I am Lucili Pis-an, from the Philippines and living in the Visayas region, Negros Oriental province. I am a public high school teacher in one of the schools in the province having more than 4,000 population. Before, I landed on this job, I was able to work for 10 years as a high school Guidance Counselor and also had 2 years of experience teaching kindergarten pupils. Both jobs were in private schools. In my country, a public school is government operated and without the paying of fees. Compared to a private school, the population is less than a thousand because there is a tuition pay that you have to pay.
My experiences with both jobs were contributors of how I deal with my students now. Added on it, is my undergraduate degree in Psychology and the units I earned in Education. Dealing with both age group is different. You can easily build trust with a kindergarten pupil while with the high schoolers, you have to establish a rapport first before they will give their trust and confidence in you. Parents of the kindergarten pupils sometimes will not give their full trust and has to stay in school to watch over their kids while in the high schoolers, a week or two is enough for them to make sure their kids are well taken cared of by the teachers.
Behaviors in both age group is also different. You can easily please a little child by just talking to him about his behavior and correcting his flaws. They can easily make amends with each other and with a snap of a finger, he would easily comply to what you expect him to behave. Unlike with the high schoolers, dealing with a student with behavioral problems would take time. You have to show them the much attention they need before they will rightfully oblige to how you want him to behave. Behavior modification with the high schoolers takes time. You have to have patience and understanding on how it should be dealt with.
With the human rights law on child abuse, every teacher should think first on how to deal with such matters and to never cross the line. You have to also love what you are doing so that the passion of doing your job is always there to keep you going and be the best in your craft.
Yours, Lucili Pis-an,
High school teacher, Philippines
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