fee-fi-FO-FEM!

maria is now a blogger! welcome to blogspot, teacher fofem! : )

so happy that you can join us. i can't wait to read your thoughts! it'll be like old times.. sorta. miss you tons!

tic-tac-toe champ

meet my sometimes roomate, migueli. i taught him how to play tic-tac-toe and now he can actually beat me... even when i'm not trying to make him win.

that's him, in my room, on my lola' s bed, with the ladybug-and-flowers tic-tac-toe set amy gave me 2 Christmases ago. that's coco (the bear) behind him.

meet "the champ"

tama ba naman yan?!

was browsing through my tutee's handouts when i chanced upon her filipino talasalitaan list for the 4th quarter.

one of the entries was "ISMOLIN," defined as something like "mababang pagtingin sa tao o bagay..." or something to that effect.

i wonder how soon the words "ispelengin" and "PK" will follow suit?

i think i can! i think i can!

i have never, in my entire academic career, failed nor have dropped any subject... at least on purpose (the only time i was asked to fill out a load revision form was when our class was dissolved, due to a lack of students). in my MA studies, the temptation to drop has always been there. in my first semester in UP, i remember that it took me about a month before i finally found my bearings and had the confidence to think, "hindi! kaya ko 'to!" it's been a breeze since. so it's funny how, in the last semester of my MA studies, i sense the temptation to drop one of my last 2 subjects. and the call is strong this time!

it's not like me to be a quitter and i know that i can do the work the subject requires. but not now, when the sem is shorter and i have 3 subjects to teach and make daily lesson plans for! even more heartbreaking is that of all the subjects i've taken in the past 2 years, THIS is what i think an MA subject should be like. i have a very good, and as others might put it, "tough" teacher. i know. she was my very first prof in this course. i like her. probably one of the very few teachers that i respect in the program.

so... as in the past, i prayed. and i prayed. and i prayed.

God answered me today. among other things, my teacher announced that we will no longer have final exams. WOOHOO! that, and she approved my topic for a seminar with an enthusiastic, "why not?!" so things are looking brighter. looks like this can be a "can do" job. wish me luck!

just press # 6

another excerpt from my genogram...

Mi casa es su casa

Big as it is, our home was opened to and shared with many relatives. For a time, two of my Lola’s sisters (spinsters) lived (and died) in our house. They moved into what was then my sister's and my room, the Pink Room (#2 on the intercom). Cousins from the province (Surigao) “boarded” with us while they pursued their secondary and / or college degrees. We even had a nun stay with us for a while. She was an old college friend of my parents back in their days in U.P. Before her, another cousin and her friend stayed in the same room (#4 on the intercom).

All these “guests” staying with us made us “move” from one room to another. At a certain point, the house got so crowded that I found myself without a bed. It was then that my Mom suggested that I sleep in the Master Bedroom. This was back when I was in Grade 6. I have never moved since.

okay. truth be told, i've had my own room probably since 2nd year high school. do i sleep in it? no. i've always considered it my "holding room." the only residents in that room are my clothes and my things... especially on the bed (which i only remember sleeping on once when my mom and i argued).

having a guest for interchange changed things. needless to say, there was absolutely no way that she was going to sleep in the master's bedroom. i started to resurrect the green room for her to stay in with the added incentive that it would eventually be mine... it also gave me good a chance to put all those episodes of "queer eye for the straight guy" i've watched to good use.

but what's a room if you don't sleep in it? the night before our thai guest came, migueli, my syster, and i christened the new room (and mattress) by sleeping in (and on) it. but since our guest departed, a cousin has spent 2 separate nights in it - uh oh! was history about to repeat itself? so i started moving in my stuff, albeit ever so slowly. it started with my craft stuff - my "toys" - then my bookcase, then the "antique-ish" study table that was always out in the hallway. my clothes made the move last week, so now i really had to shower and change in the "yellow-green room" as migueli would call it (three walls are yellow; the 4th wall is an accent wall in green).

thursday night, i spent my first night in MY ROOM...and overslept! it's a work in progress still... i have yet to find a place for all the stuff that remains on the bed in the other room (there's always the bed in the yellow-green room. it's a bigger queen size too! hahaha!), my 400+ CDs, and a place to put my shoes. i hope to get all that stuff transferred before migueli moves in there... hopefully before he gets to high school. hahaha!

half-tank refill

had my long overdue one-to-one with my boss last friday. it's usually bi-annual thing, but i guess we both got caught up with the drills of work. to give you an idea of how hectic our lives are, when we see each other in school in the morning, instead of the usual, "hi," she greets me with "kamusta ka na, teach?" to which i usually reply with a deep sigh. last friday, over lunch, she posed the question again. in response, all i could say was, "tired."

in the past year, it seems that i've run out of gas. i don't think that i was built to write 3 daily lesson plans and teach 3 different subjects... and wait til you meet my kids! it can burn you up pretty quickly. it actually makes me excited to not teach next schoolyear and just review for my MA comprehensives.

earlier tonight, i was de-cluttering the files on my computer when i stumbled on the following piece. it's an assignment i turned in for an MA class a couple of years ago for a video we viewed one Saturday morning.

MOLDER OF DREAMS

I never thought, that at age 34, I would be back in school again. I always thought that my Bachelor’s Degree was enough education for me. Perhaps, if I had a teacher such as Mr. Doud, my attitude would be a lot different.

The film, “Molder of Dreams,” recounts Mr. Doud’s achievements as an educator. Perhaps greater than his winning the National Teacher Award and the opportunity to meet the President of the United States, Mr. Doud’s greatest achievements would be the very lives of his students that he has been able to affect by personally knowing them - beyond grades and papers.

“Lives are more important than lessons.” His life as a student is a testimony of this. He related how, in his youth, he always considered himself to be a nobody until his third grade teacher paid him notice as a somebody – not as a trouble student or an underachiever, but a person with a life and a story to tell.

I remember how, in the film, the class knew – and cared to know - very little about Scott until Mr. Doud prompted him to tell his story. All people want to be valued, whether they say so or not.

As a preschool teacher, this could not be any truer. I have seen how young children clamor for attention in as many fashions as I have students. I have one in particular that easily caught the class’ attention, a 5-year old girl with cerebral palsy. For the first few weeks of class, some of the children treated her differently; others were even cruel. I invited her mother to speak to the class one morning to tell the children how her daughter was just like them, how she was different from them, and how they can all help her in class. That small exercise made waves of differences in how the children have since related to her.

It was the loving thing to do. Mr. Doud tries to see Christ in each of his students; I became a teacher because of my great love for Christ and for children. As a teacher, I have been given a great opportunity to be able to mold a child, a person, a life. As a Christian and a Catholic, I try as much as I can to do this lovingly – shaping their young hearts and minds for Jesus.

that girl is still in our school, now in grade 1. she still "wobbles" when she walks (she wears braces on both legs), but she hugs with the strength of a bear whenever she sees me. she hugs as if i were the next best thing to santa claus! and though i may not be in a race for "teacher of the year," i count her as one of my achievements.

re-reading the piece convicted me of my weariness. beyond the paper work and the deadlines, it's the lives that teachers touch that count. i've found my groove again. mondays aren't so bad anymore... but fridays still do look better :)

pressure me, why don't you?

my best friend calls me this morning to give me feedback on her daughter's PTC -- i've been tutoring her since the 2nd quarter. she passed all her subjects! YIPEE!!

BUT...

she's in critical shape. if, at the end of the schoolyear, her general average passes with one failing grade, she repeats the level; 2 failing grades, she needs to transfer to another school. AND SHE'S ONLY IN GRADE 3!!! the clincher: according to my best friend, "repeating is not an option."

i can only do so much.

bizarre encounter

procrastinated on attending mass and ended up going the 8:15 mass at sanctuario de san jose last night. it felt as if i was having an sfc flashback.

i must have seen 4 or 5 former chaptermates during the mass. a polite nod would have more than sufficed. right after mass though, a hand touched my shoulder from behind and whom should i see? miguelito! another chaptermate who just so happened to be my godson! NYAAAAH! had he approached me to ask for a Christmas gift? (he's working already, by the way -- my first godchild in the workforce!) he also happened to mention that his birthday (his 31st -- or was it 32nd?) was coming up soon -- as in this week. in fairness, i did manage to remember THAT much. thankfully, no! hahaha! it was just to say hi and to catch up... him, me plus two others.

it's literally been ages since i last saw him -- i stopped giving him gifts once graduated from college. one Christmas, it was HE who sent me a gift! -- and boy, has he grown! he's huge! somehow, the name didn't seem to suit the built.

i always find comfort in being able to talk freely about community and my faith with those who "understand." since "reuniting" in sfc, i've always related to him as a sister in the faith. but once the conversation turned to family talk, he was miguelito all over again. haay... something's just don't seem to change. tonight, miguelito, my prayers are yours. have faith. His plan is perfect.

destined

checked out my Christian name for our lesson in my religion class tomorrow. how tragic!

my saint namesake was a beautiful woman who was locked up in a tower by her own father. when he discovered that she had converted to Christianity, he got furious and was ordered to kill her. she escaped but was caught, dragged by her hair back home, then beheaded by her father... upon which time, he was immediately struck by lightning and died. fire from heaven. sweet revenge. she also died a virgin. shet.

she's also asociated with st. nicholas or as a gift-bringer, in her own right. she must've been a ninang also. did i mention she was beautiful? hahaha!

living up to my name?

as an assignment for our community assembly in Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon, we were asked to find the meaning of our names. in biblical times, a person's name was viewed as an equivalent to the person himself. it "defined" who you were; your character, reputation, worth, will and ownership. fair warning for parents-to-be.

i challenged that i was mostly called "ninang."

well, guess what... turns out that "leslie" means "from the garden of holly" or "pool by the garden." my Christian name, which will be unmentioned for now, means "unique, mysterious, and rare." summing it up, mama aly reasons that that explained my playful, kid side. a place (or person) you run to get away and be refreshed (coincidentally, we DO have a pool!). holly, you associate with Christmas -- where ninangs' roles come into play a lot (was i made for Christmas then?). the "unique, mysterious, and rare" part just means na "kakaiba ako!" hahaha!

so i guess, i do live up to my name! add on my surname... now that's a tough call my clan has to live up to, but we do beautifully, if you ask me. all part of God's perfect plan. nothing truly happens by accident. "called by name" now has a new, more endearing meaning to me.