Return of Investment
By: Mr. Kit Jolex S. Santos

	FOTOBAM –is known as the Filipino Word of the Year for 2016, but for me, it will be the word CHALLENGE!
	Challenge in my first year of teaching in Canossa Academy where I was chosen to be one of the Grade 6 advisers. Though it is not my first time to handle that grade level since I became an AP teacher of Grade 6 in my former school –Immaculate Conception College in Balayan, Batangas. My first day brought me butterflies in my stomach and my hands are as cold as ice where it eventually melted as I saw the 34 little angels whom I’ll be handling for the rest of my 10 months stay here in this beloved institution. In addition to that, I don’t know if it is really part of the initiation process wherein during my first week as an adviser, I was able to encounter a parent’s conferencing me because of their child who is somehow being bullied by her classmate. I just prayed and took action for it for I know the charism of St. Magdalene is empowering me and the fact that I know that there will be more to come.
	My 34 pupils are not the ordinary type of pupils for I can see them as extra-ordinary ones. I have my artist, dancer, singer, athlete, orator, speaker, leader, etc. inside the classroom. Their abilities to develop is like a candle and I, as their adviser is the one who will be lighting those and believe that they can do more and be more! I do believe in the saying that : “To believe is to see rather than to see is to believe”. As a teacher/parent inside the school, we have to believe that our pupils can and may do such thing before we can see the unexpected ones.
	On the other hand, they are extra-ordinary in terms of their behaviour. They really have the loudest voices in the 5 sections in grade 6. They are the one whom the subject teachers are always talking about. They are the one whom I myself got irritated for you cannot leave them without someone supervising them because something bad might happen. They are the ones who wants to do what they want even if you tell them not to do so –most especially the boys. And it’s as if they haven’t heard any. But, at the end of the day, they are kids. They have to be loved and cared for. They are the treasures of tomorrow. They are glasses that should be taken good care for they are all fragile. Even if every week there will be parent’s conferences or a pupils who will be pulled out to be referred to the HRC office. I might say that it is very hard in my part to be on this kind of shoes but out of love, I can say that I can whatever it takes.
	Being a teacher is not an easy task and so as to be an adviser. You are the one in-charge for everything that they do inside the institution. What you do is a mere reflection of yours. We know that being a teacher is a noble profession, but it is not only a profession, it is also considered as a vocation because teachers devoted their life in teaching. They teach their learners what they have learned from their studies when they were also a student before. They only not give what they have but they also gain knowledge from their learners because teaching is give and take between the teachers and the students. Teaching your pupils may just happened by chance, but loving them, will always be choice.
	My first year of teaching in Canossa Academy does not only give me opportunities to nourish my skills and abilities, but it gave me an opportunity to rekindle my passion for teaching. “Gratitude is the memory of the heart” –this quotation illuminates my life whenever my pupils thank me for what I’ve done as a teacher, adviser and father to them inside the school. Those gratitude are part of my investments that will inspire me more to strive and give my best in teaching them.
	My pupils are my investment. They are the ones whom I molded and in return, seeing them being successful in their chosen fields will be my success too. Hard works will be paid off and will continue to flourish.