Farewell, Kumpare

I have been too emotional these past few days because one of my friends has just joined our Creator.
He passed away due to a lot of complications that made his body so weak.

I would like to share my two letters for him:
Dear Sir/Kumpare/Tol/Mar,
This is so sudden. Had I known it, I would have paid you a regular visit at home. I was too confident that we would all be seeing you on Monday.
I'm sure that before you joined our Creator, memories that you had with us, your friends, were replayed right before your eyes. The first time we met, together with our younger sisters and our mothers in the open lot beside the oldest building of WBNHS, the love-hate relationship that we had as friends/classmates because of our individual differences,the times that we had sleepless nights because we had to prepare for Histoquiz and Geography Quiz Bee, and the times that I had to give you unsolicited advice about love. I also remembered how diligent you were way back then.I remembered how you patiently walked a few kilometers just to go to school early, even sometimes without “baon”. I witnessed how you studied harder that you even went to school early just to study our lessons, although our classroom was not equipped with electricity and descent chairs. We were so impressed with how well you performed in our class, especially in AP. I remembered how you recited the anecdotes about Mabini, Bonifacio and others and the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. Did you also remember the debate about “morality of presidential candidates” and “death penalty”?I was supposed to join your team but I chose not to, and you knew why. I just produced the evidence though. You also made our Alma Mater soar high due to your numerous awards. I'm sure our teachers will never forget how diligent you were as a student, and that our students would realize that they were blessed because you became a part of their lives.
Did you remember the day that you won her heart, then broke off after a few months, then won her back after a year? Did you remember her debut party that we had to pretend that I was your girlfriend? How I wished you had ended up with her instead of someone else. Did you also remember the times you gave me a tour around PNU and SM Manila? I was so thrilled to see that place but I chose to enroll in another school.How about the time that we shared about our adventures as student-teachers of two different schools, then we paid a short visit to Sir Danny to ask for advice about our career then you suddenly disappeared? We didn't have any news about you for seven years until we both decided to try our luck in the government, thanks to Facebook we got reconnected .Truth be told, I wouldn't be here without your help because I was too lazy to follow-up our application. We worked together as we were both wondering how it feels like working with your former classmate.“Tol ha, walang iwanan”, as you have often said. But now you left.
Pards, I'm sure you're now in a happier place. You've already suffered a lot. You've fought the good fight. No more pain, loans to pay, bills to worry about. You're with Lola Teresa and uncle now. Thank you for being one of my closest friend who'd always teased me with my ex-crushes, for your concern towards my family and career, for unselfishly sharing everything that you had. There's no one to tease me about weight gain anymore. There's no one to remind me to continue studying, and when I reply "tinatamad na ako pre" you'd always remind me "Di ka naman ganyan dati ah". Nakakainis, nakakaiyak. I had to stop.
There's no Facebook in heaven but at least you can now rest in God's loving embrace. Posting loooong rants on FB isn't my style, but I couldn't help it. It was just so sudden.

For Delmar Ramos Guillermo
RIP

Friday, June 17, 2016

Teaching Araling Panlipunan isn't complete without the basic knowledge about GEOGRAPHY . So my first official lesson for this school year is about the basic concept of Geography, the study of land, its features, inhabitants and the phenomena of earth (The American Heritage Dictionary/ of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. Retrieved October 9, 2006.).

My first formal lesson both with my seventh and eighth grader was about the basic concepts of Geography. I started with daily routine; I called a student to lead the prayer, asked them to inspect their surroundings and arrange their chairs. Then, to create a happy atmosphere, I asked them to choose a partner and I let them sing "Kumusta Ka?", a popular children's song.

To formally start the lesson, we started by brainstorming. I asked them what they knew about geography. And because I gave them their first assignment for this school year, everything went smoothly. I also requested them to bring out their notebooks and maps (Asian and World Map for seventh and eighth grader, respectively. I asked them to observe the difference between a globe (that I band a map, and which one they prefer using. Some of them chose a globe over a map, to which I jokingly replied , "O sige ha, 'yang mga nagtaas ng kamay, magdala kayo ng globe next meeting". Nagtawanan naman ang mga batang makukulit.

Last year, I received a complaint from a Science teacher who taught Earth Science for seventh grade on the last quarter of the school year. She told me that most seventh grade students whom she handled could not distinguish latitude from longitude and other important lines on the map. In this lesson, one of my objectives is for the students to be able to distinguish the important lines on the globe and on the map, and to appreciate its importance. I made sure that the students were able to identify the following:
latitude
longitude
grid
Prime Meridian
International Date Line
Arctic Circle
Tropic of Cancer
Equator
Tropic of Capricorn
Antarctic Circle

In addition, I also taught them about North Pole and South Pole and the earth's east and west hemisphere.


For further exercise, I tell a name of a country. The students would find the said country on their own map and identify the name of the line where the country is located. Then I will call two students to locate the said country on the map and on the globe respectively.

I hope this lesson would help the students to remember the important lines on the map/globe.

What I did on the First Week of Classes

This school year, I am assigned to teach two subjects: Araling Asyano and Kasaysayan ng Daigdig, for grades seven and eight respectively. It’s challenging because it’s not easy to prepare lessons for these two subjects. Plus, I have to work mid-shift from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. Another thing, I was assigned as class adviser of grade seven section LUKE.

One of the disadvantages of being an AP teacher is that, there are a lot of topics but there are only three days to conduct lessons in a week. Pagkakasyahin mo talaga. Although there is what we call “budget of work”, still, for some AP teachers, it’s not enough. And sometimes, your classes have irregular schedules, like what happened for the last two years. Parang sinisingit lang talaga ang AP sa mga classes na four days lang. I’m lucky that this year, each class has a fixed schedule. For example: 12:10-1:00 Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It’s better kasi may regular pattern para hindi na rin malito ang mga bata with regards to when to do their homeworks, when to bring their books, etc. Yun nga lang, hindi pare-pareho ang schedules ng bawat section so pwedeng ang lesson 1 ngayon ng isang section, bukas pa or sa susunod na bukas gagawin ng isa pang section.

The first day of classes usually begins with orientation. Para saan ang subject na ‘yan. Sinasali ko talaga ‘yan, para naman hindi malito ang mga estudyante at para malaman nila na importante ang AP dahil magagamit ito sa buhay. I also asked them their expectations: the things they wanted to learn, the teaching style that they wanted, etc. I also discussed how they will be graded, their requirements, their upcoming activities, the requirements to pass the subject, including do’s and don’ts. To make things flow smoother and faster, I asked who among them have already experienced being a class leader and I appointed them as presidents of each class. I allowed them to elect class officers too. Funny (and awkward) thing was, I have a lot of grade eight students who were already my students last school year. Same old faces. Mga hindi na nagsawa sa akin :D

The next day, I administered diagnostic test to measure what they already knew about the subject and have it checked right away. The test is composed of fifty items from first quarter to fourth quarter. I recorded the results and got the frequency of correct responses to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the class.

The third day will be the start of the discussion to be posted later J

I can say that this school year is another challenging one for us, especially those who are assigned to teach in Senior High School. In my case, I’m assigned to teach Junior High School. Okay na ako dito, pansamantala.

Welcome, School Year 2016-2017!

It's a big comeback for me!
I'm not sure if there are people who still read my blog, but...I'm back!
I missed writing.
I missed writing about my life for the past two years. I was not able to write about how my career went and how my life has changed since I started teaching in a real school setting.
I know there will be times that I will be busy, or lazy writing, but I will try writing for more updates.

Dear Blog, I Miss You!

To start my new blog entry:

 Didn't have the summary of how my 2015 went coz there were things I 'd rather forget. But to name a few of the highlights:
Feb - first JS Prom (as a teacher)
March - first Graduation rites
May - Meg was born
June - formed our child care team (Dad, Cheche and me)
July - 12th anniversary
Aug- found a new habitat
Oct - UN celebration/AP month
Dec - first Christmas with baby Meg. said goodbye to Tiger.
To sum it up, God is good!!!
And now, it's our day 1 of 2016.

 

New Year’s Goal:

1.       To save a minimum of 50 thousand pesos and a maximum of 100,000 pesos. Iba pa ang savings for Meg’s first birthday slash baptismal.

2.       Start losing weight by the time Meg turns one.

3.       Have more positive comments from students and to gain more loyal students online.

4.       Minimize expenses.

5.       Have a work-life- spiritual life balance.

6.       Blog more often and if possible, make this blog as my personal diary.

7.       Try not to be so sensitive with what others say.

8.       Family should always be my priority. As in wala na akong paki kung magagalit ang mga co-workers ko kung hindi ako makakasali sa ibang school activities because I have to prioritize my family.

How my First Day of 2016 Went

I woke up at 7:00. I fed Baby Meg while hubby prepared our breakfast (two cups of coffee, biko and pancit bihon- all from last night’s Media Noche). Did some household chores because of helper, Cheche took her New Year’s off. Served lunch around 11:30 AM (again, from last night’s Media Noche). Fed baby again and decided to visit my parents. However, since it was raining, I decided to wait until the rain stops. The three of us took a nap while enduring the loud music coming from one of the neighbours.

At past 2 PM, Baby Meg and I prepared to go out. We had a ten-minute walk from home to Market! Market! Took a jeepney and tricycle ride. Met her grandparents and my siblings minus Jazzy.

At around 6 PM, I decided to go home. We dropped by Auntie Vilma’s store to see my cousin Elvina. Took a jeepney ride going to Market! Market! I had a free ride because the driver did not give me a change but returned my twenty peso bill.

At home, I fed Baby Meg her dinner (Cerelac) while she was playing with Butch the Kitten. Read her the first story in her 365 Days Story Book.

It was an ordinary day well-spent with my family. 

Parent # 3

Another parent paid me a visit in school this Monday (July 28th ) after I sent her a text message the night before her visit.

Last Sunday, I checked my list of students to update the LIS or Learner Information System. It is a system of maintaining the records of each learner. In my list, I still had a lot of students whose names had not been entered yet,

Parent Number Two

I wrote this entry to appreciate the effort exerted by a parent of one of my students.

Last Monday, I was surprised because somebody paid me a visit in school. She introduced herself as the mother of one of my students. She wanted to coordinate with me about her son’s progress in school.

I was a little surprised of this visit because it was not easy to be the class adviser of an Open High School Program, a form of formal secondary education wherein students attend classes once a week. You see, this is a program of the Department of Education to reach