Reflection On Becoming EDUC 14 And The Aftereffect
The process of being a pre-service teacher gave me a vast realization of my chosen field. One of it is that teaching is an all-in-one profession, it caters a big aspect of one’s life. The influence of teaching can extend even outside of their classroom or even outside of their schools. So in the process of becoming a teacher, we must ensure that we are capable of extending our influence to the best way we can. One of the qualities that we must possess is being a teacher-leader. We are lucky that our professor gave emphasis to give us knowledge on how to become a teacher-leader and conducted a seminar about becoming a teacher-leader. Before EDUC14 – Special Topics which is one of our professional education subjects, I clearly know to myself that I lack the capacity of being a teacher-leader or being a teacher per se. Even though, since then, I have been used to being a group leader especially when I was on my secondary level. I know that it wasn’t enough because being a teacher is far different from being a group leader for a classroom project. Being a teacher means that I will be facing a large number of students, colleagues, administrators, and parents. Being a teacher comes with a great responsibility. So I must improve myself to become worthy of being called as a teacher. In our classroom instruction, PPST was introduced which is the Philippine Professional Standard for teachers, a revised NCBTS to cope up with the change in the curriculum which is the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum and improve the 21st century skills of the teachers to cope up with the 21st century skills of the learners.
The Philippine Professional Standard for Teachers gave me the entire idea on how to become a competent pre-service teacher and if given a chance an in-service teacher. I have learned how to teach the lessons, what is the learning environment should be like, how to address the needs and respect the differences of the students, how to plan a lesson that is aligned to the goal, how to assess and give feedback to the students achievement, how to communicate to the schools community and the community outside, and that a teacher should value personal and professional growth as the saying goes by that “Education is a lifelong process”. We also learned how to facilitate a seminar for we once have been the facilitator for the first seminar held entitled “On Becoming a Teacher Leader” with the theme “ Engaging Pre-service Teachers in the Emerging Trends of Teacher Education Curriculum. ”
The seminar gave us an update on the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum, its features and what has to be done in a K-12 environment. I saw it as a form of preparing us when we enter the in-service teaching in the present curriculum. It also educated us of what is special and inclusive education, its features and difference from each other. The seminar also gave us clarifications about the gender fair language, how to address each individual of different gender and understand more about them. And lastly, it thought us how to prepare a lesson on a contextualized approach, by localization and indigenization. “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other” as John F. Kennedy once said. It is true that we cannot separate leadership and learning. Because in the process of teaching, teachers lead their students to a new knowledge, they guide us on what is right. But aside from that fact, there is a bigger picture of leadership in teaching and that is one of the things that I have learned in EDUC 14. “The moment you choose to be an educator, you choose to be a leader” that is the line that Mr. Sulpicio C. Alferez III Ph. D. , Principal IV of Camarines Sur National High School gave us in his talk entitled “Transformative Leadership in Education” during the “On Becoming a Global Teacher” seminar at the LRV Student Atrium, CBSUA Pili Campus on September 22, 2018. He talked about transformative leadership and servant leadership. That the qualities of a transformative leadership are having self-worth, self-management, courage, setting standards, inspirational, can entertain new ideas, adaptability, proactive, able to know your people and lead with clear vision which made me realize that I have more to improve not just because I want to be a teacher but because I believe that those qualities are the same qualities a better person must possess.
And lastly, the showcasing experience, that 60 minutes experience with Grade 8 was heartfelt, during the activity some students approached me to ask questions they haven’t able to ask during the discussion, I saw eagerness in their eyes to learn new things. That made me realize that I must also have the eagerness to be someone better than I am today to be able to meet the needs, standards and accept the challenge of becoming a 21st century teacher. Before this day, I was looking forward that one day I will be able to acquire full knowledge of how to become a teacher that may and will surely strengthen the qualities that I am applying as a pre-service teacher. The subject gave me more than what I am looking for, it gave me the knowledge on how to become an efficient and effective teacher-leader.
After this subject, I am hoping that I will be able to apply it to the field when I become a full-pledge teacher and even to the community outside the school where I belong. And to all the knowledge that I have gained, I want to extend my sincere appreciation and thanks to our professor for catering us the education we deserve for the subject. I may not be able to apply those acquired knowledge right away but I will make sure that I will be an aftereffect of those effort made.
