Looking Through Dr. Arlene's Craft of Creative Teaching
If there is someone from my high school years to which I’m most thankful, that would be Dr. Arlene Paralejas, my former school paper adviser for our publication, The Isotopes. I remembered how I struggled to find my starting ground back then to lead to further growth in various aspects. As a campus journalist, I greatly owe Ma’am Para, or simply Madam, as we fondly call her, for guiding me in forming my voice, principles, values, and the courses of action I want to take in life. She witnessed my journey from being a laggard News Writer who worked his way to becoming the Editor-in-Chief during the pandemic. Through it all, I can say a passionate, creative professional previously honed my creativity in the person of Ma’am Para. Being creative, in her perspective, is one’s ability to think differently and beyond what is usually expected.
Ma'am Para and I in an award ceremony in 2019.
“[Creativity] is both a skill and challenge present in all professions — since this unleashes one’s talent to make innovations,” she told me in an interview. Marking her 20th year as an educator, Ma’am Para shared how her creativity has been naturally integrated into her life, especially when she needs to come up with quick solutions and proposals. Her office (and our former Journ Room) in my high school, Rizal National Science High School, and her residence in Binangonan were her spaces for creativity. The lesson plans and activities she works on every week, the outputs of her students that she needs to provide feedback on, the tasks she needs to complete outside her teaching load, and other things are all done in her dedicated places. “As I have also conducted studies and was assigned to spearhead school and district-wide programs, creativity has been vital in presenting my proposed solutions and interventions in my action research and key indicators and strategies for implementing programs,” she added.
A teaching career might seem grueling initially, especially with how overworked and underpaid our teachers are. But for Madam, the spark for creative thinking throughout her two decades has kept her in love with teaching. “The art of teaching, as a work of heart, requires passion, dedication, and creativity for one to appreciate it fully,” she said.
“A teacher must never lose their spark to think differently and creatively and not become stagnant.”
Her secret, perhaps, in maintaining her spark through these years? It's simply drawing doodles or writing notes in her journal after waking up every morning to already switch her brain on.
Maam Para’s creative passion for her profession has paid off in the previous years. In 2021, she was awarded the Most Outstanding Secondary School Teacher in Rizal by the Guronasyon Foundation for her efforts to uphold the quality of education in the province. In the DepEd Sub-office in Binangonan, she has been recently awarded as Outstanding Master Teacher. She is currently nominated for the DepEd Rizal Gawad Kampilan 2022 Awards for the Outstanding Researcher category. Seeking to impart her knowledge and expertise in campus journalism to future students, Ma’am Para also launched her book CAMPUS Journalism: A New Era, a relevant guide in the current disinformation plague, last June.
Ma'am Para's award from Guronasyon Foundation Inc.
With the accolades and recognitions she received, Ma’am Para doesn’t fail to acknowledge that these would not have come to fruition without her fellow teachers and students. Feedback from her faculty peers and school officials has greatly helped in becoming a better educator through her teaching methods and initiatives.
“We all have our own way of looking at things. When my viewpoint is combined with the perspectives of others, I’m enabled to come up with better outputs on my tasks."
Looking back to her moments with her students through the years, the bond and connections she formed as a mother to her anaks in The Isotopes (including me) were the most significant examples of empathy she has shown. I recall that she even welcomed us to her home and treated us as part of her family when we were working on our school paper. “I would always look back to those days as good times I had as a mentor, where I also had the opportunity to feel like I was a student because of empathizing and being with all of my anaks which helped me later on in grounding myself and when I need to imagine how might my students think or respond,” she shared.
Some of our moments while participating in campus press conferences.
Indeed, Ma’am Para has exemplified what it means to become a creative professional in education. Describing creativity as her “creative companion,” she flourished in her chosen career as she remained steadfast with her time, dedication, and perseverance despite her struggles and challenges. A valuable insight from my Madam is how holding on to your creative spark would go a long way in your career. When our work and environments in the future might seem to be the same, the spark unlocks more surprises of appreciating and falling in love with our chosen field again and again. Creativity, after all, directs us to new things in our fields. According to Ma’am Para, this invaluable skill kept her seeking answers and solutions.
“Teachers are creators, after all. They ingeniously create new ways to impart knowledge and values to their students. I hope future teachers will see and appreciate teaching that way.”