Bulletin Board Day

I'm trying my best to update this blog and to make up for the times that I was too busy to write.

Today, I had another experience worth posting(or it was just my humble opinion). I received a text message from our club president, asking my opinion about when to fix the bulletin board. I replied, "This afternoon if possible". It would be unfair if she would be the only one to fix the said bulletin for it would require time, money and effort so I added, "Please send a message to the other officers to help you. I will be there. Let's meet at around three or four". To be sure, I also had a "text brigade" to the other officers.

In spite of being a newbie,

Two days of not going to school due to Typhoon Glenda

I had no photos of the destruction because luckily, there had been no major damages in my place caused by the typhoon. But seeing the photos of the damages in other places via social media and TV, it was so heartbreaking.

Two nights ago, we had nothing to worry about in Makati where my husband and I are currently residing. I remembered having a conversation with my husband about the announcement of cancellation of classes in the metro, and I felt so envious because classes in Makati (where he is working) had already been suspended while there had been no class suspension in Taguig yet. After several hours, one of my teachers in high school informed me that classes had been suspended already. At last! Get ready to sleep longer! Happy me!

Goodbye Ortigas

Dear Readers,

I apologize for being lazy posting any update on my blog. I have been very busy since June and I didn’t have time to post something interesting.

Realizations (Part 1)

I realized ...

1. that teaching is fun. I couldn't fully explain the joy I felt whenever I enter the classroom and stand in front of my students. I am so delighted whenever they raise their hands and participate in class discussion and other activities.
2. that although it provided me with comfort and convenience, online teaching will never be a career for me, although it had been a good source of income for the last seven years.
3. that no matter how clear your instructions are, and even though you put it into writing, and even though they assured you that everything was clear, five to ten percent of the entire class population would still have a different understanding and most of them would not do exactly what you had wanted them to do. Continuous guidance is still necessary.
4. that students love to seek their teacher's attention and they would be happy even with a single "very good" phrase from you.
5. that students would enjoy learning if you provide them  with good activities suited to their needs. However, not all students would appreciate your effort.

For the past two weeks, I have proven that:
1. it's too difficult to remember the names of the students in a large size class.
2. while continuous enrollment is a good strategy, it causes trouble to teachers as they have to continuously update their records because new students are coming everyday. Hence, seating arrangement and students' masterlist are very difficult to make.
3. while making a PowerPoint Presentation as your instructional material is more convenient, attention-catchy and innovative, it will never serve its real purpose if there aren't any other supporting materials (TV, LCD projector etc). This is the reality in most public schools. You might walk around the classroom and show your presentation on your laptop computer, but it would drain your energy and make the classroom management more complicated.



That's why, next year, I will not wait for the masterlist anymore. Next year, I will:
1. require the students to wear their name tags until I memorized their names.
2. require each of them to attach 1x1 picture in their index cards.
3. prepare a draft of seat plans in each section right away using pencil for easy adjustments.
4. prepare my own masterlist from the first day of the class and adjust it later for newcomers.
5. Call the students one by one to familiarize their faces.

More on realizations next time.

RA 10609: Protection of Students’ Right to Enroll in Review Centers Act

Source

Are you aspiring to get your professional license but decided to study by yourself due to financial problems?

Have you encountered problems applying for LET because your Alma Mater didn't allow you to get your TOR without enrolling in their own or in their prescribed review centers?

Worry no more. President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino signed Republic Act 10609 or he “Protection of Students’ Right to Enroll in Review Centers Act” .

A Thank You Letter for AFPSLAI

Dear AFPSLAI,

More than ten years ago, due to inevitable circumstances, I was not able to enroll in college right after high school graduation, so I worked at Mc Donald’s while waiting for the next school year. One day, I received a text message from my father. He told me to process all the requirements because for the first time, AFPSLAI has opened its door to the youth by means of scholarship grants. Being an honor student in high school, I eagerly followed my father’s advice. For the first time, I had fun while going to different institutions (like the school where I attended high school, GHQ Medical Dispensary, etc.) After several weeks, I received a phone call again. I forgot who the caller was; I only remembered that he told me to drop by Corporate Affairs Office for orientation. At that day, my adventure as one of the first batch of AFPSLAI scholars began.

Being one of your scholars had a lot of privileges. First, it made my college years very challenging. Since I was maintaining grades, I had to be serious in my studies. I spent time in the library and in the computer shop because I had to beat the deadline for my homework, term paper and research. Being a passive student was not allowed. I had to prove to my professors that I could comply with their demands by participating not only in the class but also in several extra-curricular activities.

There were others who were better than me. I was just an ordinary young woman without any special talent at all. I was not an exceptional student; I did not excel in most subjects. I was just endowed with patience and a dream to have a Bachelors Degree and be financially stable. But because I was one of your scholars, I earned respect and admiration from others. It was nice to hear some comments like “Wow! Scholar ka pala? Ang galing naman!” It became one of the catchy phrases in my curriculum vitae whenever I apply for a job. It paved way to several opportunities, and somehow, it made my family members proud of me.

When I was in college, my classmates and friends often wondered why once a month, I had to be in a hurry to go to Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, especially when I was running out of budget. In my first year, going to your office needed more time because LRT Line 2 was still under construction. Little did they know that your generosity had helped me to ease my parents’ financial burden since I was given monthly stipend aside from shouldering my tuition and miscellaneous fees.

Of course, there are always two sides of the coin. There were also disadvantages of being a scholar. First, when I couldn’t meet the expectations of others. Some people conclude that since I was a scholar, I should be one of the people who excel in almost everything. I admit that I didn’t like PE subjects as well as Mathematics, particularly Algebra. When I got low grades in these subjects, especially in exams, some of my classmates said “I thought you were a scholar. Why did you have lower scores?”

AFPSLAI is not associated to the universities where I studied (I transferred from CEU to NTC during my second year), so I was not given any consideration, so I had to prove my worth alone. I remembered each professor in most of our subjects asked “Who are the scholars in this class?” I stood up, but when it was my turn to list my name, my professors asked “AFPSLAI? What is it?” So I had a lengthy explanation, only to be told “Oh, sorry, that is not one of the scholarship programs in this school”. I found out the reason they asked was to give special considerations to those students who had to maintain their grades to retain their status.

Because of this, I must admit that I was also discouraged at one point of my life. During my third year, I received a news that instead of enjoying one hundred percent of the scholarship benefits, I was transferred to Educational Assistance Program where monthly stipend was not included anymore. My general weighted average (GWA) did not meet the standard. I was saddened because I would not be able to enjoy the privileges anymore. However, was not a hindrance from getting my degree. In fact, I was still grateful of this association’s generosity; you still gave me a chance to prove my worth as a student.

Through this association’s big heart, my fellow scholars and I were able to graduate and to land a decent job. AFPSLAI served as our second home. It is concerned not just about our grades, but also about our well-being as future work force of our country. I was also deeply touched when the staffs still keep in touch with us through Facebook, even though we are now working and technically not affiliated with this institution anymore.

I know that no matter how much money I earn or how great my achievements could be, my debts will forever be unpaid. In return, I am doing my best to utilize my skills and to be globally competent as one of this association’s pride. Although I might not be teaching in a real classroom right now since I am currently teaching on-line, I am still doing my best to apply what I learned in school.

Whenever I pass along the corner of EDSA and Boni Serrano Avenue, I always think that I have always been blessed. It has been several years since I graduated from college but for me, it was just like yesterday.


The diploma and official transcript of records are the tangible evidences that I finally obtained a Bachelor’s Degree, but the values that AFPSLAI instilled in me are more precious. Thank you very much AFPSLAI! May God bless you more.

Author's note:
For those who want to avail of AFPSLAI scholarship and educational assistance program, kindly visit http://www.afpslai.com.ph/info_csr.php for more details. Thank you!

A Glimpse of our Past: My Husband's Journey to being a Teacher

Whenever I mention something about my past, especially my college life and my journey to being a teacher (or on-line teacher as of present), it would be impossible not to mention about a certain person who became a big part of my life.

In my second year, I decided to transfer from Centro Escolar University to the National Teachers College. I had nothing against CEU; my one year stay was one of the best things that I had experienced—air conditioned rooms, nice facilities, great professors and classmates--- but I was looking for something that only teacher-training institutions like NTC can offer. I knew from the start that CEU specializes in medical-related courses. Until now, I still couldn't figure out why I chose to enroll there when from the start, I had wanted to study BSED.

It was a big gamble for me because I was one of the first batch of AFPSLAI scholars. I think God had a plan for me because everything went smoothly, from the time I talked to the Corporate Affairs Head until the day I enrolled in NTC. It was challenging. In CEU, I had the same classmates in almost all subjects except Values, in lieu of Religion subjects since I am an Evangelical Christian), but in NTC, I had different classmates in every subject. In short, I was classified as “irregular student”.

Then I met a shy, bespectacled young guy. We were classmates in two subjects- Filipino 2 (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and Philippine History (MWF.) We became close and to cut it short, we became a couple. It was so fast! My friends told me that I just transferred to NTC just to look for a boyfriend.

I was not serious at first. I just wanted to experience having one since most of my friends already had their own beaus and my parents encouraged me enter into a man-woman relationship because they feared that I would never have a chance to have a boyfriend once I became a teacher. They believed in an old saying that a woman who was still single upon entering this profession will become single for the rest of her life. But most of the times, God works in His own special way that nobody seemed to understand. After years of exclusively dating, we finally got married on our ninth anniversary- July 24, 2012.

While I had finally accepted that teaching is my destiny, he was not sure of what he wanted to be in the future. For him, he just wanted to get a degree to please his parents, to have a good job and to start a family. He chose Computer Education as his major since he loved computers, from games to softwares. In addition to that, his older brother is also a computer buff. He had also planned not to teach but to work in an office, like admin staff or computer programmer. I even encourage him to shift from Computer Education to Social Studies or Science especially when we found out that it would be difficult for Computer Education majors to pass the LET because they had to take the test for TLE majors instead. But he was very stubborn; he said he would never want to be a teacher and he would do his best to work for government offices like his parents.

In addition, although we had several things in common, we had a major difference. I was confident. I wanted people to listen to what I say, and whenever someone say something, I would boldly say what was in my mind. On the other hand, he was shy. Since we were classmates in two or three subjects every semester, I witnessed how shy he was. I sometimes scolded him for not saying his opinions out loud. There was a time when he had to deliver his speech, and our classmates and teachers were surprised because he just said not more than five sentences and he was done. He didn't like reporting either. He was just satisfied when the program he was creating was successful, and when he tried to help others when their computers crashed.

When the first semester of 2005 came, I noticed some changes in him. He became a little confident. He was able to somehow speak confidently in front of the class. He used to hate classroom and school responsibilities but I was surprised when he had volunteered to become the class president. Plus, he got the highest rating when he had is first demonstration teaching (or demo teaching) in front of grade four pupils of the NTC Laboratory School. He also enjoyed his on-campus and off-campus teaching although he admitted that teaching had been stressful.

When I graduated, I tried to apply in schools but nobody gave me a chance to teach. Or I should say, I was not allowed to teach in a traditional way- in a classroom with students, but I was given a chance to teach in a modern way. He, on the other hand, had tried to run away from the teaching world. He became a clerk, his first job, but he never signed another contract after five months. Then, he worked as admin officer but he was forced to resign after four months. After months of soul-searching, he was given a chance to teach in a private school in Pasay, but he stopped because he had finally realized the importance of obtaining a teacher's license. He had two other teaching jobs but he didn't finish the school year because of the difficulties that he encountered working while reviewing at the same time. The next year, he was finally able to pass the Licensure Examinations for Teachers, all thanks to Mindgym Philippines He was able to complete one school year in University of Perpetual Help System DALTA in Las Piñas and since last year, he has been employed in Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino High School in Makati City.