It’s October 05, 2021, global teacher’s day, I had thought of writing down my experience of teaching during my younger engineering days. My mom was an elementary teacher in a remote province in Lanao del Norte. Kolambugan Elementary school to be exact is just a few blocks away from our ancestral home in the same area. She teaches grade 3 and 4 young students. I go with her Tuesdays and Fridays since we don’t have a nanny. If my aunties can’t attend to me I have to be with my mom. I try not to be a burden to my mom during her teaching period the whole morning. Keep quiet in on the small table provided. Early on I had an idea how a class and students behave, most of the time noise and laughter fill the room. My mom will tell stories to the class to get their attention, once all are settled then formal lessons begin. Students become silent and concentrate on the blackboard notes, copying them to their notebooks. It was a science class, which was also caught my attention. My mom teaches math, science, and social studies as I remember. There was even a time my mom asked me to recite Filipino sentences since all students were ashamed to speak Tagalog. The vernacular language in Lanao del Norte was Cebuano, they don’t want to speak Tagalog. Being 5 years old at that time and a bit talkative, I was the perfect fit for the role. It was also my first experience talking on the stage in a classroom. I kind of like it, I never knew that It was just the start of my journey to unlock one of the gifts given to me.
During my elementary days in Don Bosco Mandaluyong (1977 to 1983). We always had a presence in the various subject as a group. I would always be appointed to present the team result, no problem with me. And we always wanted to pass with flying colors, presentation was a key part of our grades. During those times we use manila paper, a brownish huge paper which we would right on using pentel pen or markers it was a lot of work. Then our group had a brilliant idea, we made a cartoon TV set and a roller and put our manila paper inside. Now, that caught the attention of our classmates and teacher. That was a cool invention which we will never forget. Since then a lot of classmates copied it, we should have patented it . We got the best grade for that Social Studies class ever. We got the respect of our classmates and teachers from that time on. A predecessor of windows and PowerPoint? Not really, just a cool idea from the group.
It again happened during my High School and College days. The most memorable presentation in college was the explanation of the superheterodyne receiver. We were having difficulty in the flow of the power, we consulted an older friend in college to help explain this type of receiver. Took good notes and delivered them to the class, my instructor told me during the class to apply as a junior instructor after graduation.
The last segment of my school presentation was our microwave design, it was critical to pass the subject since our quizzes were not of good standing. If we manage to present well, we can be assured of a better grade. We prepared well and made the best visual aid for the whole class and the panel of ECE graduates of our school. Answered all the questions properly with design specifications and key performance indicators. We got a good mark for that project, we succeeded in that aspect.
Then in the year 1997, I was exploring the opportunity to do part-time teaching at school. I did apply at my former school but there was no vacancy. I did look around nearby schools in Manila and QC. Not long I got an interview with PSTC a Tech-Vocational school for Electronics, IT, and Telecom short-term courses. The interview was good, then performed a teaching demo for the panel of head instructors and got a good mark for that session.
I was assigned to teach at Cubao, at the Maya Theater Building. My subject was Electronics 1 – Fundamentals, course module was to give the basic knowledge on how to identify electronics devices, tools, and design. For both theory and laboratory subjects, it was 3 times a week with two hours’ class time. It was cool, plus it provided additional income for me and my immediate family. It gave me exposure and confidence in delivering course modules and explain to young students. Hoping that this knowledge can give them a better future and better-paying jobs. Who were my students? Young working-class people, those in the morning work at SM and Robinsons Department stores. Installers and warehouse technicians, baggers, and merchandisers. Their quest for knowledge became my inspiration to push harder, make my lessons easy to understand, and free Xerox documents J.
Then when I got to work for a Multi-National Corporation after a year my HR told me to stop teaching, since as an RF engineer I will travel Globally as part of the organization. This made me sad to tell my co-teachers that I had to leave the school. However, I was an internal Trainor for our company from time to time.
After my early retirement from the company, there was an offer to become a Sales Engineer and perform the task which is related to Product presentation. Training presentation and product demonstration to customers. This was a fresh and passionate job description for me, I liked it a lot. I did this for 3 years and generated sales until the company was sold to a new owner. This made me look for another company, this time Project Management, and Implementation were the main focus. Still on the side was presenting to customers about our services. Personally looked at the opportunities with the digital or internet side of technology. There was the opportunity of conducting webinars both marketing and paid masterclass. This made me think about how can I deliver on these types of learning sessions. What I did was attend series of free technology seminars. Learning from them and connecting with the platform such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
I took the chance of messaging the founder of Cafe Tele, Russell Lundberg. I said Hi and can I teach or conduct a free webinar on your platform? It took around three days for Russell to respond, but it was positive he took a gamble on me with the Internet of things (IoT) topic. We made a plan, did the slides. Practice and mentoring took place and we did marketing and the result was 160 people attended my first ever webinar for the US, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and India countries. With good feedback given and they did ask for another session. This time it was for LoRA and LoRA WAN technologies. We were planning for a Masterclass session until my HR again told me to limit these kinds of engagement. Since there could be some conflict of interest clause on my current contract. I did talk to Russell and he said we should follow the corporate rule. I will forever be grateful to Russell for the break he gave me.
Today, I am with RFEP and IR4 Pilipinas a group founded by Richard Matias based in the Philippines for the Filipinos. The main objective is to develop both students and professionals on Cellular and IR4 Technologies with the use of webinars and Masterclass sessions. The digital platform is very much in use due to the pandemic and is much more convenient for students. The reach of digital platforms encompasses even the farthest province in the Philippines. We would like to share the following summary of teaching:
- Teaching is a gift and a passion. It could be developed, by for others was with them since they were born.
- Teaching is learning twice with the ability to give students additional insights into life.
- Teaching develops your personality and discipline in life.
- You have influence in society and people for the better.
- With Great powers comes Great Responsibility – Never forget this in life.
- Passion for teaching develops better people.
- Education is the best equalizer for society.
- Teaching is never about monetary returns.
- Be kind to our teachers, they molded us into what we are today.
- We need good teachers, professors in this country for Nation Building.
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