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Indifferent ones make difference too

From what is commonly observed in the classroom, the chemistry of students runs normal when there are strong and weak learners in all aspects of assessments and considerations expected from heterogeneous class. There are those who excel well in academics if not in physical activities, likewise there are those who like mathematics and language more than the other disciplines. There are the likes of Kris Aquino too who shine more in linguistic, similarly there are likes of Nick Joaquin who can write well. In like manner, there are those who prefer “terror” teachers and absentee teacher at their own pleasure and convenience. Moreover, there are students who desire for school activities like sports, journalism and JS promenade while some favor to sit down plainly in the classroom just to escape from any household chore. In short, students are classified into various aspects like visual, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, intra-interpersonal, and naturalist as accounted by Howard Gardner in his effort to explain broader learner’s potential in the corners of learning.

I was reminded of this theory when I brought to the mountain last week 40 male students for a special environmental assignment. The group of boys I spent with is a mixture of learners mentioned above.  I observed that those indifferent students did great work while the academicians served plainly as movie audience under the heat of the sun.  When I say indifferent students, I refer it to those who usually violate school rules and regulations who were somehow subject to disciplinary measures executed by school authorities because of their misbehaviors. These students usually by their behavior during classes disrupt the flow of classroom activities and interfere with the learning process.

But upon looking at them in the mountain in this tedious work, I came to understand that their being in this moment is what I partly discovered in them. I came to believe that their prowess equates the performance they are supposed to showcase in the classroom. Indeed, their strength is seen through physical exertion but not so much in paper and pencil output. At this point, I am more convinced that the indifferent ones can make a difference too.

Dealing with indifferent is but a hard task to do. It requires great patience to understand them, get into their interest which may be utilized in the learning work place. The greatest success for a teacher to celebrate is when least motivated learners are involved in the learning process which may be the turning point at which the learner becomes active. These kinds of students when mishandled by school authorities could be a ground for them to become worse. The success of learning is measured by teachers’ leadership to know the background of his students. Thus, the learning in school should be paired better by strong home-school collaboration or parental involvement. This is exactly one of the premises of the child friendly school projects of the UNICEF.

At present, one of the important needs of teachers in the classroom in order to be effective is his sensitivity to employ multiple intelligences in his lessons. This is to maximize the resources in the classroom that would accommodate interests of the all the learners.

A specific example I read from a sources is, if you’re teaching about the law of supply and demand in economics, you might read about it (linguistic), study mathematical formulas that express it (logical-mathematical), examine a graphic chart that illustrates the principle (spatial), observe the law in the natural world (naturalist) or in the human world of commerce (interpersonal); examine the law in terms of your own body [e.g. when you supply your body with lots of food, the hunger demand goes down; when there's very little supply, your stomach's demand for food goes way up and you get hungry] (bodily-kinesthetic and intrapersonal); and/or write a song (or find an existing song) that demonstrates the law (perhaps Dylan’s “Too Much of Nothing?”). Go fellow educators. Penetrate the challenge of teaching in all your ways. Make it a passion to serve the young. (For comments, leave them in website at www.lesiomhar.page.tl or in my cp # at 09185452554).

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 6:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.