DISCIPLINE: A TOOL FOR EFFECTIVE

TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS

Ronaldo M. Yabut
Mercedes Elementary School
Mercedes District

Discipline is defined as an orderly manner that directs every individual in the desirable
attitude towards any activity. In the classroom, discipline is considered an effective tool that enhances
the teaching-learning process. It may guide the individual child toward the proper conduct in a
particular task. In general, discipline leads every person to be a holistic individual with reasonable
values that facilitate a wholesome being.

Yes, it is with discipline that our goal in life is achieved. No one will succeed without
this. As much as possible, we must know and understand the essence of discipline as a contributory
factor to life's success. It must be carried in and out of the classroom with a positive reaction to affect
every situation. Speaking of classroom discipline, learners would then display their voluntarism to
this effect to carry out goals. In short, discipline should be a part of our day-to-day activity to meet
expectations since this will entitle us to how much we can achieve.

Discipline does play a vital role in the classroom, thus making every task's objective
attainable. On the other hand, behavioral disorders like bullying, disobedience, unruliness, tardiness,
and other unbecoming traits may block learning, making it flow negatively and unsatisfactorily. If this
will happen, naturally, the teaching-learning process is a failure.

It should be the teacher's first attempt to impose discipline in his or her class, even at the
beginning of classes, so that students could readily internalize the value of such and be accustomed to
it. It is then recommended that the teachers be pliable enough to satisfy every learner's demand.
Remember that set of standards at the very start of the school year can help a lot! Telling them all the
things that should be done and the things they should avoid doing is a helpful tip for the teacher. After
that, we would remind them of the things that transpired at the start. Likewise, a reward or praise shall
also be given to those who abide by the rules. With these strategies employed, more learners would be
encouraged to follow the righteous path.

In summary, discipline is an essential factor and a tool to effective teaching-learning; hence,

Then, if learners would be doing fine all day and all the way, nevertheless, the teaching-
learning process will be considered adequate, fulfilled, and permanent. All because of the magic of
discipline that is manifested in them.
 THE CHANGING ROLES OF TEACHERS AND
TECHNOLOGIES AMIDST PANDEMIC

Ronaldo M. Yabut
Mercedes Elementary School
Mercedes District

We know that we have had a unique experience teaching and delivering education to our
students this school year. Despite the pandemic's overwhelming impact, this global crisis has also
been a fantastic time to learn. We learn how education systems, policymakers, teachers, students, and
families can be responsive and resilient.
What has changed the role of teachers through the pandemic?
Two key factors have changed with the pandemic. Firstly, pedagogical adaptations have
proved crucial, as traditional models of face-to-face lectures do not translate into a distance learning
environment. To keep students engaged, teachers must adapt their strategies and be creative,
regardless of the channel used (radio, TV, mobile, online platforms, etc.). Every home has become a
classroom - more often than not - in the absence of a learning environment. The education department
is supporting teachers in this.
During the pandemic, learning has become increasingly reliant on technology. Globally, a
large number of urban schools offer online classes to their students. In areas with limited connectivity,
education providers have used more traditional distance learning methods, a combination of
educational television and radio programming, and print materials distribution.
What impact has technologies generated in this changing role? Has it become necessary for
teachers to fulfill their roles?
During the pandemic, learning has become increasingly reliant on technology. Globally, a
large number of urban schools offer online classes to their students. In areas with limited connectivity,
education providers have used more traditional distance learning methods, a combination of
educational television and radio programming, and print materials distribution.
In response to the pandemic, the country has combined high-tech and low-tech approaches to
help teachers better support student learning. For example, using the country's high mobile phone
penetration, education leaders devised a strategy that combines SMS, printed handouts, and
continuous teacher feedback. Beyond providing low-tech materials, the approach provides
information on how to access educational activities, ensures students have access to paper-based
learning materials, and includes home visits to monitor distance learning activities. Teachers are also
expected to provide students with weekly paper-based resources and meet with them weekly to
provide their marked worksheets and issue new ones for the coming week.
Technology interventions enhanced teacher engagement with students through improved
access to content, data, and networks, helping teachers better support student learning, where effective
use of technology is one of the fundamental principles to ensure cadres of effective teachers.
 PARENTS: SCHOOL'S PARTNERS IN THE NEW NORMAL
Ronaldo M. Yabut
Mercedes Elementary School
Mercedes District

Children learn best when the adults in their lives – parents, teachers, and other family and
community members – collaborate to encourage and support them. This fundamental fact should
serve as a guiding principle as we consider how schools should be organized and how children should
be educated. Schools alone cannot meet all of a child's developmental needs; meaningful parental
involvement and community support are required.
Teachers have had to adopt new methods of educating their students and staying connected to
their communities in response to the acute learning crisis caused by the Coronavirus outbreak.
Millions of parents around the world have also stepped up to take charge of their children's education.
In challenging circumstances, most parents are doing everything they can to reduce and mitigate the
significant disruption to learning caused by the pandemic.
Any parent and guardian want the best for their children. They will contribute to their
children's learning and wellbeing by engaging with teachers. The school system's challenges in the
"new normal" necessitate that parents play a multifaceted role in minimizing the pandemic's effect on
their children's academic success and wellbeing.
Parents have essential roles in their child's continuing education in this trying time; one of
these is being a good communicator. Parents should express their questions regarding their child's
education with the teacher. They should also alert the teacher whether the child has any special
educational needs or disabilities that necessitate extra assistance. Active Caretaker: As the primary
caregiver, parents should have a working room in their home for their children to study and create a
learning atmosphere at home. The parents as a routine builder; teachers need parents' assistance to
ensure that their students regularly engage in distance learning programs and complete their given
assignments on time and to the best of their abilities. It is primarily the parents' responsibility to plan
their child's lesson schedule and complete their schoolwork.
The parents should be more vigilant; parents should take proactive steps to protect their
children from online harm, including violations of their right to privacy, cyberbullying, sexting, and
other types of harassment. Besides using parental controls, parents should speak to their children
about staying healthy online, including recommending advice and support from trusted third parties.
Educators, in particular, warn that children can not be left unattended online for more than a few
hours. Parents and guardians should keep an eye on their children and the material they are regularly
viewing. Parents should play as a friendly teacher. If necessary, parents should assist their children
while they are having difficulty with their learning tasks. Parents must instill in their children the
value of good grooming and health care. Parents must mentor their children to remain optimistic and
learn the life skills needed to survive and succeed during crisis times.
Collaboration between educators and parents is the cornerstone of the "new normal"
education system since they are students' first point of touch with all educational needs. Both
stakeholders can support this collaboration to ensure that children continue to obtain an education
throughout the pandemic.
 PARENT-TEACHER: BETTER LINES OF COMMUNICATION
Ronaldo M. Yabut
Mercedes Elementary School
Mercedes District

Regardless of a parent's active participation in school events, good contact between parents
and teachers is essential. Each has a piece of the puzzle that is a child's growth, and when knowledge
is shared, each will be more powerful. Constant contact aids in ensuring that both schools and homes
are responsive to students' individual needs, thus supporting children's overall growth.

Some of these encounters should occur in person, either at school, home, parent's workplace
or in another suitable venue. It must be regarded as an essential component of education, with
sufficient time set aside during regular working hours for school personnel to carry it out. At the same
time, this contact must be understood as an essential aspect of parenting, and parents must commit to
meeting with their children's teachers regularly.

Technology will bind educators and parents in a stronger network of mutual support than ever
before. Schools and homes can be linked via computer networks, allowing them to freely exchange
information via email and bulletin boards 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

It's not difficult to envision a time soon where all parents will easily access information such
as a student's weekly schedule, current assignments, and instructor feedback about learning objectives
at home. They will be able to review what the child has been doing by checking real examples of
schoolwork obtained in an electronic portfolio.

To ensure that everyone has equitable access to such electronic resources, regardless of
income or other circumstances, some schools collaborate with companies and other partners to
develop computer-lending services for families. All colleges should consider similar services. Parents
should access the required computers in several public environments, such as classrooms, libraries,
and government buildings. There should be free or low-cost courses to teach educators and parents
how to use them to promote learning.

The establishment of computer networks connecting schools and homes corresponds to

Lifelong learning is increasingly becoming a necessity for success in today's world. Parents
and other community members may attend classes at a school or study at home using distance
learning technology, with material supplied by their nearby or distant school. Parents may use these
networks to further their education and show their children that adults will continue learning.

However, the children are the real winners. When we walk into a school and see parents and
teachers joining hands in different roles, we know that the school is pushing students to do their best
and making everyone, regardless of race, class, or culture, realize their full potential.
 WINNING LEARNERS' HEALTH ISSUES AMIDST PANDEMIC
Ronaldo M. Yabut
Mercedes Elementary School
Mercedes District

A child's wellbeing is an essential part of their learning. If a child is not well, his or her
success in class suffers. According to research and school records, children with unhealthy bodies
perform poorly and should be discussed.
Despite the government's ongoing attempts to feed the nation by offering free subsistence to
the poor and less fortunate, we are still confronted with many problems brought on by evolving
technology, which is the everlasting malnutrition issue.
The Food and Nutritional Center has found that the average Filipino child weighs much less
than other children in the world. In terms of nutritional subsistence, his diet is inadequate both in
quality and in quantity.
The school is one of the places where students can learn healthy eating habits, and an
excellent teacher-pupil partnership can do a lot to improve students' eating habits. The home should
also track the teachers' instruction and provide for their children's basic needs, particularly their food
intake.
The need to work together to combat malnutrition is essential, particularly amid a pandemic.
Parents should realize that nutrition is linked to intellectual faculties and that malnutrition is now
recognized as a cause of mental dullness, as a lack of food appears to impair intellectual faculties.
Our role as teachers and parents is to help children with unhealthy bodies improve their class
performance by providing them with activities at home that teach them the value of being healthy. We
should engage them in departmental and other health-related agency programs like the Wellness
Campus Program. We should create an integrated health curriculum in different subjects that builds
students' knowledge, skills, and positive health attitudes about physical, mental, emotional, and social
health. Provisions of different strategies and interventions using various learning modalities could
help learners upgrade their nutritional knowledge. It also encourages students to improve and preserve
their fitness, avoid illness, and avoid risky behaviors. Through these, we are succeeding in combating
health and nutrition problems despite the pandemic's challenges.
 PHYSICAL GAMES VS COMPUTER GAMES
Ronaldo M. Yabut
Mercedes Elementary School
Mercedes District

Gone are the days when we used to play patintero, luksong tinik, taguan, tumbang-preso,
bahay-bahayan, and other larong pinoy. They are now occasionally dominated by video gamers. We
cannot stop the passage of time or the exponential development of technology as part of our global
progress.

Parents and teachers are alarmed by these situations because these computer games do not
only alter the attitude and behavior of the children as individual entities, but they also affect our
learners' social dimension. Try to look into the effects of these on the children. Three essential
emotional virtues have not been enhanced nor developed, and these are the values of sharing,
empathy, and teamwork. When a child has leisure or free time, he goes to a computer café with video
games or a personal computer with installed games in it, if one is affluent enough to own one.

The effect? When they come to the school, the children or our learners show isolation,
violence, and aggressive behavior as the impact of the games played through the computers. They
become ego-centric or self-focused; they could hardly adjust to classmates who have varied
socioeconomic status, and they become reluctant to join school activities involving group work. This
indifference being manifested is a concrete picture of one whose ability to have good interpersonal
relationships has not been harnessed. It is not wrong to have these computer games, but they should
not be played habitually. Unfortunately, they are addictive.

The role of parents and teachers now enters the frame. In terms of advice and counseling,
we all realize that our students are viewed based on their individuality. Each learner is a person with
their own set of feelings, emotions, and beliefs. We should interfere now before he goes off the rails.
As teachers, we should instill in our students that playing video games interferes with their social lives
and that if they become addicted to them, they will have trouble adapting to more significant social
roles in the future. Let us revive an old but practical and successful method of socialization training
for young children. Every week, spend ten to twenty minutes outside playing games. This will make
them feel like they are a part of the community and just as important as the others. Remember that any
transition has both positive and negative implications. Let us start with the negatives and search for
solutions to them.
 TEACHER: A DRAG IN THE MODERNIZATION
OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM?

Ronaldo M. Yabut
Mercedes Elementary School
Mercedes District

Nothing is new under the sun, as King Solomon of old said emphatically. That is why we
try to do and complicate things that have already been done and invented in the past. Have we
advanced much more than when the universe first began?

From oral law (as Israelites knew the Torah) to written codes (Scriptures) and modern types
of information systems (video, computers, microfiche, and other electronic devices), the educational
system has modernized and continues to transform massively. The world appears to have changed on
the surface, with transportation and communication providing convenience and comfort and business,
industry, and medicine, all of which can be credited to teachers.

Teachers are ideal people. They first educate pupils and students on the concepts of true or
false, right or wrong. Teachers are just one segment of society; are they as influential as leaders,
senators, and legislators who can build policy and direction for the country? They can, however, only
do so much, such as teach ideals and encourage society's adoption of norms. Teachers are only
changing agents in terms of teaching and training. In other words, they merely provide students with
opportunities, choices, and guidance. Reforms should be introduced by the DepEd, CHED, and
TESDA, which are accused of being suppressed by politicians. However, instead of growth and
advancement, degradation and corruption of beliefs and attitudes among all citizens in general occur.
Is it now the fault of the teachers? In a small way. Almost none at all.

The enemy of modernization is complacence and backwardness. The older person, old self,
and old touches should be kept. This is where culture, humanities, and history come in. They should
be integrated into the curriculum of the school. This way, modernization is compensated for by
preserving the past's relics and extent that made the old world a Better World.
 ALL WE NEED IS A PANDEMIC TEACHER

Ronaldo M. Yabut
Mercedes Elementary School
Mercedes District

In this pandemic, to deliver quality education to our students, the department needs teachers
with positive qualities who will be defensive about overcoming the education crisis's challenges. The
student now needs the teacher to help them survive this school year full of learning. These positive
qualities will guide, motivate, encourage students to learn amid a pandemic.
We need, as of now, is a Passionate and Persistent teacher. The passionate teacher, who is
in love with a field of knowledge, loves what he is doing and is willing to his best for the sake of
students' learning. A passionate teacher doesn't stop learning; he wants to learn something new and
learn something more to give something new and more to his students. Most of all, teachers love
students, no matter what they are, because some students need love and attention. We need a
persistent teacher. Someone who does not give up until students are successful in learning. Failure
doesn't stop a persistent teacher from doing something more.
We need a teacher who is Adaptive to the changes we are experiencing. A teacher who
addresses students' educational needs in the social and dynamic virtual classroom; and responds to the
changing nature of teaching and navigating a complex workplace.
Students today need a Noble teacher; selfless, ready to go to any extent to help their
students, and teacher feels fulfilled when he sees his students achieve in life. A teacher that can
sacrifice time, effort and sometimes own money for students' sake is noble. With this kind of
pandemic, noble teachers must extend help and love, best for the students.
Also, we need a Determined teacher, the one who never stops doing something no matter
how hard it is. A teacher has a strong feeling to do something for the students' benefit and will not
allow anyone or anything to stop him.
Students need an Enthusiastic teacher at this time. A teacher who spices the class with
excitement, enjoyment, and anticipation; who engages students to participate; and stimulates them to
explore. Enthusiastic teacher sparks the curiosity of students and jumpstarts their motivation to learn.
If the teacher's attitude toward the material is positive, enthusiastic, committed, and excited, the
students get that. If the teacher is bored, the students get that, and they get bored quickly,
instinctively.
We need someone who motivates the students to do something more, strive hard, and
continue no matter how hard it is for them to achieve their goals and dreams in life and become a
better version of their own. As a Motivator, give motivation and spirit to their students that can build
confidence. Do not humiliate students when they commit a mistake.
In this time of new normal, we badly needed Innovative teacher. Someone to strive to find
new ways to keep students on task, motivate them to do their best and encourage them to succeed.
Someone who is applying skills and talents to maximize the teaching and learning process.
At this time, students need a Creative teacher, someone not afraid to take risks, someone
who is open-minded and uses what's around them to help them create innovative ideas and teaching
strategies for their online classroom. One who is willing to try new teaching strategies and methods
and one not afraid to fail. A teacher that brings out the best potential of every student.
One of the essential characteristics of a teacher in the new normal is Caring. Someone who
listens to students helps them express who they are and how they want to be treated. He believes in
the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, all of which have
the potential to turn a life around.
In new normal, we have to be a PANDEMIC teacher- Passionate and Persistent, Adaptive,
Noble, Determined, Enthusiastic, Motivator, Innovative, Caring, and Creative. In life, like walking in
the sand, we leave footprints behind. In the so-called teaching, we leave a legacy. The way you want
you to remember by your students. This now the question, what legacy do you want to leave behind?