Role Model of Character

Teachers as life changers have the power to either break or make a better future for their students and for them to be successful in this one, they have to make their students improve holistically. They need to impart knowledge in order for lifelong learning to happen, they have to hone their skills for preparation in life and most importantly, they have to inculcate values to their students, because only in this way they can make a better future, if competency is equal with character. One way for the teachers to do it, is by being a role model to them. And it’s an effective way, because values are caught not taught, if students can observe it through their teachers they can imitate and apply it. And that’s how my cooperating teacher inculcate values to his students. He has modeled it himself. One time, he told me that it is not wise to spend time yelling and making sermon to your students for them to behave well. You should be an example to them for them to realize things, especially students now, they hate teachers who always yell and consume time in disciplining. The hidden curriculum will do its part. Also, since my cooperating teacher handles literature classes he also integrate values and highlight the moral of the story to the students or sometimes he contextualized it in order for the students to relate on it and make the learning memorable and meaningful to them, that when they encounter problem same with the conflict they can apply what they have learned from the discussion. Learning this from him, is very useful for me as future English teacher. I can also apply his strategy to my future students I this way I made my learning useful and effective for me, and who knows one of my future students will also apply it in the near future.

Teachers as Artists

Being a teacher entails a lot of responsibilities and one of these, is for teachers to be creative inside their class. Creative, in a sense of using different strategies, methodologies and techniques in a different class, because a creative teacher acknowledges the diversity of his students, which is why he uses varieties of approaches in teaching. And this is very evident in the different classes of my cooperating teacher. Since he teaches grade 12 and grade 8 students I was able to witness his creativity. The way he changes and level his approach to the students. For example, when he teaches in his grade 8 class, he is more cheerful, he cracks jokes and the tone of his voice is friendly, which makes the class less threatening for the students and make them actively participate in the class. While in his grade 12 classes, I notice that, although he is still friendly and cheerful I can observe in his voice and movements his authority, which is good. Since the age gap is not that far, he makes sure that there is still boundary or professional line between him and his students. Another thing, is the way he manages his classroom, I was very lucky to observe his advisory class. I was able to see and appreciate the aesthetic of his homeroom. He is a fan of the movie The Greatest Showman, which is why the design of his homeroom is inspired by the movie. When you enter his room you can somehow sense his personalities, my cooperating teacher is very friendly, bubbly and funny, which can be seen the way he designed his room. With his creativity, they won an award for the Best Bulletin Board in Chevalier School this month. One more artistic thing about my cooperating teacher, is the way he speaks. I know that he is an English teacher and it’s just right that he speaks that way, but the way he pronounces words, he stressed syllables he is very good very, very artistic. One time, while they are talking about a Kapampangan play in his literature class, he read a dialogue there and I caught myself staring at him because he did very well, that time, I realize that as a future English teacher I should practice more in terms of speaking so that in the future I can also inspire my students.

21st Century Educator

Change is the only permanent in this world. This quotation applies in all areas of life, even in teaching. The way teachers teach in today’s time is different from the past, from being a traditional teacher to a 21^st century educator. Teachers adapt to changes in order to cope with their students, since everything changes, their needs, their environment and even their learning styles or the way they learn things. Teachers must take these things into consideration while preparing for the teaching-learning process. Since they are the one who direct the learning of the students. Now, how will teachers produce lifelong learners if they still do the traditional way of teaching? How will students experience authentic learning if teachers still do lecture method all the time? Therefore, in order to be an effective teacher in today’s time you have to be a 21^st century educator. To give you a concrete example, I will share my experiences during my observation at Chevalier School (CS). Every time I observe my cooperating teacher classes, I am amazed on how he manages his class and teaches his lesson. For your information, my cooperating teacher is teaching both junior and senior high school.

In his class, he is a facilitator of learning. He helps and guides his students for them to learn the lesson, he doesn’t spoon feed everything to them. Even with his grade 8 students, he guides them to direct their learning like. Like when they discussed the different type of speeches, instead of lecturing the lesson, he let them watch different videos and write their observations per group. From then, he helps the students to realize that a certain speech is like this, because... and etc. In this way, collaborative learning happens too, students help one another to a have better understanding about the videos.It is also a good way to give opportunities for the students to be actively engaged in the discussion rather than being passive listeners. This also made the learning more meaningful and relevant to them. Aside from this, he also promotes lifelong learning in his research classes. Instead of allowing students to take information from any websites he challenges his students to not to settle with outdated and unreliable sites and to read more updated books.  With these observations, I can say he is an example of a 21^st century educator, because based from The McNiel Educational Foundation a 21^st century educator has the following traits; student-centered, forward thinking, actively engaged, flipped, relevant, and collaborative, which I believe can be observed in my cooperating teacher class.

Educational System: Chevalier School

It is my first time to observe at Chevalier School and the school gave me a good impression. Not just because it is a private and Catholic school, or their beautiful facilities, but because  the school itself is organized and the personnel and guards are very welcoming.  They make sure that everything works well and are in place like, in buying foods in  canteen, as a visitor you have to get a visitor pass from the guard for you to be able to buy same with  the students, they have their passes too, even when they go to comfort room they ask for the CR pass, which I think is effective because students will be more responsible of theirselves and even the facilities of their school and for the students not to stay too long in CR or to avoid going to CR in groups.  The rules and regulations they have in school are being observed by the students inside the campus, which gives a good effect and impression to their school. But aside from these observations, I can still say that they have good Education System because the programs they have. The school offers preschool, elementary, junior high, and senior high education programs. In these programs,they use different languages depending on the grade level and subject like Filipino(Tagalog),English and Mother Tongue for the elementary pupils. What I find amusing in this level, is that, the security and safety of the children is really their priority, because pupils before they'll go out they have to wait for their parents but if the parents are already their and the pupils too what they do to avoid stampede, they have TV outside where pictures of the pupils are being flashed, which means whoever will be flash there  is the one who can go home, in this way they go out in turns while being safe. In their Senior High, they offer four academic tracks ABM, STEM, HUMMS, GAS, and TVL. All these programs they have the same Academic year, they start from June until to May. Pupils and students attend class for not more than 220 days and for Elementary,Junior and Senior High School they have one-hour class per subject. The school with these regulations and system is now known one of the famous schools in Pampanga, not only because of the quality education they offer but how they run the school as an institution really impress the market. Currently, the school head of CS is Mr. Ervin Taruc Sombillo.

Elements of Teaching

Teaching happens if the elements are present, but effective learning will take place if they made use of the elements effectively and efficiently. In Chevalier School (CS), I observed that the teacher as an element has an immense part in the teaching-learning process. They make sure of everything, the lesson they will be teaching, the equipment they need, and they are also the one responsible for making the classroom a conducive place for learning.  My cooperating teacher is the one making the students get to work, to experience learning themselves, he directs their learning. And that is important, because if he will not do that, what will students do? Will learning ever takes place? So, base from my observation, teacher has an important part as an element of teaching in CS. Next, the students in CS they are contributing in the effectivity of learning because how will the teachers know if they are effective? It’s their students’ performance. In addition, since CS is a private institution, they pay for their tuition fees, for the facilities, teachers and school personnel salaries and the educational equipment they need. So they are important because they also contribute financially. And these help in making learning effective because the students have good facilities that are conducive for learning they make the students comfortable while learning, they also have speech lab, auditorium and all plus the equipment, they have projectors, TVs, speakers and etc. which aid the teachers to effectively impart knowledge, skills and attitudes. Last thing, I’ve also observed that the professional behaviors of the teachers also make the learning effective, because when they are in the faculty room, I was able to see how harmonious their relationship with one another which is good, because they help one another, for example English teachers, they assist one another like if my cooperating teacher needs help concerning their field of specialization other English teachers are there to help. One more thing is that even other majors they help and work as one, like one of cooperating teacher classes he integrate the project of his students with MAPEH subject, this makes learning effective because they serve as role models to their students and make students see the connection of one subject to another.  

Wong # 3: A Teacher, A Planner

After watching the third part of Dr. Wong’s lecture I remember what I’ve written in my first entry, that as a teacher we are life changer, we have the power to either make or break the future of our students. We possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. Our personal approach will create the climate of our class. Knowing this, I realize more how huge my tasks and my responsibilities are as a teacher and how powerful I am in the classroom. Having such power I should, I should be responsible, I should be an effective teacher. I have to do well and manage my class well to make everything works.  To do so, I should have my plan. I should make procedures for my students, for them to know what I want them to do and vice versa. The beautiful thing about procedure is that it makes the class comfortable and secure because students know beforehand what is expected to happen, which makes learning easier for them. But, it should not just stop there, we should not just tell them, we should practice it. As John Dewey said “Learning by doing,” so if you give an opportunity for your students to practice the procedure and experience it themselves it will make their learning more meaningful and effective. So as a teacher it is not enough that we know what we will teach, but we should also know how to manage our class and that’s by being a planner because a teacher we no plan, is planning to fail.

Educational Philosophy: A Progressivist

Being in a new environment makes me feel unease when I had my first observation day, but when I met my cooperating teacher the uneasiness faded away. It is because he is very kind, jolly, welcoming and accommodating.  He is an English and Research teacher in Chevalier School. Observing how he teaches his lessons, it is evident that he is a Progressivist, because in every lesson, he makes sure that his students will see the relevance of the lesson they’re learning in their lives and can be applied in real life situations. He also let his students interact with one another and develop social qualities such as cooperation and tolerance. He always gives group activities, so that they can actively learn through discussion.  He wanted his students to learn through action and being involved in the processes that will get to the end product and for the students to work on hands-on projects so learning would take place, rather than memorization. Like in his Research class, he guides his students and give input, but he will let them make the process and do it themselves for them to learn and experience it firsthand, which is good because in whatever situation they can apply what they’ve learned.  One thing I’ve also observed is that, he allows his students in solving conflicts of the literary pieces they discussed, in Philippine Literature, similar to those they will encounter in their everyday lives. Such activity will help students to exercise their problem solving skills and think more critically. It can also be observed in his class that education should be a process of ongoing growth, not just a preparation for becoming an adult. This is to make the previous learnings of his students connected to what they’re learning in his class and to add more to it for the next grade level.