Introspection: Redefining the Role of a Teacher

Education is one of the utmost services provided by teachers. The role played by teachers becomes a very essential component and in fact it can be said that they are in a way our nation’s builder. Being a teacher is a tough and challenging job. It is because the welfare of your students is in your hands and it is our responsibility to inculcate knowledge in them. Yet, no matter how demanding the responsibilities of a teacher are, teaching is one of the most rewarding jobs. The roles of teachers do not solely focus in educating children but also to contribute in the development of lifelong skills in order to prepare them to face the reality of life.
Teachers today have a much larger role. The core of the responsibility of a teacher is to help student to learn and grow. Teach not just for achievements but also for understanding. It is not an easy thing to do, to discover how to make students in this generation be passionate participants in the instructional process. It is our duty as a teacher, to provide them with learning activities and constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain essential understanding. Urge them to be actively involved in their own process of learning. The teacher functions more as a facilitator who coaches, mediates, prompts, and helps students develop and assess their understanding, and thereby their learning. We must face all this challenges if we need to be successful in molding our students to be a better person and a good citizen of society. Despite the complex role we play, we should find time to reflect. Contemplation of one's own thoughts, feelings, and self-examination, enables us to re-examine and replenish our purpose as a teacher. Realign our path towards a mission to achieve our one common goal, to be an effective mentor of our youth. In other words, we should be thinking about what and how you do, and the simple act of going over your actions and thoughts can often allow us to notice things and make connections. It’ll make us not just a teacher, but a THINKING TEACHER.
I believe that there is a need to strengthen the core curriculum in our country to be able to prepare the students for lifelong learning. It may be one of the reasons that DepED adopted to concept of UbD (Understanding by Design) in our curriculum to ensure that learning goals follow a deliberate design to impart real learning based on understanding and not merely on rote knowledge or aimless recall. UbD emphasizes the teacher's critical role as an assessor and designer of student learning. It holds a potential of keeping the curricular structure coherent and the learning focused.