Keeping the Fire Burning: Teaching in the 21st Century

Consalacion S. Muñoz

Philippine Education is a product of a long struggle from its history and a thriving macro system at present. Even before Spaniards, Americans and Japanese, Filipinos had already informal education, that is through the passing of skills to their children for survival purposes. These include hunting, fishing, farming and other livelihood skills. But as soon as these three conquistadors colonized Philippines, their doctrines have influenced Philippine’s educational system, primarily, teaching.

Indeed, the past is a grand picture of how has teaching evolved from the early years versus the 21st century. This teaching evolution is a promising phenomenon that must be zoomed in to recognize the trends and issues in teaching, to provide suggestions on how to remedy some teaching problems and to introspect if how has teaching greatly transformed during this time.

There are only two common teaching approaches that have been a point of comparison – the traditional and contemporary teaching methods. Both have advantages and disadvantages in the teaching and learning process. As I have been a teaching for more than 15 years now, teaching methods of teachers depend on the kind of learners that are in the classroom. With the diversity of needs, interest and background of the students, teachers must adapt to these learner variables. In the past, traditional method of teaching is effective and even up to this date. How is that possible? Traditional method of teaching isn’t ineffective after all.

Pupils in the beginning and middle school need to obtain the basic competencies of reading and writing which are undoubtedly prerequisite for higher learning. Those can only be achieved through constant practice until such time they learn it on their own. That can be obtained with habit formation. Example of basic competencies include the identification and recognition of words through phonics and phonemes. These are very essential in sounding and pronouncing words. On the other hand, writing is as essential as speaking. Pupils should learn how to write words either in their native language, English and in Filipino. Their psychomotor skills should be enhanced through every day practice so that they will be familiar with the letters as they write them in a meaningful whole.

Those are just some of the examples on how traditional teaching method takes into account for effective learning development of a child. This time, it should be taken into consideration that learning becomes relevant and meaningful when the child understands and applies it in his or her world. Teachers then should assure that what students learn in school is not a mere abstract gigabytes of information from theoretical and philosophical basis alone, but rather, a clear and concrete indispensable knowledge that later improves the life skills of the students. This is the part where learner-centered learning takes the role in the optimum development of the learner.

With the fact that the teacher is a facilitator of learning, students experience real-life learning situations where they can attain the 21st century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical thinking and Creativity. There are a number of teaching methods under this approach and so that makes teaching more noble. The opportunity to grow children no matter how diverse they are.

Teaching is a matter of understanding and caring for these diverse students in this 21st century. There is no single best method for every unique child. Rather, there are a thousand of methods that can make teaching and learning more exciting, relevant and meaningful for the lives of every Filipino learner.

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The author is Teacher II at Sta. Cruz Elementary School, Magalang,

Pampanga