“THE___FACT”

Post date: Sep 9, 2014 5:47:58 AM

Janice T. Forbes - Head Teacher City of Balanga National High School Phase III, Talisay, Balanga City One time, a medical doctor says to his cancer patient to complement his prescribed medicines; pills or capsulated substance with herbs. He added, “I am uncomfortable to tell this thing but, it is better to medicate yourself with herbal plants, and of course, let’s pray hard for your good health.” In this era, when we provide medical findings to the status of education in this country, we can compare it to the cancer patient. The medical doctor is the educator who prescribes to supplement his medication with herbal plants (which contain antioxidants) and most importantly, be guided with prayer, not to lose hope and have a positive outlook in life in case the problem still arises; so keep on praying that the teacher could do a lot of solutions. Nowadays, our students seem to forget the importance of education and contempt the sway of losing it to their lives. They outlay too much of their time to their own hidey-hole than schooling since this planet is now technology – oriented. Is it also a DISEASE to be called? Does it shout for remedies or a simple therapy could do? Well, what I am sure of is that, this is a decade problem, and it needs an immediate TREATMENT.

As far as teaching instruction is concerned, “It is better to revolutionize or do mediation rather than simply take the problem for granted”, as always articulated by all educators of this earth. I think, ANTIOXIDANTS should be prescribed to prevent its progression. What are those antioxidants that can stop the scattering of FREE RADICALS within the SYSTEM? Well, admit it or not, in this generation there is no such thing as CURE for any kind of diseases, only the word PREVENTION as what doctors are doing on commercials on television have been reminding, or at least make all BALANCE or SAKTO like Coca Cola Company has advertised. Why? Because they know there are harmful substances or components in those stuffs. Do we have those harmful substances in our ORGANIZATION?

Many points need to be considered with regards to the student-teacher-system concern.

First, let us situate our students as human body that needs proper nurturing. How are we going to let him stay healthy?

Still the fact remains that the learner is responsible for his own learning, so the teacher must bring it back to his system. This is the problem. My first concern that I call disease; the student pays no attention with his studies, whether he learns or not in the class. It is a very crucial condition not only on his part but also to the school itself. Yes, there are lots of teaching strategies or antioxidants that DepEd has been offering to us that can be practiced to attain one common goal - to increase the academic performance of students! Yet, the problem is there and not really addressed right. I wonder why? Are the prescribed strategies not so EFFECTIVE, in general?

I am not questioning the standing of those teaching techniques, what I am worrying is the manner of executing them. I am not questioning either if they are really helpful on the part of the teachers, or suited with the learners’ needs. What I am pointing is that, the teacher should be very cautious and intellectual at the same time, in choosing correct techniques to be utilized in his class for the day’s lesson since his performance merely depends on the learning outcomes of the class. When we try to look to the other angle or perspective, it is in the teacher’s hand to properly employ those teaching strategies and get the best out of the students’ skills. This could be a vital factor of learning process; the teacher must know how to act as a classroom FACILITATOR. Actually, this is my second concern.

Does the teacher really understand the word facilitator? Or does he know how to act as one? Theory must be understood clearly, moreover, conceptualizing it through proper execution must be taken into account. Being a facilitator is not an easy task but a noble teacher is a risk taker, and he must face whatever magnitude it takes.

According to Behaviorism, human can acclimatize himself with his new experience using his prior knowledge. He can think directly and be able to motivate himself into the situation using his senses. This can also be associated to Cognitivism that supports the ability of the student to think and use his own knowledge since human can generate knowledge and meaning through sequential development of an individual’s cognitive abilities, such as the mental processes of recognition, recollection, analysis, reflection, application, creation, understanding, and evaluation. And those who advocate Constructivism believe that a learner's ability to learn relies on a large extent on what he already knows and understands, and that the acquisition of knowledge should be an individually tailored process of construction. (Source: Learning Theory - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia).

In this case, when we analyze those philosophies of human learning, still, we will go back to the tenet that the child is our magnum opus. Definitely, our students are really capable of using their innate learning skills, the question here is, Can we manage the skills correctly and develop them? Again, it is really on the hand of the teachers how they are going to grip those innate abilities using those prescribed medicines.

I am not pointing my finger to anybody but to whom?

Let us put it in this way. Ask these questions to yourself. Am I ready to execute whatever I have learned in the seminars, trainings, and workshops I attended? Are the five days or one week training enough for me to learn new things? Am I well-equipped with correct knowledge after the seminar? Am I well-furnished with skills after the workshop? Am I good enough to do the task given by the institution? Of course, there is none to be described as perfect, right? However, problem remains unsolved because until now we are in experimental phase, still doing interventions or innovations looking for the best practices.

Probably, action must be taken. Antioxidants must be infused to medicate the system as a whole. How? Start it to yourself. First, identify those teaching instructions. Second, determine the learning principle supported with the techniques like Piaget, Gardner, Vygotsky, Skinner and Bandura’s Theories of Learning. Third, do further research about it to gather concrete data and solicit significant ideas from your superior and colleagues. Fourth, make an impressive preparation for utilization. And lastly, never give a wrong result. If ever you find it a little effective, do your own research and give scholastic recommendations.

Reviving your spirit is the best thing than giving negative remarks. Another reminder, don’t engage too much with your emotion whenever you feel beaten in your working place because it could impede you to move forward for the better. This is our worst enemy, to plant and nurture negative outlooks that make you more knotty. Go outside and feel the air. Appropriate medication or treatment should be given with care to stay healthy. And this will start from you. You as a teacher of this generation should start ingesting antioxidants so you can produce better outputs. Indeed, student is your great magnum opus.