My Cooperating teacher as a Global Teacher

     There is no denying that for the past years, our society has advanced in such a fast manner, giving birth to new issues in the education system and student learning. This gives the teachers numerous challenges to face and address. And if you’re a competent teacher, this should not be something that is optional, it is necessary. It’s significant to go the extra mile and do whatever it takes to acquire the qualities of a global teacher. 

      I can say that my cooperating teacher possesses most, if not all, of the traits of a global teacher. Her approach in teaching is very student-centered. She makes sure that majority of the inputs come from the students themselves, and she will just deepen the discussion using their insights. She also makes use of different techniques in integrating technology in her lessons, such as using songs and videos, giving students activities that can be accomplished in social media sites.

My Cooperating Teacher's Journey

     Ma’am Tamayo’s hometown is originally in Bataan. When they moved in Pampanga, she actually applied in Holy Angel University as a college professor, where she taught first year education students. Coincidentally, her entry year at HAU was the same  time where the strike happened. Being a new teacher, she admitted that it kind of caused trauma which led her to resign the following year. Fortunately, she easily got accepted in RLLMHS. However, there weren’t any vacancies in the English department, so she was given loads in Araling Panlipunan instead. Of course as a teacher, you have to respond to the needs of the students, so she took the challenge and taught Araling Panlipunan for several years in Grade 7.

Luckily, this year, she already got aligned in her field of specialization. She currently handles English subjects for Grade 10 students, she is also the class adviser of 10-Dingel, and also the adviser of the English Club. I admire her for her courage, patience, and effort to still teach even though she has to educate herself with the lessons under Araling Panlipunan even though she was trained to be an English teacher. I guess if you really have the heart for teaching, subject matter is just one factor to consider, but that should not be the only indicator whether you’ll continue teaching or not.

Morality

     My teacher in high school once told us, one of the hardest subject to handle is Values Education. Even harder than Physics, Grammar, or Algebra. Why? If you teach a class how to find the value of X, there is a certain formula to be followed, in grammar, there are also set of rules. There will be a concrete evidence whether the students got the lesson or not. But let’s say you’re trying to integrate the value of honesty, how can we make sure that the next day, everyone will never result to any forms of dishonesty again? We won’t know for sure, but that doesn’t mean that we just stop inculcating values in teaching all in all.

     Since we are Language and Literature teachers, it’s a bit easier to integrate morals and values in our lessons, especially in the field of literature. Ms. Tamayo does a good job in this.. In fact, she’s very keen on highlighting morals and values in the topics that they cover, that sometime you would think that she’s a walking book of inspirational quotes. Well, I know that’s not the objective way of saying that a teacher is good at imparting morals and values in her lessons, but what I do see is her heart to do it. She sees the significance of it, and you will feel that it’s not just because they are required to integrate values. I think her way of imparting values actually reflects the values and morals she uphold as a teacher and as a person. Also, I like how she doesn’t sound preachy when she does it. She’s not “Oh, do this,” “You should not”. “You should”, she’s more focused on eliciting insights form the students and from there she will emphasize the values and morals that they can get by also connecting it to real life situations.

Elements of Teaching

First of all, I would like to commend my cooperating school, Rafael L. Lazatin Memorial High School’s routine when it comes to cleanliness. Since students change classrooms, the school has a policy that whoever used the room should clean it first before leaving. The next class to use the room should refuse to enter if they see that the room is not thoroughly cleaned and arranged. It’s impressive how they were able to maintain that. Oh well, I just thought it was worth it to share. Hahaha!

     Speaking of classroom environment, let’s talk about my observations regarding the elements of teaching present inside my cooperating teacher--Ms. Tamayo’s class. Let’s start with the teaching environment. Ms. Tamayo, in my observation, is a very laid back teacher. She knows when to give appropriate feedback, she disciplines the class in moderation, and she knows when to laugh and have fun with the students. What I like about the way she maintains an organized classroom environment is that whenever she sees that the students are being a bit unfocused or sometimes unruly, she doesn’t shout her lungs out to get the attention of the class, she understand that she’s handling high school students (Grade 10) and scolding them like little kids is unnecessary. Next, facilities. For some reason, Ms. Tamayo seem to have a projector of her own. I’m not sure if all the teachers do, because I don’t see all of them bringing it to class, but my cooperating teacher always brings it with her. The rooms for the high school students are nice, it has good lighting and it’s well ventilated. Ms. Tamayo knows how to work with what facilities she has and contrary to what is commonly perceived when we talk about facilities in public schools, it doesn’t really show that she’s having a hard time when it comes to resources and facilities inside the classrooms.

      Because of this, I can also say that she manifests professionalism. I don’t see her complain all the time about anything. If she sees that there are aspects where the school is lacking, she just tells me that I have to be prepared for those kind of scenarios instead of bad mouthing the government, the superiors or anyone for that matter. She also gives helpful advice whenever we have some free time during my observation hours.