Fostering the Culture of Active Engagement in a 21st Century Classroom
Aaron Orville Nuqui Yumang
Teaching is indeed a challenging job. The toughest task of a teacher is not on the presentation of the subject matter but on the engagement and involvement of learners in the teaching-learning process. The prime target of teaching is to make students learn. Yet, this becomes more difficult if students are quite hard to get involved. Most especially now at the 21st-century classroom setting, getting and even sustaining engagement is really a challenge.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn”. This proved that students’ involvement is as important as just mastering the subject matter. Student engagement is a sign that students are learning.
21st-century learners do not only prefer active, student-centered learning but are also more successful at comprehending complex ideas or mastering difficult skills through purposive engagement and involvement. Addressing engagement in the classroom will not only improve individual student achievement and success but also lead to a more dynamic and rewarding experience for the teacher.
As a MAPEH teacher, it is always essential to consider that students should actively engaged themselves in learning. All the four components of the subject identifies involvement of students. With the advent of modern technology, our pedagogical approach into teaching deals with correct utilization of modern tools of teaching. There are varied strategies to help you achieve performance targets while also fostering student engagement through a variety of practical, actionable teaching techniques.
Fostering a culture of active engagement of 21st century learners is always a task to consider essential in our classes. Technology can help teachers accomplish a lot of things in the classroom. It can give them the opportunity to drive more meaningful learning experiences, help establish fairness among different types of students, and increase engagement on a variety of levels.
When technology is used in education, the intention is to have it improve our teaching in a meaningful and intentional way. Not only can technology enhance educational experiences for students, more and more educators are using it to also increase engagement. Technology should not only be seen as a tool to supplement classroom instruction, but should now be seen as something that can drive it.
Let us drive our students using technology to get involved in learning as they as well venture in the process of acquiring their own discovered knowledge, skills and competencies. As teachers, especially as MAPEH Teachers, let us keep on motivating ourselves to be better as we take the teaching-learning process on a whole new level.
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The author is Teacher II at San Matias High School