TO MY DEAREST VE 011 STUDENTS

Hi guys! The trimester has almost ended. Despite the aching muscles and constant worries that I experienced during this first term of my teaching career, I will never trade having been one of the people who guided you on your first journey towards becoming full-pledged achievers and responsible citizens. It hasn't been easy guys. I have to be honest with you, as I think you were with me. Just like you, sometimes I felt like giving up. I was constanly wondering whether my students were getting the information they needed. Was I really pushing them to be their best? My greatest fear right now is having to fail some students. And I also don't know if I have enough stregnth to see through this. The spirit is strong, but sometimes the ephemeral body won't cooperate. But I have to hold on. Because I cannot preach what I don't practice. And as I want you to hold on to your dream as steadfastly as you could, inspite of the possible disappointments ahead, I'll try to do the same. I really believe that all of us is capable of greatness although there are limitations to what we can do at a single time. So even though I encourage you to do your very best, your health should always come first. Drink your vitamins, okay? And have enough rest. All the success you might achieve in the future will be useless if you won't be able to live to see it multiply, to see your success give birth to many more successes, perhaps through your future children or mentees.

You know what's the hardest thing for some teachers? It's having to fail students -- especially on their first year of teaching... But if we will merely let a student pass just because we pity him or her, we will be committing the same mistakes that the others before us did. All of us have to experience dying at some point in our lives, for us to be reborn and feel the rush of being able to breathe again.

I just want to thank you for at least going through this learning process with me. I was learning a lot as much as I hope you were. If in the future, it turns out that God has a different plan for me, perhaps through this blog, we can still keep in touch with each other. God bless! And I hope to bump against you in the future with contented smiles pasted on your faces which seem to say that, "Even if life isn't easy, I'm on the right track because my other hand is held by God."

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What you have to do for your blogs is show how values education has changed or improved you as a person. You can also illustrate there what you've become since you entered college. This is aside from the journal entries that you have not sumbitted to me... Take care!

Your last journal entry is supposed to be your reflection on relationships (between boyfriend and girlfriend or between friends). What lessons have you learned from your past experiences, if any? How do you make a relationship work? What advice can you give to people?

A short reminder: A person who really loves you will put your welfare first before his or hers. That person will also not lure you to destruction. Always make God the center of your lives. Don't make the same mistakes...