Story # 2 – HOW TEACHER EDNA LEARNED TO USE THE COMPUTER
When I entered the classroom, all the Grade VI pupils rose to greet me “ Good morning visitor”. I could see that they were watching on a big TV screen the nuclear bomb explosion at Hiroshima. Teacher Edna then wrapped up her lecture on nuclear energy, put off the computer and the TV set, gave an assignment and dismissed the class.
Teacher Edna is a Grade VI teacher at one of our Elementary Schools here in Malvar. She has been teaching for the last 28 years and currently the Adviser of Grade VI Section A. She started teaching without knowing anything about the computer and went on with her life as a teacher without ever touching the computer. Until something unthinkable happened to her.
Her children Edgerold in Grade VI and Edlaine in Grade V at the time were able to complete their basic digital literacy training at the CeC Malvar in the year 2012. The two were so excited about the new knowledge they have acquired. Right after receiving their Certificates of Completion from the CeC, they started badgering their mother, Teacher Edna, to start to learn how to use the computer.
Teacher Edna remembers giving her two kids a good laugh, because, she reasoned, she was too old to start learning new “tricks.” But her kids were pestering her, almost harassing her daily. Until one day, she asked herself, “why not.” However, she was asking herself, “how do I learn to use the computer? I do not have the time to go to the CeC after teaching because I need to go home fast to cook and prepare dinner and sort out other things for the whole family.”
Like an answered prayer, her children volunteered to be her teachers. The two kids were enthusiastic and excited about the whole idea. Using an old laptop at home, Teacher Edna learned how to use the computer, day by day by day, as her two wonderful kids patiently taught her.
Today, Edgerold is in Grade 9 and Edlaine in Grade 8. Their mother, Teacher Edna, is now computer literate and happy about it. She uses the spreadsheet to record her students’ grades and word processing in preparing her lesson plans and her reports. “I did not know that this new learning will open a new and wider horizon for me and will help a lot in my teaching. As a responsible teacher, I really spend time trying to figure out how to make my classes enjoyable and exciting. Because there is no internet connection at school, I download materials I need at home which I use during classes.”
And that is how I saw the nuclear explosion at Hiroshima on her classroom’s TV screen.
By Linda N. Balbuena, CeC Manager, CeC Malvar
0 Comments