My First School to Teach In

I started working with Rosehill, as it is easier called, right after I finished all my requirements in order to graduate from my now alma mater. Since graduation ceremonies in UA&P are always held in June, I had to start teaching even without graduating! In fact, I graduated the Sunday before or after the first week of school. I can never forget the reactions of my advisory class, the 5th grade, when I told them that I just graduated the day before. They were all amazed! It’s because they never had a teacher who is relatively young. They have always had teachers who are already mothers or at least wives. They were pretty observant.

Anyway, Rosehill is a very young school when I entered. It was only eight years in existence and it is located way there in the mountains of Antipolo. (I think the location explains the population of the school in both its students and staff.) The location never stopped me. My first reason? I already wanted to earn to support my basic necessities especially when you are not living with your well-off family. Very human and practical, isn’t it? The second reason is much more ideal: I felt I had a mission to make my students learn to love the most despised subject of all time—Math. When I told the Executive Director of the school that I loved the subject, she thought that it was the only requirement she would ask from a math teacher. So I got the job.

After she told me that I got a load in teaching Math, it only dawned on me that my course was not even compatible with what I am teaching! I felt incompetent at first, but I thought I’d give it a try. I was to teach Math for Grade 5, 6 and 7, and the Director even added Science 7 to my load! (Thinking that I love Math, she figured I’d also be good in Science.) Thank God I survived with the help of the Teacher’s Edition Math and Science books available! It was a real adventure for me especially since I did not have any training on pedagogy. Thank God also for those numerous seminars PAREF organized for its teachers.

In my second school year in Rosehill, they already removed my Science load and just gave mea teaching load in Math 6, 7, Algebra I, Religion 6, Spanish 4…all only for two quarters each except for Math 7. Besides that, they also gave me an advisory class: the first year high school. To top it all of, I also spent one semester taking masteral units in UA&P in Development Education. This is what kind of training I had in my beginnings in the teaching profession. Whew!
With my desire to get those masteral units, I thought it would be better to go full time student and part time teacher. I started well and I thought it was a good set-up, but when requirements started piling on me from both UA&P and Rosehill, things are getting worse! I became mediocre in my studies and not being able to prepare my lesson plans well and most of the time not being able to do them. (My level coordinator is just too understanding with me that she does not look for them anymore. She does make half-jokes about my shortcomings though, which I take with a lot of guilt.) Since I don’t have a car, I have to ride the public utility jeepneys with a placard saying “Antipolo-Tanay” every Monday and Thursday. Just imagine the dust and pollution I inhale, the fare that costs me one good lunch for that day, the tiredness that the one hour can give you sitting in the jeepney (“upong-diez” as they would say), the 500 meter walk to the jeepney stop, and the tons of books you have to lug with you to school.

These are the conditions which I have to contend will as I journey towards this dirty and rugged beginning of my career. I hope the road gets more concrete and softer to tread on as years pass by…The following is a day to day account of my travel in the 4th leg of this school year towards this end called service.