries we would walk to school and save the bus fare. Today mashallah we are in a very different situation. We definitely need to be more grateful to Allah and keep giving sadaqah and to do dua for our elders who made such sincere duas for us.
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
my life- i go to school all day, just 14 more months till i graduate!!!
likes- my friends, - wonderful, and if i didnt have any than i would transfer cus my school sucks
apus,- same teach for 3 years in a row, but this year i actually like him (hated him the 1st 2 years) and i realized i love american history
psy. - 1st period, i do my hw, and its interesting
and math - love my teacher, my class is full of freshmen, but the folks i sit by are nice.
dislikes-
span- same teach for 3 years, i cant stand her anymore
physics- student teacher- cant stand him/ the way he teaches i do my hist hw in that class
eng- cant stand the teacher, i sit around smell kids (your juniors go buy deodarant) and the class is all busy work n it sucks i hate most of the kids in there too
after school- i eat, catch up on my fob tv, start my hw, go on gupistan, see if my cousin emailed me.
my future- i wanna buy trump tower when donald goes broke (i hate him)
im gonna have like 10 diff houses all across america, and i gotta list of the top 10 cars i want. i have my backyard and most of my houses planned out. sadly i can describe my future husband, and i kinda know what my weddings gonna be like.. but i know im gonna be rich and have a job when i get married!! and i know im gonna go to college far away, and grad. either in less than 4 years or more than 4 years but not exactly 4 years. im gonna study abroad in austrailia/ italy/or puerto rico. aust- if i dont take a language. italy- if i take italian, n puerto rico- if i magically start liking spanish again..
haha im such a loser i got my whole life planned out, watch it come true. ahha a
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
^ sounds like someone needs a reality check.
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
"short and sweet"? hmm.... atleast 4 interviewers who interviewed me commented, "are you the interviewer or the interviewee. the sweet part is that they said it in a nice way. they were surprised cz they said they didnt have this much boldness and confidence at my age.
i seem to have lost 70% of it in this sick, suffocating environment.
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
Nice read Jannu, Afia and Serendipiti :)
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
A very nice read indeed Jannu… I’d missed this one in midst of my exam prep I suppose.
You’ve worked your way through difficult and trying times, and inshaAllah you’re bound to realize the fruits of your strife.
I’ve often commented on the dividends of failures, and people who have it easy in their lives… their bubble’s gotta burst sometime. May Allah grant you prosperity in every walk of life henceforth. Aameen.
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
*Computer Engineer :( *
Pros:
None.
Cons:
- IT sector prefers computer science graduates.
- Engineering jobs require Electrical Engineers.
- Network admins and database admins must have associated certification.
Likes:
- **Relaxation **There is no need to do any thing, I can just sit at home and relax. There are enough Computer science graduates and electrical engineers out there to fill every vacancy.
- Be Creative I have enough time to do creative things like designing your chair.
- Grow every day: Since enough free time is available, so I can spend it in studying and discussions to increase my knowledge.
- Spend time as I wish Financial benefits are hardly out there and this helps me in spending my life as I wish cause I am never going to have enough resources to marry.
- Stay healthy I involve myself in sports at time and am at my best in regards of health.
- **Live long life **Since I don't have as much things on mind as EEs or CSGs have so my mind is relaxing and I am more probable of having a long life.
Dislikes:
- **Keep away from bad friends **Some of my friends are electrical engineers or computer science graduates, so I don't meet them too often to be asked about my career.
- **Never let anybody know **If some one will ever know I am a computer engineer, then I have to be ready to solve his problems in "Paintshop pro" or "winamp" or fixing his loose power switch.
- **Never discuss algorithms with CSGs **Computer science graduates solve algorithms without caring any engineering aspects (efficiency, …) but they are best with what they know and they don't care the stupid things we were made to know. It is an era of PCs operating in GHz.
- **Never discuss design techniques with EEs **EEs are definitely more expert than I am, even if they don't know what will happen if you will increase register size, so I am in my limits and accept whatever I am told.
EE-->Electrical Engineer
CSG-->Computer science graduate
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
Software Engineer For a Major Cellular Operator in Pakistan.
It's a cool job and i like it, too bad today is my last day here. I'm going for MS degree in Mobile Computing.
The best thing about this job is that I write computer programs once ( after a heartaching testing phase) and then they do all the work for me, so there are many days in a month that i have nothing to do just check that my programs are working fine.
My programs serve 2.5+ million users. Nice huh?
If u are in Pakistan then chances are that u have used services that are powered by my programs
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of...
god thread
Re: Cornerstone Series: A Day in the Life of…
I am unemployed, thus my day:
Wake up at 10am…
Get out of bathroom at 10:30
Watch Tv until 1pm, check emails/surf net.
1:40: Neighbours
2-5: meet with similarly unemployed friends, or go to town to look for work.
5: back home: tv/net/music until roti 
10-2am, TV, mostly MTV.
2-4 am, chill in room. surf net, look for work.
- SLEEP.
I badly need a job…