Recipes for Joyfulness at School

Learning is a superpower. Muddling through my students' strengths, needs and interests throughout my day to day life has taught me how pivotal it is to  come back to my inner journey, the first step to soul retrieval. I mean it half-figuratively. The sights, sounds, smells, and textures of kids -magical creatures- predominantly show unconditional love. They don't stop showing in our classes even though they have been given homework, tests, challenges, even madness. WELL, IT'S A SCHOOL.  But, as an educator, I would love to call such presence a symbol of faithfulness, more than mundane activities. My students, thus, teach me the world. They teach me these. 1. You Can Dissolve Fears.   When kids are legitimately terrified, they are just traveling along as they should be. And, what's so lucky about it, they are not alone. They've got favourite friends they can count on. Such relationship and connection are what make fears dissolved naturally, incrementally....

Won a gold medal of the En glish teacher presenter in Bandung. With my colleagues trained the kids and won twenty trophies and more. The finalist of teacher poetry reading competition. Appointed as the vice principle of public relation. Organized the first SKY coffee break t o bridge better communication between parents a nd school . Strove to be a reliable official host of school events. Got a new classroom. I nvited guest teachers from the Netherlands, the UK, the Philippines, and Japan to my classes ! Fell in love. Fell out of love. Fell in love again . 2017 has been both awakening and unnerving. There were moments I cheered my class or when I worked from Monday to Sunday relentlessly for the success of the school programs. But, the harder I tried, at the end of the day, the worse I lost the balance. And so, often did I forget how to tell groovy stories which made me speak a hail of bad words, blaming myself for the absurdity and the feeling of not enough - not yet perfec...

...that hugs and high-fives from the first graders keep you afloat on a markedly hard-hitting day. ….that writing thank-you letters and asking the school janitor to deliver the letters is one of the undercover ways to teach first graders how to correctly spell Sunshine – your nickname. ….that intuitively paying the bill of a stranger for no good reason makes you feel strangely good. ….that when you chronically do not resonate with your co-worker’s ideas, breathe more slowly and don’t rush giving a response. Take your time.    …that despite you’re clueless of the local language, but if you’re determined enough, you can still teach kids how to interpret every utterance of that language into correct gestures and facial expressions - as long as you do not let your patience wear thin. …that the more you LOL with your students, the more harmonious learning pace flows in the class. …that to honour a performer, beyond doubt, you can always count on sixth grader...