This is a testimony of one of those pupils who were taught to READ by Miss Deg-awan.
According to this man, it was 1991 when he went to Antadao Elementary School. And Miss Luisa Deg-awan patiently taught him to read. What he could not do for one year under the guidance of her former teacher at the school where he came from, he achieved it in one week at AES. All because a great teacher named Miss Deg-awan motivated him that he could read and challenged him to work harder to learn to read.
That’s simple, right? Wrong!
What makes his testimony interesting for me to listen to and taught of sharing here was before he transferred to Antadao, Sagada to study, he attended primary school here at San Vicente Elementary School, Baguio city(BCNHS- ANNEX).
At the end of school year at San Vicente Elementary School, he couldn’t read at all. Interestingly, their teacher was not lazy, in fact, she was very diligent in trying to teach her pupils to be able to read.
What is the DIFFERENCE?
His former teacher was, according to him, a “TERROR.” The word is how we kids in the past describe a teacher who were uncaring. I don’t know if there is a modernized and more technical term for a terror teacher today,
During times she teach them to read, she bangs their heads in the blackboard and called them “Tabbed” (Dumb) and even told them they were hopeless .
The story came about when we were talking about forgetfulness. During the exchanges, he said his forgetfulness came back. As a kid, he said he could easily forget things that is why their teacher was so angry when he could not remember the words her teacher just read for him to repeat.
He said, the teacher would read the few words she wrote on the blackboard and he will repeat after her. But whenever she would let him repeat reading the words alone, he already forgotten what was it which often prompted the teacher to get angry and all of a sudden hit his head on the blackboard.
However, when he went to Sagada he said his memory became sharp under the guidance of Miss Deg-awan.
But now, at the age of 30+ he sometimes forgets things easily, and he believes, that because he often fall and sometimes hit his head first on the ground. In addition to it, it must have been aggravated by his former teacher’s banging his head on the blackboard.
I joked he go home to Sagada, he might recover his sharp memory again.
Anyway, the point of this story is what a teacher CAN DO to a kid.
There are a lot of teachers there teaching for the sake of having a source of food, and only few are teaching for the passion of teaching.
And I believe, DepEd must make it a requirement for each aspiring teacher to get a supposedly “Dumb” kid and bring out the best of him as requirement for getting a license to teach. True, a teacher can be the topnotch of an examination to become a teacher but it doesn’t mean he or she is passionate about teaching. I know, because whenever we were asked why are you taking this course? Because it is the most employable profession. Remember nursing course in the 80s and 90s?
By the way, who were pupils or students of Miss Deg-awan during her time as teacher. Maybe, unknowingly, you owe her why you could read. It is not because you are intelligent.
Maybe it is high time to say thank you to her. Because if it is not through her talent in teaching you were found to be dumb like what happened to this friend of mine.
Teachers’ day was just celebrated a few days ago, but for great teachers I love to say “Happy Teachers’ day every day.”
May you be blessed with more patience to teach because under your wings this world’s future is determined by the potentials you brought out of the kids you taught. Stories like this made me believe the saying “Teaching is the noblest profession.”
Lastly: I will not divulge the name of the terror teacher. According to my friend she retired long ago and don’t know if she is still alive or not.
