1. “The strategist's method...challenge the
prevailing assumptions with a single question: Why?
and to put the same question relentlessly to those
responsible for the current way of doing things until
they are sick of it.”- A wise man once said. That wise
man intends those words to a business sector, so what
is that quotation doing to a pre-service teacher’s
journal? Aside from the word “strategy” which the title
and the quote both have, teaching on the first place, (I
think), is like a quest of something where you have
many opponents to beat that’s why one should equip
himself with strategies to end up in success. The
demand of various strategies is due to the evolution of
teaching which is in our context today is not primarily
about “what you know?” but it transcends now to the
fact that teachers’ productivity must be based on “how
we transmit?”the knowledge that we know. That extra
obligation- should I say- makes our job even harder.
Although I’m training for the job and not yet on the job,
as early as now I can feel already the challenge of
coping up to that demand.
My experiences for the past weeks are
continuously evolving to something very different now.
Of course that includes side reactions of realizations,
hesitations, re-educations, and many more. From
someone who deals so much with the content of my
lesson, I am actually becoming someone who puts
emphasis on strategies and methodologies in my
teaching which is far painstaking than the former.
Every now and then I have to think of new strategies.
How will I introduce the topic? How will I teach per
se? How will I evaluate my students? Questions like
those indeed bombard my mind every day and every
night and even when I’m asleep.
Nonetheless, thank you God Almighty! So far,
I can say I’m doing the right thing. Although there are
some instances that I still cling to traditional teaching,
I have responded already to the demand of strategies. I
have used games for my evaluation.
I already used Read-Think-Pair-Share when I
discussed nomenclature of alcohols. As far as my
assessment is concerned, the strategy was effective. I
also used collaborative approach in my basic
chemistry classes and I really liked the outcome. They
were able to construct models of atomic orbitals and
say something about them. I used also jigsaw as a
strategy in teaching chemical periodicities. Indeed,
they were very active and very willing to share what
they knew during their expert groups’ discussions. For
my motivations, some are situational like I introduce a
story to them. I ask them questions that would arouse
them and also games to introduce the topic like
flowfree when I discussed reactions of alcohols. Credit
to my cooperating teacher,she taught me on Concept-
attainment and averaging as a method of evaluating
collaborative learning. Oral questioning and large
group discussion were my often used strategies.
Speaking of oral questioning, I can say that the
questions that I throw to my students require higher
order thinking skills. They probe my students. I test
them if they really knew the topic like asking them the
relationship of effective nuclear charge and atomic
radius without discussing yet the latter. “Why” and
“what if” become the words of the day whenever I
discuss. Interestingly and surprisingly, my students are
indeed very intelligent to correctly answer my
questions.
Once I’ve thought of a strategy, it doesn’t end
there. Construction of worksheets follow. Not for
bragging but I can say my worksheets are impressive.
It is problem-based and task-based. My worksheets
don’t spoon-feed my students. They interpret, infer,
and observe. The guide questions make them think
really really hard.
To end, becoming a teacher is task-based and
problem-based in itself, and to be honest, I can’t
imagine doing this for the rest of my life. Nonetheless,
MY REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
Cagayan State COLLEGE OF TEACHER Andrews
University EDUCATION Campus
Checked
by:
Bryan M. Nozaleda
Prepared
by:
Task-Based and Problem-Based Activities and
Strategies in Teaching

2. teaching really tastes delicious after it is cooked
however I’m still not baked. I have more time to spend
in the microwave.
Mrs. Rosechelle Cauilan