Teachers Train for Improved Classroom Performance

“When you have decided to become a teacher, you have also committed yourself to go back to being a student.” This was the conviction of Dr. Rouel A. Longinos, president of the Patronage of Mary Development School (PMDS), the only privately-owned learning institution in Boljoon, Cebu, during the opening ceremony of its in-service training for teaching personnel recently at the Audio-Visual Room of the Administration Building of the school.

Responsive to the demands of the newly-introduced senior high school curricular program, the teacher training was centered on the essential ingredients that can make highly effective teachers who will strike a balance between the thrust of the Department of Education and the mission of a Catholic school like PMDS. Topics, which were tackled by invited experts who conducted rigorous yet fun learning activities, were carefully chosen to attain such a goal.

            Educator- psychologist Dr. Maristela O. Remitar provided valuable techniques and the rationale behind those procedures in her talk titled Classroom Management Skill Development and the Art of Disciplining Students. This is aimed at making sure that PMDS teachers would become excellent classroom managers. Communication coach Gianne Rensen V. Antonio facilitated a Toastmasters way of delivering speech activities in his workshop on Effective Public Speaking Skills for Teachers. In Prof. Antonio’s whole-day session, teachers, who learned to manage their stage fright, delivered prepared and impromptu speeches that were evaluated by a panel of experts.

            While Human Resources practitioner and guru Jasmin Inting-Machacon inspired both the seasoned and the young faculty members in her address named Gratitude: Developing Positive Attitude Towards Teaching and Learning. Here, teachers showed a rekindled commitment to their chosen profession and vocation. Dr. Longinos, himself a renowned academician in the region, expounded on the very core of instructional delivery: Alignment of Contexts and Perspectives in Teaching and Assessment. At the end of his talk, teachers exhibited individual microteaching demonstrations which were critiqued by their fellow participants and a few invited experienced educators.

            “We are very excited to share with our students these insights that we have gathered in this training. Since we were not only enlightened but also were inspired by the resource speakers, we are sure to radiate this aura in our classrooms and to infect our learners with this positive virus soon. We need more trainings like this one,” participant Emilia O. Anorico expressed in her closing statement. PMDS also holds a bi-annual in-service training for teachers, and regularly sponsors colloquia and symposia for teachers in the neighboring schools of Southern Cebu.