TEACHER: ADVOCATE OF COLLABORATION AND COMMUNICATION
MANUEL I. PAJARILLGA JR.
As a facilitator of learning, a teacher must promote communication and collaboration among students. He or she must initiate ways in order that these 2 Cs in teaching-learning episodes will prevail.
Students must be encouraged to talk in class and share their thoughts about a particular topic it is one way to motivate our learners to speak inside the classroom. As a Math teacher, I ask my students to solve a problem or an equation and ask them to discuss how they have arrived at the right answer. I oftentimes pose real-life situations and extract from them insights that may inspire other students to see the beauty of mathematical operations and illustrations. These techniques I utilize may encourage deeper discussions in the classroom in which the sharing will not only come from my mind but also from the minds of the students. These present teaching practices open opportunities for students to communicate what they learn thus, inspire each other to improve their academic performance.
Another challenge for teachers is to think of teaching practices that encourage students to put their talents and expertise in a group work. But since I have started to be an advocate of multiple intelligences, I think I have been able to come up with a teaching practice that promotes collaboration. At times, I ask my students to be in their respective intelligence. Then, a particular problem is given to each group. The members of the group through the facilitation of the leader will work on the assigned problem. As they present their work, they will apply their intelligence. For instance, the music group will sing the solution in class using a specific tune. The linguistic group will make a short skit incorporating the way they solve the problem. The visual group may write their solutions on a masterpiece. In this manner, students can work together to perform a task.
As a facilitator I do believe that learners learn more effectively when learners collaborate to their classmates inside the classroom while doing their task, activities, role play, recital, or experiment inside the classroom. It also serves an another fuel to the learners to exceed their limits and think outside the box because they rely on each other’s ability and they need to work to on each other’s uniqueness to make their work possible. As a facilitator I encourage my learners to express what they want to say because I want each of them to be heard inside our classroom.
With aforementioned scenarios in the classroom, I could say that my role as a facilitator of learning is very significant. This role could successfully be carried out as I perform as an advocate of collaboration and communication. The learning that takes place in the four walls of the teaching space really depends on how a teacher plays his or her character. As a facilitator we should think, plan and mindful on how to engage and encourage our learners to collaborate to their classmates because it is an effective and powerful tool to learn our learners.