Posted by Teacher Ria in Featured, Life Lessons, Reflections, Teacher's Corner | 0 Comments

Thank You!

In anticipation of our upcoming Family Day activity next week, I am having my kids prepare thank you cards for their mommies, daddies, grannies or even nannies (whoever they want to make it for for that matter!). As I was preparing the materials this morning, I got to thinking about what who and what I am grateful for these past few months. I was suddenly reminded of the National Thank You Day celebration that Toblerone had last year, wherein I even held a contest in this blog sponsored by them.

And while Thank You Day is still weeks away, I still want to take this chance to say thank you to those that made this term especially meaningful. So as I close out the term (yes, grades included ) let me just say thank you….

Thank you Abpsych students for making me laugh every meeting, even if you were always, always so kulit

Thank you Psycho1 students for putting up with the technological challenges we had throughout the term…from the leaky roof, to the projector that wouldn’t project and the classroom without an aircon And more so, for trying to convince me to teach Psycho2 so we can be in the same class again (although it didn’t work hahaha!)

Thank you LBYPSY class (lab class) for making every Tuesday afternoon a comedy of errors…both on your parts and mine. And yes, Kevs, Robbie, and Don, three times in a row is TOOO much

Thank you PERSEF1 EW for giving me something to smile about always. Well, at least I think I was smiling.

Thank you Teacher Trina for being my lab partner And for putting up with my weird moods and crazy ideas all the time! And for the car rides too….even if they did turn out…um….challenging every now and then.

Thank you Sir Robert for cheering me on with my  “Project Prettify Me”…and for trying to convince me to finish my thesis even though it makes me mad when you do But best of all, thank you for recognizing that I am a good teacher, with or without my M.S.

Thank you Teacher Pia for…well, where do I begin with this? I guess I can start it off with thank you for making that detour to the green school, even for a bit, because it changed my life in so many ways. More than you know, in fact Thank you too for helping me find that spark of inspiration that I was starting to lose again and for reminding me to keep that little girl inside of me alive

This list can go on for much longer, but I gotta get ready for class But once more, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU

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Social Security, Education, and a Lack Thereof

In the news last night, I caught a report about how millions of senior citizens may find themselves displaced in terms of claiming their social security benefits due to budget constraints or something like that. I wasn’t really able to catch the entire news segment because I was busy reading my students’ essays. However, that brief snippet got me to thinking about how sad it is that social security, alongside education, is often pushed to the back burner when it comes to government priority, unlike in other countries that really give a high premium on these. I hope by some sheer miracle this can change. I have a feeling that if this is made more secure, we can see a lot of great things happen.

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Lessons that Matter Most

In the past three weeks, I have had my share of ups and downs with regards to myself and my competence in this teaching world that I belong in. I guess it really comes from the fact that I’m a different kind of teacher and although I can appreciate the value of that most of the time, every now and then, I find myself in painted into a corner, especially when it comes to doing things by the book. Same goes for standardized assessments.

What kind of teacher am I to begin with? Well, I definitely am not the conventional type of educator. Perhaps this is one reason why I adapted very well to the transformative learning framework that the university I teach in employs. Since the very beginning of my college teaching days, I already used alternative means of getting my kids to learn. I’ve always loved having toys and storybooks around to make my lessons more real to the people I teach. My philosophy of teaching, after all, is not just to know the facts and figures but to understand, appreciate and make sense of them all, because what’s the point of just knowing if you can’t apply it, right?

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Reflections, Teacher's Corner | 0 Comments

Unexpected Surprises

I love you Teacher!

Today I woke up feeling a wee bit under the weather and with very little inspiration in my heart. Add to that, tired eyes from another sleepless night compounded by endless palpitations that was driving me nuts. I don’t really know what it was, but I just knew I was starting things off on the wrong foot. Before leaving for work, I posted a message on my Plurk page saying that I was feeling a bit emotionally, physically and mentally tired and that I could really use a hug, which my Plurk buddies readily gave. However, I still found myself wishing for something more. Like I said, I don’t really know where it was coming from, but I just felt soooo zapped of all positive energy in me and I was feeling kinda low.

Just before classes started, I checked on my Facebook page and saw a wall post from a friend who was wishing me well because of my earlier messages and I quickly sent back a reply before beginning circle time which said: “i am okay thank you very much i could use a hug and some positive energy, but im fine see you later”. Just as I logged off from my mobile connection, one of my little kiddos suddenly came up to me and just threw his arms around me and gave me a loooong squeeze and said, “I love you, Teacher”.

*heart melts*

I wasn’t really expecting it and when it happened, all I could think of was how amazing it is to work with kids. We kinda think it is us giving something to them and touching their lives to make a difference, but the truth is, often times, it’s the other way around. Today my heart was full of joy because of that unexpected surprise.

This is truly one of the priceless joys of preschool teaching.

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