Education Beyond Expectation

Whenever summer comes, the things that come to mind are: beaches, resorts, parties, days of relaxation and fun, friends, friends and friends.

Last summer, my ex-boyfriend (now husbad) was abroad working, my friends were busy working (I am a teacher so I also have a month-long vacation during long school vacation) and it was hard to organize a swimming party when most of my friends were either at work or busy with other things (i.e, pregnancy).

So, to kill boredom, I decided to enrol in a summer class for my MA studies. Problem was, my course does not offer a summer program. Fortunately, I was allowed to enrol a cognate. When I looked at the list of the subjects that can be credited to my course, the subject that appealed most to my interest was a subject called Problems in Southeast Asia (I was an idiot then, I didn’t know I can enrol in other education courses for my cognate…but what it is they say that things happen for a reason…?). So, although is was far from related to special education, I enrolled in that class, hoping that at least, the problems in education in Southeast Asia would be discussed.

First day came and I found myself seated in a class of 10 MA students (most of whom were Asian Studies or Population Science major). Plus, I learned from the class syllabus that the ”problems” in the subject’s title that I enrolled in was environmental problems! Some summer class to bear…! But there were some talk that Kara David was enrolled in that class too..won’t be so boring after all.

One day, I came in the room to find the lights dimmed and a DVD player propped up on top of the TV…ahhh..a chance to sleep!!! What I saw, however, removed any trace of sleepiness and awakened me…to a truth that is, until now, difficult to forget. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth showed me that humanity (myself included) is sitting on a ticking time bomb. Typhoon Katrina, the 2003 European heatwave, the Vargas mudslide in Venezuela in 1999, the Indian Ocean tsunami that hit many countries in Southeast Asia in 2004 among others…these did not happen without a reason. And the reason was because humanity has forgotten to take care of Mother Earth.

The documentary film discussed the pressing issue of global warming to the Earth. And global warming is an issue that must be taken seriously. Sure I was hoping for a discussion in the problems of education in Southeast Asia but what I learned that summer opened my eyes to the more pressing environmental problem of humankind. I don’t care whether Al Gore used this film to campaign for his presidency ( everybody knows he lost…but now I know why…many businessmen did not like him, especially those who own big factories with big contribution to carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases emission).

But as a Christian, as someone who acknowledges God as the Creator of heaven and the Earth and everything that is in it (“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3), An Inconvenient Truth is a wake-up call for me that I have a great responsibility to care for the Earth that God created for me (and for billions of people as well). I realized that there is something I can do to show my love for the Lord by showing respect for the Creation and the Creator.

Some summer class. I expected to learned something about education…I didn’t get that. But I was educated. Thoroughly educated.  

Doggedness

My nose doesn’t feel right. Doesn’t look right either. I’m down with a fever and here I am blogging my nose away!

It’s good that I’m feeling sick because that sort of gives me the excuse to feel cranky. I guess all these pressures from MA school has finally got on me! Last week, I was very, very tempted to drop from my other class because I feel like I won’t be able to finish all the requirements my prof was asking from us. The only reason that kept me from going AWOL was my partner in seminar writing because my good old conscience couldn’t imagine her going through the seminar alone. But as the devil would have it, my partner texted me just this morning and asked me if it was okay if another person joins our team. Of course I said yes. And of course I felt even more tempted to drop from class. You could just imagine two horns sprouting in my head when she asked me that.

But I’m no quitter. Runny nose or not, I’m gonna finish this semester with flying colors! Even if that would mean taking my finals on my wedding day (isn’t that just great???!)!

Today’s sing along song: Never Give Up by Yolanda Adams

Fed Up

I have been teaching for 3 years now–2 years in a regular school and in a special education school since last year. And since I started teaching, I’ve been studying for my masters too. Three years of simultaneously doing lesson plans and writing term papers, reports, critiques, case studies, IEPs and never-ending proposals. And I’m tired.

Since last week, I’ve been preparing for my demo lesson this Wednesday. I’ve been meaning to write my lesson plan. And I’ve  been planning to do the best lesson plan ever!

The thing is, I need to write a seminar paper for my other class. A seminar paper that I’ve already been working on for the past 2 months! And on top of all these, I need to plan for my wedding which is only a few weeks away! My sister and relatives are coming for the wedding and I need to think of a place for them to stay.

I hardly have time to write my lesson plan

I really want to teach. I like the way the kids’ faces would lit up every time I do something “cool” for them. But because I have always been busy with my MA, I know that for three years now, I’ve been failing as a teacher. I know I can do more; I know my lesson plans could have been better and I know there’s something more I can teach them!

I’m really, really looking forward to next school year. God willing, next year would be the first time in my teaching career that my MA wouldn’t come in the way (I’m a thesis away but a better work opportunity forces me to file a leave of absence from school). I’m married next school year, too. So that would leave only a hubby and students to keep me busy. I like that. I would love that!

I’m looking forward to concentrating on teaching. J would be home each night (I hope!) so there’s no need for me to worry about him this much anymore.

I want so much to surf the net, read blogs, read cool teaching sites, hang out with friends without deadlines bothering me, learn to cook, finish my photo albums, watch movies…haaaaayy!

Today’s sing along song: In This Life by Chantal Kreviazuk   

Too Tired for A Title

Soooooo busy. And lazy. I don’t know how the two work together but that’s true. I can be busy and lazy at the same time. No wonder I’m dead tired………zzzzzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzzz…will keep you (all 4 of you! haha) in the loop soon..

Today’s sing along song: The Night Santa Went Crazy but Al Yankovic

Stop Them

Christmas is definitely in the air. Literally. I had the guts to wear a halter top to school today. I didn’t know it would become so cold later in the afternoon. Brrr! I bumped with a friend in school..like me, she had the perfect sense to wear sleeveless top. Almost everyone were wearing jackets or at least sleeved top while the two of us were shivering. But we pretended that we didn’t mind the cold..haha. So much for fashion sense.

Anyway, I came across a website featuring the following excerpts from books intended for readers twelve and under:

The Pretty Little Bunny”

Melissa, the pretty little bunny, woke up one morning in May and said, “I think I’ll hop-hop-hop over to the carrot patch. I’m so pretty that all of the carrots will jump right out of the ground to see me.”

“You are very pretty,” said Melissa’s Bunny Mommy. “But your sister is pretty, too, and she doesn’t spend all of her time looking at herself in the mirror.”

“But is she as pretty as me?” asked Melissa. “Just look at my vagina.”

“The Lonely Little Moonbeam”

The lonely little moonbeam would sleep all day, and then wake up and shine all night long, to guide people on their way. But he was lonely, because people never looked up and smiled at him. They were too busy performing fellatio.

“Cornelius Thimbletuck and the Wizard of Trewe

”Every night, Cornelius would pray that his parents would rescue him from the Smudgebury Orphanatorium, and every morning he’d awaken on his hard, wooden cot. And so before eating his meagre ration of watery gruel he would masturbate until his palm bled.

There’s more stories in this website but I didn’t need all that much to point out what I have to say. One doesn’t need a PhD to know that such language is inappropriate to readers twelve and below! Granting that I haven’t read the whole story and does not know the main idea the writers were driving at, I cannot comprehend why the writers felt the need to educate children about sex at that age??? Goodman, Fries and Chall will be horrified to read such language in children’s books!

When I was a kid, I wear fluffy, itchy dresses. I play hide n’ seek. I eat candies. I wanted barbies. Hey, I was a kid! But now, kids wear halter tops, hanging shirts and micro mini skirts. They play grown-up games like that Sims computer games. They go to starbucks. They want cellphones and ipod!! They’re like adults trapped in kids’ body!

And we wonder why so many children are abused? I would see Goin’ Bulilit on TV and get sad why these kids want to grow up so fast. Why do parents dress their little babies as if they are 16-year old teens? Of course, they’re just babies. They look cute in micro minis. But the bad guys don’t see them that way. Some twelve year old boys see malice in 5-year old girls. Especially when that twelve year-old boys read “The Lonely Little Moonbeam” or even watch Marimar on TV.  

I don’t know. I think of myself as somebody liberated. But I see kids as kids. Their job is to giggle and snort and get cute. They’re suppose to play, get terrible and become muddy. Save the sex-talk to the teens. Leave the belly dancing to the Sexbomb. Let’s teach them to dance Mulberry Bush and sing If You’re Happy.  

They’re just kids! My goodness!

Today’s sing along song: Row, row, row your boat