FUSE: Igniting my Passion for Teaching

An Entry to The FUSE@15Essay Writing Contest

By: MARI GLENN P. AGUILAR Project 6 Elementary School

[November 22, 2009]

FUSE: IGNITING MY PASSION FOR TEACHING Passion for teaching, anyone..? Says who? Most teachers know it is a burning desire to make a difference for pupils and persevere to keep on with their level of effectiveness as teachers. Passion for teaching means being able to take the tiring daily activities, meet the needs to utilize the limited resources available to attain the daily teaching goals, the endless stress and still want to come to school the next morning determined to teach and touch the lives of pupils. A teacher should never be tired of attending, the same old in-service seminar workshops to augment the knowledge of the subject areas they teach. At least, they just know in an idealistic point of view. Honestly speaking I am one of them, but despite the fact that having this passion; I know that this perspective should revolutionize to a certain degree. Until sometime in November 2005 (my 14th year of somewhat fruitful teaching), I was called up by my principal handing me a memo citing that I am recipient of FUSE (FOUNDATION FOR UPGRADING THE STANDARD OF EDUCATION, INC.) a 15 hours Video-Telecourse Seminar Workshop for Science. I was also informed that this is a non government organization that caters to help upgrade the standard of education in the Philippines as conveyed on its acronym. I was very excited though it would consume my Saturdays and Sundays for my family. Aside from conducive to learn training rooms and free provisions of food, and its venue, which is almost two hours and a half travel time from Pulilan, Bulacan to Makati, I know it is rather different from seminar/workshops we usually attend to.

During the seminar workshop, we are trained how to use multi-media as visual aid for teaching. The trainers discussed to us the use of CD-ROMs they provided offer a more engaging learning experience, with text, audio, video, and animations used to deliver information. The vivid pictures presented along with bulleted text as an audio narration by Dr. Lourdes Carale provided the primary content of the topics. Basically, this package of VCDs and 3 volumes of lesson guides/manual are purposely to endow with complete and comprehensive background information for teachers, the basic facts about Biology, Physics, Solar System and Earth Sciences. The use of multiple media optimizes learning styles easily: through auditory,

kinesthetic, and visual. Students engagement increases with the use of multi-media device because it is self- paced, highly interactive, increases retention rates, and reduces cost of teaching materials. In addition, I realized that times are changing and so are pupils needs; they are more inclined to technology like televisions, computers, net surfing and other gadgets through which teachers should be kept updated with the current trends and issues to meet the gap between them and the learners. Typically, I use textbooks provided by the school and PELC (Philippine Elementary Learning Competencies) as guide. Its a fact that teachers should be resourceful enough to effectively deliver its daily learning tasks by utilizing cut out pictures and colorful drawings to catch the pupils attention on manila paper or cartolina if the teacher is gifted in arts, but it is truly tiring and time consuming on our part.

Through

this

training,

aside

from

its

advantages

of

providing

information, I learned to maximize the use of the VCDs to integrate the lessons to other subject matters, used as presentation for a new lesson. Sometimes it is a review of the previous lesson, which really helped me a lot. It set a new milestone in my teaching career. It has enlightened me to be more aggressive in search of information regarding the subject matter I teach, than depending on the books available in our school. I became more confident to face my pupils questions regarding certain topics. As I explore the way through facts and hit the learning objectives, I became interested in computers and surfing the net to get more ideas enhanced by multimedia since then. Keeping abreast, I coached winning pupils in the SCI-Quizzes for three consecutive years; I trained qualified pupils for the entrance examinations in Science High Schools as well. To share this newly acquired skill, I let the teachers copy the VCDs; I also served as a resource speaker about Video Based Lesson Planning and Teaching Strategies during our INSET (In-service training for teachers). Being a teacher is not an easy job. Real teachers should reach out to the needs of their students. Teachers also need support to meet these needs. I am very thankful to the organizers of NGOs like the FUSE CONSTEC for giving me the opportunity as a recipient of this outreach for teachers.