ONCE UPON A CATCH-UP FRIDAY
Who doesn’t love a good story? We spend a lot of time listening to them-whether it is a narrative repeatedly told for the nth time from our elders or the local tall tales from our neighborhood “Maritesses”; still, they are an integral part of our daily existence. We even spend a lot of money, whether from books or DVD films or Netflix subscription and then life seems so less enjoyable if we can’t have our regular dose of these fantastic stories.
Time invested in these stories have earned us not only little entertainment to pass our time, but the lessons learned while being immersed on the reading material one is hooked on. Like a romance novel may give a better picture of life during the civil war and the great learnings we get from the Bible and more.
The Department of Education (DepEd) started implementing the Catch-Up Fridays program nationwide on January 12 across elementary and secondary schools and community learning centers (CLCs).
The initiative, DepEd said, is integral to the national reading and mathematics programs, which are critical subprograms of the National Learning Recovery Program (NLRP).
Through the implementation of the program, DepEd hopes to enhance learners' knowledge and skills in and appreciation of reading, values, health, and peace education.
Schools nationwide adhered to this call and designed learning activities for Catch-Up Friday.
One pedagogical tool used is storytelling. Not only students get to enjoy this special day, it allows teachers to integrate the lessons they are required to teach from the stories they share and with that they learn more.
The beauty of storytelling is that it can cover any topic, especially if the teacher can create his own story to tell. Teachers should get rid of the non-essentials for they are a waste of time, and it bores the attention span you have tried to build up in the first place.
A good storyteller is someone who is confident about what he is saying. Your story-true to life or just a figment of your wild imagination-is believable only if you show your audience that you as their storyteller, have the credibility to tell that specific story. You must know your story by heart.
Stories can be interactive too. A witty teacher can get her students involved by integrating the actual lessons in the stories like asking them the details in an elements of a story like characters, setting, plot and the like.
Great storytellers can make the senses of the learners be stimulated by creating a vivid picture of scenes such as what they can see, hear, smell and taste in lessons on geography and location.
Teachers who use the art of storytelling do a lot of practice and preparation since the story should be relevant to the subject you are teaching.
There is nothing more fulfilling than seeing your students learn and yearn for knowledge. You know you have succeeded in using this innovative method if the learners are getting the actual competencies they need to acquire, if they warm up and beg for another story even if it is not Catch-Up Friday and the most rewarding of all is seeing their eyes brighten when the magical words “Once upon a time…”
And then we can finally say… “And after.”
they all lived happily ever
-oOoThe author is a Teacher II at Mabalacat Elementary
School,Division of Mabalacat City