A NEVER-ENDING TEACHING JOURNEY

DENICE P. SAMPANG

Dream of becoming teachers have a lot to look forward to. The mysteries of how people learn are gradually being revealed through the careful scrutiny of scientists, researchers, and practicing teachers. A growing stock of new tools and strategies is enabling educators to be more effective than ever in meeting student needs. Slowly but surely, we're heading toward a time when teachers have the knowledge and freedom to help all children achieve at high levels. For the next generation of teachers, getting there will be exciting, but it won't be easy. Education students will find that it's harder to become proficient; there's more to study, more to learn, more to practice. To get a glimpse of how best to prepare fledgling educators for this challenge. In courses on teaching practices and curriculum development, learned ways to engage students in experiences that allow them to integrate skills into hands-on activities and to conduct their own inquiries and experiments. Explored how technologies such as the Internet and sophisticated computer simulations can open a whole new world of possibilities for classroom learning and make the curriculum more meaningful for students. Engaged in discussions with the students about how physical and social development affected his academic performance and talked about how these areas could be supported and stretched. Noticed that the boy was proficient in some skills, such as building models, but struggled with others, like reading. These observations helped her understand the usefulness of studying theories on different types of intelligences, such as those of educational researcher Howard Gardner. She concluded that one of her biggest challenges as a teacher would be to discover each student's unique strengths and find ways to use them to overcome the student's weaknesses. Committed to providing state-of-the-art teacher preparation as well as state-ofthe-art education for learners.

-oOoThe author is Teacher II at Talimundok Elementary School, Division of Mabalacat City