TRUE LEADERSHIP

RUBY CATALINA P. MERCADO

How can teachers make a difference in the lives of their students? They can do this, as well as improve school communities, through leadership in education.

Leaders can communicate with students, parents, stakeholders and the community with clarity and passion. They inspire confidence by solving challenging problems.

Letting teacher-leaders lead will give everyone a chance to see how they work, and a chance to experience the new leadership style together.

They encourage their colleagues into performing their jobs well, and cascades this down to students. They make sure to hone a teacher’s knowledge in order to pass on to the younger generation.

Teacher-leaders must have the skills to persuade and inspire and be able to articulate a clear vision of how the organization will look in the future. They have a strong moral compass to convince others.

They should be updated with various policies surrounding the country’s educational system, so that they can gauge whether these apply to the teachers, the student or the staff. Good leaders make sure to implement these policies and that they are being practiced.

Because leadership is a moral commitment, leaders must be prepared to take risks, show courage, persistence, and use a sense of compromise. They have the emotional intelligence skills to inspire others to undertake maximum efforts.

Leaders become effective in their roles when they possess various characteristics, including striving hard to reach a goal. On their own, they are able to track their own progress, evaluate the situation, view possible problems, contemplate solutions and put them into action.

They also know when to give praise when needed and when to criticize for failures, and know where to draw the line between constructive criticism and a damaging one.

Leaders leave communication lines open for the staff and the students, be visible around the school, to increase familiarization between the leader, the staff and students.

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The author is Teacher II at Jose Escaler Memorial School, Apalit District, Pampanga.

ANNABELLE B. SINGIAN

Change is the only permanent thing in this world. Seasons change, people change and even our own world changes. We live in a modern era: an era where technology goes faster and our daily routines get easier. As technology advances, we are not even challenged to cope up with it easily because we are ready. But let me ask you one thing; is our world ready for this speed chase of change?

Look around you. Three or five years from now, those green trees will turn into a burning road without shade. Our world is facing many global catastrophes. We promote global cleanliness and posts “save the earth” posters and fliers yet we go in circles, doing it again and again without any gleam of change. Our resources are limited and we all know that. In fact we are aware of it but we tend to ignore it. We create our own laws that can protect our nature yet we are the ones who violate them. We have great technology that can help in nurturing nature but instead of using it for good, we turn it to opposite.

As humans, we are responsible for taking good care of Earth; our only home. God gave us the greatest things technology cannot create. No man is an island, but there will be no man if there is no island. Everyday is another chance to change for the better. So stop retweeting, sharing and liking nature posts, stand up and act! Let’s make the right decisions while the sun is still shinning and the stars are still twinkling. Let’s save our home!

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The author is Master Teacher I at San Antonio Elementary School-B, Bacolor South District