Thursday, August 2, 2007

Thoughts on starting this blog

It is only by inspiring students to dream that we have realized our goals as teachers. In order to do so, we must to give them the tools and knowledge to make those dreams possible.

I wanted to create an online journal and fill it with very good materials, ideas, and activities that will be available to many teachers for their teaching and materials that some may find useful for working on their teaching credentials for free. And why for free? I am grateful that I am a part of the noble profession of teaching until now and because I have received a lot of ideas, inspiration, and support from many people in my years of teaching that I want to give back.

Teaching, nowadays, is not as simple as before. There are a lot of expectations from us and a lot of challenges we have to face, brought about by the demands in our life style today and the competitive demands of the work that we do. But that’s the nature of this field of work. We have to thrive if we want our children to thrive as well because we, teachers, are in the heart of learning. Case in point, subject matters that were taught in high school during my time are now being taught in the lower grades.

I know that if you are a true teacher you can’t simply be complacent with methods that you have been using year after year. Your superiors, parents, and children are challenging you constantly to enrich and update your curriculum. Thus, you need to avail yourselves of the many resources that are out there and to get them has become a challenge. And that is what I hope this blog will be all about. I hope to bring some of those materials to you.

I would like to take the liberty to think that there are teachers out there who are curious and eager to learn different ways that other teachers have used to help them in their work. I do. It is a common practice in our school to work with other teachers, to be observed by other teachers, and to discuss with one another how we can better our methods of teaching. I have learned a lot from these exchanges of ideas. It made me start thinking, “Why couldn’t we trade our ideas, materials, and activities among us, teachers?” Anyway, we serve the same clients – the children; we have the same dreams and ambitions, and that is to give these children a bright future. So, why couldn’t we just help one another by sharing these ideas? I am not only thinking of the teachers in this country. I would be interested and honored to learn of any good methods or any ideas and materials from my colleagues from other parts of the world. It would be interesting to find out how a teacher from India teaches reading or math. I'm working out a compensation plan for those whose ideas will be featured on my blog.

I wish you good luck in your teaching and I'd love to hear from you soon. I hope that you visit this blog often and be enriched by it. You may write to me and tell me how I could make this blogspot be more useful for you.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am confident that your site will serve as an inspiration and an indispensable educational tool to all educators fortunate enough to come across your articles. Though not an educator myself, I have always had a deep respect for members of the teaching profession impressed upon by the experiences I have had in my academic life. I still remember the names of all the teachers from my early years in school to college who have cultivated in me a deep love of learning and the value of an educated mind. I realized that the title "teacher" is not strictly defined within the confines of a classroom, but is applied to every individual who imparts wisdom to another. Your site is a classic example of why teaching is such a noble profession. You can expect my readership and further support of your site. Sincerest congratulations to your site's inevitable success!

Anonymous said...

There are teachers out there who follow the old curriculum year in and year out and not introduce new and more creative ways of learning. They probably lack the time and initiative or are very conservative in their teaching methods, never wanting to branch out to new or more creative methods of teaching. The risks of having this conservative approach are missing the chance to instill better understanding in and evoke interaction with students via a more creative way of teaching and taking advantage of technological advances. I admire teachers who try to vary their methods of teaching periodically with the goal of enhancing the effectiveness of their teaching. I have heard of parents who complained that homework their children are receiving are too "challenging". In my opinion, that's a mere cop out for these parents to avoid putting in more time in assisting their children with their homework. Children nowadays, need more challenges in the classroom that encourage them to think a lot. I wonder if this sensitivity to "challenges" in the classroom has a part to play in why our schools generally do not perform well in standardized tests. Instead of giving teachers, who want their students to think harder by giving them more challenging homework, grief, we should encourage them.