The Art of Teaching Kids

By Charles Florence Cuyana

The art of teaching children is not an easy art to master.

Being an elementary teacher is not an easy task. It requires dedication and perseverance to achieve. It requires someone to become understanding and emphatic to m ake sure that their students will be able to connect with them. With the pandemic severely affecting the education sector, more problems have risen, such as classroom issues, learning loss, and many others. Looking at these, it can be said that teaching sure is a daunting duty in the present time. But one individual pushed through these challenges and became someone worthy of being called a “teacher”.

Mr. Raphael Christian Dungca is a graduating fourth year Bachelor of Elementary Education student from the University of Santo Tomas - College of Education. As a fourth year student, the skills he acquired in the past three years as a college student was put to the test in his Teaching Internship course, in which he is tasked to become an intern in a public elementary school. He did the roles of a normal teacher: he formulated lesson plans, created learning materials, and taught his students. He described his experience as a pre-service elementary teacher in three words: hardship, worthwhile, and fun.

As any other teacher, he struggled with a number of challenges and hardships during his internship. He needed to endure the long commuting times to reach the school, jumping from jeepney to jeepney to arrive on time. He had to improvise in times where his original plans did not work, utilizing the resources he have in hand to teach his students. He catered to the different capabilities and personalities of his students, who came from varying backgrounds. He helped his students who became non-readers due to the learning loss they had during the pandemic, just to make sure that everyone will be able to attain the skills appropriate to their grade level.

However, his internship experience is not only a story of struggle, but also of learning and joy. He was able to improve his skills on adapting to surprising situations. He felt a welcoming warmth from his students in his first day. He was able to connect with his students emotionally, with them asking him when he is going to teach them again. His views on teaching shifted, and he was able to know his skills, his capabilities, and himself as a whole more. He made his teaching internship experience full of learning and memories that he will cherish and remember once he go out to the world of professional teaching. Despite the challenges he faced not only during his fourth year but also during his past years as a college student, he emerged as a teacher honed by experience and ready to face the future.

Being and becoming a teacher really is not an easy task. But the challenges that come with this path is not the only thing someone will get in teaching, as it is also full of memorable experiences and learning. As Mr. Dungca said, the process of becoming a teacher is “a journey, a wonderful journey and a rollercoaster ride experience.” As a graduating student, he will be conquering more challenges in the future, but he will be facing them with confidence and skill.

It may be hard to master the art of teaching children, but it is not an impossible art to master.