TEACHING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Filipino teachers face a big challenge in their

 teaching profession. No longer is education 

confined within the four walls of the classroom. 

The world of the youth today is so immense, 

diversified and beyond borders.

The world has become so small with the advent of technology. 

There is a need then to really look into the individual needs of every student. A need to fully understand each student's unique make-up. Each student's multiple intelligence.

THE MORAL BUCKET CHALLENGE

MORAL BUCKET CHALLENGE ANYONE?

The ice bucket challenge was very successful in bringing awareness and support for the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

But a moral bucket challenge? I am sure, a lot would just shrug off their shoulders.

            Apparently, we live in these times where moral issues are so pervasive. Moral degeneration thrives in every nation, the Philippines, not spared.

Technically speaking, moral degeneration refers to the process of declining moral standards among nations. It encompasses a wide array of both illegal and immoral acts. It is not only confined within the bounds of sexual promiscuity but also covers even the simplest forms of lies and deceits.

           

There are a lot of factors contributing to moral decline. But before delving into them, let me first present a disclaimer. I am neither a social psychologist nor a philosopher nor a theologian. I do not hold my opinion as the absolute truth.

So here goes…In my opinion, the face of moral decline is three- fold. It involves the fall of the church, the fall of the family, and the fall of the school.

           

First, let us look at the fall of the church.

Taking the biblical perspective, moral decline has been associated with spiritual declension. This refers to spiritual crisis involving idolatry. Idolatry is dubbed as the mother of all sins. It is the worship of false gods. And the church teaches us that false gods come in varied forms. Even the mere love of money or the inclination for worldly things would categorically be considered idolatry.

And so, with the rise of nations, modernization is inescapable. Of course, with modernization comes materialism. And with materialism comes the tendency to drift away from faith

The Church (all churches regardless of sects or denomination) undeniably plays a vital role amidst social reform. But in spite of the proliferation of churches in the Philippines, moral degeneration continues to worsen with the rise of incidence of crimes, sexual promiscuity, graft and corruption and many more.

Now, let us look at the fall of the family.

            The family structure is the “building block” of the society. Its function is not limited to procreation but it also plays a vital role in the education, especially in the moral development of every child. Each family, however, is unique in its own. Each family sets guidelines, principles and norms with regard to what is right and what is wrong. As such, parents are tasked to transfer moral norms to their children. From an early age, the child is taught to behave correctly and is reprimanded when his behavior is wrong or not acceptable. Eventually, the child has to reach moral independence and responsibility with the aid of formal schooling. The child applies what he has internalized and assimilated as moral values and norms.

 The family structure has, however “devolved.” With the changing roles of parents such as parental separation, lone parenthood, parents going abroad, dysfunctional homes and the like; consequentially, the moral values and norms that are being passed on to the youth have become relative.  The child now regards his moral values depending on what he thinks is best for his wants and needs.

            With both church and family now being remiss of their duty to safeguard the morality of the child, we turn towards the school as the last resort.           

Education unavoidably tackles morality. Schools teach morality. It is part and parcel of the curriculum. It is the reason why there is Values Education, Religion or Ethics and other subjects expounding on morality. Schools convey to children what is expected of them, what is right and wrong. Schools socialize children into patterns of moral behavior.

           

Our government has been feverish in its desire to develop an enlightened and nationalistic citizenry, with strong ethical and spiritual values. It is for this reason that Values Education was introduced in the school system. However, there remains a wide gap between knowledge and actual practice of values. Apparently, values education had been handled as just another subject area and merely taught as information. Still, a lot of the youth remain in their waywardness despite infusion of morality in the curriculum.

And so the school, in itself, has to take part of the blame for the present debilitating case of moral decline.

The three major sources of truth namely the Church, the Family and the School have fallen short in their duty. But this is no time to point fingers at whose accountability this moral decline is. There is still hope if moral rebirth should be a collaborative effort of every individual in the society. If the Ice Bucket Challenge was successful in rallying everyone to be aware and responsive of the ALS disease then a Moral Bucket Challenge should also be passed on to address this social cancer that has plagued our country.

Let me be the one to start. From this day on, I take the challenge to bear my moral responsibilities. I shall now pass the bucket to every reader who dare read this article!

CLASSROOM BLAH,BLAHS TURNING INTO BLOGS

Tired of teachers’ blah-blah-blahs? Web- blogging maybe the answer.

Web- blogging is not a new idea. It has been in circulation in the Internet for a couple of years now. It has been used as a means of disseminating information about lifestyle, fashion, food, sports, entrepreneurship, education etc. It has become a powerful tool in providing information to netizens. It is also being utilized for advocacy awareness for some bloggers.  Personally, it is my way of reaching out to, what we term now as the “digital natives.”

When I started making my personal blogs, my only purpose is to have an outlet for my pent- up emotions or have something where I could unleash my creative side.  I have started making articles about my musings on certain aspects of life from love to change, from “wifehood” to motherhood, valuable lessons I learned from life, topics concerning my child and a lot more. Little did I know that my passion for blogging would result to an educational blog for students to have easy access on some instructional materials.

I first uploaded some self- help tips for students and teachers alike. Then, I added some motivational videos and learning modules. I found this quite helpful to students who always incur absences. I just give them the url of the lesson and they can browse through the blog for whatever activities or lessons they have missed. The means of verification of course would be their written output.

And with the few months that I have been doing this, I am glad that my advocacy for learning is being appreciated. A lot of students would come to me and say, “Ma’am I like your blog.”  Others would simply say, “Thank you for your blog.” I am just happy that my blog is serving its purpose. Who knows the little waves that it creates would someday make an impact in the lives of my students.

So how exactly does it become beneficial to students? Well as a medium of instruction, it facilitates creative discussions online, since students are free to leave interactive but healthy comments on the subject matter. It encourages students to also try blogging, exploring their creative skills and putting their thoughts into writing. It creates online class publications for the work of students. What I practice is to choose some good works of students and have them uploaded in the blog so that the world would see and appreciate them the same as I do. I encourage my students to share their articles, as well.

Edublog also provides accessible, updated and educational videos, value- laden short stories and learning modules. Whenever there are class suspensions due to typhoons and holidays, students could just access the blog and do some reading or watching or accomplish their modules in advance.

Web- blogging also creates a wonderful opportunity to look into the world of the youth today, to really connect with them. As they say, to better understand the youth, you have to understand what they are in to. Of course, what they are in to now is the World Wide Web and social media. And voila!  Their rave on the Internet and social media could actually be used to teach them. Yet, of course, there is still a need to stress to them the importance of moral and ethical standards of web usage.

There are a lot more benefits. However, there may also be downsides of it. One of which is the lack of means to access the Internet for some students. Then, of course, web safety could not be ensured. Another is the health issues. Students tend to be exposed to radiation when using the computer hence, increasing the chances of developing poor vision and other related illnesses. My answer to this is simple---computer usage should be done sparingly, with parents’ supervision, and only when necessary.

Still, nothing beats the time- tested means of teaching.  Real classroom learning experiences are priceless. Hence, classroom teaching should not be replaced with e- learning.  Virtual education is only for supplemental purposes. Where there are lapses in the classroom teaching, only then should we consider e-learning.