Posted by Teacher Ria in Multimedia Center, Teaching Resources | 0 Comments

Lessons from the Karate Kid

I was able to catch an early screening of the Karate Kid and I loved it a lot! I don’t really remember much of the first three installments of the film, but this last one was a blast

As usual, the teacher in me got to thinking about how I can use the film in my class. What really struck me about the film is that it is really more than just a story of karate (or should I say kung fu) but it’s a story about patience, perseverance and courage in the face of anything. On a personal level, it reminded me of the value of being centered and tapping into “quiet energy”. Another thing I was able to appreciate in the film is the reminder that life should be a balancing act between work and play.

The Karate Kid definitely has earned it’s rightful place in Teacher Ria’s shelf of movies to use when teaching class, particularly for leadership and self-development Read more of my review on Karate Kid here.

Posted by Teacher Ria in Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Games teachers play :-)

One of the fun parts of being a teacher is getting to play a lot of fun games. I’m the type of teacher who enjoys getting down and dirty with her kids, especially the preschoolers. In the college level, we use toys like play dough and pattern blocks, too, but we’re not as rowdy as the little ones. I am a firm believer that even at any age, toys and games are great ways means of learning. An added bonus is that these games are also helpful in getting you moving. I remember that when I stopped teaching preschool before, I gained a lot of weight because I stopped running around and being active. One thing I missed a whole lot was doing the hula-hoop with the kids. Believe it or not, it was an effective stomach weight loss program! In fact, even if I was still somewhat chubby, I had a pretty flat gut. That just goes to show that toys aren’t just for kids!

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Multimedia Center | 0 Comments

No more Bio channel :-(

In recent months one of my favorite discoveries on television was the Bio Channel. From biographies of celebrities to shows like Intervention, Hoarders and I Survived, I spent countless hours watching the channel, even when though a lot of the episodes kept getting rerun and rerun. However, since Nat Geo has been having Air Crash Investigation and Seconds from Disaster on a lot, I’ve been switching back and forth.

After several days of hiatus from my Bio fix, I punched in the numbers 1-5-4 to catch up. It was a feature on LL Cool J, but I wasn’t very interested so I channel surfed. I told myself I’d go back later on because there was a feature on Sarah Jessica Parker. It slipped my mind to go back but when I finally did, I was shocked at what I saw: E16: service is curently scrambled. And it now reads Star Gold.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!! They took away my Bio channel!!! In the short run I had with it, I was able to get a lot of insights for my various psychology classes so it was really sad when I discovered it was gone. I hope it was just transferred and I just haven’t found it, but I haven’t received any updates from Sky. If you know where it is, do let me know please!!!

Posted by Teacher Ria in Advocacies | 0 Comments

Am I fat?

Overheard at the elevator in school:

Girl 1: Oh my God, Sis, I feel so fat. I ate pa a mentos for lunch. Am I fat? I look fat right?

Girl 2: Okay lang yan, bawi ka nalang tomorrow. (Just make up for it tomorrow)

Girl 1: Hay, it’s so hard to diet….

Girl 2: I know right?

This was the conversation between two girls who were about 5’4 or so and looked as if they weighed about 100-110 pounds. No joke, no exaggeration. I was flabbergasted at her comment of feeling fat and feeling guilty about having had a mentos for lunch. ONE MENTOS! Can you believe it??

The conversation progressed to various diet pills and strategies for losing weight. It took every ounce of restraint for me not to react to, what seemed to be, a ludicrous conversation.

It’s  sad that this is a common conversation that goes on with teens. They are so preoccupied with weight and being a certain size, that at times, it can be worrisome. While I did not interrupt these two girls (especially since it would have been odd for me to do so!) it got me to thinking of my class project this term for PERSEF class. Every term I give my students an advocacy project to work on and hopefully doing something positive about teenagers and body image. While I know problems like anorexia and other eating disorders will always be part of adolescent growth and development, I hope this project can help make conversations like the one I overheard from happening again.

Photo credit: “252/365: Anorexia Nervosa” by Janine, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved

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

Are you the Philippines Smartest Driver?

Three years ago, I invested in a new car. One thing I used to guide my decision as to what car to get was whether or not it was fuel efficient. As such, I opted for a 1.3 valve engine and a manual transmission. I also read reviews about the car I was planning to get and most raters did point out it’s fuel efficiency. However, I believe it is not just the vehicle that translates to fuel efficiency, but also how one maintains and uses the vehicle.

For me, the most important fuel saving tip is planning ahead. We have to be more cautious in planning our schedules, the routes we will take and the stops we make when driving a car. I noticed that since I’ve started monitoring my movements, I’ve saved quite a lot on gas costs. For example, if I know I have an event in Ortigas or Quezon City, I try to schedule appointments at my clinic in Cubao as well so I can hit two birds with one stone.

My mom also reminds me to lessen the junk I leave in my car. As a teacher, I tend to keep a box of papers and booklets in the trunk so it’s easy to access when necessary. She tells me, however, if I always fill my trunk, I not only damage my car but I also use more fuel.

Do you have a fuel saving tip? If so, Pilipinas Shell invites you to join the search for the Philippines Smartest Drivers. If you hold a valid Philippine drivers license, simply share your Fuel saving tips by shooting a video explaining how this can translate to fuel efficiency and upload it to www.topgear.com.ph/shellsmartestdrivers. Be sure to end your video by completing this phrase: “Ang Pinoy na matipid sa gasolina, ____________.” Entries can be as simple or as creative as you’d like it to be. Uploading period is from May 20 to June 20, 2010.

All contestants will take home premium items from Shell and the top ten finalists will take home Php 10,000 worth of Shell vouchers and will be invited to a fuel economy boot camp on June 26 where they will compete for the top honors of being hailed The Philippines Smartest Drivers.

These drivers will also get the chance to join Team Philippines from the Mapua Institute of Technology and the University of Sto. Tomas in the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia in Malaysia where they will compete with drivers from other Asian countries.

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Teacher's Corner, Teaching Resources, The Library | 0 Comments

Books for the Preschool Classroom: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

One of my favorite kiddie books is Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It’s vibrant colors and cute drawings always bring a smile to my face. My kids love it too! It teaches a whole range of concepts from sequencing, days of the week, and in this case, even colors I made this poster a few school years’ ago and it’s still one of my favorite classroom decorations till now

There are a lot of video adaptations of the story on You Tube,  which my kids also love. We were lucky two years ago because right after discussing the story, we chanced upon a real live caterpillar in our school garden and we actually took care of it until it hatched into a butterfly! Talk about a hands-on learning experience! Read about it here.

Posted by Teacher Ria in Reflections | 0 Comments

Sight-seeing in the SLEX

Last night I was stuck in the expressway-slash-parking lot for ages. The normal short drive from work, which takes less than half an hour if I leave school after 9 pm, took over two and a half hours. I wiled away the time on my mobile phone writing notes and what-not. But I could only do that for so long, so I began sight-seeing. Well, billboard seeing that is! Normally I don’t get to look at them much since I am driving, so I usually just get a glance.

Anyway, last night I was amazed at the sheer number of billboards there are. It’s like every hundred meters has one! From shoes, cough medicines, internet providers and beauty/cosmetology centers (whether for an acne skin product or various treatments). While I think our government has to start regulating these billboards in the name of safety (especially in EDSA where the billboards can be so mesmerizing, especially those with bright lights and are animated), I was glad for once that they were there to keep my entertained throughout my painfully long trip.

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Reflections | 4 Comments

A lesson from the first day of class

I made it through the first day of class! Well, the first two days should I say. Yesterday we started a new term and I’m slowly trying to get back to the daily grind. The first day is always testy for me, no matter how many times I’ve done this before. I always manage to get all anxious and antsy. Lucky for me, three of my four classes have students I have taught before, so this calmed my nerves a bit.

On the other hand, the last class is a totally new bunch of students, and to top it off, they’re from the College of Engineering. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I always seem to have the wrong perceptions of them. For example, I always assumed that engineering students were good at math and had good drawing skills. Today, my students struggled through a simple drawing activity and one even jokingly said that if it were a cad drawing or a computer assisted task, they’d get it done in no time! Plus apparently math is not always an inherent talent for these students! At the end of the session, I guess it was me who was reminded of a lesson: don’t make assumptions because in as much as clothing is not one size fits all, so are these preconceived notions I have.

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

Teaching’s fringe benefits.

I’ve reconciled myself with the fact that teaching preschoolers will never reap me financial rewards, except perhaps if I owned the school and implemented a sizable tuition fee. However, while I face my small paycheck every fifteen days, there are so many fringe benefits that make it worth my while. These are the things I really have to think about when I finally bid teaching preschool goodbye:

• Teaching preschool keeps me young. There’s something about the joyous laughter of children that really taps into your inner child and as such, translates to a more youthful “you”.
• Long summer breaks, holidays and semestral breaks! Yes, when classes are out, classes are out for teacher too We do have some administrative work to attend to, but we don’t have the same rigid schedule all year round.
• Seeing students succeed. This is one of the best fringe benefits for me.
• Running around the playground, squatting and sitting in the teeny-tiny chairs of the classroom, picking up the kids (and after the kids too!), as well as cleaning up and repainting the school during the summer sure beats the best  fat burners in the world! Well, unless of course you counterbalance it with mega-binges after work!!! Seriously though, most of the co-teachers I’ve had are tiiiiiiiny!
• Of course a fun fringe benefit are Christmas presents, flowers, drawings and expressions of love from my kids. Where else do I get kissed by a bunch of boys on a daily basis, right?

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Posted by Teacher Ria in The Library | 0 Comments

Books for the Classroom: William’s Doll

When I first started this blog, I wanted offer various resources and materials that would be helpful to teachers like me. I haven’t really had time to focus on that but starting today (especially since a new school year is starting, I will try to be more consistent with that! Hence, here is a new category that will fall under the library section of this blog, Books for the Classroom

The storybook William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow is a great book to use in class when talking about gender roles and breaking stereotypes attached to it, especially if you have kids who like playing with toys that appear to be gender inappropriate.

The story tells of a little boy named William who asks his mother to give him a doll. Given that he is a boy, his father tried to encourage him to play with trains and other toys for boys, but much as he liked these toys, he still asked for a doll. Finally his grandmother conceded and gave him a doll and when asked why he wanted a doll, William replied that it would be so he can practice being a father.

I’ve used this story several times in my teaching career, and I have even extended the use of this to my college classrooms where I teach social psychology. It is a good way of looking at socially accepted norms and allowing kids to feel accepted despite being “different”.