My 4th Grader, 10 year old niece would be the only and the youngest drop-out in the family. My brother told me that Lara is dropping out from school. Lara is a vibrant and smart little girl. She was accelerated from nursery to kindergarten the first time she entered school because she was too smart for her age. At the age of 4 and before she formally went to school, she already knew her ABCs. She can count up to 100. She can identify all the shapes [including the pentagon, the hexagon and the octagon]. She can even name all the 9 planets of the solar system and she knew that the sun is not a planet but rather a star. She was even able to write her first story book even way before she can actually write. She would dictate to “Auntie” her creative ideas and I would type it on the computer while big sister was making sure that auntie was really typing down what she was saying.
But Lara is not having fun in school this year. She is not the same little girl who is always excited to go to school even if she has no new school bag. She used to love school even if she has no new school supplies like crayons. Last year, she told her Dad that she wanted to join the drawing contest. But my brother told her not to because she has no new crayons. She came home that day with a medal for winning first place in the drawing contest. My brother realized that Lara just borrowed some crayons from her classmate so she can join.
This year, Lara lost interest in school. She comes home crying almost everyday. My sister-in-law asked her why she doesn’t like school anymore. And the reason she gave her was something she couldn’t take for granted. She went to the school the following day and told the teacher that Lara will stop going to school for the meantime and will just take a vacation until she is ready to go back again or perhaps… she will be homeschooled.
Lara is just like any students. She may even like some of the students who I handled in the past. Lara lost interest in school because of her “teacher”. According to her… her teacher is always mad every time she asked her questions about the lesson. It turned out that Lara would ask questions about the lesson and the teacher didn’t like to repeat the lesson. It turned out the Lara cannot understand her lessons and the teacher was not willing to teach or make extra effort in explaining the lessons. It turned out that the attitude of the teacher affected Lara’s attitude towards school. It turned out that Lara’s teacher was always angry and mad at the students who didn’t understand her lessons. It turned out that the teacher was always hollering at Lara every time she asked questions and that scared her. Now she doesn’t want to go to school anymore.
On the hindsight, I realized that a teacher can make or break a student’s soul. I could be guilty of all those accusations. I realized that I am not a perfect teacher myself. I can get angry at times. I can be impatient at times. And I could be grumpy at times. I could also be guilty in being a human being capable of human mistakes and frailty. But I know that is not an excuse.
As a teacher I have responsibilities beyond what I am expected to handle. As a teacher, it is not my responsibility to judge my students but rather, accept them as they are. As a teacher, I hold in my hands the future of my students and what they become in the future is my greatest achievement or my worse failure. As a teacher, it is not important if I finished the lesson or if I was able to execute my lesson plan or not. As a teacher, it is not important if I pass all my students regardless if they learned from me or not. As a teacher, what is important is that… my students learn to love learning and strive to continue learning even after they left school.
thank for information..
heppy week end..
this is sad Ruthi, I too am not a perfect teacher, and like you, sometimes I can be impatient too. But one thing I always ask my students to develop in themselves is the skill of asking, the skill of speaking up. for their questions can be someone’s question too. I actually reward questions as participation pints. I can tell your niece is very smart, for young as she is, she knows how to ask questions, a lot of times, kids would simply bury the confusions they have and that will show in the test. Hopefully, the interest to get back to school will go back to her, and in the meantime, just to continue her learning experience, your brother and sister in law will be her teachers, though they have been already.
Oh Bechai you are right my niece is really a smart girl and as a teacher we both know that kids like her need motivation and encouragement. My sister-in-law transferred her to a private school now. And according to my brother she is excited again to go to school.
that’s good news Ruthi. I am glad she is excited to go to school again. I know there are some teachers who gets offended when some students ask, I do not know why for they shouldn’t, it should be a wlecome sign that, hey, this kid is interesgted enough to know something, and is great!
Woah ang dami mo namang blog hehehe. I am so amazed that you have such great energy to blog in all of your blogs. Ako nga 1 blog lang pero palaging missing in action hahaha.
Keep up the great blogging!
@Edgar… ay naku if you only knew… sometimes inaatake rin ako ng sakit ko… katamaran ano. I’m just having fun and was carried away a bit before I knew it 9 na pala ang blogs ko. hahahaha nice to see you here again.
That’s good your niece is not going to a private school with a better teacher. We learn by asking questions and for a teacher to discourage that in students is horrible! Albert Einstein had that problem too by the way.
so, is lara BACK in school? i am also curious as to whether anyone in authority thought about or carried out an investigation about what happened. thanks!
@ Cherie… yes she is back in school. My sister-in-law transfered her to a different school and she is doing ok now. She is excited to go back to school again.
And about the teacher… sadly no. My sister-in-law did not bother to report the incident to the principal for fear that the teacher will get fired for it. We know the teacher and actually she is my Mom’s goddaughter and we know that she is the only bread winner of the family and she needs the job badly.
Hi there Ruthilicious…
Thanks much for hopping by my other blog. That’s actually my first blog kaso ang hirap intindihin ng bravejournal so di ko inaasikaso masyado.
@your niece’s teacher….I know your sister in law means well for not reporting her. But like you said, as teachers we hold the students’ future in our hands. There might be a way to let the Principal or her immediate superior know just so that teacher will be made aware of what kind of effect her attitude has towards the kids. Hopefully, she’ll only be given a warning instead of being fired.
Just a thought from another teacher like you.
J
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