Reading Inventory and some observations of the obvious

Photo not mine.

This is the third day of the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (PIRI) posttest that we have been conducting in the school. I am assigned to administer the test to the last section of grade five; the last section contains the not-so-bright and the specially-difficult pupils. This is the idea behind class sectioning, homogeneity: the brightest and the neatest pupils go to the first section while the dirtiest and the not-so-smart pupils go to the last section. There's this systematic gradation (or de-gradation) of the pupils...Well, anyway, nothing I can do about this scheme of things. 

While administering the test, I made some mental notes, sort of an unofficial  observation of the obvious, and here are some of them.  This is the English Reading Test.

Pupils who read very fast have poor comprehension.

They want to impress the examiner by putting their feet on the pedal and reading very fast. There are times that I have to stop and remind them that the test is not a speed reading test and that this is a comprehension test.  

One of the reasons why this is so is because parents (even teachers) put emphasis on reading fast, or fast reading. I have seen parents brag about how fast their child read, and some even go to the extent of making their child read aloud in front of uncles, aunties, cousins, neighbors and even strangers. 

I think almost everyone went through this  hmmmm...quite embarrassing moment in their lives. Whenever parents get together, it is inevitable that they brag about how well their child do in school. Even I passed though this ordeal when I was in Grade 1.  

Many parents (and maybe even some teachers) think that fluency in reading is proportional or directly related to how fast a child read. That is, the faster the child read, the more fluent he/she becomes in reading. There maybe some truth into it, but not entirely because there are children who read slow yet have better comprehension and there are  children who read fast but have poor comprehension; come to think of it, children that read fast have poor comprehension. 

Well, anyway, what I think is better for parents and even teachers especially from the pre-school and primary level children are to focus on reading comprehension. Of course this is laborious because this means more interaction, throwing questions and having more discussions and more effort on the part of the parents and the teacher.  

Maybe this is why many children and even adults think  that reading is nothing more than a public performance or a necessity rather than it could a personal pursuit.

Some pupils read very slow but have very good comprehension.

This surprised me because I have always though that slow readers have poor comprehension. Of course, I am not saying this as a general rule, but there are enough exemptions to make me re-think my assumptions about slow readers. 

Generally speaking, most non-readers are over aged pupils.

This is obvious because most of them stopped schooling for sometime because they were embarrassed by their reading problem. 

Reason is out of order

The Feast of the Black Nazarene ended this morning. As I was watching the news, what I saw  amazed and puzzled me. I could not understand how this black image of Jesus Christ could evoke such devotion and fanaticism to the common and even to some educated and sophisticated Filipinos.

I was discussing this phenomenon to a co-teacher, and I told him how ironic it was that a religion that produced great philosophers, logicians and systematic theologians that started the scholastic age and changed paradigms in education and changed western civilization would exhibit among its adherents such disturbing exhibition of blind fanaticism. I mean, the Catholic Church was the seat of philosophy and the temple of scholasticism for many centuries. Of course, this was history and had no bearing to the phenomenon at all but one can't help but wonder.

One question that kept popping in my head was, "are these people even aware of the official teachings of the Catholic Church?"

The adherents seemed to be unaware of the dangers of mass hysteria. Put a very large number of people together in a confined space, add the humidity, stress, anger, etc and all it takes is just a little spark, a shout, a commotion, and what you have is a stampede. In fact there was instance of a mobbing when an alleged snatcher was caught. If the police were not there to keep the peace, that alleged snatcher would have been torn to pieces. I saw the anger on the mob's face and they were shouting, "ipako sa krus!" I mean, what in the world was that all about! Of course, I am not saying that because of this incident, the feast had lost it religious significance, but what would a non-catholic say? And what would the True Catholics say?

I was imagining if it was the true Jesus Christ being paraded there...hmmmm. Imagine what he would say and do.

Many were injured and it’s worrying how some parents compromised the safety of their children by bringing them along into the procession. There was a boy who fell from the center island headfirst and was injured. It’s good that there were many Red Cross volunteers to help, but still, how could a parent do such thing?

One priest said it very well when he differentiated devotion from blind fanaticism and  that a true devotee could come to the church any regular day to touch and pray to the image. I mean...I'm no expert on Catholic Theology but compare our Catholicism with that of the Anglo Saxon (or the whites) and the difference is very evident; they are mor rational and theological compared to ours which is filled with animistic and folk mysticism and very little of the intellectual discipline and understanding of Catholic theology.

What was disturbing about this phenomenon was that most of the astrologers, witches, faith healers who were selling their services and their potions and amulets around the church claim that their powers came from the Black Nazarene. Here the marriage of the belief in the powers of the Black Nazarene with animistic belief of astrologers and faith healers was fused into one syncretic faith, a unique Filipino folk Catholicism that the common Filipino  accepts without question and seemed to be unopposed by the orthodox teachings of the Catholic Church.

I mean...

This is hard to explain and it is impossible to reason to anyone about this. Reason seemed to be out of order that day. 

The trash and garbage left by the devotees and the fanatics, I think, said it all.

Reading Test and some stuffs about dyslexia

Today and the following days, the pupils will be subjected to battery of tests. Today we will be administering the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (PIRI) to the pupils and next week will be the periodical tests.

PIRI is divided into two parts, the oral reading and the silent reading both for English and Filipino. The teachers administer the test (about a 100 word selection) individually, timing the reading rate and then asking comprehension questions to the pupils. The comprehension questions are then checked for correct responses, then the results are evaluated and, based on the results, the pupils are then classified into independent readers, frustrated readers, and the non-readers.

 After the tests, the reports are then consolidated first at grade levels and then at the school level.

The process looks easy, but considering that each class numbers more than 50, the task is quite arduous especially if there are slow and non-readers among the testee.

Encountering slow and non-readers at the intermediate level especially in grade six is quite frustrating considering that they have had four years of primary education to learn the fundamentals of reading. It is also easy to blame the primary level teachers for not doing their job, but that is quite unfair because there are factors that are beyond the teachers’ control.

Although most teachers are still of the opinion that reading problems are basically intelligence or cognitive problems, i.e. it is equated with children having low IQ. But that is not generally the case, there are pupils who are quite smart but have problems with  reading. Many teachers are still unaware of dyslexia.

Here's a site from a dyslexic http://dyslexiamylife.org/

To some dyslexic, words appear as jumble of letters.

Dyslexia is not necessarily an IQ problem, it is a perception problem.  The reason why a child has difficulty reading is that his/her visual or auditory perception is deficient. Some of the symptoms are:

• Letter or word reversals when writing.
• Difficulty repeating what is said to them.
• Poor handwriting or printing ability.
• Poor drawing ability.
• Reversing letters or words when spelling words that are presented orally.
• Difficulty comprehending written or spoken directions.
• Difficulty with right – left directionality.
• Difficulty understanding or remembering what is said to them.
• Difficulty understanding or remembering what they have just read.
• Difficulty putting their thoughts on paper.

What causes dyslexia?

• Ineffective reading instruction
• Auditory perception difficulties
• Visual perception difficulties
• Language processing difficulties.

Some suggested remediation are:

Remediation:

• Simplify tasks so only one new discrimination is made at a time.
• Make each simple discrimination automatic before the next one is introduced.
• Overteach ‘b”, then overteach ‘d”, before presenting both together.
• Each discrimination that causes repeated errors should be worked with by itself until the problem is overcome.
• Trace, then write, the confused letter or word and pronounce it as written.
• Use short frequent practice periods. Lengthen the time between practice sessions as the material is retained.
• If the child is confused about his own left/right, use a ring, watch, ribbon or band on his writing arm. Color cue side of desk or paper or word as a starting place.
• Gradually increase the difficulty of material to discriminate. If errors are made, go back to simpler practice.
• Suggestions for Improving Laterality:
• Trace hands on paper. Label “right,” “left.”
• Play “Simon Says” – “Touch right foot; raise left hand,” etc.
• Child follows the directions in drawing lines up, down, right to left, etc. and in touching parts of body.
• Child connects dots on blackboard to make a completed pattern; repeats process on paper.
• Child shows hands in sequence pattern: left, right, left, right, etc. Use marching as a variation.
• Child names objects on right and on left. He moves to different parts of the room and repeats.
• Arrange story pictures in sequence, left to right.
• Use lined paper for writing.
• Use weighted wristband to designate right or left hand.
• Tracing activities, left to right. Mark left with small “x.” Use color tracing to repeat.
• When beginning writing the lessons, teach the child to begin as close to left edge of sheet as possible (then can move only toward the right).
• In reading, use markers, “windows,” and other left-to-right directional aids.

For more info about dyslexia and other reading problems:

http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/dyslexia.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia

http://www.specialednews.com/reading-problems.htm

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/04/reading-problems.aspx

http://www.dyslexia-teacher.com/t6.html

Looking Back

Hey! You'll stumble and fall...

There is nothing wrong about looking back. In fact there is a Filipino proverb that goes like this: “He who does not look back will not be able to reach to his/her destination” or something to that effect. Of course, this proverb is not literally talking about looking back or even introspection. The proverb, really, is about gratitude.  I think this is a much better rendering of the proverb: “He who does not know to whom he is indebted to will not be able to reach his/her destination” 

Looking back reminds of our failures, inadequacies, heartaches...

One of the reasons why it’s not good to look back is because we will be, again, reminded of our failures, heartaches, pains, sorrows, disappointments etc. The fact that we are now in the New Year should give us the psychological Rubicon, a point from which we could commit ourselves to begin with a new slate, that is,   to move forward. 

But if we think we have had a wonderful 2011, I have to warn us not to look back that much at the last year. Why? The problem is that we may become proud of our achievements and think that we did so well that we may become complacent. The proverbial story of the tortoise and the hare may well illustrate my point. The  hare raced and got so far ahead of the tortoise that when he looked back and saw the turtles slow progress, the hare smiled; it laid back and fell asleep thinking that his gain was enough to see him through the race. But, lo, behold the lowly tortoise finished ahead of the hare. The tortoise did not outrun the hare, for the turtle would not be able to do that; the turtle out-persevere the hare. It’s not about speed, its all about perseverance!

It's not about speed, it's all about perseverance!

Another peril of looking back is that looking back can lead to going back. The story of the Israelites wandering in the desert is a good illustration of this. Every time Israelites encounter difficulty, they always look back to their captivity in Egypt. They kept on complaining how much better it was in Egypt because, at least, even if they were contemptuous slaves of the Egyptians, they were fed; they have shelter, they were safe. Lot’s wife is also a god illustration. Remember when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, God told Lot and his household to walk away and not look back. But Lot’s wife could not resist, she looked back and was transformed into a pillar of salt.

Looking back may lead to going back!

The only reason why we should look back is to learn from our mistakes, and, that should be only a glancing look.

So, always look forward and focus on what's ahead…

Exams, Test...

Last section of Grade six.
I am amazed by these pupils  for what took the teacher days to make took them just under twenty minutes to finish. It's frustrating to think that after all the the test makers' efforts, some pupils do not even make an effort to read the test items; they just circle letters randomly, and they do not even try to answer essay questions.

The third week of January is the scheduled examination week for the third quarter grading period. So, teachers are supposed to be making their tests now. We should now be writing our table of specifications, making questions based on the table and having it checked by the master teacher of the subject. But...hehehe...teachers' weekends are sacrosant.

There are some things that tests and examinations cannot measure. I teach music and paper tests for music cannot measure the pupils'  musicality. 

Things to remember in making a test: Prepare test questions based on the lessons taught or tackled within the grading period, organize the test from easy to difficult, vary the test type from multiple choice, matching type to essay; distractors should be related to the correct answers so that the pupils would find it quite challenging to get the correct answer and not just use simple common sense to figure out the correct answer, and make sure the instructions are simple and easy to understand. Basically, these are the things to remember in test construction

Validity and reliability are things best left to the teachers of Measurement and Evaluations.

Tests are difficult to construct now because purely objective tests are discouraged. Gone are the days of purely objective test. 

Test items like this are discouraged:

        1.      What do you use to cut wires?

a.      Wire Cutter                       b. Hammer            c. Screw Driver

  Today’s test items are situational.

Example:

     1.      Mang Pedro and his family was watching TV when the electricity went out. He looked for cause of the black out, and he found out that main switch’s fuses was busted. He bought replacement fuse. What tool should Mang Pedro use to remove and replace the fuse?

a.      Pliers                     b. Hammer                  c. Screw Driver

Imagine how difficult this is especially for subjects that use English for instruction. (Lucky for me, all the subjects I teach use Filipino.) Just making up of the situations takes a lot of time plus making sure that the items are grammatically correct, etc., then the encoding. The result: a three page-legal sized-front and back test instrument (or whatever these examinations are called by educators).

I have nothing against “situational” tests except foe the extra effort it entails for the teachers. Anyway, the advantages for the pupils are many. Primary is that it promotes reading comprehension. Logical thinking is enhanced. It promotes skills in recognizing cause and effect, making predictions, processes, etc.

It’s just that this kind of test is so difficult to construct especially for a lazy teacher like me.

Just Tired and Letting it out

Photo not mine.

It’s the end of the day, the end of the week and I am so enervated that I feel I can’t get up from my chair. I am sitting,  feeling my head throbbing from the hours of incessant talking. So, instead of grabbing my motorcycle key and broom-brooming the heck out of the school, I had to sit down and rest for a  few minutes. Resting while typing and talking and inundating all my blah,blah,blah  to this blog while five pupils are cleaning up the room.

Teaching does not tire me; in fact, I enjoy being in front of the class teaching, singing and cracking jokes and laughing with my pupils. What really zaps my energy is the constant struggle to keep my temper at bay.

What pisses me off is the seemingly lack of appreciation from my pupils for the effort I give to be as respectful to them as possible, giving my best to be cool and to level with them so as to lower the tension and lessen the communication barrier during the class, but there are pupils who sometimes misinterpret this as acquiescence and they take advantage. They literally test the limits of my patience. So, I have to continually remind them, sometimes firmly, about the teacher-pupil relationship especially inside the classroom. 

God knows I try my best to hold back. I even go as far as to humor my pupils just to diffuse my anger and make myself laugh at the intolerable rudeness and disrespect of some of my pupils especially those  from among the lower sections, but there are times that these holding back gives in and it's inevitable for emotion to flare up. This is inevitable. But I and all teachers must learn how to control this inevitable eruption especially the tendency and the temptation to physically harm a pupil  i.e. to whack them on the head or throw things at them, or, in my case, the temptation to throw them out of the door.

This happens to the best of us. That’s why whenever there’s news of a teacher physically harming a pupil, I empathize with the teacher. Of course it does not mean that the teacher is justified in hurting his/her pupil/s. I empathize because I know the pressure, and the energy and the effort it take to hold back cumulative stress. These pressure and stress are factors why teachers  lose it and hurt their pupils.  Parents should understand this. I don't believe that teachers are mean, sadistic human beings. Teachers lose composure because of the  work load, the records and the forms, the unscheduled visitations from supervisors and superintendent and other minor department gods, school and inter school activities,  the complaining and the attention seeking-gossip mongering parents, the collections, disrespectful and rude pupils that make the teachers feel  degraded thus losing their sense of self esteem, the negative atmosphere in the work area etc. add these all up and you have dynamites waiting to explode. I am not complaining, but all I am saying is there are factors that affect  teachers behavior, their minds and their effectiveness, and that teachers have different tolerance for stress, humiliation and physical labor.

But hurting pupils is inexcusable. Teachers who lose it and are guilty of physically hurting their pupils should be made accountable and should be meted out the penalty deserving their actions, but these teachers deserve to  be understood too. Teachers who are sex offenders and abusers are exceptions; they should be summarily shot  IN THE GROIN if proven guilty!

Anyway...

Thank God for the weekend. I strongly feel  (most teachers would agree with me) that the weekend should be an inviolable rest day for the teachers because five days of teaching is murder, sucks the life out of us teachers, literally slowly (or if you have heart problem, instantly) killing us, while the two days reprieve give us the opportunity to energize, to build up the reserve power to continue on teaching.

Anyway, I’m just tired and I am not harping on anybody or complaining about anything in general or in particular. I am just tired and I want to rest. I just want to rest.

  

I am thinking of resigning from teaching in the church so that I could enjoy my weekend, but that's another thing..

I just want to rest on the weekend; I believe that's not so difficult to understand :-) Outta here...

On Motivations and Idols, Icons and other nonsense

 As a motivation for my industrial arts pupils, I did a simple arithmetic on the amount of water lost due to a leaking faucet and I translated this loss into money. I hope they get an idea of the amount. I think this is a good way of motivating them to learn some simple maintenance job in their homes.

Hmmm…this is weird really. While doing the math, my mind (the other one that is because the other part of my mind is engaged in teaching, does not mean I have schizophrenia or something) wandered off to looking at the pupils, looking into their eyes and thinking of what they were doing and at the same time thinking of how their minds process the motivation that teachers (and parents) throw at them.

I am not talking about motivation that teachers use to prepare their pupils’ interest to the lesson at hand; I’m talking about the motivation thrown at the children about what they do, why they study; the things that fuel or nudge them to strive.

Got me wondering…

The norm for graduation or special events is to invite successful (most of them financially successful) people to talk to inspire, to challenge and to share their experiences on their way up to achievement, to share the challenges and how these challenges were overcome and, of course, the meat of the speeches the secret/s to their success.   

Of course, the audiences are all ears, taking note and processing the speeches with the thinking that maybe they could duplicate in whole or in part some of the successes achieved by the speaker/s.

Hmmmm…but this got me thinking…

Let us take for instance Manny Pacquiao.

 The press has been building a myth around the man as an icon of success. He is being hailed as a paragon of a successful sports figure, businessman, politician (though personally I think this is not his court), and even that of a faithful family man. This is beside the fact that he has sired a child at least with one woman. I mean his action like manipulating the mother of his illegitimate son into agreeing into a disadvantageous settlement showed Pacquiao’s insensitivity and irresponsibility by denying this son the right the child should have enjoyed as a son, even an illegitimate one, both financially and emotionally. Never the women who I think took advantage of Pacquiao, it’s the child.

Anyway, just shows that Pacquiao is not the Bible toting and Bible quoting person that he is supposed to be. He is a human being after all.

Anyway, almost most of the leaders and motivational speakers I have heard (not necessarily listened to) have used Pacquiao as a model. Nothing's wrong with this, per se, but I still believe that there are more better person to idolize than him. But is it possible to duplicate MP's sucess? 

How about Bill gates? How about the late Steve Jobs? How about the cousin that became a millionaire? How about Lady Gaga, How about Alvin and the Chipmunks? How about…

I don’t know about this…but I think when a person starts to have idols, or models to look up to, they, somehow, lose something in them. Of course, it can be argued that by loosing something in themselves, they, in the process have gained something in themselves. This is like nature abhorring vacuum or the principle that no two things (or entity) could occupy space at the same time.

Anyway, aside from the parents and the teachers who are inevitably the firsts people that directly influence the primary development of an individual’s identity, these idols or icons (pop or cultural or intellectual or religious or cartoons characters or what have you) have great influences on the further development of an individual’s identity including his/her understanding of the world or reality (going way over my head here).

Of course, in the development of an individual’s self or identity, it is impossible to happen without the influence or interference of factors, this is inevitable. It is impossible for an individual to come into his self awareness without the influence of everything around him/her.

What is, I think, happening is that when looking up to someone as a model, the self has to give something of its own. In the development of the self, there is the tendency to think that the mind is a blank slate, a tabula rasa, but there is the thinking that this is not necessarily so. The mind is not exactly blank but it has built in or aprio ri transcendental something that makes the mind an active organ and not just a sponge or passive organ where information or experiences are inputted.

Anyway, where am I?

Having someone to look up to both positive or negative, means that a part of an individual’s identity is lost or if one is an admirer of the tabula rasa theory, some how the individual’s self awareness is redirected outside. This is not necessarily bad nor is it necessarily good. Like I said before, this is just inevitable.

Anyway, as the individual age this influences or models or icons start to assert its supremacy over the individual. There are then tensions that happen in the person’s self awareness. There are parts of an individual that rejects this invasion of the self, by these influences, while there are parts that fights for its assimilation.  

To the artists, as is true with development, the first stage is imitation. Anyway, (my-co teacher interrupted and I lost my already disorganized train of thought) there will come a time when the self, somehow, need to assert it’s own self, it rebels and wants to eject this influences to establish its own identity. I don’t know but maybe this is similar to what is called the identity crisis, maybe it is. Who cares…

Got me thinking, somehow, to the listeners of these motivational speakers, or when looking up to someone as an ideal or a paragon, most of them want to duplicate the success but most of the time they lose themselves.

Blah,blah,blah, gosh, my one hour break is over and being called by my pupils…how time flies! 

If you got this far and maybe wandering what in the frak (got this word from Battlestar Galactica Reimagined) am I talking about, I congratulate you...really I'm just passing my break time :-)

But if you're looking for Freudian slips...do have fun :-)

The Privileges of Public School Teachers

Our school's teaching force.

My co teacher, who's taking an MA in ED Management, was reading a book; she was obviously preparing a presentation for her MA class. I took a look at the book and it was an old book about educational supervision and management, sort of a principal’s manual.

Anyway, there were interesting things that I learned from my reading some of which I already knew some of which I did not know. Anyway, I’m just sharing some excerpts from School Administration and Supervision by Gregorio p. 363 ff. This book was copyrighted in 1961 so there may be some changes that have been effected since then. Anyway, here are the excerpts. For brevity, I did not copy all the details except for items which  think are not that known to some public school teachers.

Here we go:

As Civil Service employees, the public school teachers, supervisors, and administrators are enjoying special privileges. All privileges of the teaching personnel are prescribed by law. Some of these privileges are the following: (I did not cite all the relevant laws for this is just an overview of what I have read. For complete information I suggest you read Gregorio’s book.)

1.      Teachers as persons in authority.    

           This means that teachers cannot be attacked physically when performing their duties. This law protects the teachers from being physically harmed by parents and other individuals who may have grudges against them.                                                                                                                      .                                                    

2.     Maternity Leave. {I think there are already provisions for paternity leave]

3.     Study Leave.

Public school teachers are encouraged to raise their educational qualifications. Study leave is intended to assist teachers in securing personal and professional improvement and to retain in service those teachers who are efficient.

4.     Outside teaching.

The Department allows public school teachers to teach in private evening classes in not more than 12 hours a week in addition to their regular loads in their own schools.

5.     Vacation and sick leave.

6.     Compulsory insurance. [GSIS is the main insuring agency of the government.]

7.     Vacation Pay.

Teachers are entitled to pay during the Christmas and long vacation.

8.     Service Credit.

A teacher on the teacher’s leave basis is given service credit when he is asked to work during the vacation period. This service credit maybe used to offset past and future absences due to illness and other reasonable causes.

9.     Salary Loans.

10. Free Medical Consultations.

11. Cost of living and hardship allowance.

Public school teachers are entitled to cost of living allowance. The teachers’ salaries shall keep pace with the rise in cost of living by the payment of cost-of-living allowance.

Likewise, special hardship allowances are to be enjoyed by public school teachers in some areas of the country.             In areas to where teachers are exposed to hardships such as difficulty in commuting to the place of work or other hazards as determined by the Secretary of Education.

12. Compensation for injuries.

13. Joining Teachers’ Organization.

Public school teachers shall have the right and without previous authorization to freely to establish or to join organizations of their choosing whether local or national to further defend their interest, subject to existing laws, Civil Service Rules, and policies of the State. The right established shall be exercised without any interference or coercion.

14. Enjoy Academic Freedom.

Teachers are free to use any method of teaching they think best for their pupils. Likewise, they are free to experiment and express the result of their experiment.

15. Working Hours for Teachers

Teachers engaged in actual classroom teaching are required to render not more than six hours of actual classroom teaching a day to give hime/her time for the preparation and correction exercises and other work incidental to his normal teaching duties.

They maybe required to render more than six hours but not exceeding eight hours of actual classroom teaching a day upon payment of additional compensation at the same rate as his regular remuneration plus at least twenty five percent of his basic salary.

16. Retirement Benefit.

17. Tenure of office.  

       Regular or permanent public school teachers and officials are granted stability of employment and security of tenure. 

First day...

First day of work and my day of firsts…

I reported to work late, still reeling from vacation. The first person I saw at the office was Ate Annie, the school’s all around girl (I mean she does it all).

When I was parking my motorcycle, the first class to greet me was grade VI-section 6. (Or was it section 3?)

The first thing grade chairman told me was that she has something that needs my attention, the school publication. Of course, she greeted me Happy New Year first.

Upon opening my room and seeing the dirty plates and glasses and all the junk scattered that were still hold over from last year’s, signs of a teacher leaving his classroom in hurry for the Christmas vacation, the first I thing I did was to open my (not really mine but since it was on my table, allow me to call it “mine”) computer and check my FB status. Well, superstitions be believed, this meant that I would be an FB addict for a year.

I was told that the Master Teacher in charge of checking the records was asking for my rating sheet. My gulay, why did I not do it last year?!

There were few pupils and some teachers were still absent. They were, maybe, be still on holiday mode.

I will be checking my lesson plans now, that is, if I can find it.

Videoke Blues

When I attended my wife's family reunion in Gumaca, Quezon, we hired a videoke machine. I was shocked when I saw that the video being shown was a PowerPoint presentation of the supposed achievements of a Quezon Province congressman. What was worse was that I am informed that all barangays were given these machines. Reminded me of the Nazi Goebel...(Photo not mine)

We got home from Baguio from our New Year’s break at 3 o’clock this morning. We rested for a while and then we slept. After a few hours, we were rudely awakened by a neighbor singing, at the top of his voice, Blue Bayou, a classic by Linda Rondstadt, complete with the mispronunciations and the Visayan accent.

I have nothing against Visayan accent, heck I am a half Visayan myself, but, really, one cannot help but be amused (well in this case, irritated) by this. I used to sing Karaoke too, but, that was when I was still living in sin, unsaved, condemned and fallen from grace. But when the realization came that the Karaoke was in C Major while my singing voice was in B minor, I quit. I   stopped and instead went on to play guitar in the church.

I have nothing against Karaoke. I mean, karaoke singing is fun especially the ones that tells the singer’s score after the piece. And for some, an artificial girl’s voice telling them that they got 99 for their singing is already an affirmation of their singing talent. That is until I tried the machine and I got a score of 50, I doubt the scoring method these machines use.

But, but, but… Again I have nothing against Karaokes or videokes. I have nothing against singing too. I believe singing is a basic human right. But singing and Karaoke are two different things. All human beings have the right to sing. I mean all. This right is inviolable and is on top of our basic human rights.

But just like any rights, it is regulated by common sense and common decency. One does not sing while his mouth is full; one does not sing dirges in birthdays; or one does not sing happy birthday in funerals (except when it is the deceased birthday). These rules, or conventions, are built in our heads. It’s a priori, deontological and these are examples of Kant’s categorical imperative.

Anyway, when it comes to karaoke and videoke machines, I think it is time our legislators create guidelines and laws. Normal singing voice is ok. No problem even if the singer’s voice is flat, sharp, atonal, alto, soprano, tenor, round, sandpaper-like, etc. It’s okey. No problemo. But when these voices are amplified and accompanied by machines with their artificial-mechanical-robotlike midi accompaniment, well, things change. The harmless singing becomes…not harmless.

Really, kidding aside, videoke, like firecrackers, should be regulated because sometimes, one cannot tell the difference between bad singing and nuclear explosion and the damage to the ear drums that they cause is almost identical. Really, sometimes videoke singing does more damage than physical, they have deleterious psychological impact too.

Happy New Year!