April 10, 2008, Thursday
Yesterday we talked about tension and compression and how these two are important factors in building bridges. Today my students have been quite good in class. Since this morning they have been very consistent in staying in class, except for a few of them who needed to take some space and then came back in class immediately after their time for space is over.
One aspect in being a teacher at a therapeutic school that excites me is that the many avenues of teaching are practically evident in the everyday routine. These avenues include being a psychologist, counselor, mother, dictator (although I think this is the least that they would like to see from us), therapist, and possible health worker. Being a teacher is already a task filled with so many other tasks – (that is why in the field of education continuous learning about new teaching strategies and theories are important part of it), let alone put all of these masks in one day! It might be nerve-wracking, which I can admit it is at times, but that is the challenge and it is why we are, I am in teaching.
Fast forward: over at lunch today, one of my students and I were having a great conversation about what he wants to be when her grows up (well, when he is older). This is the student that we have who is really smart, great kid and really knows what he wants in life – he wants to be a journalist! He asked about how much do we make as teachers? I told him we make a decent pay. And then he went on and asked so why do I still keep on teaching if the salary is just decent. Again, good question. So I told him the story why I chose to take this job over a few of the jobs I applied and got the jobs but finally rejecting all of them, but this! I told him that God has a reason why He led me to where I am – and of course, it is pretty obvious that if I were probably teaching in a different setting right now, I probably will not understand and get to interact with students who needs clinical services, which is awesome to learn about. I forgot what his reaction was after I said that but I am sure he’ll understand more of it when he gets to become a journalist and start doing what his heart and what the Lord Has given him for a purpose.
Back to the Science lesson: We actually started 15 minutes later due to some prolonged recess with entertainment from one of our students whose talent is in dancing. This is where being at the moment and modifying in teaching comes in play. I actually planned to have them do an experiment of the Tension and Compression, but I figured we only have 25 minutes left in class and by the time we got to set up the experiment equipments and materials, we would only have 10minutes left. I decided we will just have to do some note taking and continue talking about tension and compression, and so we did! Everybody was happy!
