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The Making of A Passionate Teacher: A Story of Hope 

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The Making of A Passionate Teacher: A Story of Hope 

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By Jennifer M. Oestar of DepEd- Canda NHS
They say that life begins after college. Looking for a job and sustaining it is the beginning of reality.  After graduation, I found employment in a private school in Lucena City. I became an elementary and secondary teacher there. Day by day, I learned the real learning scenario far from the theories and principles that I have learned in college. Demanding school heads, restless students and uncontended parents would really have knocked us down but patience, I could say, is the most important thing for a teacher to stay in her job. I passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers in 2010 and decided to take Master of Arts in Educational Management in 2011. I decided to move to a bigger private sectarian school in Lucena to even widen my experience on the field of teaching. There, I learned how to follow strict rules, regulations and policies since it is a private sectarian school ran by the Diocese of Lucena. Here, I noticed that parents are more influential than the curriculum. Parents might dictate us teachers on what to do and how to deal with our students and the lessons. There were times when they would come to school and question our capacity to teach but there are more other times when I asked myself If I made the right choice of becoming a teacher. Most of the times I failed to please other people, especially my students and my school heads.
In 2012, I applied and was included in the Registry of Qualified Applicants (RQA) in the Department of Education, Division of Quezon. I was assigned in a far-flung public school in Calauag, Quezon. I never imagined that I would teach there. Calauag is a fourth class municipality in the fourth district of Quezon. It has 91 barangays surrounded by the Calauag Bay in the South and Pacific Ocean in the North. One of those barangays stood Lagay National High School, the school that taught and honed me up to become a better teacher.
I usually travel almost six hours just to reach my workplace. It consisted of three-hour bus ride and a three-hour boat ride. Teaching in a place with scarcity and meager resources was indeed challenging.  Most of the times, electricity is cut off, and the signal was very weak. Communication is really a problem in my workplace. As a teacher, I realized that teaching is not a bed of roses which could make me rich. Rather, it is a noble calling that requires sacrifice because you care for your students and the school you’re working. There were times when the weather was not so good and the wave was too high, but we really have to go to school and teach for the students. Riding on a boat often made our lives in danger. Even we had experience hazards in travelling, I gradually embraced the responsibility because I believed the students from that school needed my help.

When I was about to be promoted as Teacher III, I made one of the toughest decisions in my teaching career. I was offered to teach in Canda National High School, one of the pilot schools in Sariaya, my hometown. If I would accept the promotion I had to leave my husband in Lagay NHS but If would move to Canda NHS, I could be with our daughter Jenica. And yes after lots of thinking and realization I moved to Canda National High School last July 2016.
In my one and a half year of stay in Canda NhS, i have receive awards such as one of the ten most outstanding teacher,  exemplary performance in research and innovation and excellence award on most improved classroom for 2018.

Continuous Study
It took me five laborious years to finish my master’s degree. Last 2016, I graduated Master of Arts in Educational Management in the same university where I completed my baccalaureate—SLSU. Of all the experiences in my life, education is one of the most important part. I have gained more knowledge about teaching and learning. I have never stopped learning until now.

God had given me a lot of blessings to be thankful for. There were times that things would not work as what I prayed for but I don’t lose the hope to still believe that everything would be fine. Life has full of mysteries that only God could explain. As what the quotation said “Do not lose hope because miracles happen every day.”  These are the words that I always live by.
PERSONAL ANALYSIS OF LIFE EXPERIENCES
This personal narrative explores my own personal history, including the formation of my identity, beliefs and perspectives on education. Who am I as  an individual dramatically affects how I teach and how I interact with others. Here is a personal analysis of my life experiences which shaped me into who I am now.
My parents did not finish schooling so I strived my best to finish college. My parents served as my inspiration to pursue schooling despite of hardships and family problems. Though, we are not financially stable and my parents find it hard to support my education, I still managed to survive because of scholarships and study grants given to me. I am really thankful for the opportunity that I had received and that made me interested to extend financial support to those needy but deserving students.
Becoming a teacher is really my childhood dream and fulfilling this dream is such an accomplishment for me. There are many other high profiled professions in the world but I would never replace teaching as a career. I might not have big salary and tremendous benefits but I know that I had the greatest job and that is to touch and make a difference to the life of other people.
I will always believe that education is the greatest leveler. If you are well-educated you can change the course of your life. I was able to support my family’s needs because I have a stable job. I was able to marry a teacher because we share a common interest—teaching. My husband often tells me that teaching young minds is a task that cannot be taken lightly. It is full of challenges, frustrations, and responsibilities. However, it is a task that is also full of excitement, wonder, and joy.
My traumatic experiences of being bullied in school and being maltreated by my teachers gave me the determination to stand whenever I am faced with difficulties and failures. As I grew older, I had learned to enhanced my strengths and accept my weaknesses. I learned that not all people are easy to please and it would take a lot of patience to work for the things that you want to achieve. I had also learned that I have to do my best in everything I do so I never have to regret things.
Having taught in a far-flung barrio school made me realized a lot about the realities of life. Not all students can go to school because they have to work in an early age. There are more dropouts in barrios than in cities. They usually get pregnant and marry at an early age. Tardiness, absenteeism and cutting classes are really common. Teachers must have intervention program to mitigate the situation. Moreover, not all instructional materials are present in school especially if the location is far, the electricity is cut off and the signal is weak. Teachers need to be creative, resourceful and must know how to localized materials. These things had changed me to become a better teacher.
Teachings from John Dewey also influenced me on my view of education. Dewey’s methods provide continuity between children’s world of direct experience and actual learning. As derived from Dewey’s teachings, I always involve my students in a genuine experience that interest them. Here, they are able to acquire information needed to solve life problems. Dewey’s influence can also be seen in teaching that takes a hands-on and process-oriented approach.
Now I believe that my continuing professional development would play another important part in my development and maturity as a teacher. With these, I would be equipped with new and effective trends in the field of education.
My Philosophy in Education
My past readings and teaching experiences had strengthened my personal philosophy of education. This philosophy served as my guide in teaching. A teacher's personal philosophy of education is a critical element in his or her approach to guiding student along the path of enlightenment. With all those experiences in life I come up with this philosophy.
And this is how I bring up my students– every day I use daily things around us to educate them to all sorts of different knowledge.     I certainly do not believe in just sitting in a classroom – which is unnatural, unhealthy, and should be limited. It is obvious we did not evolve to learn by sitting in classrooms, in segregated age groups - but to be active, out and about doing things, talking, watching and learning from other people and other objects around us.
I also believe that to educate the individual as a free individual – to understand and use critical thinking skills for determining what they have experienced and learned. To educate the individual as a part of society –that every learner has their own distinctive and important role in the environment they are into.
I believe that education should be fun rather than forced – that force and punishment play no part in a good education. Thus I detest the attitude of punishing children for not doing their homework.
I believe that lot of education problems could be solved by giving everyone 100 great books to read and discuss with their children.  The fundamental principle of education is to understand learners, through this; we can identify student’s needs strengths and weaknesses in a simple and sensible way.
“A teacher affects eternity, nobody can tell when his influence stops.”