Professor’s son lauds determination of mom, educators in the new normal

Students nowadays are having a hard time participating in and completing online tasks, lacking the actual guidance of their teachers during a global pandemic. And as remote learning is indeed puzzling for them, the travails of teachers may have been more frustrating as the crisis has affected the education system even more.

Witnessing the impact of COVID-19 on the life of his educator mom, netizen Dave Henson took to social media on Sunday, Sept. 13, his appreciation for his mother, Ma. Victoria Henson, as well as to the educators who are “struggling to facilitate learning in the new normal.”

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Henson’s 61-year-old mom is a Mathematics professor at the Technological University of the Philippines in Manila, and they currently live in the town of General Mariano Alvarez (GMA) in Cavite.

On Facebook, Henson addressed his post to students which message read: “I hope you, kids, know how much teachers, especially the non-techy old [generation] ones, are struggling to facilitate learning in the new normal.”

“Day after day, they fight really hard to overcome their personal hurdles with technology and devices. Now, both mastery of the subject and well-thought-out impartation strategies require more technological prowess than they’re used to,” Henson further stated in his post.

He also reminded students to empathize with their teachers in these trying times: “I hope you’ll keep that in mind the next time your teachers are having a difficult time with seemingly mundane tasks. Let’s be patient with them in the same way that we want teachers to be patient with us.”

At the end of his post, Henson expressed his love and recognition for his mom who he described as the “Bestest teacher ever!”

Remote teaching travails

In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Henson shared how his mom, who is not a tech-savvy person, tried her best to adjust to the remote teaching set up in the new normal.

Ma. Victoria Henson, a professor at Technological University of the Philippines – Manila, conducting online classes at home. Photo courtesy: Dave Henson/Facebook

“Actually, before pa mag-start itong semester na ito (before the semester starts), she has been worried about how she will be able to deliver knowledge effectively. Kahit dati pa kasi, ‘di naman siya gumagamit ng [kahit anong] devices. Ni hindi siya nagpopowerpoint pag nagtuturo. (Even before, she does not use any devices. She does not even use PowerPoint [presentations] when teaching,” Henson said.

“So you can probably imagine how drastic this change is for her. Now, nothing can be done without technology and devices,” he added.

To cope with the struggle of online teaching, Henson said his mom decided to avail of a laptop which she is paying on an installment basis and a second-hand whiteboard.

“Nag-isip [siya] ng paraan na kahit paano, hindi mawala iyong presensya ng guro sa mga estudyante niya habang iniintindi pa rin na hindi lahat sila ay may mabilis na internet at magandang devices [sa bahay],” Henson told INQUIRER.net.

(She thought of a way that somehow, she would not lose her presence with her students while at the same time understanding that not all of them have a fast internet connection and good devices at home.)

Moreover, his mom decided to take a video of herself while teaching so her students would also be able to watch her and follow through the lectures whenever their data connection would allow them to, and then they will conduct synchronous (online) sessions for questions and clarifications.

“Pero it’s still really hard. Nafufrustrate siya kasi even iyong akala natin, simple tasks like pag-copy-paste, paggawa ng [Google forms] for basic info, pag-aayos ng access, etc (But it is still really hard. She gets frustrated because even those which we think are just simple tasks like copy-pasting, creating Google forms for basic information, fixing access to it, etc.), these things are not easy for her,” Henson said as he thought of his mom’s hurdles and determination to cope with the new normal’s impact to her teaching style.

“It has been three weeks and hirap pa rin siya. Pero she’s trying really hard for her students, and I’m proud of her for that,” he added.

(It has been three weeks and she is still struggling. But she’s trying really hard for her students, and I’m proud of her for that.)

Henson’s Facebook post has gone viral as netizens also praise his mom for striving amid struggles with distance teaching. The post has already amassed over 52,000 reactions, 41 comments, and over 31,000 shares, as of writing.

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