You might think you did your best but there could be more. Students can learn better if you have used diverse and new ways that can accommodate students’ learning differences. How could it be possible? Like a saying goes “Learning is continuous process” and “Teachers are good learners”, we need to understand the need for professional growth and improvement to help the betterment of our society and our dear students. Let us talk about what I mean here by using my experience. This is a situation I need to face in my previous years of teaching:

It was rumored that the incoming fourth year students are very restless and some are not that receptive to the information you will be giving to them. They do not work if they do not want to. They have a very large class compared to other classes. Since they have a big population to compare with the regular classes, learning is very hard to attain as well as their attention. And they easily get bored.

Since I am newbie teacher, this could be challenging. A question in my mind, “how would I able to achieve something good from them?” It took me to read books but reading is not enough I think because I do not know how effective a strategy can be inthe real situation. It left me clueless what to use and what to do to help them to learn. In the beginning of the school year, the directress of the school called me and asked to attend a seminar at the Pearl of the Orient. I immediately said “YES!”. This could be the answer to my prayers – I prayed that I could help my students to learn better and enjoy even they have a negative feedback from their previous teachers.

The seminar was about the Physics teaching and using the videos of Constel from Foundation of Upgrading the Standard Education (FUSE).

It was an amazing group of teachers and a new experience. I had an initial impression about the videos before the seminar that the videos are too old and might bore the students more. However, it was not the case. Why? The trainors showed us how to utilize the teaching resources including the videos we had. I was given a chance to deliver a teaching-demonstration, too. This gives me a new horizon of perspective how to teach the students and give a stepping stone to develop a good plan for my students. This enhanced my skills and added the potential to give a better “best” to my students. The seminar was just in time of my needs. I am very thankful for that.

Of course, a training or seminar would be useless unless you apply it. This is the time to be developing the plan for my students. At first I was hesitant to use this new strategy was motivated lecture with short film showing, I was amazed that they already have their notebooks and pens. According to them, they enjoyed the previous lessons and they find the need to take down notes. It helped me gain confidence on my skills and encouraged to prepare more for the students. When students cope with the learning situation, it made me smile and more enthusiastic.

Founded by Dr. Lucio C. Tan on December 1, 1994, FUSE seeks to improve the skills in English, Science and Mathematics teachers. Its programs include regular teacher training workshops; a post-graduate scholarship program for Science and Engineering teachers; production and distribution of telecourses in English, Elementary Science, Chemistry, Physics and Math; and a host of other educational programs in partnership with government and private learning institutions.