The Other Side of Mae: I Heart MUHS

Becoming a teacher was the least mental imagery I ever had in my entire being. I never wanted to become one because I never wanted to be like my old maid teacher aunt. She always complains about her job. She complains about her students, her paper works, her lesson plan, her principal, and everything! She always grumbles about her fate and tells us never to become like her.

But after all the jobs I had entered into (see From One Career to Another, to Another, and Another of My Adventures), being a teacher just came out of the blue. It was February 2009 when Misamis Union High School (MUHS) advertised on TV that they were hiring a science teacher. “I will apply,” that suddenly popped out in my mind. Without a choice having wanted to just stay here in Ozamiz and without any idea of how to become a teacher, I did submit my resume to the school.

After several days, I was called for an interview. It was Miss Joan B. Missiona, the school registrar who first interviewed me together with Xianse Teresita Ong, the school’s academic head. I was not sure of myself at that time so I just answered them half-heartedly. However, maybe they saw my potential so they had me for the next step.

Then Dr. Priscilla Villanueva, former schools superintendent of Ozamiz City and the current school consultant interviewed and scrutinized me. I could feel that she was doing it to see my determination of becoming a teacher. So, I showed her my willingness to learn how to teach. Afterwards, she scheduled me to a class demonstration.

I was so nervous during the class demonstration. I was lecturing on Evidences of Chemical Reactions with the second year and third year students. It was my very first time to teach a class that marked a funny memory to my then students. I was having a fever, I was so tensed, and I was sweating a lot that my underarms showed the “evidences of chemical reactions”, as what the students teased me after two years I spent with them.

Then the Chinese lao shi men arrived and I was interviewed by Mr. Kevin, Ms. Serena Guo, and Dr. Zhou Jing. They were such a fright for they came from Jinan University in China. After all the processes, I got in with a little luck! So I officially started working at Chinese school on June 8, 2009 (not to mention I already started reporting in summer 2009 for the preparations).

On my first day, I was so nervous again. I was not tensed with the teachers whom I’m gonna be working with but I was tensed with the students. Of course, being rich Chinese kids, they might underestimate me and look me down. My first class that day was Biology with the second year students. They were only eleven and they were well-behaved. I got intimidated by them for they all speak in English. “So, this is it here. They are sosyal,” I told myself. My nervousness worsened.

My Darling Second Years

My second class was Physics with the fourth year students. All of them were not friendly or maybe, they were just shy. I felt like they just talk to me out of respect but not heartily. And there looks were like spears that intimidated me more. At the end, I never got to enter their exclusive world.

My third class was General Science with the first year students. Being kids, they were rowdy. But I managed to get their attention anyway. And they went rowdy again, and I silenced them, and vice versa. Then I survived my first morning in Chinese school.

My Baby First Years

In the afternoon, I had my two vacant periods wherein I did my lesson planning. I also had to endure being in the faculty room with Mrs. Pongase’s biting eyes and sharp tongue.

After the afternoon recess, I had my last class which was Chemistry with the third year students. Believe me or not, I didn’t have the chance to introduce myself to them because they were so warm and so friendly that they were the ones who initiated to start the class. I didn’t have the chance of making my class the way I did with the other classes because they were the “one-of-a-kind kids” in the school.

My Forever Junior Griffins

During my first few days, I had a hard time accepting my fate. Of course I did my very best to serve the school but every time I heard “Teacher Mae”, it irritated me. Then it sank in. I’m already a teacher!

For my first year in MUHS, I could say that it was such a roller coaster ride. I struggled a lot on how to present my lessons well and how to make the students understand what I was teaching them. Moreover, there was this incident that tested me big time!

It was one afternoon when I instructed my advisory class which was the third year to clean their classroom. I had to return the laboratory apparatuses that I showed them to the science lab. When I came back to the classroom, I was shocked to see all my belongings in the bucket that one of my students was carrying. I couldn’t understand what I felt at that time. I was speechless because I was so hurt seeing my things there. My heart was crumpled so I just got my things back and walked out because I thought that I was gonna cry. I had never been this humiliated in my life and only 15-year old kids did that to me! I felt like they treated me as garbage – as filth! I was so disheartened and discouraged. I was so angry that I did not speak to the whole class for a week and I hadn’t slept well for that whole week also.

After the resolution, I forgave them. It was not that hard as I thought for they were only kids and immature. And the good thing is, this incident made us closely bonded like covalent bonds. I already understood them and learned to love them unconditionally.

Portrait of a Struggling Teacher

In my second year, I had adjusted a bit already. I had learned how to control the students, I had learned how to impart knowledge to them, and I had learned how to become a teacher as a whole. My hardships had been paid off every time a student approached me and told me that they answered the NAT/college entrance exams/other achievement tests well because I had covered it in class. It was so heartwarming when they say “Miss Mae, this and that went out in the exam. I answered the questions.” And that always makes me happy!

A Happy Miss Mae

Me and my students had been through a lot. There were times when I scolded them and shouted at them, times when they talked back at me and maybe hated me, and times when I hurt them and they hurt me too. But there were also times when they showed that they care for me and love me. They were the sweetest kids I ever knew. They will always be in my heart – my baby first years, my darling second years, and my forever junior griffins!

In conclusion, my two years in Chinese School transformed me. Though being a teacher was never in my dream and in my plan, I came to enjoy it. Though a lot of people said that I was just being a fool for not doing a chemical engineering job, I learned to accept it.

As I visited the school yesterday and today, I realized that the two years I had spent there was indeed not a waste of effort and time. Because it was also when I had the happiest moment in my crazy life! And now, when the kids greet me “Hi, teacher Mae!” it is music to my ears!