Finding teachers who teach through technology

By MELVIN G. CALIMAG

There was time when teachers only had chalk and the blackboard as their tools to share knowledge to students. For visual aids, cartolina and Manila paper were the usual choices.

Then came the acetate, which made teaching more exciting as it displayed the lessons on the classroom wall using an overhead projector. Not long after, acetate slides that were magnified by a rotating projector proliferated in schools.

Despite the arrival of these new tools, it seemed something was still lacking. For one, it made more teaching more expensive, further depleting the already meager salaries of teachers. Secondly, it did not allow a healthy environment of information sharing as it was only the teacher who made all the talking.

The coming of the information age — the Internet and, yes, Microsoft PowerPoint — was expected to change all that. Or, at least, a new hope was ushered in anticipating a technology-aided teaching era.

But that hope has remained just as that — still a hope. The main culprit, of course, is access to technology. Majority of schools are still on the other side of the great digital divide.

But surprisingly, and amazingly, a few of Filipino teachers has transformed this mere hope into something that is now making a difference in their professional careers and, consequently, in the lives of their students.

The recent Microsoft 2nd Innovative Teachers Leadership Awards searched far and wide for these teachers, raking through the entire archipelago to find the mentors who made that breakthrough through technology.

Just like in 2004 when the program first started, this year’s search produced a remarkable trove of innovators who, despite logistical limitations, applied the aid of technology in enhancing the learning process.

At the Manolo M. Lopez Development Center in Antipolo City where the final judging was held, the board of judges composed of seasoned educators tackled one the hardest tasks they have ever handled: Choosing the most tech-savvy teachers who genuinely had the passion for teaching from those who merely applied technology in their teaching methods.

There were some who said they were traumatized for the strict selection process they went through, while some blamed themselves outright for joining the contest.

These statements, of course, were uttered in jest.

After the smoke of the battle cleared, those who shined the most among 25 finalists were proclaimed as winners. They were Ma. Cecilia T. Correa of Manila Science High School; Christie Anne Dagamac of Ipil National High School (Ormoc); Cecilia Mag-isa Estoque of Agusan National High School; Francisco S. Garcia of Manila Science High School; and Evelyn R. Manahan of Iligan City East High School.

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