Studying syllabi. Researching for updates on teaching material. Preparing a lesson plan. Managing time for each session.
The pain level is escalating and reaching stress levels but there is still time to relax since school starts the following week. Perhaps, it’s a good time to finally get hair to shoulder length since it’s already summer and the long hair gets in the way of your reading.
Classes begin. Welcome a full load for the academic year but you should have an hour each for the much-needed break to rest those vocal chords, a coffee or tea break, and maybe a re-invigorating power nap.
Are there public holidays this month so we can have a longer weekend?
Schedules of classes for different grade levels. Rows and columns of names and faces to be memorized. Tracking which classes are behind in the delivery of lessons. And tracking of students who are struggling in their studies because of incapabilities other than purely academics.
Don’t we have a semestral break? When do we start the Christmas season holidays?
But not all students are created equal and their needs have to be addressed individually, up close and personal if need be. Just like our own children who are different from their siblings, a classroom full of students with different characteristics is also a family. Only it’s a huge family.
Making tests. Marking tests. Pointing out weak points. Prescribing interventions to bridge the knowledge and skills gaps. Recording results and verifying final grades. All those paperwork.
In hindsight, a teacher would wonder how he or she generates the energy to go through all of those tasks and did those energies go to the right places?
Teachers need recess periods. To do something so important as shaping minds while occupied with own concerns, wouldn’t it be wise to accord the ‘frontliners’ more breaks or ‘forced leave’ days for them to recreate themselves?
Give them breaks. Or force them to take vacations. Teachers need recesses, too.
By: Salve V. Calderon | Teacher III | BNHS | Balanga City, Bataan
