THE MORE WE DO, THE MORE WE LEARN
JOMAR DIZON DELA CRUZ
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” What a great quote for teachers coming from Benjamin Franklin. This is what I realized as a teacher. It is more effective and more meaningful if we let our learners be involved and do the learning themselves. The realization of the learning only took place once the students applied the concepts learned in day to day life.
Applying what one has learned can be considered a pleasure. Just like what Confucius said, “To learn and at due times to repeat what one has learnt is that not after all a pleasure?” This really emphasizes the importance of repetitive learning. That if we do something repetitively it would be a lasting learning.
Teaching students the concepts is quite good. Teaching them to apply what they learned to their day to day lives is quite better. Letting them live the values they learned and caught is what we can consider a meaningful learning. Like what the old saying, do not give them fish instead teach them to catch fish. This saying requires the skills more than the content knowledge. It is more of the ability than the capacity of the mind to retain information. This only proves that as teachers, we should let our learners involve themselves in the learning. We must let them do something that will encourage them to apply and demonstrate the target competencies. Memorization of concepts is already far gone. The trend today is what we call learning by doing. That is putting into action the learned competencies and skills prescribed in the curriculum. Let them explore the outside. Do not just confine the teaching-learning process in the four walls of the classroom. It is more engaging and meaningful if the learning is done in the comforts of the outside and real world. Let them discover the real world by letting them appreciate that learning will only serve its purpose if it is applied to life. Life in reality is education. Life is full of learnings given through experiences. Life never stop teaching and therefore we should not stop learning!
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The author is Teacher I at Malino National High School