Grade 7

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June 4, 2012. First day of classes. New faces. Sleepy kids. Freshly pressed uniforms. The smell of National Bookstore everywhere. The sound of silence when you enter each room - hope they'd stay that way until March. Typical first day in big school. The stage where the students are no longer kids and not yet adults - very difficult stage.

My teaching load? I was assigned to teach the Grade 7 students (am I still in public school?). 5 sections of Grade 7 - the pioneers of the K-12 curriculum. 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon everyday. First thing I noticed was the class size - 40 to 45 students in each class. I thought I was in the wrong school. 

From 65 students, I'm down with 40 per class this year. Maybe because they opened two new sections. Or maybe because almost all of them were born in the year 2000 and the widespread of family planning took effect that time. Or maybe some were still enrolling at that time and maybe next week they will blow up to 60 per class again. Basta. The room felt empty (umaalog). I am so not used in that class size. I can hear my own voice bouncing from the four walls of the room. 

Getting to know stage. I specifically love the story of my students who came from the province. I have students from Samar, Bacolod, Cotabato, Bicol, Marinduque and provinces in Luzon. All of them were Manila first-timers. Some were very excited while some were sad that they had to leave their hometowns to stay with their relatives and somehow will have a "better" future here in Manila. I let them share to everyone their life in the countryside. A very good ice breaker.

I saw Bryan (my "favorite" student) and he's stuck in Second Year. He repeated the same year again. He should have been in the Fourth Year this year but it felt like hobby na niya ang mag-repeat. He still comes to me every now and then to let me know what's happening to him -  even personal stuff. 

Everything's the same except that this batch will spearhead the Dep.Ed's new curriculum. They have to finish 6 years of high school. I attended the seminar for a week and had a glimpse of what would happen in the next 6 years. The curriculum will have a spiral approach. Kindergarten will be a requirement to enter Grade 1. 

Grades 11 and 12 will still have the core subjects but it gives emphasis on the student's specialization; either Technical/Vocational, Arts and Sports, Entrepreneurship, etc. After finishing the basic education, the students are expected to be "employable". Should they wish to pursue their college education, they only need three years to finish it. Sounds good right? 

I don't see any wrong in all of this. It is a good curriculum. And some of the exclusive schools here in the country do have Grade 7 in their curriculum. My only concern here is the budget and the old problems of the system. Are there enough classrooms or buildings in every school? Do we have enough teachers that are national-paid and not contractual teachers like those employees in big malls? How many chairs are actually functional? How about the textbooks? And those schools who are still in three shifting basis? Can we first address the former issues before we move on with the grand scheme of things?

We have 4 more years to see the first batch of this curriculum to get into Grade 11. Is that enough? 4 years? On a very personal note; Can Secretary Luistro go and teach for 1 month in a public high school to actually experience what it feels like to be in our shoes? Just one month secretary. One whole month.