START OF SCHOOL YEAR

It is not easy for students to learn in an environment that is not academically conducive. Students can develop learning confidence and learning competence if they develop learning abilities in three domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor.

Cognitive constitutes mental skills (knowledge); Affective includes growth in feelings or emotional areas (attitude or self); and Psychomotor means manual or physical (skills).

For some students, they may develop an early or natural confidence in one of the said domains. They often show favoritism in a domain of learning, but unfortunately leave behind the confidence and competence in another domain. Therefore, it is necessary for students to identify their areas of improvement .

Teachers, in this light, can take the role of being a counselor. They can encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. They may then develop learning confidence, and learning competence, in the different domains. Teachers should encourage the development of the students’ability to learn how in each of these three domains.

Educators must be innovative and develop their student’s ability to work independently alone or in group settings, as independent learners. They have to make time to teach higher order skills rather than spending time spoonfeeding students. They should teach students how they can learn for themselves, and help discover the incredible learning ability everyone has as human bei ngs.

The author is Teacher Pampanga — oOo— III at Babo Pangulo Elementary School, Porac,

Summer flies and June is drawing near. Back to school is fast approaching. As a student you don’t want summer to end while others are feeling excited about the fresh start of the school year. Look around you. Where are the students? Many are exploring the beautiful beaches of the Philippines, having so much fun and spending quality time with their loved ones. Some are in the malls bonding with their peers, watching movies and go shopping. Others are already busy buying their school supplies. And some who stayed at home reading their favorite book or browsing the net. While some are relaxed and still enjoying their remaining days of vacation in the provinces. All are excited for the start of the class. Look around you. Where are the teachers? They are spending their vacation on attending trainings and seminars. They are not tired of improving and innovating their teaching skills just to share it with their students. Reading teaching books to embrace the new trends of teaching-learning process, to have a fresh ideas like using of PowerPoint presentations, multimedia, audio-visual presentation, videos, movies, excel in computing grades. They are busy preparing their classroom management plan or other called it “Oplan Balik Eskwela”. Teachers’ want their classroom to be ready and conducive for learning. They started cleaning before the start of the class. It doesn’t matter what she looks like sweeping the floor, removing cobweb, wiping the windows, cleaning the electric fans. Most of the time teachers set up their classroom as welcoming and cozy. It is like a home away from home for the entire school year. You will want your classroom reflect your personality. Creating interesting bulletin boards based on the subject and topics to be covered is a very good idea.

Another section in the classroom that exhibits students’ characteristic is placing “Best work”. Posting trivia’s and pictures in the walls is one way to keep students eyes amazed and interested. Set up the classroom chairs depending on your own teaching style and strategies. Teachers are energized to create something new to the eyes of students. She is not tired of exploring new methods, techniques and strategies. She makes her summer vacation worthwhile to be efficient and effective teacher. Preparing daily lesson log, teacher’s guide, learner’s materials and class record is a must on the checklist. You feel a lot better if you already prepared Daily Lesson Logs at least for 2 weeks so that you won’t have to scramble the rest of the week. You need to prepare as well your work plan and budget of work to guide you and help you stay on the possible number of teaching days. If you are a newbie teacher take the initiative to seek advice to veteran teachers. It is very helpful because they have a lot of experience in teaching. Prepare yourself physically, emotionally and mentally. Relax, breathe and bathed the entire school year in a prayer that includes your school, students, colleagues. Pray for wisdom, strength, patience and guidance. — oOo— The author is Teacher II at Pampanga High School