In the context of many significant changes and educational reforms, the primary goal of a teacher is to provide continuity in learning and maintaining enthusiasm in acquiring skills for mastery.

In the school where I teach, I am counted among the 20% elder generation easily correlated with resistance to change. Because the influx of modernization in a far-flung division cannot be easily inputted considering the geographic isolation, it is apparent that anything new in the system becomes a source of resistance. What makes teaching more challenging for me is that in the most basic level, a teacher is left to provide varied approaches to facilitate maximum learning. It can be both a failure and a success when a teacher finds adopting or rejecting new educational reforms. In my 35 years of teaching in a public high school, boredom can always sip in as a part of human limitations especially when insufficiency of resources prevails. And reforming in education becomes a struggle. It is a practical struggle to work out new ideas so that they are coherent to educational standards especially as education advances through the 21st century. The struggle can be characterized in terms of competing with self-interest and political dimensions. But, the passion to teach should be nourished with constantlove to avoid total boredom. That love has to be drawn compatible with new resources that help teachers enrich relationships necessary to effect corresponding changes in others and among the children. Their eager minds as they progress induce better learning outcomes. Instructional models do help. With the emergence of video tele-courses by FUSE in 2005, there is a new insight: that if theories and experiments are supplemented with varied practical examples, concepts can be best understood. Was it worth trying? In every experience there is always a first. To start using new gadgets can be a risk but by further analyzing the process, differentiation rather than just citing differences surfaced as a challenge by remaking the usual day-to-day processes that make up schooling. In my persistence to change and to rally behind improvisation my first try was followed in succession. The videos advocate critical inquiry by teachers like me as means by which they can change their old teaching strategies contributing to the more general and intrinsically educative process of improving teaching and learning. Every time there was a need to inject new ideas beyond what is introduced in the text, an appropriate video lesson come into the rescue. Though it is imperative that part of being a teacher is to be creative and imaginative in a critically large sense, the human mind is not that readily responsive. With videos, they can help ignite the minds to grasp new ideas. The videos can explain lessons more accurately and more comprehensively. The skills are being developed in certain behavioral patterns that allow some degrees of interaction in every day life. I believe that the lessons are being enhanced in a way that students can relate concepts within their level of experiences. When interaction prevails, the passion for teaching is enriched.

In a less formal setting, the task of unraveling the mechanisms of the teachinglearning process becomes a new exciting experience. It provokes enthusiasm to a wider dimension by learning more. I say this because the teacher is provided the chance to link new ideas to local situations and processing becomes easier to handle. It is like getting more done by working less. The work output also embraces the evolving and developing of new understandings in Biology that are much easier to grasp because of the sequential presentations. Videos not only motivate greater learning but to some extent, both the teacher and the learner can think together, digest lessons together and grow together. This healthy encounter makes the nature and purpose of education more meaningfully carried out. When such bonding in the learning process happens, there is shared accountability brought about by interaction in the classroom. My students became more active and confident but more surprisingly there was a change of attitude among the slower-learners. Now, they find Biology more interesting with the renewed interest of the teacher. Each one motivated the other, the teacher sustaining her role as guide. With these mutual transformative aspirations, the students feel accountable to aim for high grades in return of good teaching strategy through the use of videos. To me it is a rewarding experience to fully nourish my passion for teaching. This gainful experience was translated into an action plan, which I worked out in 2007 to affirm my observations. After evaluating the results of my comparison between two learning groups, which I treated as controlled and uncontrolled, there was significant improvement in the quizzes, long tests and final rating of those exposed to the videos. My renewed enthusiasm is pursued with learning experience each new day.

Today, I revisit my past for it has given me a lesson. I could have chosen to remain stagnated by restraining from using the video lessons but I have given myself a chance to grow by exploring them. Now, I cannot settle for less. I have to sustain my passion to teach with utmost care. It is by way of further upgrading the standard of education that matters. FUSE has ignited my passion for teaching. FUSE makes all the difference.

Josefina Obra
obra.josefina@yahoo.com

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.