quaint little rutted bucket



Friday, December 17, 2004

Unfinished business

The term's officially over for me now. I'm only awaiting course cards on Monday, and a visit to Brother Obrero Elementary School on Tuesday for FTK 2005. Gee, I joined FTK. Heheh.

For those "not-in-the-know" FTK is an acronym for "For The Kids", an outreach program for special children who have not had the chance to experience a normal childhood. Originally started at La Salle Greenhills, the tradition is now continued in De La Salle University - Manila by the university's Center for Social Concern and Action (COSCA). It involves inviting delegations of children from different SPED (special education) institutions in Metro Manila to join in a fun-filled day of activities that help in affirming these kids.

A similar experience occurred to me once in my Senior year in High School, when the CAT was tasked to help in a school outreach program for Caritas Manila. That was something profound itself, and it was an experience I'll be drawing much from in this one (FTK).

The only problem is, I dunno how to get to Tondo. You see, the school is somewhere in Tondo. And I nary have an idea how to get there. Shucks. Anyway, I'll be trying Kuya Arnel (Dad's supervisor) for details, as he used to live in the area.



Looking back: My first term in education

After having shifted to a degree program in education, I realized that this was something I should've done earlier. A career in education would enable me to be flexible, as I could continue on teaching, or perhaps become a lawyer if I still wanted to. (Which at this point in time, a not.) But more importantly, it lets me have a career that I could be proud of, and be of help to countless young people who would be the future of this nation.

Anyway, I've had my share of anxieties after shifting--there was a feeling of longing for the usual life in Gox, and I seem to cannot fathom, even today, the idea of small classes. (Gox classes usually average 20 peeps or more, a number of my classes in CED were less than that.) In addition, almost all of my classes have professors that differ much from the ones I used to have in CCS.

Machine projects are inexistent in CED vocabulary. Much of the submitted work we do are term papers, reaction papers, research papers, and all other kinds of papers. In other words, paperwork du jour is almost always the order of the day.

Reporting is also commonplace, in almost all CED courses. There was even a week when all I did for a week was to report, in virtually all of my subjects! Take that for a coincidence. Nevertheless, to say that CED < CCS is wrong, because the two colleges require a vastly different set of skills for one to succeed.

After a term in education, I'm already pretty comfortable with the idea of becoming a teacher. Expectations run high as education is a career that has high expectations, but I can live with that.

I have to admit that I made a mistake in misjudging my GENPSYC class. It was fun, and I would certainly love to be working with Dr. Javier again. While he may be quite uptight, his pedagogy just suits me fine, and I can confidently say that my classmates in S22 shares this view too.

FOUNED2 is a mixed bag. It was only now that I understood (I think) my prof's tenacity to give a number of challenging requirements for her course...

I dropped out of TINTECH. While I loved the class, it was my distance from school for two months that served as hindrance to me coming in time for this one. My mum just recommended I drop and just take it some other time, when we get back to our home in Makati. (Which was just a couple of weeks ago.)

EDTECH1. I had a lot of absences for this one, and if it wasn't for the instructor's relative kindness, I would be dead just for attendance. I used to skip his class as I find it boring to learn things you pretty much have a good idea of as a computer science student--Excel, Word, digital imaging and HTML. And now, I have to pay the price of the not being able to get the grade I desire. Oh well.

LINGUIS. I love my prof on this one. And I certainly look forward to classes under her in the future. It was pretty difficult, (linguistics is not a course for idiots.) but I think I made it. I dunno. We'll see on Monday.

RELSTWO. It was an excellent course, and through this, I started to become active once again in parish work. (I got in as lector/commentator trainee. Work starts January next year. :) In addition, I learned much about the Church and the sacraments, if that matters to you. :D

ENGLTWO. Ewan ko na. Heheh.

That's all for now folks!

1 Comments:

  • hi ralph.
    i was just about to shut off the dept's computer when i saw the url of your blog and decided to take a peek.

    first, welcome to ced and to deal! no wonder you were seated in front of the office last week and didn't answer when i asked what you were doing there. englart?

    second, thanks for the kind words. i do hope you will pursue this career along with the desire to deepen your vocation in helping kids discover who they really are. true educators teach hearts. the mind survives on its own.

    third, i should've asked for your blog site while you were in my englone class.

    so, ralph, enjoy your break! do write! we need writers with brains, you know.

    i'm posting this anonymously as i couldn't remember my blogsite password.

    :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:24 PM  

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