"Bakit ka pa mag-aaral eh diskarte lang naman kailangan sa buhay." This is the exact phrase that someone had told me when I was in my highschool days. This phrase made me think that perhaps this person is right, maybe we don't need to learn in order for us to achieve what we want in life. But, it didn't break my belief that when you are learning it means you're growing and when you're growing, everything is possible to achieve. Learning for me is not just about going to school then listening to your professor, doing school work, going home and that's it, learning for me is a greatest tool to not just be able to know things but to also know yourself and other people that surround you. We need to understand that we live in a world with people that have different perceptions and beliefs which makes one of the reasons why learning is continuous, and learning for me has no limits. We cannot just say that "when I'm learning it means i should study or know history, geography, society, science etc". Learning is like a mind map, it is not just academically but in all other aspects of life. I have this belief that learning can be in a positive way or negative way, sometimes we learn wrong things which result in making mistakes, and that's where learning in a positive way enters, because as we go throughmistakes we learn from it and change. Learning doesn't stop on the four corners of a classroom, it goes beyond that corner. Before, I was afraid to learn things. Why? because i used to think that when i learn i might be lost, i felt like i'm a snail who stayed still inside my dark shell containing only few knowledge or things that i already knew having no idea how to expand those and grow, i thought information inside my shell is already enough for me to achieve things that i want, not until i tried to go outside and explore things which i discovered that world is indeed huge and full of information which i regret that i let myself stay inside my comfort zone and learn the same exact things over and over. That's why, when we learn, we realize things. My father once told me that “Ang pagaaral at mga natutunan mo sa paaralan at sa buhay ang tanging kayamanan na kahit kailan hindi mananakaw” This statement of him makes me more eager to fight and pursue this profession
Teaching for me is not just about standing in front of the class, then disseminating information, giving students homework or activities. Teaching is when you're guiding or taking your students on the right track. Teaching for me is when you're like a living correction tape,you don't just instruct your students based on your lesson plan but you also have to correct their mistakes as it is part of your duties as a teacher as well, because teaching means you are molding someone to become whatever they want to be in the future. As an aspiring teacher, I would love to teach my students not just about or based on the school curriculum but also in life. How? by making my class interactive yet very inclusive to the point that my future students will never feel that they are alone and being left behind. I have learned that Part of the academic freedom of a teacher is to know what your students need in order for them to learn.
I foresee myself as a type of teacher who's very determined to teach my students in different aspects which will not only be focusing on what I want to teach them but also what they want to know because I want to establish a healthy environment with my students in which everyone is free to express themselves without any judgement. I expect a classroom environment where despite my student's differences, there is a harmony that unites them which is respect and understanding. We cannot just dictate to our students to do respect if they don't know its meaning, that's why in future, instead of dictating them the word "respect", I will make them understand how diverse our world is and guide them on how they should see things and accept things and that is one of my main goal. In that case, we can have a future generation with a healthy environment and a world of learning without competing with each other but helping each other instead. But in order to achieve that, as a future teacher I have to make plans to bring mygoals into reality. Collaboration or group work is a great process or tool for a beautiful outcome, because I believe that if a team works together there's a lot of information to exchange with which can form a great outcome. This concept is like building infrastructure, it's almost impossible to build a beautiful infrastructure if only one person is working. But if a group of people with shared ideas works together, a tall, solid, and amazing infrastructure can be formed. Learning also is not just about understanding the lesson itself, but effective learning is when the student applied it in the real life situation.
“Uy kristine, bakit ka pa mag teacher e kapag nasa field kana limitado na lang lahat sayo” I will not enter this field if i didn’t expect that a lot of things in me should be set aside and put teaching first. I know how hard it is to be a teacher, more responsibilities and more problems but it didn’t change my mind because seeing how our generation learns, i feel like i need to be part of the change. I need to become one of the major contributors of successful professionals in the future, because I believe that teachers are the foundation of every profession. Before the individual becomes a doctor, there’s a teacher who sacrifices his/her personal life just to be part of their success.
One of my greatest secrets that I think is safe to share here is that, when I'm alone in our house, I sometimes act as if I am teaching someone. I noticed that the way I teach my imaginary students is like I am in a reality show or talk show, because this was the way I wanted to be teached when I was in my elementary days, like a casual talk but in a way that I am absorbing the lesson. I want my teaching relationship with my future students to be interactive in a way that we're changing ideas, I want it to be student centered as much as possible. Because we should teach based on what the students need, not because of what the teacher wants. I want to engage my students in our physical world, I want them to experience things and learn from it. To do that, of course I have to think of ways on how to engage my students in our environment where they can also learn from it. Since I am a kind of teacher who loves to explore, I can use this characteristic to teach my students. For example, if i am a history teacher and teaching mystudents the life of rizal, in order for them to imagine or situate themselves in rizal's life i should bring them to a place where they can relate and understand it and where they can play with their imagination. Bottom line, the goals I have set for myself as a teacher is to make learning fun because I firmly believe that when students enjoy learning, they can remember the topic or lesson that you had taught them, and it's actually based on my personal experiences. And also to be more specific, one of my personal goals as a teacher is to teach my students how to utilizethings properly, most specially the technology. Because I can see that as technology grows, the sense of education slowly fades as people rely more on it than on human minds. Which is very alarming. On the brighter side, technology can be integrated in teaching but cannot replace the educators. We are the heart of education, we make education function. That's why if i will be given a chance to establish my own teaching philosophy, i'd call it "Harmonism" which the main objectives is collaboration which involves the sharing of ideas between the students as well as their engagement on the environment that surrounds them and the main focus is in order for them to learn, they have to be harmonized or to work as one to create a beautiful learning outcome.
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