PERKS OF BEING AN EDUCATOR
LEIZEL G. SAHIBIL
I was totally gleamed as my students glistened with knowledge and societal preparedness for the rigid challenges of life itself. I don’t usually let the students discuss the lesson for I believed that I should be controlling the discussion and be of great authority in the classroom. I tried giving them tasks to present some musical devices and different ages of music as it was highly related to literature and life. I was a little frightened and unsure with how my young learners would handle the discussion. I was hesitant and felt like it was a make or break part of their memoir as well as to their teacher. I felt that I should be doing more when I take the risk to give them a task instead of just heading the class discussion myself. I TOOK THE RISK. They were as triumphant as I am. My students did more than what I expected. Once, I remember what Aristotle said that students get more intelligent than their teachers as related to their experience.
I would usually have a plain discussion with students tongue-tied and glued to their chairs. Consequently, my students taught me that they needed more as contemporary learners. I promised myself that I must do more for my students. I need to learn how to facilitate their learning well with new researches made available by competitive and dedicated educators. I also want to indulge in a more experimental type of research to develop the way I teach my students to learn and how they learn on their own pace. The students are my greatest source of inspiration. They motivated me well for me to keep a have been doing a satisfying teaching career for more than a decade now. They choose to learn at their own pace and they always try to discover new things to enhance their thinking strategies.
As educators, we should not be hesitant for students to take the lead in their own learning. We could also adapt ways of business people in taking risks and reaping great results of their high-spirited and willful decisions. I would be happy to be spending the next 20 years of my profession with young, responsible and competitive learners of today.
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The author is Master Teacher I at Rafael L. Lazatin Memorial High School