Little Things Makes Big Difference

Post date: Jul 4, 2018 2:53:24 AM

By: Roylan T. dela Cruz

Head Teacher I, City of Balanga National High School

Malcolm X, an African-American Civil Rights Activist once said that “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” We educators are the one preparing the future of the citizens of tomorrow. Their future lies in our hands. It is our duty to give them what they deserve for their betterment.

I read an article from http://www.teacher-support-force.com/learning-context.html about how we could help our learner. According to the article posted by A. C. Neilsen, we could help our learners if we unite with them. How could we unite with our learners? They give some little tips that we could use. These little things can make a big difference for both of the learner and the teacher. These tips are just reminders in case we forget them. This is how I see myself to become an effective teacher, following this tips which we use long time ago.

The first tip that suggest is to know them. In order to "teach the life tof the child" as suggested by neuro cognitive scientist Dr. Fritz Mengert, you have to know about the life they are living. We can understand better our students if we know them. We can teach them according to what they need if we know them, especially those students misbehaving in our class. Home visitation is one way of knowing them. Their misbehavior during our class was rooted somewhere else. It is our duty to know them to give remedies for these problems we encounter. There are some other ways of knowing our students that I’m sure you can suggest me.

Second tip is to contextualize according to their age & experience. One of the reasons why children have trouble with comprehension is that passages are often completely out of their context. Another thing, I always remember from my mentor teachers saying that we had to go down to the level of the students. Do not wait for them to step up to your level. Because we are more mature and educated than them, we should be the one to step down to their age. One way of contextualizing according to their age & experience is to use their daily living in our classroom discussion. We have to use examples suited to their age level. Likewise, be careful in using languages. The use of scholarly words not appropriate to them may lead to poor performance and misbehavior.

Another thing was contextualizing according to their age and experience is to engage with them. This is the third tip in understanding our learners. To understand how the learners think and learn, we have to engage in their culture. We may engage even in watching what they watched & listening to what they listen. Engaging with them is bridging the generation gap of teacher and the learner.

It is also important to listen to them. This is the fourth tip given by the article. It is never hard to discover interest of the learner because they are so eager to share everything with great enthusiasm. We have to give time to listen to them. We do not even know whether they are interested or not at home. In listening, both of us may benefit from the information we gather.

The fifth tip is to teach using their gadget or toy. Such small things which they can identify really helps place activities and understanding. One component of teaching that really help our learners to learn is when they can identify themselves using the world around them. Teaching using their gadget or toy will be a vehicle for good understanding of the lesson.

Little things such as knowing them, contextualizing according to their age & experience, engaging with them, listening with them and teaching using their gadgets or toys can make big things in understanding our learners. These tips are simple, but can make a big leap to the future of our nation for tomorrow. As 21^st Century Teachers, it is inadequate that we just grow professionally. We must grow holistically and spend time to know and understand the learner we have today. Growing holistically includes emotional growth part and parcel of being a teacher. This is how I wish to become an effective teacher, to grow holistically.