My first week at school was never
that interesting nor exciting because my advisory class literally gave me
headache, toothache, and stomachache. They were this kind of students who fail
to greet “good morning” or say hello whenever they enter the room, who never
throw their garbage in the bin, who text in front of you while in class, and
who ignore you as if you are talking to the air. In the first three months, I
adjusted on how they speak bad words, how they don’t recognize cleanliness, and
how submission of homework is really a burden to them. I can even recall the
time when one of them spoke a bad word out behind me as I scolded him for not
cleaning the room. I might have just misinterpreted it, but he really did it. I cannot also count the times I did not allow them to enter the room
and clean it by myself instead, just to show them that cleanliness is my best
friend. Not wearing the uniform, being late, wearing of earrings and long hair
(for boys) and other misbehavior are just few of the issues I have struggled on
with my beautiful and handsome students. Here, I transformed from being a sweet
master to a terrible monster.
However, I save a room for hope
and aspiration that these little creatures will one day change into big, useful
ones and that they will realize how goodness
and obedience result to success
in the future.
With that room, I locked the
following keys to win their humane nature:
1. writing
unfriendly reminders on the board almost everyday;
2. imposing
consequences to those who come late and speak bad words;
3. never
allowing students to get inside the class if they are fifteen-minute late;
4. knocking
the chairs down on the floor if they leave the classroom disarranged;
5. sweeping
the floor on my own as an insult to their beautiful faces;
6. throwing
out their books and shoes if they forget to bring them home;
7. and
other monstrous acts.
However, I also tried this good
side of a monster:
8. praising
and writing encouragement every time they do good;
9. doing
casual conversation with them during lunch time;
10. befriending
them on Facebook and allowing them to like and comment on my pictures as if we
are close friends;
11. giving
them biscuits after general cleaning;
12. and
other angelic acts.
I haven’t proven to myself the total
change I want to see in them, yet . However, I am happy to hear good feedback
about them and to see that:
1. they
are solving math problems seriously now;
2. they
all do the general cleaning without any further
complaints;
3. they
reprimand each other about speaking life instead of evil;
4. they,
somehow, arrange their chairs before leaving;
5. and
other diligent acts.
We are not perfect creatures, but
we can be good, productive ones. It starts with individual realization that
doing good is worth an incentive to one’s self. After that three months of struggling, I am
now enjoying the company of Grade 9- Honesty
especially that many of them now have come to discover their own identities
that help them realized they have important roles in the classroom. I am not a perfect teacher and I don’t have
perfect advisory class. Yet, I want a perfect environment for a better future
and I am surely achieving that as Chloie,
our Miss Marymount 2014, surprisingly
suggested that we will all wear dress this Wednesday and as they showed me last
Thursday that they know how to clean with or without the class president.