The Mission of the Teacher

The teacher belongs to big circle where factors and people are to be considered enable to meet the desired common goals. He is the center of learners’ achievements, success and performances. The school relies on him as he brings together all the stakeholders for the achievement of the mission and vision of then Department of Education. Hence, most of the time, the failure of the pupils are thrown back to him. The attainment of the targets proves the success and failure of the learning-teaching process, despite the sudden change of pupils’ behaviors and interests. His mission is to unite all the stakeholders and maintain the higher level of achievement and the quality of learning of the pupils. However, there are pressing problem, the teacher is facing nowadays. As a teacher, he has to maintain the favorable classroom disciple of the pupils. Managing a classroom is a daily chore of a teacher. Teachers need to create a ‘Character Chart’, where list of behaviors and character traits, both positive and negative, can be checked daily. It is like a weather board. It shows how the class behaves and misbehaves each day. It might be helpful to lessen the negative acts of the pupils. Parents can also see this and do something for his child better development. There are several ways to achieve the proper discipline of the pupils in the classroom setting. To reduce the naughty learners, teacher-pupil confrontation, right after the pupil misbehaves is a must. Integration of play or games is also applicable to the hyperactive class or pupils. Classroom discipline is attainable, as well, if the teacher acts as a role model. Pupils see the teacher as their parent or role model. Thus, whatever they see from him, they perceive it as something worth to imitate. The teacher does not only work for inside the classroom. Four corners of his walls are not only the working place of an educator. His works extend up school premises, where other learners are more misbehave than his pupils. Aside from these, the teacher has responsibilities to his co-workers. Almost every day, teacher encounters problems in the school, which affects him, such as roaming around of the pupils, vandalism, and tardiness and absenteeism of the colleagues. The frequent roaming around of pupils disrupts classes. In many instances, it creates another problem such as bullying, accident, and the like. Wearing of “Identification Permit” is perceived by the teachers as an effective tool to eradicate or reduce the numbers of pupils, who frequently roam and stand by the corridors and other school premises. Teachers also see the individual ‘holding power’ of a teacher as a powerful weapon for the avoidance of roaming around of pupils. Consistency of imposition of classroom policies is very crucial. The firmer the imposition, the better. The pupils will be fearful to disobey the simple rules. “No ID, No Entry’’ must also be strictly imposed at the gate of the school. It is important to impose the usual regulation. It will help the teachers in catering the well-disciplined pupils. If they can obey the basic rules, then they follow other school or classroom policies. Vandalism is rampant in every school. Walls of the classrooms and rest rooms, not to mention the chairs and bulletin boards, were plagued with writings of pupils’ names and gang’s names. It is a sign of disrespect to Alma Mater. It shows pupils’ poor orientation from importance and aesthetic values of every school properties. Psychologists say that vandalism is a form of lack of attention. The solution for this problem is asking for the culprit to repaint the wall, he/she has vandalized. Any destruction made by the pupils should be penalized. The penalty should range from replacement and repair, dependent on the damage of the property. It is to teach them a lesson. Absenteeism and tardiness of the teacher’s co-workers is also a problem of the faculty. In a grade level, if a co-teacher, who handles an advisory class, is absent or late, his class is the most affected. Notwithstanding, colleagues, who are present will take the burden of handling temporarily the pupils who come to school and who expect for their teacher. Since pupils’ loyalty to their teacher is inevitable, teacher who will take charge of them will have a hard time on managing them. Some of them will escape. Few will be interested to learn. To stay clear from this crisis, teachers who wanted to absent should inform the colleagues beforehand. Better yet, avoid it. Some teachers still come to school even though they are sick. It is not advisable. However, the point is that, valid reason of leave should be observed. As part of the community, the teachers must consider the parental involvement and DepEd’s educational system. They are encourage to ask for parents’ contact numbers, so that they can be notified and updated of their children’s behaviors, performances, and achievements. Regular communication is also advised to enable to secure support from them. Advisers should not only text message or call the parents, every time the pupils has committed mistakes or disobedience, but also when they achieve and perform better. It will bring pride to the parents. The stigma of being hailed for a parent-teacher conference can be eradicated. There’s nothing to be feared of from attending a PTA. It should be inculcated to parents’ mind. The system of the Department of Education jeopardizes the teaching load of the teachers. It is undeniably true. Mass promotion is one of it. Non-readers and mischievous children get a passing grade, due to the mandate of ‘no drop-out rate’. Interventions for these pupils are initiatively made by the teachers but the fall back is always to them. It is always a ‘teacher factor’, which is not acceptable for the educators’ part. Another problem arises from the system is the test construction. Teacher-made tests are more effective than division-wide test. Besides, the types of test are not challenging the learners’ mind. Multiple choice type of test only makes the pupils insolent and dependent. They never practice rote memorization, which is far more effective than wild guess way of answering tests. It resulted to low achievement and later to poor quality of learning. From the start of the implementation of K-12 Curriculum, paper works are killing the teachers. Time spent for the completion of reports outnumbered the numbers of hours for teaching. It greatly affects the learning-teaching processes and the achievement as a whole. Teachers thought 21st century is a time for paperless operations, however the reports and documents to be submitted are frequently obstructing the focus of the teachers. Since, teachers are in the umbrella, they must follow what is all mandated by the superiors. Complaints and grievances have no way for them. But who suffers most are the learners. The present educational system is both advantageous and disadvantageous to the stakeholders. The mission of the teacher, however, is to implement all the thrusts, programs, projects, and activities made and designated by the department, division or district for the common goods of the pupils, faculty, school, and community. All the problems encountered from day to day teaching-learning process will somehow lead to victorious outcomes, if cooperation is practiced. The circle of stakeholders has an infinite role for each other.