Goodbye Old Friend

     We've been together a long long time.  You were introduced to me some 30 years ago and you've been a dear friend to me ever since.   We were together battling bullies in high school.  In college, you kept me company whenever I was about to cry because I missed my family back home.  You never left my side all those sleepless nights of finishing something up to beat a deadline.  You've been my friend longer than anybody I know, my wife included. 

     We parted ways for a short while back when I got married.  I love my wife and you were getting between us.  But she soon realized that you were a part of me.  Just imagine my elation when she finally accepted that maybe I am better with than without you.

     Now I am 45 years old.  I have two beautiful kids and  I love every second of every day I spend with them.  I know I will not outlive my kids but I'll take every extra second that I can be with them. And I may have spent some of those precious time with you.I don't own myself now.  My kids do.  I came into a realization that blood is thicker than smoke.

     I haven't been with you in four days and you know what? I don't miss you at all.  I'm also throwing out your pals ash tray and lighter.  So goodbye old friend.  I am never going back to smoking again. 

STUDENT RIGHTS

i thought i am never gonna write here again. maybe because there's nothing worth writing about. or maybe i'm just lazy. plus i am at peace with my world. nothing to rant about. here i am again. to the few who read my blog, please read on.

let us talk about rights. student rights to be specific.

students have the right to learn. with the stratospheric cost of education, students must get what they pay for. if they are to live lives worth living as adults, they must be armed with what they get from school (and out of it).

students have the right to know how they got their grades. they have the right to get their test papers back before the next exam. they have the right to ask for a recounting of score or a rechecking of an item. they have the right to get updated of their progress.

students have the right to respect. respect is a two way street they say. it is earned they say. but nobody has the right to malign any student. they can be reminded of their shortcomings. scolded even. but never disrespected.

students have the right to speak freely and be heard. when they express their opinions, listen. when they explain themselves, listen. when they complain, listen. they may be talking trash. they may make old excuses. their complaints may be trivial. listen anyway.

students have the right to do whatever they want as long as they don't harm others. they have the right to act foolish or do foolish things. although they don't have the right to act foolish or do foolish things if doing so will harm or inconvenience others.

students have the right to have lives. they are people too. they eat and they defecate. they work and they play. they have lives outside of school. therefore, they have a right not to be given unreasonable amount of homeworks.

this is not a definitive list. there may be other rights not mentioned here. students may be lazy, unreasonable, irritating, and (put-the-most-degrading-adjective-here) but at the end of the class period, they too are humans and therefore have the right to live.

A Message to Teachers

i am a teacher. many of my friends are teachers. young people normally hold us in high regard. in the classroom, students are looking at(and are hopefully listening to)us more than half the time. if you are good, they'll learn. if you're not, they'll still learn albeit in a more difficult way called self-studying. while my hope is that most of us teachers lead our flock, some of us are also lost. For this reason, here are some reminders for all of us.

1. DO NOT ACT LIKE GOD! While it is expected that you know more than what your students know, you do not know everything. While students are expected to follow your instructions, do not expect them to follow everything you want.

2. DO NOT BE VENGEFUL. If you had a teacher who gave you hell when you were a student, why make your students suffer the same?

3. DO NOT HARASS YOUR STUDENTS. Students have enough problems as it is. Why make their life more miserable? Most students do not and cannot fight back. It is not fair.

4. FILTER SPAM. Most students study to pass. Some students give excuses. While some of them may be telling the truth, be aware that some students can be manipulative twerps if they sense that you are pliant.

5. DO NOT ASK FOR FAVORS FROM STUDENTS. This is not new but I cringe whenever I hear it. Small favors may be acceptable like asking them to run small errands. Favors that involve money and the likes is just improper.

i am not perfect and i know i have to remind myself every now and then but seriously, if you are a teacher, take teaching seriously! Otherwise, get out!

musings on growing older

they say that as you grow older, you become wiser. this should be true for teachers or you don't have any business being one.
as you grow older, the age gap between you and your students increases. you start finding ways to bridge the gap only to realize that you may be able to narrow it some but the gap would always be there.
as you grow older, you become softer but there are times when you have to stand firm and not give in to emotions. the world will never run short of sad stories. you have to listen to some but you can't listen to them all.
as you grow older, your wants are trumped by your needs. you may want to stay up late but you need to wake up early for tomorrow's responsibilities.
as you grow older, you will realize that you have to take care of yourself because you do not own yourself anymore.
as you grow older, you will find out that while it's ok to be angry at times, it's not healthy to be angry all the time.
as you grow older, you have to realize that you share the world with other people. what you do to yourself or to others will in some way affect a part of your world.

there's a limit for considerations

When a student fails, he blames everything but himself. Foremost, he would blame his professor for "failing him". While I admit that there are inconsiderate professors, most are not. But how far can a professor go in giving considerations to students? There must be a limit to it.

Let us take the case of Student M. To pass, Student M needed to score 117 out of a possible 100 in the final exam and he knew this. He knew that whether or not he takes the final exam, he will still fail.

If I were in his shoes, this is what I would have done: I would have studied hard for the final exam like I'm gonna die if I didn't and aimed for a perfect 100 (Yes, it's possible). Come exam time, I would have used the full two hours alloted to answer all questions, check and recheck my answers, and write my answers in an organized way. Maybe if get a high score, my professor will take notice and may consider passing me. If not, then I will vow to do better so as not to land in the same predicament next term.

There is a high probability that student M played DOTA or FB or got drunk the night before the final exam. Come exam time, he used a quarter-hour to play "the-proctor-is-not-looking-please-give-me-the-answers" with his classmates. When nobody bothered to play with him, he used another quarter hour to answer (or pretend to answer) the questions. Student M got a score of 15/100. The 15 points are consideration/effort points.

Forward to the next day after I have posted the results of the final exam. Student M came to me and asked for his status. Our conversation went like this.

Student M: Sir, can I verify my grade?
Mr. J: Have you seen the posted exam results?
SM: Yes sir.
Mr. J: What's to verify? You already know what your status is. You failed.
SM: Sir, can I ask for a special project?
Mr. J: There is no such thing as a special project.
SM: But Sir, this is my second time to fail in your class.
Mr. J: And it's my fault?
SM: Sir, I may be kicked out.
Mr. J: And it's my fault?
SM: Sir, you can ask me to do anything. You can ask me for anything.
Mr. J: Do not go down that path. It would be offending.

FACTS: Student M has a penchant for coming to class late and he never passed a quiz. His final average is 47.77 (the passing average is 70.00).

Am I inconsiderate?

The Other Victims of Ondoy

The past term (1st quarter 09-10) is unusual in the sense that it did not run its natural course. Classes were cut short by more or less 3 weeks due to a virus and a nationwide calamity that is Ondoy. In addition to the almost countless flood victims who were sent to evacuation centers, there were "other victims" of Ondoy - the students.
Ondoy's timing is terrible - it struck just before the final exams when every student is cramming to pass their subjects. But unlike the legit victims of Ondoy, there were no volunteers and relief goods in sight to help the students salvage their grades. Many were doomed to fail their subjects, but many were also silently thanking Ondoy for they had an instant excuse for failing.

One conversation with a student ran like this:

STUDENT: Sir, what's my grade?
ASTIGNAGURO: 5.00
S: 5.00?! (Showing an almost genuine sadness.) It's because of Ondoy.
A: Why, was your brain washed out by the floods? Your grade was already failing pre-Ondoy.
S: No sir, my notes got washed out by the floods! And I was not able to review for the finals.
A: A perfect score in the finals will get you a grade of ..... uhmmmm 5.00.
S: Is there anything I can do to pass? Special project? Removal exam?
A: Go ask Ondoy.

Considering that there are only about 11 weeks in a term, that means everything has to be crammed in the 8 weeks that were left. Because of the shorter term, there were less time for studying. Students will not sacrifice their DOTA time and Facebook time just to study. Are you kidding? They'd die of hunger first before you can rip their faces off the computer screen. A good number of students were logged in to Facebook the night before the final exams.
And these students were the other victims of Ondoy?

special students

another term is over. another batch of students slipped off the grips of the great equalizer called physics. some were not able to escape though. poor them. i have to admit, my students in the past four terms were special for many reasons. no, make that uberspecial. first, i followed them (although some followed, stalked me even) from 1st term in July 08 phy10.

in the succeeding terms, i made sure that i am going to teach the regular offering of physics. i wanted to find out who among these wide-eyed (steffi included) late teeners will be up to the challenges i was going to throw their laps. in the four terms that i had them under my spell, i got to know them so well that i can put each one in his/her own category.

THE SOURCE - this student has the brain the heart. he/she not only can easily get what i'm blabbering about in class (and therefore can easily ace the quizzes), but is also ready to share neurons (as well as answers to homeworks) to his/her not-so-brainiac classmates. GRADE RANGE: 1.50 - 1.00. christian c, mark, jessica t, gathe a., cabbage in phy10 and phy11, to name a few.

THE SERIOUS - maybe this student has a grade to maintain. maybe he/she just likes physics. maybe it's just his/her nature. i bet he/she burns the proverbial midnight candle on the night before an exam. on the exam day itself, he/she is the last one to pass the test booklet. well, it usually pays him/her huge dividends as he/she usually gets good grades. GRADE RANGE: 1.75 - 1.00
erika and josielle are the names that first come to mind.

THE GRADE - classmates and teachers usually call him/her "grade conscious" but i prefer to call him/her this. every quiz, this student utilizes everything in his/her arsenal to squeeze a point (bonus, effort, and pogi/ganda) from me. if all else fails, he/she will be on the verge of spraying me with tears in the hope that i'll give in. GRADE RANGE: it varies. usually better than 2.00. i'd rather not mention names to avoid self-incrimination

THE AVERAGE JOE/JANE - this student just sits there. he/she does what is asked of him/her and gives enough effort to pass. a notch or two above those who get 3.00 everytime. GRADE RANGE: 2.75 - 2.25. i'd rather not mention names to avoid hurting someone's feelings.

THE NONDESCRIPT - who are you? i can't even remember your name. and i'm good at remembering students' names! GRADE RANGE: are you my student? hmmm .... mr. trinidad and mr. soriano, you belong to this category (which one of you is trinidad?)

THE 3.00 - this student gets 3.00 every term. either out of pity or out of luck. he/she thinks that there are only two grades, 3.00 and 5.00. carlo and dexter best describe this category.

THE PET - i just love this student. he/she is the source of my (and everybody's) amusement in class. for whatever reason, this student never fails to make my day. he/she is usually cute. if you belong to this category, you're lucky. your name is forever etched in the trashbin of my brain. hannah my daughter outside, charles, and carlo (again!)

wherever you may fall in the above categories, if you have finished the 4 physics subjects required of you, then i salute you.

thank you for giving me the privilege of being your physics teacher.
thank you for giving me the privilege of becoming my student.