Staff Blog

Most of my day is spent working in the office doing HR responsibilities.  At the end of the day I look forward to going to the shelter and hanging out with the kids.  One of my favorite things to play with them is basketball.  Basketball is popular at CSC and you can always find someone playing on the basketball court.  I enjoy getting to know the kids through shooting baskets, playing one on one, or a team game.  Basketball is always fun at CSC.  It’s a great way to end my day!

Teacher Cris’ class was working on ordering numbers in math class recently.  She had taken her students through the steps of comparing two three-digit numbers to figure out which one was the least and which one was the greatest.  They had worked on the skill together using many different number pairs.

Then when it came to independent practice, things got a bit more confusing.  Right away one student piped up and said, “The numbers are different!”  Teacher Cris reassured the student that the process was the same even if the numbers had changed.  She said, “Look at the numbers in the hundreds place value and see if they are the same or different.”  And so on. 

When Teacher Cris looked up next, the same student was clutching his paper to his chest, walking around the room and singing the worship song 10,000 Reasons:

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I’ll worship His holy name.

He went back to his seat and continued to work on his math as he sang.  Teacher Cris was humbled by her student’s response to his problem.  What a sweet reminder to call on God when we need help. 

The past week was a little intense for our inspirational speaker.  If you remember, last year Jacob had his launching as an inspirational speaker at Cebu Children of Hope School.  He then spoke at one of the local colleges.  After a long rest of not giving speeches, Jacob got booked at two different schools last week; Baptist Theological College (BTC) and Southwestern University’s (SWU) Physical and Occupational Therapy Department.

The 3^rd and 4^th year students and teachers of BTC lingered around after the short program.  They told Jacob how blessed they were hearing his testimony.  It was an awesome experience not only for Jacob but for Ginda, Joemar and Wilmar who attended the program as well.

Wilmar was asked to give a sample of his singing voice. Without any hesitation, he stood up, grabbed the microphone and sang “One Way.” It was amazing to see him singing with so much confidence.  Ginda and Joemar, on the other hand, were surrounded by students and teachers talking and asking them questions.

The 4^th and 5^th year students at SWU also had a lot of good questions to ask.  They were interested to know what kind of physical therapy exercises Jacob receives.  Some were also interested to hear more about CSC itself.  Others recognized Joemar as a server at a fast food chain.  Wilmar graciously sang “Let It Go” from the movie Frozen.

The therapy department at CSC continues to do its best to pursue this endeavor—exposing our special needs kids to the community and in turn teaching the community through this effort.  Keep us in your prayers as we look for new avenues for these special needs young adults.

Being a teacher is somewhat like feeding chickens.  When you’re feeding chickens, you have to make sure they eat the food given to them to get the right nutrients.  It’s disappointing if one of your chickens gets sick or dies.  You may get frustrated if the feed spoils or spills out of the container, wasting time, money, and effort.  To avoid this you should have the correct container and supplies for the chickens’ needs.  From time to time you might have to change the type of chicken feed to ensure the chickens will keep on eating.  

Like raising temperamental chickens, teachers also encounter various types of behaviors in students and this needs to be considered before implementing the lesson you are going to teach.  The lesson needs to be prepared properly so the students enjoy and understand the lesson.  Assessments need to be given to make sure the kids really understand the topic you have discussed.  

In my experience while teaching the kids at CCHS, I have undergone different emotions.  Sometimes I feel happy and sometimes I feel mad or even guilty, but I try to not let that be a hindrance.  I pray to the Lord that He will always guide me with the exact words and actions needed for the lesson I am going to share with my students. 

It has been a joy for me to teach science for the older students at the Children of Hope School. Having recently graduated college specializing in science education, it has been an exciting adventure to be able to teach what I love. The students' love for science only makes me love my job even more! Everyday, they ask me, "Teacher Amanda, can we do an experiment?!" Whenever I say "Yes", their eyes widen with an eagerness to learn.

One of our latest experiments was making "oobleck" to explore the properties of matter. Oobleck is made of just corn starch and water, but when the ingredients are mixed together, it carries the properties of both solids and liquids! The students had a chance to get messy, have fun, and engage in scientific inquiry at the same time. With oobleck dripping from their hands, smiles stretched across their faces, and lightbulbs lighting up as their minds participated in active learning, I would say that our experiment was a success! By the end of the lesson, the students asked me a new question, "Teacher Amanda, can we do an experiment again tomorrow?!" What a delight it is to share my love of science with these young, bright, eager minds!