My Teacher, My Classmate: Anna Liz Arenas

Teacher Anna Liz Arenas

Classmate Anna Liz.

I sat beside her in high school because our seating arrangement comes alphabetically, almost every year and every class for the whole four years.

All those times, I didn't know she wanted to be a teacher, just like her mom.  She was quiet as a high school student.  But, even in those days, she will willingly answer your questions on almost anything.  She is always glad to share what she knows about things, especially on topics that she's fond of .  She's also a very meek student, classmate and friend.  During all those four years of belonging to the same class, I never heard her complain about something or someone.

She studied college at the Philippine Normal University belong to batch 1988 and almost a year after, she started teaching at the Don Bosco School here in Sta. Cruz, Laguna.  Many of my friends' sons and daughters have been her students, and she was even my nephew's adviser in second grade.  During those times, we just said Hi and Hello if we came across each other at the school corridors because she was always busy talking to her present and former students.  I think it has become a big part of her life because she taught until March 2008, a whole nineteen years of teaching.

Teacher Anna Liz.

That is how she is affectionately called by her students.

Anna Liz proudly says that she is a disciplinary teacher, something that I have always believed to be an effective way of teaching kids.  She also encourages parents to really take part in the education of their kids.  In fact, she says she welcomed parents who approached her to be updated with their kids' status in class.  She was glad that parents do this.

But aside from being a disciplinary teacher, she is a friend to her students when not in class.  Part of her achievements - which I believe no one has thought of yet at that time - was being the leader and gig organizer of youth bands.  She believes that there is nothing wrong with being part of a rock band, just as long as they stay away from vices like smoking, drinking and drugs.  "Walang masamang magbanda, basta NO to drugs, drinking, smoking, etc."   Those were her words.

For Anna Liz, part of the challenges of teaching is coming up with different strategies and approaches to make the children learn faster and to make the learning experience more fun.  The never-ending loads of paper works like checking the papers, reading their term papers and computing of grades, and that's just naming a few.  Along with these comes the stress that comes from noisy pupils and their laziness and at times, those parents who seemed to have gone over the limits of complaining most of the time.

There were many other achievements but I believe this kind of fulfillment for Anna Liz makes her belong to the very few teachers whose passion is teaching.  If there is one big fulfillment for Anna Liz, it is seeing these students walk up that stage and get their diplomas.  There is nothing like that feeling for her.  She shares that one fulfillment with every kid's parent who feels joy like no other in having their kids finish school.

These days, Anna Liz stopped teaching.  But I'm sure she's having a good time enjoying her life.  Free from those nights that she didn't have a choice but to check those quizzes and tests, or computing her students' grades.  I've always known she likes Incubus and even enthusiastically told me some trivia about the band and her favorite Incubus songs.   She's also a big fan of The Beatles and can tell you the title of each song in less than five notes.  She now has more time listening to music and doing other things she love - aside from teaching.

Teacher Anna Liz Arenas.  My Teacher, My Hero this Tuesday.

**Image used with permission.