However, I was somehow saddened because I felt like only few remembered the class they called their own, that feeling gave me an idea that what's happening right now is normal, because they will be meeting new friends and classmates with their new section, which they will call their family as they move along their last year of stay in the school. That instance made me realize that I also need to start detaching myself from this group because I will be having a new set of students whom I will also consider my family, moving on to the idea that I must not look for another Tripor-like section because my new advisory class will never be like “MY TRIPOR”, the best thing that ever happened to my teaching career so far, I’m sure no one among them knows about this thing.
Feeling the moment of silence around me, I suddenly remembered my blog about being a class adviser and assessed myself if I succeeded in that challenge. So I opened my blog site, and found my year-long post:
Saturday, May 22, 2010 – AN ADVISER TO BE
"Am I really deserving to be an adviser?"
Luckily, these third year students were my previous students for two consecutive years, so somehow, I know some things about them that could help me on how to deal with them.
Source: http://orlhan.blogspot.com/2010/05/adviser-to-be.html
After reading the blog I posted a year ago, I asked myself… “Was I an effective adviser to my Tripor family?” Then I reflected on that question and I suddenly thought of my year-long experience with them, and so somehow, I was able to answer my year-long challenge to myself.
Everyone in 3-4 knows that they were not supposed to be my advisory class, however, God worked silently and I was suddenly assigned to their group, which at first made me feel worried because I never knew the composition in this section, however, as time pass by… little by little, day by day… I just see myself enjoying the company of 3-4 class, which they eventually named “Tripor”.
Indeed, I'm grateful for having Tripor as my first advisory class in Assumpta, and very much thankful because God gave me the best section that I could ever have for my advisory class. There were times that I felt so helpless, disappointed and discouraged because of so many conflicts we experienced – simple misunderstandings within us and within sections, unhealthy competitions brought by insecurities, school violations they never realized they did, and teacher relationships which made them feel troubled. However, after all those heartaches, still, the best side of Tripor family came out – six of them are consistent parts of the overall ranking, fixed every conflict at their very best effort, helped each other change for the better, and definitely learned to love each other despite their differences – and those were the reasons why I really felt the lightness in my heart when I was still journeying with my Tripor family. I’m glad they lived the statement I was always telling them: “You may not be the best, but what’s important is you are doing your best!”
But wait, there’s more! Even for the very last day of their meeting as a class before cards out, still a conflict arose. I never realized that they felt like I was playing favoritism with one of their male classmate, because they saw me always talking and laughing with him, and also gave his group too much consideration in their class requirement, and the like. Without knowing that this classmate of theirs expressed the need of my companion for those down moments he was then experiencing, and that the consideration they were talking about was the littlest score I gave for the effort, too far from the regular score I generally gave. Settling the conflict, I just learned that they also wanted same opportunity to be with me, which made me felt glad and teary-eyed afterwards. Then we ended our school year happily.
Indeed, my one school year of being a class adviser of Tripor was a great experience to be considered... In times of conflicts, behavioral problems and jealousies, moments of bonding and laughter, sharing personal experiences and feelings, kwentuhan moments, and the like... All made my 2010–2011 experience a great one...
With all these experiences with my family, I can proudly say that I succeeded in my challenge, which was to become an effective class adviser, and that was realized because of the help of all my sons, daughters, brothers and sisters in our Tripor family. So now, I am confident that their 4th year life next school year would be better because they learned to become better persons at their best in their journey with me.
I would like to extend my deepest thanks to every member of the tripor family, because they made me who I am now as a class adviser. Rest assured, that each of them is kept inside my heart and mind, no matter how great my next advisory will be, no matter how many students will come after them, and no matter how old and far they will be in time…
THEY WILL STILL BE THEFIRST BEST CLASS FAMILY
I HAD IN MY TEACHING LIFE.
My TRI-FOURever family
will never be forgotten.
