Election Trash

I was walking back home when someone reached out to me and gave me campaign leaflets. The man was wearing a vest printed with the picture and the name of the candidate he was campaigning for. He was not alone, he and his cohorts were spaced evenly on the street handing out propaganda.

I looked at the man shook my head and didn't smile back. No, I was not being mean; I was just thinking. A simple calculation of the amount of paper they were holding told that it may have cost a forest, or if they were using recycled paper, the amount of carbon and toxins and energy wasted to recycle the papers.

There must be better ways of campaigning. I have always advocated the use of an environment friendly, energy efficient and healthful means of campaigning. 

Again I am just sharing an idea:

Employ the chismoso and the chismosa.

      Now, this is an idea that cold save candidates millions of pesos. Vehicles with PA system blaring off campaign jingles and propaganda is the traditional and still the most used method of campaigning in the local election. Though this loud, it's not as effective as the chismoso and the chismosas (or it's generic: chismakers). Aside from irritating the voters, it uses fuel, electricity and emits carbon monoxide, and no one really stops to listen to the unintelligible garbles coming from these vehicles.

Photo not mine.

      Chismakers are different. They have many advantages over the traditional methods: they are infectious and voracious. Their operation is house to house and they, like preachers of the past, could assemble pockets of people to listen to their mongering. They are effective carriers of false information that could diminished or even destroy an opposing candidates person.  Anyway...

          I want to see candidates sweeping the streets, cleaning the sewage or unclogging the drainage. For me this is the most effective way of manipulating the people's sympathy. 

          Hmmmm.....

Jesus and Judas

 

      "I'm sorry, Judas my brother," Jesus said,"But it is necessary."

     "I've asked you before, rabbi--is there no other way?"

      "No, Judas, my brother. I too should have liked one. I too hoped and waited for one until now--but in vain. No, there is no other way.The end of the world is here.This world,this kingdom of the devil, will be destroyed and the kingdom of heaven will come. I shall bring it. How? By dying. There is no other way. Do not quiver, Judas, my brother. In three days I shall rise again."
   
       'You tell me this in order to comfort me and make me able to betray you without rending my own heart. You say that I have the endurance--you say it in order to give me strength.No, the closer we come to that terrible moment...no, rabbi, I won't be able to endure it!"

        'You will, Judas, my brother. God will give you the strength, as much as you lack, because it is necessary--it is necessary for me to be killed and for you to betray me.We two must save the world. Help me.'

        Judas bowed his head. After a moment he asked, "If you had to betray your master, would you do it?"

        Jesus reflected for a long time.Finally he said, "No, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to.That is why God pitied me and gave me the easier task: to be crucified."


--Nikos Kazantzaki, The last temptation.

NAT Review

I was asked to be one of the reviewers of English VI for the National Achievement Test which will be held in the third week of March. I am not complaining but I teach Music  at school, but  I did study teaching English in college as a major (or concentration), obvious from my bad writing.

Now listen to this (or read this): one of the English teachers is a math major; hence, she was asked to be one of the reviewers for math. Now, this is bit confusing but it just goes to show how our former school head ran the school: teachers with math major teaches English while teachers with English major teaches music etc.  Well, if you ask me, I admit that I cannot fathom the wisdom behind this arrangement, but I am just a lowly teacher without any right to question things. Of course, her understanding was that as elementary teachers we were supposed to be generalist which is true, but her thinking is now outdated because even elementary teachers are now specializing (or concentrating).

School heads see things differently from the teachers' viewpoint. They decide things based on what they think is best for the school and sometimes they have to make do with people that are available to them and sometimes that mean assigning people which they think is best for the assignment.

Anyway, reviewing for he NAT is one heck of a boring task. There’s a system we follow:

• .       Pre-test. Pupils are given mock tests. While the test items are being checked, the reviewers monitor the skills that the pupils did poorly with e.g. subject-verb agreement and other grammar stuff, comprehension skills like cause and effect, getting the main idea, etc. After checking and the reviewing the skills, the frequencies of errors are recorded for comparison for the post test.

•     Post-test. Again the same tests are given to the pupils. The test is checked and the frequencies of errors recorded for comparison with the pre-test. The reviewer then checks if there’s a significant change in the frequencies of errors. Attention is paid to skills that the pupils did poorly in the pre-test. Then there’s the final stage:

•     Mastery Test. The same test is given with the aim of reinforcing skills. It is expected that the reviewers will re-teach some of the skills that the pupils did very poorly with and if necessary, remediation classes is to be conducted.

This system is new and was brought in by the new principal and according to him this is the secret why their district remains within the top 5 best performing district in the division. Compared to last year’s system, this is much better. Last year, we were so exhausted from too much activity: Junior JS Prom, Field Day, NAT, etc., plus threats that anytime a supervisor would come to observe on us, I mean, we could hardly let our hair down!

Teachers are thinkers and not manual laborers; they do best when their mind is relaxed.

Two weeks and it already feels like...

Already two weeks old into 2013 and it already feels like the middle of the year, as if the Christmas break never happened at all. 

After the third quarter examinations on Thursday and Friday, things will suddenly shift into higher gear for the grade six department. The teachers will be very busy preparing the pupils for the grade six National Achievement Test or NAT which is the barometer of performance of schools. Unlike before, there were the Regional Achievement Test (RAT, a big rodent) and the Division Achievement Test (or the DAT, as in Dat Big Joke!) were grade six teachers and pupils used to prepare for this three test as a supposedly mock test for the NAT. The tests were also ways for the regional and the division office to rank the performance of their underlings.  When it comes to rankings...let's just say that rankings and the thought of ranking make people rankable for the looney bin.

Thanks to the Ph.Ds and Ed.Ds of the department for stopping these superfluous tests because they did not achieve anything, and most of the times the test items were recycled or copy pasted letter for letter including typos from the previous years'. I mean...with pupils preparing for three major evaluation and assessments a year, and administrators trying to outrank each other in performance at each level, the pupils were trained (not educated) towards achieving good test results which means more rote memorization and mock tests and mock tests and reviews and reviews and mock tests blah, blah, blah...no sane mind would learn anything from it. Sure their head would be filled with facts and figures but then, once regurgitated, nothing is digested.

Aside form the NAT, we will also be busy preparing for the field day ( which I hope will not push through) and the graduation.

I know, I know this post is too negative, but you know how it is, if I do not take these things out in writing, chances are, I'l be taking them out on people and that means being one mean son of a female dog :-)

First day of the year, RH Bill, Crhistmas Raffles, Blah, blah, blah

After the two weeks Christmas vacation, I reported to the school to find, as usual, a fraction of the pupils present. This has been the pattern, according to the veteran teachers, whenever the first school day of the new year is in the middle of the week. The attendance picks up on the first Monday after the Christmas vacation.

Well, for us teachers, we can’t do anything about it but to use the unofficial suspension of classes for doing administrative works like making test materials for the end of the third quarter grading period or, for those who have advisories, updating their records etc.

I was thinking of writing my reflections about the 2012 but I couldn’t recall anything spectacular that happened to me. I did not even win a set of dining plate on our Christmas party raffle, which kind of made me realize that I was not really a lucky person. One of my co-grade-six teacher’s names has been consistently called for four years, this she told me while we were setting up the LCD Projector for the recognition of the retirees. There she sat patiently smiling as if expecting her name would be pulled out of the box. After a few minutes, there she was climbing the stage claiming her prize and when she came down she passed by me and told me that she would be going out of the gym since her name was already called. I was envious but happy for her. I told her, “That’s your reward for being a good girl.” Anyway, went home tired but I really enjoyed the presentations and, of course, the food.

 I did not even win a tumbler in the raffles.

Maybe the highlight of the year was when I started doing bonsai. I had talks with Mr. Bernardo, our school’s veteran agriculture teacher, about bonsai and my interest was kindled about the art. I then researched about it. One my friends, who have one Fukien tea tree bonsai, lent me his bonsai book. I started looking for materials and I started my own little collection of bonsais.

Enough about the damned bonsais.

Hmmm…hmmmmm…

We have a new boss. Our former principal was kicked up, promoted to district supervisor three months before her retirement which according to DepEd policy, she will never enjoy the retirement benefits of the supervisor since she didn’t meet the three year period requirement.

From a lady principal to a gentleman principal and the transition is still going on (the painting of the office) and I expect that there will be movement in the teaching assignments by the beginning of the new school year. But as usual, as the veteran teachers always tell us, “Don’t worry, principals come and go every three years but we will be working together as co-teachers till the day we retire.”

Ohhhh…I almost forgot the destruction of the school garden. To make way for the new kindergarten (damned the Germans for inventing this) classroom, the Department tore down our beautiful school garden, and in the place of greeneries and flowers, there sprouted a concrete monstrosity. I have always lamented this because human population and its projected growth is one of the constant factor in decision making and the government people should have considered allotting large tracts of lands for basic education schools to met population growth.   In the near future, I imagine schools would be like high rise condominiums without any arable lots for planting or for agriculture and how in the heck can we teach our pupils about the importance of the conservation of our environment and the balance between nature and development if all they see is concrete and steel.

Goodbye garden.

RH Bill. I saw the debates about RH bill and how Sen Tito Sotto fought every provisions and letters of the bill. I saw how he kept inserting the term abortifacent (something he sottoed, I think) to every nook and cranny of the letter of the bill. I mean was that necessary? I mean I’m no lawyer but it was clear from the start that the bill was not about abortion. Well, anyway, the bill was passed and was signed by the president and is now a law. Of course, the Roman Catholic Church will not give in without a fight. I do believe that there are priests and nuns and popes and cardinals who agrees with RH bill but they couldn't express it because they were bound by the Church dogma. Well, what the heck. Happy New Year.

Bonsai Philosophy and the Karate Kid

(Guess the end of the world was postponed...)

I didn't know when I first saw a bonsai but I have been fascinated by the miniature trees since I was a child. I thought that there was something mysterious about the art but, thanks to the internet, I found out that it was quite easy to do. Of course, the difficult part is finding bonsai materials..

I have been doing bonsai for almost a year now and I got acquainted with a few people who also engage in the art. Unfortunately for them, bonsai is simply a business. They have none or very little knowledge about the history and the philosophy of bonsai, but they are quite knowledgeable in the process of miniaturization and the training of the trees, and they knew local species suitable for bonsai.

After some googling, I found varied methods of making bonsai which are scientific and surgical and is quite "artificial" compared to the methods used by the Chinese and the Japanese.

If you have seen the movie Karate Kid (Ralph Machio and Pat Morita), Sensei Miyagi used bonsai to teach Daniel the art of meditation. 

Sensei Miyagi teaching Daniel how to clip a bonsai. Sensi Miyagi: "Close your eyes, concentrate. Think only tree..."

The joy of bonsai hunting.  Sensei Miyagi with Daniel hanging on a cliff collecting a bonsai tree. I saw the new Karate kid and I was disappointed to see that the bonsai was replaced by a car. I mean...it's all about inner nature and what could be an apt symbol of the self but a tree., but a car being assembled and disassembled...too mechanical for me. Jackie Chan is too physical for my taste, too.

In the movie, Sensei Miyagi takes Daniel bonsai hunting on a ledge of cliff. For the Japanese, bonsai is a highly philosophical and mystical art. The Japanese hunt for unique trees miniaturized by nature hidden among the giant trees and in the crevices of rocks, and the discovery of beauty is the beginning of the lifelong journey of training and the shaping. So, the search for these unique plants takes on a mystical journey of self discovery, a symbolic search for the inner self and the survival against the elements and the training and forming of the tree as the shaping of the self and destiny.

Of course today and in the west, bonsai has become a hobby which is more concerned with the perfection of the tree. It has become a science that involved a lot of surgical like procedures like grafting and air layering the use of stuffs like enzymes and fertilizers and growth hormones. The gist of the art which is patience and waiting, meditation and self discovery, battle with the inner nature is compromised by the obsession with speeding growth and perfecting form

It is worth recalling that the art of bonsai originated with Buddhist monks in China, who gave the growing of trees in trays an almost religious significance.For them it is a way of establishing link between God, creator of  the universe and nature in all its forms including mankind, striving to follow the divine path by controlling the process of growth and form in trees, though on a human scale.(Pessy)

Good Bye Lesson Plans

The traditional lesson plan was finally phased out by the department. Instead of using the lesson plan, we are now using the daily lesson log. Technically, it is still a lesson plan but it is not as detailed as the traditional lesson plans that had been used by generations of teachers. Lesson logs still require lesson plans or teaching modules, pelcs (Philippine Elementary Learning Competencies), books, etc. as references, but they are not to be re-written everyday on the daily lesson planner as was the norm before. So, instead of re-writing all that stuff, we just write the objectives, lesson for the day, references and materials, the method for the lesson, and the number of pupils who have passed the lesson evaluation and the action to be taken for those who did not, whether they are for remediation or whether the lesson is for re-teaching.   New teachers with below two years experience are still required to use the detailed lesson plan.

When I entered the public school system about three years ago, I saw the time and the effort it required for teachers to re-write lesson plans that they (or we) copied either from modules or from old proto-type lesson plans that they (or we) have used for years. Lesson plan writing was simply an automatic effort on the part of the teachers because it was required and was checked on a daily basis, but in reality, there were no real lesson preparationS; it was just copying--the time needed for “real” preparation was taken by the long and laborious time for re-writing lesson plans especially for teachers teaching multiple subjects which in the case of elementary teachers was the norm. And to be fair for the veteran teachers who from experience have memorized their lessons almost to the letter, detailed lesson plans were superfluous. I thought that the effort was a waste of time--time that the teachers could use for materials preparation and/or for reading related and relevant materials about the subject they teach or simply reading for general knowledge which is a must for teachers.

There are withdrawal syndromes, I think, because for almost three years, I got used to writing on my lesson planner on my vacant time. I am also used to seeing teachers head bowed, writing furiously on their planner trying to finish their multiple-lesson plans as early as possible so that they would not have to write after classes.

Anyway, this is the end of an era, I hope, where teachers have to bring their lesson planners, teaching materials, etc. at home to work on them.

 A relaxed teacher is a productive teacher, if I must say so.

Hearse, dreams and blah, blah, blah...

This is how it's supposed to be!

I was motorcycling along downtown Taytay one afternoon when I saw a slow moving Toyota Innova being followed by a group of people some wearing black dresses and most of them were under their umbrellas, many were in tears. Of course, I instantly knew that this was a funeral procession, but I found it weird and hmmm… inappropriate and, to use stronger words, cheap and disrespectful of the dead to use a minivan to transport their remains to the cemetery.

Call me traditionalist but I am used to seeing big, wide bodied, majestic and powerful black station wagons carrying the departed’s remains. The design and the bodyworks of these vehicles radiate grief, solemnity and the macabre and that’s what makes these vehicles special-they symbolize the dignity and the mystery of death. The mere sight of one of these vehicles instantly invokes in the mind a sense of grief whether they are just passing by or on their way to the cemetery.

When I was a boy I had this weird dream. The back of our house was a rice field (now, its a squatter colony) with ipil-ipil and banana trees and the soft fresh air that blew especially during the afternoons never fail to lull me to sleep. The backdoor was open to let the air in and I was lying on a cot when I saw a big black hearse passing by. I was puzzled because there was no road, not even a dirt road there, just rice field with dikes or pilapil. What scared me most was how the hearse traveled as if it was floating on air, so relaxed, so serene.

Of course, afternoons dreams are vivid especially when one falls asleep without noticing it and the line dividing reality from dream was crossed so smoothly that it becomes difficult to tell. Anyway, I rose from the cot making up my mind if what I saw was real or if it was just a dream.

Anyway...

There is culture surrounding these vehicles and with the slow disappearance (or phase out) of these vehicles, I fear the superstitions and the stories inspired by them would also disappear.

I mean I had experiences of cock-fighters (sabungeros) backing out and going home upon seeing these vehicles. They look upon these big black vehicles as an omen of bad luck. How would these gamblers react when they see a Toyota Innova or Mitsubishi Adventure hearse? I mean these vehicles….I cannot imagine…these vehicles are not ominous; they are harmless and they evoke family, outings, fun, even when these vehicles are painted black.  

Hmmmm....times are really changing.

Neglected

Hmmmm…it’s the beginning that’s difficult.

I am thinking about my blog and not having posted anything for weeks makes me feel guilty about it. Somehow, like my fish in my tanks and my bonsais and other plants, I have developed this feeling that my blog is somehow a living thing that requires attention and care.

Hmmm…maybe a symptom of OCD or something,

Anyway, I was thinking…”I haven’t written another stupid thing on my blog and what could be the reason?”

Maybe, I gotten so used to teaching in Filipino that I have forgotten how to use English (bad as my English is, I try to keep in practice by writing inane stuffs on my blog).

Or, this is what I fear, after being swallowed by the “system”-nilamon na ng sistema-I have become a zombie, one of those forlorn, weary, tired, haggard semi-dead human being that goes to school in the morning carrying classroom materials—a zombie bent on doing one thing alone: to drone in the class.  

PBB

I heard from the news that the government is now doing away with the uniform Christmas bonus that amounts to ten thousand pesos which, as have become the practice, was named after presidents like during GMA’s time it was called Glorification something and during President Noynoy’s time was called Pnoy.

Anyway, instead of the uniform bonus, the government will now be implementing the PBB or the performance based bonus. This means that the bonus each government employee could receive will range from the minimum 5,000 pesos to the ceiling 35, 000 pesos. Hmmm…I am thinking that this is an administrative nightmare for the personnel involved in the processing of the PBB. Of course, the positive side is that the incentive would encourage civil servants to perform better but the thing is, I bet that this system could be used by bosses to favor their pets, which is not unthinkable and actually happens.

As a government employee, I am adapting a wait and see attitude.