Teaching

The other day at a meetup teachers shared how long they were in service, how they learned how to use a computer and how they started to use technology in the classroom. I had to get up myself and tell my story.

I told them that I was the youngest in the whole group when it came to academic teaching. I had taught a term in my alma mater. I was tasked to teach OrgCom. I had 2 major tasks: (1) Re-do the syllabus from scratch; and (2) test how to use Google Apps for Edu in the classroom. It was a herculean task for me since it was my first time to teach an actual class. The only other teaching experience I had then was substituting at my friend's nursery school and doing trainings at work. I realized then how hard it is to be a teacher since (1) you have to be at least 2 steps ahead of your students; (2) you have to study non-stop; and (3) you need to manage your time to a tee. Boy, it was really hard especially since I also had a full-time job.

It was my brother who taught me how to use a computer. I think I was about 9 years old then. He eventually enrolled me in logo programming class and gave me his old desktops as hand me downs. I was already in college when my parents got me my own desktop. I've been through the green-screen monitor and floppy disks. Hard drives were not available yet back then so you had to make sure you have at least 2 drives so you can run MS-DOS then replace it with the app and then use the other drive to share your files. Eventually my brother handed me down another computer so I had a monochrome screen which was later on replaced with a colored monitor (it cost a whooping PhP17K!!!). I learned how to use a Mac when I was doing a freelance job at Shell when I was still in college.

I was lucky my alma mater was the first school to get connected to the internet so that's where I learned. It wasn't really taught in class, but I learned mostly through trial and error and by asking questions from friends. I guess it was really curiosity that really helped me get through my second task when I ended up in the academe. And I found kindred spirits at the teacher meetup when they shared how they learned how to use the computer and how they eventually found a way to use technology in the classroom.

Spending a lot of time with teachers in the last year made me admire teachers more. It's a profession that's purely motivated by passion to serve others. It's also a huge responsibility to be tasked to shape the minds of students.

Hopefully someday I'd be able to teach in the academe again :)

Terror Teachers

I dedicate this post to all my teachers who terrorized me in school. I can say that fondly now, but back then my teachers used to make me cry.

When I was in first grade I remember trying to skip school every time I had English classes. My teacher was really strict and I was messing up pretty bad because I was scared of her. My English communication skills was in the gutter even though my first language was English. I was behind until I was in fifth grade and I don't know what happened but I was assigned to a special section when I was in sixth grade. They said that we had talent for communicating. Well, to this day I'm still not sure why I was assigned to that class haha.

In high school I realized I had to improve my English writing skills so I joined the writing club and attended a couple of the workshops. I became a voracious reader and devoured tons of books (that's where my allowance usually went). I thought I was okay already until I encountered my Filipino teacher. There was a lot of talk about the terror Filipino teacher. And whatever we heard from higher batches was real.

I was seated on the front row (alphabetical order) and that kinda made things worse because she'd see any movement you do. Looking back the class felt like it was an hour long military drill. You're not allowed to talk. Don't make any extra movements. Cheating was definitely not allowed and you had to roll down your paper during the test (bilutin ang papel!). And your not allowed to share anything with your seatmate, so if you don't have paper you're not allowed to take the test.

When I get together with my high school buddies we always talk about that class and all our misdemeanors. My highest grade for that class was 81 and I think that was the average for everybody. It was hard, but looking back I realize that I carried the discipline that our teacher instilled in us. It taught me how to be independent and how to be prepared. And I carry that to this day.

I eventually bumped into my English teacher a couple of years ago and I was happy to tell her being strict pushed me to improve myself. I told her that I became editor-in-chief of our university's literary publication. I was one of her many students so I'm sure she didn't really remember me, but I just wanted to let her know that she made a huge impact in my life. As for my Filipino teacher, I haven't seen her since high school and I heard she already retired and lives in Canada. The daily terror drills we had with her definitely disciplined me and it's been key to who and what I am today.

Thank you Mrs. Parcon and Ginang de Vera for being great teachers :)

Professor A (a.k.a. Miss A., that's me!)

A few months ago my high school buddy (and 4-years laboratory partner) asked me if I wanted to teach. I said yes not knowing that I would actually start teaching a graduating class by September.

I did not know what I had gotten myself into. 

And I must say I have new-found respect to the teaching profession. It's not easy and very challenging. I found myself STUDYING and doing research. It would take me at least 3 hours to prepare for a 90 minute class. 

Because of my work I do a number of speaking engagement, so I stupidly thought that teaching a class would be as easy. I was wrong. Teaching a class is very different from going through a preso to an audience you will just see for an hour. When you teach a class there is a deeper commitment to engage the audience, because at the end of the term you will ask yourself, "Did they honestly learn something from me?"

I was out for three weeks because of my sickness and I realized after going back to teach that I missed my students. They were not as kulit as I expected. There was a good balance between brilliant kids and the lazy ones. And well from my desk in front I think I kinda know who's going to be ahead (well more or less).

I just hope though I won't be as sorely disappointed with myself since I feel I would've been able to give more to my students, but sometimes ya-know things just get really crazy. 

To my students, we have one class day left! Woohoo! or Awww? Hope you picked up something from me and good luck with your thesis!

Aliens and Teaching

I was at the Enterprise Center waiting for a friend and was quite bored so I took a snap of the Makati skyline and was surprised with the result, check this out:

Photo taken with a Nokia N70.

See the three glowing lights beside the buildings. Aliens! I thought.

Aliens huh? The glowing thingies are just actually the reflection of the ceiling lights and NOT aliens. Will they even bother visiting the Philippines? Hmmm… I don’t even want to think about it coz aliens kinda freak me out.

Dot. Dot. Dot.

So I had my fourth class session today and I had my students do group work that involved bond paper and crayons. I thought that they should have a little fun while learning.

I actually almost joined the academe right after graduation, but I was lured to join the corporate world and I had to make a choice a week before classes started. So here I am today.

I always wanted to teach. I remember when I was a kid I would teach my yaya how to read (with matching blackboard!) and I’d get mad whenever she was lazy to do her writing homework (LOL). I eventually taught catechism in our parish and then backstopped for Miguel’s nursery teacher whenever she couldn’t make it to class (the kids called me Teacher Mommy back then).

It’s in my blood. My Dad taught in Ateneo de Naga while he was waiting for the results of the board exam. My Kuya taught in DLSU too and my Ate now teaches too in the US. My Mom sometimes teaches crafts to kids and as an outreach for livelihood projects in the parish. I have a grandmother who used to be a high school principal in Davao. So, you get the picture.

And I guess no matter where you go and no matter how busy you get when you say you want to teach… just DO IT. I do hope tough that my students would eventually pick up something from me that they’d manage to use when they graduate.