SCHOOL year 2019-2020 will end next month. Public school pupils and students will be promoted to the next grade level and Department of Education (DepEd) officials are expecting for the highest number of passing percentage. Classroom teachers are expected to have no failing grades for their children.
Teachers who fail students will have to explain the so many “whys”. Poor ma’ams and sirs should have to be convincing before their principal. DepEd officials believe that teachers who fail more students are teachers who failed to internalize their profession.
This is the common scenario in public schools. In private schools, the impact could be less. In public schools, there are pupils and students who do not attend classes regularly. There could be thousand and one reasons why they are not attending classes. They are ‘forcing’ their teachers to be magicians in preparing their grades.
DepEd has also a policy that teachers should have an inventory of non-readers before the end of the school year. Non-readers will be subjected to DOLCH sight words and word recognition. Here, the teachers will discover that their learners are really struggling.
Sometimes the secondary school teachers have no choice but to curse elementary school teachers for not teaching their pupils to read properly. Any educator believes that if the learners get off to a poor start in reading, they could hardly catch up. Non-readers become a nightmare of their future teachers.
Why do we have underachievers in reading? Have the parents provided their children the appetite to read while at home? Parents who are non-readers cannot make miracles. Are Day Care classes teachers prepared to motivate their kids to be good readers? Is there an excellent follow-up provided in government preparatory classes?
Young learners need good role models in reading. You cannot expect them to identify letters and words, pronounce phrases and make sentences, and comprehend what they are reading. Teachers dealing with toddlers should be multi-linguist. The learners should understand the English words in their own languages, in their own tempo, and in the way that suits them.
Teachers handling the very young learners should be screened by the principals. Only the best should be allowed to handle the young minds. Do we have the best trained teachers for the kids? I have my doubts. The role of the principal here is vital. Sufficient training and supervision should be given to these special teachers.
English teachers should give emphasis to phonics. Words are written in symbols and interpreted through sounds. Before anything else, that should be given priority by the teachers. I know that it is hard for a teacher who handles 50 pupils in one class. Sight words should be introduced as early as this.
If the learners can identify word symbols and provide proper sounds, that does not mean reading already. The reader has to comprehend what is being read. He has to know the main ideas in the story and should be able to use context clues. Teachers should help the learners unlock words that are not familiar with them.
Teachers in the lower grades should provide sight words in the classroom wall. There should be a reading corner with contextualized short stories for the learners wherein the teachers could demonstrate proper oral reading ... to be followed by fast learners hoping that struggling learners could be encouraged to do the same.
Struggling learners should see, hear and follow the reading models. Reading should be made a habit. It should be life itself and teachers have a special role to play.