Monday is School Mapping Day

I and my co- teachers had an adventurous morning yesterday. As part of creating School Improvement Plan (SIP) of Anda Integrated School, we need to explore a definite area in Poblacion to gather data about children ages four to seventeen years old. The activity is called school mapping. School mapping is a vital process in conceptualizing SIP. The data that are obtained will help the school to see the potential population that can be possible clienteles in the span of three years. It is also an opportunity for the teachers to visit the homes and places of the students. 

 The high school team is assigned in Purok San Miguel. Even that I am staying in Anda, I am clueless about the place. We are enlightened when the elementary teachers uttered that we are going to roam in an agricultural area. They also told us that there are only few houses there. Since no one is familiar to that place, one elementary teacher drew a map. Based on the map, we need to go to the farmland, pass by two cemeteries and walk in municipal road. With that, I had a premonition in my mind that we are going to have a thirsty and perspiring journey.  So, I geared up with a bottle of water. It is better to be prepared to avoid problems during the activity. It is my time to prove that I am a Boy Scout adviser.

None of us have a motorcycle to drive. We walked toward our destination. It was like we are enumerators doing census. The challenge for us is how to relay our activity to the residents. Our feet brought us to the first house at ten in the morning. We asked her if there are still children studying. We received no for that and the situation happened in the second house. It took as two minutes to go to the third house. That was the genesis of data collection. We were accommodated by our first respondent having two kids studying in private school located in the town proper. 

We decided to get by pair when we reached the second house to make the job easier and faster. I and Ma’am Grace visited the home of Joyce’s family. Joyce will be an eighth grader in the next school year. During that time, her mother was cutting wood for their home. She stopped doing the chore and welcomed us happily. She and her family are “game” in answering questions. 

We are reunited after minutes and continued our walking. There are four houses we dropped by and garnered minimal data. We arrived at Mark Joseph’s house in the eleventh hour of the morning. Mark Joseph is our student that will be tenth grader in the next school year. Her mother faced us with a smile. She was hospitable and amiable. We had a great time with the family as we talked under the mango tree. The shade and the air rejuvenated us after one hour of searching. Our conversation was quite long. 

After resting, we walked going to the cemetery with Mark Joseph’s brother. The way is not easy to walk through. The sun proved his power as we walked in the middle of the dry ricefield. It was scorching time that the heat made our umbrellas futile. My co- teachers were panting while making their steps. I was just enjoying the tour. 

Before the starting of our journey, we are taunting each other how we can endure the activity. We are teasing each other who will easily get tired. During the “mission” they found me indefatigable.

“Well, I used to walk in the rice fields of Tondol and its sitio Caniogan when I was in high school,” I answered.  “I am fond of walking the long distance of agricultural lots during the time we need to get wild leaves for our stage decoration for the school where I studied as high school student,” I added.

We reached the road dividing the cemeteries of United Methodist and Iglesia Filipina Independiente, two powerful churches in the municipality. As expected, the place is quiet. Our (not- so- loud) voices broke the deafening silence of the place. We still gave respect on the area while conversing. Mark Joseph’s brother left us and bade a goodbye when we reached the path. But, before leaving he said that we need to walk down the area because his classmate is living there. We thought that we are not going to enter the area because many bamboo plants tell us that the area is a forest part but we were wrong. 

The place covered by trees and bamboo grasses was the most challenging area for our team. The dogs were barking to us intensively. It took us five minutes to go out from the area. We have seen concrete roads again at eleven- thirty. The first house that we visited along the road is Jimboy’s house. He will be a ninth grader next school year. Then, we went to Camille’s house. She will be an eighth grader soon.

We visited four houses before ending the mapping. All in all, we visited around twenty houses. The two- hour mission finished at noon time. After the tenaciously roamed the area and confidently obtained data, we refreshed ourselves with ice cream and cold drinks. We needed to go back to the school to report. Again, we walked a long distance. Upon reaching the school, we consolidated the papers and I presented myself to keep and encode the data. 

My Realizations

I salute my students who are walking a long distance just to go to the school. Their journey is not a joke. I have experienced how they feel every time they cross the area. I saw also how simple their lives are. I realized that I am still fortunate that I used to walk short distance going to school and I am living in a concrete house. 

This activity let me know the situations of my students and gave me insight where to go if in case I need to talk with students’ parents regarding school matters. It is important that a class adviser should know where his students living so that he can adjust himself with his advisory class regarding with tardiness. 

I do pray and hope that my students will not be discouraged on the great distance they use to walk. In reaching dreams, we need to walk a long path to see the bright tomorrow. Great distance is helpful to test our patience and how determined we are reaching our destination. Panting and tiredness are part of the journey but as you see the finish line, these will be replenished with sweet victory. I know that my students will do that.