Catechesis is my Inheritance

I attended a baptism of one of our teacher’s daughter since I was chosen as a godfather. Aside from the parents, the godparents has a role to play in forming the faith of the child. It matters how we “pass on” the faith to the young ones and it’s not just during Christmas season that we become Santa Claus-like to these little ones. It is a life-long responsibility especially that these children are still children. It can be shown in simple ways such as praying first before our meals.

I remember witnessing my nephew who said the grace when he was still five years old. It was cute and evangelizing even for adults like my sisters and brothers. A catechized child also plays a role in inspiring adults to keep the faith especially those who have lapsed or became nominal Catholics.

Now, I am an uncle to the newest addition to our family, a baby boy named Justise. He was born in the last week of October so go figure out how he was named like that. I haven’t seen him personally but I have the chance to see him next week before Christmas.

I am contended with seeing my sibling’s children. I love children. When I see them pray, though their faith is simple and innocent, I envy them in a good way. I am invited to be like these little ones, to have a child-like faith to our Father.

I know I am not married and not planning to since I’m consecrated so contributing to the gene pool is out of the equation. My inheritance wouldn’t be biological; it is spiritual. Catechesis is my inheritance. It’s not really mine; it’s about the One who, too, became “little” and His love for all of us. I’ll just pass it on. I just hope I am doing what I am supposed to do. And if not, then I’ll just keep trying and pass it on again. That is my inheritance.

And you? What is your inheritance?

Background Song: Inheritance by Jon Foreman

via Daily Prompt: Inheritance

Education for life (A Morning conversation)

This morning meal, we talked about education in the Philippines and in other countries with topics such as alternative learning system, giving assignments and examinations, and play. Our current Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones has in her agenda the alternative learning system. This is encouraging to some students in our country since not all students are geared towards formal education and not every high school graduates are suited to enter college.

Currently, if the cumulative grade of a student reaches 60, the student is given a passing grade of 75. It seems that this move of the previous secretary Br. Luistro Armin, a La Sallian Brother, is geared towards mass promotion of the students so they can graduate in high school.

Though I know it’s important to focus on our high school students (since our country is dominated by the millennial population with a median age of 23 years old), I hope that educators and lawmakers would consider the program we give to our children below 10 years old. Like in Finland and Japan, they tweaked their preschool and primary level with lots of play and exploration for kids and no assignments and examinations.

For parents, I hope that they wouldn’t spoil their kids by giving them smartphones and tablets at an early age so kids can enjoy their childhood outdoors and with their playmates.

How about you, what do you think about your country’s education?

Children’s idea of fun today

This semester, I’m currently assigned to a class in the 5th year level but as a requirement for our 7th activity sheet of our Field Study class, I needed to go back to the 1st grade class that I’ve observed last semester.

Comparing both these classes in terms of the children’s behavior, I noticed that the lower the year level that a teacher handles, the harder it is to keep up proper class management. Applying Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, they differ a lot because the grade one students are in the Preoperational Stage while the grade five pupils are already under the Formal Operational Stage.

Due to the grade one pupils’ active and playful nature, it will be harder for a teacher to handle them compared to the grade five students. But despite of the hardships that a teacher encounters in disciplining these kids, I think it’s a fun experience since the teacher is teaching with simple-minded learners whose main priority in life is to play. Going back with my observation experience with the grade one class last semester, I scribbled a lot in my notebook because of a thousand flashbacks about my childhood memories. Whenever I do that, there’s a bittersweet bouts of nostalgia sinking in me when I recall the days of my schooling in elementary, which was more than a decade ago. Continue reading →