Reflection Of Being A Pre-Service Teacher In The Philippines

B. CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES

“Children… come into our lives, leaving footprints in our hearts and we are never the same.”

Being a pre-service teacher in Academia Progresiva De Manila gave me an opportunity to teach in three (3) classes in just one shift. I was able to observe and teach in Kinder, Nursery and Preparatory level. I am on the morning shift- eight o’clock in the morning up until 11:30 in the morning.

My very first class was in Kinder-Joy which is the advisory class of Teacher Rox- who is my Cooperating Teacher that time. I can’t forget how adorable and enthusiastic my students were in this class. Their ages range from 4-5 years old and I feel young whenever I go in this class. There were 10 students most of them are girls.

During

There were eight (8) boys and six (6) girls, including four (4) MI (Mainstream/Inclusion) students; for a total of 14 students. Their ages range from 5 to 6 years old. My Cooperating Teacher was Teacher Lysa Aragon, a fresh graduate of UST. We also have one teacher-aid, whom we call Ate Danica. The class is very dynamic. Each student has his/her own identity. Each has different level of understanding, of attention span and of interest.

For every class, we were asked to choose I student whom we will observe and do case study. Choosing one student is quite hard for me. I want to choose the very interesting yet not so obvious child in the class.

My first day in the Prep-Patience class gave me a feeling of oddness. The kids were so much different from my previous classes. They can write, some of them can read, and most surprisingly, they talk like adults. Since Teacher Lysa is still on her trip outside of the country, Teacher Judith and Teacher Reg were the temporary teachers. On the very first day, Teacher Judith taught me already how to do the morning routine. The morning routine goes like this:

 Teacher will say, “Good morning Prep- Patience.” (Students are expected to greet back the teacher, Ate Danica and their

One is when I finally ‘entered the world’ of one of the MI kids, Child Z- who is known for having a slow processing of information, has a minimal eye-contact, with limited communication skills. I was really touched that time when he actually said to me, “I want you here, teacher Nia.” It was really an unexpected moment. From then on, I always try to talk to him, remind him of the rules when he try to sit on the table, I sometimes help him first with the seatwork before Yosef. It was really a magical moment for