My teaching encounter

At last, I'm done checking! I promptly returned the papers today for my TThS class and yesterday for my MWF class.

I discussed the answers after I gave the papers and told them to approach me if there is/are error/s and/or they feel or think that they deserve a higher score for their essay/s.

One student approached me in my TThS class. "Ma'am, pakicheck naman po ung number two. Parang ung sagot ko, andun po lahat ung diniscuss ninyo kanina." So I read his paper again. True enough, instead of writing 8, I wrote 3. So I said, I'm sorry, then recorded his score. I explained that I could not give him a 10 because he was not able to really relate his answer with opportunity cost. Then again, he asked me to look at number three. Another essay.

For question number three, I gave a table on the population of the Cordillera Administrative Region for the years 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000, and asked them to relate it to scarcity, economic activity and decision making.

So I read again. Then I told him, "you really got 4." "Ma'am, can't you reconsider? I was in a hurry and I was thinking about the space I will need so I wrote there ...allocate population." So I patiently told him, "we don't allocate population but we allocate resources!" This time, he was more insistent. "Nagkamali lang po kasi ako ng naisulat ma'am. Alam ko pong mali. Pero tingnan naman po ninyo ang discussion ko, I talked about goods." Then I told him, "yes, that's why you got four. And you did not only mention it once but twice." Then he won't stop insisting he knows and that he just made a mistake. In my mind I really wanted to tell him, "what part of no, can't you understand?!?!?!" So I just told him, I really can't consider it because I check based on what he wrote, not on what he thinks. So he stopped.

Then the bell rang, all students went out already. The boy stayed. "Ma'am, sayang naman, sana pwedeng maconsider na." Hay! Ok fine, I told them, they should exert some effort, but not this kind, ok? So I just smiled and told him, "Kaya nga e, sayang. So you'd better be careful next time."

Teaching is difficult but very rewarding. It is a very fulfilling profession. Much more than research. Much more than marketing and advocacy. It is something I enjoy doing no matter how many encounters I have with the "boisterous generation".