THE HEART IN TEACHING

BERNADETTE P. MENDOZA

Day in and day out teachers stress themselves out thinking of the best and most effective strategy to make their students learn. The options are varied and numerous, traditional (i.e. chalk and board), technology-based (ICT, videos ), innovative strategies, and all related means and ways. Teaching methods/ strategies come in different labels. Authors and education experts suggest many time-tested and proven strategies.

The first concern of a teacher upon entering a classroom is the routine inspection, next comes the rituals. Once the learners are settled, he cajoles the students for attention, the real challenge to a teacher is how to sustain the learners’interest ‘til the end of the planned lesson. Interesting and exciting activities may be employed, like games and contests, to enliven the classroom interactions.

What then should be the central principle that will guide a teacher in deciding what method is best and most effective in getting his/ her message across? According to a resource speaker in an international seminar I attended, the best strategy is the “teacher-learner relationship”, and I couldn’t agree more.

At the heart of teaching is teaching with the heart. If a teacher upholds this guiding principle, no learner will be lost, because our ultimate goal as teachers is to imprint a mark in our wards’lives in a way that will affect their future, after all, it’s not only the academic lessons that will light their journeys but more importantly the way we made them feel, which will build up their confidence in themselves.

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The author is Teacher III at Natividad High School