Stressed teacher=stressed pupil. Abused teacher = abused pupil?

I was watching the news last night and I saw a video of an irate teacher throwing curses at a group of boy scouts.

I am a teacher and every teacher are aware that this act violates provisions on the department's child protection policy as well as laws against child abuse.

It is only proper that the teacher be sanctioned in proportion to the act that she committed. It is inexcusable.

But before judging and condemning the teacher and her person remember that this is just an episode and it does not show the whole personality or character of the teacher:

Any parents who have sired children know how difficult it is to keep them in order and many (not all) may have said negative words to their children out of frustration.

In the teacher's case, multiply that frustration and stress by ten fold or more and the stress is multiplied exponentially with that number.

That is just the work related stress. There are also the personal challenges that compounds an already enervating work related pressures.

Now in the poor lady's case she had to shepherd a troop of boy scouts and keep them with in sight. 

It is not all about keeping them in order, it must also be stressed that the teacher is liable for the safety of her wards.

I also heard that the teacher was pregnant. This might be a mitigating circumstance but I could only ask why she was allowed to take charge of the boy scouts. Isn't the school head violating any provisions on women's protection especially pregnant ones when the teacher was given that assignment knowing her condition?

I have been teaching for almost a decade and one, if not, the most stressful task of the teacher is to keep discipline in class. Most if not all teachers, at one point in their teaching profession, have lost it. Teachers are not superhuman who can not feel frustrations, pressure and stress.

We don't want  apathetic, numbed teachers who go in and out of the classroom teaching lecturing but emotionally and socially detached from their learner's, but this is the only alternative I could see.

Now how does the department deal with this problem of teachers losing it?

The academic way: 

low salary=financial management seminar

Stressful and frustrating working conditions, long hours, lost weekend, extra paper works etc. = Stress management seminars (can help). 

And the punitive ways: suspensions and termination.

And to think there are already work related suicides.

And I say....the four letter word.

Note: Changes are already being put in place but as to their implementation, something to look forward to. Our school head has already been doing her best to adhere to the instructions of the RD about teachers ' welfare starting with the cutting of hours a teacher stay in the school and a seminar on stress management is on schedule.

Mapeh event/ New Phone/Phone blogging

Our school participated in the Municipal Mapeh quiz bee and on the spot drawing. 

I was the school Mapeh coordinator so I thought I was not going to have to do anything but coordinating with the event facilitators, checking on my co-teachers and participants, shooting the breeze, in short.

TES Mapeh participants

I was also the coach for Daniel, our school's participant for the grade six quizbee. 

I was not expecting to be pulled into the adjacent room from the grade 6 quiz bee to the grade 5 quiz bee room.

I was asked by the quiz master where were the other members of the grade 5 quiz bee officials. 

Apparently, she was not really the quiz master because the real quizmaster did not show up, also the timer, one of the judges, and a tabulator were all missing

. 

To cut the story short, since they lacked manpower, I was conscripted to be one of the members of the panel of judges, and the timer too. Well, shocks happens.

I was complaining to the district coordinator, in jest of course, that this was not part of the plan, but she just smiled and told me that there were no volunteers.

Daniel, third from right with the other winners and coaches and the Mapeh consultants

Anyway, out of sixteen participants from different schools, Daniel won the first place in grade six quiz bee and that means he will be advancing to the division quiz bee on October 30, 2018.

Since, I am Daniel's coach, I will be going with him.

Daniel is a driven pupil who hates losing. I am amazed at his ability to remember things and he practically won the quiz bee by himself with minimal help from me. 

For coaching, I just provided him with some reading materials, text books, and a few minutes of q and a.

Anyway, heres looking forward to the next level. 

_______________________________

I have a new phone thanks to my sister who allowed me to hitch hike on her credit card.

This is my new unit an Asus Zenfone Maxpro M1. I have been trying to figure out it's advanced features and controls which have some differences with my old unit, an Oppo Neo 5, both are android phones, but i get frustrated easily 

I noticed that as I grow older I have less patience and focus, even less energy to explore things. 

Before, I could spend hours figuring how cps work, discovering short cuts, features, etc. But now, I'm more content with just using the basic functions. I guess, my laziness is getting worse. 

I am not writing a review since I am not really a techie. I am contented with a unit that could take good pictures and with lots of memory space but this phone is definitely an improvement from my last one.

I am happy with it.

Anyway...I think I'm getting the hang of mobile phone blogging.

Folk dance and rhythmic exercises seminar: the best cardio work out for rheumatics

After two days of lectures and bytes and the upgrading of our computer skills, the ICT seminar was over and we preceded to second part of the school INSET, the Folk dance and rhythmic exercises workshop. 

They were already starting when I arrived on the first day but I was able to catch the first basic steps which was the bravado and the basic foot patterns after which the hand and arm movement were demonstrated by the instructors. After a few minutes of imitation, I (or we) were able to perform the steps on our own, sort of.

Even the lecture part was fun because of the laughter from the participants which grew even louder during the practice sessions because most of the teachers especially the middle age and the seniors who do not have the agility and the coordination of youth were humored, but despite lack of coordination and grace the "generation gap" they participated wholeheartedly to the performances. The seminar was short, so the mastery was not really the aim, I guess, this is more of an introductory workshop and I hope there will be a thorough workshop in the future.

Last night, I was showing off my Itik-itik steps to my wife. I was doing the fancy footwork and the salok, sarok, lateral and other hand moves. She told me that the dance looked fun and it could be a good cardio work out for me, like zumba or aerobics. She's the health conscious between us and she's always worried that I am not getting enough exercises. I said yeah, maybe she's afraid of making comments but she was smiling. Anyway, she's right. Though at the surface our folk dances seemed too light to be considered a serious work out routine, but after a few minutes of practice, believe me, it did awaken the arteries and burned a lot of calories. The proof was the aching muscles and joints. Ok, I guess I'm old and had rheumatism and is in no position to evaluate, but still the routine broke sweat glands. And you should try it. In fact I saw a group of individuals on early TV promoting our folk dances as a an  alternative to zumba.

Anyway, it was fun and that's what counts.