THREE MONTHS LATER...

HOW SCHOOLS CAN WEATHER THIS CRAZY WEATHER

 
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When I was in grade school, I would cry and throw a fit whenever my parents would tell me that classes have been suspended due to storm signals 2 or 3 hoisted over Metro Manila. I would pout and stare out the window at  the sheets of rain and listen to the howling winds (our house was just one of two in our street in the late 70's) battering our rooftop.I think I sat around and moped still wearing my school uniform. It was a source of amusement for my parents, assuring them as well that I loved going to school  more than anything else. It was a little different in high school, of course. I whooped it up like any normal teenager, whenever the AM radio announcer intoned his much-awaited "No classes in Metro Manila!" It was especially sweet when the suspension coincided with CAT training days and Trigo exams!

There weren't too many of those in my school days. But now--the merest cloudy skies or hint of rain can put everyone in a frenzy. "May pasok ba bukas?" For the last few weeks since school started this year, that question has filled our school's official twitter and facebook pages, as if nothing else is more newsworthy than the imminent suspension of classes.

Though I am guilty of secretly rejoicing at the prospect of lazing around at home when classes are suspended, it also makes me pity this generation of students--from preschool to collegiate--as week after week, their momentum to learn is cut short not be debilitating storms, but by the constant paranoia of being stranded somewhere between the school and one's house. This school year alone, I have been stranded FOUR TIMES already--a sorry, disgusting record, given that I live just 10 minutes away from school. Our main building tends to be isolated and inundated by some really disgusting liquids from nearby overflowed canals, to the morbid fascination of our grade schoolers who find all that exciting. Last year, a post-Ondoy typhoon caused our library ceiling to leak, permanently damaging a P4,000-hardbound Rizal memorabilia book. Colleagues and friends have suffered worse fates,wading across waist-deep waters of SM Sucat and scampering for higher, dryer ground as flood waters poured mercilessly into their homes. Clearly, this isn't funny any longer.

For the first time this school year, DepEd is actually considering to move the opening of classes from June to September. But in the same breath, they have nipped that dream in the bud, saying that Luzon is the only part of the country that is affected by the weather disturbances of those months, and that it will even be worse for the students to suffer through the stifling summer heat of regular classes in April and May. Point taken. It's also a known fact that many sectors will be affected by the shift: the tourism sector, in particular, will not agree to it. Boracay in July, anyone?

I don't foresee any DepEd-initiated movements in the near future. Neither do I see any improvement in the ever-changing weather systems that have ravaged even the most pristine of natural cradles (New Zealand), and serious, drastic efforts to change wasteful and inconsiderate human lifestyles. In the meantime, students are missing out on contact time with teachers, valuable time for knowledge procurement and drills and skills development. Saturday classes won't cut it--Ondoy came knocking on a Saturday.  I shan't wait while DepEd wrangles with politics and CHED officials reluctantly learn how to tweet. I have a few suggestions and interventions--bandaids if you will--that I believe will help augment the gaps in education whenever classes are suspended:

1. Advance worksheets: These are given at the start of the school year. The emphasis should be on skills and practice, and not on specific topics and lessons, since chances are, students will have left their books in school on that fateful day. Neither should it be dependent on internet use, since not all students have internet access at home, and power and phone lines may be cut during severe weather conditions. The key is to make students use their time practicing universal skills, like mathematical operations and grammar. Teachers just need to instruct the students on how many and which worksheets to accomplish on a particular day.
Examples:
Math drills-http://www.math-drills.com/multiplication/multiplication_facts_to_144_all.pdf
Grammar practice: http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/subjectpredicate/subject-predicate-c.pdf




2. Reading booklets: Like the advance worksheets, reading booklets should be given out at the start of the school year. Unlike textbooks, these are left in the house, for use on days of class suspension. Reading materials can range from non-fiction to short stories to an anthology of poems to thematic collections, the length of which is good for one sitting. All subject teachers can prepare such booklets. The selections are followed by a series of writing and reflection activities that should take at least an hour to accomplish.

3. Shortened Class Programs from June-August, and Extended Class Hours from September to March: We all hate it when we come to class in the morning and DepEd sends us home at midday. So why not shorten class hours in the first quarter--say until 1pm only, but extend class hours for the rest of the year--say until 5pm? This will entail major pencil-pushing of course, and the school's parents association should be consulted about it.

4. Distance Education: The University of the Philippines Open University pioneered the Distance Education (DE) instructional delivery system in the country, and to date, it has been the benchmark both here and abroad for the efficient and effective use of cyberspace as a medium of instruction. Can this be brought down to the basic education levels? This is a country that consistently tops the list of the most number of social networking users in the world, with the 15-30-year-old demographic taking up most of the credit. Students don't even need to sit in front of a computer to actually attend an online class. Any mobile device will do. Teachers don't even have to teach live. Lessons can be prerecorded, in keeping with a timetable that already includes those days when classes might be called off, and these can be downloaded, played and replayed any number of times. Lessons conclude with written outputs by the students, or if every member of the class is programmed to go online altogether at the same time, a chatroom-style class discussion can ensue. Anything is possible!

Got any more ideas on how to battle the class suspension blues? Send me a comment or two!

IT'S NOT HOGWARTS. IT'S NOT THE SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS. BUT IT'S CLOSE.

In real life, a school can have magic, and teachers can teach students to use their powers wisely.

GLEE, UNGLUED

Blogger's Note:  I first posted "Wheeeee for Glee!"  on:
http://lexaprone.blogspot.com/2009/12/wheeee-for-glee.html
Back then, there was just a handful of Gleeks, Charice was doing cheesy commercials, and Gwyneth Paltrow, if not for Iron Man, was a superstar fast fading into the sunset. Oh, and back then, only Jack TV in the Philippines carried the show, touting it as a "surprise hit", and  "the show that's taking the U.S. by storm." So as more and more Losers are lipsynching to Rachel and Finn's 80's duets, let me reprise what I said back in '09, then put my final grade on the series, with two episodes left in Season 2:

foxtv.com/glee

I HATED HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. ALL THREE OF THEM. High schoolers bursting into song aren't exactly endearing to me, or realistic, since I deal with high schoolers everyday and believe me, they aren't always up for pep squad or choir duty.
A HIGH SCHOOL GLEE CLUB ("NEW DIRECTIONS") BURSTING INTO SONG ON TV, AT LEAST THRICE EACH EPISODE IS SOMETHING ELSE. It is something else,entirely: funny, poignant, preposterous, sarcastic, campy, classy, witty, cheesy--you can't pigeonhole what the first 13 episodes of GLEE have been. You just can't stop with the pilot and assume that you've heard one song, you've heard them all. Instead, you watch on and sing, breathe, quip, cry, snicker with the characters.You hold your breath to find out who won the Rachel vs. Kurt diva sing-off using "Defying Gravity" as the contest piece. You cringe along with Teacher Will as he sings "Don't Stand So Close to Me" to an infatuated student, Rachel Berry. You get goosebumps as a guest hearing-impaired glee club signs John Lennon's "Imagine." So many moments, so little time. I AM SO LOVING THIS SERIES, it hurts that there won't be a 14th episode until April 2010.

-End of December 2009 entry-
That was then. This is now:
I HAVE STARTED TO HATE GLEE SEASON 2. I don't know when  the hate began: Sam's first appearance (because he reminds of The Bieb)? The Madonna/Britney dream episode (lame knock-offs)? The Rocky Horror episode (another lame knock-off)? So many minute, insignificant things have turned me off. With the mediocrity of local TV, and the redundancy of cable programming in this country (how many Master Chefs are there anyway?), Glee was supposed to be my idiot box heaven. So when some episodes drove me to the wall, I turned to Criminal Minds, where teens were murderous and mothers were noxious child abusers.
But one can't really ignore the pull of Glee. Ep. 1, I was ready to diss Charice, thinking, she has nothing that Rachel/Lea Michele doesn't have. I was wrong. To date, it was the most watched one-hour of Glee, and Pinoys had someone else to thank besides Pacquiao for the dip in metro crime, at least for a night. I was wary of every new character, probably because I am a TV pilot purist--whoever's on the pilotor first season  must never be replaced (aside to Criminal Minds: Axeing JJ and Prentiss? Wrong move, execs.). Ok back to Glee 2: none of the episodes have really appealed to me musically. Where is "Don't Stop Believing"? "Alone"? "Defying Gravity"? The new covers are too predictable.
But not the twists. In the most recent episode, "Prom Queen", Kurt and the jock--in-denial are named prom queen and king respectively. If anything, the series is generating a healthy dose of discussions and speculations, and that's a very good thing. If students can make intelligent guesses about what happens next in a TV show, then they are actually practising the skill of predicting outcomes and drawing conclusions. Here's my fb exchange with one gleek student (name blurred to protect student's identity):

The songs may not be to my liking (for I am ancient, and my trip is 90's grunge), but the core of Glee is its depiction of complicatedly entangled relationships and its championing of Losers. My favorite episode of the season is Kurt's and his dad's heart-to-heart on what sounds like sex education at the parental level. The endearing awkwardness of the father, and the defiance of the son is further tweaked by Kurt's own sexual orientation and the struggles he's been having about his identity. Perhaps both pro-and-anti-RH Bill proponents could review that episode and understand how difficult it is to discuss such a subject matter to a teen with raging hormones. It is Kurt's story that I follow most closely, because in him I see a lot of my students, past and present: wanting to belong, struggling with identity, finding solace in his talent, his friends. I do not agree with much of Glee's sexual content and its caricaturizing of school officials and teachers, but I do applaud its ingenious scripts and the writers' respect for youth culture and personality. The show is ripe for a critical analysis of popular culture, and I would get such a kick if high school students actually do it!
Each of New Directions' members has painful stories to tell, and for me, the telling is more poignant and meaningful than the singing.
Will I watch the last two episodes? You betcha. I am going to bark, frown, and throw vitriolic barbs at the TV screen,Sue-style, but I'll be munching my popcorn with unabashed glee through it all.
Pre-final Grade: B+
Further reading:
An excerpt from http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_etahquitz26.3136eac.html
on the possible positive use of facebook in schools:

Beyond the classroom portion, Roe has set up several Facebook pages and does a daily principal's update on one of them. Another Facebook page has helped create a Parent Teacher Student Association with 81 members, an extremely high amount for a high school. Students may receive a Twitter announcement that if they show the tweet at a game, they will receive an entry discount and a free drink.

Upon entering the school, a poster in the front office shows at least six websites that the school is associated with, and its official site garners more than 2,000 hits per day. Its student newspaper is an entirely online entity, helping to save printing costs, and the school is always looking at new ways to bring more technology into the classroom.

"It's not about the teacher saying what they taught today," Roe said. "It's about what the students learned today.

"Either we get on the leading edge of technology or we will be obsolete in five years."

LOG IN IF YOU LOVE LIT

I miss blogging for Lit class.

http://litohfour.weebly.com/

Ordinary Miracles For Extraordinary People

This is for our morning reflection at the start of the day's Catholic School Leadership Program course. I wish I had time to do more effects, but then again, the final edit is reflective of our simple joys as educators. Ordinary Miracles for Extraordinary People.

SAGE ADVICE

What can a humble, fledgling school principal like me learn from  school administrators who've been at it for more than 4 decades? Well, I'd say 4 decades worth of awesomeness! On the 4th and 5th days of the Certificate Course on Catholic School Leadership, after a whole slew of theories, paradigms and conceptual models, I noted down some inspiring and thought-provoking words from our speakers, Ms. Florina Castillo, former principal of St. Scholastica's College Manila, and tag team partner Ms. Didi Villegas (also a former Scholastican principal) on the Interdisciplinary Concept Model:

1. Curriculum is breathing in you every hour of everyday.

True! I am breathing it right now, trying to create a sane class program for Grade School and High School.

2. Find friends among fellow administrators.

I may not have BFFs in the administration, but I've got their backs, and I know they've got mine. it takes a great deal of trust to share leadership, weigh life-changing options and make crucial decisions on a day-to-day basis. Lasting conflicts in administration are not good for the health of the school.Having a common goal helps, and talking about how to get there is a great thing to do over shared coffee and doughnuts.

3. Find “other lives” outside administration.

Uh-oh. Got me on that one, coz I don't really have one. Unless I count the hours I spend with my mom, who's got Parkinson's Disease and other related illnesses, blogging like mad every night, facebooking...Life is what you make of it.

4. David’s slingstone is Goliath’s tombstone.

Umm, I've forgotten the context of this one.***Memory Gap*** But it sounds really nice:)

5. What is in our office reflects your person and your work. e.g. if the school has a scholarly thrust, the principal’s office must have many books.

Love this one. I am such an OC with my office. Everyone knows that I'm a voracious reader, so it's no surprise that I have piles of books in almost every flat horizontal surface of my room. I also have an overcrowded bulletin board, which doesn't really function as a memo board, but a display board of stuff I find relevant to my work. These days it's got thank you notes from students, my distinguished alumni medal, a Taylor Swift ad for reading, letters from the Ateneo Alumni Association and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a National Geographic calendar, and a couple of invoices. Clutter is my middle name.

6. “Catch-a-moment, make-a-memory”: don’t let go of small experiences, celebrate them in school.

I've had my share of these in the last 4 years of principalship.My quirky way of catching memories is to take pictures of students and teachers--the more candid the better--and printing them on letters to parents (i.e. high school parenting seminar), tarpaulins, and the school paper. My "victims" are often pleasantly surprised to see their faces published, and I didn't even photoshop them.

7. The principalship is a "Gift of Office."

If I didn't see this as a gift, then I would have quit after one school year. I've never seen this position as a place of power and authority. I am no different from any of the teachers who walk into my office everyday. I just sign more clearances and diplomas, that's all. The real gift is being able to design academic programs, faculty development programs, parent participation programs--and getting everyone in the school community involved in them.

I hope to have more notes on school leadership from the likes of Ms Lala and Ms Didi someday.:)

TOILET TALK

Blogger's Note: Another repost, this time from my very ancient blog Go Teacher Go, June 11,2008:

photo by Tin-tin Villanueva

As principal of a school with +/-500 population, I don’t get to mince words when it comes to reminding students to behave. So general assembly Mondays are always freaky, both for the guilt-ridden objects of my so-called ire, and for me. Sometimes, to keep a school running, I just had to be less than cool when I remind people about haircuts and unreturned reply slips. Discipline is a bitter pill to swallow, especially for young people who are simply testing the limits of teachers’ patience. Principalship 101 posits that I should step in when the teachers’ hairs are all frizzy and their freshly-manicured nails are all ragged, to do damage control.

So instead of giving the usual howdydo pep talk at the start of the school year 2008-2009, I decided to give a brief but succinct lecture on how to use the school’s spankin’ new toilets.

Why is that so vital? Because this is a school that has gone TWO DECADES WITHOUT RUNNING WATER AND FLUSH. So in case the students have trouble remembering what it’s like to swish-swish the toilet after every use, I had to give some pointers:

1. Flush, flush, flush, but don’t push the knob of the water closet knob to death. One gentle push is all it takes to bring down the “enemy.”

2. Don’t stuff the bowl with toilet paper and other inorganic solids (in the previous year our janitors found a ball of yarn, and some scratch papers!). Clogged toilets are the other enemy.

3. Don’t stand on the toilet seat. If it were made to be stood on, then it would have been shaped like your shoes.

There were a few snickers here and there as I intoned those reminders. I understand. But what really got them pumping their fists in the air and hollering like rallyists was when I said:

“We’ve got water from the faucets this year. Hallelujah!”

So I decided to push my luck. I went on to remind them about the newly painted lockers. I warned them that if their lockers did not remain pristine and pearly-grey by the end of the school year, there will be blood (okay, not that graphic). I pointed out that the canteen–er–cafeteria is now a queueing place, and the food is not all fried. So take heed, I said.

Then I had an inspiration. I said something like, “The changes are not just in the facilities. We expect that there will be changes in you as well, since you’re all one grade level older. You should be more mature now, more responsible. That way, the changes are really relevant.”

Do I hear applause? Is that a slap in the back? Hardly. It was a somber student body that looked back at me as I ended my little speech. I hope it was a look of reflection and realization: yeah, we’re all one grade level higher. That must mean something.

For us teachers and administrators, our words of wisdom can spell the difference between a mediocre performance and a truly stellar one. Section advisers who can level with students sans the threats and clenched fists fare better, eliciting more attention and long-term respect. As a section adviser in previous years, I would have an outline of what I want to say if I know I am about to give a sermon. I practice my piece before I deliver it. I want maximum impact. So with my little toilet talk that first hour of the school opening, I tested if indeed I made an impact: yes, thankfully, all the toilets were clean, happy places at the end of the day.

RULE BOOK IN MY RIGHT POCKET, STARDUST IN MY LEFT

This is the ID I didn't get to wear all year. It was hanging by the preschool house door all these months, and I took it for granted because I thought that everyone knew me anyway, and I had an official ID, so why bother?


I should have bothered. I should have bothered to go to that preschool house each day, to check up on what the kids are eating, to play with them, help them mold clay into funny little animal shapes, to talk to the teachers, not just about school, but about telenovelas and other "fripperies", as Neil Gaiman would call trivial things that matter in the long run. Should haves and What ifs. If only life had reruns, replays, delete and back buttons, it would have been so much easier.


Reflecting on my role as principal this past year, I would say that each day was different, and I dealt with it differently. Each student was different, and I treated him differently. Sure, there are templates and rubrics for everything that's ever done in school, but in many cases, these are thrown out the window once something without precedence comes up (like a brass knuckle or a failing grade in Values Education). This is where collaborative management comes in. I am just blessed with a stellar team of educators who brainstorm with me on just about everything--from facebook posting policies to new curricular offerings. I am very certain that I cannot lead a school all by myself. My ideas as principal are almost always collaborative in nature, and for my team of teachers to believe in me, I have to walk the talk and be where they are--in the midst of classroom chaos, varsity triumphs and defeats, and whatnot. I made sure that I showed up not just for the opening remarks; I went backstage and gave my two cents worth to the student manning the lights and audio booth for the school play. Some may call that micromanaging, a euphemism for meddling in local affairs; I'd like to think of it as mingling with the troops. I've never been comfortable calling the shots from behind a massive office desk at command center.


Then again, I look back at this year, and I wish I had a better master plan. A Super Template. A Mega-Rubric. I wish I had a master plan for students falling through the cracks of academic failure. I wish I had a better master plan for the school's finances. I wish I had a better master plan for the school's outreach program. Actually, wishes aren't regrets. They are next steps waiting to commence. So in about three months, I'll be wearing that ID once and for all. There'll be a RULE BOOK in my right pocket, and a handful of STARDUST in my left. It'll be tough and demanding, but my God, it'll be magical too.

HIGH FIVES FOR EDUTECH

Research | News

Survey Finds Strong Support for Educational Technology

• By Leila Meyer
• 03/14/11 from THE Journal

• http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/03/14/survey-finds-strong-support-for-educational-technology.aspx

Most educational leaders around the world support technology in education and believe it is increasingly transforming teaching and learning, according to an international survey commissioned by Cisco and conducted by Washington, DC-based Clarus Research Group. The survey revealed that education is transitioning to the new "connected learning" networked economy, which requires technological skills development for increased global competitiveness in education.

Clarus conducted telephone interviews with 500 educational administrators and information technology decision-makers in 14 countries across five continents. Half of the respondents were from K-12 schools, and the other half were from colleges and universities.

The majority of people surveyed indicated they see potential for technology to improve student employment prospects, distance education opportunities, student engagement, communication and collaboration, and research capabilities. Most also said they see technology as a way to reduce costs. However, online security rates high on the list of concerns.

The three teaching and learning issues affected by technology rated most critical were teamwork and project-based learning, student engagement, and preparation for the workforce.

Eighty-six percent of respondents indicated a need for programs and curriculum that help students develop teamwork skills. The survey concluded that increased availability of collaboration tools is helping to foster teamwork and project-based learning.

Eighty-five percent of respondents reported they believe technology plays an increasingly large role in student engagement and participation. They said most students seem to enjoy using technology in the classroom and also indicated technology enables teachers to tailor lessons to the needs of each student, rather than leave some students behind or pace teaching for the slowest learners. Teachers who have used computers to teach math, for example, found that the technology allowed students to progress at their own pace while also freeing the teachers to spend more time with students who needed extra help.

Eight-three percent of respondents considered educational technology critical to preparing students to compete in a global economy and ensuring their employability after graduation. Those surveyed said technology must be incorporated into the core curriculum so students will be ready to engage in the increasingly connected "workforce of tomorrow" that requires them to understand how to use technology effectively.

Other issues of importance identified in the survey included:

• Using technology to improve communications with students, parents, faculty, and staff;
• Protecting students from Internet abuse;
• Strengthening on-campus data security;
• Using "presence" technology in teacher training and staff development;
• Using technology to reduce administrative costs and improve cost-efficiency;
• Embedding video and multimedia in the learning process;
• Investing in data-driven assessments and decision-making systems; and
• Expanding online international education.

The priorities of survey respondents varied by region. Those in the Asia-Pacific region focused on improved communications with students, improved research infrastructure and capabilities, and preparing the workforce of the future. European respondents focused on funding, online security, international presence, research infrastructure and capabilities, and online international curricula. Respondents from emerging markets focused on preparation for a global economy, student attendance, and employability. Latin American respondents had the highest hopes overall for educational technology and its positive effects on society.

ELIZABETH KOSTOVA'S THE HISTORIAN: SORT OF A HOMAGE TO TEACHERS

Blogger's Note:
I posted this in my personal blog on January 3, 2010. I tend to make connections between the books I read and the real life I lead. This is an example.


I closed the book The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova over a year ago with a mixture of exhilaration (what a great book!) and disappointment (what an awful ending!). I won't review the book here, so please check out my FULL BOOK REVIEW BLOG of The Historian over at www.xanga.com/millette_espiritu. More than just another book about vampires--actually The Vampire of lore, Dracula/Vlad Tepes, the novel is a testament to the nobility of the teaching profession.

My favorite character is Professor Bartholomew Rossi, a brilliant historian and quite an intellectual academic superstar in his day. Paul (as narrator in this chapter, while his daughter is his rapt audience) is his dissertation advisee, and clearly, the young graduate student has nothing but admiration for the esteemed Rossi. He was part-English, part-Italian, but the Anglo part, at least in Paul's worshipping eyes, stood out:"His face was of crisp English mold, sharp-featured and intensely blue-eyed...to look into Rossi's face was to see a world as definite and orderly as the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace." It was Rossi's keen mind that made him the American Paul's Idol: "His mind is another thing altogether...his encyclopedic production had long since won him accolades..." But above all else, Rossi was "the kindest, warmest friend I'd ever had." I found the latter to be true in the succeeding chapters. Let me jump the gun here by saying that when Rossi mysteriously disappeared just minutes after his last visit, it was Paul who risked his life to find his mentor.

I can sympathize with Paul. I was the ultimate "sip-sip" in high school, perhaps without meaning to be one. As a student, I remember hanging onto the coattails of my teachers. To my mind, long before I drifted towards the academe myself, teachers were God's gift to humanity. To this day, I believe it to be true. After a quick rewind to my days as a fledgling learner, I've come up with my top 5 all-time favorite teachers:

1. Ms. Dulce Atienza (Grade 5 and 6 Math, Manresa School)-Ms. Atienza is a motherly, articulate teacher who made Math meaningful for me. It has since lost its meaning in high school, when the teachers resorted to terrorism to drill cosines and square roots into my system.I love Ms. Atienza for being kind but firm, and, as my section adviser in 5th grade, for being my second mother.

2. Mrs. Pearl Santos (Freshman English, Manresa School)-My Idol with a capital "I." I lived for her 12-page exams on diagraming sentences, and her stories about her days as a hard-hitting journalist. She was a perfectionist, all business at all times, and she played no favorites when my other teachers then had not-so-subtle "babies." I began to love the English language because of her.

3. Ms. Angie Ureta (Junior and Senior English & History, Manresa School)-She was 19 when she zoomed into our batch's humdrum existence in 1985, and we were enthralled by her youthful candor and world-wise sensibility. I thought back then that she picked on me out of unreasonable cruelty, but I began to realize that she was bulldozing me into finding my niche--writing. What I am now, a writer, I owe to her.

4. Prof. Emmanuel Torres (Shakespeare on Film, Ateneo de Manila Graduate School)-Firstly, I loved his class because we met every week in the Ateneo Art Gallery. Secondly, he was a non-threatening, soft-spoken, brilliant man who brought us to the Globe Theatre with just a few panoramic sentences, as well as his hard-to-find films. But I will never forget, most of all, his comments on my essays, most of which he would read aloud in class, to my utter embarrassment. For my paper on Mel Gibson's portrayal of Hamlet, he wrote: "With this paper, and others like it, you have demonstrated a potential for being a professional critic." OMG.

5.Prof. Danton Remoto (Survey of Philippine Literature, Ateneo de Manila Graduate School)-I will never again read NVM Gonzalez' The Bamboo Dancers without thinking of Prof. Remoto's acerbic comments on protagonist Ernie Rama's sexuality. Our class of 6 students was clearly in awe of this man's literary genius, and I for one, was motivated to churn out academic papers that would hopefully meet his standard, which I'm afraid I never did. But that's OK. Today, I see him fight for gay and lesbian rights on TV with much tact and poise, and I'm proud to tell one and all that Danton Remoto was my teacher.


To my delightful surprise, a former student, Maika Bernardo, wrote about me in Inquirer.net:
"Miss Millette encouraged me to write more and head the school paper staff. Her words of praise helped aspiring writers to come out of their shell. With her encouragement, I earned a leadership award on graduation day."

To view the full article, see:
http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20091004-228351

I believe that teachers impart learning more effectively if they are MENTORS, not instructors. I've tried mentoring, and I can safely claim that I've done more for my students this way, rather than give them lectures thay can always download from some website. This is confirmed in The Historian, particularly in Paul and Rossi's warm, genuine friendship forged by a common love and respect for history, and for each other as human beings. And this is affirmed by the many teachers I've thanked along my life's journey, and the many students like Maika who have thanked me simply by being good, God-fearing, productive citizens of the world.