Study Guide in Prof.Ed.

102-The Teaching Profession Module 4: Unit 4 – Teacher as a Person in Society

Module No.4

Unit 4- Teacher as a Person in Society

MODULE OVERVIEW

Teachers are one of the most significant members of a society. They are also one of the
most influential professionals in the community. Before a teacher becomes a professional
facilitator, motivator, initiator, and motivator, teachers are essential learner of their own nature.
Professionals will not be professionals without professional teachers in the society. Socially
speaking, teachers are active contributor in the progression and development in a social institution.
The question is, how can they manage to do that?
There are teachers’ beliefs that enable them to be professionally developed. Initially, before
a teacher can develop children’s way of learning, they should have to develop themselves first.
There are philosophies, principle, values, that are considered to be important in teaching

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the unit, the students must have:

 Demonstrate a caring attitude, respect, integrity and dignity in teaching;
 Explain the role of teacher as a person in the society;
 Cite personal qualities that a professional teacher should possess;

LEARNING CONTENTS

MORALITY AND THE FOUNDATIONAL MORAL PRINCIPLE

 As a teacher whatever you are feeling at the moment, once you stepped into the classroom
you have to leave everything behind, because, in the eyes of your students, you are
their best hope.
 In today's society, the nation has high hopes on teachers as they are one of the most
influential people in a person's life. Aside from being a facilitator to the 21st-century
students, teachers serve as the role model, who can greatly affect a child's future. As what
Henry Brooks Adams once said, "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his
influence stops."
 But to cope with such huge expectations from the society, a teacher must anchor itself on
the foundation of moral and ethical principles which will be their guiding light in their
teaching journey. And to find and install those principles, knowing what morality and how
we understand it should be given attention.

Defining Morality
 Wikipedia defines "morality" as the differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions
between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper.
 When human conduct conforms to the ideal or, it is considered good; if not, it's evil
(Reyes-Almoro, 1996).

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Study Guide in Prof.Ed.102-The Teaching Profession Module 4: Unit 4 – Teacher as a Person in Society

 For instance, when Juan took Juana's bread without asking permission, Juan's action will be
considered wrong as he commits an action that is contrary to the norm, which is "stealing is
wrong".

An action of man will be considered good if it doesn't lack what a rational being should do.

Defining the Foundational Moral Principle

 The word principle comes from the Latin word princeps which means the beginning, a

source. A principle is that on which something is based, founded, originated, initiated. it is
likened to the foundation of a building upon which all other parts stand (Bilbao,2006).
 If we are to compare principle to layman's understanding, the principle is the clean water
we drink. Without water, every living thing will not be able to survive long. Therefore, the
foundational moral principle is the general norm where all other principles of the
rightness and goodness or the wrongness and evilness of the actions were based.
 To sum it up, the foundational moral principle is based from the natural law, where it is
written in our hearts. It is the law that says as a human being, we have to do good and avoid
evil.

TEACHERS AS PERSONS OF GOOD MORAL CHARACTER

 Teacher should always be a person with a good moral character. teachers should have a
self-assessment, in a way that they will try to know the things that they have to improve
morally.
 Morality is not just to know what is right from wrong but it is also trying to make things
right if it is wrong. A person should have a good moral character, especially teachers even
they are from the past, present, and in the near future.
 The profession of being a teacher should provide us with our own principles of moral. The
identity of a teacher includes the moral character and the way that they behave with their
principles. It is not enough that one has the professional license, because a true educator is
educated and well-mannered.

VALUES FORMATION
 Values are CAUGHT and TAUGHT. Values formation starts in early childhood and the
way we practice the value becomes our attitude.
 Influences are one of the factors that provide us the value that we have. There are known
three dimensions of values and these are the cognitive, affective and
behavioral/psychomotor dimension.
- In cognitive dimension, it is a taught value that needs further understanding
why do we have to value and acquire that VALUE.
- Affective domain is not enough to know the value because it includes the
conscience of the person if he/she didn’t have the right values.
- The evidence of valuing a value is living with it, and that is a behavioral
dimension.

TRAINING THE INTELLECT AND WILL

 Your values formation in the essence is the training of the intellect and will, your cognitive
and rational appetitive powers, respectively. Your intellect discerns a value and presents it
to the will of right and wrong value.
 Your will wills to act on the right value and wills to avoid the wrong value presented by

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Study Guide in Prof.Ed.102-The Teaching Profession Module 4: Unit 4 – Teacher as a Person in Society

your intellect. As described by St. Thomas Aquinas, “The intellect proposes and the will
disposes”.
 It is, therefore, necessary to develop your intellect in it’s three functions: formation of the
ideas, judgment, reasoning. (William Kelly, 1965)

MAX SCHELER’S HEIRARCHY OF VALUES

 MAX SCHELER (August 2, 1874- May 19, 1928) was a German Philosopher known
for his work in phenomenology, ethics, and philosophical anthropology.

1. PLEASURE VALUES
- The pleasant against the unpleasant.
- The agreeable against the disagreeable
EXAMPLES: sensual feeling, experience of pleasure or pain.
2. VITAL VALUES
- Values pertaining to the well-being of the individual or of the community.
- Values of vital feeling
EXAMPLES: health, vitality, capability, excellence
3. SPIRITUAL VALUES
- Values independent of the whole sphere of the body and of the environment.
- Grasps in spiritual acts of preferring, loving, or hating.
EXAMPLES: aesthetic values (beauty against ugliness), values of right and wrong,
values of pure knowledge
4. VALUES OF THE HOLY
- Appear only in regard to objects intentionally given as “absolute objects”
EXAMPLES: belief, adoration, bliss

TEACHING AS YOUR VOCATION, MISSION, AND PROFESSION

TEACHING AS YOUR VOCATION

 Vocation comes from the Latin word “vocare” which means “to call”. Based on the
etymology of the word, vocation, therefore, means a call.
 If there is a call, there must be a caller and someone who is called. For Christians, the
caller is God himself. For our brothers and sisters Muslims, Allah.

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Study Guide in Prof.Ed.102-The Teaching Profession Module 4: Unit 4 – Teacher as a Person in Society

 Most often, when people use the word “vocation,” they refer to a religious vocation. For
the eyes of those who believe, it was God who called you to teach, just as God called
Abraham, Moses, and Mary, of the bible.
 The fact the you are now enrolled in Education course signifies the you said YES to the call
to teach. Perhaps you never dreamt to become a teacher. But here you are now preparing to
become one! Teaching must be your vocation, your calling. May this YES response remain
a YES and become even firmer through the years.

TEACHING AS YOUR PROFESSION

 In the words “professional manner,” “gawang propesyunal,” “professional fee for
expert services rendered” the word “professional” implies one who possesses skill and
competence/expertise.
 In short, a professional is one who conforms to the technical or ethical standards of a
profession. So, two elements of a profession are competence and Code of Ethics.
 Teaching as a profession is govern by the Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers.
 Violation of the Code of Ethics for professional teachers is one of the grounds for the
revocation of the professional teacher’s Certificate of Registration and suspension from the
practice of the teaching profession. (Section 23., RA. 7836)
TEACHING AS YOUR MISSION
 Teaching is also a mission. The word mission come from the Latin word “mission” which
means “to send”.
 In the Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, mission defines as “task assigned”. You
are sent to accomplish an assigned task.
 What exactly is the mission to teach? Is it merely to teach the child the fundamental skills
or basic r’s of reading, (w)riting, (a)rithmetic? NO! To teach is to influence every child
entrusted in your care to become better and happier because life becomes more
meaningful. To teach is to help a child become more human.

 Whether a teacher considers teaching as vocation, profession, or mission, the most

important thing is the goal in teaching. Initially, we can all combine these things together,
as tool in teaching and learning process. Teachers should know the importance and essence
of their existence inside and outside the classroom.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY 1:
Read and analyze the poem, “You are a Teacher”. After which, answer the following questions:

1. Who is the speaker of the poem? What kind of person is he/she?

2. To whom is the speaker speaking, or in other word, who is the audience?
3. What is the purpose of the poem?
4. Which line of the poem do you like most? Why?

ACTIVITY 2:
Recite the poem and video yourself reciting it.

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Study Guide in Prof.Ed.102-The Teaching Profession Module 4: Unit 4 – Teacher as a Person in Society

REFERENCES

BilbaoPurita et.al.Copyright 2018.The Teaching Profession, Fourth Edition.LORIMAR

Publishing, Inc.
https://mylearningviews.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/you-the-teacher-as-a-person-in-society/

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