My Teacher, My Role Model: Teacher Nancy Jurado Lava

Mama Nancy.

That's how me and my friends call her. She's the mother of my long-time friend. Mama Nancy is a very good cook. We always look forward to dinners at their home whenever there are occasions because we know that we will have a good eat and totally forget about our diet.

When I came home last year, I heard that my friend and his sibling wants her to retire already because of her health condition. But they could not persuade her. She didn't want to stop teaching because she still wanted to be with the kids. Her exact words were, "Nakakaawa naman ang mga bata..." That was what her son - our friend - said.

I asked her for an appointment to feature her on this blog and she agreed. I went a little early because I wanted to see the kids as they went out of their classrooms. But I actually had an extra treat because it was the school's Halloween party and the kids got to wear their costumes.

Teacher Nancy.

It was a few minutes before our appointment when I saw her walking on the school's pathway. Due to age, she gaits with a little limp. To think that her office is at the second floor where I was waiting. I had a good view of her while she talks to some kids greeting her and waving goodbye for the long weekend.

We sat in her office and I explained what this was all about and she started to talk about her career. Being polite and full of respect, I omitted asking the exact years.

Immediately after graduation from the Union College of Laguna in Sta. Cruz, she took a job as a subsititute teacher at the Duhat Elementary School. She did this to gain more experience. But after less than a year, she got a permanent teaching job at the Callios Primary School. She won't forget how she started because she said she was in-charge of everything: "I was the janitor, the teacher, the secretary, the principal."

One year has passed and she got another teaching job at the Bagumbayan Elementary School also here in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, where she's teaching up to now. She started teaching Grade III pupils. Later on, she handled Grade IV students, then Grade V.

Currently, she is a special teacher - meaning no advisory class - and deals with office work most of the time. All in all, Teacher Nancy has 46 years of government service teaching. She's proud to say that she started with a salary of Php 212.00. She says she can't believe that with only that much, she could buy what she needed and wanted and was even able to send her sibling to school. Nowadays, her salary of Php 18,000.00 doesn't seem to be enough.

I wanted to know what were the hardships within the years. And it seemed that she shares the sentiment of Teacher Anna Liz and Teacher Abbie. Too much paper works. Staying late at night to check the papers and tabulate the grades. Teacher Nancy also complains about parents who pamper their kids too much.

But when I asked her what was her greatest achievement, I was really surprised with what she said.

"What made me go on teaching was what I felt when I was in the first year of my teaching experience. When the children I was teaching learned how to read. It made me decide that teaching is what I want to do. Since then, it felt like an achievement like no other when the students finally learn how to read. That in itself is an achievement. For me, the main function of a teacher is to teach. Once the students learn to read and write, I know that it is an achievement like no other. I feel like I have failed when students didn't learn."

Teacher Nancy is due to retire by the end of this month. When I asked her about achievements, what she said was just the quote above. Humble as she is, I learned from her son that she received numerous recognitions. And this year, she is the recipient of the "Outstanding Teacher" award for this year's Teacher's Day Celebration last October 5, 2010. Incidentally, the theme of the celebration is "My Teacher, My Hero."

Forty-six years of teaching kids to help them achieve their dreams, to make them become what they want to be.

What is written on her shirt in the picture (that I took after the interview) is a perfect way to describe what she did for every student during all those years:

"Teachers plant seeds of knowledge that grows with them forever."

Indeed, she shared forty-six years of her life helping children learn.

Teacher Nancy. My Teacher, My Hero this Tuesday.