Reflective Journal: The Teaching Profession
Alias, Gwyn C.
BSE Science 2.5
Unit 1: The Natures of Teaching and teaching roles
Day 1 (10th of July 2024 - Wednesday)
In this topic, “Natures of teaching and teaching roles," we talked about the roles of a
professional teacher and the challenges of maintaining one’s sanity and professionalism.
I have never anticipated that teaching is going to be a challenging profession, let alone
the idea of taking the programme BS in Education (major in science). A teacher’s
suffering is an endless void. As the years go by, I might get to experience the stated
challenges under this course, like having too much paperwork, having to deal with
different student behaviours, and having to come up with new teaching strategies
depending on the lessons to be taught to foster student engagement, achievement, and
their understanding of the lesson. While I am at it, I might as well get underpaid and be
underappreciated by parents and the institution itself.
Reflecting on my junior year, I was intrigued and motivated to become an educator
because of that one situation where I discussed a certain topic assigned perfectly and had
great feedback about how I'd delivered instruction. However, as I grew anxious and am
now taking up the BS in Education (major in science), I continuously asked myself,
“Why did I accept the challenge of becoming an educator?” This question remains as I
evaluate my current state of mind. It might even be difficult right now to understand the
gravity of the responsibilities and certain values to embody as your own personal values
and uphold them to foster a positive school culture, reducing the potential of students and
parents to override your authority as a teacher. However, this wouldn’t hinder my pursuit
of being an educator, regardless of the reality of having to deal with inconsiderate
parents.
In this profession, I understood theoretically how hard it really is to cater to different
complaints and concerns revolving around grades, the learning experiences of the
students, and the well-being of the learner. And the importance of incorporating the T-
pack framework (Content, Technological, and Pedagogical Knowledge) poses a challenge
in applying the framework in the aspect of teaching.
I, myself, lack the ability to exercise teaching pedagogies, which leads to misinterpreting
or, worse, not being able to impart the lesson effectively and efficiently. This ultimately
reflects my personal evaluation of my current state, which makes it even more
challenging to keep going. However, with all these setbacks and improvements I must
make, I still have the capacity to be humane, due to a traumatic experience from my
former teachers in my junior years. I am focused on the subject rather than the student’s
engagement, and I do not really have concerns with the students who are poorly
performing in their academics.
Being humane in the 21st century era is a harsh task for every teacher to do daily,
especially when encountering students with issues with their behaviour, unappreciative
parents, and institutions that undervalue teachers. Truly, becoming a teacher is a noble
profession because you’re not just an educator but also a psychologist, philosopher,
guidance counsellor, and career adviser.
Unit 2: Historical-Legal Foundations of Education
Day 2 (17th of July 2024 – Wednesday)
As the topic “Historical-Legal Foundations of Education” progress, I had the time to
ponder upon where education started and how it flourished, since the topic was all about
the history of education. I find it that the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and
Contemporary Periods of education somehow have similarities regardless of their
differences in technology, societal structures, and philosophical underpinnings, they all
share the mission to transfer knowledge, skills, and cultural values to foster culture
preservation. All periods also have produced holistically developed and contributing
citizens instilling ethical and moral values that has been common on all the education
periods, and these periods relied on the importance of teacher-student bond, as teachers
are the “second” parent, their advisor for intellectual and personal growth helping them
attain the continuous pursuit of knowledge which also leads to their ability to adapt to
societal needs.
I honestly thought that all the periods were of different – from missions, goals, and
objectives. But I stumbled upon their similarities as I was reviewing for a quiz, which
made my learning meaningful which led me to inferring from what I’ve understood from
different periods. However, It is also a different story in our country from pre-colonial,
Spanish, American, commonwealth, Japanese, and post-colonial period, the different
periods had emphasis on fundamental skills such as the three R’s and these literacy roles
were essential for commerce and governance, from the history alone, I can conclude that
it is stated in our history that our education is focused on being a mix of an essentialist
and perennialism the reason we didn’t improve our education quality over the years, since
we are still focusing on teaching fundamental skills on the elementary level of education,
in my perspective? It severely impacts their Junior Highschool to Senior Highschool
experiences, as it may differ from their routine during their elementary level which
results to low student achievement and engagement.
With all, still, I must highlight that the commonwealth period have established our
country in such a way where we get to use our local language and teach them to our
fellow citizens and the post-colonial period promoting nationalism through singing of the
national anthem developing a sense of pride of country.
I honestly thought, that the history and legal foundations in education aren’t relevant in
the current age but I have learned that these materials/facts supplement our lapses in our
future teaching career, helping me think critically on having to use different strategies in
teaching to change the course of learning from teacher-centred to student-centred
learning, and a mix of both approaches to significantly improve the learners
understanding, collaborative skills, communication skills and their ability to creatively
and critically think.
In conclusion, as a future educator/teacher, I must know the history of education for me
to have an inspiration, fuelling my purpose to strive on improving the education quality
and contribute to its changes helping our country rise from the poor performances of the
recent teachers resulted to the poor performances of learners. To recognize the exerted
efforts of our former teachers, I must continue my mission on learning and unlearning
ineffective teaching strategies and promote the idea of change in the institution I might be
a part of and become one of the key persons of change.
Unit 3: Philosophy of Education and Personal Philosophy of Teaching
Day 1 (22nd of July 2024 – Monday)
The philosophy of education and personal philosophy of teaching have given me the
motivation to pursuit even more my mission of incorporating all my accumulated
knowledge and skills on this course, utilizing different philosophies from the eastern and
western philosophies. I appreciate Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and their philosophies’
Idealism, Realism and Pragmatism; however, I still find them as a supplementary
philosophy to the western philosophy that promotes the student-centred learning.
The western philosophy gives emphasis on the intellectual development and the
importance of a holistic education, including physical, emotional, and social well-being,
which also the emphasis of eastern philosophy – on the mind, body, and spirit.
I realised that the contemporary philosophies, integrates both eastern and western
philosophies which formulated the philosophies perennialism, essentialism,
existentialism, progressivism, and social reconstructionism, philosophies that focuses on
adapting and learning/unlearning, leveraging on critical thinking and creative problem-
solving skills that are needed in the real world.
In conclusion, I have to focus on utilizing and interchanging the application of these
philosophies to gain an advantage in my future teaching efficacy, however, to achieve that
goal, I must put this knowledge to heart and try to apply these philosophies when given
the opportunity to do so.