Sink or Swim. Time to Teach at Zarraga National High School

Again, many of these posts are a bit out of order, but they should be easy enough to follow. The story continues the day after the welcome party, that truly blew me away. I had eaten lunch the day before in Ma'am Luci's home, where i was told that I'd be teaching her class. At our initial meeting she struck me as a light-hearted yet intense woman. In fact, writing this at least a week after this event, I don't think that I remember her speaking a sentence or two without hearing her powerful and infectious laugh. I immediately felt at ease in her company. I think that we were originally supposed to team teach a lesson, but instead we took turns teaching her grade 12 class.

For those outside of the Philippines, it might be important to know that until last year, students went to school until the 10th grade and then were done. It's been only recently that the government has adopted the K-12 system that so much of the world has been using. This has not been without controversy. i'm sure that you can imagine how students feel knowing that they have an extra two years of school that their older siblings didn't have. It's also taken a toll on the universities who are dealing with two years of no new students. The senior class that Ma'am Luci teaches will be the first group of 12th graders to graduate from Zarraga NHS.

I began my second day of school observing, along with many other teachers, Ma'am Luci teaching her seniors. It was a masterful lesson. First came the prayer, which is customary at the start of each class. Her lesson was about planning, but what she was teaching wasn't important. How she taught it, and how the students responded is what matters here. she began with a brainstorming session about the importance of planning, followed by a group activity in which each group was given a task to complete around the theme of planning. One group had to write and perform a song, while another had to create a poster, and so on. After completing, each group presented or performed their product. At first I thought the students had been prepped, because they were 100% on task and committed to the lesson. I would soon find out that I was mistaken. Ma'am Luci constantly interjected with humor and relaxed conversation. It was easy to see that her students loved and trusted her and were happy to go along for the ride.

Something that I found particularly interesting about her lesson (I actually saw teachers at different schools doing this) was that just before the groups began working collaboratively, the teacher wrote the rubric on the board and allowed the students to provide input on the point values. As I saw repeatedly, creativity and performance were worth the most. It should also be said that unlike American students, I didn't encounter a single student who hesitated to sing or dance in front of their classmates.

After her lesson concluded, Ma'am Luci breathed a visible sigh of relief. This was followed by a presentation of a certificate for demonstrating a lesson. The certificates are really important here as they can lead to promotions. Then, just like that, it was my turn.

When i asked what I would be teaching on the previous day I was told to teach whatever I wanted. I wanted it to be interesting, but I also had to do it without resources. There is no WIFI at the school. nor are there many projectors or other technology ( I observed a science class where the teacher held up her personal laptop in front of a class of nearly 50 students so that they could see an image of some biological process). I needed a lesson that was both fun and easy to execute. I went with what felt right. Psychology isn't taught here so I thought the students would enjoy that.

I began the lesson by asking if the students knew what psychology is and a student immediately raised her hand, stood up, and gave me a textbook definition. I hadn't really been nervous leading up to this lesson, but her quick response put me at ease. It was evident that they were with me. We launched into a lesson about how good and also how poor our memories could be (Anyone see where I'm going here?). It was now time to unveil the number. I asked the students to produce a calculator and hit the 'e' button. Once they had it, I asked, "Does it say 2.718281828459045236?" The students looked at me, mouths agape. I had gone further than the calculator. I told them that I could teach them the number ( a lesson that I've taught countless times in the past, usually with good results). I asked for a volunteer and took her aside to teach her the number. I had to make some changes in how I taught it to make it culturally relevant, but after about 45 seconds, she had it. She stood in front of the class and recited the number flawlessly with her classmates cheering her on. I then had her teach the class, and like that, they all had it. They really seemed to like the strategy.

I then had the class work in groups to make a list memory strategies they have used. I used a fun random calling strategy to try to make sure that everyone had a shot at being called on to share. When one student answered that making things into a song.I decided to give another demonstration. I asked if they had to memorize long passages or speeches in English or Filipino class to which they groaned yes. I told them that when I was in 10th grade (in 1990) I had to memorize a speech, then I recited it to them. When I asked how they thought I remembered, eventually they got around to making it into a song. Actually, I didn't turn it into a song, Bob Marley did. I had a student take out their phone, and another student produced a blue tooth speaker. I had her look up 'War / No More Trouble' and recited the speech again along with Marley. I think the kids thought that was pretty cool too. With time winding down it seemed only fair that we take some selfies.

This class could have rejected me as an outsider (although they are far too polite for that). They could have simply gone through the motions (but they seemed genuinely interested). This was my first class, and they adopted me, bought in to me and supported me till the day I left Zarraga. When I got back to my hotel late that night, there were several Facebook messages on my phone. They all read something like, "Hi Sir Adam, I just want to tel you 2.7182818284590452353". And with that, I knew that i was going to be okay here at Zarraga (stay tuned for the going away presentation that the class made for me). They will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you Grade 12 STEM. Mahal ko kayong lagat.