EDS 111 Principles of Teaching

My Learning Experience on EDS 111

Time flies so fast! I cannot believe three months have already passed. I can still remember how thrilled I was as I saw my name on the confirmed list of accepted students. It has been my dream to pursue teaching, and here I am now, already few steps closer.

Before, I’ve always got these fears and doubts: What if I won’t be able to juggle my time between work and school? What if this approach will not work for me, and should have taken the traditional class setting instead? What if I found out that this profession is really not for me? Late last year, I decided to follow the desires of my heart, took a risk, and accepted the challenge.

Am I happy with the results? Yes, definitely.

It was not easy. Well, I believe, nothing ever comes easy. It was very challenging to find time with the demands of my work and other personal stuff. I used to work for extended hours, even coming to office during holidays and weekends. As a senior analyst in a multinational financial firm, handling real-time pricing and news information updates, client queries, and highly-critical data, I often find myself already exhausted by the time I reach home. With eager and excitement, I still enrolled at UPOU for a full load this semester.

With very limited time, I have learned how to do some sacrifices. I had to give up a lot of social invites and work opportunities so as to accommodate my notes and modules. Did I regret? Of course not. Never will I. In fact, this has been the greatest decision I ever had. It was quite difficult, but all worth it.

As I read the course syllabus, I had a glimpse of what would transpire for the whole semester – mostly revolve around the basic foundation of teaching. I have thought that I will learn a lot from the different teaching perspectives, methodologies, skills, and pedagogy. Little did I know that I would be able to learn a lot about myself, too.

What I have learned most during this course is the importance of critical thinking and reflection. Also, I have realized that the student-centered approach is a lot more effective as compared to the traditional setting where the teacher does the lecture. With this type of learning, we became accountable for our own development. The amount of learning we will have depends on our willingness and motivation.

I know that teaching is one of the noblest profession but it is when I have enrolled and actually study about the field that I have justified the clause. The future of our students rests greatly on our hands. We will always have an impact on the course of direction they will decide to take. We shape their minds, hearts, and their whole existence. I believe, it is our primary responsibility to strive hard and achieve to be better so that we can as well provide them the best.

This course has helped me reflect on the principles that I believe in and the practices I exhibit. Before, I thought being a teacher is just easy. You just have to refer to the textbook, do some explaining to your students, and that’s it. With all the key take-away from the modules, I have learned so much. The whole teaching experience involves a lot of considerations – the students, institution, stakeholders, and the society as a whole. Teaching should not center on us, but should always be directed to learners. Our ultimate goal would be to improve the student’s learning experience and development. It is a must to always seek improvement on our pedagogy so as to facilitate effective teaching and achieve maximum learning success.

With my aim to become a pre-school teacher in the future, I’d like to share the below illustration that would serve as a guide on how to become an effective educator:

Photo retrieved March 30, 2015 from https://rasison.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/256/

Photo retrieved March 30, 2015 from https://rasison.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/256/

Hopefully, after quite some time, I will be able to utilize the different body parts as shown above. 🙂

Lifelong Learning: A Commitment

Wikipedia defines lifelong learning as the “ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons.”

Soni (2012) states that, “Lifelong learning is more than adult education and/or training — it is a mindset and a habit for people to acquire.”

More than anything, I believe that intrinsic motivation plays a very important part for learning to occur. Over the course of our lifetime, we would be bombarded with a lot of information – some we will absorb, some we will disregard. Continuous, or what we formally call as lifelong learning, relies heavily on the person’s willingness to understand and absorb new information. The primary key in order to achieve this is to keep an open-mind. Transmission of knowledge would never be possible if we are not willing to receive such.

Some of the factors that impede learning include:

  • Limited opportunities (time and resources)
  • Personal priorities
  • A know-it-all perception
  • Interest on the topic
  • Motivation
  • Fear of the unknown

People would probably have different considerations but I usually see the above as prevailing factors that hinder a person to acquire new information, idea, or skill. Sometimes, even when a person displays enthusiasm on learning, there is no opportunity to do so. In some instances, priorities are needed to be weighed and evaluated. Take my case for example. With the demands of my work, it is often difficult to find time for other things. I handle real-time pricing and news information updates that clients monitor closely. A delay for an hour or even a second would cost us a breach in data quality. A lot of times I would take my meals on desk or in-between calls and meetings. With this, signing-up for special classes, trainings, and seminars is not among the priorities.

There are also some people who have the know-it-all attitude. These people believe that they are smart enough to know all things and do not consider the need for further learning. Sometimes, interest on the topic influences one’s motivation to learn. If the person does not find the subject interesting, he/she will not put any effort on understanding and learning the presented information. The fear of the unknown is also one interesting area that stops a person from discovering new facts. The phrase “ignorance is bliss” can be well related to this. There are people who do not want to step outside their comfort zones and would rather keep things as is and stay where they are.

With the different considerations presented above, I therefore conclude that lifelong learning is indeed a commitment. In order to gain something, there might be some things that should be traded-off. With me facing some issues on time, I opted to give-up some of my personal time to accommodate my notes and modules. It entails sacrifice in a way, but I know that all of these would bear fruitful rewards someday. 🙂

References:

Soni, S. (2012). Lifelong learning – Education and training. FIG Working Week 2012, Rome, Italy. Retrieved March 29, 2015 from https://www.fig.net/pub/fig2012/papers/ts05i/TS05I_soni_5945.pdf

Wikipedia: Lifelong learning. Retrieved March 29,2015 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifelong_learning

Reflective Practice: The Key to Success

Oftentimes, I find myself looking at the mirror, conscious on how I look and most importantly, how I look in the eyes of others. This habit not only covers the physical aspects, but also encompasses a deeper level – our personality.

Personally speaking, I am the type who pays attention to what other people say. I believe that our actions reflect our values and people around us have a pretty accurate view of who we are. There are some though who believe that we know ourselves better than others and their opinion should not matter upon making decisions. I stand on the other side.

The Jo-Hari window gives us a clear representation of our self and also how others perceive us. By giving feedbacks on how they see our actions, we learn more about ourselves. I have tried this activity and I can say that it helped me a lot on understanding myself. The below windows show some examples of the personality perceptions that I got:

OPEN AREA – you and others know about you

  • I am a happy and cheerful person most of the time
  • I am organized with my things and thoughts
  • I have keen eyes to detail
  • I am straight-forward and direct to the point
 BLIND AREA – you may not be aware but others know about you

  • There are times when I don’t understand basic questions (I tend to engage into critical thinking)
  • As most of the time I am lively and jolly, people perceive that something is wrong when I am quiet (when in fact I just focus on what I do)
  • People would say I tend to overthink (as I often consider all possibilities and different scenarios upon making decisions)
UNKNOWN AREA – you and others are unaware of

  • Yet to discover
 HIDDEN AREA – you know about yourself but others do not know about you

  • I lack confidence and usually get nervous upon presenting in front of people
  • I fear to be rejected by others
  • I am moody sometimes

The Jo-Hari technique provides a reflection of how we see ourselves and how people see us. The most important area I would say is the blind area – for these are the things that other people notice, but we are unaware of. It’s a good opportunity to look at this window and re-evaluate our actions and practices. It may sound surprising sometimes to hear their observations, but nevertheless help us to become better versions of ourselves.

In the context of learning, I believe that it is very important to consider other people’s opinions and views. We should learn how to take feedbacks from our students and colleagues as these help in assessing our teaching pedagogies. They are the people who actually see the work that we do and are in the best position to evaluate the effectiveness of our actions, methods and techniques.

As we receive feedbacks from our peers, it is quite critical to engage into self-reflection. According to Harrison (2012), there are five core competences thought necessary for good practice as a reflective practitioner namely: observation, communication, judgment, decision-making and team working. By observing the things around us, being curious and asking questions, we gain information that would help us in our reflections. It is very important to communicate our thoughts as well and keep a brief but vivid details of the things that we learned. We can use personal journals and diaries to preserve the information that can be later used for sound judgment and decision-making. Not to forget the essence of teamwork and collaboration in the process of reflective practice. Most of the time, our students, colleagues, and mentors provide a very valuable input that could help us achieve better results.

Lastly, I’d like to stress on having an open mind. For without this, effective reflection would not be possible. We should acknowledge not only our strengths, but our weaknesses as well. I believe that our flaws provide an opportunity to grow and push us to become the better versions of ourselves. 🙂

 

Reference:

Harrison, J. (2012). Professional learning and the reflective practitioner (Chapter 1). In Dymoke, S. (ed) Reflective Teaching and Learning in the Secondary School (2nd ed.). London: SAGE, 6-43. Retrieved March 14, 2015 from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/49808_02_Dymoke_Ch_01.pdf 

Nurturing Creativity and Innovation

The investment theory of creativity (Sternberg & Lubart, 1991, 1995) is a confluence theory according to which creative people are those who are willing and able to “buy low and sell high” in the realm of ideas.

What does the “buy low and sell high” approach actually mean?

By buying, it can be considered as pursuing ideas, thoughts, and concepts that are out of favor but have growth potential. These might be new, fresh and unique ideas that are unfamiliar or unpopular. Selling, on the other hand, refers to the ability to present these ideas to gain favor and acceptance. How does one effectively sell unpopular ideas? This is where creativity comes in.

A creative individual, although sometimes faced with resistance from others, is able to find ways on how to actually convince and persuade the behaviors of people.

Below are some of the suggestions to enhance one’s creativity:

  1. Keep an open mind and be receptive to new information
  2. Have the courage to try new and different things
  3. Take risks and explore the unknown
  4. Express what you feel and think, regardless of how other people think (but not in an offensive manner)
  5. Develop critical thinking, process thoughts deeply
  6. Find your motivation
  7. Be patient to test different approaches
  8. Make connections between old ideas to produce new insights
  9. Brainstorm with others to generate different ideas

As we think of creative ways on how to best deliver the content, it is quite important to reflect on one’s personality type, interests, capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Not to forget that we also have to consider the content being taught, the curriculum to be followed, and most importantly, the student’s behaviors, personalities and learning style preferences. We need to incorporate creative ways into our pedagogy to attract student’s attention and interest. Often times, being creative requires one to think outside the box. The teacher can achieve this by adjusting his/her mindset and welcome new, fresh ideas that may come from colleagues, personal experiences, research, and from students.

We should foster creativity not just for ourselves, but to our students as well. Though we cannot directly teach or transmit creativity, we can help them nurture it. As teachers, we can employ different pedagogy that supports creative thinking:

  1. Use open-ended questions
  2. Encourage group discussions
  3. Use mind games to develop critical thinking
  4. Let students present in class
  5. Ask for feedback

It is quite important that teachers show support and respect to the student’s thoughts, opinions, and point-of-views, regardless of its validity. We can ask for some elaboration and explanation for novel ideas. The teacher should be able to develop a healthy learning environment and a friendly atmosphere in class in order to encourage student’s participation. Fear, rejection and embarrassment should not hinder them from expressing their thoughts. The teacher however, should learn how to control the flow of information coming in during the discussion. Usually, different ideas will pop every after topic, and might drift away from the original topics needed to be tackled. To address this, the teacher can give guide topics and questions that can help students track their ideas.

Lastly, I would like to stress open-mindedness. As without it, creativity will never be possible. We should welcome criticisms for it unlocks our potentials, gives us chance to grow and leads to personal development.

References:

Sternberg, R. J. (2006). The nature of creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 18(1), 87-98.) Retrieved March 1, 2015 from http://people.uncw.edu/caropresoe/GiftedFoundations/SocialEmotional/Creativity-articles/Sternberg_Nature-of-creativity.pdf

Rieck, D. (n.d). Do You Have These 11 Traits of Highly Creative People? Retrieved March 1, 2015 from http://www.copyblogger.com/highly-creative-people/

Teaching Skills: the key to effective learning

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” 
― Dolly Parton

Learning, for me, has achieved its maximum success if teachers were able to influence a student’s knowledge and behavior in desired ways. But how do we actually do this?

The module for the past two weeks has made me understand the relevance of the different skills to effective teaching.

1. Instructional Planning Skills

  • planning the learnings, setting goals, objectives and expectations, choosing the medium of instruction, and evaluating results

This skill is essential to effective teaching as this serves as a guide that determines the status of the student’s learning development. Upon creating the lesson plan, it is quite important to take note of the content/subject area to be taught, the students – as well as their respective characteristics, behaviors, personalities and learning preferences, pedagogy, and curriculum. As we determine the content to be delivered, we also have to take into consideration the student’s existing knowledge. This can be assessed by conducting some interviews and tests. Schools usually follow a curriculum that guides the teachers as they conduct their lessons. Teachers usually deliver the content through different medium of instruction depending on the student’s varying needs. Thus, it is imperative to acknowledge class diversity. Evaluations play a critical role in determining the learning success. Diagnostic tests are frequently used to check if the goals and objectives were met. The instructional process should be aligned with each other as presented below:

planning instruction

As teachers plan the instruction, he/she takes into consideration as to how this will be delivered to students and what are the measurements to use upon determining its success. During the actual delivery, teachers constantly assess whether goals and objectives are being met as planned or necessary amendments are needed – if the content should be altered or the approach used.

2. Classroom Management Skills

  • ability to maintain a healthy classroom atmosphere, manage disruptions and create an environment that is conducive to learning

A class consists of several students with different characteristics, behaviors, personalities, and interests. This skill is therefore necessary to be able to manage diversity and maintain a healthy classroom environment. The teacher should develop a sense of awareness and sensitivity to each and every student’s behavior and be able to manage disruptions. Setting rules and regulations can also help maintain peace and order within the halls of the classroom.

The physical class setting should also be strategically designed in order to achieve maximum learning success. One of the greatest challenges in managing the classroom is probably the constraints on resources. In some rural areas, facilities are not provided well enough to students. There might be instances where a class consists of more than 60 students compressed in a small classroom. The tools and materials used upon delivering the instruction may not also be sufficient. To address the situation, the teacher should be creative and resourceful in order to still provide the best learning possible despite of limited resources.

3. Motivational Skills

  • ability to influence student’s behavior on learning, find pleasure and enjoyment upon attaining goals and objectives

Motivation drives us to do the things that we do. Thus, I believe this skill is one of the very important skills an effective teacher should possess. Learning is quite impossible to achieve without the willingness to acquire information. If a student is not open to new learnings, no matter how hard the teacher tries, effective transmission of knowledge will never take place. The teacher should be able to motivate students to find pleasure in the things that they do and appreciate the learnings provided to them. One of the techniques that can be used is modeling where a teacher leads by example. This way, students can be encouraged to look forward to learning as the teacher shows great enthusiasm and pleasure upon experiencing it. The students can have a notion that “if he/she is enjoying it, I might as well enjoy it”. Using rewards and recognition can also help influence student’s behaviors. Teachers should be able to acknowledge the efforts exerted to inspire them to keep up their good work and even strive to be better. I myself is motivated when I know someone acknowledged my efforts. It felt good that they appreciate what I have done, and thus, inspired me to strive harder.

The teacher should also be able to find a perfect match between the student’s skill and the activities. Sometimes, if high-skilled students perceive tasks as not challenging, they experience boredom. On the other hand, if low-skilled students perceive tasks as very challenging, they feel anxious and overwhelmed. Knowledge on one’s strength and weaknesses should be determined so as find the most suitable approach and engage students.

4. Interpersonal Skills

  • ability to communicate effectively and relate to students

Canter (1996) pointed that “the success of assertive discipline depends on first establishing rapport with students” and one way of establishing good personal relationships with students is through the use of interpersonal skills. If the relationship between the teacher and the students is good, cooperation can be achieved and learning will take place easily. Students are motivated to come to school every day and look forward to all learning opportunities presented. They engage to meaningful conversations and contribute to the over-all learning process. Students feel that they are free to voice out their ideas without fear of embarrassment or rejection. If the teacher was able to develop good relationships, even the shyest student will be encouraged to participate. He/she will not fear to ask questions or clarifications if topics seem vague. The tension will be removed and a healthy learning atmosphere can be achieved. As students open up their opinions and point of views, the teacher should exhibit respect at all times. He/she should honor the ideas expressed and if these are contrary to majority, try to discuss and expound – as sometimes, learnings happen during such circumstances.

All the skills mentioned above acknowledge student diversity. People differ in a lot of ways and the teacher has the responsibility to cater to their varying needs. It is quite important to note that each behavior is influenced by different factors like socioeconomic status, cultural background, gender and sexual preference, learning style and development stage. It is only by having a deep understanding of such that the teacher can tailor the medium of instruction to be used upon achieving learning goals and objectives.

Lastly, I would like to add passion and patience as key to effective teaching. Teaching is no easy task and without these traits, every day will feel like drudgery – just exhausting and tiring. I do believe that teachers do the things that they do because they genuinely care, and not just out of profession. 🙂

References:

Airasian, P. W., Engemann, J. F., and Gallagher, T. L. (2007). Instructional planning and assessment (Chapter 3). In Classroom assessment: Concepts and applications – First Canadian edition. Toronto, ON, Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.) Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0070959668/405859/Airasian_88697_ch03.pdf

Scarlett, W. G., Ponte, I. C., & Singh, J. P. (2009). Building positive teacher – student relationships (Chapter 3). In Approaches to behavior and classroom management. SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/26067_3.pdf

Knowledge Base of Teaching

Starting my blog with a concept map I have created for the topic:

journal

Created through https://www.text2mindmap.com/#

As per my understanding, a knowledge base refers to the repertoire of skills from where a teacher gets all the information transmitted to students. The different categories presented above are just some (and not limited to) of the sources of one’s knowledge base. Shulman (1987) noted seven categories namely:

  1. content knowledge
  2. general pedagogical knowledge
  3. curriculum knowledge
  4. pedagogical content knowledge
  5. knowledge of learners and their characteristics
  6. knowledge of educational contexts
  7. knowledge of educational ends, purposes, values, and their philosophical and historical grounds

I have added another category “self-awareness” as I believe this is quite important to highlight. Teaching involves constant decision-making and the points cited above are some of the factors to consider.

Every teacher should have the general pedagogical knowledge as this is where the heart of teaching lies. Understanding the different techniques, methods and strategies is very important to facilitate effective teaching. Knowledge of educational ends, purposes, values, and their philosophical and historical grounds also helps to understand the importance of teaching. As we know the relevance of this profession to the student’s learning development, we develop a sense of accountability and responsibility with our actions. Knowing the principles of teaching prepares future educators on the challenges that might arise during the actual learning process.

Knowledge of the subject matter also plays a critical role as the teacher’s main purpose is to transmit knowledge about a specific content. To be able to facilitate effective teaching, it is imperative that teachers know exactly what to teach. They should develop mastery of the content to gain confidence and credibility among students. Living in the modern age also requires constant evaluation of one’s content knowledge.

It is significant to have the pedagogical content knowledge as well – the way teachers present the content in a manner that is easily understood by the students. The learning process is deemed effective if the students were able to grasp the information as intended. That’s why it’s critical that teachers have the knowledge of learners and their characteristics. The “one-size fits all” approach doesn’t work in most situations and the teacher should be able to employ multiple strategies to accommodate the student’s varying learning needs.

Learning is not just confined between the teachers and students alone. We know that the educational system also involves other stakeholders like the parents, school institution and government. Although the teacher mainly acts as the agent of change, his/her decisions are greatly influenced by a lot of factors. Apart from the above, the teacher should make sure that the learning pace is aligned with the state directives and thus follow curriculum guidelines. The values instilled should also be in accordance with the norms of the society.

Lastly, I believe it is imperative to have “awareness” of one’s self. As learning is a continuous process, a constant transfer of knowledge takes place. During class discussions, both the teachers and students learn. Information dissemination happens and comes from all the participants – not just from the teacher. Educators, when presented with new ideas, have the responsibility to validate using mental cognitive processes. It is very important that the knowledge retained is accurate, and if not, the teacher should initiate on updating the outdated information. We can see that teachers undergo the learning process as well. By having a close look at one’s self, the teacher can easily identify the gaps to be addressed and find ways on improvements.

After this module, I have realized that being a teacher is no easy task. Before, I used to think that mastery of the content is the key to effective teaching. As I progress on this course, I am beginning to see the bigger picture and appreciate other external factors that influence the educational system.

Reference:

Shulman, L. (1987) Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform. Retrieved from http://people.ucsc.edu/~ktellez/shulman.pdf

Concept map created through https://www.text2mindmap.com/#

Teaching: A Profession or Craft?

Before I begin, let’s try to look at the definitions found on Merriam-Webster:

profession noun

  • a type of job that requires special education, training, or skill
  • the people who work in a particular profession
  • a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation

craft noun

  • an activity that involves making something in a skillful way by using your hands
  • a job or activity that requires special skill 

Looking at the above, we can see that the words “skill” and “job” were mentioned for both. So what’s the distinction?

As per my opinion, they both talk about a specialized skill that can be attributed to a person. The difference perhaps would be a profession requires some academic preparation while craft can be naturally developed. Also, the profession would entail acquiring structured information and applying formal learning approaches. Craft, on the other hand, can be mastered by “actually doing it” and relies heavily on experience.

Teaching for me is both a craft and a profession. Educators undergo an extensive process to master all the learnings needed to become an effective teacher. Specialized courses are being taken together with formal education to help them prepare and face the challenges in the real-world setting. After obtaining the required units, a licensure exam should be passed as an indicator of learned methodologies and principles. It doesn’t stop there however. To be able to teach effectively, there should be continuous learning as well. Teachers were able to hone their knowledge as they teach their students. In the classroom, I believe that each one can benefit from the learnings. Sometimes it’s a top-down approach where the teacher does the talking, but there are times wherein it’s the opposite. Most especially during class interactions, students may present challenging and interesting ideas. From my definition of learning – it’s the process where we acquire information from different sources followed by a careful evaluation with regard to existing knowledge base that either justify or question its validity.

To sum it up, teaching can be regarded as a craft or profession and different principles and theories can attest to the notion.

‘The professional holds knowledge not only of how – the capacity for skilled performance – but of what and why. The teacher is not only master of procedure but also of content and rationale, and capable of explaining why something is done’ (13).

‘We would define teaching, rather as a craft-profession. Unlike the traditional professions, a craft-profession does not rest on a highly formal of codified body of knowledge. Instead, competence for craft-professionals is defined in terms of various skills and practices, reflecting a different sort of knowledge base … much of their knowledge is embodied, something that they learn by doing and that is experientially learned, rather than acquired in a systematic, highly formal manner. This is not to say that such knowledge is necessarily less substantial, or of a lower order, than more abstract forms of knowledge. It is just different’ (Pratte & Rury, 1991: 61-62).

I’d also like to share a post that I have seen from a social networking site that moved me so amazingly. It helped me realize the value and importance of teaching as a profession and its impact on the society.

“Teaching is a profession that creates all other professions.” 🙂

Reference:

Gamble, Jeanne (2010) TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM: A LITERATURE REVIEW

http://jet.org.za/publications/research/Gamble%20TEACHER%20PROFESSIONALISM%20-FINAL-%20-2.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/AkoSiMarceloSantosIII/photos/pb.149288981775305.-2207520000.1422022627./866455610058635/?type=3&theater

Realizations on taking the TPI and TSI tests

Interpreting the results of my Teacher Perspective Inventory (TPI) and Teaching Styles Inventory (TSI) tests is like getting to know more about myself. It was my first time to take these tests and I was amazed on how it justified the current approach I use upon giving trainings to my colleagues.

Learning happens when the new information received was processed as something that justified the existing knowledge or replaced those retrieved from memory. I have come to realize that people have different mindsets, point of views, and experiences from where to compare these new sets of learnings. The learner may be familiar already with the content presented or it may be viewed as a completely unknown thought. A reason perhaps why other people tend to understand things better/faster than the rest. A good teacher should be able to adjust to the learning capabilities of the students. It is quite more difficult if he/she is teaching in a group/class.

Looking at my current perspective (Apprenticeship) and teaching style (Personal Model) raised some internal conflicts:

  1. Am I holding the right perspective and using the best approach?
  2. Would I opt to change to another perspective and teaching style?

To be able to answer these, I should take a careful consideration of the below:

  1. Who are the receivers of information?
  2. What knowledge do I intend to transfer?

With my current role as a trainer in the workplace and my colleagues as my students (usually new joiners to the team, or someone unfamiliar with the task), highly specialized skills are being taught. A good mastery of the content, expertise and ability to relate to real life setting help on gaining credibility. For all we know, the more credible a person is, the more likely you are to believe them. In the corporate world, I believe it’s best to have the transmission/apprenticeship perspective and be considered an “expert” and “personal model”. At work, there are serious implications involved that might hurt the business (may lose client’s trust, incur damages and losses, lawsuits, etc.) that’s why it’s very important to acquire knowledge in its most legitimate form and get the information as what it is.

Putting the above aside, I decided to enroll on this class as I am thinking of changing my path and join the academe. The level and depth of passion on teaching – that I am still uncertain. Should I completely shift from being an analyst to become a full-time teacher? Who are the intended learners – preschoolers, high school/college students? I should be able to answer these first before assessing what approach and strategies to use. If I’d like to pursue this as a profession, I know I need to make a careful evaluation on my current approach. Will the apprenticeship perspective still work or perhaps need a shift to developmental or nurturing strategy?

I firmly believe that I will be able to resolve these internal struggles as I move along to the different modules. The more I am exposed to the learnings, the deeper I understand, and the more I get to know myself and the things I want to do. Until the time comes that I am uncertain, I know that I’ll enjoy every learning day. Knowing all the principles and concepts about teaching helped me appreciate the things I was not paying attention to before.

There’s a lot in store for all of us and I can’t wait to find new discoveries not just within myself, but the world as well. 🙂

2015: New beginnings

“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” – Taylor Swift

The above perfectly summed up everything I have in mind. This 2015, I am starting a new book, and this is the first chapter.

I am Melai, a senior analyst from a multinational firm. I have been in the corporate world since 2009 but I know deep down inside, I would like to be a part of the academe. Last year, I’ve made some big decisions and one of which is following my passion to teach. I enrolled at UPOU taking six units (EDS 111 and EDS 103) despite of my very hectic schedule. With the flexibility of the DE program, I know I would be able to handle work, school, and personal life. This may entail some adjustments to my old ways, but I know the change is worth it.

During my first week of learning, I was overwhelmed. I was used to the traditional face-to-face classroom setting and working on a full-time basis. Now, I have to cope up with certain changes – being an online learner, part-time student and full-time analyst. The adjustments were a little difficult I must say. I had to adjust my schedule to accommodate everything and learn how to manage my time wisely.

The different modules and personal tests have helped me deal with the changes. I was able to learn more about myself and figure out the best learning strategy to use. I have realized that I am good at time management. At work, I usually follow a ‘to-do list’ – giving importance to things needed to be prioritized. I also found out that I am more of a visual learner – which I believe is suitable for the DE program. Knowing my weaknesses like being distracted easily also helped me understand the best learning environment I should take. I study in a quiet place, listen to music to avoid noise distractions and putting my phone away.

The modules on plagiarism also opened my eyes and made me realize its implications. Before, I am unaware of properly giving credits to the sources and using citations. I have learned that we should be careful with our research and acknowledge the actual idea owners.

Knowing all of these, I will strive hard to benefit from the learnings by utilizing the best strategies possible. The modules in the first week laid a good start and I know there’s a lot in store for me. With patience, dedication and hard work, everything is possible! 🙂