A lifetime thought:

"Always try your best to get whatever you love,

otherwise...

...you will be forced to love whatever you get."

Essay Autobiography

My Home
by Dr. Jose Rizal

I have nine sisters and one brother. My father, a model of fathers, had given us and education in proportion to our modest means. By dint of frugality, he was able to build a stone house, to buy another, and to raise a small nipa hut in the midst of a groove we had, under the shade of the banana and other trees.

There the delicious atis displayed its delicate fruit and lowered its branches as if to save me from trouble of reaching out for them. The sweet santol, the scented and mellow tampoy, the pink makopa vie for my favor. Farther away, the plum tree, the harsh but flavorous casuy, the beautiful tamarind pleases the eye as much as they delighted the palate. Here, the papaya stretched out its broad leaves and tempted the birds with its enormous fruit; there the langka, the coffee and the orange trees perfumed the air with the aroma of their flowers. On this side is the iba, , the balimbing, the pomegranate with its abundant foliage and its lovely flowers bewitched the senses; while here and there rose the majestic palm trees loaded with huge nuts, swaying their proud tops and graceful branches, queens of the forests. I should never end where I to number all our trees and amuse myself identifying them.

In the twilight, innumerable birds gathered from everywhere and I, a child of three years at most, amused myself watching them with wonder and joy. The yellow kuliawan, the maya in all its varieties, the kulae, the maria karpa, the martin, all the species of pipit joined the pleasant harmony and raised in varied chorus a farewell hymn to the sun as it vanished behind the tall mountains of my town.

Then the clouds, through a caprice of nature, combined in a thousand shapes, which would suddenly dissolve, leaving me with only the slightest recollections. Even now, when I look out of the window of our house at a splendid panorama of twilight, thoughts that are long gone renew them with nostalgic eagerness.

Came then the night to unfold her mantle, somber at times, for all its stars, when the chaste Diana failed to course through the sky in pursuit of her brother Apollo. But when she appeared, a vague brightness was to be discerned in the clouds; then seemingly they would crumble; and little she was to be seen, lovely, grave, and silent, rising like an immense globe which an invisible and omnipotent hand drew through space.

At such time, my mother gathered us all together to say the rosary. Afterward, we would go to the azotea or to some window where the moon could be seen, and my ayah would tell us stories, sometimes lugubrious and at other times gay, which in skeletons, buried treasures, and trees that bloomed with diamonds mingled in confusion. All of them born of an imagination wholly Oriental. Sometimes she told us that men lived on the moon, which we could perceive on it, were nothing else than the woman who was forever weaving.

Cover of our BEOWULF board game....

Help Beowulf Slay the Dragon

Edlyn, Jessica, and Sandhy helped me to come up with this great board game.
we're so proud of ourselves.

Lesson Plan about EXCELLLENCE

For BSE II-A

For 2 hour period

Tuesday

Learning Competency:

Understand the meaning of Excellence, the difference between Excellence and Perfection, and the steps on how to be an excellent person.

Detailed Lesson Plan in God and Community

I. Objectives

At the end of the lesson the students are able to:

1. Define Excellence.

2. Differentiate Excellence and Perfection.

3. Identify the steps on how to become an excellent person.

4. Explain each step on how to become an excellent person.

5. Reflect on their own experiences in what field/area did they excel.

II. Subject-Matter

A. Topic: Excellence

B. Reference: http://www.ehow.com, http://www.constructionexecutive.com, and http://stress.about.com

C. Materials: flash cards

D. Learning Strategies: lecture-discussion

E. Skills: Defining terms, Predicting, Critical-Thinking/Reasoning.

III. Learning Strategy

A. Recall or review of the previous lesson.

Teacher’s Activity	Student’s Activity
1. What did you learn last meeting?	I learned about Teamwork and its importance.
2. Which of the things that you have mentioned that you like most?	I liked the importance of teamwork.
3. What could be the reason that you had liked it?	If there would be no teamwork it would be difficult for us to accomplish any tasks.

B. Motivation

1. Do you think you consider yourself an excellent person?

Answer will vary.

C. Lesson Proper

1. Pre-Activity

a. Prepare the materials needed for the activity.
b. Give instructions for the activity: Ø Allow the students to stick the flash cards on their respective groups (Excellent person or Perfectionist). Ø Once they have placed the wrong flash cards in a group their points will be deducted (right minus wrong).
c. Divide the class into two groups, namely the Excellent persons and the Perfectionists.

2. Activity

a. Allow each group to eliminate first the flash cards that does not belong to the group.
b. Ask them to stick the flash cards in their respective columns on the board.	….Excellent…. ….Perfectionist…..

3. Post-Activity

Check the works done by the two groups.

D. Application

As student of Education, allow them to list down their ideas on how they will become an excellent teacher someday.

Some guidelines on how to become an excellent teacher: Explain everything clearly to the students. Be ready to take those questions. Listen to what your students have to say. Spice up learning. Be fair to all students. Encourage confidence in your students.

E. Values Integration

For instance, one of your cousins has a low self-esteem due to his/her poor performance at school and envied to his/her classmate who received the highest remarks in the class. As future teachers, how will you motivate your cousin to become an excellent student?

As a future teacher I will give some advice to my cousin on how to become an excellent student. I will tell him that he/she must: Be on time and prepared for the class. Sit in front of the class. Get involved with the lesson and interact with the class materials and the teacher. Turn in all home works and assignments on time or early if he/she can. Take 10 minutes each night per class to review your notes. Go to any extra study groups or meet with your teacher to talk about material that you may be having problems within the class. Allow your curiosity to help you dig deeper into the class.

F. Generalization

What did you learn today?

Ø Excellence is performing one’s task to the highest standard. Ø Perfection is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness. Ø A Perfectionist sets standards beyond reason, never satisfied unless it is perfect, becomes angry or depressed with failure, is obsessed with fear of failure, and sees mistakes as proof of unworthiness, defensive with feedback. Ø A High Achiever sets high standards, enjoys the process as much as the outcome, see failure as experience and learning, construction manager anxiety and fear to benefit, sees mistakes as opportunities, and sees feedback as crucial to growth. Ø To be an excellent person you must: 1. Start being honest to yourself. 2. Be optimistic. 3. Be open to not only teaching others, but learning from them as well. 4. Stick to the decisions you make. 5. Welcome the idea of being part of a team no matter how small or large the task is at hand. 6. Do a job to the best of your ability. 7. Be polite, courteous and have a sense of humor. 8. Always keep the phrase “actions speak louder than words.”

IV. Evaluation

Direction: Let each group explain their works in front of the class.

….Excellent…. ….Perfectionist…..

Prepared by: Group 4 of BSE II-A

Lucas, Ma. Salome

Salonga, Sandhy

Ropa, Lea

Mendoza, Joana Marie