“A kiss in the hand”

It was a very tiring day and I am very exhausted. I have stayed at Davao City National High School for seven hours since 7:30 in the morning, and have observed five English classes already. Five English classes, with the same cooperating teacher, same topic, and same incredibly enthusiastic Grade 7 students of different sections – all of these roles make a student-teacher exhausted and drained at the end of the day. But this is not yet the entire reason for my exhaustion, because I still have to observe my last English class for the day, which will be at 3:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon.

            I entered the classroom with a frown on my face. My face is as heavy as my bag. The students greeted me “Good afternoon, Sir!” and I replied to them with a forced smile on my face. I thank God because my cooperating teacher used a different approach with this different set of students. He used storytelling to introduce the topic to the students, and I was entertained by it. After the storytelling, I also helped my cooperating teacher distribute the rating sheets. He allowed me to explain the directions of the test to the students. Somehow, my boredom is relieved. However, I am still tired. I cannot explain why such Grade 7 students were still enthusiastic this time of the day.

            When the bell rang, the students said good bye to my cooperating teacher, and they also said good bye to me, and I smiled at them. I noticed that some of the grade 7 students hugged my cooperating teacher.  How sweet of these young students to hug their English teacher, I thought. They must love their teacher very much. Ignoring the intimate moment between the students and my cooperating teacher, I went out of the room and waited for my cooperating teacher in the hallway instead. However, when I was about to leave the room, the students called me, took my right hand kissed it. One by one, they took turns in kissing my hand. I think there were five students who did that, and I was impressed.  It’s just that it was my first time to be kissed in the hand by the students.

            That very happy moment took away my tiredness. I felt like it was the start of the day again. Enthusiastically, with a smile on my face, I went out of DCNHS campus happy and blessed. As I rode a jeep back home, I eventually remembered what my parents told me about teachers not getting rich. Yes, indeed, teachers don’t get rich. But there is something that the teaching profession has that money cannot buy. That is, the love and respect you get from the students.