At Jose Rizal High School, the EIM workshop buzzed as usual. The clink of tools, the hum of discussions, and the rhythmic sound of stripped wires set the day in motion. By now, Sir Emman's Grade 10 students had grown comfortable—sometimes a little too comfortable—with their tools and tasks.
Confidence was good. But confidence without caution? That could be dangerous.
The Assignment
It was a Thursday when Sir Emman introduced the Live Panel Simulation activity—a culminating task that required each group to assemble a functioning lighting and socket circuit connected to a breaker and test it using a real 220V source.
"This is your closest simulation yet to an actual household system," Emman said, his tone more serious than usual. "So I need not just skill—but discipline."
He gave each team a checklist:
Continuity test?
Polarity check?
Grounding wire securely fastened?
Circuit labeled?
"Check everything twice before calling me," he reminded. "Remember: electricity doesn't give second chances."
The students nodded—some more attentively than others.
Team 3's Error
Team 3, made up of Dino, Jas, and Paulo, was progressing fast. Too fast.
While Jas was checking the switches, Dino felt confident enough to plug in the final connection before Emman made his inspection round.
"Sir said check twice," Paulo muttered nervously.
"I already did," Dino insisted. "We've done this like five times. We got this."
He flipped the switch.
Zzzzaappp!
A loud pop. Sparks spat from the panel. A faint whiff of burnt insulation filled the air.
Jas screamed and fell back, luckily unharmed. Dino leapt away in shock.
Emman dashed over, eyes wide. "Everyone, step back! Disconnect the main!"
Paulo, trembling, shut the main breaker.
The room fell into silence—broken only by the distant hum of a fan.
Post-Incident Silence
No one spoke as Emman examined the panel. His hands were steady, but his face had darkened.
He turned toward the class. "Everyone, down tools. Sit. Now."
He stood before them not as their friendly, animated mentor—but as a real-world electrician, eyes hardened by reality.
"What just happened could've burned someone's hand. Or worse. This is not a game. This isn't a simulation on a whiteboard."
His gaze fell on Dino, who couldn't meet it.
"Dino, why didn't you wait?"
"I… I thought we were ready."
"And did you double-check grounding?"
"No, Sir."
Emman nodded, not in anger—but with the weight of someone who had seen what carelessness could cost.
The Lesson They Didn't Expect
Emman brought out a small box from the cabinet. Inside were a pair of worn-out gloves, a burnt screwdriver, and a melted plug.
"This," he said, holding up the gloves, "belonged to a classmate of mine in vocational school."
He held the class's attention.
"One day, he tested a live line without gloves, assuming the breaker was off. A wiring error gave him a jolt so bad, he was hospitalized for three days. He never went back to school."
Then he held up the screwdriver. "This was mine. I thought I could fix a socket with a crack in the handle. My fingers slipped. Minor burns—but I could've lost my grip forever."
He set everything down, voice quieter now. "Electricity is invisible. It doesn't warn. That's why we don't just teach skills here—we teach respect for danger."
The room was silent. Even the air felt still.
Redemption Through Reflection
After the lecture, Emman didn't scold them further. Instead, he had each group write a Safety Reflection Log—not about what they did, but what they learned.
Dino wrote:
"I thought I was being fast. Turns out I was being reckless. From now on, I will treat every circuit like it holds life in it—because it does."
Jas wrote:
"Even when we trust our group, we still need to confirm and ask. I realized that safety isn't individual—it's shared."
Emman read each entry, one by one, after class. And despite the scare, he felt something shift: maturity.
Mrs. De Jesus Walks In
Later that afternoon, Mrs. De Jesus passed by the workshop and saw the tools still neatly arranged on the table, students quiet as they packed up.
"Everything okay, Emman?" she asked gently.
He nodded. "We had a moment. A dangerous one. But I think… they learned more today than I've ever taught with a diagram."
She looked at him with a knowing smile. "Sometimes, a shock teaches faster than a sermon."
"I just hope it's the last one," he said, half-smiling.
Back to the Board
The next day, Emman started class not with a drill—but with a new flowchart on the whiteboard.
He titled it:
"Standard Operating Procedure Before Testing Live Circuits"
Step-by-step, the students helped build the list:
Triple check grounding
Use insulated tools only
Label all breakers
No live testing without teacher present
Peer-confirm checklist
Assume all wires are live until proven otherwise
At the end, Emman added the final line:
"Respect the Current. Respect Life."
He handed the marker to Dino.
"Write it in red," he said. "So no one forgets again."
"Mistakes in class can still be lessons. But out there, in the field… they become consequences. That's why we learn here with all our senses—mind, hand, and heart."
– Sir Emman, Safety Briefing Notes