Apples and Chalkdust

I went home early today. We just reported for half-day with which we celebrated our teachers day. There was no fun-fare. It was simple and communal. Somehow, it is much better this way. The other days I received messages from my former students from Jubilee greeting me happy teachers' day--something absent in Northfield. I feel that it is not really a culture here to celebrate such day...maybe because there are so many celebrations that an additional one would not matter so much.

It has been decades since the last time I was here. There had already climbing mountains and breaking down hearts. I want to fly, but seems that I am down. I canot write more of this. My eyes are beginning to close.

It has been ages since the last time I wrote here. I have been busy for the past few days panning for my new-found business and mapping out my life. I am dreaming big and I dream a life of significance. This is the first time that I am not excited for the first day of class. Maybe because I still don't know the people that I am going to meet. or maybe because I am not so much excited with the subject I am to teach. I know that this is temporary, once I meet my students, I know things will certainly change. There is so much life into teaching that death would not be able to conquer. I know enthusiasm will soon come back. I hope that in a few days, I would be able to write down my dreams. I want to feel, smell, see, hear, and if possible, taste it. I want my dreams to become flesh and blood reality. By the way, tomorrow i will be delivering a speech at the Metro Manila Toastmasters Club. My tentative title is DREAMWEAVER. I will post the speech at smarspeech soon.

There are still so many things that need to be done. I have to work to live. I have to live to do my mission. I don't feel good today. Same as yesterday. It feels like the world stopped spinning but only on me. I am down and cannot do anything. I have to move though. So today I will construct my last two syllabi wash my clothes write my 2nd speech for the toastmasters construct my daily schedule make affirmation cards...I need this for I am now out of balance... go to church chat with a friend clean my room, and try to be myself again. I have to do this and stop waiting for the manna of chikka to come online this morning....

For three days, we stayed in Corregidor. We went inside its tunnels and caves and foxholes. We went over its mountains and dove in the sea that surrounds it. There is so much to be said of the experience. This I will do in the coming days. Stay connected! God bless you. cliche: I was here!  

I did not report for work yesterday, Thursday. I felt so tired. My muscles ached and it feels like I need another whole day of sleep. Yet, I am here, Friday morning, still very much awake. I did not do anything yesterday for the whole day. I decided to that I should start working again Friday. I am about to sleep now. God morning dear readers....and greetings to you ms rojo...I know that you are reading my blog. YOU don't have to print this copy, just go to view above and find text, then chose the largest. And you too chalyz...I am actually looking forward to see you again. I hope that life is kind to you. I had a small talk with tahnee this evening. Nice kid. Always beautiful inside and out. So there. Have a nice day.

My body aches. I am very very tired from todays work. Yet, I cannot rest since I still have to prepare for tomorrows activity. I finished and passed two syllabi for today. I am also done with one schedule which is to be given to the students. I still have to do two more syllabi. I will finish one this sunday and work for the other after next week. Yes, there are lots and lots of work. I have no regrets however of leaving Jubilee. I know that I am in a right direction. It seems that I am with people who are not simply bright. They all manifest the drive for excellence. I have to rest my finger for a while. I have to work after 15 minutes. God bless you.

One of my co-teachers shared that he learned his Latin right after college. He took pains to study the language every summer. That made him qualified to teach Latin though he was a chemical engineering professor at the university of the Philippines. He is young; he looks intelligent too considering his young age. There is something puzzling with the teachers in PAREF northfield. Each one seems to be so qualified to teach in a big school yet they chose to teach in PAREF. I have my own reason and that make me somehow accepts that talented teachers do teach in a school that does not offer a competitive salary. I have also observed that most of the teachers are ambitious. Every one wants to advance in his career. PAREF offers each teacher a training which is a little bit of all the good things. This is very much a unique school. Something like a seminary in a layman's world. Some may not like the involvement of parents in the management of the schools. But PAREF way is di...

I am done writing all the competencies for all the four sections assigned to me. I think I am one of the early one who were able to pass on time. The others are still writing theirs until today. The more difficult task is to write the syllabus. I am still starting. Maybe tomorrow morning. We have a seminar this morning and I have to finalize my handouts for Saturday. On Saturday, I will be a resource speaker for the seminar of the high school teachers of the Central Colleges of the Philippines. I have to really prepare for it. Anyways, the syllabus has no deadline yet. This is just for now as I have to leave for school. God bless to everyone.

I am listening now to a song of the same title as this entry. I am done writing the minimum competencies for 2nd and 3rd year high school. I am yet to write one for the 4th year. These minimum competencies will become the bases of the syllabus that we teachers are to design. As I was writing the curriculum objectives, I was visited with an army of ideas on how to execute them in the classroom. I have learned so many techniques in my eight years of teaching. Yet, none of these technique is a sure fire in the classroom. Every child in the classroom is a new being I have to deal with. Every classroom is different to every other classroom I have handled before. One prominent thought that visited me was a warning. Most of what are education today trained students on how to answer questions like WHAT IS THE CAPITAL OF Paris? or WHAT IS A VERB, A NOUN, AN ADJECTIVE, GALAXY, NEUTRON, MEAN, CHI SQUARE, OR ANYTHING? which if given just another short glance would amount to nothing. I...

Today is one of the many birthings in my life. I am to decide between character and career. I know it would not be easy since I loathe the reality that I wasn't able to do what I have always wanted to do. But definitely, I cannot sacrifice my character. I do welcome a new birth. I will get through this with pride.  

There were times when I could not understand why teachers stay in the profession. I am perfectly sure that many of us are as much qualified as those CEOs whose salaries are astronomically far higher than what many of us are receiving. Surely, teachers would always be happy to think that a student of ten years ago is now very much above in the ladder of success earning money twice the number of digits we are receiving now…, but isn’t that ironic? Rightly or wrongly, we should accept that many of us count success by the number of digits we have in our paychecks. Yet, most teachers, molders of persons and the fountain of all knowledge ever recorded, stays with the same classroom where we saw them ten years. Why do we stay? Rizal, a teacher himself, had long recognized that the youth is the future. I had imagined him thinking to himself , “but the future depends on me….” The future is in the teachers’ hands. Yes, that sounds so romantic, but should we romanticize the lot most ...

Teach me not... Every one should have known by now that it is dumb to force a duck lay all her golden eggs. Yet, many of us think only of the immediate comforts and forget about tomorrow. Worse, we became insensitive to everything outside us. Teachers are glaring examples. When I come into the classroom, I know that students will learn something from me- both good and bad-which may have eternal influence on them. Yes, everything I say, or ignore to say, will affect change in them. We are supposed to teach the students to be resourceful, to be responsible, to think of what is good to them and to everyone. But reality presents a different picture. Teachers are supposed to model to students how to be resourceful, responsible, and productive. I know of one teacher who told her students to buy tickets for the upcoming disco, which is a school fund-raising activity. To “motivate” the students, the teacher promised to add 5 points for each ticket bought. One student bought ...

I am not a teacher, but an awakener. Robert Frost Two days ago, in my grade eight class, a student said that school dulls the mind. He got the idea from someone else. Whether he understands the full extent of its meaning I do not know. I observed that schools in the Philippines, for so many students, are factories that produce learned ignoramuses. If teaching is a revolution, this revolution is courting a bleak future. Most of the revolutionaries are now disillusioned and lost. Our students are told to speak in English always since the individual success of a student is pegged on his ability to speak the language. I Observed that many teachers are impressed by those who could jumble the highfalutin' English words which most of the times are not understood by the speaker (the student) and by the listener (the teacher). These students were made to understand that “deep” words are better. Many students are made to parrot a parrot. Examine closely the examination ...

This is the start of a new life, of new dreams, of bigger missions, and more noteworthy actions. I hope that whoever views this site from now on will learn the world of a teacher beyond the chalkdust. Apples and Chakdust will highlight my journey as an educator. Here you will come to understand what makes a teacher a teacher. Of course, I will not brag to be the best teacher that you will ever meet. I am working to be the best that I can be--that is what I can assure you. So, welcome aboard. Let me bring you to my journey. God bless us all.