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.

a teacher should learn as much as he teaches

wikipedia.org defines a teacher as 'a person who educates others'. the same website refers to education as any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual.

cutting through the smog, this simply means that if you are a teacher, someone has to learn something from you, and it better be good.

• a good teacher shares what he knows to his students. what he knows may be from his studies or from his own experiences.

• a better teacher does not stop there. he continues to learn more, learn new things, gather more experiences, and shares these to his students.
  

• better than the better teacher is one who after (or in the process) of learning new stuff, shares these not only to his students, but to his fellow teachers as well. this way, the transmission of the good stuff is more far reaching.

the day after tomorrow, i am going to give a talk to fellow physics teachers, which would me my nth time doing so.

not so fast with the applause. no, it does not make me a hotshot that i do this. no, it does not mean i am a better teacher than those in my audience (lots of them for sure are better than me).

what i actually do in these talks is just share with them the good stuff i have recently gained and hope that it helps them when they go back to their schools. it gives me immeasurable satisfaction thinking that students i don't even know would have me as their teacher by extension.

i am a teacher. i learn. i teach. i share.

am i defeating the purpose of my profession?

Another term is over (3rd Quarterm SY 2008-2009). The nth term in my nth year as a teacher. This past term is not quite like the other terms though. Did I hear you ask why? Ok. Here are the reasons.
First, let us group the students into "regulars" (batch 2007) and the "specials" (the rest). I had 159 lecture students last term. 100 regulars and 59 specials.
Although I never liked failing students ("failing" here is a verb and not an adjective), it is inevitable. I don't have a "quota" (I know some teachers must fail a certain percentage of their students to protect their "credibility"), but here are the stats:

• Around 20% of the regulars usually do not make it in my classes.
  
• More than 50% of the specials ALWAYS fail.

For the recent past term, here are the stats:

• Only 1% of the regulars failed. This means only one regular student failed.
  
• Only 15% of the specials failed. That's 9 of 59. And 2 of those 9 did not attend classes regularly. So technically, only 7 of 57 failed (12%).

What the hell happened? Did I become a better teacher? I doubt that. I was the same old fart who taught the same things and told the same jokes.
Did my students shower me with gifts that I passed them for it? I don't think so. Just the wayward chocolate bar and a bottle of scent were given to me. And even if a student gives me anything and then fails to turn in the minimum requirement, he/she would still fail.
Did the students wake up one morning liking physics and performed better? That's like running in a race with an in-grown toenail.
It's not like my students are complaining about the result, almost everybody passed afterall, but what really happened? Maybe I unconsciously changed. Whatever brought that change benefited my students. Did it? They may have to ask themselves the same after a year or so.
Am I defeating the purpose of my profession? If I am, then maybe it's time to retire.

it's been a year. now what?

it has been a year since i started this blog. some things changed. i turned a year older, lost a few thousand strands of hair, added a pound or so of mass in the middle, raised my BP (170/100 the last time i checked!), failed a few students, passed a few hundred of them, got a new ride, and the list goes on.
some things did not change. i still smoke. i still teach. i'm still cheerful (most of the time) and grumpy at times.
now what?
i want to do something new. whatever it is, i don't know yet. it has to be something i haven't done before. it has to be done before i lose the energy and the will.

the grades are in

I finished marking the final exam papers this morning. got so excited that i computed the grades right after. and here's the stats: 4 got flat 1.00, 4 got 1.25, 1 got 1.50, and 2 got 1.75. Not bad at all!

Aside from these "rock star" students, 20 more managed to actually pass!!! Of the 31 who passed, 28 are batch07's. The results is sort of expected. The "regular" takers will make it and the repeat offenders will not.

28 out of 59 failed! Either the older batches can't keep up with their younger classmates or can't keep up with me. Maybe they just don't care and they have lots of money to burn.

again, i did my part. everybody had his chance to get extra credits. as i've said in my previous post, teachers teach, students study.

merry christmas to all of you. see you next year!

today is the final exams. i have posted my students class standing and the score they need to get to at least pass. those who need to get more than 100% to pass need not take the exam. although it's their right to still take the exam, it will just be a waste of time for them (and for me). and these people should not come to me after the exam to "verify". what the "f" is there to verify? they should spare me from the annoying bugging and themselves from the humiliation of begging.

for the rest of the students who still have fighting chances, just one tip if you are ever to see your prof after a final exam: come alone. do not come with an army of bodyguards or gofers and supporters or friends (or worse a fellow bug-begger).

profs hate being put on the spot. what if you only need a few tenths of a percent to pass and the prof may actually decide to give you extra work? but you came with another bug-begger who needs an arm, a leg, and his head to pass (read: hopeless). if i were the prof, i'll just fail both of you.

if you want it, you'll find ways to get it

last tuesday, i gave a (p)review of the next day quiz. the room was more than half-filled (about 15 or so students out of my 60 lecture students). 25% of my students showed up!!! not bad. though around 3 of those who came were just "sit-ins".

those who attended discovered the following day that exerting a little more effort always pays off. i gave them a challenge for extra credits. find my blog and leave a note. i did not give them any clue where to look and they had to find it before the next-day quiz. i never thought they would find this blog but they did. 8 of them did (or maybe just one and then passed (or sold) the info to others). it's a proof that, if you want something, you'll find ways to get it. we'll that's extra 10 quiz-points for you.

on monday, there will be a review class for the finals. 1030 AM at w314. sitting capacity only. eating/drinking in the room is prohibited but bringing coffee is welcome. :)

here we go again

in less than two weeks, it's the finals again. same old same old. here we go again. many students are in the "bug-beg" mode again. they bug their profs then beg them to give them passing marks. but i am a teacher. if i wanted to be merciful to people who beg, i would have run for congress. not that i would win, but congressmen are known to be kind-hearted. right? oh! only to their patrons. back to bug-begging your profs. the only difference now is that it's the christmas season. profs are supposedly kinder-hearted and more giving. after all, what prof would cause his students' miseries during the holidays? okay, there are a few who do just that. but in retrospect, is it really the prof who caused (or will cause) your miseries this christmas?

to my students, did you do your part? i know i did my best to do mine given the time constraints. here's the good news! if you happen to read this, leave a note and i'll give you a "christmas bonus" (not the monetary kind though) which may spell the difference between passing or failing. i'll check on tuesday, dec 2.

put the blame on me

I don't look forward to the day that I have to go back to school after a vacation. Aside from having to work my butt off again, it means that I'm going to see former students again. There are two groups of these: Those who passed and those who failed.
Those who passed the previous term and knew they deserved to usually give me polite smiles. A few would not even give me a glance. Maybe they just did not like the subject or did not like me as a teacher, or both.
Those who passed and don't know why they did (compassion is the word, idiots!) would give me grins as wide as a four-lane highway.
Those who failed and knew they deserved to, give me mixed reactions. Some can't even look my way. Some beg me to take them again in my class for a second chance. Some give me sarcastic smiles and smirks as if I was the one who did not study for the final exam. Why is it that whenever students fail, they blame everything but themselves? If it will make them happy, then they can put the blame on me.
Those who failed and don't know why... I have no such students.

I Never Liked Failing Students

The final grades are in and here are the stats! Out of the 80 students, 64 passed. Of the 16 who failed this term, 6 are repeat offenders (that means they failed the same subject the previous term). The other 6 repeaters made it to the next level!
I never liked failing students for two reasons. Reason 1: If a student fails in my subject, I am partly to blame. My job is to teach and make students learn. If they did not learn, then I failed in my job. Or did I? What If I gave them all the assistance and considerations and they still failed? What If I know that I taught them the best I can and they still failed? Then I can stop kicking myself in the butt and go on to the next set of new students.
Reason 2: The tuition fee students pay is "f-ing" high that I pity the parents. I know because I'm a parent who sends my kids to school too. Whenever a student fails, money and time are wasted.
But I can't just make every student pass without him even turning in the minimum stuff needed to pass can I? It breaks my heart whenever I encode a red mark. But we all have a job to do. Teachers teach. Students study. So there.

Students Should Know Their Status

Today is the final examinations in physics. I have 80 students who'd be taking it. Less than 10 of them need not take the exam anymore. They've accumulated enough credits that they'll pass no matter what the outcome of the exam is. About the same number need not take the exam for the opposite reason. About 75% need certain scores to pass. They know what score they need. I showed them the numbers.
This is one of those things I always do. I let my students know their status before the final exam. Although they already have an idea of their performance (I return marked papers the first meeting after each test), I don't want my students to be guessing.
After the finals, i promptly mark the papers and then post the scores. I just post the scores opposite their student numbers (never opposite their names) to minimize the humiliation any failing student would feel. After they have seen their scores, very few of them see me to verify the results.
I don't understand when teachers hoard unmarked papers which they only check a day before the grades are due for submission. I always almost want to tell them "Get the hell out of teaching!".

There's No Money Here

There is no money in teaching. Some people are born with money. Lucky them. Those who are not as lucky work their butts off trying to earn some. All these "unlucky ones" dream of becoming rich someday. Some say it's about choosing the right career and starting from there. Choose any career but teaching they say.
There is no money in teaching. So why am I a teacher? Oh I love teachers! As a student, they were my source of amusement. Some teachers are funny. Those who were not, I made fun of. Well, my path to becoming a source of amusement to students started in 1984. That's a looooong time ago and I don't want to bore myself typing the details so I'll make it short. I became a teacher because of the difference between 600 pesos and 500 pesos. To make it shorter, I became a teacher because of 100 pesos! The details are real tearjerkers and yawn-inducing so I'll spare you.
Some people use teaching as the platform into something "better" as some of my classmates did. One's now a lawyer. The other is married to a lawyer. Some are still teaching but I know would jump away the moment the first whiff of something different comes. Some already left for some teaching job in foreign countries where the pay is ten times as much. I know at least one who's still teaching and would never leave.
If there is no money in teaching, especially in this country, why do some people stay as teachers?

astignaguro is what i want to be

this is my first blog. i'm turning 40 tomorrow and this is the first time i've ever posted a blog.
astignaguro. literally "a tough teacher". if you are from my part of the planet, you know that this connotes lots of things. you may even think that i am a little centripetal for claiming such a name. i admit i haven't heard anybody call me that... yet. i hope i do before i die. if not, i'll just leave a note (to be opened only when i finally kick the bucket) to put it on my tombstone in lieu of my name. even if i don't deserve it. why the obssession with it?
everyone likes the idea of leaving an indelible mark behind when they die. i am not an exception. neither are you. mine's having been an astignaguro. i wish at least one person learned something from me that is worthy of him or her calling me one. i wish i can teach young people how things in this world work without robbing them of their imaginations and individuality. i wish i can do that. i wish i can be an astignaguro.