Dirty Ice Cream

Modification

Modifying my teaching styles according to the learning style of my learners.  This would be a challenge for me as a teacher.  I have to pay close attention with each of my student’s learning styles.  What I realized is that creativity in lesson plan’s execution is not enough to meet this expectation by being complex in our teaching. As I see this, sometimes “simplicity” does well to some learners.  What is really needed is to fetch where their “understanding” or “level” is processed even if we think they're level is on 'simple' or 'low' stage. But please don't misinterpret my point, I am not saying that being “creative” is not necessary but sometimes, it only addresses on the wholeness of our approach to the entire teaching process.  It is like a “shallow fashion” to beautify our teaching. An outside appeal. But let me tell you this,  I have learned that the beauty of teaching does not lie beneath the “fashion” but with how we sew the loose threads of our individual-learner’s understanding.

Daily Routine profile

Daily assessment to my student’s is vital.  This is what I aspire for a long time and I found out that it is possible.  One of the things I have learned about learning and finding meaning is, it has to be “personal”.  I think, the same thing works with teaching.  In order to make our teaching meaningful, it has to be personal too.  Actually, I have my own journal for my children where I write significant moments about them.  Anything that is worth remembering—funny, sad, discouraging, amazing…etc. And now, I wonder, wouldn’t that be nice if I will have a journal too as a teacher in church? Where I will tell stories about my students like, “How Rommel learns today?”; “Fides got frustrated when the pages her scrapbook stuck together because she put too much glue?”; “Ron-ron enjoyed the dance class last Sunday but not on the acting class today.”  I may say, that this would be really “personal” that through this as a teacher I get to record the “life” and the “moments” of each of my students.  I believe also that this habit has a prospect of enhancing the perspective of a healthy student-teacher relationship.

Leveling in and leveling up

Yes, it is good to level my teaching styles according to my student’s need and capabilities but it should not always stay that way.  I should also expose them to other challenges.  Teaching levels should not remain stagnant—they have to level up.  Let me share to you my own experience. I have 2 kinds of learners in my class, the difference is measured by their family-environment and  background wise, they are really big factors in contributing on the learner’s stance in education.  The way they process things, their perspectives, and discipline are factors caused by how they were brought up.  Now, in the space of my territory as their teacher, I should address this 2 sets of learners.  With this 2 sets of learners in mind, I should improvise ways on how I could prepare them to the real world. I know, each of the kind will I give a different approach.  Each approach would be a unique and contextualized one.  In both ways,and together, I should have a goal of making them be honed with good standards and a quality-holistic training learning environment and be leveled up on the place where they should be in the future!

Not only receivers but producers

Yes, I agree.  As a teacher, supplying my student’s valuable learning is really my sure aim.  But, I should be aware also that learners shouldn’t just be receivers or takers in every learning time.  My learners should be the “givers” too.  Meaning, I should give them a space to contribute to the lesson being discussed because they have vital ideas to share too.  Plus, the learning evidence will also be fruitful if my learners will also be the “producers” too.  Meaning, they will be able to create a “new” synthesis out of the lesson acquired.  This is a very brilliant task!  It molds the “young” learners “critical” thinking.  It sharpens their minds to be “forward” and “innovative”.  It develops their “pro-active” senses. Where they base their “newly produced ideas” out from their own context and experience.  I think this is what we need today in our society.  Education have been producing persons that are only "receivers".  They only mind themselves.  The "takers" of our society where wealth accumulation, isolation of prestige and power grabbing are the big words to categorize them.  I think, education has a big part on shaping the character of our society.  It has a big role in shaping the future generation to be the "givers" and the good contributors of our world.  The aim of shaping their hearts and their character where education directs them to think and to act on what they could offer to make our world a better place to live in where learning's aim is not "for me" but for "us" in the spirit of love.

“Dirty Ice Cream”

This is the way I describe a teaching approach when a teacher provides choices for his/her students to fulfill a certain task.  I chose the “dirty ice cream” to define my point because there is a good principle that we can find in this.  First, the principle of its ‘mobility’: the cart has wheels and the vendor can go and move where the ‘eaters’ are.  Same as in making learning tasks, there should be a characteristic of mobility.  It has to fetch the learners.  The second principle that we can learn from the “dirty ice cream” is the characteristic of providing the customers to have choices.  In any dirty ice cream cart, it has always 4 flavors to offer, it has a variety of cones to choose from.  I like to take that stance as we apply this principle in our teaching approaches.  As a teacher,I have to offer my students choices in fulfilling their task.  Another good principle that we can get from this metaphor is in this kind of approach, it displays respect to our students as we acknowledge and recognize their student’s uniqueness and differences.