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TEACHING IN THE NEW NORMAL




          Education Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic                                     Mrs. Corazon D.C. Hernandez





                OVID-19 PANDEMIC has           continuity of education despite      learning process.   Different
                not stopped at national        the lockdown, virtual learning       schools’ domains are  used  to
          Cborders. It  has affected           is introduced.  “Virtual  learning   ensure  quality  education.  In
          people regardless of nationality,    is  a learning experience that       some  cases, teachers need to
          level of education,  income, or      is enhanced  through utilizing       be acquainted with the virtual
          gender. As the world becomes         computers and/or  the  internet      teaching. Likewise, teachers have
          increasingly    interconnected,      both  outside and  inside the        been  preoccupied  with  many
          so do  the  risks we face.  Our      facilities of the educational        preparations of learning activity
          routines are changing  as our        organization.”  The  instruction     sheets, lesson exemplars, and
          lives are upheaved by the            most commonly takes place in an      modules.  Enrolment was done
          changes brought by COVID-19.         online environment that allows       online, talking to both parents
                                               for  live interaction  between       and students in preparation
          “We sense that ‘normal’ isn’t        the  teacher  and  the  students     for  the registration through
          coming back, that  we  are  being    as they are participating in         calls, texts,  or  chats.  Teachers
          born  into  a  new  normal:  a  new   learning activities. In other       have to save energy because
          kind of society, a new relationship   words, the virtual classroom is     of the massive preparations  in
          to the earth, a new experience       a shared online space  where         module distribution,  retrieval,
          of being human.” — Charles           the  teachers and  the  students     and checking of students’
          Eisenstein                           work together synchronously or       outputs.   Students’   learning
                                               asynchronously.                      kits are delivered to respective
          The language of a ‘new normal’                                            barangays,    and    barangay
          is  being deployed almost  as        Specifically, virtual learning uses
          a way to quell any uncertainty       computer software, the Internet,      It all boils down
          ushered in by the coronavirus.       or  both  to deliver  instruction
          A  “new  normal”  is a  “state  to   to students. This minimizes              to two major
          which  an  economy  or  society,     or  eliminates the need for
          etc.,  settles after  a crisis, when   teachers and students to share     concerns: internet
          this differs from the  situation     a classroom.
          that prevailed prior to the start                                             connectivity,
          of the crisis.”                      In the new  normal, different
                                               learning     platforms      are        and the issue of
          What has become “normal”?            implemented  where  schools
          The lockdowns,  quarantines,         use integrated set of interactive       the curriculum
          face masks  and shields,  hand       online or offline services that
          hygiene,    vitamin     intakes,     provide    teachers,  learners,        and educational
          nutrient-rich food, physical and     parents,  and  others involved
          social distancing, and the ever-     in education  with  information,        resources that
          present  support  technology         tools and resources to support
          are  a  “must” to  continue  for     and    enhance     educational             have to be
          a lifetime. These and more           delivery and management.
          compose the new normal.                                                     adapted for use
                                               Teachers are encouraged  to
          This crisis has exposed  the         attend webinars, from which           to adjust to new
          many      inadequacies     and       they  are  also trained  on
          inequities of our  education         different platforms to use in the    normal education.
          system. However, to ensure the       virtual or modular teaching-
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