Best School Year by Khristian Pimentel
Content
Best School Year of a New Teacher / Epiphanies of a New Teacher
By: Khristian Ross Pimentel I still can’t believe that school year 2012-2013 just turned my life upside-down as if I was riding in a roller coaster for one year and every single ride was a worthwhile experience. Fairy tales are not true, but I believe that dreams do happen at the right time, at the perfect moment. It all began when I decided to continue my studies after having a conversation with my best friend on the phone. She was able to convince me that Grad school is a fire that I had to catch and being there would fill in the hunger and thirst I had in two years. Then I took the test in two universities and passed both, and getting a letter in my pigeon box telling me that I passed made me ran along the corridors with an overwhelmed heart. Since the time I processed my application for my masters, I felt like I was melting and that feeling has stayed in me until now. If enrolling, applying for an ID, enlisting a subject, waiting in a long line, and other preliminaries a student like me has to endure again before I get a class would be placed in a history book, then mine would be a historical milestone as I witnessed my dream turn into a reality—being able to touch it with my own bare hands and see it happening right in front of my eyes. Even before the school year has begun, I received another unexpected gift. Our supervisor gladly informed me that I would be assigned as the adviser of the star section in our school. I have never been in the cream of the crop, and for the first time I had to be there, I was not just a student or a mere subject teacher. Suddenly, I became the die-hard adviser. It has become my routine to tell my students to refrain from laughing and being noisy, but I end up seeing them laugh with me. The kids who talked loudly in my class especially while I’m discussing were the same people who made my life in the classroom exciting. I enjoyed listening to them, who even acted out what they recite and feel what they say, and the rest of the class will cheer in amazement, and I find myself in a sense of ‘aha.’ They never failed to meet my standards to think that the bar that I always set is too high. Every single day, I’m really touched how my students made me happy. Before, my advisory classes were living disasters. Definitely, this class was the first class that I would love and admire forever. I am sure that someday, they will be successful presidents, evangelists, lawyers, businessmen, doctors, and even teachers; but now that they were my students, those mutual dreams became my daily vitamins. I tried to improve myself not only in my advisory class but for all the classes that I handled. For the first time, I enjoyed my class than never before; and my students also told me that they relished English lessons greater than they ever had before. Indeed, this is the school year that led me in a life wherein writing test papers became drafting genuine testaments of students’ learning and preparing lesson plans became a blueprint of a wider horizon, of a better world, and of a happier life for all of us. Before, I was drowning in a sea of deadlines and pressures of this work; but now I learned to swim; and finally I saw the wonders of this profession the moment I soaked deeper and saw my students with their dreams at a closer sight.
Every lesson has become a battle. Before, the troublemakers were my enemies; now they have become the reason why this battle was worth fighting for. Being apprehended of sufferings, disappointments, and frustrations, I used to drag my feet to school; but coming to school this year made me view it as a pilgrimage or voyage that every single soul on this planet would ever dream to cross. To love a profession that is all about loving and caring has been redundant in the books that I read and the people I met, but finally having an encounter by myself of an ideal turned into a real thing is a treasure I found every time I enter the classroom and make a difference whether I’m the teacher or the student. I am glad that I never ceased to believe, to aspire, to teach, to learn, to care, and most importantly, to love. Meanwhile, having a changed view about everything to realize its beauty and magnificence has never been possible if I did not enter the Grad school. The time I entered the classroom again as a student transformed my sense into a new sight and taste buds to see and taste not the lessons that I would teach the students, but the humble lessons I would learn every time I’m going to teach right after I learned. The start was not easy because I perceived the Grad school as if I am watching a suspense movie. I was not sure if I really wanted to be there or if I am ready. I felt I was afraid, insecure, and immature. Then, I realized that I was wrong. Taking my masters is comparable to watching a criticallyacclaimed movie. Every night that I went home after my class since the first day was like walking with a heartwarming musical score playing everywhere, for the thoughts that possessed in me are uncontainable. Every lesson is like scenes that are really spectacular and amazing, and I can’t wait for the next time I’m going to learn another thing that will challenge me, change me, provoke me, and definitely inspire me. My subjects helped me become a reflective person that if I would be placed in a room and my thoughts would be tangible, anyone will find them scattered all over the place. Every learning experience speaks of reality reflecting what seemed to be random theories before emerged into astonishing memories, and the best part of essence disguised as experience offers a redeeming factor at the end that I, the teacher (and now a student), is left with something I must do by myself to change the fate—not of my own—but of the students I was entrusted to mold into better members of this society. When I wrote these insights and every time I thought about this, I always hear an extremely loud silence, for what I hear is within. I love this school year, and I love the thought that I was able to preserve it on this paper—an ending that opens many beginnings. Many people have labeled it as spur of the moment, flow, momentum, but I am glad that I experienced it by myself-- the life as we know it. Khristian Ross P. Pimentel, 23 years old (223 Rial St., Dela Paz, Antipolo City)
I am now teaching at Grace Christian College-HS Department, and I’m taking M.A. in Education, Major in Educational Psychology in UP Diliman. I graduated Cum Laude with a degree of BSE-English in Philippine Normal University last 2010. I was a former feature editor and writer of our campus publication, and editor-in-chief of our department-based organization. I have been teaching for three years.
By: Khristian Ross Pimentel I still can’t believe that school year 2012-2013 just turned my life upside-down as if I was riding in a roller coaster for one year and every single ride was a worthwhile experience. Fairy tales are not true, but I believe that dreams do happen at the right time, at the perfect moment. It all began when I decided to continue my studies after having a conversation with my best friend on the phone. She was able to convince me that Grad school is a fire that I had to catch and being there would fill in the hunger and thirst I had in two years. Then I took the test in two universities and passed both, and getting a letter in my pigeon box telling me that I passed made me ran along the corridors with an overwhelmed heart. Since the time I processed my application for my masters, I felt like I was melting and that feeling has stayed in me until now. If enrolling, applying for an ID, enlisting a subject, waiting in a long line, and other preliminaries a student like me has to endure again before I get a class would be placed in a history book, then mine would be a historical milestone as I witnessed my dream turn into a reality—being able to touch it with my own bare hands and see it happening right in front of my eyes. Even before the school year has begun, I received another unexpected gift. Our supervisor gladly informed me that I would be assigned as the adviser of the star section in our school. I have never been in the cream of the crop, and for the first time I had to be there, I was not just a student or a mere subject teacher. Suddenly, I became the die-hard adviser. It has become my routine to tell my students to refrain from laughing and being noisy, but I end up seeing them laugh with me. The kids who talked loudly in my class especially while I’m discussing were the same people who made my life in the classroom exciting. I enjoyed listening to them, who even acted out what they recite and feel what they say, and the rest of the class will cheer in amazement, and I find myself in a sense of ‘aha.’ They never failed to meet my standards to think that the bar that I always set is too high. Every single day, I’m really touched how my students made me happy. Before, my advisory classes were living disasters. Definitely, this class was the first class that I would love and admire forever. I am sure that someday, they will be successful presidents, evangelists, lawyers, businessmen, doctors, and even teachers; but now that they were my students, those mutual dreams became my daily vitamins. I tried to improve myself not only in my advisory class but for all the classes that I handled. For the first time, I enjoyed my class than never before; and my students also told me that they relished English lessons greater than they ever had before. Indeed, this is the school year that led me in a life wherein writing test papers became drafting genuine testaments of students’ learning and preparing lesson plans became a blueprint of a wider horizon, of a better world, and of a happier life for all of us. Before, I was drowning in a sea of deadlines and pressures of this work; but now I learned to swim; and finally I saw the wonders of this profession the moment I soaked deeper and saw my students with their dreams at a closer sight.
Every lesson has become a battle. Before, the troublemakers were my enemies; now they have become the reason why this battle was worth fighting for. Being apprehended of sufferings, disappointments, and frustrations, I used to drag my feet to school; but coming to school this year made me view it as a pilgrimage or voyage that every single soul on this planet would ever dream to cross. To love a profession that is all about loving and caring has been redundant in the books that I read and the people I met, but finally having an encounter by myself of an ideal turned into a real thing is a treasure I found every time I enter the classroom and make a difference whether I’m the teacher or the student. I am glad that I never ceased to believe, to aspire, to teach, to learn, to care, and most importantly, to love. Meanwhile, having a changed view about everything to realize its beauty and magnificence has never been possible if I did not enter the Grad school. The time I entered the classroom again as a student transformed my sense into a new sight and taste buds to see and taste not the lessons that I would teach the students, but the humble lessons I would learn every time I’m going to teach right after I learned. The start was not easy because I perceived the Grad school as if I am watching a suspense movie. I was not sure if I really wanted to be there or if I am ready. I felt I was afraid, insecure, and immature. Then, I realized that I was wrong. Taking my masters is comparable to watching a criticallyacclaimed movie. Every night that I went home after my class since the first day was like walking with a heartwarming musical score playing everywhere, for the thoughts that possessed in me are uncontainable. Every lesson is like scenes that are really spectacular and amazing, and I can’t wait for the next time I’m going to learn another thing that will challenge me, change me, provoke me, and definitely inspire me. My subjects helped me become a reflective person that if I would be placed in a room and my thoughts would be tangible, anyone will find them scattered all over the place. Every learning experience speaks of reality reflecting what seemed to be random theories before emerged into astonishing memories, and the best part of essence disguised as experience offers a redeeming factor at the end that I, the teacher (and now a student), is left with something I must do by myself to change the fate—not of my own—but of the students I was entrusted to mold into better members of this society. When I wrote these insights and every time I thought about this, I always hear an extremely loud silence, for what I hear is within. I love this school year, and I love the thought that I was able to preserve it on this paper—an ending that opens many beginnings. Many people have labeled it as spur of the moment, flow, momentum, but I am glad that I experienced it by myself-- the life as we know it. Khristian Ross P. Pimentel, 23 years old (223 Rial St., Dela Paz, Antipolo City)
I am now teaching at Grace Christian College-HS Department, and I’m taking M.A. in Education, Major in Educational Psychology in UP Diliman. I graduated Cum Laude with a degree of BSE-English in Philippine Normal University last 2010. I was a former feature editor and writer of our campus publication, and editor-in-chief of our department-based organization. I have been teaching for three years.
