#FEATURE | Part-time Student, Part-time Teacher
by Curt Tecson
After a long day at work, people would normally rest and relax. But for teachers and students, this would be the time they would be doing schoolwork and preparing for their upcoming deadlines and requirements.
However, teachers who are part-time students have to study and work at the same time in order to do what is expected of them.
A handful of teachers in Pisay are currently studying in universities. While enduring the workload of their duties as teachers, they also have to work hard to do well in their studies.
Reasons to study while teaching
Teachers in Pisay aren’t actually required to have a course in education to teach in Pisay. While it isn’t compulsory, teachers are encouraged to further their studies, in order for them to be more knowledgeable and be updated on the latest information on the subject they teach.
But why would they willingly study again, despite knowing how stressful it is?
Sir Erin dela Cruz of the Social Science Unit had taken a course in BA History before teaching and is currently taking his Master’s in Education.
“I chose to study while teaching because I want to better myself as an educator,” stated Sir Erin. “It’s different, a historian who isn’t a teacher and a historian who is a teacher, teaching entails you to have a different added set of skills.”
Sir Edwin del Rosario of the English Unit shared a similar reason, “Of course, I want to continue my education. I believe as teachers, it doesn’t stop when you graduate from your undergraduate degree. Ayoko rin kasing ma-limit yung sarili ko with the undergraduate degree that I have so I want to expand my knowledge by enrolling in a graduate degree.”
Sir Edwin is currently taking up Master of Arts in Araling Filipino while his undergraduate degree was Bachelor of Secondary Education, Major in English and Minor in Filipino.
Sir Paolo Apolinario of the Math Unit, who is currently taking a Master’s in Education, said, “Well, gusto ko naman talaga mag-grow professionally, atsaka iba pa rin na kapag teacher ka tapos may educ[ation] background, iba pa rin ang dating nun.”
Sir Mark Tarcelo of the Computer Science Unit, on the other hand said that he taught primarily to support himself. “I need some way to be able to pay for graduate school and it’s not like I could just stop working because I need to pay the bills, so there’s not much choice for me.”
Struggles as a teacher and part-time student
We all have our own shares of troubles as students; projects, homeworks, and different requirements are all part of our daily lives as students. It’s no different with teachers who are part-time students. When asked about the different problems they encounter, the teachers all had similar answers.
“Kapag may requirement na mahirap dun sa subject ko, then I have my normal workload, of course, kailangan ng time management dun tapos ayusin yung priorities tapos you have to make sacrifices sa weekends,” stated Sir Pao. “On top of your normal workload, nandun rin yung workload mo sa school. Normally, nawawalan ako ng social life kapag regular semester sa UP.”
“This year, I’m working on my thesis. I am having quite a difficult time juggling my time here [in Pisay] and time for my thesis,” said Sir Erin. “Supposedly I should have finished my thesis this month but because of the many activities our school has, I would prioritize [my work more] that sets aside my thesis work and because of that, the pace for my thesis has been delayed,” he explained.
Sir Edwin also has a similar problem. “I’m a teacher, so I have full-time work, I’m a student so I’m studying for lessons and topics that we will be discussing. And siyempre, I need to have a life outside of my work and school din. So it’s somehow difficult to juggle all those responsibilities.”
“At the moment, my schedule is not very compatible with my studies, because the classes that I have to take are during the day unlike the normal masters classes which are in the evening. It’s hard to schedule things that are compatible with my work,” stated Sir Tarcelo.
Time Management
Being a teacher isn’t easy and neither is being a student, but being both at the same time can cause a lot of problems. It‘s very stressful and it gets difficult to handle everything at once so a student-teacher must be able to manage their time very well. Teachers then manage their time properly in various ways.
Sir Erin listed down things he has to do and puts them on his mind.
“I get to balance my day, my work, by listing down the things I should be doing for that particular day. If I fail to list them down, that’s just fine; I still have option B, and my option B is to put everything on my mind,” elaborated Sir Erin. “The mental notes are still here and they keep me guided on the things I have to finish. These are the things you have to accomplish and you have to make sure that you accomplish them.”
Sir Edwin can’t really multitask since he finds it counterproductive, so he does things one at a time.
“What I usually do is I do one task at a time. I have a checklist, a to-do list, with me so I list down everything that I have to do and then after that I do one task a time,” explained Sir Edwin. “So kunwari nagsabay-sabay sila so work muna, check requirements, or do lesson planning and once I’m done with that I proceed to the next task.”
Sir Tarcelo tries staying as organized as possible managing his time.
“I try to compartmentalize, so whenever I’m here I try to work on school stuff and whenever I’m at Ateneo, I work on Ateneo stuff,“ said Sir Tarcelo. “Naka-plot din yung time ko, so on these days I can work on my projects in school and on these days I can check some assignments”
Sir Pao manages his time by preparing in advance.
“During the weekend, pine-prepare ko na at least three meetings for the entire schoolweek, tapos depende na lang sa pace ko kung kailangan ko pang magdagdag or magbawas or kailangan kong i-adjust yung pace, so kung meron pang requirement sa subject ko sa graduate school, papatong pa yun,” said Sir Pao.
Handling Stress
Being a student is already as stressful as it is, doing requirements, studying for exams, and everything else a student does. Being a teacher is also stressful, with having to compute grades and discussing lessons in class, among others.
A student-teacher handles all this stress in addition to other stressors. So how do they manage their stress? What keeps them going?
On the other hand, Sir Pao doesn’t find it that stressful.
“Well yung sa akin kasi, choice ko naman mag-aral so hindi siya necessarily stressful; na-eenjoy ko siya kumbaga. Of course hindi pa rin maiiwasan na kunwari may bigla kang paper na nakaka-stress o may requirement kang hinding inaasahan na ganito pala kahirap gawin o i-execute,” said Sir Pao. ”Lagi ko lang iniisip na ginusto ko ‘to; choice ko ‘to, I can stop anytime. Ginagamit ko na motivation na gusto ko rin naman ‘to.”
Sir Edwin reduces his stress by implementing what he has planned.
“Believe it or not, nababawasan yung stress level ko once I teach already, because even though preparing for my lessons or doing my powerpoint or thinking of activities for my class, it’s quite stressful. Once I already implement them, mas na-rerelieve yung stress ko kasi finally, after the tedious planning, na-implement ko siya,” said Sir Edwin.
Sir Erin relieves his stress by having some company and eating.
“Normally I hang out with friends, oftentimes it is my friends that I am with, and they make me feel somehow relaxed because of the conversations that we share. And food. I believe in the concept of comfort food so that’s why I’m gaining weight,” joked sir Erin.
Sir Tarcelo separates his work from his free time and motivates himself by saying that it won’t last forever.
“I have down time, it’s not a lot. But I try to keep it separate from any work I have to do” said Sir Tarcelo. “I have to recognize that it is something that I have to work through and it’s not something that’ll be happening forever. As long as I do my work well, I won’t have any more stress than necessary.”
Being a teacher while being a student is very stressful and it surely isn’t easy. Our very own faculty consists of a lot of these kinds of people and they are surely having a tough time organizing everything in their life.
So, we should try to do our best and learn from these teachers. These teachers somehow manage to juggle all their responsibilities and are willing to better themselves for the students’ and themselves. Despite all their hardships, they still pull through and keep on going. Just as they keep persisting, we should learn to be like them and learn how to stay tough through all the difficulties as well and apply what they do to manage their in our own lives.
DISCLAIMER: This article was written last S.Y.(S.Y. 2018–2019)
