In recent events…

Yesterday, our Educ110 class met for the first time. Entitled The Teaching Profession, the teacher had us watch a teacher movie – Freedom Writers featuring a shockingly-thin Hillary Swank and, if I’m not mistaken, a pre-Gray’s Anatomy Patrick Dempsey (who I better remember from the late-90’s film With Honors) – but not before making us give answers to a few questions:

1. Why do you want to be a teacher?
2. What do you think the average citizen thinks of our school today?
3. How important do you believe teachers are to our society? Why?
4. What are the characteristics of the best teachers you’ve ever had?
5. How would you rate Filipino secondary teachers as a group?

The first question is asked endlessly in the College of Education, regardless of the subject. It’s cliché, I admit, and the answer is often cliché-er (“it’s a noble profession”, “to help the country”, blah-blah-blah”), unfortunately. Not wishing to become a statistical cliché myself, yet wanting to be honest, I opted for this answer: “I derive a great deal of personal pleasure and professional satisfaction from teaching – I cannot, for the life of me, imagine myself doing anything else.”

And I mean that, in case any of you are wondering.

After the movie, she gave us another set of questions to answer:

1. Do you still want to be a teacher?
2. Do you think you have the talent necessary to become a good teacher?
3. Are you willing to learn the necessary skills required of a good teacher?

In a fit of what some people here might call “suffocating hubris”  (I prefer to call it “overwhelming passion”), I just wrote down “yes” to every question (my handwriting got bigger with every “yes”), turned in my paper, and went home.

Teaching: it’s what I do.

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I auditioned for the university band this morning – the bulk of their ranks were graduating, so they needed “fresh meat”. I was probably past my expiration date, since I was the only fellow who showed up who was…well…old (I graduated from college five years ago. All the other auditionees were still within their first three years of college.)

I’ve done quite a bit of reading about auditions, since the orchestral life (in the States, at least) is rife with them, and they are taken very, very seriously (if you fail to win one, at some point, you will likely have to trade in your instrument – which you’ve been studying for more than a decade – for something else…like an office cubicle).

Well, there I was, surrounded by (for lack of a better term) kids who, if they were not showing-off to one another how well they could cop the latest tune from Paramore (AAUUGGHHH! EMO!!! RUN!!!), were busy worrying about how the next arrival would ruin their chances of winning a slot. Funny – I was in the exact same position some six years ago when I auditioned for conservatory.

The outgoing members of the band lined the well-equipped room and watched as their “leader” made me play the violin, then the bongos and the congas, then the bass guitar.

At this point, kindly postpone judgement and just let me be honest instead of PC: while the guy plays a mean guitar, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a college washout. I can’t explain it, but it was just there. Like ROTC officer-alumni who show-up on training days because that’s the only place where they could get a modicum of respect, this guy seemed to be there because…well…it was the only place where he could get a modicum of respect.

I could be wrong about the fellow, but that’s how it felt at the time. If I’m wrong, I would like to apologize in advance. If I’m right, well…it doesn’t matter anyway.

I bring this up because (and my students can attest to this) while I love music, and making music, and teaching music, I can’t see sacrificing one’s future for the apparent glamor of the stage (which is never as glamorous as MTV would like you to believe) as a profitable exchange. Get that college degree, make sure you’re qualified to take on a job that provides a steady, albeit modest, income, and then go, be a rockstar…if you can. Beware: few people make it…and most of them fizzle out after their first album.

I say this having witnessed numerous examples of skilled musicians who have grown old in “the business”, yet lead lives that border on pathetic. I just don’t believe music was meant for that.

But anyway. That’s my rant. Before I find myself eating my own words, I shall find something more productive to do.

Day 3

I am now into my third day of classes. For those of you who don’t know yet, I’ve decided to take-up the 34 units of Education classes required by the government before I can take the Licensure Exam for Teachers (henceforth to be known as the LET).

Having already graduated college, I am now classified as an SS (Special Student – which brings all sorts of weirdness to mind), and have been herded into a class where we are all a bunch of SS’s (that’s weirdness right there for you). As such, we have classes from Monday to Friday, but always from 4:30PM until 7:30PM. It makes for some very strange sleeping habits on my part.

So far, I’ve had, ahem: Guidance and Counseling, Growth and Develepment of the Individual (the context, of course, being education), and The Sociological Foundations of Education. Today, I will be attending Student Assessment and The Teaching Profession.

The teachers are okay, although one or two stand out from among the rest (I have four, so that might not really be saying anything significant). My classmates, being older, will talk…but I must confess that few really seem to want to be in school.

Fortunately, I’ve been reunited with my old friend Jerms from high school, and he’s one of the sharp ones, so we keep each other sane when classmates don’t seem to get what we’re saying (For example: the teacher asked, “Can anyone give an example of a Static Force in Society?”. I answered, “Laws.” and a classmate of mine disagreed, saying that laws change from place to place, society to society. I countered by saying that while the content of the law changes, the fact remains that any functional society must have laws. She didn’t get it, and so the exchange started to become heated until I realized I probably should just shut up.)

Impressions? Well, despite the late hours, I find I like going to class. The concepts (so far) are easy enough to understand. I don’t find them terribly interesting at the moment, but its still too-early to tell for certain. We shall see.

I’m aiming for 1.0’s, which is the highest grade a student can get. I’ve never aimed so high before. I wonder what happens when I do…

Version 2.0

*Looks around* I wonder if I have any readers left…

Well, regardless…

I have just (not even an hour has passed) uploaded the totally redesigned website of The Orchestra. Yes, after almost a month of neurotic pixel-pushing and by-the-hour redesigns, I’ve decided I need to get a life outside of code crunching.

That said, don’t think I am not proud of it – despite its imperfections, I am. Built from the ground up – no templates, no cheating, 100% hard-coded (none of that WYSIWYG-editor nonsense). I possess intimate knowledge regarding how the whole thing is put together: bone-structure, musculature, skin, clothes and all.

…and still I notice there’s something wrong. Oh well. Tomorrow, tomorrow.

Actually, that pretty much sums up my stay so far here in Iligan City. If I’m not infront of a computer cranking-out standards-compliant code or attending to my steadily-growing number of violin students (only on Saturdays) or attending class (Monday to Friday, 430PM – 730PM), you can find me perusing the little coffee shops that have proliferated here in the past year or so (Aruma’s Bannoffee Pie is mind-shattering…and so is the price), or at home, annoying the family cat.

Hmm…I suppose now would be a good time to work on that driver’s license.

Homebase jitters

Well, well, first post from the home city.

For those of you who don’t know, I recently took a year’s leave from work to finally get myself a teaching license. For this, I need to earn 34 credits worth of Education subjects at the revered university local to Iligan – the Iligan Institute of Technology (hereafter IIT).

After taking almost two weeks to reacclimateto the city (It’s waaaaay smaller than Manila) – and discovering that it is very difficult to get up at any time before 6AM – I am now knee-deep in the enrollment process which is slightly different from what I was used to from my days in the University of Philippines.

It’s a little odd, now that my main competitorfor internet use is my own dad, who has a complete monopoly on the thing (“Clear out – I’m going to use it!”) and so while I save up for a dektop unit that will blow you all out of the water, I must content myself with my mother’s netbook, typing this out on a tiny keyboard, the experience of which is not unlike trying to play a 1/4-size violin with hands of a violist.

In other news, I’ve succeeded in arranging Swift Horse, which is now online here, and I’ve learned quite a bit about importing brushes for use with Photoshop. In not so good news, well…I’m still looking for students. Oh well. One mission at a time.

Well, that’s about it for now. Expect more posts soon…with pictures…maybe.