Dr. Wong Article #1

Welcome to Survival Inn: A Transient For Teachers 

      "And so, brand new teachers, is that once you want to be? 20 years from now-- trapped?”

Not long from now, I will also be called a neophyte in the teaching profession. So I asked myself, “Will I ever get past the survival stage when it’s my turn to teach?” but then I found myself asking another question that is more significant than the first one, and that is “Will I really do that to myself? To my students, more importantly? I tend to day dream about what my future classes would look like, one that is manageable and smooth sailing. Thanks to Dr. Wong, I am reminded of the reality. Thinking about it now, it seems scary, but I brush it off and tell myself; out of the many trips I’ll have in my journey as a teacher, I might get tired and stop in a transient house, and then remind myself again, that the more I stay, the harder I’ll suffer because transient homes are supposed to be temporary. I can't stand the thought of having to drag myself to school everyday like a miserable zombie.

     Survival stage is not a notion to stop trying, but rather an opportunity to re-ignite the same passion and enthusiasm we had for teaching during our first day. I have to remind myself that I have to pack up and give what my students and I deserve; a fulfilling profession, and a joyful learning environment.

A Teacher in the Making

Ana Rhem C. Cortez

June 17, 2018

     Hi! I am Ana Rhem Cortez, but I prefer to be called Ana or Nhem. I’ve been a resident of Earth for 19 years now, and I am a teacher-in-the-making! I have one year left of college ‘til I finally graduate and receive the diploma that I’ve been waiting for since the day I entered college as a freshman. The last three years have been very eventful. I could not think of one word that would sum up what had happened for the last six terms, but I could say that it was not a walk in the park. Well, it can probably be, but with instructional materials plus having Piaget, Gardner, Bloom and the other squad members beside me. Kidding aside, I always knew that choosing this profession will not be easy, but I can definitely say that every learning experience excites me to actually be in the field and have my very own set of students.

I remember the first time that our professor asked us to do a demo teaching, my nerves were all over the place. I may have seemed very relaxed and chill, but deep inside, my guts were wrestling. Now that I’ve done it a couple of times, I am now faced with the real challenge, and that is to make it a habit to get even better every time I teach. I hope I get to be the teacher that asks themselves all the time; “What have I not done yet?” Surely, Bloom’s Taxonomy isn’t written for us teachers to just read. Anyway, I still have one year of college and a whole lot more years after I graduate to grow and be the version of the teacher that I imagined myself to become!