Posted by Teacher Ria in Multimedia Center, Teacher's Corner, Tips and Tricks | 0 Comments

Clearing the Cache and Public Internet Portals

I am lucky that I get to do a lot of my online work in my own computer and that no one else uses it besides me. It’s not that I don’t like to share, but I guess there are some drawbacks to using public portals. For example, when I get too lazy to bring my lappy to school, I end up using the PC in the library and when I type in certain things in the browser bar of Firefox (or Chrome for that matter!), previously visited sites are listed below. Because I’m not used to clearing the recent search history and cache before I disconnect, I guess I leave a bit of my self on those computers, right? At least now I remember to log out of my accounts hehe.

Seriously, though, there are times when this behavior can either be dangerous or embarrassing, especially when you are browsing things that you shouldn’t be browsing. I remember once, in an internet cafe nearby, there was this young kid (she must have been about 8 or 9) who accidentally ended up in an adult site because of the previous user. Of course the mother was livid! But after looking at the history (which actually included sites like www.testosteroneboosters.org, fora on reproductive dysfunctions and reproductive health as well as family planning) and explaining that it was an accident, the mother calmed down. From then on, I always made sure to clear whatever history there would be after I use a computer.

To be fair, I don’t think anyone would ever get into trouble if they accidentally browse my browsing history hehe!

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Teacher's Corner | 1 Comment

Picking the Right Sized Snacks for Preschoolers

kiddie size me please!

In my twelve years of teaching, I have seen all sizes and shapes of snacks. One thing that has always been true, however, is that no matter what size or shape they came in, they were always too much for my little kids, especially when they were in the toddlers class.

Finally, one day, I saw this pop out of my kids’ lunchbox.

Yup, a teeny-tiny box of chocolate milk. It may not be too obvious in this photo (it didn’t occur to me to take the shot next to a regular sized one to highlight the difference )but finally, someone made the size just right for the kids! I really hate how most of them end up throwing away over half of their juice or milk during snack time because they cannot finish it! The bigger sizes may be appropriate for grades choolers or the seniors class for that matter, but the littlest ones, I don’t think so!

This, on the other hand, is simply perfect

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More Funny Moments with my Kiddos

Today’s collection of funny moments with my kiddos will be all about age

Before I started my Project Prettify Me, I admit I was starting to look much older and frumpier than I would have liked to admit and I think that translated to the way the kids saw me. For example:

Noah says to me one day: Teacher, can you do this for me?

As I get up to approach him he says: Oh, never mind, I’ll ask Teacher Joy instead. You’re old na kasi e.

OUCHIES!!!!

On another occasion, this is what happened:

Child: How old are you na, Teacher?

Me: How old do you think I am?

Child: Um….37?

And yes: this happened when I was only 29. Winner.

But my most favorite (oh, this is said with a hint of sarcasm, hehe) of them all:

As one of my kiddos describes his drawing to me: This is me, and this is my classmate and this is my friend. I used flesh to color our face. Then this is you. (points to a brown colored blob on the paper) I used brown cause your skin is not like ours….it’s lines-lines like this.

GAAAAH!!!! I tell ya!!! Can someone find me the world’s best wrinkle lotion so I can erase these darned lines on my face?!?! Plus let’s not forget those freckles that my kids love pointing out!!!

BUUUUT! To be fair, since I’ve lost weight and been more careful about caring for my self, this is but one of the many “awwww”  moments I had gotten from the kids:

Child exclaims when I walk in to the classroom with my makeup all done early for a change: Wow, Teacher, look at you…your eyes are so pretty

On another occasion:

Child: So, Teacher, how long have you been working here?Me: About 5 years already.

Child: Oh. I see. So that makes you…about…..hmmm….28?

Woot! And yes, I’m 31 hehe. I love it

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Advocacies, Reflections | 0 Comments

X-ing Out Cervical Cancer and Other Health Issues

Last year, I shared in this blog that for my 30th birthday, I got myself the gift of protection against Cervical Cancer. By opting to get the vaccination, I would like to believe that I made a stand against an illness that kills so many women yearly. It is sad that many women lose their lives to an illness that can be prevented, or treated for that matter if diagnosed early. More so, it is sad that if women (especially younger women and adolescents) are educated about these health concerns and issues that are related to one’s sexual decisions, they can make better choices. This goes beyond just cervical cancer, but other health concerns as well.

While abstinence is still key in protecting oneself from diseases, we cannot deny that many of the young people in our society (heck, even the not so young!) do not make the best choices when it comes to these things. I remember a made-for-tv movie once in the Hallmark channel about this issue and in that story, teenagers as young as 13 were infected with STD’s because of the highly promiscuous and under-informed environment they were in. Because they didn’t know better, they turned to fellow teenagers or various online sources to find answers. While some are valid and can give good information, such as treatments, prevention and natural cures for herpes and other similar diseases, there are those sites that are completely ridiculous and out of context.

At the end of the day, health care and disease prevention is a choice we all have to make. It is our responsibility, especially as the adults, to inform the younger generation of the right and appropriate choices for life.

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Multimedia Center, Teacher's Corner, Teaching Resources, Tips and Tricks | 0 Comments

Kids and Internet Safety

A few months ago, I wrote an article about keeping kids safe online. Entitled “A Keystroke Away from Danger“, the article talked about the many, many dangers lurking online, especially for children. From cyberbullying to falling prey to sexual offenders, children and adolescents, and even some adults, may find themselves in the throes of danger if they are not careful. This is why, as a teacher, I make sure to highlight the importance of being vigilant and aware about the  potential risks and dangers modern technology post. For example, when I talk to my little preschoolers (yes, they do know how to use the internet! and believe it or not, some of them even have their own Facebook pages), I tell them to stay only on the sites that their parents allow them to be on and to not just simply follow those pop-up ads or links that say “click here“.

I think the most important part of internet safety is being educated about it. In this day and age, there’s really no going around the fact that modern technology and the World Wide Web. It will and always be an integral part of our lives so all we can do is arm ourselves with the know-how to navigate safely in this world.

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

Kids in College

A few weeks ago, a boy stopped me by the elevator. He goes, “Hi, you’re JJ’s sister, right?“. I say, “yes”. And he goes on to say “Hi, I’m Cedric. I used to go to the same school as your brother. And I remember you were a teacher in our school before“. Yup, OMG moment for me right then!

I mean, I had gotten used to seeing kids from my old school in the university I teach in, but more because I had also graduated from that school, so I would find it amusing to see the kids who were gradeschoolers when I was in ICA become college students. But now…..I am beginning to see kids I used to teach.

To drive this shocking fact home: yesterday, my brother took the first of his college entrance exams. Jeesh. I still see him as the little boy I used to carry around, but now, he’s going to be a college freshman. It’s so hard to believe because it feels like only yesterday when I myself was in high school, picking out a prom dress and thinking about what to take for college!!!

Okay, okay….I’m getting old!!!!

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

Kids Know More than We Think They Do

I am the type of person who gets irked easily and in class, that is one of the biggest struggles I face. While the kids rarely get my goat, I do lose my cool every now and then, especially when my colleagues are not meeting my expectations. This is why I try my best to do things on my own instead so I don’t have to make others feel bad.

However, one bad day, I kinda wasn’t able to hide it as much as I could, even though I thought I was doing a good job. I had gotten ticked off by a misunderstanding with my co-teacher with regards to an activity and so I thought I had taken a deep breath and let the incident slide. Apparently, my kids were honing in on that vibe. How did I know? Well, one of my kids pointed it out. He goes:

Kid 1: Teacher, mad ka ba sa amin? (Teacher are you mad at us?)

Me:  Oh no, T, I’m not mad at you guys.

Kid 2: Weh…you’re mad kaya, look at you. (Oh, but you are, just look at you!)

I had to burst out laughing with that. I guess even though I tried to veil my annoyance in a smile and all, the kids were aware of the change in mood and response.

I guess this is true, too, in other situations, such as in the home. For example, I had a little boy in class ask once, “Teacher, why when mommy and daddy are fighting, they talk in spelling?“ (hehe….we all do this when talking about sensitive stuff in front of kids, right? Spell out these words so they don’t understand?). So as much as we try to cloak things in a smile, kids really know more than we think they do.

I think it makes more sense to admit that you are upset rather than hide it and pretend. I have learned to say “Yes, Teacher is upset because she does not like (whatever behavior happened)” and the kids have responded well. Plus, this had been good for me, I think. This realization highlights one thing for me: kids think and understand things more than we expect them to.

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Making the Most of the World Wide Web

I have been so busy these past three days because we are starting a new trimester at the university I teach in. On one hand, I am glad that the classes I am teaching now are those that I have handled in the past, thus I don’t have to start everything from scratch, but on the other, I miss the challenge of learning a new subject.

One thing that never changes, however, despite the subjects I handle, is that I always remind my students to maximize resources available for them to make learning my subject easily. For example, while I still emphasize that Wikipedia should not be used as a formal source for research and papers they write, they are free to browse it and read the articles there because it really helps simplify more complex topics.

For someone like me, who grew up hating reading books and journals, having the web sure makes things easier, and it’s not just for academic stuff. From canvassing the best prices for gadgets, to getting the best life insurance quotes, and tracking down rare items for collections, the World Wide Web makes everything more accessible. Add to this, isn’t it more fun than browsing through catalogs and dusty books in a library?!?

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Featured, Life Lessons, Reflections, Teacher's Corner | 2 Comments

Rekindling the Passion

yes, this is why I teach....

When this school year started, I knew I was sure about my decision to once again, hang up my Preschool Teacher Hat and move on to more “grown-up” stuff. I was looking forward to being more of a blogger and a writer for the various publications and sites I work for on the side. In preparation, I bought several other domains to start working on, with the idea that once I end the year, I can go full blast into maintaining these sites.

I was so sure of leaving that, unconsciously, I started to distance myself from the kids. While I was there to be their teacher in the classroom, I did not let myself get emotionally connected to them the way I used to. I avoided giving them pet names or using my usual terms of endearment towards them. I suppose in someway, I was preparing myself emotionally to say good-bye to them and to the profession.

However, in the past few months I’ve started questioning this resolve. Am I really sure I want to give this up?

Today, I was invited to give a workshop to a group of preschool teachers from various public schools around the Manila. At first I agreed to do the talk mainly because of my fervent belief that preschool teachers play one of the most essential roles in a child’s future. What made me say this was my own experience with my preschool teacher who went way above the call of duty to help me overcome an emerging learning problem she noted in me. As a child, I was diagnosed with dyslexia and I believe that it was her early intervention efforts that allowed me to make it through school in a relatively painless fashion. Sure, reading tasks have always been (and always will be) tedious and effort-full task for me, I have learned to enjoy it. My main goal for the workshop was just to get that message across.

However, as I ended the workshop, I realized, or should I say, REMEMBERED why I teach in the first place….

….I teach to touch lives and make change happen….

…I teach to watch children discover their full potential…

…I teach to see amazing things happen….

…I teach to see what pure joy means…

…I teach to remember what living life to the fullest means….

…I teach because this is where I learned life’s ABC’s.*…

…I teach because it makes me happy….

While I have not yet made up my mind at this point in time, I felt a spark rekindled in me. I am determined to make my teaching, both in the preschool and college levels, even better. I think part of the loss of interest was because of the fact that I’m just so tired, that I can barely enjoy myself with what I’m doing. I guess it’s also because I haven’t been taking care of my health too much. For one, I allowed myself to get fat again! Plus I don’t really sleep well often and and it’s toooo cold lately in the morning for me to feel any joy when I wake up and Bubba keeps leaving early in the morning, and the genius takes my blanket with him!!! (maybe I should use my lolo’s old electric blanket to keep me warm, I bet he wouldn’t steal that!).  Seriously though, these things make it difficult for me to feel the joy of teaching on a regular basis.

Today, however, I saw my passion for teaching rekindled.

*life’s ABC’s, as published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Youngblood Section, July 2007. Click here for the article

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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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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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Term-end Analysis

Even though I have been teaching for so, so long, I still find myself surprised at how quickly a trimester goes. It feels like we just started yesterday, but here I am again, checking their papers and working on grades. Despite this term starting off on the wrong foot for me (for some reason I had difficulty getting into the groove of things, why I don’t really know, but it was not as natural and spontaneous for me this time), I enjoyed my classes very much. I also liked the outputs that came out of my various classes, especially the advocacy and information dissemination campaigns we did, both for abnormal psychology and for another subject.

My goal for these projects was simple: to campaign for understanding for their assigned mental disorder (for abnormal psychology) and to promote solutions for simple day to day social problems.

In their projects, I had the students make videos that would make their assigned issue simple and understandable to an ordinary person. I told them to also supplement these with inspirational posters that will drive their messages home.  I also encouraged them to make their campaigns as multi-modal as possible. Some of them designed pins and buttons with funny quotes and some even made board games about their topics.  There were some who even designed shirts (similar to those Cafepress funny tshirts) to highlight how simple it can be to solve everyday problems if we just try.

Those projects were definitely the highlight of my term I loved how this also engaged the students in a different type of learning activity that let them tap into their different potentials. Overall, I have to say the effort of my batch of kids this term made me feel good about teaching, especially since I tend to be a more non-traditional teacher. This term, I felt that for the most part, they appreciated that too

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Featured, Reflections, Teacher's Corner | 3 Comments

Missing my Little Cara-tot

I would be lying if I said I don’t have class favorites.

Let me qualify that statement: I have kids who I feel more connected to compared to others, but this does not mean I don’t treat my kids equally. Some of them just have the uncanny ability of tugging at my heartstrings. To be fair, I keep my emotions in check when I work with the children in class, and I make sure to have my partner tell me if she feels I am paying too much attention to one over the other.

The thing is, as hard as I try not to get attached to some other kids, I can’t help but fall for some of them. Perhaps it’s because of a certain need they have, or a difficulty we worked through together, or simply because he or she is simply adorable and can make me laugh, whatever it is, some of them creep slowly into my heart and stay there for a long, long time.

Cara was one of those little kids who touched my heart and has stayed there despite the fact that she has been gone for the past two school years already.

I guess what made Cara so special to me was that she was in the first class I taught after returning from my two year retirement from preschool teaching and she was one of my biggest success stories ever! She transformed from a very clingy (yes, with matching cry, kick and may-I-throw-you-a-tantrum daily) little girl who refused to talk to anyone except her cousin Rafa and her nanny to a confident and sociable child in a few months. At first she would not allow me to hold her and would really cry if her yaya was asked to wait in the nanny area already.

Posted by Teacher Ria in Classroom Escapades, Featured, Lesson Plans, Outside the Classroom, Preschool | 0 Comments

When Nature Has Other Plans

Often times in a preschool teachers life she will find that no matter how well in advance she has planned her lessons, things happen that change the course of this discussion. In my personal experience, this has happened countless times, both for the good and the bad. Sometimes these changes are due to faulty equipment or at times due to a more pressing interest in another topic or stimuli, whatever it is, the teachers job is to adjust to these changes and not get caught up with the “plan”.

When I was starting out, I occasionally struggled with that. It took some time for me to really embrace the idea that no matter what I do or say, if the children are intent on something else, I better just go with it. And what I realized from this is by going with the children’s flow, I would find they learned better and they remembered these lessons even years later.

One example of these sudden changes was when I ran into Mother Nature as I taught my kids about animals and bugs. As part of our Math lesson, I had them go through an investigative bug hunt. The task was for them to look for the plastic bugs and pictures of animals I had hidden around the playground and to count the number of legs these bugs had, then we were to chart this and compare which had more or less . Armed with a magnifying glass and a record sheet, we set out in search for these little critters.

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

When Students Grow Up

fellow bloggers with SM Winema Project Head, Sharon Yu…

yes…she used to be my student!

One of the most rewarding things for me as a teacher is seeing my kids grow up to become their own people. Over the years I have received updates from parents bubbling with pride over their child’s latest accomplishments and every time I get these messages, I feel a surge of pride rush in me. Even though I know a lot has happened since they were in my class, I can’t help but feel I am part of that growth and progress as well, even just a little bit.

In the past two years, my very first preschoolers have graduated from elementary school and are now in high school. It’s amazing how quickly time flies and in my head, I still think of them as the little kids I used to carry around!

My college kids have graduated too. I guess that’s even stranger for me than having the little ones grow up! For one, a guy from the very first class I taught in the university is now my colleague in the department. More than that, he’s a very accomplished researcher. I also have found myself “working” with former students in a totally different capacity now. Since I have gotten into this blogging thing, I have run in to two former students from an advertising/marketing class I once taught. The last time I saw one of them, we had a long talk about the movie Inception and about Psychology. And you know what, for some reason, I felt so tongue-tied and clueless all of a sudden!!!

In any case, seeing them grow up has truly been a testament to why I do this job

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

Keeping Kids Safe In School

One of the biggest things I worry about as a teacher is my kids’ safety. Be it during play time or dismissal time, I want to be sure they are as safe as possible. This is why I always tell remind my co-teachers that we should never have our backs turned to the kids. Perhaps I may be hypervigilant about this, but it has always been one of the things I am overly attentive with. For example, even during dismissal time, I feel uncomfortable leaving the kids with their nannies in the waiting area because it’s not very child-friendly. For one, it’s hot. Secondly, it’s cemented and quite a small area. That’s why I always ask my kids to stay inside the library or play area while waiting.

I have had my fair share of accidents in school, despite my vigilance. The worst of which was when one little girl ran down the steps and hit her head. Even though the step was somewhat padded, because of the pebble wash under the padding, she got a HUGE bump on her forehead. What made things worse was I was unable to reach her mom immediately and the child’s nanny did not inform her as well that I wanted to talk to her until late in the evening. That was definitely the worst experience ever.

The thing I fear the most, though, is accidentally losing a child from the school premises. Thankfully, we have strict guidelines and procedures for pick-up time and during class hours to ensure that the kids are not taken without our knowledge, even if this is by their parents. We make sure that one of us will physically hand-off the kids to the parent/driver or whoever is assigned to pick him/her up.

Here are other safety tips and reminders for all of us teachers:

1. Childproof your school furniture, including electrical sockets, table corners and doors.

2. Have nanny-safety seminars once a semester to remind them of rules and reminders about kid safety.

3. Empower your teachers with CPR and emergency training.

4. Make sure your fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and emergency sets are in place.

5. Install a security system (such as CCTV’s) as well as heavy duty Kwikset locks/handles and barrel bolts that kids cannot manipulate on their own (yes, even a four year old can manage to unlock doors!) so there’s no way they can’t get out alone.

6. Do emergency evacuation drills periodically.

These are just a few safety tips and reminders. Do you have other suggestions?

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