Children are good imitators and they usually make their teachers as their role models. The teacher is a key person in the teaching-learning situation. Hence, s/he must be a model to all his/her students in all aspects of life. The teacher is the manager, the facilitator of learning and the evaluator of the students’ achievements. Therefore, he must possess the following:

            She must possess mastery of the subject matter; meaning, he/she knows the topic fully more than the students do. He can discuss all aspects of the subject matter. The teacher must know that the subject matter s/he teaches includes cognitive, skill and effective components. According to Corpuz and Salandanan, the cognitive component is concerned with facts, concepts, principles, hypotheses, theories and laws. The skills component refers to thinking skills as well as manipulative skills while the affective component is the realm of values and attitudes. S/he must have the mastery of the methods and tools of teaching. Different methods, approaches differ in the level of teacher and student participation. However, the teacher must not forget “Reflective Teaching” – kind of teaching which is anchored on the ability of the teacher to guide students to reflect on their own experiences in order to arrive at new understanding and meanings.

            On the other hand, a teacher must have a mastery of psychology of learning or educational psychology. S/he must monitor the academic behavior and other behavior of the students. This is an important concern of teacher as part of good management.

            A teacher must have a mastery of the medium of instructions and the act of communications. Master both the Mother Tongue, English or the second language used in teaching and Filipino language; on the other hand, communication is the art of conveying or transmitting message to other individuals, therefore, the teacher must master this.

            S/he must also have the mastery of classroom management, as a popular saying on education puts it, “classroom management is not teaching; it is a necessary condition to teaching”. One of the most common problems a teacher needs to face is classroom management. A teacher cannot teacher well, no matter how prepared s/he is about the lesson, but if the children are in attentive, unruly, s/he cannot also execute the lesson.

            In addition to this, s/he must possess good human relations, s/he has good leadership techniques, has a missionary spirit, healthy and has a basic knowledge of guidance and counseling, has a respect for authority, has a clean sense of humor and the ability to evoke analytical and critical thinking.

            Dedication to the job of teaching is the true essence of professionalism. As Robertson, a writer puts it, “the true aim of everyone who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle minds.”

Reference:

Corpuz, B &Salandanan G., Principles of Teaching, Lorimar Publishing Inc., Q. City

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