By: Lea Canela Covar, Teacher II
Majayjay Elementary School
Majayjay Sub Office, SDO Laguna
Being in the field of education for years, the role and purpose of teaching and learning resources are crucial to how our learners would respond to the process of imparting knowledge. It is not only consisting of making the educational process to become meaningful and creative for the learners, but also it encourages active learning along with skills development. The purpose and role of teaching and learning resources don’t only consist of making the educational process more attractive and interesting, but also of encouraging active learning.
As that of our Learning Resource Centers (LRC) in our schools. We have specific LRCs for each specific subject area. The purpose of these centers is to provide materials that are related to that subject matter. These materials from LRCs could be used as support to what the learners already know and become a springboard to provide them with new opportunities in learning.
With the resumption of face-to-face classes, LRCs and a functional library are of the essence to provide our learners a vast option of learning materials that would support the educational training programs of students, along with faculty and staff – may it be printed or electronically generated it will both be helpful to anyone who decides to learn.
In Majayjay Elementary School (MAJES), our school has seen the need for a Learning Resource Center as it provides an important learning opportunity that is essential to support the educational and training programs of the students, faculty, and staff. It consists of a growing collection of books and special projects and an Internet facility that includes e-journals and e-books. With the provision of these to our teachers and learners, we will be able to create a learner-centered learning environment with more learning opportunities along with shaping a high-quality learning atmosphere among learners, promoting their learning motivation.
With libraries and learner resource centers being open to our learners, they could utilize the books they got from here in their way of unique learning. They could read this book in an open space like under the tree or just while sitting at the canteen. This kind of reading activity promotes the use of space and invites student communication and collaboration with each other.
However, with the shortage of classrooms in our schools, teachers and school administrators try to compensate for this by using small spaces in their schools to become mini libraries/ learning resource centers. Even if these are offering small space to our learners, we cannot deny the fact that it could give big benefits to all our learners and teachers. With several functions, it could give, it will serve as a big avenue for everyone who wants to expand more on their learning.
Highlighting the significance of learning resource center and with the generosity of our stakeholders, this endeavor was made possible. The MAJES Library was built through their endless effort along with the support of our school personnel. Among their donations were the bookshelves and books from CBK, Alumni and Majayjayen from abroad, and Mamunga Foundation Inc. To add to these ever-supportive people behind the success of our library, we also would like to mention Jero Burgos and Charmz Art for standee paintings to make our learners’ reading time fun and interactive, and Mr. & Mrs. Jose Arnaldo and Jovita Ledesma for the bookshelves of our small books. We also have Damusak and Tupad for manpower for establishing and cleaning up the area. We are indeed indebted to them for their help that made our LRC more functional to support the programs of our school in addressing the learning gap of our pupils.
Nevertheless, the generation of today may be on the advancement of technology. We know that we already could access an array of materials with just the use of our fingers. Typing in the keywords in the search bar would give us thousands of results in just seconds. Still, these books, journals, and other reading materials are irreplaceable. Electronic journals and books are all accessible, but nothing can beat the old way of reading and using a material than having that old printed-out reference in your hands.
Generally, learning resource centers is of utmost benefit to our country and our learners. These reading materials in print and electronic copy, will not only help our learners acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes but as well as a love for these kinds of things that promote the teaching and learning process. It remains central to the community and we should access its services for various reasons – not just to source information, read or borrow books.
