Swayed back to my dream

by: Jonell Domogma

Teaching. The most challenging profession I have ever thought of. I have dreamt of being a teacher ever since I was a kid. But, when I became a high school student, I have also thought of taking computer studies and hrm courses in college. I have been in two minds if I will still be pursuing my dream of being a teacher or take the other path to walk through. I have been hesitant until I got inspired by my math teacher during my fourth year in high school.

I can still remember the days when she still teaches us. She is the first ever teacher to be my favorite. Well, actually, I am not the only one whose favorite teacher is her. Because of her, I fell in love with math. She has that ability to make complex mathematical theorems, concepts and problems easy. She teaches math with ease. We can grasp all the information she is imparting to us easily. When I got a chance to talk to her and ask her "how do you do that Ma'am?" she just said that, there is nothing special in her way of teaching. Well, during our time, she really teaches us using the traditional way wherein we are just sitting in rows and columns while watching her solve math problems and listening to her explanations afterwards. She admit that during our time, under the Basic Education Curriculum, teacher is the main source of knowledge. Thus, classrooms are truly dominated by the teachers. Furthermore, she allows us to answer the mathematical problems and equations individually to test if we really acquire the knowledge from her. She make use of the book about Trigonometry worksheet and let us answer those. She is a content-expert. Every page of that book has been answered by us. Yes, during our time, she seldom uses cooperative learning approaches. However, it doesn't take away the fact that she is truly a great teacher.

Since curriculum has changed, her way of teaching changed as well. She started giving her students priming activities wherein the students learn and enjoy at the same time. Likewise, she utilizes the proposed project of the Department of Education, the 2 QaD. 2 QaD stands for two questions in a day. Before every discussion, she gives her students two NAT-type questions. The goal of the said project of DepEd is to improve the academic performance of the students aligned with the standardized learning objectives. Along with that, she also makes use of cooperative learning approaches like think-pair-share and also she utilizes reflective learning approach. She is implementing the curriculum by following the complete competencies in math 10 under the K-12 program. She just gives life to the recommended curriculum prepared by the DepEd.

For improved quality of education, she crafted modifications in her  way of educating her students. Since K-12 program is the curriculum suggested by the Department of Education, she incorporated contemporary teaching and learning approaches, methods and strategies in her classroom setting. Likewise, now, she is equipped with the technologies of the 21st century. Back then, she often uses traditional ways of assessing us, our academic performance and such. Now, she started using varied activities to accommodate her students' individual differences.

It was really nice conversing to the teacher who inspired me to be what am I now. In our conversation, I realized that there has been a huge difference between the education back then and the education right now.