The Patronage of Mary Development School prides itself with its premium faculty recognition and development programs. Its constant undertaking of rewarding exceptional teacher performance and of improving instructional delivery is evident in its various school-based and community-oriented activities. A month-long commemoration of the nobility of the teaching profession and a tribute to teachers amplified the World Teachers’ Month.
In his message last October 7, 2020, school founder and president Dr. Rouel Longinos emphasized the relevance of teachers in a rapidly changing society confronted with diverse dilemmas and emergencies. He opined, “As long as there are teachers who dedicate their lives to the transformation of society through education, then, every day is Teachers’ Day.” Hence, in PMDS, celebrating the magnificence of the teaching profession and the glorious stature of teachers is a tradition. Below is an unabridged message of Dr. Longinos:
“My teachers from elementary to graduate school have been instrumental to my love for teaching and learning. They planted in me the seeds of passion and mission to commit myself to this vocation. And I am forever grateful to all of them.
As a teacher, I also learned a lot from my students. This is one benefit of a teacher. You get to learn from your students and in effect you are taught to be youthful, grateful and compassionate. Through their sharing you learn that you are never an accident as a teacher. You are destined to be one.
I have worked with the oldest and the youngest teachers in my lifetime either as a colleague, mentor or subordinate. I owe a lot from these teachers both who treated me nicely and otherwise. And I am forever grateful to them because they have sharpened my leadership and social skills and to some extent my emotional intelligence.
To all the teachers at PMDS and all the teachers around, I thank you and salute you for choosing the teaching profession. I hope and pray that as you trudge the daily challenges you will discover its nobility and divine purpose. I pray also that you see God in our students, you see heaven in each problem we face.
For me, a teacher is a friend because you can confide your joys and sorrows to him or her, to give you hope and to dream big. A teacher is a philosopher because she/he is passionate about searching the truth and asking questions about life and living.
A teacher is a guide because she/he will help you find your true north, your heart’s desire, your happiness. A teacher is everything rolled into one. According to Henry Adams “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”
Whenever I think of teacher-student relationship, I think of Helen Keller Helen is one student who considered her teacher as her light and soul. Let me read to you these lines written by Helen Keller for her teacher Anne.
“It was my teacher’s
genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact
which made the first years of my education so beautiful. It was
because she seized the right moment to impart knowledge that made it so
pleasant and acceptable to me. She realized that a child’s mind is like a
shallow brook which ripples and dances merrily over the stony course of its
education and reflects here a
flower, there a bush, yonder a fleecy cloud; and she attempted to guide my mind
on its way, knowing that like a brook it should be fed by mountain streams and
hidden springs, until it broadened out into a deep river, capable of reflecting
in its placid
surface, billowy hills, the luminous shadows of trees and the
blue heavens, as well as the sweet face of a little flower.
Any teacher can take a child to the classroom, but not every
teacher can make him learn. He will not work joyously unless he
feels that liberty is his, whether he is busy or at rest; he must
feel the flush of victory and the heart-sinking of disappointment
before he takes with a will the tasks distasteful to him and
resolves to dance his way bravely through a dull routine of
textbooks.
My teacher is so near to me that I scarcely think of myself apart
from her. How much of my delight in all beautiful things is
innate, and how much is due to her influence, I can never tell. I
feel that her being is inseparable from my own, and that the
footsteps of my life are in hers. All the best of me belongs to
her–there is not a talent, or an aspiration or a joy in me that
has not been awakened by her loving touch.”
So dear teachers, continue to be an inspiration and a blessing to all. Happy Teachers Month!”
