On the Mark

JEROME RICARDO M. CERALDE

Raising the bar of digital instruction

It is undeniable that teaching is a noble cause. The job description entails becoming a mentor, guardian, companion, and role model all at once. To become one is in itself deserving of praise; but to go above and beyond, especially in these trying times, is exceptional. When it comes to quality instruction, look no further than our very own Ms. Margie Abe and Mrs. Lirio Adao.

Both were deemed honoraries in the nationwide Search for Most Outstanding Teachers hosted by Rotary Club, Makati last March in recognition of their performance. Ms. Abe was hailed as 2nd runner-up while Mrs. Adao ranked among the top five. They were chosen after submitting a resume of their backgrounds and accomplishments, followed by a series of interviews that sought to determine how they would tackle problems in the classroom setting.

See how Sta. Teresa College’s esteemed mentors thrived in the Cov-Ed era.

Learning: on-the-line Taking education outside the four corners of the classroom presents a unique challenge, as the teacher will now have to contend with every other stimulus that may hinder the process of learning. To make up for this, Ms. Abe, a science teacher, prepares fun practical activities that demonstrate key concepts to keep her students engaged. Among the activities that her students particularly enjoyed were mixing different-colored Tang juice to show how solutions behave at different saturation levels, and playing a scavenger hunt for elements in the periodic table in household items.

She acknowledged that learners have short attention spans—sometimes up to just 12 minutes. Hence, such activities are needed to make sure that lessons leave a lasting impression on her students. In addition, she regularly switched up the topics to avoid the onset of boredom. “Kailangan ay talagang nag-iisip ka ng variety of activities and applications in real life... ang goal kasi ng science is to have a meaningful and relevant application of concepts to real-life situations,” she explained.

In with the times Due to the nature of the current modality, learning managements systems and educational platforms have become indispensable. Mrs. Adao highlighted the difference in strategies and methodologies employed in face-to-face versus online learning. She further emphasized that the applications used for learning must be effective in eliciting active participation from the students to maximize their effectiveness.

Given the limitless scope of the internet, one cannot expect to find everything they need on the school-prescribed MS Teams. Thus, Ms. Abe uses a variety of other platforms to facilitate discussions and assess lesson mastery. By now, her students will surely be familiar with Kahoot, Mentimeter, and PhET Simulations—an interactive learning tool for math and science created by the University of Colorado Boulder. She found the last one especially helpful in explaining abstract concepts.

Take it from them Just as good leaders are defined by their ability to follow, the best teachers are those who continue to learn and hone their craft. Ms. Abe lives by this principle as she recounted how she trained her abilities by taking part in numerous seminars on top of taking up her master’s degree in science teaching.

When it comes to handling classes, keeping one’s enthusiasm up will go a long way. According to her, “kapag hindi mo na-maintain ang energy mula sa simula, sa gitna, at hanggang sa dulo, mawawala ang saya ng mga bata.” This is crucial, she said, since the allotted 80 minutes for major subjects per week is not enough, especially for one as wide as science. Even the smallest gap in knowledge could affect a learner’s performance in the current course, so she takes the time to make sure that all of these are addressed before moving on to the next lesson.

On the other hand, Mrs. Adao noted key traits that teachers must possess, such as being patient, resourceful, open to communication with everyone, and technologically-literate. These, she claims, are the markers of an outstanding teacher.

This achievement is, of course, not their end goal. It is a byproduct of their perseverance in maintaining the standards of learning while dealing with the twists and turns of online classes. By adapting their methods to fit the changing paradigm, they became beacons for students and other teachers alike. As the school prepares to take on blended learning in the coming year, rest assured that you will be in good hands.