The other side of teaching...

Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision

They say that eyes are one of the most important tool a person could have. Most especially when one is studying. It is hard for a pupil/ student to go to school everyday and facing each letter, each word, each sentence that they could rarely see nor understand. I for one had a visual problem while growing up. I was born with lazy eyes. I have Astigmatism. I was practically wearing a thick pair of eyeglasses since I was three. Until now I have to wear contact lenses, having a visual grade of more than three hundred. That is why I understand pupils who are having a hard time copying. I understand pupils who are having a hard time understanding a single word I say whenever I teach. Some pupils may not have Astigmatism or a set of lazy eyes but some of them just see words floating and jumping of the book. Pupils who have learning disabilities, specifically children who are dyslexic are seeing things differently. They may perceive  the word "dog" as  "poq" or they may see words running off the pages of their books. It is hard.

It is nice to know that nowadays, people are more knowledgeable about Special Education specifically, with Learning Disabilities. It is high time for us to have an open mind for our students/pupils. We may perceive those children "lazy" but we have to look again and those children might suffer from a disability.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

In my 20 years of existence,(yes, I am only 20) it was always a struggle for me to be on time. Be it at school, at home and now at work and even during "lakads" with my friends. It's either I am too early, for me to wait for hours or I am too late, for them to wait for me for hours. It was always like that. I hate waiting yet I also hate to be the reason of delay. Until it dawned me that nobody can be on time, ever. It was one day when I realized that no one person can be on time, you should be early to be on time. If your meeting is at 6:00, you have to be there at 5:30 or even 5:45 to be on time. I learned this when I attended a seminar about "Overcome" sponsored by Shepherd's Voice Publications,Inc. So, what is my point? I promise that this will not be moot.
Sometimes, we might be impatient, waiting for things to happen in our lives. Impatient waiting to finish school and start to work, waiting for the right person to come, waiting for that moment to come when you will shine. Sometimes, we tend to get tired of praying. We tend to feel a little bad and doubt God. But let me tell you this; The only one who is on time is God. He has the perfect timing for each of us. I read a book entitled " Confessions of an Impatient Bride" It was about a young lady, ( who is in her mid 30's when she had her first boyfriend and thought that he was the one ) Rissa Singson-Kawpeng, who waited so long for the right man to come. She also had her moments but then she did not lose hope and faith to God. And now she is already a mother  and a loving wife.You may wait for too long for a fruit to ripe but eventually it will turn out to be the most delicious fruit you have ever tasted.
If there is one thing that I learned from being a Christian Living/ Values Ed teacher is to trust in God's timing. So what if you did not graduate on time, so what if until now you still do not have a boyfriend/girlfriend, so what if until now after you graduated you still do not have a job? Just wait and see what God has planned for you. Don't get me wrong, but I am not saying that you should not be bothered if things did not happen accordingly, because it is still up to you if you want to live out your dreams.
Never lose hope, do your job and God will do the rest. " Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa"

L.A. Morada

Tabang Na!

Our country, the Philippines had been through a lot these past few weeks. Our hearts crashed seeing children lying on the cold grounds of the earth, seeing people weeping, looking for ways to escape this unfortunate incident. We may hear complaints that we lack support but I can say that everyone is doing the best they can to help. One example is my mom, she chose to volunteer with her colleagues to leave work for a day and repack goods to donate. She said that what she experienced was precious and the spirit of bayanihan was really there. 
In the school where I work, we asked the pupils/students, parents and teachers to send their donations to the school so that we could send it to it's proper designation. My pupils brought a lot of donations, some of them brought goods, clothes and even cash donations. But what surprised me most was the very inspiring move that one of my pupils did. Her name is Arianna. She is a kind of pupil who is very good in reasoning out. She is very good in voicing out her feelings. Although sometimes, she tends to forget things and talk a lot, she is a type of pupil who is always aware and concern about the sake of others. FYI, she is only 6 years old. One morning, she approached me saying she brought her donation, then I said, let me have it. So she gave it to me and I saw an orange piggy bank with her name on it. I was touched with what I saw. This just shows that we could help in anyway that we can. Arianna saw a kid on tv who donated his savings to the victims of the typhoon and so she was inspired by it and did the same thing. This just goes to show that everyone is doing something to help our countrymen. I salute everyone who volunteered and did something for our fellow Filipinos. Maliit man o malaki, basta ang hangarin ay makatulong. God bless all of you and I know it will return to you a hundred or even a thousand fold!

When I was backpacking across western europe....

If you read the title and laughed at it, we actually have a common denominator.
Friends or shall I say F.R.I.E.N.D.S. was a very famous tv series way back in the 90's. It was starred by Matt Le Blanc, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courtney Cox, Mathew Perry and Jennifer Aniston. It was first aired in the year 1994 and I was practically and literally crawling at that time so I never got to watch Friends during the time it was actually airing. I think this show was so cool that even now it is still being watched and talked about by many including me. Isn't it amazing that a 20 year old like me could even relate and laugh while watching the famous series? The show literally does not grow old. Maybe because their main topic was all about friendship and who does not want to talk about friends? Though sometimes people might think that it is senseless, it will still give you hope and a good laugh. Friends will never let you down. So the next time you see your friend try to hug them and ask them "how are you doin'?" ( if you know what I mean)

What the heck happened here?

Ok. I know, this was a little nostalgic than I thought it would be. I was a college student the last time I wrote here. The template and the dashboard was not like this the last time I wrote here.(I even forgot my password) My eye bags were only an inch tall or whatever the last time I wrote here. The only responsibility I had was my school works the last time I wrote here. Lastly, it was 2011 the last time I wrote here. I'm sorry but I promise that I will not be writing rants and complaints here.
I could not believe it. Time really flies sooo fast that I could not even hold on. Do you want to know the reason why I came back?
Allow me to give you a little backtrack of what happened in my life for the past year/s. I graduated. Thank God. I graduated last April 2013, I earned a degree in Education major in Special Education. Then, I got a job. I am now teaching first graders in my alma mater. That was a big leap for me.
Aside from being blessed and being gainfully employed, I was also stressed out by not just only work but with other things. So I looked for ways on how to relax and then suddenly I remembered the things I do way back. And then I opened the computer and realized that, way back then I write blogs and everything. So I ended up writing this one.( and I hope that it is making sense tho.)
I just realized that there are people/things that we take for granted. That without us knowing it that we would actually miss it on the latter part of our lives.In my case, I usually complain about going to school, I feel tired and restless. But now I just wish that I was a student again enjoying the little things, like a fifty peso combo meal in a fast food restaurant. Now, I could actually buy real food but I could not enjoy eating it. It is not that I am complaining or something but my point is, we have to appreciate the little things that we have everyday. Who knows what might happen next? My wish for you my friend is to look around, up and down, and you might find a candy  that will put a smile in your face.I just hope that this will not be the last time that I will write here. God bless!

hashtag.AndTheAdventureContinues......

    It's the last day of November and I know everybody knows the meaning of this! **It's the most wonderful time of the year!** (just inserted a song). I think no one hates Christmas. Although Christmas would mean spending a lot of money but it's the joy and the feeling of love,that is why we cannot hate christmas. Well, I'm so excited for christmas! And for sure malls are too. haha. I am. just excited. I am speechless, so good bye for now. haha. ADVANCE MERRY CHRISTMAS!

DEAR GELLIE

Last time, I decided to clean up my room because mom and dad got mad at me because it’s very dirty and since I myself find it dirty and cluttered and so I obeyed them and I cleaned it. I know I am a very good girl.haha

    As I clean the room, I came across with my collection of letters and pictures and every little thing that was given to me. My friends and classmates gave most of the letters and one was from mom for my retreat way back. And so I sat and started to read every single letter. It was as if I was time traveling. Like I went back to grade school, high school and also my first to years of being a college student. Some letters were simple notes that even though it seems senseless but it’s priceless. Some of the letters were cute little notes that express gratitude and love for me. Some letters were really touching and as if the person who wrote it was talking to me in person. I really missed those times. The letters that really touched me was the birthday cards/ letters. You can really see their efforts on putting up surprises for your birthday. It was really a heart-warming experience most especially when you are really surprised.
    I am actually a sentimental person (well, obviously). I really keep my notebooks and notes and letters. It was really worth keeping because it is like a diary that tells stories to me from what has happened in the past and if ever, if and only, if ever, I will have amnesia, I will not have a hard time gaining back my memory because I kept them all ( I was just kidding!)
    I also love to write little notes for people. I usually write secretly in their notebooks, sticky notes, books. I usually wrote my mom notes in her notebook in the office, simple notes like I love you and I also wrote my sister at the back of her notebook and her teacher actually saw it and asked who was it. The teacher taught it was some other person. I also wrote at my classmates’ notebooks funny notes whenever I see that they are sad. I usually write note like this “ tanggapin mo man o hindi, mas maganda ako sa’yo!!haha, I love you!”.
    Of course for every story that I write here, I always end up with “lesson learned”. For me I learned that it is always nice to keep things that really touched you, so that anytime, you can reminisce it and remember those times. It is also good because it is a sign that you give importance to the person who gave it to you. It is also nice to give simple notes for people you love, most especially if you find it hard to say it personally. It is nice to give a little smile to them in your own little way. It really means a lot to them. I find letters and notes more powerful because it would last if you keep them. I am not against technology but it is just nice to find people giving letters and notes. Just like in my experience I can keep it forever.
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