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The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

This year, the Grinch who stole Christmas is not a green faced cartoon character, but the wrath of Mother Nature. It is so heartbreaking to see pictures of the devastation in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities brought about by Typhoon Sendong. I never imagined that the pictures reminiscent of Ondoy would, pardon the choice of words but I can’t think of any other one to say it, flood my Facebook wall. It is encouraging, however, to see how people are utilizing the power of social media and modern technology to once more rekindle the spirit of Bayanihan and pakikipagkapwa at this time of need.

As many list out relief centers, calls for help, and means of making donations, I’d like to make a shout out too, but this time for the children who are suffering from post-traumatic stress at this point. Besides food, water, and clothing, if you have any old stuffed toys to share, or new if you’d care to do so, please take the time to send them too. After caring for the physical selves of those who survived the disaster, let’s try and help care for the emotional and mental hurts left by Sendong. For more information, please get in touch with Ms. Cathy Babao who is working on a healing project for the children of CDO and Iligan. Quoting from her Facebook page,

Children in trauma have a lot of nightmares. The power of a hug, or something that they can hug cannot be underestimated. If you have old (or new) stuffed toys, ideally teddy bears, that you can donate to the children of CDO and Iligan, please send them to me. I’m working with the Regional Missionaries of the Philippines in Northern Mindanao on this healing project. Please feel free to message me here or send me an email at cathybabao@gmail.com if you would like to help us out. Thanks much!

It’s not much of a Christmas, and yes, we all know Christmas is more than just new things and celebrations, but maybe this time we can really make an effort to bring some sense of comfort and love to our brothers and sisters down south.

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Term End Evaluation

Well, well, well…..the term has gone by so fast. It’s hard to believe that I’m in my last week of the trimester Woot. I guess. This has been a trying one for me, more on the personal side though to be honest, but on the super rough days that came my way this term, I kinda wished I had a stay at home job, like maybe that of a freelance writer or maybe one of those Web Developer Jobs, essentially one that would let me do my work in jammies and have minimal contact with the outside world. However, though there were many days that felt that way, I must admit whenever I’d get out of my classes, I’d always feel so much better. So I guess as a whole the term hasn’t been all that bad. Let’s see how I feel in the next few days, though….grading time. Gaaaah.

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My Dog Ate Your Homework

Remember that old cliché of an excuse that goes, “Teacher, I’m sorry but my dog ate my homework”? Um…what is one to do when she’s the teacher and she needs to use this excuse???

Egaaad.

Sometime ago I brought home my students projects so I could grade them at home and to my dismay, when I woke up I found that my little rascal Joe had, yes, eaten their homework. Har.  It’s a good thing most my other assignments and projects are technology based, such as the video projects for my clinical psych students and electronic books and manuals/guides for my psych measurement students.

I guess as evidence shows dogs do eat homework hehe. Now…the question is what do you think my students will say when I come to class on Wednesday and say, Kids, I’m sorry but my dog ate your homework???

I'm sorry, Mommy, I didn't mean to eat the homework....

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2012 Holidays Declared: Long Weekends Ahead!

A few days ago news on the proclamation of the 2012 holidays were all over Facebook and Twitter. In a way, I’m glad that President Aquino has done away with the whole “holiday economics” thing President Arroyo had because let’s face it: while long weekends are great and we all enjoy it, it does affect the school calendar greatly. And as a teacher, this can be somewhat of a hassle. And let’s not forget that we also miss out on days from sudden suspensions due to bad weather.

Anyway, here are the declared holidays for 2012. I am only listing those that will affect school days. For a complete list you can check out http://www.gov.ph/2011/11/24/proclamation-no-295-s-2011/

January 23 (Monday) – Chinese New Year
February 25 (Saturday) – EDSA Revolution Anniversary
June 12 (Tuesday) – Independence Day
August 21 (Tuesday) – Ninoy Aquino Day
August 27 (Last Monday of August) – National Heroes Day
November 1 (Thursday) – All Saints Day
November 2 (Friday) – Additional special (non-working) day
November 30 (Friday) – Bonifacio Day

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One Step at a Time Mommy Dearest…

Once again I found myself shaking my head in amazement at how some parents become too overzealous about their children’s progress. Maybe I feel this way because I am not yet a mommy, or maybe because I don’t understand where they’re coming from. However, after being around so many mommies and their kids over so long, I realize that there are indeed those parents who just get too worried about the progress of their children. Imagine, I have some parents who want their kids to already be reading and writing, when in fact their fine motors aren’t totally developed yet. In fact, they’re barely out of their baby jogger city mini gt double strollers and so the big motors are still developing. The only thing I could reply to that parent I was talking to then was, slowly mommy, it will come when the time is right. One step at a time.

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Sorry Goes a Long Way

Last week in class I lost my temper. No, I did not throw a hissy fit, but I did let my students know I was upset. I was annoyed at how they take my class for granted and how they feel that they can easily whip out their iPhones with all those flashy iphone covers and play games or take random photos during the session. I hate too how they walk in and out of the room and do other things for their other classes. I’ve even had students who say “I’m sorry Miss, my other major had a project/paper/exam”. Grrr. As if mine was not important.  Grrr grrr grrr.

When I came home, I got an email from one of the kids in the class apologizing for the behavior I had called out. It was nice to receive an apology and though the behavior was annoying, the sorry did go a long way Teachers, after all, are still human

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Today’s Random Snappy: Goodbye Sembreak

Although I technically do not have a real semestral break (since I teach in a school with a trimestral system), I can’t help but feel a little sad that the sem break is over. I was lucky enough to have been able to take a few days off because of the holidays and so I kinda had about 11 days off as well. Tomorrow is my last day and I’m maximizing the break by doing nothing. Well, nothing cognitive or school related that is. Instead, I went to yoga, I sorted pictures, I slept, slept and slept some more haha. While sorting photos I came across this:

These were one of the “sembreak” trips I got to take with my colleagues, although I must admit, I don’t wanna do that again. My other friends, however, loved it. One of them even had the whole shebang of accessories: from sierra designs camping gear, portable water containers (those with the straws hanging from the bags) and even cooling equipment. As for me, I’d rather go to the beach. Hehe.

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Dear Teacher Ria…

Dear Teacher Ria,

I miss being you. I miss how you would goto work in just t-shirts and jeans, and just be so casual and free.  I miss how it felt to just be  playing with clay and getting all sticky with glue. I miss the joy of  laughing and running around with careless abandon. I even  miss opening all those weirdly shaped tetra packs during snack time.

I miss random questions that are just so innocent and pure. I miss not worrying about what others will think. I miss just being carefree and childlike. I miss reading silly stories and singing songs even if I can’t sing.

I miss you. I really do.

Love,

Miss Ria.

Yes, this is me thinking about the preschool and how much I miss it. Was it the right choice? In my heart I know, sometimes though I can’t help but miss it

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Revisiting Teacher Ria

At this very moment I can barely feel me toes, my knees are wobbly still and my back is killing m, my eyes are droopy and my throat is so ouchie but I must say, all these physical aches and pains were well worth it It was such a wonderful blessing to be able to touch base with the “Teacher Ria” in me today as I took part in a teacher training program for 100 public preschool teachers from all different parts of the country. The teachers in today’s conference were such great participants they exceeded all my expectations It was truly such a gift to be able to be part of this workshop again. Like I said this morning on my Facebook page, I am  grateful for the opportunity to not only continue touching lives through teaching, but to share this with others.

Thank you so much to the Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation, Inc. for the chance to be part of the HSBC Kinder College Conference again!

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Today’s Random Snappy: I Miss Sembreak

Today I realized how much I miss sembreak. Since I am not teaching preschool this year, I am missing out on one of the kids’ favorite parties: our halloween celebration! Sure we don’t go with the whole witches, goblins and monsters theme, but it still is fun One year our theme was storybook characters. One of the kids came in such a cute Harry Potter costume!! We do remind our parents not to let their kids come in dressed inappropriately (which surprisingly does happen a lot! can you imagine I saw a picture once of a kid dressed up in french maid lingerie??? errr…hello!?!) and in something that they can relate to or recognize.

Right after the halloween party comes our sembreak. For the preschool I was teaching in, they end this week…and they have a vacation…I DONT!!! WAAAAH…..

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