Good day everyone!

I’m teacher David Vin De Aquino a Grade School Teacher at

St. Patrick School of Quezon City, Philippines. Please Bear with me for I will be
your presenter for 10 long minutes. I’m not quite sure if that is short or just enough
for me to talk about the Role of a Grade School Teacher in the Post Covid-19
Pandemic.
(QUOTATION)
Let me start my presentation with this quotation from Margarete Mead, she says
that “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” I really like this
idea of her, for more than centuries, we taught students about Laws, theories, and
facts however these things are changing every now and then, even the curriculum
that we are using are changing depending on the needs of our learner, what’s best
yesterday won’t guarantee that it would be the same today specially we are
currently in transitioning from the new normal brought by the pandemic.
(FIRST PICTURE)
We Teachers may focus on teaching standards, administering tests, and grading
projects, but we teachers, especially the Grade School teachers, we must never lose
sight of how we are shaping the young minds of our learners to think for
themselves, and to experience things on their own, we should never limit their
imagination and how well they can learn using various new strategies and ideas
since every child has diverse intelligence. And mos especially that the foundation
of their knowledge starts at Preschool and Grade School level.
(SECOND PICTURE)
When COVID-19 restrictions ease, students and we educators must adapt and
prepare for a return to schools. Majority of schools around the globe start having
face to face or limited Face to Face classes in mid last school year, however here in
the Philippines, public and private schools just started transitioning from distance
learning to a full face to face classes this school year and in here at St. Patrick
School of Quezon City Philippines we just started having our hybrid type of
learning where students come to school 3x a week and have two days Synchronous
classes, since we have students who can’t come to school for health issues since
Covid 19 are still roaming around like it is welcome everywhere.
(THIRD PICTURE)
We Teachers are now back to our classroom with mixed feelings of excitement and
anxiety as we ease our students back into the classrooms after how many months
of distance learning. We can say that our work were cut out for this year as we
address the social anxiety that many of our students are now feeling, specially for
the primary Grade Schoolers who are deprived or didn’t have a chance to
experience going to school since this Pandemic lock them out in their homes, we
also have this technology that burnout students for they are facing and talking in
front of their gadgets all the time but since this type of learning were used for quite
some time already, our students are getting used to it that coming to school would
feel like a new experience to them that makes them feel anxious and afraid.

What I will be showing you next is about the roles of a Grade School teacher and
what must be done in Post Covid-19 Pandemic in the Education System

One of role of a Grade school teacher is that he must

1. PROFFER LOTS OF CHOICE

When students were at home for a long period of time, many of the mechanisms we
used to maintain routine weren't around. Getting back to a sense of routine and
structure may be tough. This is the very first thing that comes to our plate as a Grade
School teacher. Just by entering and going out of the entrance and exit of the
classroom is hard for them to follow, falling in line takes time for them to follow,
speaking and reciting in class seems crowded every time, for all of them talk at the
same time, even when eating during break time would be hard to facilitate. These
happened because they weren’t around for school for years. Giving students choices
can ease that transition. Plus, it's not just a remedy for getting back into school. Choice
gives students agency over their learning! And that seems pretty nice for them for like
boundaries, choices are motivational tools as well that encourages our young
student’s cooperation through empowerment. They like that I assure you, they
want to have that power over their learning, it makes them independent and
become more creative in some ways. As you see choices build responsibility and
commitment, It also communicate the our respect for their needs and preferences
and can encourage them to perform a particular behavior.

(NEXT PICTURE)

After pandemic Grade Schoolers are having a hard time communicating about their
thoughts and feelings as they are afraid and anxious for the outcome since you
know they are not used to voice out their opinion to a place where there are lots of
crowd, for over years they only learn and study by themselves or with their
guardian by their side, and we need interventions to overcome this matter, since we
are now at face to face classes and by that, they cannot always be with their parents
all the time and also because we need their participation in every class.

We grade school teachers must give student real choices in the classroom whatever
their age is — like give them choices about the material they study, the
assignments that they need to complete, the peers with whom they work, the
strategies that they will be using in doing their activities and so on — because
these can boost their engagement and motivation, we should allow them to
capitalize on their strengths, and enable them to meet their individual learning
needs. But, like most teaching strategies, the structuring of choices for students can
go very well, and it can go very badly — therefore we need to exert extra guidance
in doing these.

2. MODEL PROCEDURES

I really like this quotation of Christian Perkins he says that we must “Assume
nothing; and model everything”. You know what teachers having a clear and
explicit modeling of expectations, instructions, lessons, procedures, activities and so
much more, it has been a part of many classrooms and done over centuries and it really
does effective and efficient in teaching, however as we go back into the classroom face
to face, it's especially crucial.

(NEXT PICTURE)

Having our young students lock up in their homes and not having enough experiences
and knowledge about how things work and move, affects badly in terms of their level
of thinking and imagination, so we must work double in terms of demonstrating and
modelling the ideas and concept of things.

We Grade School teachers need to recalibrate our strategies and methodologies

especially that our Grade schoolers now a days tend to get bored easily, especially if
the concept of the lessons is long and wordy, they may lost interests about the lesson,
therefore we must use variety of strategies for them not to be sitting on their seats for a
very long time. Our children had enough of sitting and now that we are in face-to-face
classes let’s take this opportunity to take them of their seats and do fun activities in our
class.

We all know that our children understand things better when they can see it, and also
when they see us doing what we expect them to learn. Our Grade schoolers are great
imitators, yes that’s right, what they see and observed is what they believed is right.
Yeah it can go a long way, I know dear teachers because modeling is an activity that
takes up a lot of our time and ensuring that it should be seen by all students so you
won’t redemonstrate it, plus giving individual attention to those who badly need it
the most, sometimes it gets tiring but we teachers don’t have time to get tired
especially now that we have a lot to cover since we missed a lot because of the
pandemic.

The more modeling done by teachers, the less likely there are to be issued in the
classroom due to a lack of understanding.

We know also that modeling is a highly effective strategy for demonstration,

practice, and feedback.

Yeah, it can be painful as well for as grade school teachers for we are to model and
demonstrate everything over and over again, however expressing the excitement of our
young students enjoying the lessons and looking forward for our class makes it easier
somehow that our efforts were reciprocated.

Lastly we a grade school teacher must

3. BUILD AND MAINTAIN RELATIONSHIP WITH CHILDREN

AND THEIR FAMILIES

This is a crucial key to learning that we Grade School teachers constantly point to.
Building relationships with children is a must, specially that our primary grade
schoolers are not used to be in school for Covid-19 pandemic hit for more than two
years ago, our young primary students never really been to school and just started to be
in early grade level with distance learning where they can only meet their teachers and
classmates virtually, therefore, going back to school can bring excitement for some
kids, and for others, some anticipation and worry. Young children can get nervous
about leaving their parents. Older children may feel anxious about academics or
how they'll fit in with their friends.
When we teachers build positive relationships with our children, our classroom
becomes a safe learning-friendly environment where students feel more confident
and happier in going to school every day. Knowing how our students think and
what they like also gives us teachers a chance to individualize instruction and build
the most meaningful curriculum for them. And then we can use this knowledge to
find ways to help our students understand the material or the lessons that we are
teaching.

When we are to develop positive teacher-student relationships, our classroom

becomes a place where every student feels wanted, appreciated, and loved. This
type of atmosphere is what we are wanted to build as we are back with our face-to-
face classes, I know it’s hard to achieve it at first since we haven’t seen them in
school for years and we don’t know had happened for all those years that they are
at home, but little step can make a difference.

Maybe a friendly greeting by name at the door in the mornings.

Good Anne! Good morning, George! You look awesome!

Maybe a funny phrase or expression they’ve become known for, such as “Are you
alive, awake, alert and enthusiastic?” Or, maybe a two-minute conversations that
they make time for with the “quiet” student on a regular basis. We teachers never
runs out with so many strategies to become connected to their students because we
know the importance of building close student-teacher relationships.

(NEXT PICTURE)

As much as we have good relationship with our children, we wanted also to build
strong relationships with their families! Parents have become our co-teachers of
sorts. The Pandemic crisis has shown us that parents have a bigger role to play in a
child’s education. Since the pandemic started, parents are now taking on a more
support-oriented role by supporting their children in their studies as well as
extracurricular activities and we wanted to keep that connection and communication
going as we are now in face-to-face classes. During those years of distance learning
that we are not in face-to-face contact with our students, a lot things had change, their
behavior during classes, their attitude and way on how they learn changes as well and
during those times their parents are with them and we want to keep tract on what is
going on with our students and by that we need good relationship and communication
with the families.

When the parents communicate with us teachers to discover their children’s needs,
students see that their family is looking out for them and wants them to be
successful and that matters to them, it makes them feel special. In addition, parents
who assist their children with their homework and remind them to study for their
tests can increase their chances of short-term and long-term success by helping
them develop important habits. Parents can also support children and help boost
their confidence by encouraging them when they do well in school. And also, when
parents help their children with homework and behavior at home, we teachers can
focus on instruction in our classroom. We may also see higher rates of homework
completion and better grades when parents are involved.

In conclusion, we Grade School teachers need to recalibrate our strategies and

ways on how we deal with our struggling young students in coping up with the
new normal of face-to-face classes. Let’s start from the basics and teach our
children routines and procedures that lost during Pandemic. Reading and simple
arithmetic were lost as well, we need to find ways on how these things were to be
solved and enhance.

Let’s Teach our students how to think and not what to think.

Thank you for gracing your time in listening with me. Thank you!