When Underachieving Yet Bright Students Use Their Gifts, the Results are Spectacular!

As a teacher, I am hard on students whom I feel have so much to give but are underachieving.

I am teaching a research subject kasi and the subject needs someone who's talented in writing and in analysis.

Some of my students don't have both, but they work hard and give good work, so I reward them amply.

But there are some, who are very good in both, but are reckless with their gifts - and that quietly pisses me off!

So these past two terms, I have subtly found a way to motivate these gifted but underachieving students to give their best.

Mind you, it's not easy! Clever students are the hardest ones to get through to - and since they are rich kids, it makes the work doubly harder.

How do you motivate a kid to study and do well in school when his or her allowance is already 1000 pesos a day?

Para que pa mag-aral? Mayaman naman si Papa!

But because I know what they are capable of, my job is to let them produce the best output that they can possibly give!

Sayang naman ang mga gifts nila if mabubulok lang.

I felt I have given enough time and advices to the hard workers, now I felt it was time to polish the underperforming diamonds!

And the results have been positive!

Two of them just submitted their work today, 4 days ahead of the deadline!! (They usually submit very late before!!!)

And my God, I browsed through their papers and their work was brilliant! I wanted to cry for joy right then and there!

Finally, I got through them!

I also read an excerpt of the work of the most talented writer in my lower batch - and her work was of exceptionally high quality - parang nilampaso nya ang competition!!

My simple joy is just to see my brightest students do brilliant work and to see that some of them have risen to the occasion has made my teaching days worthwhile.

I am now looking forward to see everyone's work over the weekend, and I hope some of them will give me their best work yet!

My Teacher Colleagues

I am so proud to be teaching with these guys! They're not only supportive, they're also quite smart and have some really good ideas about teaching!

My Life as a Teacher Starts Today

Today was a whirlwind of activities for me like contract signing and the routine medical check-up.

I really don't know why you have to show your bum to a doctor just to get a job! Buti na lang I only did it twice in my lifetime.

What if I changed jobs every year like so many millennials - di every year I have to expose my bum to a new doctor?!

Oo nga pala, why am I complaining, I expose my bum on a regular basis but not necessarily to a doctor. OMG! I will never be able to joke like this once I add friends from the school huhuhu

Seriously, I had information overload kanina. It was like, here's your job, read all of this! Plus this! And this!

Buti na lang that's a regular thing sa UP so I don't get fazed anymore. Kulang pa ba sa readings? Dagdagan pa!

Anyhow, I am teaching a subject called Global Perspectives. It's like International Studies but concentrating on key global issues. In other words, eto na ang globalized version ng Social Studies that we had in high school.

The materials are amazing! Tatakan ba naman ng Cambridge o di ba? You can charge na agad 400K sa tuition fee!

Kidding aside, these kids are lucky because it's a critical thinking course and even the grading system is so rigid to avoid subjectivity in checking.

And poor them, they got me as their teacher because I have 10 years experience in editing they will see so many red marks on their paper, their papers will be bleeding red!

Just kidding! These are just 14 and 15 year old kids so I have to imagine where I was also at that age. At that age, all I thought about was dancing to Where's the Party and Who's That Girl!

Now they have to write about climate change and global terrorism. Ang saya-saya!

On a closing note, before I sleep, Mrs. Paglinawan was one of my most favorite teachers ever, and she was a great Social Studies teacher.

Now, it's my turn.