Sunday, August 30, 2009

WHY STUDENTS FAIL TO UNDERSTAND

Failing English IV at All is Consoling

When I was in grade school, I was taught that in school what matters most is to learn and not whether you pass or fail. Sadly, today the scenario is different. Students now would be happier if they pass even without learning than learn and just barely pass the subject. If a teacher gives a grade of 85 to a student who knows that he does not deserve the good grade, the student will be happy with it and becomes so cordial with the teacher. Fail the same student and he wonders why. What is important to most students today is the grade, never mind learning - the enduring understanding of the subject content. Some ineffective teachers are partly to blame of this wrong attitude. Parents too reinforce so much this thwarted view of education. I cannot, however, make this happen to me. I am for my students learning the subject rather than passing it. I really fail students who do not learn because for me learning is the essence of education. Passing the subject is just the result when you have learned it.

Why do students fail to understand the subject? I said, "fail to understand" and not "fail to pass." I have three reasons why. Most students cannot comprehend. Unfortunately this lack of comprehension involves both listening and reading. Without good comprehension, therefore, most of them cannot think critically. Critical thinking is important to enduring understanding of the concepts being taught. Lastly and sadly, students fail because they are not diligent in studying their lessons and working on their homework and assigned tasks. These three reasons work against any student acquiring long lasting understanding of real life applications of the subjects taught in school. Most students thought that they could get good grades because they knew the subject. What they do not know is that they are supposed to incorporate what they have learned in the class to real life complex situation and thus make meaning of all the concepts learned for themselves and to others.

Paradoxically the digital age makes the students comprehend less and less of the subjects taught in school. Technology is spoon feeding the newer generation. Making life easier and more comfortable, which is what technology is for, has backfired because students now do not anymore strive harder to understand. Instead of reading and summarizing what they have read from books, they would rather download and copy-paste web articles to pass as their own, disregarding copyright infringement laws. Parents hire tutors now to answer their children's homework and accomplish assigned tasks to the utter delight of the now dumber tutee. How can, therefore, students comprehend? Some of the teachers do not even know how to teach comprehension skills. The latter think it is only the responsibility of language teachers to teach students how to understand. Moreover, most students are word readers; hence, how can they comprehend passages, worse, a sentence or a paragraph?

When students cannot comprehend, they cannot think critically. According to Facione and Facione (1994), a critical thinker interprets accurately evidences, statements, graphics, questions, etc. He identifies the salient arguments for or against the issue. He thoughtfully analyzes and evaluates major alternative points of view and draws warranted, judicious and non-fallacious conclusions. He justifies key results and procedures and explains assumptions and reasons. How can somebody who cannot understand be able to do all these things? The problem of lack of comprehension, therefore, creates a vicious cycle spiraling towards a vortex of confusion. The confused student now cannot even write a book analysis or critique a movie he has just watched. Critical thinking is a skill that takes time to hone. Failure to develop this kind of thinking is a surefire guarantee of failure in life someday.

Besides lack of comprehension and critical thinking skills, most students today are lazy. Diligence is not in the vocabulary of the new generation. I do not know who to blame, but modern society expects so little from the teenagers today that they live up to this lack of expectation. Teenagers do not bother do the hard thing because they are not expected to accomplish anything. They are young, so naive, so fragile that teachers cannot even ask them to write a research paper because they are just too young to do it. They cannot also do household chores because they are (again) young, so naive, so fragile. However, they can be fraternity members and kill themselves. They can do drugs because they are old enough. They can have sex and girls can get pregnant before high school graduation. Just do not ask them to write a paragraph because they are just too young, so naive, so fragile. How pathetic the lives of students have become!

When my students do not learn despite everything I have done to make them so, they have to fail in my subject. They say, I am a difficult teacher to comprehend, precisely because what I want my students to understand goes beyond the what, the where and the when. I want my students to answer the why, the how and the what if. I want my students to understand by doing. When I asked them to critique Exupery's Little Prince, it is for me to assess whether they have understood how elements of a story interweave to present us enduring assertions about friendship and life. Soon I will be asking my students to write a research paper for me to assess how they have understood the complex communicative function of the English language. These are just two of the many evidences of learning I will be asking my students. If they fail to submit even one (for no justifiable reason at all), I will have the impression that they cannot understand or think critically, worse, are lazy deserving to fail. Well, if it be of any consolation, failing is much better than passing without understanding.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

THE WISDOM THAT SUMMER BRINGS

What I Believe in Life

I cannot any more call myself young. I don't know, but the idea of growing old holds so much appeal to me. I don't want to say too that I am through with life. In fact, life for me still is in its prime. For almost four decades of existence, life has been ups and downs - typically what it should be - not a bed of roses nor a cross to bear. What made me survive trials in life are some of the beliefs that I hold dear to me, in my heart and in my whole being. Firstly, I believe that life should be lived to its fullest. Secondly, I do my very best in whatever I ventured into, and lastly I always trust in the inherent goodness of others. These three beliefs have helped me weather all of life's challenges. I may have not been so successful in some, but the obvious truth that I continue to live, very much alive and kicking, proves that what I believe in life and how it is to be lived are true.

I always believe that life should be lived to its fullest. Life has too much to offer for all of us. I am so fortunate to have experienced the many facets of life. I have experienced so much joy and an equal dose of sad memories too. For every happy moment which comes my way, I always embrace it with much anticipation of what more to come and what else it has to offer. For every sad memory, I always learn that there would be more should I wallow on the pain it has brought me. Sad memories are to be lessons to teach me not to falter again. Happy moments are times to be treasured, a reminder of how beautiful life is and will be should I decide to live it to the fullest I know how. This is my first belief and it has made me survive 38 years of life.

I also believe in doing my best in whatever I am into. I was made to grow thinking that the good Earth had not been created for the ordinary and that mediocrity will not ever be the name of my game. I fully understood that to be the best entails so much sacrifice, and this I have long ingrained in my system. I am not a perfectionist but I always aim for perfection. God just made it that way - everything is to be perfect. It was only man that marred God's plan for us and I don't and I will not ever be that man. I always do things to the best of my ability. I sacrifice myself but not others only to be the best of who God wants me to be. This is my second belief which has made me see life beyond 38 years of me.

Finally, I always believe in the goodness of others. I do not live all alone in the world. I am constantly drawn to others and interact with people. These have equally brought me joy and pain. I have to believe, though, that people and that others cannot be bad. There is always good in others. There must be good in others who I have perceived otherwise. If I deny myself this thought, this belief, it only brings more sadness, more pain that obviously defeat the very purpose of my existence. This belief gives me hope that others can change, and that with others I can see the sun tomorrow rising. It will be shining brightly in the horizon, ushering in one more than 38 summers soon.

As the sun sets for another day, I cannot consider myself any younger than yesterday. I am already 38 years old and I have been through 38 summers already. What made me survive are beliefs I hold dear in my heart: live life to the fullest, live life to the best and live life believing in the inherent good of other men. These beliefs have eased off the pain and the sadness of my life. These have made me survive until today. The beauty of growing old is reflected in the wisdom of what I believe in. Another more summer and I won't be 38 anymore. Another more year and I won't be any younger than before. I may die with what I believe, but for sure, the wisdom of what I believe will outlast its believer.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

WHAT I HAVE LIVED FOR

My Personal Philosophy as a Teacher

…that scientific theory should be extrapolated and proven true in life’s greatest atrocities;
…that mathematical calculation should equate the poor and the oppressed with those basking in opulence;
…that language and the spoken words should break the silence of the dumb and set them free.


Because the world outside the four walls of the school is one humongous laboratory teeming with God’s living creation, it is my dream that once my students are out of the narrow confines of the school corridors, these young minds will have realized that real life is lived outside by real people in a more than surreal world.

…open their eyes and make them see that not a single scientific theory can ever justify the pains and irreverent losses of life in treacherous killings and senseless war;
…open their minds and make them realize that not a single mathematical logic can ever equate the poor and the opulent;
…open their ears and make them hear that not a single spoken language can ever set free the dumbfounded;
…open their eyes and open their ears and make them realize what real life is.

To accomplish these, I must do the following:
• I will blind my students with prudence to make them see the repercussions tomorrow of their actions today;
• I will flood them with temperance to make them rein and take hold of their passions and dispassions;
• I will have them gain fortitude to make them win life’s seemingly intractable battles;
• I will treat them with justice to make them deal fairly with themselves, their neighbors and God;
• I will skill them with sound cognition, manual dexterity and unwavering determination for real life is not for the imbecile, the lazy and the indecisive.

These tall orders I set on myself can only be realized in holistic development and integral formation of my students. These can only be done in an environment that puts premium on diversity, in an atmosphere that encourages students to fail and redefine failures to become vehicles of success.

My instructional approach therefore should simulate real outside world. Team building and cooperation among students and teachers are not just encouraged but are must in order for all to have a full grasp of real life situations. The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning, a co-partner in the pedagogical process. In no way will he permeate sarcasm and cast doubts in the minds of the students.

Learning is structured and modular to fit in the core of my tasks. In the center of the educative process is the student. The curricula, school activities, classroom discussions and lesson plans are designed to insure total transformation of the students into Marian leaders molded from the harmonious intermarriage of global and scientific pedantry and the time-tested Christian virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

My instructional supervisory behavior revolves around collaborative decision making for a more cohesive and efficient organization. I have to maintain a highly motivated group of pedagogues acting as my co-equals by satisfying not only their basic wants for maintenance but rather indemnifying their autonomy and actualization needs. The spirit of collegiality, openness and friendly bantering of ideas and opinions permeates the organizational climate because of two way communication.

My leadership style is eclectic – facilitative and transformative. I draw inspirations from Nehemiah, the biblical figure who rebuilt the fallen walls of Jerusalem in just fifty-two days which originally was built for more than a hundred years. Institutional changes move subtly from contentment before the issue of change is raised to chaos when the answers of the problem come then ultimately to self-renewal when confusions are settled.

Though my dreams, my visions seemed afar but a flicker of hope shines through. Gargantuan they may be, but I have to surmount the challenges and face the odds of the tasks in hand. Inspired by the humble servanthood of Venerable Ignacia and the fiat of the Virgin Mother, I know I can and I more than know that I will and I should.