it has been two months since the new school year started...i'm still trying to cope-up with the demands of my work and with the expectations of my superiors...it's a very tough environment...papers here, papers there, papers everywhere...i see a lot of papers...meetings here, meetings there, meetings everywhere...i attend a lot of meetings.
before the school year started, i was a bit nervous as i entered this new school...it's not easy to adjust to an entirely new culture...i didn't know whether i'd be handling physics, chemistry, or integrated science. my superior knew that i'd prefer physics and integrated science than chemistry...hehehe...it's not that chemistry is hard but the general perception of students about the subject is just too much that it seems insurmountable...about two weeks before the school year started, i received my teaching load...lo and behold, i received chemistry and integrated science...whaaaat?...chemistry???...i started asking my superior why i was given that load and she explained the reasons why i was given that...all the reasons were valid and i had to accept it with an open heart.
chemistry is a very beautiful subject for me. i enjoyed it when i was still in college...it's a "challenging" subject that will require a student to think outside the box, to visualize what seems to be a very vague picture of chemical combination, and to imagine sub-atomic particles...i had fun while i was taking it up as a student...i learned a lot from my instructors...chemistry was their cup of tea...the only daunting task of a chemistry teacher is the removal of students' negative perceptions toward the subject...i've felt these perceptions during my two-month stay as a substitute teacher in math.
how do i remove these perceptions toward chemistry? how will i deliver chemistry in a way that is understandable even to the least science-oriented student that i have? i have to admit that answering these questions are quite hard for me especially with my preference of giving thought-provoking questions to my students...i just can't bargain the quality of education that my students will get from me...i want my students to be at par with students from science high schools.
i remember a student of mine whom i tutored for a month about chemistry. she comes from an exclusive school for girls here in cebu. when she came to me about chem, her lessons were about stoichiometry - part of chemistry that deals with numerical information that can be taken from balanced chemical equations. in short, it's the highly mathematical part of chemistry...what struck me most about their lesson is that the examples and questions given to them were similar to the kind of questions that i encountered when i was in college...it's "hard-core" stoichiometry...the kind of lesson that puzzles most students in chemistry. a lesson that would require high analytical skills from the student. i was deeply challenged by their lesson so i accepted her...she was an extraordinary student who had the willingness to learn beyond what is expected of her. i enjoyed being her tutor but most of all i enjoyed the topics i taught her! i wish i could also do the same for the students that i have right now although i think it will be hard, very hard...
when the school year started, i was assigned to handle two sections in grade 9 and two sections in grade 7. my grade 9 students have intriguingly peculiar personalities...most of them, i feel, loathe chemistry...so the challenge is even greater...on the other hand, my grade 7 students are in the adjustment part as they are still new in high school...the two grade 7 classes are working like snails especially in the mathematical aspect of integrated science. hopefully, i can still change that...hopefully, we can level-up expectations....
