Class Week Three: A Moment of Danger

Two days follow my previous post as of today, and it has been quite a very heavy-minded start of week in terms of what I had to accomplish and heavy things I had to decide on.

This blog shall bear firsthand witness to my final decision: I am resigning from my work.

With work I mean my professional work, not the other part-time shifts that I had undertaken in my free time and effort. It has been quite a tough decision and having to weather through the discussions behind this decision that I have forcibly cemented over and under to prevent myself from revoking it makes this entire start of week tremendously depressing already. I know I am saving myself from certain health and mental / social dangers, but I am hoping I am not making the most erroneous decision of my life. At any rate, it'll be a decision that I'll be carrying with me for all eternity.

This, however, closes but a door of my knotted-up professional life. I tell you, having to brave through three responsibilities at the same time takes a lot of time and attention and I am already facing serious delays and drawbacks in keeping up with all three responsibilities. I understand that professional responsibilities take high precedence but if it will completely take over my life then for my own sake I will need to cut this off while I am still not completely tangled in it. This is not the only way up after all: there are other means to get there.

With that, I now hope to look forward to being with my true passions once again, not just in teaching my students and stuff, but also in my prospect of going fulltime for a career that I would enjoy doing with the company of my classmates and instructors, and at the same time doing things I enjoy most. It's not as dreamily compensated as the previous one, but I can live with that.

Now I'm thinking positive as I recall Master Oogway's (Kung Fu Panda) interesting quote: "Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, and Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

~Sir DaveTNova~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Class Week Two: A Season of Peril

Greetings once again to all of my few subscribers in this little haven I call my online "home". It's been several days since I made a post here and to be frank I am still fortunate to have time on my hands to be able to post stuff here, what with what has been happening recently that has taken up most of my time and attention.

Today officially marks the start of the third week of class (even though it is just Sunday), and to be frank I have already incurred several menial and serious mistakes that I fear might be a little difficult to patch up with regards to my teaching. I do not place much blame on my students for this, for I fear that more of my "fears" have surfaced with regards to overestimating the class. Perhaps it is as my mentor had warned me about, which I need to tone down.

I had administered two batches of quizzes - one of which indirectly - into two of my classes, the third one yet to receive it this week. While the results of my IT Concepts quiz seem satisfactory, I may have tortured my students a little too worse in my Programming Concepts class. I am a person used to challenges and I fear that I may have imparted that similar intimacy to my students as well by setting a little-hard-than-usual challenge that doesn't match their level of understanding yet. I know it is unjust to put them in such a situation and to make up for it I intend to re-adjust the quiz so as not to put them into failing standards. (Rejoice, SSE81!)

I, however, have not faltered in my IT Concepts classes. As it is a purely conceptual class with so little to no practical activity, I have made it a point to ensure that the class does not delve into the information too much and put more focus into the knowledge that they gain from such information. I leave this as a concept for my students: Data is raw and unprocessed, things without meaning; Information is processed data, one that has meaning, form, and structure; Knowledge (as a third definition) is the understanding and the comprehension that comes from the information acquired. And that is what I intend to achieve with my classes.

I pray that the third week of class progresses without turns for the worse, and I hope my class would understand that I am still in the process of adjusting to this side of the classroom. Not to worry, the second batch of quizzes by the fourth week won't be so heavy as the previous one ^_^

~Sir DaveTNova~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Class Week One: A Time of Tumult

Whew, finally that ends my first week in class, and it has been quite an enjoyable experience for me in terms of getting my students' attention and interest. Although I must admit that I am still getting used to the instructor title, I am trying my best to adjust to the new position (and keeping myself from releasing my insane student attitude).

I must admit that entering class as an instructor and seeing the students all seated on their respective chairs gives me a different impression of things - you get that nervous feeling that their academic fate lies in your hands and it would be down to you to teach them and make them understand the concepts in class. It's actually a tough responsibility, but I'll live up to it with the help of these young guys (or guys and gals that are just about within my age range. LOL)

My potential drawbacks might come from my approach in teaching which potentially may end up in a fast discussion. I am actually afraid of discussing the topic too fast as I may end up not imparting anything to the students at all. Even more afraid I am of the fact that we seem to end our discussions quite fast! I'm not exactly sure if it really is meant to last that fast but apparently the topic progresses quite fast. I guess that means more time for activities and quizzes! :D

I actually appreciate the attitude that my students reciprocate during class discussion and I'm glad that they're doing their best to learn from such a young instructor as me. Now I know what our instructors had felt during our early student days here in APC, and I'll do my best to impart as much as I know - inside or outside our subject matter - and enlighten my students.

Now I think I have my class philosophy for my classes - to teach without the high bounds that hinder students from opening up to their teachers :D

~Sir Dave~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Moving forward

It has been quite a VERY long time since I had made a post on this blog - and I don't exactly do it for the sake of my students to say that I have not been updating my blog or keeping my online selves up to date with what's happening around, but I guess I was just too occupied with certain matters before that I have failed to regularly check on my little hideaway - now wait, did I just say students?

I must admit that since the last entry I have made, a ton of stuff had happened in my life - some happy, some memorable, although there were some that didn't exactly proceed well, and still there are some that might have left permanent scars in my life - not just my heart, but perhaps my soul as well. But I shan't go deep into the details. It's best I leave things that way, for sake of a lot of things.

I had recently taken on the challenging role of three jobs all at the same time - recently-regularized Web Designer for Affiliated Computer Services; returning and maintaining developer of the Permitting, Monitoring, and Enforcement System [Inspection] for the Laguna Lake Development Authority; and paying back to my Alma Mater as an Asia Pacific College IT Instructor. Now there goes another - did I just say Alma Mater this time?

The horror of not updating a blog, goodness knows. I graduated this past month twice - once at my Alma Mater, Asia Pacific College, and another at my benefactor, SM Foundation. Both had been quite memorable experiences in my life as a student who has gone through the last steps of education, ready to face what's ahead in the real world. And I've long learned the insight that it's not on the measure of your intelligence or degree earned but more of how you will apply your skills to take on what's ahead. Modesty aside, I may be Magna Cum Laude but I don't wield it around as it's just a title bestowed for my academic performance.

Right now I'm happily teaching my students most of the stuff I had gained from my IT education as an SSE, despite the fact that two of my classes aren't exactly IT in nature and only one other class is oriented towards IT (and to think I am handling their first programming course!). I had sworn to myself before that if ever I am to become an instructor and wield a position of power and influence to my students, I'd do my best to make them enjoy the class instead of feel bored to it - not like many instructors I had known during my student days that did not exactly live up to our desirability standards.

I hope to make their classes enjoyable, though; the past few days seems like a state of limbo and purgatory for I can't seem to get through their 'stiffness'. Although I did succeed in breaking apart one of my classes's defenses and get them to our level before, I guess it will take some more time and getting used to before I can see the true colors of my students. Hey, can it get any worse than ours? We were a rowdy bunch during our time, ya know!

Anyway, that marks my first post in months. I hope to follow it with more as I light up yet another trail in my life and follow my students in their first steps towards their College lives.

~Sir DaveTNova~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer