The Lesson Plan

If you could cut the school year in half, this is the day it bleeds.

On Monday begins the second semester of the school year. While no huge leaps are expected from the 1st to the 2nd semesters, it is always a good time to review goals to see how far I’ve gone and how far left we have to work for.

Last May, I wrote a two-part entry entitled “Setting Things Straight”; you can read both parts here and here. In part one, I reflect on the things I’ve learned over the summer. In part two, I list my priorities for the school year. I listed those in no particular order, but to reiterate:

• Get myself into Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy by year’s end
• Become a better teacher by going back to basics and emphasizing learning over knowing
• Set up AKSIS and hope that we leave our mark in our first full year of operation

So how am I doing so far?

I’ve been hearing that rumors are going around that this will be my last school year. Funny thing is, it is a rumor to everyone except my current batch. I haven’t told ‘10 yet, so for now this post is a good as it gets. Yes, my dear ‘10, there is a large chance that this is my last school year. When that happens, you will be my last batch and I’ll be leaving our country for two years. However, all things rest with how my application goes so nothing is final. Nonetheless, this is something I really want to do and let us all hope for the best.

My application is going steadily as it is. The deadline is still January 2008 so I can still take my time as I juggle my teaching load with all my other commitments. I do have my language test this coming October 20 and this is why I’ve been doing my best to speak and write is as straight English as I can. I’ll be handing out my recommendation forms soon, and I’ll be asking the three most senior SocSci teachers for my referral. Beyond this, there are still so many things up in the air and I’ll just update everyone the moment things become clearer.

Now, onto teaching. This I have to say first and foremost — Batch ‘10 rocks! I am having an absolutely easy time teaching you guys and that alone makes going to work worth it. That too makes it much easier and rewarding to work through all the class disruptions we have had. There is no doubt that I am utterly disappointed that we have lost so much time for the second quarter since a lot of my plans for our lessons and WuWei failed to materialize entirely. Nonetheless, you guys have been so kind and understanding through it all. I know I could have taught the past quarter so much better, but circumstances dictate action and I feel that we’ve done the best we can with the little time we’ve had.

I will make it all up to you guys this 3rd quarter. We will be covering a lot of ground in a really cool way and I hope to make it worth your time. Promise.

And lastly — AKSIS.

All I can say is that AKSIS is such a wonderful surprise. I have the best members. Period. If there is one thing in Pisay that could really make me drop my application and stay, it would be AKSIS — as long as all my current members stay on, we revise our constitution, make an official logo, and recruit even more members. This is the first club I’ve set up from scratch and so we’re really making a lot of things up as we go along. But so far, we’ve been doing really great, don’t you think? I mean, Kamalayan was a surprising success. Then we helped out in the KKKwiz, then the senior members (that includes you, Criselle!) and I worked on the Future Summit during Humanities Week. No matter how we bring these activities together, one thing remains true — by the end of all of it, I am so thankful for all of you!

We’re not yet done, of course. Now let’s have quality time in our upcoming Binondo Food WOK and gimmick, then let’s give Sitio Target a little visit. After that, let’s brainstorm on what other activity we would like for the 4th quarter.

So how am I doing so far? Been pretty great, to be honest. Save for some speed bumps over the past month (look for part 2 in my personal blog, Signal Fire), this is still shaping up to be my best school year ever.