-http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/205957/why-students-need-to-learn-about-the-arts and http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/97499/you-can%E2%80%99t-improve-what-you-can%E2%80%99t-measure
These articles are significant not only because I find them worth sharing to my students, but also because the author happens to be my professor in UP -- the only one I've had during my meaningful stint as a student in the country's one of the best, if not the best universities.
Yep, I took all my twelve units under her class (6 per semester), and if you're from UP College of Education, you would know that Dr Koo is toxic -- requirements wise.... four reaction papers (5 pages the least), 1 research paper, 1 oral and written report, 1 narrative are not easy tasks to juggle with -- that's more than fifty pages all in all! and since I was taking two classes under her -- that's just twice as hard! Whenever my classmates learn that i'm taking two classes with her, they would tell me -- "what?!", I will just respond with a smile...and tell them... yeah..
But it was fun. Really. Modesty aside, I think I aced all my classes... and I shall give due credits to her... clearly, the educational psychology expert has really stretched out the motivational fibers in me...Her classes were a mental feasts--in a light, smooth sailing way...it was like conversing and sharing with each other about technical terms on educational psychology, and before I knew it...classes were over...when I do a mental rundown on what transpired... I would realize there's so much I had learned..... Basically, I have learned to like reading journals, and critiquing, and analyzing researches... I was always on the lookout for free downloadable entries or articles from sage, eric, and ebsco.. I would download all of them like panic-buying before the duration expires, and thinking that one or most of them might land on my future "RRL". The habit of reading research articles, and searching for what could be its "research gap" may sound geeky to some, but I enjoyed it like eating ice cream. The way my professor handled all our classes totally invalidate all the scary, crazy stuffs I heard about UP before. She was very professional, too! In the beginning of the semester, she gives you an idea of what to expect for the coming days -- the lessons, the dates when requirements are due, the "no-classes" day within the semester -- and they were followed strictly. She returns papers right on time, complete with notations, commendations, and recommendations!
That's why, even if studying on my own expense, and on top of my work load was a bit difficult -- schedule and tasks wise, it was fine with me, I was having fun, and I know it was worth my every penny.
And so there are times when I tend to miss Thursdays -- when I will have to ride a bus going to Magallanes, have a quick grab of something to eat before riding the MRT going to Quezon Ave, ride a jeepney to UP, or when I'm already late, take a taxi which would cost me around seventy to 100 Php. Room 205, Benitez Hall -- that's where I'd be from two thirty pm to eight thirty pm...while I enjoy the mental feast, I was also hoping every time that the class would end rather early.... by eight or eight thirty, I'd be hurrying down the stairs, ride the jeepney to Philcoa, ride a bus to Kamuning, and if i'm lucky I will be able to catch the nine pm bus just about to leave to balibago... but some nights, I'd be so unlucky, I will have to wait till the ten pm bus gathers enough passengers before it leaves. That means, I'd be in AUP by twelve midnight.
When I recall about it now, I cannot imagine how I endured, and survived everything.
Unfortunately <but not bitterly>... my pursuit for post graduate studies had to be postponed indefinitely...I am still hoping I will finish what I had started, I don't know when... but some dreams have to be put to the side lines to focus on more important things... things I cannot afford to give up...things I will not dare miss!
No comments:
Post a Comment