Ana Hernandez

I give credit to my parents. They worked hard and raised us with a legacy of good education, a good educational background. My dad and my mom really worked hard to send us to the best school that we had in the Philippines - all-girls school for us and all-boys school for my brother. We learned a lot. My mom would even discuss homework with us every night. Out of the six children, we have a study room, we had a study room, like a mini library, and each of us had a table like an office. Even if I was in grade school, I felt like I was attending office because they really fixed our library. We had an encyclopedia, all the materials that we needed were there. The exposure that they led us into helped us, and the discipline - there was discipline, you cannot watch TV all the hours that you want, there was a time, a curfew for that, a cut-off time. But we were also raised with strong faith in the Lord. I'm a Catholic, so we would dress for the Lord on Sundays, we would go to church and listen. I think my parents did a good job. So now I'm being like a parent to my students. I try my best to mold them the way I was raised, the same pattern. My dad's strictness, I kind of carry that in the classroom, and they would see that my class is orderly and it has discipline.

I think the best advice is to learn from others. Even if I've been in education for 24 years, I still welcome learning from others. I'm open, I've kept myself open to a lot of educational sessions, seminars, or webinars, or something like that, and I keep myself open. Because I know good school is good, and the good teaching from the olden days is really good, but you have to be updated, you have to learn the new trends, learn the new studies from research. I think that's the advice that I have taken - be open. There was a time when I had 200 hours of training, 200 hours. Every Saturday, I would be in a staff development session. I love learning from other creative teachers, other teachers with their ideas, brilliant ideas. And then I apply that. That also made me a trainer in the school that I was attending. I get trained, and then I train the staff.

I would tell her that she's in the right business, she's in the right calling. Because to educate children would create different careers. You could inspire a child to be a doctor, you could inspire a child to be a firefighter through your stories, through your teaching, through the readings that you go through together. You can create different careers when you inspire kids as an educator. So, even if there are challenges, it's always good to be a teacher. It's a feature, and you just have to do the grades and the lesson plans, that's your extra. But as soon as you share something, you teach something - that's the reward. There are challenges, though. It's not all roses.

At this time, the biggest challenge is behavior. The behavior has changed over the years. It's no longer the respectful, obedient kids. We are challenged with kids who maybe belong to homes with busy parents that are so busy at work that they could not watch their kids anymore. And they carry these discipline issues into the classroom. So, being a second home, the teachers are the ones trying to mold them as to the way they should go, to be productive citizens of society. But sometimes there are parents who are cooperative and collaborative, and sometimes there are parents who are in denial of their own children's behaviors. The second challenge is the academic weakness. The academic weakness of kids, since they are very exposed to gadgets, social media - everything is given to them on a silver platter. The thinking process is very weak. So, as teachers, we have to train them to think. We have to train them to respond correctly. Fourth graders bring their phones, most of them have phones, and the Chromebooks - the thinking is already laid out for them when they go to chat GPT.

My faith keeps me going - my faith in my Lord. The value of loving others and respecting them is so important. I also value humility - that you are good, but you may not have it all, but you have gifts that have been given and bestowed to you. So, share those gifts. Don't be selfish in any of the gifts that God has given you. For me, I think teaching is one of them. So, I love it, I love the kids. Even if they give me headaches sometimes, we love them. I just told my class one time, you know what, kids? Even if you are troublesome sometimes, I do love you. I told them that today. I think those are the values - first of all, it's love, and respect.