My Insights on Field Study (1-6)

My Field Study courses are such a splendid experience. I would like to thank Teacher April Ann Curugan on making this course enjoyable and worth remembering :) 

Field Study 1- The Learners and the Learning Environment

In teaching, our role as a teacher is not only to talk, teach, record grades and submit it to the authority. The main purpose of teaching is focused on the learners. They are the center of our instructions that is why we must know their nature and how they act in school.

There are learners who are very active and seemed restless. Some are just quiet and timid. Some have unpolished talents and some have well-exposed skills. As a future teacher, I realized that I should know each of my students. I should know their nature. I should impose some questions like why are they acting that way? Are their nature suits my teaching? Despite their individual differences, could they be interested on how I will manage my instruction? Does my instruction fit my learners? Do the smart ones be reinforced with this method? Could the sloe learners understand well if I will make this instruction? Is the environment conducive to learning? All of these must be answered by the teacher

However, having knowledge about the Cognitive Learning Theory of Piaget and others, we could manage the learner’s ability to think. We could estimate our instructions if it suits their level of thinking. Being knowledgeable about learners’ behavior as what Pavlov, Skinner and Thorndike have proposed, it would be easier for us to manage their behavior in some relative situations. Knowing how Bandura explained his Social Learning Theory, we could facilitate them by giving examples of behavior you want them to do. Furthermore, equipping ourselves on the learning theories proposed by Ausubel, Lewin and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence, we can make use of varied instructions for the diverse thinking of our learners

Indeed as a teacher, I should be very much aware of the needs and behaviors of our learners in order for me to plan and make my instruction effective I should be knowledgeable enough on their behavior so that I could encourage them and so that I could catch their field of interest. I believe that if they find learning interesting, it would continue throughout their lives.

Field Study 2 - Facilitating Learning

As always, the guiding principle of a modern teacher is to facilitate learning. Gone are the days where teachers are the sole source of knowledge and is the authority in the classroom. However, facilitating learning means that you are still in-charge of the in the management of the classroom.

A teacher is not a teacher if she could not manage an effective classroom. I realized this premise when I experience to be a teacher in grades 3 and 4 class. This experience gives me opportunity to ponder many things. The theories and principles learned from the course are useless when it is not apply on the real classroom. I realized many things that I think I could use these in the future.

Being a teacher for the day needs many preparations. First, you need to do your lesson plan. All of the flow of the the activities depends on how you plan. You should always anchor the instructions on your objectives; plan the available resources and materials, the methods you are going to use and the means of evaluating. I got my lesson plan revised once. Because of that I had the chance to rebuild my plan for my demonstration teaching. I want to discover what part did I got wrong and what part I have to improve. When my revised lesson plan was approved, I planned for my instructional materials. I wanted it to become attractive and colorful. But, I realized that it is no use when it is not when it is not utilized properly. Since at their age, they are visual learners, I had to put all the necessary concepts on my materials. I learned that these materials play a big part on your instruction.

When I was doing my actual demonstration, I realized the big difference of studying the classroom in my course subject with the experience that you are indeed in the real classroom. Being in the real classroom would test your effectiveness as a teacher. I realized that even though you have mastered the lesson and you have good activities but you are poor in classroom management, all your preparations will be ruined. Controlling their behavior in class is very necessary. Neglecting their behavior would be a big problem because this might give a ripple effect of class distractions. When you are teaching, show to them that you are the authority in the classroom.

At the end of the day, I realized that teaching in the actual classroom is very difficult for new and starting teachers. You have to establish rapport with your students, understand them, then manage their behavior however, in teaching; I learned that the two factors to make you an effective teacher in the preparation and classroom management.

Field Study 3 - The Curriculum

When will I teach this one? Is it necessary to teach it after the previous lesson? Would I follow the book or the Philippine Elementary Learning Competency? What are the lessons to be discussed the whole week? Probably, if you are asking these questions, you are planning for the sequence of the lessons and learning activities. In planning, there are two things you are depending on: the book and the PELC. However, due to the rapid change in the society, these two would have some obsolete concepts and some may not be applied to them anymore. Some may not fit them and even some may not hook up their interest to learn. In fact, because of some deficiencies of the curriculum, it may not accommodate the needs of the learners very well. So, whom or which would we depend on?

Our society is experiencing drastic change so as to the people living in it. As a future teacher, I should know how to attend to these changes especially to the learners who are the main medium of these changes. In response to this, there is curriculum framework that we call, the Understanding by Design template or often is called the Backward Design.

Indeed, understanding the content of the curriculum helps us to determine how we can frame their understanding. I learned this when we experienced to design and plan for the entries we are going to insert on the template. While doing the UBD template, I realized that a teacher should be very sensitive to their needs. We should design our plan according to how they could understand. Constructing the UBD template is indeed very difficult. By its concepts and how it is done, we still have to read and reread the book of McTighe and Wiggins. I realized here that a teacher should be very patient in reading or in anything she does. Reading the whole book requires a long period of time before you could finish it but it helps you to better understand how UBD could be helpful to their learnings.

At first, I do not get hoe the backward designs helps shape their understandings. I am not used in this routine. Unlike the normal lesson planning, you are first concentrate on the objective, plan the methods and plan the evaluation. In the UBD, you will plan for your desired outcomes, and then plan for the evidences of the assessments and then plan for the learning experience that would target your desired goals and is applicable to the assessment evidences. By reading this book, I learned how mere knowing differ from real understanding. But the best concept that I learned is that how to make their understandings lasts long, enable for them to apply what they have learned in different situations of their lives

Field Study 4 - Instructional Materials Development

In order for the teacher to execute their plans for the instruction, they need some instruments that will aid them throughout their teaching. These are the instructional materials used during the instruction. These aid the learners to cope up with the lessons. These also include activity sheets, and bulletin boards – anything that helps the teacher for implementing instructions such as audio visual materials.

When I had my demonstration teaching, I made my visual aids appealing to the learners because I believe that they could learn more with the help of my visual aids. I want my visuals to be colorful and attractive so that I could get their attention during my instruction. But, I learned that its color and appeal to the learners has no use if it is not utilized well. Some colorful visual aids may indeed attract their attention but it sometimes distracts them. They might stick their attention to it but not on the teacher.   However, attractive visual aids motivate the learners to learn. I also learned that visual aids should be appropriate to their use. It should also be varied to avoid monotony of use so that children will not be bored.

Furthermore, in this course, I have experienced to decorate a classroom. Since the classroom is the second home of the learners, the classroom environment should be pleasing to their eyes and motivate them it should be not too colorful, but is attractive to them.

In general, I discovered that enable for a teacher to create an attractive and useful visual aids and bulletin boards; a teacher should be creative in thinking concepts. A teacher should also be artistic and imaginative in terms of animating her classroom. As a future teacher who is not so good in creating things, I will be reading a lot of teacher magazines on the tips on how to have an effective visual aids and on how to organize a classroom. With that, at least I could have some ideas in the my future classroom.

Field Study 5 - Evaluating Learning

Teaching doesn’t end up only on the execution of the learning activities and experiences. We have to know and find the evidences that show if the pupils really understood the lesson in order for us to see if we have met our goals. We did not have set our goals without making sure we have achieved it. We need to assess and evaluate if they really have understood the lesson or if at least they learn something from the developmental activity.

In assessing, we have many methods available to be used such as paper-and-pencil test and performance tasks. Each measures specific abilities and each accommodates their individual differences. When we tried to make test, I realized that it is more than creating a question. We do not have to expect them to just answer them but we have to see how they use their critical thinking skills. Every time you create an item, it should always be anchored to your objective. Does it measure your targeted goal? Does it suit their level of thinking? Does it sharpen the student’s higher order thinking skills? Does it measure what it intends to measure? These are just the questions that I should impose when I am going to make a test again when I will be on the field.

Of course at first, I felt frustrated because it is not easy to think for an item. Some items which I happened to make are for knowledge only. It is not easy to anchor your items to the lists in the Table of Specification. I learned that items that measure the taxonomy of cognitive domain must be scattered equally. Children at their stage are developing their thinking skills so as early as now, you should help them to sharpen their higher order thinking skills.

I also learned that we should not always depend on paper and pencil tests. There are some abilities that are not measured by tests. Some students may be good at written performance but are poor in performance tasks. We should consider each of their individual differences in order for us to determine their abilities and improvements. Therefore, in assessing and evaluating students, we should employ varied methods of assessments such as performance tasks and academic prompts.

There are many methods to measure student’s abilities and understandings. However, we should put in our minds that our assessment methods will say how they perform so make sure that our tests are valid and reliable.

Field Study 6 - Relevant Laws for Teachers and Learners

Upon watching the film, I am happy that I choose to become one of the professions that molds the minds of youth. Being a teacher is to be a caring mother, a concerned sister, a dedicated mentor, a manager, director, molder, referee, an agent of change, and many more. Being a teacher holds many responsibilities that no other profession could do. Teacher does is the noblest profession of all the profession.

However in spite the great role of teachers in child’s life, there are many things that a teacher is facing. We could not deny the fact that this profession is not for materialistic people. You won’t be able to earn much money from it. It doesn’t assure you a stress-free day. Most of the time, you will encounter questions coming from parents who don’t trust your abilities on teaching. There are people who would not support your ideas and believes resulting in inevitable conflicts. . You won’t gain anything from it unless you use your heart from seeing unseen things.  But at the end of the day, as long as you are determined and dedicated on this profession, whatever the occasions may be, you are still a teacher who is needed by the children.

 Being a teacher is really a tiring profession but it gives a satisfying reward that could not be given by any other profession. We are almost exhausted at the end of the day, trying to help change their lives for good. Who would not be worn out by their mischievous acts, behavioural problems and learning difficulties at school? There would be no one except the teachers who are considered as the second parents in the school.