The classroom is his stage. He is the lead actor. Co-starring with him are his students, who, he notes, are also major players. And every day is show time.
This is all about my youngest brother Rod Tenorio, a public high school teacher. But this is also about his dreams for his students whose young hearts and minds he shapes and sharpens from Monday to Friday. Sometimes, even on weekends.
There is nothing extraordinary about his tale. But who am I to say? Maybe, it is the ordinariness of his story as a teacher that makes him special — especially in the eyes of his students.
Every school day, in the last 17 years and three months, he wakes up long before the crowing of roosters in our backyard in Gulod. He shares a mug of coffee with Nanay. When Tatay passed on in 2010, Rod has been the coffee-mate of Nanay every morning. It is Rod’s ritual to sip piping hot coffee before heading to the shower. When he has ample time, he lounges at the breakfast table enjoying whatever Nanay prepared for him. But if he is running late for his class, he leaves the house with an empty stomach. He has to be at Pulo National High School in Cabuyao, Laguna at 6 a.m. So a little after 5 in the morning, he is already outside our gate, waiting for a jeepney to bring him to school. His first class begins at 7:30 a.m. He’d rather be hungry than be late for school.
In his standard, it is unforgivable to be late for his class. “I owe it to my students to be at least on time in the classroom. I give my students that respect that I am on time for my class. The pay off of being on time is good because my students give me the same respect,” he says in the vernacular. Even when he was a BS Education student at the University of Perpetual Help in Biñan, Laguna, Rod made sure he would never be late in any of his classes.
He teaches Filipino to six sections of fourth year students. Each section has 50 students. He makes sure Simon, Basilio, Isagani, Kabesang Tales, Paulita Gomez, Juanito Pelaez, Huli, Tandang Selo, Ben Zayb, Hermana Penchang, Donya Victorina, Placido Penitente among other characters are all alive when he discusses El Filibusterismo in his class.
He puts reverence in his discussion of Fili because he inculcates in the mind of his students that the novel they are discussing is so much a part of their culture and heritage. He applies the going-ons in the modern world and modern politics when he examines in class the socio-political implications of the novel. He has a penchant for injecting kamalayang panlipunan (social consciousness) in his lectures. He brings the ideology to his students based on their comfortable level of understanding. But always, always, he never underestimates their intellectual threshold.
“I am a teacher but I also learn from my students,” he says.
Rod’s story as a teacher may be ordinary but he himself is never boring. In the classroom, it is always show time for him. And he enjoys doing it.
“As a teacher, I am also an actor inside the classroom. That is my teaching device to put across the message I want them to learn. So, I become Simon or Donya Victorina in class. I sometimes sing and dance, if that is what the discussion needs. Hindi ako nahihiya sa harapan ng klase. And the students learn faster that way,” he says.
He tells me that he never comes to class unprepared. “If you come to class unprepared, you are undermining the intelligence of the students. I operate by the condition that the students are intelligent human beings — regardless of their section in school, regardless of their ranking in class. I just have to prepare for them.”
One of my favorite anecdotes of Rod in handling his class is the story when he fainted the minute he entered the classroom. He lay unconscious for a minute or two on the floor; his students were shocked, immobile at the sight of their teacher who just dropped to the floor.
Then he stood up. Faced his class. Raised his arms and loudly told his students: “Walang sugat (No bruise)!” He got a standing ovation.
That was the day he discussed Walang Sugat, an 1898 zarzuela written by playwright Severino Reyes, which revolves around Tenyong who feigned sickness (with a fake bleeding wound) so he could marry the love of his life.
One time, an unruly male student tried to disrupt his class. Rod never said a word. He stopped in the middle of his discussion and, with just an inscrutable smile on his face, just stared at the student. The young man collected himself, apologized and behaved in class from then on. Rod just gave him a full smile and continued his almost animated discussion of Walang Panginoon by Deogracias Rosario. He describes his teaching style as higit-lubay, the Tagalog term for a person whose being strict or lenient is in place.
Many times he comes home with a voice so hoarse that he would rather remain quiet. He sometimes loses his voice because, for lack of classrooms, he has to conduct some of his classes inside the school gymnasium. Inside the gymnasium, about 10 different classes are being held simultaneously. So while Rod discusses Panata ni Tiya Pilar or Paalam sa Pagkabata to his class, other teachers are discussing Biology or Algebra or Music to their respective students. They all talk at the same time in a big, wall-less classroom. He now uses a lapel microphone in the classroom.
Rod loves every single student he has. In fact, among his co-teachers, he is famous for his line: “Mahal ko ang mga bata.”
“Mahal ko ang mga bata kasi nais nilang matuto at masaya silang natututo sa akin,” he tells his colleagues. Because of his famous line, “Mahal ko ang mga bata,” his co-teachers gave him the moniker “Master.” Well, truth is, at Pulo National High School, he is a dalubguro or master teacher.
When school meetings are held at the same time of his classes, he politely tells his co-teachers that he won’t make it to the meeting because, “mahal ko ang mga bata.” He would rather be in the classroom, teaching his class. “Because that is my job. And I take my job as a teacher very seriously. And I sincerely enjoy it,” says Rod, who is also the elected president of the Cabuyao Public Secondary School Teachers Association. As the president of the association, Rod becomes the voice of the secondary public school teachers in the whole city of Cabuyao. It is his mandate to bring to the consciousness of the city council the requests and pleas of the teachers.
On many occasions when he bonds with his co-teachers, Rod is a dynamo, an Energizer Bunny, a live wire. He has an intense sense of humor, too. He has an incomparable wit. Never a dull moment with him.
Because of his dedication to teaching, his students accorded him the “Most Outstanding Teacher” and “Best Teacher in Filipino” awards recently at his school’s celebration of Teacher’s Day. Not only that, he also got the “Crush ng Bayan” award. Maybe in his mind, he was waiting for the “Best Actor” award.
“As a teacher, I dream for my students, too. I want all of them to succeed. But I also tell them that success comes with responsibility. I remind them that success is not always quantifiable. Being able to come to school on time is already a form of success,” says Rod, who once served as SK Chairman in our barangay. Those were the days when the Sangguniang Kabataan had not yet been highly politicized.
Like his co-teachers, Rod does home visitations, especially when some of his students have been absent for a while in school. He listens to the parents and gives suggestions on how to improve the participation of their children in school.
It is his wish for the government to increase the salary of teachers. He is aware that some teachers keep on teaching but they cannot even send their own children to college. Rod is single at 38 but that does not mean he has no responsibilities to fulfill.
“I always remind my students that no one remains poor without one willing it. To remain poor is a choice. It is a deadly choice. Kasalanan sa Diyos ang manatiling mahirap. I also tell my students na hindi kayang ibigay ng magulang nila o ng pamahalaan ang lahat ng dapat ay mapapunta sa kanila. Kaya nga, dapat may sarili silang kayod,” he says.
What makes him smile at the end of a school day? “When I know I am able to inspire the students with my lecture,” he says. He is still smiling from ear to ear after receiving a lot of “Thank You” cards from his students during the recent Teacher’s Day celebration at school. He also cannot forget the highest compliment he has received from one of his students who told him: “Sir, I want to be a teacher someday because of you. And I want to be as inspiring as you.”
That is enough for Rod to worry about his hoarse voice at the end of the day. He leaves school after 3 p.m. and would reach home with a smile on his face. He feels fulfilled.
Rod is an ordinary teacher. But who am I to say? Maybe his passion and dedication to his vocation makes him all the more extraordinary to the eyes of his young students.
Every time I see him leave our humble home for school very early in the morning, rain or shine, I always see a hero — unsung and anonymous to the greater majority. But like many teachers in every nook and cranny of the country, Rod just threads the road and paves the way so that others may learn and light the path for others in the future.
(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. I’m also on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)