Teachers should ‘talk’ to learners

Marcelita C. Avila

NOW that we are under a distance learning modality, there must be questions on how teachers will be able to assess their students.

The Department of Education is urging teachers to talk to their students at least once every quarter, which would serve as an assessment on how they are faring with distance learning.

Through this, teachers will be able to determine how the lessons under distance learning are understood by the learners.

How can this take place? Students can ask teachers for clarification on certain topics, while teachers can ask for outputs.

According to the DepEd, teachers are trained to gauge learners’understanding of a specific topic.

They can also determine if the learners themselves were the ones who completed their homework.

The talking session with the students does not have to be formal – just a simple conversation to gauge their understanding on the concepts that the student needs to learn, according to the DepEd in a recent media briefing.

The DepEd also said this is one way to guarantee that the modules are answered by the students themselves, and not their parents, siblings or other r el at i ves.

The agency said it is also looking into other formal schemes to assess the students. It can be recalled that the agency had to revise its assessment as well as grading policy because of the distance/blended learning approach being implemented this school year.

However, this new setup has proven challenging when it comes to assessment and grading.

That is why DepEd has come up with a grading system that is “flexible” – and depends on the learning modality.

The DepEd had already released interim guidelines for the assessment and grading of students for SY 2020-2021.

Under the guidelines, schools are directed to “adopt assessment and grading practices that can most meaningfully support student development and respond to varied contexts at this time.”

It was also stated in the policy that teachers must also communicate regularly with their students as well as their parents, especially on monitoring and recording the children’s academic progress.