Resiliency of Teachers and the Education itself.
ROMER SANGALANG PELAYO
Teachers depend mostly on their skills and not into technology before the pandemic. But despite that, quality education is delivered to students. Now, when the pandemic came, things changed. A lot has changed. Teachers felt pressured, stressed and lost. They don’t know how to teach students and. Technology has become a big part of the system. But not all teachers know how to use and navigate such. As a rapid action, Deped trained the teachers to become good providers of knowledge in the new normal set up. It is challenging but giving up is not part of the vocabulary. Different strategies and possible scenarios that might happen were discussed to teachers. Collaboration and sharing have been effective. Dr Mildred emphasized that teachers should be resilient. We have this saying “We can’t give what we don’t have.” And so for a teacher to teach, touch and inspire students, he/ she should embody what he/ she wants his/her students to have. Things won’t be the same but we, teachers, can do more. We just need to first accept reality, second, be open to possibilities and accept challenges. We should not give without trying our best. The pandemic has not yet ended but we are slowly getting used to it. Even if this will end, the things that teacher and students usually do won’t be similar. Every day, there is a change and the pandemic brought a lot of changes. Changes like distancing may be adopted when the pandemic ends so as wearing face masks when sick. Despite all these negativities, there are positives like students may now realize how important teachers are. I think they will become more behaved and will appreciate their teachers more when face to face comes. Next, they might prioritize health and sanitation. Experiencing the same situation twice is not bearable.
The pandemic still exists but we should not lose hope and give up. Challenges are part of our lives. Pandemic is just one. We survived difficult tragedies, may it be natural phenomena or personal problems, I believe we can make it through. We just need to trust the process, give our best and focus on the present.
--oOo-The author is Teacher III at Candaba Elementary School, Candaba West District