My Socially Constructed Reality

Eight years. That was 8 long years in this school. For the past years, I've witnessed how students just came and left -- and were buried into oblivion. This fact never made me feel bad before. In the past, I didn't even mind seeing my students graduate. After all, students are meant to leave school to face the real world. And I didn't hang out with students. I saw them in classroom -- that was it. I never had casual conversation with them , no texting then, no calling, no e-mail, no blog, nothing. Just plain teaching. I never even had a chance to know all the names of my students then. I just knew their faces but I couldn't label those faces with their names. It was a shame on my part, I absolutely agree! But things have changed. Now, I have a "sad feeling" whenever a student leaves -- but of course, it also depends on the kind of students. There are two possible reasons for this feeling. And this is based only on my personal experience. I started feeling this...

I stopped blogging for a few days. Well, I've been busy tending to another blog-- our Communication Theory blog. I used a different approach in blogging for class. If, in the previous semesters, I required the students in my E-newsroom class to create their own web logs, this time, I created a class blog then required my students to post entries on the same blog. All of us are contributors this time. It's good because I can see that the students are thinking! It's a good venue for interaction. I always go there to check on students' entries and to make comments, if necessary. This made me forget my own blog. Check out my Comm. theory blog here .

I felt uneasy after I replied to our Chair's text message to tell her that I can't accept any extra load. I told her I want to help her but not by taking the loads with no teachers yet. I will help her find teachers, that was what I said in my text message. I felt uneasy because I'm not used to saying NO.

Check out my COMMUNICATION THEORY class web blog now!

Check out Howie Severino's SIDETRIP.

Tony Schwartz' RESONANCE theory states that a communication becomes successful not because of the message but because it brings out something from the viewer's past experiences (Griffin, p. 8, 2006). I think this theory was working when I was watching the TRANSFORMERS during the long holidays. I loved the film, not just because the story was brilliant or because of the outstanding visual effects but because I could recall how I loved Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime when I was a young girl. The movie is actually from a famous animated series featuring the Autobots and Decepticons. Well, of course, I still remember Megatron very much. Seeing all the familiar characters I used to see on screen during my childhood years made me love the movie more. Because of this, I was motivated to buy an original VCD of the movie and include it in our collection of original films. And this is what resonance theory is all about. According to Griffin (2006), "Personal memories, emotions, and p...

The second sem of this academic year starts on November 5. My teaching loads are: INTRO TO MASS COMMUNICATION, ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES & PRACTICE, THESIS WRITING, PRINT INTERNSHIP, and COMMUNICATION THEORY Note: I was given PR Principles and Practice by the Chair instead of Advertising, just like what she first gave to me. When I asked her why she changed her mind about one of my teaching loads, she said it was because the native speaker is teaching Advertising instead. Dati na raw niya naituro iyon kaya ayaw nang palitan ang load niya. I felt bad about it. Why should I make adjustment for a faculty that is, in the first place, not qualified to teach Communication subjects? I didn't like the decision so I told the chair about it but she never wanted to give Advertising to me. What I did was to go directly to the Assistant Dean and ask if she could re-shuffle the sked so I would be given Advertising.