Staff Blog

Thursday, June 27, 2017. First day of the 2017-2018 school year. The journey of all the students is about to begin. Students and teachers are all excited. It has been two months since the summer vacation started and now it has come to an end. Students have grown and become more mature. 

On this promising day, I witnessed God’s love and how He touches each person’s life. It was the last period of the afternoon classes. Science was the subject which is everybody’s favorite. I was nervous yet excited knowing that they were the toughest class last year. There were a lot of “what ifs” running through my mind. To my surprise, as I stepped in the classroom everyone was sitting nicely, smiles on their faces, and they welcomed me with enthusiasm.

Student 1: Wow! Teacher Lyrah!

Student 2: Are you our science teacher, Teacher Lyrah?

I answered them back: Yes, I’ll be your science teacher for this school year.

Everybody started clapping and kept on saying, “Yes! Teacher Lyrah!”

I couldn’t hide the happiness inside of me when I heard those words coming from the students. They showed so much excitement as I began teaching the lesson and they were even engaged as we discussed the rules.

These students are more than just a blessing because they fill the empty space in my heart with this phrase, “Thank you!” Such a polite expression coming from them. Each time I distributed their notebooks, pencils, erasers, and their science books they never failed to utter the phrase, “Thank you teacher!”

They made my day extra special! I am excited to continue to teach them throughout this school year and help mold them to be better individuals in the future!

“I’m just a kid and you are a teacher.” 

I laughed and I was amazed at the same time when I heard this statement from one of my students. We were doing our oral development activity when one of my students refused to make his own sentence using the new words we had learned that day.  Other students were thinking hard and constructing sentences using the words, but this student was struggling.  

I called on him and at first he was very hesitant to share because he was not ready. He hadn’t formulated even one sentence in his mind, so I gave him few more minutes to think.  The class discussion had been really good; other students were enjoying the activity and sharing their sentences.

Again I called on the student and I said, “Hey buddy, I think you’re ready to share your sentence with us. You look like you have been thinking hard.” He smiled and looked at his classmates.  They cheered for him and encouraged him by saying, “Try lang.” (English-Cebuano for “try please”)

I stood beside him, cheering him on and praising him as well.  He stared at me and said in a nervous voice, “Teacher, I’m just a kid and you are a teacher.”  I caught myself beginning to laugh when he uttered these words.

Then I stopped and told the student and all of his classmates, “Yes, you are all kids and you’re still young and I was once a kid too.  But let me ask you these questions:  Where are you right now?  Why are we here? Have you thought that maybe we both have the same goal and purpose?

We are here in school to study and to learn.  This doesn’t mean that I’m a teacher and I know everything.  It’s not as simple as that.  Learning is a two-way process.   You learn from me and I also learn from you.  I’m here to help, teach, guide and mold you to be a better person in the future.”

After our conversation, the student was able to formulate his own sentence and everybody clapped for him. In the back of my mind I told myself I’m lucky to be a teacher.  I may not be rich with jewels, but I’m rich with good and happy memories because of my experiences.  I have a lot of memories already to ponder in the future.

At exactly 10:15 the kids are suddenly all excited.  Why?  It’s time for math, their favorite subject.  The kids are eager to start a new lesson on time.  We start the discussion and I ask them questions to spark interest. “What is time?”  “Why do you think time is important to us?”  “Why do we need to use our time wisely?” 

The kids come up with thoughtful answers.  One student replies, “We only have one chance to live, Teacher. All things are just passing by.  That’s why we need to use our time wisely.”  I am really happy to hear this type of answer.  It shows they are thinking that things are important and have different purposes.

Everyone actively participates in the discussion. They are excited to use small clocks as a manipulative tool while they answer some time questions as a group.   They are now ready to try the short informal assessment on their own. 

“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.”  These words are running through my mind right after the activity.  It’s sort of related to our topic about time.  My time with the students is never wasted.  It is a blessing given by God.  I will forever treasure this journey as one of the significant events in my first year of teaching.

            Books are the source of knowledge and one of the fundamental tools in imparting knowledge to learners. This is how I define books and I experienced a memorable and significant lifetime event that I will treasure forever.

            Level B Group 2 students were preparing to share their learning during the morning meeting, so they decided to present a poem titled, “If You’re Not From the Prairie”.  Everyone was able to memorize the poem and they presented it in the front of everybody.  This poem left a strong impression of all of the students, especially the Level B1 Group 1 students.

            Later on in the afternoon, I opened the door to the classroom for my last class.  This is the toughest class each day.  When I walked in, I was surprised and puzzled.  Everyone was holding their reading books, but this was science class! All at once, the students started reading in a loud voice, “Teacher Lyrah, if you’re not from the prairie, you don’t know the sun!  If you’re not from the prairie, you don’t know me!” 

            This group of kids have just started using this particular reading text and are on the first unit in the book.  The prairie poem is in the last unit of the book, so is challenging for the kids to read and understand.  But somehow they had been inspired by the poem when it was presented during the morning meeting. They wanted to share their excitement. 

            I smiled and praised them for reading the poem. One student said,” Teacher Lyrah, we have your book!  Remember? If you’re not from the prairie, you don’t know the sun.”

            I encouraged them to continue to read and learn from their reading. There are a lot of moral stories that they can learn from the book.            

            I learned something that day.  Kids have many talents and thoughts.  We, as teachers and adults, should look for and encourage the children to grow, knowing they have innate and hidden talents.  And the children are just starting to bloom.

Well, this was the day I had been waiting for, the first all-school activity I was in charge of (along with Teacher Cora) in my new job as a teacher at CCHS.  Teacher Cora and I were the facilitators of the Reading Challenge Kick-off, a contest that runs for six weeks to see how much everyone can read.  The activity started with a prayer followed by a video presentation. Next was a short skit that really made me nervous. It was not easy to talk in front of the students since it was my first time to be in charge. 

As the skit started, the students were wondering where I was going because I was carrying a bag.  I pretended I had come from the library after borrowing books.  Teacher Cora asked questions about the books I had “borrowed.”  Some of the kids were laughing and cheering.  I was still pretty nervous.  Then all the teachers started singing a rehearsed song, “I Love Reading.”  The students joined in dancing and singing the song. 

Following the skit, each reading teacher announced the reading goals for the different classes.  The students were mostly excited and a bit nervous themselves about meeting the goals.  Games of “What’s the Word?” and “What’s Missing?” topped off the activities.  The kids had to think hard and work together.

The event ended with lots of smiles on the kids’ faces.  They showed their willingness to learn, read, discover and broaden their imagination through reading. They were ready to dive into reading good books!  Reading more will help in shaping their futures.