When I was still a student, I always dread the first day of school. I was socially awkward before and I don't know how to approach my peers as well as my teachers. I also hate the get-to-know-everyone part where I have to repeatedly introduce myself but at the end of the day everyone will still forget my name and I have to go through the same process the next day.
But those are my feelings as a student. Now that it's my first day at school as a teacher, it's a mixed emotion, but contrary to what I felt as a student, I didn't dread my first day. I was excited instead. I was excited because I've been waiting for this moment for more than a year. If the pandemic didn't happen, I would've been teaching for a while now. Well, I don't wish to dwell in those what-if's now.
My first day at school as a teacher was exciting, chaotic, tiring and fun! See it's a mixed emotion.
I started my day upon waking up at 4:30 a.m., don't get me wrong I didn't wake up early just because I'm excited. This is my normal time of waking up. I did my morning routine and wrote and published an article on read.cash first. At 6:00 a.m. as soon as I ppu lished my article my mom is already nagging me to hurry up because I'll be late. The truth is I don't know what time I should go to school since there is no regular classes.
Travelling from home to my workplace takes more than an hour since it is located at the coastal area.
We departed at 8:00 a.m. and my parents looks more excited than me. They didn't even sent me to school during my first day in grade 1, but on my first day as a teacher they are both sending me off. I think that is weird and embarrassing that at my age, my parents are both sending me off, so when the principal and my co-teachers asked me how I get there and how am I going to go home in the afternoon since there'll be no more public mode of transportation beyond 2:30 p.m., I simply told them that my dad is waiting outside.
This is what the road looks like. It's dangerous because there's a landslide here from time to time so there is always a need to repair the road. It has always been like this since then.
Aside from the dangerous road, I also saw a lot of slogans on the roadside saying: 'NPA Tama Na, Sobra Na' and 'NPA Salot Sa Lipunan'. This is more dangerous than the roads. There's a lot of members of the New People's army dwelling in this town and they extort money from everyone - from vendors to professionals. This is the reason why my parents doesn't want me to travel alone and my dad didn't allow me as well to live alone at our house located in this town. Because those members of the NPA might come after me and ask for money. This is not just a rumor, this is a true story. We know this will happen because my cousin's wife who was a newly hired teacher and was assigned on one of the barangays here experienced the same thing. The rebels asked for Php. 20,000 ($421) from her and she had to give them that amount the following day after they asked for the money so they can spare her life. This is just one of the many similar experiences. And I'm afraid it will happen to me as well if I don't take some precautionary measures.
Going back to my first day as school, I arrived at the school past 9:00 a.m. and I was surprised that there's a lot of people there - from pupils to parents and teachers! The school has two campuses and as soon as I get out of my dad's tricycle, I asked a parent for directions. She led me to the principal's office. The principal hasn't arrived yet. The other grade 3 teachers warmly welcomed me as a new member of the team.
The principal arrived few minutes after me and she was too loud and happy to see me - because she's my professor back in college! It was chaotic at her office because there are wires that sparked and had the risk of causing a fire, so everyone in the office were screaming and running. It was resolved few moments later.
I was oriented by the principal and she also introduced me to every teacher who comes inside her office.
From 10 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. I just stayed at the grade 1 room because my room is still under repair. I just sat at the corner and watched the other teachers do their job while parents and students are coming in and out to get their 'feeding supplies', cards and sign some papers. Everyone is too busy while I was just sitting there and posting noise on noise.cash, it was too boring.
At 11:00 a.m., I was told by the grade 3 grade level chairman to go and take my lunch. My parents are waiting for me outside the school.
The school is located near the sea, so we ate our lunch near the beach. We stayed there until 12:30 and it was indeed refreshing. My dad even swam for a few minutes. I thought I should bring a swimwear next time so that I can also take a swim during lunch time. 😂
I went back to school before 1 p.m. but the rooms and the principal's office is still closed so I just stayed at the shed near the gate and took some photos of the school grounds.
When the teachers finally arrived, we chatted for a while then everyone went to their respective classrooms.
I just can't sit there and do nothing so I asked one of the grade 3 teachers if there's something I can do because I'm already bored from sitting and doing nothing while they are all busy with stuffs. So she introduced me to one of the teachers in grade 3 who is a Master Teacher and in charge of the curriculum development team. I was asked to sort out the test papers from school year 2017-2020. I thought it's just a piece of cake, but it's not. It's too complicated and tiring. We are doing it for the school validation that will be conducted next week.
My first day ended like this. The teachers of the Elementary school where I am assigned danced Zumba and this is the first time in a while that I danced again. Next week, I'll be one of the leaders for the Zumba and I am quite nervous because I don't know how to dance. 🙀
Wow ma'am