Weekly Journal 1

The final year is typically fraught with anxiety as students strive to complete three years of hard work while maintaining good grades and landing a graduate job. This year has defied my previous expectations of what my final year would be like in the future. Now that I am in my last semester as a fourth-year student, I can say that the crucial but exciting part of the journey is taking the internship, or what they call on-the-job training. The main highlight of a student's life is the internship or OJT, and I am ready to take this opportunity to experience new things that will help me learn lessons that I'm going to apply in my career. And in this semester, I will face a new dimension of learning which can help me for my future references. I can't wait to do an actual demo teaching in front of the students and experience the work of a teacher. Honestly, I am nervous and doubtful that I can't do what others could do in entering this new chapter of my internship journey, but because of our orientation last week, I am confident in having my internship in either a virtual or face-to-face class. In the first week of my teaching internship, we had a three-day virtual orientation for the pre-deployment for all fourth-year college students. The webinar talks about so many discussions on all the topics. On the first day of the webinar, the rationale for the Pre-Deployment Orientation was discussed by our Dean of College Education, Dr. Bayron S. Barredo. The different topics and activities taught to us before we started our practice teaching were being discussed by the speakers. Those topics discussed by the speakers enlightened my mind to understand more about the different duties and responsibilities of a pre-service teacher. The topics discussed on the second day of the Pre-Deployment Orientation are all about classroom management and positive discipline, writing a reflection, innovative teaching strategies in the new normal, etc. In the afternoon, the activity was the dry run of the pinning ceremony. On the third day, Dr. Tabada and Ms. Chona Brit talked about the different topics. These three days of orientation are worthy of attention, and I always keep in mind that OJT is my first step to success. I learned valuable things from the discussion that I could apply to how to deal with what is happening with my students and to have a manageable classroom. I am sure I will remember and apply them in my mind during my practice teaching journey. I am very grateful to be part of the orientation because it boosts my confidence and prepares me to enter a new learning environment. Ma'am Borneo once said, "I am a teacher, I'm not just an educator." Then I realized it is the noblest profession of all, the one that makes all professions possible. I didn't imagine myself becoming a teacher and I didn't have the passion to be one, not until I entered 1st-year college. In my first year of college, the second semester, I learned to love my courses until these days. And today, I can't imagine I am on my first step to fulfilling my dreams.

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