FVPHSTI Leadership Seminar-Workshop (Day 3)

Day 3 (April 25)

On the third and final day of this seminar-workshop, we learned a lot about the Appraisal of the Performance of Teachers and Legal Issues and Cases for Public School Teachers.

During the morning session, our very own Assistant Schools Division Superintendent, Dr. Jenilyn Rose Corpuz reviewed us on the appraisal of the performance of teachers. The topic is very timely since the division is currently conducting the open ranking for all teachers for Master Teacher I and II, and Head Teacher positions. Dr. Corpuz clarified that National Competency-Based Teacher Standards – Teachers Strengths and Needs Assessment (NCBTS –TSNA) is only a self-assessment tool and it is not used as bases for performance assessment. It was the Performance Appraisal System for Teachers (PAST) that was approved to be used to assess the teachers’ performance quantitatively.

Dr. Corpuz on her talk about the domains, strands and indicators of
NCBTS-TSNA tool

Meliton Zurbano, Principal of Polo National High School, discussed about the evaluation of pertinent documents used in ranking for promotions. He told us about the DepEd’s orders and memoranda that must be used as bases for giving points and evaluating the credentials of the candidates. He also talked on how a document is being validated, like face and content validation.

Sir Meliton Zurbano while explaining how pertinent documents
for ranking are being validated

The second part of our training in the afternoon enlightened us on different legal matters and cases about being a public school teacher. Our last but definitely not the least speaker was Atty. Myra Nimfa Solidum Mendieta. She is a Prosecution Officer in the Office of the Ombudsman. She vigorously explained to us the Code of Ethics and even shared some sample cases. She generously shared her expertise through answering some issues of my fellow officers during the open forum.

Atty. Solidum-Mendieta discussing The Code of Ethics for
Government Employees and Officials

Of course, this event will never become successful without the support of the local government who allowed us to use the Convention Center of Valenzuela as our venue and sponsored the food and refreshment for the participants.

Hon. Rexlon Gatchalian, Valenzuela City Mayor,
while giving his inspirational message

Hon. Wesley Gatchalian of Alay-Buhay Party List
during his closing remarks

I personally learned a lot from this seminar-workshop. I hope next year, they will again hold this kind of empowering and transforming learning experience for all faculty club officers.

FVPHSTI Leadership Seminar-Workshop (Day 2)

Day 2 (April 24)

For the morning session, we had three speakers that talked on managing an organization, the ACT NCR Union Collective Negotiation Agreement and conducting meeting through Robert’s Rule of Order and Parliamentary Procedures.

Salome Bulawan of ACT National Secretariat presented her topic on “Pamumuno at Pagpapatakbo ng Organisasyon.” We learned a lot on how to become effective leader of an organization. She revealed some of the wrong conceptions about being a leader (e.g. leaders know it all, can give and provide everything, paternal, dictator or liberal). She also gave the qualities of a “true leader,” which are the following:

•  May layunin na gustong makamit (visionary)
• Hindi palalo at mayabang (humble)  
• Hindi diktador (democrat)
• Palaaral at palasuri (educated and inquisitive)

Salome Bulawan while talking about managing an organization

Joselyn Martinez, Secretary of ACT NCR Council, specified the contents of the Collective Negotiation Agreement composed of the different issues about the rights, privileges and benefits that we should enjoy as public school teachers.

Joselyn Martinez, Secretary of ACT NCR Union while explaining the
Collective Negotiation Agreement

My most favorite topic was about the Robert’s Rule of Order and Parliamentary Procedures. In this topic, Sir Andy Rosales taught us how we can conduct a meaningful meeting that is more organized so that we can maximize the time and become more productive.

Sir Andy Rosales on Robert's Rule of Order and Parliamentary Procedures

The afternoon session was equally filled with a lot of learnings. We welcomed our very own school principal as our speaker, Mrs. Salvacion V. David. Her topic was all about Leadership for Instructional Leaders. I, together with Sir Steve, got the chance to introduce her to the audience. And we supposed that she was happy with it (we actually made the introduction very spectacular, why not… she’s our own school head). She started with a group dynamics wherein we need to define leadership and identify some of its relevant qualities of being a leader. From her talk we learned about bridging leadership, which foster the importance of fellowship among educational leaders and teachers, and school’s internal and external stakeholders (e.g. parents, local officials, non-government and government organizations)  We all appreciate her talk; her experience showed that she was already an embodiment of an excellent leader.  

Ma'am Salvacion David on her talk about leadership
for instructional leaders

The participants with Ma'am David

We also grab the chance to have this picture with her,
we are just so proud that she's our principal :)

FVPHSTI Leadership Seminar-Workshop (Day1)

The Federation of Public High School Teachers successfully held the three-day seminar-workshop for all high school faculty officers in the Division of Valenzuela. The seminar-workshop focused on theme “Transforming the Leadership Paradigm for the High School Faculty Officers in the Division of Valenzuela.” The invited speakers were all great. We learned a lot from legislative agenda for public school teachers, managing an organization, conducting an executive meeting with parliamentary procedures to topics about instructional leadership and legal matters for government employees.

There were so many exciting things that happened that I would like to share with you here but of course I also want to be brief. So, I have decided to tell the most important insights I have learned from this wonderful learning experience as a faculty leader.

Day 1 (April 23)

To be honest, the first day was quite disappointing. The Federation prepared an opening ceremony and expected for the invited guests, but unfortunately they didn’t come. Well, for sure they have their valid reasons and we understand. To fill the gap, the Federation officers conducted an open forum to address some issues that other school faculty officers would like to raise.

The Federation officers during our open forum

In the afternoon session, we were so glad that our first speaker came in the person of Congressman Antonio L. Tinio of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) – Party List. He talked about the legislative agenda for public school teachers’ benefits and welfare. I was so amazed to hear that the ACT has a lot of proposed bill in the congress like House Bill 245 which is about increasing the minimum salaries for public school teachers to twenty five thousand pesos. Some of the notable proposed laws for the benefit of public school teachers are as follows:

• House Bill 246: Upgrading the Minimum Salary Grade of Public Higher Education Teacher Personnel from Salary Grade 12 to 16
• House Bill 247: Increasing Allowance of Personal Exemption for Individual Taxpayers. This bill aims to increase the personal exemptions to P75, 000
• House Bill 250: An Act Increasing the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance Granted to Government Employees to Four Thousand Pesos and Appropriating Funds Therefor

Cong. Antonio Tinio of ACT Party List

There were still a lot of house bills that Congressman Tinio stipulated but what created a mark on me was his call to participate in a nation wide rally for the salary increase this May 1, so that the government will hear our cry that there is a need for an increase in remuneration for teachers. 

Cong. Tinio with the rest of the participants

Other Instructional System Design Models

Aside from ADDIE, which is the most popular Instructional System Design model used by most instructional designers and educators, we should be aware that there are still some other models that are existing. Although, most of them were based on ADDIE process, these models have unique features that we can maximize to develop an effective course, training design or instructional material.  

Dick and Carey Model

Walter Dick, Lou Carey and James Carey developed this instructional design process way back 1978. This model is systematic in nature. It breaks down the instruction into smaller components. The steps are the following:

1.    Identify the instructional needs and goals

2.    Conduct instructional analysis

3.    Analyze learner characteristics and contexts

4.    Write performance objectives

5.    Develop assessment instruments

6.    Outline your instructional strategy based on the learning objectives

7.    Develop instructional materials

8.    Conduct formative evaluation to identify areas that needs improvement

9.    Conduct summative evaluation to learn about the effectiveness of your training

10. Revise and improve instructional material

Rapid ISD Model

Dave Meier developed this ISD model which is also called as the Accelerated Learning Rapid Instructional Design (RID) Model, Rapid ISD for short. This model is based on the concept that learners learn better from feedback than from lectures or presentations. This also replaced the traditional media-heavy courses with instructional designs wherein learners are in-charge of their own learning with and from each other. There are four phase in RID model:

·         Preparation – Arouse interest and motivate learners by starting goals and removing learners’ barriers

·         Presentation – encounter new knowledge and skills by appealing to all learning styles and incorporating interactive presentations and discovery activities into the learning experience.

·         Practice – Integrate new knowledge and skills by incorporating games, hands-on activities, and skill building practice exercises as well as providing substantial corrective feedback to the learner

·         Performance – allow time to apply the new knowledge and skills and reward the use of these skills.

Seels and Glasgow Model

Barbara Seels and Zita Glasglow developed this ISD model grounded on the premise that instructional design occurs in the context of project management. The benefits of this model are that the team members can come and go as the process evolves. This model works best for very complex projects. The plan establishes roles, tasks, timelines, budgets, checkpoints, and supervisory procedures.

The model is distributed across the three phases of project management:

1.    Needs-analysis management

2.    Instructional design management

3.    Implementation and evaluation management

Under the Need Analysis phase, problem analysis is the prime task; all questions about the required objectives and performances, context and need analysis are addressed.

The second phase includes the development of the material and some formative assessment to immediately address the areas that need improvements or revisions.

The last phase includes the actual implementation of the instructional or training materials. Summative evaluation is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the course, training design or instructional material.

Smith and Ragan Systematic Instructional Design Model

Patricia Smith and Tillman Ragan are the exponents of this model. This model incorporates only the three steps: analysis, strategy development, and evaluation. This model differs from ADDIE in that test items are created during the analysis phase. The emphasis is given in developing specific instructional material or training design for particular type of learning and learners. The benefit of this process is that the instruction is designed to the test items which result in a better focused program.

Leadership Seminar-Workshop

This coming April 23 to 25, we will be attending this Leadership Seminar-Workshop for all high school faculty officers in the division. The theme is "Transforming the Leadership Paradigm for the High School Faculty Officers in the Division of Valenzuela." This event is organized by the Federation of Valenzuela Public High School Teachers Inc., in cooperation with the Division of Valenzuela.

The following are the topics covered in this seminar-workshop:

• Legislative Agenda for Teachers Benefits and Welfare
• Management
• Parliamentary Procedures
• Leadership for Instructional Leaders
• Review on the Appraisal of the Performance of Teachers
• Department of Education Legal Issues and Cases

The official banner that I designed for this event

The ASSURE Model: Selecting and Using Visuals

ASSURE model is the most recommended ISD model that educators and trainers can use to enhance the learning experiences of the students. Nowadays, teachers integrate Information and Communication Technologies in developing instructional materials and strategies to improve teaching and learning. However, how would we know if we are utilizing the visuals effectively? What are the initial steps that we must perform to secure that appropriateness and effectiveness of the technology tool that we are using to display our visual? How can we motivate the learners to become engaged with the learning process?

Teacher.net Gazette © 2014

The following is a guideline summary of ASSURE model on how we can effectively select and use visuals (projected and non-projected) in our instruction:

Analyze Learners

This is the where the instructional designer should identify the unique attributes and learning characteristics of the students:

• Determine the students’ experience using the visual
• Consider their expectations

State Standards and Objectives

Remember that standards serve as guides to learning outcomes. Always base you learning objectives on the competencies being prescribed by the DepEd. The K to 12 modules already contained these competencies per subject. We can also include the 21^st century competencies that are prescribed in NETS (National Educational Technology) for Students to assure that our students can survive the global and digital world.

• Achievement and outcome expectations within school and classroom settings
• Visual literacy skills and standards as part of curriculum

Select Strategies, Technology, Media and Materials

Once you know the learners and the outcome for their learning, it’s time to select the best strategies to use and the most appropriate technology tools to utilize in achieving these learning objectives.

• Always be guided by the principles of visual literacy
• Adjust the specific applications to your own topic and objectives
• All materials used have been cleared from Copyright issues
• Preview commercially produced materials
• Assess the effectiveness of the desired visual or instructional material through an analytic rubric

Utilize Technology, Media and Materials

Remember that technology is just a tool; the teacher still plays an important role in facilitating the learning experience. The way the teacher uses the technology and media in instruction will highly influence the way the students learn.

• Follow suggestions on how to effectively utilize the different technology and media tools like PowerPoint presentation, document camera, posters and even the overhead projector
• Modify media to fit the students’ needs
• The equipment available will determine how you schedule the students’ learning experience
• Plan for all students to view images together
• Set-up a learning center

Require Learner Participation

It is important to get the students involved in the learning process. We can increase the student engagement by giving the hands-on activities or opportunities to create their own visual presentation.

• Help the students understand the purpose of visuals
• Introduce and explain the visuals involved in your learning objectives
• Have your students do specific activities using visuals
• Have the students make a slide show using PowerPoint

Evaluate and Revise

This is the last phase of the model wherein we will assess the students if they achieved the learning objectives.

• Determine whether the non-projected or projected visuals helped the students to interpret the information
• Assess the students on the quality of their produced images
• Revised you selected materials if necessary after you have determined how well they have worked.

Reference: Instructional Media and Technologies for Learning by Heinich, Molenda, Russell, Smaldino, 1999

Instructional Systems Design (ISD)

It is very important for teachers to develop instructional materials that can really help learners to acquire the learning competencies. However, there are some times that we are guilty of developing course or learning plans and instructional materials haphazardly, without taking consideration some factors that may affect the effectiveness of our instruction (e.g. learning styles of the students, learning constraints).Then the result is always frustrating, low achievement and a pack of unmotivated students. We can compare it to an unsuccessful business because the owner failed to conduct a thorough feasibility study. Likewise, a learning experience or any instructional material you desired to utilize that is unplanned is also doomed to fail. As Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

But how can we systematically plan highly effective instructional materials, training or course? The good thing is that we have a lot of Instructional Systems Design models that we can use, we just need to become aware their features, so that we can decide which is the most appropriate to use in our particular case.  

What is Instructional Systems Design?

Instructional System Design (ISD) is the practice of creating instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing (Merrill, M. D., Drake, L., Lacy, M. J., Pratt, J.,1996). It involves systematic procedures of instructional materials or courses development based on learning theories.

ADDIE

There are so many ISDs but most of them are actually based on the ADDIE, which is the most popular among educators and instructional designers. It stands for: A – Analyze; D – Design; D – Develop; I – Implement; and E – Evaluate

Analysis Phase

This is the first phase of this model wherein the instructional designer identifies the instructional problem and sets the learning objectives. A background check of the learners is done to collect data about their learning styles and learning constraints.

Design Phase

This is where most of the planning occurs. After accomplishing the need analysis report of the learners, the instructional designer should now come up with the learning objectives. He should now have a clear graphical representation of the contents. A subject matter expert must also be consulted to validate the content of the material.

The instructional designer should also give attention to the user interface and learning experience and application of the graphic design principles.

Development Phase

This is the stage wherein the instructional designer should put together the ideas he planned during the design phase and develop the final product. During this phase, a formative assessment can be done through reviewing the effectiveness of the content and the instructional material or course in general.   

Implementation Phase

This is it! We are now in the actual presentation of the course or instructional material, training or course. All training materials must be in place, if we are dealing with e-learning, be sure that the learning application is functional.

Evaluation Phase

There are two kinds of assessment that can be performed in developing our instructional material:

Formative evaluation can be conducted in each stage of the ADDIE model

Summative evaluation consists of tests designed specifically for the content, and the feedback received from the end-user.

Graphical representation of ADDIE model

I Love Pepero Peanut!

I went to grocery store this afternoon to buy some stuffs and snacks, when I stumbled on this box of total biscuit chocolate goodness! Lotte's Pepero Peanut, a South Korea's product, is a biscuit stick covered with the harmony of roasted peanuts and smooth chocolate. This is just so perfect! 

Yes I am a self-confessed chocoholic! And I will die for Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolates, Mars's Snickers, Meiji's Macadamia Chocolates and Goya's Raisins and Nuts in Milk Chocolates and the list continues...and will never end... LOL!

Tip: Chocolates (especially dark chocolates) are my good friends every time I need to burn the midnight oil for paper works, reading assignments. Chocolates are considered brain food because cocoa is rich in flavanols that act as stimulants in boosting endorphin productions to improve our concentration and focus. So don't feel guilty in having a sensible and healthy dose of chocolate goodness. 

Okay... So much for this blogging and let me  enjoy this moment with my new midnight snack buddy. :)

DepEd School Calendar for S.Y. 2014-2015

The Department of Education (DepEd) released the School Calendar activities for S.Y. 2014-2015. The classes will start on Monday, June 2, 2014 and shall end on Friday, March 27, 2015. The school year will consist of 201 days, inclusive of the five-day In-Service Training (INSET) break and the parent-teacher conferences. 

The following are the school activities and events, including the number of school days per quarter:

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

To read the full content of the DepEd Order, click the link below:
DepEd Order No. 18. s. 2014

17th Commencement Exercises of GTDLNHS

Last March 27, 2014, our school held its most important event - the seniors' graduation rites. We held it at Valenzuela Astrodome at exactly 7:30 in the morning. We have more than one thousand graduates this year and I am so happy to see these graduates receiving their diplomas, the fruit of their diligence and perseverance in studies. 

The graduates while singing the Valenzuela Hymn
This photo was taken by our school head, Mrs. Salvacion David

The Batch 2013-2014 Theme Song: 

Thank You Once Again

Arranged by Erick Sta. Maria 

The graduation programme invitation cover designed by my very talented student, Kenmar Bernardino (IV-St. Peter):

Welcome Summer Vacation!

Summer is fun.
It spurs me with a lot of happy ideas.
How should I spend these 62 days?

There are many ways:

To the beach,
I want to lie down in a white sand 
and feel the heat of the scorching sun.
Dive in the deep blue waters
and see the school of fishes and colorful corals. 

To the nature park,
I want to feel the warm breeze in my skin,
smell the flowers that everywhere sheen,
and read a good book  beside a friendly stranger.

At home,
Watch my favorite TV shows, 
or stay up late at night with DVD marathon.
Lazing the day away, doing nothing.

This summer will give me more time...
More time for relaxation and self-care.
More time for family bonding.
More time to read a dozen of books I bought for the last two months, because most of them are just half read.
More time to reflect for what went wrong and what went right with my teaching for the past school year.
More time to enhance my skills and knowledge (revisit my professional development plan).
More time to reconnect with friends and loved ones.

Teachers, like students, are also excited for summer. We are also human beings that need time to relax and rejuvenate. We also deserve to enjoy and pamper ourselves.

So make a plan on how you want to spend your next two months. 

Because it's official, summer is here!

You may also want to read my tips on different ways a teacher can spend summer vacation.


#WelcomeSummer2014!