Valenzuela City State of Education Address 2014

Valenzuela City Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian is indeed a very vibrant and visionary leader. It seems that he will match or even surpass the achievements of his older brother and former mayor, Congressman Sherwin Gatchalian, when it comes to public service.

Mayor Rex, in his First State of Education Address last January 27, gave a comprehensive review on how Division of Valenzuela performed for the past three years in National Achievement Test (NAT). Armed with his statistics, he made his point clear that the Division is performing inconsistently when it comes to NAT. He said that according to the school heads, the main reason of this was the poor reading foundation of the students/pupils. Grounded on this problem, Mayor Rex shared his vision to improve the quality of education in our city through his "360-Degree" Investment Project.

Watch the video below to learn more about this project.
#MayorRex #EducationChampion

Araw ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela

I know this is really a late post, but I just really want to tell the world how many elementary and secondary public schools and enrolees we currently  have in our Division. Below is the info-pic by DepEd Official Facebook Page posted last February 14 - the Charter Day of Valenzuela City.

ALSconnect: Kaalamang Pangkabuhayan

ALSconnect: “Kaalamang Pangkabuhayan,” which is part of the Alternative Learning System Project of Division of Valenzuela, enhanced the total experiential learning of ALS students and opened opportunities for out of school youth and adults to acquire productive skills. Mrs. Remedios Santos, TLE/EPP Supervisor and coordinator of this project, calls the participation of all TLE secondary teachers to help in achieving its goal, which is to educate out of school youth and adults who would like to take informal education through life skills short term courses.

To respond to the challenge of this project, the Technology and Livelihood Department held the Hand and Foot Reflexology Training today, which is the first mini course offered by our school. This was attended by some invited parents and guardians of our students. Mrs. Shirbenly Garcia and Mr. Joel Managbanag, the course instructors, gave short but comprehensive lectures and demonstrations about hand and foot reflexology. Each participants were provided with free training kit and course module.

The training is indeed a successful kick-off of the series of training that we will organize for this ALSconnect: Kaalamang Pangkabuhayan Project. 

Mrs. Garcia, my fellow TLE teacher and a massage specialist,
demonstrating the proper hand reflexology 

The participants while doing their return demonstration on hand massage

2013 DepEd-NCR Uniform Designs

The following uniform designs and descriptions are prescribed by the Department of Education-National Capital Region for teaching personnel. These are to be worn every Wednesday.

The teachers are free to purchase and obtain the prescribed uniform materials from any retailers as long as they comply with the standards of National Uniform Committee. 

I have bought mine from 999 mall in Divisoria.

The First Five Days of S.Y. 2013-2014

Oh my! It’s been a long time since I posted here. If there is something that I am so eager to share about my brave journey, it is all about my new special assignment.

I was assigned by our principal to hold the Basic Education Information System (BEIS) Office. To tell you honestly, the idea of being a BEIS officer never crossed my mind. Although I know that this special assignment requires information technology skills, it also demands a lot of specific knowledge and technicalities, prompt data collection and presentation, and most specially holding this office requires me to improve my people skill. I directly deal with the teachers in data collection for our enrolment and attendance monitor. To give you an idea on what I went through as a BEIS officer for the first five days of this school year, here are my journal entries:

Day 1 (June 3)

• Opening of classes
• My mentor, Mrs. Caunte, told me to start the attendance and enrolment monitor
• I started meeting the class advisers. There are 114 sections and 57 classrooms   organized (34 section in grade 7; 30 sections in grade 8; 26 sections in third year; and 24 sections in fourth year)
• There are no grade/year level coordinators. Data gathering is my sole assignment.
•  I also met my senior students (IV-Dominique).
• I swear this day is really exhausting!

Day 2 (June 4)

• Same tasks: enrolment and attendance update
•   Retrieval of age profile as of June 3
•  We sent report to the Division Office. I felt like I was ambushed every time the D.O. would call and demand for the enrolment update.
• Short orientation and lecture discussion with my IV-St. Dominique and IV-St. Joseph
• Still, exhausting… Will I survive this?!

Day 3 (June 5)

• Same tasks: enrolment and attendance update
• Mr. Tony Luz, the Division Office head for planning, visited the school. He told us to submit the enrolment monitor form, specifying the number of classes and classrooms organized and data on transferees
• I am overwhelmed by these paper works!

Day 4 (June 6)

• Same tasks: enrolment and attendance update
• Retrieval of age profile as of June 3 [I hate when teachers suddenly become invisible when I rove around to collect this]
• Sent the enrolment monitor form to D.O.
• Had a talk with the assistant principal and told me about some of my data inconsistencies [the inconsistencies are not yet crimes, i just have to learn from them ]

 Day 5 (June 7)

• Last day for enrolment and attendance update!
• 97% of age profile collected [I missed a few of them.. will deal with them on Monday]
• Sent the enrolment and attendance monitor to D.O.
• I can’t believe it, the first five days are through and I am still alive!

Reading my journal, I realize how sweet it is to become just a plain classroom teacher. Being a full-time teacher, your concern is just about you and your students: devoting your time for your learning plans and instructional materials preparation, dealing with classroom management and effective teaching strategies. With a special assignment, prioritizing is indeed a big challenge. You still need to prepare for your teaching, because you will also have teaching loads (although lesser, I am handling 3 computer classes), but at the same time you are also required to think and respond to the demands of your office. 

Brigada Eskwela

The “bayanihan spirit” is always relived every time we conduct the annual National Maintenance Week or “Brigada Eskwela.” All schools are encouraged to seek the cooperation of the different stakeholders of the school (students, parents, teachers, school staffs, and local officials) to do repairs, clean-up and maintenance before the classes start.  In engaging the time, effort and expertise of all volunteers, we can assure our preparedness for the opening of classes.

Today, our Brigada Eskwela kick-off activity starts with a FUN RUN at exactly 6:00 a.m., wherein many participants have joined. This fun run activity serves two important purposes for our Brigada Eskwela: (1) since we require all the participants to pay a registration fee, we are able generate initial fund to support the week-long activities; (2) this is our way to make the community aware of this school activity and seek their participation. We also solicit the help of our local government officials by sponsoring some of our cleaning materials.    

It is indeed a tiring day but I feel so fulfilled that I am involving myself actively in this kind of activity of our school. In simple tasks like sweeping the pavements and corridors, fixing some broken chairs and repainting the walls and bleachers, I know I am making the school a more comfortable place for our dear students. 

Fun fun run =)

The clean-up drive

Microsoft Philippines Learning in the 21st Century

Last Thursday, I had a great learning experience packed with elegant and classy accommodation by a 5 star deluxe hotel. I was one of those fortunate teachers who were invited to attend this very empowering seminar titled “The Microsoft Philippines Learning in the 21^st Century” held at InterContinental Hotel in Makati.

The programme started with an inspiring welcome address by Ms. Karrie Ilagan, Microsoft Philippines’ General Manager.

Mr. Anthony Salcito, Vice President for Education of Microsoft Corporation, gave his keynote message about Microsoft’s vision for education through a visual teleconference using Skype. He clearly states the tremendous shift with technology, the aspirations of 21^st century learning environments and the dynamics that are changing the teaching and learning situation. He challenged all educators to think beyond the immediate tradition of technology and create a broader goal for the future.

Partners in Learning – What does it mean to me?

This topic was discussed by Ms. Clarissa Segismundo, the Education Programs Lead of Microsoft Philippines. She introduced us to their web portal Microsoft Partners in Learning, which has rich resources, discussions about technology integration and free tools for educators.

Windows in the Classroom – Being more effective with technology

Mr. Paolo Ocampo, Windows in the Classroom Evangelist, gave us a vibrant demonstration on how we can maximize the features of Windows 8 as a tool to enrich our teaching strategies.

Office Tips and Tricks for Teachers

Mr. John Erwin Magno, Office Specialist of Microsoft Philippines, revealed to us some of the hidden but useful features of MS Office 2013. This speaker awed the audience with his sense of humor and some tricks on how to use the full potential of Microsoft Office 2013.  

with my co-ICT teachers in Division of Valenzuela

New DepEd National Uniform for Teachers for School Years 2013-2015

For the school years 2013 to 2015, Department of Education is prescribing two new designs for male and female teachers and non-teaching personnel. According to the DepEd Order No. 7, s. 2013, the first design shall be worn every Mondays and Wednesdays and the second design every Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, the regional and division offices can prescribe their own sets of uniform, which shall be used every Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively. Every Fridays are wash days (as teachers, we should consider wearing smart casual every wash day).

The following are the designs for male and female teachers:

Just last Friday, after my training in Informatics, I went to Divisoria market alone (despite my worries about snatchers, sadly, they are so many there). I found this store inside 999 mall selling official DepEd uniforms. They are selling the textile materials for 550 pesos per set. I negotiated for a lower price and got them for 500 pesos per set.

The textile materials I bought for the new DepEd uniform for teachers S.Y. 2013-2015

Summer ICT Trainings

I was so blessed to be part of some ICT trainings held this summer.

The ICT-4E (Information and Communications Technology for Education), which was initially launched last year, is a project of our very dynamic and supportive City Mayor, Hon. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, with the coordination of the DepEd – Valenzuela Educational Supervisor for ICT, Dr. Leilani Mendoza.  It aims to enhance the ICT skills of all public high school computer teachers of our city and standardize the curriculum for all senior high school students.

Informatics Valenzuela was chosen to host the different trainings in the different fields of ICT. I already took up the following trainings last year and managed to finish these courses triumphantly (hehe).

• Graphic designing with PhotoShop 
• Graphic designing with CorelDraw 
• Web Designing with HTML and CSS
• Database Management System with MS Access

For this summer, PC Assembly and Troubleshooting and Java Programming are offered. I already finished PC Assembly despite my hatred to crimping rj45 cables (it always takes me so many minutes before I come up of a functioning one).

One training to go! Tomorrow our Java Programming starts. I am so excited to learn about Java. To be honest with you, I really have a little background with programming. So, this is my chance to somehow challenge myself to expand my horizons, learn something new… and something intricate.  

I am equally grateful to STI College of Caloocan for hosting an IT training exclusively for Gen. T. de Leon National High School IT teachers this summer. Of course, this couldn’t be made possible without the effort of our IT Coordinator Mrs. Pelicano, who proposed for this event. CSS and HTML Web Designing, Animation with Flash CS5.5 and Programming with Visual Basic 6.0 are the topics we covered for this training.

It adds to my confidence every time I attend trainings, seminars and workshops. As teachers, we should never stop learning. We should continuously fill our bucket of knowledge and skills and keep ourselves abreast of current trends in the subjects we taught and in educational practices in general. 

Philippine's School Calendar for S.Y. 2013-2014

Last February 20, 2013, Department of Education released the School Calendar for S.Y. 2013-2014 for the public and private elementary and secondary schools. Classes will start on Monday, June 3, 2013 and the last day shall be on Monday, March 31, 2014 with a total of 201 school days.

Click the link here to read and download the memo.
DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2013