The valedictory speech I never gave

(Graduation is drawing near. When I was about to graduate from college, I dreamed of delivering a valedictory speech, but that dream would remain just that: a dream. If I were to deliver the valedictory speech, however, I would've given this speech.)


I wish I could talk about how our government manages the public money, so that the accountancy and commerce students could relate to me. I wish I could talk about our criminal justice system, so that the criminology student could relate to me. I wish I could talk about our health care system and child abuse, so that the social work students could relate to me. I wish I could talk about the use of psychology in preventing crime, so that the psychology students could relate to me.

I wish I could talk on those different fields, so that everyone present here could relate to me. But I could not because I don't know any better. And if I do talk about the things I know better, I'm afraid you could not relate to me. If I would talk about Multiple Intelligences or Learning Styles or Teaching Strategies, nobody but the education students would listen to me.

I'm not even sure if they would listen, and listen like their grades depend on it. They've heard enough of them in the classroom. Surely they don't want to recall their harrowing experience in the classroom, not even now that they are wearing toga whose origin they barely know.

So I will talk about my own experience in college. After all, we human beings are by nature chismoso. We always wanted to know something about other human beings.

Yet I won't try to please everybody because I'm afraid that if I try to please everybody, I just might end up pleasing nobody.

Thank you for listening to the introduction. If you have one more minute to spare, do spare it.

Sample Essay Format

Sample Essay Format

Follow the format. For the additional guidelines, the Project Plan is posted on the wall of your classroom.

Deadline of the final copy of the essay will be on February 21, 2012.

Musings while I'm on my way to the comfort room

I have known Stella Maris as a rich school where the rich students study; where most of the students have never taken a PUJ; where students seldom eat kwek-kwek; where most of the students' shoes have never stepped on muddy and rocky road; where students speak the language of iPhone, iPod, iPad, Twitter, etc.; where students most of the time do things their way; and where the sons and daughters of business tycoons, top government officials, and the elite study.

Now I'm one of the teachers of Stella Maris, handling Araling Panlipunan. Never have I thought that I will, one day, be teaching there. Not even in my dreams, nor in my beautiful nightmare, as Beyonce puts it.

So far, my teaching experience in Stella Maris does nothing to change my view of the school. Stella Maris, as I've known it before, is still a rich school where rich students study.

At times, I feel that I am betraying myself. As a student, I was an idealist. I used to style myself as a conscientious individual, one who is aware of the plight of his countrymen and one who will one day roll his sleeves up and help those who are in need the most; one who is, in short, going to teach in the public school.

Yet I am here now, enlisted to serve as a teacher of students whose families are a million times richer than the ones found in public schools. This is, frankly speaking, not the life that I want to have.

But I realized that this is, in fact, a great opportunity for me to let my dreams and aspirations come to pass. As Kipling says in his poem If, "meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same." And treat triumph and disaster just the same I did.

My students now will soon become owners of business establishments, entrepreneurs, public officials and bureaucrats, and even some of them will become politicians. If I can make them acutely aware of the problems of the society and teach them that to whom much is given much is expected, then I have already triumphed in my own little way.

Barely a month from now, my fourth year students will be graduating from high school. Did I succeed in making them students who are conscientious ? Did I and the rest of the teachers succeed in making them aware of their crucial role in the society?

Only time can tell.

Aralin 8 & Aralin 12

Ask, and you shall receive.

Aralin 8: Ang pagkonsumo at ang mamimili

Aralin 12: Ang Mamimili at ang Demand

 

Boys don't just talk about sex

When boys gather and talk, what do they talk about?

They can talk about many things...

Girls.

Toys.

Sports.

Vices.

Sex.

Can they talk and share about God's love?

Recently, I joined the Christian Life Program (CLP) for Singles for Christ (SFC). It is a program by the Couples for Christ community to bring single men and women closer to God.

"SFC is a generation of single men and women experiencing the fullness of life and restoring the world for Christ."

It is not just an overnight encounter. There are 12 talks, each talk is held every Saturday night. For every session, there will be a speaker who will talk about the session's theme; then there's a sharer who will talk about his/ her personal experience and relate that experience to the theme.

After, there will be a small group discussion. Boys and girls are separated. I don't know why. Each group is headed by a DGL (Discussion Group Leader).

If there is one thing I proved when I joined the CLP, it is that aside from sex and other braggadocio, men are also capable of talking and sharing about how they experienced God's love in their lives.

It's, of course, awkward at first to open up and share the things you'd only share to people you know very well. But in time you'd realize that the more you become open the more you understand yourself.

I've so far attended two talks. Ten more talks to go. But I believe I'll be able to finish the program: There is just a lot of inspiration for me to continue. My friends are there. My mother is so supportive. My dream girl is so happy when she knew that I'd be joining.

And there is God. He needs no adjective.