Certificate Received

November 2018, my last and final online test was done. I have submitted my video for counseling and I say goodbye to two years of reading and research under this PTC (professional teaching certificate) program of UPOU. It was a bittersweet time as my FB thread with my former classmates will still continue. Because, then we had to wait for our grades to appear in our student portal. And needed this communication to update each other and expressed our excitement. After which we would have to request for clearance and printed documents. I still had to figure out though if applying for our country’s licensing exam come September 2019 would be a good idea.

Fast forward to today,  the fourth of May 2019. Exactly a month ago, I received my credentials from the records. Got my original certificate and it’s certified true copy. My original true copy of grades, course description, transcript of records and certificate as proof of English as the program’s mode of teaching.

I am thinking of taking Diploma of Science Teaching but my inquiries regarding requirements it still unanswered. I would like to major in Biology as my undergrad is Physical Therapy. This year marks my 20th year as a licensed physical therapist of the Philippines. I am still (again), figuring out if I want to keep this role of mine. After all, I have been teaching most of my career life. It’s time to renew that license once again before I turn 42 come September.

Thinking of my boys’ future, I wanted to take this PTC in order to help my husband in providing for the family. He is a very good provider for all our needs. But it would not hurt if we could also save for the future.  When our sons go back to conventional school, I would like to teach in the school where hopefully our boys will study in.

In our life, the Lord has blessed us with more opportunities than we could ever imagine. I chose a married life and we chose to raise a family. Our family comes right after our marital calling. Now that I finally have my credentials, I feel that I am equipped enough to embark on a new season with my husband. Something we have always wanted to do but life’s circumstances kept us to stay put. Wait and prepare. The truth is, no one could ever be perfectly prepared when God says “go”.

So, for the meantime I will close this writing of mine this way…. and fix my mind and heart to the One Who spoke it.

“For I alone know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “plans to prosper and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future”. – Jeremiah 29:11

 

My Kind Of Professionalism

      I cannot begin to think how professionalism can be a living expression of your profession. How do I put these into words? Is it a result of completing the teacher education program or having the dispositions (i.e. content knowledge, skills, methods of instruction) acquired through field experiences, as stated by Creasy (2015)? My take is both.

       Professionalism in a teacher is learned as a process in teachers’ education program in the university. Especially when one is taught in a problem-based approach such in the field of medicine. Here, teachers in training can be immersed in the real-life situations into which they can apply the theories they are learning into practical ways. From there, a continuing education program will keep them above their levels, when they are given in-service trainings that are doable in the real-life settings they are in. Professionalism is an integration of all three dispositions that does not end, rather improves over time.

      I am not an education graduate. But life situations brought me to where I am. I am a mom. I am a teacher. I am a homeschooler. Back in college,  I was mostly assigned to kids with special needs in our rehabilitation centers. Creating activities for them and seeing them react and interact, improve even to the slightest way is a big accomplishment for me. When I see them progress, it assures me that what I am doing is right. Straight out of college and after passing the boards, I became a SPED teacher in a conventional private school. I learned to construct IEPs (Individualized Education Plan) for my students of grades 2 and 5. When I went back to clinical practice, it was still kids who I mostly treated. Fast forward to present day, I have two wonderful sons ages 10 and 5. Never did I thought that I would literally be a teacher-mom, until we tried to homeschool due to my husband’s work that require  travelling. To keep our family close, we ventured into this journey. As I have said in my previous reflections, I want to give the best of me to my kids, that is why I enrolled in UPOU’s PTC (Professional Teaching Course) program. Here I know that I will be able to get the necessary content knowledge to support the skills and instructional strategies I am already doing. To correct what I am doing wrong and to enhance what I believe is effective. This is my equipping of self in a professional way. Aside from the specially-designed trainings for parents like me from my homeschool provider (Homeschool Global), I believe it is but right to do this, in this season of my life. While we are still nurturing our growing children.

      I don’t say that I am always right. But that I am willing to learn. Take for example transferring of knowledge by way of theories. I have learned the different ways teaching strategies can be modified in order to accommodate my learners’ learning style. And that there is no single theory that can exist apart from others. There is no stand-alone theory. As there is no one and absolute classroom instruction or strategy. I have learned to be flexible and not stagnate. I have learned to listen more rather than talk fast. I learned to modify and adapt rather than be bossy and strict. Because all these equate to the learning experience of my kids. My sons. I have asked them so many times if they want to go back to conventional school. They would always choose to do homeschool. I guess what I am doing what is right because they like it. For now I will take advantage of that likeness to learn through me, and the big learning community we have in our Learning Group.

       Professionalism as taught in this course is a principle however misunderstood or undefined by many, is a must for a teacher like me. And that I should aim to be a learner so that I don’t stop growing  and improving for the benefit of my students. My sons.

       Now that I have defined professionalism in a very personal way, I intend to keep learning. Keep equipping so I can acquire what is best and transfer that creatively and effectively to my learners. My sons.

 

Reference:

Creasy, K., 2015 June., Defining Professionalism in Teacher Education Programs. Journal of Education and Social Policy. Vol2 No2 pp23-25. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED563997.pdf

 

 

 

Professionalism for A Teacher

     Does having a license alone make one professional? Should it be just meeting the ‘standards’ set by the government? Should it be a combination of knowledge, skills and most especially behavior?

 

     How do you teach professionalism then? I always hear grown ups say ‘ ay parang hindi propesyonal”, whenever a very intelligent graduate and licensed professional behave badly on certain occasions. Now that I am a grown up, and a licensed physical therapist myself, I am very keen on what I do in my field. In how I practice my profession. In how I talk to my patients and their families. In how I treat others in my league or not.

 

     I think professionalism goes beyond the knowledge an individual has. I think it is a combination of having content knowledge, practiced through constant utilization of skills, progressed by continuous learning and improvement, and glued together by the aim to apply what is useful and effective in life, with the best behavior possible towards everyone.

 

     Being a teacher mom to my two boys, I knew from the start that mediocrity will not be the norm in our homeschool set-up. So, I knew since then that I will need training both informally and formally to make this work. Lucky for me, our homeschool provider gives us training every quarter, from curriculum mapping to test construction and assessment to rubrics and grading. Plus the many other special teaching styles like Singapore Math. Sure I had my own study habits, shaped by being a student myself for fifteen years. I got my professional license for my bachelor’s degree, and have taken seminars, and masteral units. But it cannot be compared to the real application of knowledge when you are face to face with your patients. And so goes with teaching. Teaching is called a vocation not a job, as my mom used to say. My grandmother was a teacher. And she always have that childlike demeanor all her nine-plus years. She was always exploring, always discovering, always going beyond what she can already do. She was a learner all through her life.

 

     Being immersed day in and day out in the learning journey of your students and in my case, my own children, it can sometimes be daunting especially if you’re not a teaching expert. But I believe that no one is too old to learn….to unlearn the old and ineffective and learn the new and innovative.

 

     I had the opportunity of interviewing a seasoned Math teacher for my paper in the subject PES or Philippine Education System. She is beyond her retirement age , but still opted to teach Grades 7 to 10 of the chosen Tech-Voc School in Muntinlupa, under a special program for the drop-outs. Let me call her Mrs V. She has relayed to me that in all her years of teaching, she prefers the new teachers who come from Philippine Normal University. Their pre-service training is so evident in their graduates. She said that they are the kind of educators, she is very impressed with. She said that they are very flexible, fun and creative in many different ways. She said that their caliber can’t be compared to the products of their city’s LUC (Local University / College).

 

     As per in-service training, she is well-satisfied by the Math training she acquires from the private by the Math society she belongs to. She attends this on a yearly basis, to keep her updated in the advancement of her subject. The government-initiated training, is what she is disappointed with. She said that the speakers are mostly taken from their set of teachers. Their district supervisor or principal chooses a topic and assigns a teacher from their ranks to train them. They are not experts of those topics, she said. She added, “how could I trust that the government is of real concern to our growth as teachers?, if they can’t even provide us a real teaching expert to teach us new ideas in education”.

 

     After hearing this testimony from her, and seeing their library devoid of the latest books, I asked myself, where will all these construction of new buildings go to? Can it really be a place where learners get prepared for their future? Or just a hang-out place or a diploma factory?  Also, being a Tech-Voc certified secondary school, I asked where the computers are located. She replied that those are only available for students and are available on strict schedule, in the building specifically for practical arts. Teachers like her, have no access to the latest computer or a speedy internet, from which research and other more effective class materials can be accessed. In technical age, in which this school is a city in NCR, I am disappointed that there is not one working highly-advanced desktop with internet connection for teachers in this school. Not even one. So I’m thinking, in the issue of autonomy. Are they just here to execute a prefab lesson plan under the K-12 curriculum? I have seen some tick and gigantic manuscripts of our latest Philippine curriculum. It was given and printed by the DepEd. But how do they keep updated to view and check the DepEd website, when teachers do not have internet access?

 

     Lastly, if the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (RA 4670) stated that any teacher serving beyond 7 years ( now amended to 3, as of 10 August 2012) , is compensated with at least  60% of their monthly salary and allowable one year as ‘study leave’, then I hope that our teachers can really have full access to it. I found out about this in my previous subject and have interviewed an elementary public school teacher. I asked if she has availed of such provision. And her answer was, ‘ I have asked it many times, but instead of a clear answer if it can be processed, I was labeled by my own principal as “subersibo”.’ And so, she let it go, and in more than a decade as a teacher, she has resolved to the reality that, if she wants to improve herself and grow as a professional,  then she must do it her own way, not solely relying on the government she still greatly honor and serve. Another public school teacher that I interviewed told me that she only lacks thesis to fully complete her masteral course ( which she took for more than three years without asking for study leave). I asked her the reason for stopping. What is her reason? She is still saving up for the tuition fee. All these three women teachers are good-natured and are the real-life heroes who mold the minds of modern Filipino learners.

 

     What have I realized in all these? Professionalism. A very important aspect of a teacher’s life and growth, is greatly affected by the work surrounding one is in.  Merriam and Webster define it as “ : the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person”.

 

     It’s a mark. And a very special conduct or quality , but is also , an aim. Every teacher in the Philippines must stand with great confidence that they have it. But do they feel like one? With the amount of compensation they get or the license they took to be called professional? Is professionalism seen with the numerous certificates and awards hung on their wall or displayed on their desks? In our country, where teachers are tasked to be election officers, when they perform this role, do they feel professionalism is being experienced? Are they treated as professionals and autonomous enough to transform knowledge so learners can receive it, when resources are scarce and budget for materials are low?

 

    Filipino teachers should be able to exude professionalism. As they enter the arena of learners year after year, the game begins and they face it head on. Are they equip enough? Can they sustain the strength, vigor and enthusiasm they have at the start, to continue up to the last fight? When we say we want this mark of professionalism in all our teachers, then we must provide for them, all that they need to keep teaching, keep being inspired and curious to mold our learners’ minds. The in-service training provided for them should be well-thought of and not be subjected to mediocrity because of the budget, or be influenced by favor from the superiors (or “palakasan”). Let us really aim that our teachers get the best of the best speakers and in-training they deserve. After all, the real beneficiaries of our teachers’ professionalism are our Filipino students, our nation-builders.

 

Reference:

Senate Bill 2404. Magna Carta for Public School Teachers. https://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/100498615!.pdf

 

Professionalism. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/professionalism

 

My Journal for Teaching

I always think that to write a journal is something so personal. I have a number of journals I still keep from twenty years ago. My purpose? That’s where I write the lessons  I learned that day. It is mostly about the way I live my life. It has Bible quotes from which I pattern my way of thinking or simply to ‘claim’ God’s promise for me that day. It also contained my deepest and most desired requests. Mostly written for my Father in heaven.

 

Now that I am a distant learner of a university, from which I hope to learn how to be an effective teacher. I have found out that there is such a thing as ‘reflective teaching’. I have been teaching half of my life. From my patients in the hospital and special needs centers, to my kids ministry in a foundation, and now to my own children, my two sons.

 

At the end of each day, I always think about how I did in my lessons. I would say, for a teacher. There are good days, bad days and so-so days. But what did I almost always do? I would thank God for allowing me to teach that’s for sure. I would try to remember and repeat the activities that worked, enjoyed by the class and was a ‘hit’ to the students. And then I mostly carry in my mind and in my heart the days when the class went into chaos, when I lost my temper, when I knew I did not give my best.

 

I tried to browse through my journals, but none of them had any record of those days…good or bad. I have all those memories in my mind…and probably if I interview some of my students’ parents, probably, they could still remember.

 

So, now that I am into my fifth subject as a PTC student, I am learning in Principles of Teaching, the term ‘reflective teaching’. It was slightly discussed in my former subject, Assessment. This time I am learning some very systematic way of really doing it for the purpose of application. Gathering data, and finally using it, so that lessons can be better, classroom instructions and strategies can be reformed, to serve a diverse class of students.

 

So what is reflective teaching? According to www.study.com ,  Reflective teaching is a process where teachers think over their teaching practices, analyzing how something was taught and how the practice might be improved or changed for better learning outcomes.

 

And why is it important for teachers to be reflective? According to Rosali Serra,an enthusiastic educator from Brazil, Reflective teaching is a personal tool that teachers can use to observe and evaluate the way they behave in their classroom. It can be both a private process as well as one that you discuss with colleagues. … The process of reflective teaching supports the development and maintenance of professional expertise.

 

As for me, I am a mom of two boys in primary school. One is about to finish kindergarten, while the other is finishing fourth grade. We have embarked on homeschooling as our method of education four years ago. Reflecting on how we have done it all these years, I would say that it is not an easy task. At the end of every year, we ask ourselves and discuss as a family, if we will continue with our set-up or if it is time to enrol the kids back in a conventional school.

 

We view homeschooling as intentional parenting. Please don’t get me wrong, I know that there are many parents who are very participative in their children’s schooling. However for us, it is teaching and coaching the ways of life, with our faith at its center. That is the main reason why we decided to stay in this challenging yet rewarding journey.

 

In our daily homeschool interaction, we now have decided to write the ways that worked for the day. We ask our boys what activities they liked. Which ones are interesting. Which ones aren’t.  We give them freedom to speak out their ideas to us. And we balance that with what is truthful and factual, combined with character-directed responses and activities. We ask them the specific words we used on them that encourages them to keep learning. Which interaction made them more interested with the topic at hand. Which lesson is quite hard to understand or a big challenge.

 

As their teacher/mom, I am now more aware than ever , that it is of great importance to reflect how I did as a teacher that day. So I have decided to embark on a 2-week experiment on writing each day what occurs in our class time. I always take photos of our activities, as part of our documentation. Something we show to our homeschool provider’s family advisor, at the end of every quarter. However, this time I will take it a notch higher with an additional documentation by writing down it down in a journal. I will record there all that we have found effective, creative, exciting, have debated, the lesson we’ve learned in our interaction/discussion, and many more.

 

Reference:

 

Firestone, M., What is Reflective Teaching? Definition and Methods. https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-reflective-teaching-definition-methods-quiz.html

 

Serra, R., March, 2018. Reflections about Education, Teacher Development.   http://www.richmondshare.com.br/what-is-reflective-teaching-and-why-is-it-important/

 

Assessment is a Learning Journey

EDS113_FINAL eJOURNAL

      If there is one thing I am taking home from this course, it is that meaningful and effective assessment is a learning journey. This journey should be aligned with objectives and instructional strategies. Its result is both teacher’s and student’s evidence. It is a directional process that must continue to happen, so that it can bring progression and promotion. Assessment happens before, during and after a lesson or unit or chapter or quarter or year. These assessments can be formative or summative, formal and informal. Of all these, the formative, taken from the word “form”, brings molding and change. Each given task or activity, whether pen-paper or not, must be designed to bring out the knowledge and skills of a learner. Knowledge and skills can be executed (by the student) and be assessed (by the teacher) traditionally or non-traditionally.

       I am for learner-based curriculum, therefore, I do believe that the goal to learning is to be able to create. To construct a better understanding and application in real-life, is the target. And using the assessment that is suited to the child’s learning style and background, while aligned to learning objectives and instructional strategies is the effective one.  Differentiated assessments cater to the uniqueness of a learner. While to be reflective gives depth to how and what one has learned. To be able to self- assess is a mature process of knowing what we know, how we know and how we can apply it in reality. To do peer-assessment is also one way to give and receive feedback objectively and critique constructively. In all these, assessment is geared to producing growth in a learner.

       I am a teacher-mom, and our family is an advocate of homeschooling. I am for non-traditional assessments when it comes to quarter tests. According to DepEd’s website, the percentage distribution for the computation of a subject’s summative assessment is divided into three major areas. They are written work, performance task and quarterly assessment. For us, the standard 20% quarter assessment can be executed non-traditionally. With the use of appropriate rubric and scale, the learner can be assessed effectively.

       I will quote my favourite apologist Ravi Zacharias, “Do not think of every question as a doubt, think of every question as a door.” As a teacher, the question I must give to my learner should be a door through which he exits with confidence that he can still learn, is learning, or had finally learned. 

Choosing to be Effective Amidst Issues and Actions

EDS113_Module6_eJournal

      Rubric, feedback and test construction, are my top three issues on which I learned to take more action after having module six.

       I am a homeschooling teacher-mom in the Philippines, and a lot of my materials are DepEd approved balanced with others that create a Christian curriculum. One that we advocate passionately and with much conviction. In relation to this, these three mentioned above takes a lot of planning and careful attention.

     Beside taking into account texts from the books, I plan how the progression will happen over a span of a year. I decide which topics go together and can work in collaboration with other subject matters every quarter. On a weekly basis, a culmination of creating art about the topics of the week happens. And everyday, we as a family, appreciate what we have learned and think about how to share through conversations.

     We apply realistic instructional strategies to make the rubric and scales work for our children. They are provided by our trusted learning hub. A constant revision of it and at times my own addendum are what I use depending on the needs of my children. We discuss them to my kids’ other learning provider, such as from swimming for PE, and guitar lessons for music, as well as in arts and practical arts. Performance- based subjects like these need more of rubric and scales to make assessment effectively objective.

     Formative feedback in various forms is a constant in our daily interaction. My husband and I have agreed together with our academic/family advisor that progression to another topic doesn’t have to be as fast as the book suggests. We decide whether our child is ready to progress to the next level of difficulty when we see them fit. And assessments help us do that objectively.

     Test construction. In our community of homeschoolers a seminar on this particular topic is conducted at least every quarter. Parents like me are trained and reminded as to how we can make assessments in the correct format. Test or task items should not confuse our learners, instead, it would help us reliably and validly assess their knowledge and skills.

      Paper and pen assessments need to be in the level suited to the test takers’ understanding, aligned with the learning objectives and instructional strategies done during the lessons. Our conversations with our kids, our activities with them, our guided remarks, are all geared toward helping them succeed on their daily learnings. Daily learnings that they will carry on a long term.

       Our learners’ response like their inquiry to learn, their openness to instruction, their acceptance of mistakes and failures, their respect for change would make them willing to create better and more.

       This module made me realize that there maybe a lot we are doing right, but there’s more that we can do better. I hope and pray that I can execute these learnings I got, so my kids can have the “effective” from me.

Construct. Differentiate. Reflect. Repeat…

EDS113_Module5_eJournal

     Preparedness. Its value became so real to me not in one instant but in the multiple times I needed it to pass an exam. Nothing could be more fulfilling than answering confidently, a question in essay or other form, before or after lecture, announced or not. It gives a sense of accomplishment in a different level especially when the topic is my favorite. For I can fully remember it because it was interesting. I went to class with questions in mind and I came out with answers. After a discussion, a lecture, an experiment an experience. But  I could say that, because my mind was only excited for the ones I was interested in, then those topics I didn’t like, were the ones I didn’t choose to understand and learn. For my immature self said , I don’t think I would need to know that.

     However, summative and high -stake assessments are more like life and death situations for the learner in me. Someone who is thinking about her OFW parents to provide for her studies. On top of that an educational insurance that can only supply the five years of university life. And any extension for the allowable period would mean additional expense for her parents. Adding to this, is the pressure that of a sibling who is following her footsteps of being a responsible sister. Failure in school equates to wasted time, wasted money, wasted opportunity. Failure to pass a subject or progressing to the next level or to graduate means wasted future.

     And where will you go in a society that equates diploma as ticket out of poverty. So what would a Filipino learner like me do? Study. Study and absorb whatever it is that is taught to me. Be it something I would need in life or not. Please do not get me wrong. I am not whining.

    I was given the chance to study in a prestigious school. My parents ‘upgraded’ me to a private secondary school after studying in our town’s public elementary. They said, that since they were earning more and with my excellent grades, they would like to send me to somewhere they couldn’t afford when they were my age. How can a child like me not be grateful for that trust, and ‘gift’ if you may call it.

    So I burned the midnight candle as other would say and prepared for the first difficult exam I ever took. A secondary school entrance exam, all written in English. Math ,Reading, and Science were the bulk of it. Essays had to be written in English. I did not want to take it, as passing would mean being separated from my childhood classmates and friends for good. But I did it, and I passed.

    Then came the career aptitude test of 3rd year, followed by the three college entrance exams from universities who offered my chosen course. To top it up, was the NCEE, from which I had to reach a percentile that must be on the passing rate as required by the quota course I was applying for.

     Again, I got the required NCEE rating, and passed in two out of three universities. In college, I underwent various kinds of assessment. There was an oral exam for the Bill of Rights. Numerous practical tests of ‘move system’, where specimens with mixed questions are written to answer. With the pressure of a time limit per station, we needed to answer a minimum of three questions ranging from identification by multiple choice, true or false, enumeration and one short-sentence explanation. It was grueling. Preparations we needed to do, were countless sleepless nights of individual and group reviews. Creating pnemonics for lists of whats and whos.

      I experienced being laughed at or humiliated by a panelist in my oral revalida. It was a case study of a patient I had and the plan I will do for his rehabilitation. I reviewed the classic book, case and analyzed the experiential case I handled in my internship. And then when I discussed, I had moments when the inquiry became more personal than professional. That panelist was stricter than my college dean who was part of that 3-man panel. Anyway, thank God I passed  and I couldn’t be more proud of myself. Then when our group bagged the best in thesis award after defending it. Oh boy, we could already smell the toga for graduation and imagine wearing our college ring.

     But the reviews I enjoyed most were the times with my grandfather. It was about mathematical problems. Because I wanted to know how to problem solve, I asked him to give me at least ten questions every night to practice the process, on top of my homework. And I enjoyed that because he never got mad, and he never shoved me away or stop me from me asking him to give me exercises.

     Twenty-five years forward, I am now a teachermom. Of two wonderful boys who are more inquisitive, creative, confident, and vocal than me. My learning in this module particularly is that, they are the center of what I am doing. My husband and I chose this path to homeschool. And it is not an easy task. We call it intentional parenting. And I am just amazed how different disciplines can be taught, and they learn in a non-threatening environment. They can speak out their minds without being labeled ‘talkative’ or disrespectful. They can present their portfolios with confidence and much understanding. They can open conversations with grown-ups or kids their age about topics applied in real life situations. They can infer and create, and find connections from one subject to another. They are not ashamed to share and let others know what can be beneficial or not.

So, in conclusion I’d say, construct…differentiate…reflect….repeat. 

 

What do my learners need? How can they experience this lesson? Are we learning in meaningful ways? What can we do more? What should we do less or stop?

Construct. Differentiate. Reflect. Repeat…

Assessment for a Teacher-Learner Like Me

EDS113_Module 4

     I consider myself a nervous learner. I was excited to go to school way back when my older cousin started her journey. I volunteered to take the challenge at the young age of five. Little did I know that teachers could be mean. I mean, I have seen how strict one could be when a homework was not turned in, or when you look at the paper of your seatmate during tests. And I thought, there is no turning back except to excel.

    I liked learning. I have always been a fan of the show in Channel 9 called “The Start of Something Big”. I’ve always been inquiring from various sets of encyclopedias and other reference books. I like knowing things not to brag about them but the urge to know a fact and most especially the truth.

     But when it comes to being assessed, I have was not fond of it. Though I would study and burn my eyebrow for it (so to speak). There were disciplines I would be so inclined to like Biology and History. And that’s where I would almost always put all my energy into. That was why I took a paramedical course. I thought of assessments as ‘needle holes’. They certainly are not easy passages to get to the next level.  Almost always especially in elementary and high school, I would suffer from, to what my mom calls ‘tension diarrhea’. I have nervous energy that I just have to pass. Then in college, the numerous formal and summative tests were just too exhausting. I could count in my fingers the times when journals , surveys or interviews were done with the idea that they were formative assessments for me and my learning growth. Or then again, we were not told that our behaviors and performance were being observed.

      To get a high score or to a minimum, a passing grade, was mostly the #schoolgoals during my time. You need to get to the next level. Failing is a not an option.

     If I had only known that I could be told about objectives. If I had known that my teacher’s instructions were made to guide me learn the process. If I had known that assessments were not created to scrutinize me, but to find out what works and what not. Maybe I would’ve taken learning in school as not long and hard journey, but a road that leads to more progressive discovery. I would have enjoyed it more.

     I would have not felt so scared when our so called “Justice League” of college professors enters our hall and gives us the pre- and post- lecture quizzes. I would have not felt ‘not good enough’ when my Health teacher in high school told me that I could not pass for a such a highly esteemed profession. I would have not felt a failure when my Orthosis-Prosthesis professor gave our batch a general passing grade despite our efforts in memorizing and analyzing the functions of all content and equipment he taught.

     I would have not asked myself the question “why is it so hard to get to the next level?”. My college days were by far the most challenging of my learning years. I also just wonder if I was mature enough to take that kind of responsibility, or was I just performing not for my own learning, but as a gift of gratitude for my parents who toiled in some far land to support my studies.

     Now that  I am a teacher to my young learners, my sons. I am a ‘trying hard’ when it comes to balancing between learning the truth and having them apply it effectively in their lives. I am an advocate of godly behavior and I believe that no knowledge is far more important than using all that you have for the glory of our Maker. To be able to use our knowledge and create for the good others.

     In our homeschool group, we create activities for our learners to experience as much as life in the real world than inside the confines of the classroom. We do not neglect though the required and formal assessments of the government or our provider (Homeschool Global). We use rubrics, a number of informal assessments like journals, interviews, and our learner’s portfolio that they present every quarter. Narratives from both parents support the quiz and test scores of our learners. Our learners present their ‘favorite’ project or creation per subject alone, in a one-on-one interview with our Family/Academic Counselor.  We parents just supply the materials that our learners’ would need to use to make their ideas turn into reality. I am one proud teachermom who witnessed, just recently and for the very first time, my 5 -year old present and answer on his own (with me outside the room). Also at the end of each year, our boys are to take OLSAT. It is one formal assessment that we allow our kids to take.

     I am a daughter of OFWs and so learning was given to me mostly by my teachers, grandparents, uncles and aunts. Now  that I am a mother, I want to be an active participant in my sons’ journey. More than material providers, I want to be in the forefront or even sidelines of their learning growth. In order to do this, I must be equipped with the right tools, to create a curriculum suited and applicable for them. I should be able to create learning objectives, and perform instructional strategies that will lead them from superficial to deep learning. I must have the right knowledge to do assessments that would make our teaching-learning journey a successful one.

     I must do this so I could be an effective teachermom who shapes and re-shapes my sons’ learning journey, because it is my responsibility as a parent to do this. My husband and I are here to prepare our boys in ways we believe are right for them.

You and I AS We Learn

EDS113_Mini Module (Self- & Peer Assessment)

I remember my high school days when we were asked to check our seat-mate’s quiz. It was a challenge because I had classmates who were honest in accepting their errors, and there were those who secretly asks you to “alter’ their  erroneous answers.

So my teachers knew it will be a matter of honesty and integrity. Instead of checking the one beside you, they would ask us to pass our papers forward, per column. Once collected in front, column A will exchange papers with column C. Sometimes it would be random so there’ll be complete unpredictability. Because  of tight friendships, some would really change their friends’ answer into the correct form. And when there is strife, for vengeance sake, even the correct answers would be changed to make it look like it’s an erasure. Because back then, an erasure means wrong answer. However sad that was, those were the extreme measures my teachers in the past, would implement just to stop cheating.

Now that I am a mom and a teacher to my boys, I still have to balance my thoughts between telling them the right way, and letting them experience the situation. Letting them find out if their decision is right and beneficial, or wrong and uncomfortable.

Peer and self- assessment for me at this point in my EDS 113 journey is more like assessment AS LEARNING. Here is the true measure of one’s honesty, integrity, objectivity, fairness and even humility. Not just a measure of the learner’s knowledge, but more on character. I believe that a true learner is someone who gains knowledge and successfully applies it to his life. He applies that knowledge to become better as a person who thinks, acts and creates for himself and for the community he is in.

At home, we learn the basics we need to bring out to the community. Our community are the school, the workplace, the church, the village, town, city, province, region,  country and the world.

A wise mentor of mine once said, ‘you cannot give what you do not have’. And I still live that proverb in my life.

As a learner, not just in school, but school of life, I must know how to see myself in a very honest way. Am I seeking for truth and fact. Is it applicable in my life? Is it beneficial for me? Would it make me a better person? Would it help others if i know about it? Am I growing as a person because of it? Or should I stop what I’m doing, and just enjoy watch others learn or fail? Learn or fail in school, in the community,  in life.

As an educator, how do I teach or coach my learners? When I teach them an idea, make them experience it, and assess what they have acquired in the process. Am I doing the right thing for them? With them?

Whenever my sons, make inference and connections of facts in books to their life as a child, I stop and listen if they got it. I ask them questions that would make them think of knowing its effect. I engage them in a meaningful talk about character when I hear that what they are saying is veering to a destructive direction. Sometimes they accept my argument . Sometimes they keep their opinion, and honestly say that don’t agree with me. I let them use their voice to speak of what they know, how they feel, which they understood and did not.

Assessment AS learning, in self and peer assessment is wonderful but challenging thing. And yet it is an actuality of life. Of the real world. It maybe just an exercise in the classroom, for some who resent or abuse it. But like parenthood, with proper guidance, criteria are there to help assessors become objective about it.

I think those who fully know if they have learned, are those who welcome corrections without developing grudge. They are those who view self and peer critique as a way to learn what is better, and not who is better.

Plan Together, Assess Together

EDS_113 eJournal Module 3

In the editorial page of Glen Hass, retrieved from ascd.org, a paper I critiqued in my EDUC103 course, he said there that there are four major contributors in designing a curriculum. These are the scholars, the parents and other citizens, the educators and the learners.

     I want to particularly single out the learners. He said that they are the major untapped resource in curriculum planning and yet they have the best position to explain many advantages and deficiencies of present curriculum. He added that the student-teacher planning has 6 aspects:

  1. what to be studied

  2. why are we having this learning activity

  3. how shall we go about it

  4 where do we do the activity

  5 when will do it

  6 who will do each part

As for us educators, we have the role to:

– provide structure for planning with others

– inform and offer recommendations

– bring together contributions from all sources

– work out a recommended plan of action for curriculum change

– seek the unifying norms as we work with others

– evaluate and interrelate the contribution from other disciplines

     Highlighting two things here, the learners can join the planning, and the teacher should offer, evaluate and recommend plan of action. Now this is for the curriculum.

     When we go in detail , when we go in the classroom, these all must reflect what we aim for our learners. Our goal for them individually. For they are the center of our teaching. Their learning is our main concern.

     We are not doing our jobs if the assessment we do  does not serve its purpose. Our assessment  FOR their learning must target clear and achievable objectives. Our assessment OF their learning must reflect the knowledge and skills they need to ready them for the next more complex level. And while these are all being done, our assessment of them AS their learning transpire, should show their independence and their meta-cognitive skills in action. Hence, they know their capabilities, are self-sufficient, can solve independently and create beautifully,