Every moment of our life is a teaching moment . . .
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 7:53 PM
Many moments transpire in a day or so. Multiply this in a day or week or month or year and the challenge becomes gargantuan. Recently, I went to Cebu, Philippines to spend few days of summer vacation with my son and daughter. Other than the good moments came the sad moments when "melancholia" became real for me. I even came to the realization again and again when in fact it is almost a given: Every moment of our life is a teaching moment. This melancholia I refer to points to this almost uncontrollable feeling of sadness and loneliness when loved ones are not with me. More and more I pray to overcome it and as I say, learn from this moment.
Jerry Sandusky, called a child predator, was convicted by a jury of his peers, 45 out of 48 sex counts; a priest accused of molesting an altar boy and many other related cases make us even sadder. May there be more moments that will make us smile and rejoice that life is good.
May this realization begin with our own families and ultimately with our own self. God bless!!!
June 13 is formal first day of classes: welcome guys!
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 10:58 PM
My teaching load consists of 3 Education 108 classes (Intro. to Guidance & Counseling including Special Education), 2 Education 137 classes (Values Education) and 2 English 134 classes (English for Specific Purposes). I met the two classes and the feeling of seeing young people is the same as ever: fresh faces, eager eyes and so truly I told them: Welcome guys!
Most of the students who take these subjects are in their third and fourth year levels but their attitude is basically the same: openness to new ideas which always reminds me why I am still teaching although physically and emotionally the desire is too strong to retire.
Expect pictures of these young minds who always make teachers young and ever energetic to communicate and hopefully share ideas that make these future mentors better equipped once they become teachers themselves!
American Idol is a great tv program. It makes us dream to become a singer one day and if not, at least just sing, hopefully with the correct tune!
Am sure you agree that teachers are singers, yes? Sometimes it is facilitated by the requirements of effective teaching. Sometimes it is declared by the personalities of teachers who come in different shapes and colors but definitely always talented. Yes? YES! Teachers are singers and if you still do not know or you disagree, please check it out. Your mother is your first teacher and am sure you agree she is a great singer, YES? YES! Your elementary teacher teaches you nursery rhymes and definitely sings it first before you manage to imitate and sing it correctly well and correctly tuned too. Many more teachers come to your life and sometimes, these moments make you think so deeply you compose a song or a poem and if at all possible, a book.
Today, May 24, Thursday in the Philippines, at a time when American Idol is waiting who will become the next American Idol, a sixteen er is teaching us to love singing and one day use it to go to better opportunities to earn more or just love it for one's use.
Still, my theory is teachers are singers and great at it. Yes? YES!
It is really difficult to stop something if you enjoy doing it; still teach yourself to do better!
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 4:58 AM
There is one realization one has to come to grips with: how be financially stable and remain decent in your life till the end.
There are tests that all of us have difficulty overcoming because it is enjoyable to do it again and again. There are many opportunities that life offers to each of us to begin again every time we fail to do good. This is the beautiful part of life's promise: We can continuously teach ourselves to do better every time we fail. There are even instances when what matters alone is the time you stand up after a fall and move on.
The twist of life's twists is that there are not so good things we do and keep on doing because we enjoy doing it. there are even moments when you have to scold yourself for being weak and sometimes cry and curse if only to awaken and really do what is better than the best so far.
So when it seems you find this dilemma up front: do not be so hard on yourself. Life is short and smile over this failure. then teach yourself again and again, like a child who seems to be in exhaustively open to life,
Being alone moments teach you to learn more about life.
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 5:01 PM
Life as a whole is a learning moment for life. But it is when you are on your own, truly alone, that you face life's realities. Somehow, even the silence of the night and the noise that seems to become emboldened due to your "aloneness" in your own home that the teaching moments become so sharp and so deep to fathom.
Moment number one: When children get sick and you find you are alone in making them well. Other people are around but being the mom makes it seem so real that the children are yours to protect even from the inevitable sicknesses that every child faces all throughout their growing years. Yet with all the four children, these were the moments that made my existence meaningful and indispensable. The mom of course gets enough strength from her faith in God who is the source of all life.
Moment number two: When the children are grown and they begin to have their own niche. Time is viewed now in terms of quality not quantity. Even the distance makes it possible to treasure each other more. We have tried being together all the time and while it worked it is one fact of life that no one can stop, it is in letting your loved one be and go when he/she wills that then life is truly what it is meant to be. Being the mom who truly loves each of the grown children, even being alone is tolerable not because it is no longer painful but because it must be.So it is.
Moment number three: When alone moments teach you to learn about life that at the end of the day, every person is meant to be alone only to live more fully for as we came to this world alone we too have to go on alone but not necessarily physically alone. To life be the journey . . .
You can call it teaching moments because the bias is that of being a teacher but learning moments sound even better because all of us are learners since the topic deals with brownouts that really test your patience beyond compare.
Perhaps it is an exaggeration so let us settle with coping while the brownouts occur. One, you get inspired to reach for a book and with candle lit surrounding, you read: Good for your spirit and peace of mind. Two, you growl and gnash and pray for sanity while thinking about the incapacity of all the energy servers- for not upgrading enough to deal with climate change. Three, you congratulate yourself for accepting the travails of life and heaving a sigh, still smile once the lights are on! Four, you prepare for the next day's brownout and the next day's brownout and the next until one day, the brownouts get minimized and no more . . .
When it is ok to say it's only a house; it has always been it's a home!
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 3:02 PM
I was watching a replay of "The Firm" written by John Grisham chronicled by Channel AXN today, April 29 when it hit me, there is an instance when it is ok somehow it's only a house. The scenario was when one of the characters inherited a house and being a woman she wanted to in it. Since she was married to the other character who happened to be her companion in the Witness Protection Program he was adamant of the thought that not only was he married but now would be in a house. He did not like the idea but the lady said she wanted a home and so she wanted the house.
A movie is a movie is a movie so we could give it this context. We are saying and teaching that given the fiction part of it then perhaps the cast just acted it out so the whole thing is just a set up so what's the fuzz? However if it were a real life situation then the mechanics is completely changed. The parties would have given it much thought and the context of it all is love for family and what it stands for. then it is ok for the former to be understood why they may have a house but it is ok for the latter to understand why they need a home!
A house is only the physical set-up of a home. A home goes deeper than the material structure and the amenities that can be bought. At the center of the home is the love that binds the married coupe to a love blessed by God and man. It is a web of relationships that make every member of the home bear even the unbearable. In the ideal world, it is good to make a house a home!
This makes me think if after all the ups and downs we had gone through, we are a home. I say, humbly and hopefully in faith, we are.
Insurance teaches us not get insured because it becomes difficult to avail of when you ask benefit promised . . .
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 11:39 PM
What a way to learn but it is true. You insure an item because it will be paid for the next three years so in case it gets stolen, you will have protection. Then coincidentally, the unfortunate event happened and the motorcycle which was insured got stolen! Then through the years, there was much commotion as to who would go about the process because now the company which got the insurance paid was no longer as interested as before to help how to go about the process. the details are just so painful to go through again.
Now, the company went on collecting and even went as far as pursuing a legal action after all these years when in the first place the insurance was supposed to pay it. Learning point: Do not have anything be insured unless the details are so detailed the points are clearer that daylight. From experience, to avail of the befits promised is so difficult your anger is enough to kill you or give you high blood pressure!
Take note: Insurance is a good perspective but its promised benefits? too much to be desired!
The Filipino "caregiver" who did not give care at all and sadly am a Filipino so as a teacher, may I explain . . .
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 10:12 PM
What a shock to see the video on tv that a Filipino caregiver slapped and mistreated a patient who has Alzheimer. Asa senior citizen and a teacher, I preferred to write under my blog as teacher and not under my blog as a senior citizen because the culprit is a Filipino caregiver and this is not a typical one. Filipinos are famous for their diligence and good bed manners and genuine care for the sick. The majority of Filipino workers especially those who work abroad are specifically chosen because they are very loving and tender. this s0-called Filipino caregiver must have a story to tell why he did what he did but is not the Filipino caregiver who works out there- away from home - caring and serving the strangers for the sake of the family he/she truly loves even to separate from them is painfully unbearable-bearable.
May the real culprit come out soon and explain to the majority of Filipino workers why bad actuation like the one did by this "sick" so-called "caregiver that this is definitely the "rotten" egg in a basketful of excellent eggs.
For us teachers, this is one opportunity to remind the young under our care that wherever and whatever will become of them in the future, do it well and whether some look at them or not, there is nothing better than to be good and genuine in one's work.
So as a teacher may I explain to anyone out there that a person may be developed according to one's culture but other factors come in. One's love for work is honed according to how life treats the person. Each of us has much to overcome and trials can make us bitter or better. This genuine service to one's fellows is all the more deepened by one's religion or faith life.Basic among all these is one's family where as a child and growing up years, values have been planted and hopefully deepened through the years.
To the families who have been served poorly our apologies and a plea not to generalize because we are really good people. Philippines, humbly saying, is the only Christian country of Asia. We Filipinos, as a people are basically God-fearing but like any other human being, some of us have demons to fight. We definitely need salvation from the consequences of sin.
May you find in your heart to forgive . . .
Computing grades is one of the loneliest but most important duties of Teachers.
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 5:34 PM
Many have been said about teaching. It is a mission; it is a vocation. We rarely focus on the presumed consequence that it is also earning one's livelihood. This is a nice observation because for us who have been teaching for more than 30 years are still wondering why we have stayed on if it is only for salary's sake. The more accepted one is that teaching is both a mission and a vocation. It is a mission because we have been sent for this specific function to "lift up" the minds of the young and other learners. It is a vocation because we are called and we have responded positively to this calling to live most of the years of our lives with the privileged position to develop the minds of every learner.
Then comes grades. Here we are in fact in this very important duty which at the very moment we call the loneliest instance. This is being said not in the context of being sad but precisely because in the process of computing grades many factors have to be considered and only the teacher has the ultimate responsibility to compute it and give it justly. So here comes the teacher and indeed all senses are set to finish the task. Wish this teacher well!
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