Teacher's teacher

In our college, we have student aides. They help us maintain the cleanliness of our faculty room. We also request them to do errands when time does not allow us to do the same ourselves. Some of them are also our students but some are not. The following notes come from them.

Aidz writes: Thank you Ma'am for being so joyful. It is more than enough to brighten up somebody's day! God bless.

Maricel shares: Blessed day Ma'am. At first, I really did not understand why God brought me here in the faculty room. I am ashamed of teachers so I tip toe everytime I enter the office. As the days passed however, after observing what you do I began to appreciate why I want to become a teacher myself. Now I feel happy everytime I see joy in you as you give your best for the students to learn. I am fortunate to know you more and am blessed to witness how noble teachers are. Thank you Ma'am.

Liway divided her note to Learning: and Unfogettable Moment. Under Learning she writes: I now become more careful with what I say! Under Unforgettable Moment: When you requested me to prepare lunch for your students who had a seminar-workshop. I may not be the best cook but because of this vicarious experience I realized I have more skills I can improve on. Bye Ma'am!

When I receive notes like this, the teacher in me knows more fully why I have remained a teacher all these thirty years and more. Notes, like these, make me smile. Thank you Aidz, Maricel and Liway. May your tribe grow more in number.

Three fourth year college students came to ask their grades because they are under probation. As their English teacher, I asked why they never informed me that they were under probation. After some explanation I told them to come as a group, write all the names of those who are truly under probation. So they came back with the list: List of students underprobe. Underprobe? I told each senior student to write the words “under probation”. A certain Joy wrote “Under Probetion; Richel wrote “Under provision” and Sharie wrote “Under probesion”.

I gave them another chance: Joy wrote “Under Provetion”; Richel wrote:”under Provition while Sharie wreote “Under probession. With disillusionment written on my face, I gave them a third chance so Joy wrote “Under Probition”, Richel wrote “Under Probhetion “ and Sharie wrote “Under probission”.

Not that Spelling is the end all and be all of one’s education but definitely for the fourth year students who are already preparing for the in and off campus teaching, their inability not to spell correctly the words “under probation” is a cause of alarm. Their so-called attempts to spell it again and still misspell it even more is a cause of greater alarm.

With fatigue I closed my eyes. . . and prayed that challenges in real life are the real criteria that will measure the education we have accorded them. These students may not know how to spell many words but with the many years spent in school, they already know thousands of words so what is “under probation” compared to these countless other terms (I hope).
I need not be disillusioned nor become cynical because of fatigue. Life is greater than misspelling some words.

Teacher's teacher spent Wednesday and Thursday (October 28-29,2009) enrolling third year college students in the College of Teacher Education. Noon break was spent in praying the rosary with colleagues since October in the Church calendar is Rosary Month.

One thing unique that is going on in the College of Teacher Education of Bukidnon State University however is the ecumenical spirit that prevails. Those who are not catholics may opt not to join us in the prayer proper but they eat with us after our prayer. We call it agape.

Much can be said about how a faculty can live in harmony bound not only by their career but even in the ordinary routine. In the College of Teacher Education for example, one teacher who is a Baptist, celebrated his birthday with us. He saw to it that our lunch would be sponsored by him, stayed in the faculty room while the rosary was being said but did not join us. After the prayer, we all sang Happy Birthday, blessed the food and enjoyed the meal!

National Service Training Program Instructors, both Literacy Training Service and Civic Welfare Training Service components, took time off to plan ahead while they availed of the scenic spots of Binahon Farms in Lantapan, Bukidnon.

The plan is to organize Ma'am's Club. The members are all students-one way or another-at any stage of your life - of teachers who made a difference in your life. Write to this Ma'am through this blogspot, Teacherallherlife and hopefully your Ma'am gets to read it. If not, any teacher can take comfort in the fact that there are still students who remember their Ma'am!

So when does Teacher's teacher via Teacherallherlife finally launch? If at least five(5) register then Ma'am's Club is born. Are you the first 5?

As an addendum, Teacherallherlife commits itself to anything and everything that will make the teacher all over the world, especially those from the Philippines, Bukidnon, Malaybalay be given the rightful place of being acknowledged in any way due his/her noble profession.

This is the focus of Teacher's teacher blog today: the lonely but worth the wait of venturing into the unknown. Why lonely? Well, not in the sense that one does not laugh but in the sense that you will be on your own. Why worth the wait? It has to be, for anything significant especially that which is not immediately easy to understand is worth the wait.

Malaybalayan, the teacher, was recently recommended as one of the candidates in the search for the Most Outstanding Teacher. Malaybalayan's response: give way to the young. Indeed, the ones who won were in their early thirties.

Going deeper however, Malaybalayan felt the challenge was dwelling into the unknown. What matters now is not awards but the opportunity to just be who you are. You see, with awards and recognitions come the baggage: the sore losers out to put you down or the plain observers out to say something they consider a "black spot", a potential point to gossip about.

To sum up therefore, is to bring us back to the world that can be unknown but can also be a beginning of brighter things ahead. It is not really lonely after all, just painfully challenging to let go and accept the new vistas of life ahead.

Malaybalayan ponders on the following nuggets:

Many a time, golden moments pass us by. Sometimes, it is caused by the pain that life accords to anyone. When the opportunity comes along and you become a parent, a teacher or a love-giver, the real drama presents itself. There are no retakes and when the error is not taken care of immediately, it might mean a lost soul.

So goes the poem, The Sculptor. You meet a child or a pupil or a student. You do your best to educate the learner. You have to accept, at the outset, that you can only do so much. So you do what you can and the rest you offer to the Creator. Years pass by and of the kids whom you care for, some come back to say thanks for caring enough while others never come at all to say anything.

For parents however, there is a different touch that only parents offer. They love without any "buts" and "ifs". They form their children with a love that only parents are gifted with. They mold with tender loving care. They persist where others have given up.

What is significant is when the child grows to find his place in society and is now going to continue life's calling: that of taking care of his own child.

If there is anything this Teacher learned from her fellow bloggers, it is to have as many followers. This blogspot is envisioned as the niche of teachers. So, fellow mentors, anyone?

How does Teacher plan to go about this nook? Only Providence can tell but expect poems, stories and anecdotes that are written by teachers or are about teachers.

Fresh from the exciting tone set by the young bloggers of Cagayan de Oro City which hosted the 3rd Mindanao Bloggers Summit, October 24-25, 2009, Malaybalayan got perked up. As a sign of her inspired move, Teacher's teacher is born.

Expect this blogspot to be the leaven of all teachers in the world but more specifically in Bukidnon, even more particularly in Malaybalay.

In this light, teachers are welcome to this blogspot if they want to share their activities. Teacher's teacher will get most of its events from the College of Teacher Education of Bukidnon State University where Teacher Education is the flagship of its institution.