Personally, I am teaching Science, I realized that underachievement of students comes into diverse factors.

            As Dr. Secess puts it, “we see them come, we see them go, and some are slow, some are high and some are low. Not one of them is like another. Don’t ask why; Go, ask your mother.”

            This question describes that every child is unique, they have varied learning styles; therefore, self-esteem, emotions and behavior interest is academic task home and family, interpersonal relationships, cognitive skills, peer pressure of every student.

            However, teachers must not forget that there are some teacher-factors to be considered and to look into. Is the teacher prepared and has mastery of his lesson? According to some researchers, the estimated incidence of learning difficulty of school aged kids is 1 in 25, while in the recent findings of the Department of Education states that only 6 of every 100 grade 6 pupils are prepared to enter high school; only 2 out every 100 4^th year high school graduates are prepared to study in college while for teachers, only 19 out of every 100 teachers are competent to teach English and Filipino subjects.

            The teachers must not forget that one factor that is contributory to underachievement is students’ differences in socialization behavior. Many researchers recognize that social and behavioral skills play valuable resources in the classroom and educational stratification. Lareau (2003)

            The teacher must also conduct an inventory of the learning styles of students. A student can be print, aural, interactive or visual, haptic, kinesthetic and olfactory learners. Institute for learning Styles Research (2003)

            Although researchers Kratzig&Arbutnatt (2003) concluded that there was insufficient evidence that the learning styles alone provides a total basis to retain learned information, but suggested that teachers should help individuals learn effective strategies across all stimulus modalities and these contexts would be beneficial.

            Basing your decisions on the above contexts, may certainly help teachers, beginning or veteran teacher alike in their everyday teaching endeavor

Reference:

Institute for Learning Styles Journal, volume 1, fall 2007, page 47

By: Melliam M. Bantugan | Teacher I | E.C. Bernarbe National High School | Bagac, Bataan