By: Patricia Baguio I TEACH TO INSPIRE
Teaching is probably one of the greatest experiences I ever had. At the age of 21, I teach students almost at my age, some older than me. Yet I don’t mind. I see myself as one mature person who shares wisdom with fellow young people who crave for hints on what is like to work in a TV network. They had enough of the theories from the Academe. Providing them balance by inspiring them to see beyond their books is what I hoped I did. I TEACH TO BE MATURE Being a teacher is hard, but being a YOUNG teacher is harder. I encounter students who are smarter and knowledgeable than me. They used to tell me they want an instructor who can share things they don’t read in books and over the internet. I have one student who dropped the same subject a semester ago because she wasn’t able to tolerate the lack of mastery of the subjects of the professor who handled it. This time, she risked her almost thirty thousand tuition fee to enroll two of my four subjects. I TEACH TO BE RESPECTED Whenever we see each other, she would greet me with respect unlike the guards who repeatedly ask my name and if I’m really a professor whenever I stopped by the Face ID machine for the faculty. Seamlessly, I would look at them trying to decipher their thoughts. Do I really look that young? Nah. I put so much effort in dressing appropriately, although I hate wearing a dress, slacks, and stilettos. One time, because there is a new guard at the entrance, I skipped logging in through the FACE ID to avoid being asked for the nth time. I was not paid because that served as the faculty’s attendance, but I really don’t care. I don’t want to be annoyed. Another thing, what I lost was just a small salary compared to what I gained. I TEACH TO PROVE THAT ONE CAN’T MEASURE ABILITIES BY AGE This is one of the many incidents that people mistook me as a student. In our first day, I mingle with students outside the room assigned to us. They were surprised when I entered the room and sat in front of them as I put my things on the table. Their first question, “How old are you, Ma’am?” Suddenly one professor entered our room and told me, “Can we occupy this room? It seems that your teacher is not yet here”. I smiled and answered, “Sorry this room is assigned to us, and I’m their teacher”. She was shocked and apologized. I remembered, she was the same professor who overtook the faculty computer I was using. I TEACH TO SHARE First day discussions are not my bet because it comprised history, basics, and the introduction of the subjects which are not really my forte. Going straightly to the point is what I wanted to do. So on our first day, I asked, the things they want to learn from those subjects, from which I based the formulation of the syllabi. It was my first time to teach, but I didn’t feel any goose bump, just excitement and drive to share the long-kept stories and experiences. But teaching, as one of the evaluators in my demo, said, should be a balance between the established conventions and applications. One teacher should not be contented with what he knows but also with what he needs to know to share. That advice compels me to read books and articles about writing, film, and production and add and compare those to what really occur in the workplace. I TEACH TO HAVE SOMETHING ELSE WORTHY TO DO I am a teacher in Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and I am a full-time segment producer in the rest of the day. In times when I need to shoot for my stories, I didn’t attend my class. I gave the students activities or assignments. The next day we see each other, we check and discuss their home works and I share what I did in my work (write, shoot, edit) which I think sounds more appealing to them than our lessons (based on their faces and reactions inside the class). We survived this way whenever I have work to do, there’s a holiday, there’s typhoon or whenever they have school programs which became often in the last two weeks of the semester. Phone and Emails served as our ways to keep in touch. There were times when I received texts in the wee hours from students who asked how to write public service announcements, what editing software is best to use in their films, what dialogues to add for a certain character and scene, what title should they replace to make their films more interesting and even questions which has no bearing in my classes such as what books and movies I personally prefer. I TEACH TO BE REMEMBERED An unforgettable student texted me one night that she has no regret shifting in the college and taking all subjects I handle at the same time. She said she was motivated by the grades I gave to her scripts in the crime story's coverage. Hearing something like this induced me to learn more and finish the semester for my students despite the disorganized faculty, resigning of some of my fellows' closed teachers in the department, discouraging absentees and low salary. I TEACH TO EXPERIENCE But the thing that encourages me the most to go on with my everyday life as a teacher is relearning. I am a hypocrite if I say I only give. The fact is, I receive more than I give. I receive fleeting comments and approvals, friendships, trust and one great experience I can’t buy in any place at any worth.
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