After we pick that paper

Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled the moment I knew what that piece of paper with number 5 written on it meant. Not that I have something against CAMP students, but I guess I was just looking forward to teaching patients from either CTS or CBR. But I can’t do anything. I already picked that paper.

Then come ID workshop day. As I looked around, what I hear are fun strategies and activities. I looked at my paper.  And although I was already a bit excited about what will happen during the lecture, I still can’t help but be a little envious. But I can’t do anything. I already picked that paper.

Then come Wednesday. Fieldwork day for some. ID consolidation day for us. Well, collating our objectives and strategies wasn’t really a hard task since we all have similar ones. What came as a primary concern is how to conduct the lecture creatively and more engaging. If only we have a different audience. But we can’t do anything. We already picked that paper.

But soon we realized it’s not about getting what could be ideal for you.  But rather making ideal what has been given to you. And so we did what we could to search for substantial contents of the topic assigned. Then we divided the work. I was chosen to do the lecture.

Then come lecture day. We made sure the presentation slides were good. We took note of the things that needed further explanation, things that should be asked and things that will make them participate. It helped me a lot that I know most of the students. I was nervous at first, but when I saw the students participating, I felt more comfortable.

I felt relieved and satisfied with how the lecture went. Now, I am thankful for this experience. Suddenly teaching students seemed like something that I would want to do in the future. One important thing we realized is to make your students' prior knowledge more relevant. That we should always build up on what they already know and relate it to the things we want them to learn. 

More importantly, I realized that although sometimes you may not get what you expected, but at the very least, you can still do things to make it work. To make what you got worthwhile. That after all, we can still do something better after we pick that paper.