Have you experienced baking a cake without a recipe or building a house without a blueprint? Take a look of the conversation between Alice and the cat.

         “Would you tell me please which way I ought to walk from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to”, said the cat.

         “I don’t much care where”, said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk”, said the cat.

                        (From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)

What if more people were like Alice, not caring which way they go? Then maybe more people would be lost and confused. It would be difficult if one had no direction or purpose in life.

Planning one’s path involves pinpointing ones’ interest, skills and values which are important factors to consider in choosing a satisfying career. A person’s career is what he will be doing for quite a long time; so it is advantageous that a person enjoys what he or she does for a living. It is also beneficial for a person to be able to maximize his special skills and to apply them in the workplace. It is equally important to consider ones’ values in career planning. Career fulfillment comes from the ability to do work that promotes ones’ values in life.

In the field of teaching according to Rivera and Sambrano, (2005) it is important that the teacher must also plan. Since teaching is defined as the organization of meaningful learning, the teacher is essentially an organizer, one who brings about an individual’s self-development and the improvement of the society as well. In his/her eagerness to achieve this end, he must be able to demonstrate democratic leadership among the learners and at the same time inspire initiative, independence, self-appraisal and desire for growth and development.

        On the other hand, when a teacher takes the career path of being a school head/principal of the schools in the DepEd in this Division, he/she is not exempted in doing career plans. All of us go through life with our own career plans. To have a career is to engage in a series of job tasks essential for professional growth in one’s occupational life.

         In this time of one’s life, the individual should realize that his/her career is a product of the interrelationships of his life goals, preparation, effort, emotional intelligence and environment.

By: Arvin N. De Dios | HT-III | Mariveles National High School | Mariveles, Bataan