Saturday, August 9, 2008

checking papers

last night, i volunteered in helping my friend in checking her paper loads, which was consist of her students' class paper reviews. she allowed me to do it. but just for the typographical errors and grammars. why?
basically she came up with this evil plot of subtracting the number of errors to her student's actual paper's score (0.25 per mistake), to teach her too stubborn students to reread and edit their papers before submitting it. well, it really takes one to know one, huh?!the load was unimaginable. there were piles and piles sitting next to each another on her table. i was already wondering if my friend will be able to check all of these and return it back on time. nonetheless, being the-ever-helpful-friend that i am, the picture of it didn't stop me.
while i was checking from one paper to another, i felt a part of me was fulfilled. i always wanted to be a teacher. aside from the fact that it runs in the family (both of my grandparents, aunts and an uncle are teachers), it really more of a persoanl passion.i remember before, my friends and i would actually play teacher-teacheran inside an unoccupied townhouse along our street. and i can't remember a time that i didn't become the teacher. it is the rule of the thumb whenever we play it: i should always be the teacher. in addition, since i am a foot bigger than the rest of my friends, the word bullying has always been a positive word for me to which no one dares to contest.

i never thought that checking papers was this time-consuming. it has been 5 hours already. but i haven't finish a quarter of the entire load yet. it was indeed exhausting. more exhausting than my work, if i may say. not to mention the fact that it is only a part of the entire job. but despite of this, i can say that i really enjoyed it a lot and realized time flies quickly. indeed, such happens when you love what you do. but as of now, as much as i want to become a teacher, i still can't ...yet. but i know someday, i'll get my share.

talking about the parts of the job, i think another thing a wanna-be teacher has to prepare is to get dismayed, not only with the salary that one will get. but also with the performance of your students.

i was really laughing hard in the entire period of checking their papers. i know i am mean. but it was ridiculously hilarious that it actually came to a point that i felt alarmingly sad, worried and frustrated to most of these students. primarily because i was a student of the same university as well. although in a different campus. for me the logic is: the content of the paper reflects its writer and the writers or students reflect their university. thus, the realization bounces back to me. ofcourse, there a lot of things to be considered: their teachers, curriculums and even their own social and personal contexts. but these are (only) acceptable if they are freshmen. unfortunately, these students are not. they vary from sophomores to seniors. so can anyone stop me if i ask," what happened?"

i always tell my friends who keep on ranting that the school is no longer the same as before, that it is generation to cherish. we already had ours and its up to the next what to do with their share. and probably i going to keep it that way. i chose not to dwell into the details of their papers anymore and will just focus on atleast their writing skills: that is in filipino.

what i like about my alma mater is the fact that it gave us all the freedom as a student or atleast from the last time i have checked and mind you it was not that long ago either. there freedom was overflowing that we are allowed to think, say and do whatever we want for the benefit of free flowing ideas, as long as it would not cross the boundary of respect and other people's rights.

in our campus, we are even allowed to speak/recite in whatever language we want, as long as the majority of the class and the professor can understand it. no wonder it was so easy for me to know in law school whether the guy reciting came from the same university that i do with all the uhms and the buckles. go figure!

anyhow, its just frustrating to know that most of these students are actually having a hard time writing a simple essay regarding a film and song review in filipino. even if you put the content aside, there sentence structure is untolerable. but i do understand them. the same problems go with me when it comes to writing in english. i rarely use periods. i tend to make 5 sentences into just one. my tenses are not consistent with my sentences and most of all i tend to use hard core jargons. but on the other hand, i realized that this is filiino, our native language for crying out loud. i even asked my friend if her students are phil-ams or what have you. but when she showed me their picture, they were undeniablly filipinos. then i realized that probably DECS and CHED should not only check on our students english proficiency. but also more with regard to filipino. just imagine, filipinos who don't know how to write filipino: that is more disturbing than a filipino who doesn't know how to write english.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

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lucas said...

i think you'll be a great teacher...hehe! no kidding...hehe! ano naman ang major mo if ever maging teacher ka? math? english? science? am planning to be a clinical instructor...ang laki ng sweldo.ahehe!

Chyng said...

pwedeng sideline yan! (--,)

hope Enrico won't mind..

He checks students' test papers too. At kahit essay part, isusulat nia pa din ang tamang sagot- in essay form din! Effort!

wanderingcommuter said...

ron: social science and probably within my major social anthropoly. i can also do political science, since it is my minor. but i won't expect a big salary. kadalasan, walang trabaho sa field namin. hehehe.

chyng: hahaha... talaga? oo nga. what subject would you know?

Anonymous said...

well i think, its the same as saying, an american teenager not wrting properly furnished english essay... worse they cant write any essay in filipino, thats for sure. hehe

i have high respect for teachers, coz my inay is one of the best teachers around, well thats my belief of course.

have you watched the Film The Freedom writers? its a great film, it made me cry and in turn respected teachers more...

have a nice weekend~!

Kape Kanlaon\ said...

i would also enjoy checking papers, especially if it's my classmates' papers. in a classroom setting, you get to be the reporter sometimes. so you are required to a give a quiz basing on the topic you have discussed. syempre, pa-impress talaga sa mga classmates...hahahahah

Kape Kanlaon\ said...

bakit di ka nalng mag sideline? private na tutor ng isang korean??? ikaw na bahala pumili nang korean na gusto mo...hihihi oh diba cuil???? hehehe

mikel said...

blame it on the rgep. biruin mo, natapos ako na ni isang kom ay hindi ako kumuha. hehe

hobby ko magbasa ng mga papers na nakakalat sa pigeon hole dati habang naghihintay sa propesor. at tama, nakakahiya man aminin, simple sentence construction hindi pa magawa ng maayos. tsk. pano pa kaya kung pati yung laman bubusisiin. aja!

jericho said...

saan kang university galing? hehe. uyyy aya wpang sabihin ...;)

Sprechtrel said...

Hmm, that really is a disturbing fact. It's hard enough to accept that some people are having a hard time in English, but in your own native tongue? That's on another level.

Also, I changed my url to a new one, it's http://ridetherollercoaster.blogspot.com/ Also, in your linklist section, please change my name to Musicero. Thanks.

Boying Opaw said...

kaya naman nakakabilib talaga ang mga guro natin dito, lalung-lalo na iyong mga nagtuturo sa mga pampublikong eskwelahan.

ang mga guro maraming na-iimpluwensyahang mga buhay. bawat studyante ay isang buhay na naman na naiimpluwensyahan.

. said...

Live out my dreams Ewwwik. :)

KRIS JASPER said...

i hope you cud also help me with my paper works

x said...

coolness. lucky friend to have an extra pair of hands. but it must be fun to do that, noh? i've always wanted to read people's essay papers. i like editing, too.

my-so-called-Quest said...

saludo rin ako sa mga guro dahil ang inay ko ay kakaretired lang. hehhe

mabait na kaibigan ah. tinulungan mo pa ung friend mo.

i'm planning to teach din after ko dito=] sideline ba. hehe

erin de la cruz said...

oh my god! after reading your post, naging conscious tuloy ako sa mga ginagamit kong salita. Hahaha! yes, it is a saddening fact that most students in the university you're talking about cannot write well whether in english or filipino (or both!). i myself commit many errors (grammar errors) whenever I write essays. ang hirap din kasi. well, that's one of the reasons why i created an account on blogger. i just want to reach that MAXIMO SOLIVEN-ish way of writing, you know. =)

Erin

Mel said...

i've been a teacher once(yata, for kumon) and i enjoyed being one, too bad our head instructor felt that i can do more and told me to look for more strenuous jobs(call center thingie) hehe

pero miss ko na maging teacher/tutor, sarap ng feeling ng may natututtunan seo ang mga kids mo... awwww

wanderingcommuter said...

lance: i am wondering kung anong intentions meron ka sa fondness mo checkin ang mga papers ng kaklase mo. hahaha. talagang kukunin ang opurtunidad kapag dumating eh no? hahaha.
gusto ko kasi kapag magtuturo ako for the first time, gusto ko sa kapwa pinoy ko muna saka na ang mga banyaga...naks! talking about nationalism..
amicus: hahaha. ugali ko din yun dati nung college. tapos magkakabisado ako ng isang madamdaming linya sa paper ng kakilala ko tapos kapag nagkita kami irerecite ko sa kanya. hahaha. laughtrip yun kapag masurprise siya. hahaha.
dahil sa rgep na yan, 15 units ng english ang deficiency ko sa law school. argh!
jericho: wala sa university na pinanggalingan yun, echo! naks... hahaha...
pathbinder: indeed... 10-4 dude! will work it out.
boying: for me, guro pa rin ang tunay na bayani ng modern times... (excuse my taglish. hahaha) i will bet lahat tayo ay may favorite teacher na hanggang ngayong grumaduate tayo ay hidni natin malilimutan...
mugen: ngek...bakit naman ako pa? i think you're more capable than most of the people i know who are already teachers.
kj: hahaha... english ba yan? huwag na lang. kung tagalog go! hahaha...
acey: you bet she is... at first, it is interesting and funny. but once you've read half of the load with the same errors, its quite alarmingly disturbing.
quest: wow... isang malupit at malutong na saludo sa nanay mo... siyempre... hehehe.
bakit saan ka ba dude?
erin: patama din sa akin ito actually. makapal lang talaga mukha para ipost ang mga ganito. we have the same goal (check my profile)...cool. but if you're trying to work on it, tingin ko, no one has the right to step you down. ganun lang yun.
mel: huwaw, teacher mel ka pala! TEACHER mel, teacher mel. weird naman ng boss na yun, parang subtle way of saying, " you're fired".

gillboard said...

ayokong nagbabasa ng mga papers na tipong essays... sumasakit ang ulo ko sa mga nababasa ko...

kawawa nga samin ng friend ko yung mga estudyante niya kasi puros pula yung papers nila...

sakit sa ulo mga prepositions tsaka subject-verb agreement nila.