Grade 5 National Training of Trainers for K to 12 Basic Education Program (BEP)

I was again so honored to be invited by the DepEd Central Office to become one of the Chief Trainers for the Grade 5 National Training of Trainers for K to 12 Basic Education Program. To be invited for the second time could somehow mean that I performed well during the last NTOT for Grade 4. I was indeed so thankful for the invitation, and immediately informed my school head, Mrs. David, about it. She was happy and proud of it and she gave her blessings that I could attend the trainings and workshops in preparation for the NTOT.

Last November 8-13, 2015, I attended the Session Guide Writeshop and orientation of Chief Trainers for the Grade 5 NTOT for the K to 12 BEP. The six-day writeshop and orientation equipped us with knowledge, skills and values on how to facilitate training sessions effectively.

I enjoyed the experience as much as I learned a lot from this writeshop and orientation together with my fellow chief trainers. It was a great experience to work and learn with them. I was even assigned to discuss the session guide for EPP-ICT and Entrepreneurship Content of our team during the critiquing, which is indeed one of the most palpitating moment of my life. Haha!

Just before the writeshop and orientation ended, we were able accomplish our session guides and training materials for the NTOT. We were instructed by our Focal Person, Dr. Rogel Doñes to wait for the invitation that will be sent in our respective stations.

The Grade 5 EPP National Training of Trainers for Luzon Cluster was held at Brentwood Apartelle last January 10-16, 2016, while the NTOT for Visayas and Mindanao Cluster was held at Eco Tech Center, Cebu City last February 6-20, 2016. Just like last year’s NTOT for Grade 4, the learning episodes I experienced this year  was also fun-filled, challenging and rewarding. I never thought that I would come to this point that I will be handling training sessions for facilitators who are even more seasoned than me. The following are the topics assigned to me by Dr. Rogel and Madam Glenda:

·         Learning Resource Management and Development System

·         EPP-ICT and Entrepreneurship Content Workshop

·         Project Method

Some moments during the National Training of Trainers – Luzon Cluster:

During the National Training of Trainers – VisMin Cluster. Do not be surprised, I am still that person. I decided last February to shave my head to prepare for the summer heat. Haha! #kalbongspeaker

Division Mass Training of Grade 10 TLE Teachers

May 26, 2015, around 2:30 in the morning, I arrived in Stotsenberg Hotel, Clark, Pampanga, where I was invited by Mrs. Remedios L. Santos, our TLE/EPP Education Supervisor, as one of the trainers in the Division Mass Training of Grade 10 Teachers in TLE. I was also assigned to discuss 21^st Century Teaching Strategies.  

The experience was also fantastic. I was amazed by how the participants were trying to be engaged in the discussion. I was also a participant in this training, so after my talk, I also wore the cap of an active participant and learned so many new things from other speakers as well.

This is while giving my talk during the Division Mass Training
for Grade 10 TLE Teachers. Photo Credits: Jay-R Tadifa

Policy, Governance, and Capacity Building Programme for Philippine Leaders and Educators – ICT Training for Teachers

Last April 28 to 30, I attended the Philippine Governance Building Programme – ICT Training for Teachers at Ateneo de Manila University. I was so blessed that my head teacher sent me in this training because I got the chance to learn some of the most useful ICT tools that can be used to enhance my students’ learning experience.

Day 1

We met our trainers: Mr. Red Prado, Head Teacher in Division of Valenzuela; and Mrs. Rebecca, Master Teacher in Division of Quezon City. They were both energetic trainers. They immediately conduct the opening routine and facilitated a dynamic and engaging “getting-to-know-each-other game.”

As an introduction for the training, Mrs. Rebecca talked about the background of this training. We learned that Policy, Governance and Capacity Building (PGCB) Programme for Philippine Educators is an initiative of TEMASEK Foundation, in cooperation with Ateneo de Manila University. It aims to enhance the skills and knowledge of teachers when it comes to content and pedagogy of elementary and secondary teachers in Science, Math, English and ICT.

She also discussed about the ICT Affordances. It was my first time to hear the word “affordance.” Mrs. Rebecca defined it as an actionable property that exists between the object and the actor. During her discussions, we learned the different affordances of ICT tools from pedagogical, social and technological perspectives.

In the afternoon session, Mr. Red trained us on how to utilize Edmodo as a course learning management system. Although I am quite acquainted with the features of Edmodo, I still learned a lot from the training because the environment of this site has changed since the last time I used it.     

I'm with my great grandfather's statue :D

Day 2

Hot Potatoes, CMap Tools and Blogger were the “star ICT tools” during our second day. After demonstrating how to use these tools, the trainers gave us a lot of challenging exercises. They required us to develop interactive and online examinations using Hot Potatoes, concept maps about our lessons using CMap Tools and we even created a blog site account using Blogger (of course on this part I am quite at ease, since I already know how to manage a blog site in Blogger).

When Mrs. Rebecca asked for volunteers, who would like to conduct a micro-teaching demonstration as our culminating activity, I didn't hesitate to raise my hand. I would also like to share the things I learned and how I could apply it to actual teaching. But, since many were interested to conduct a demonstration teaching and only four teachers will be given the chance, Mrs. Rebecca did the selection through a raffle among those interested. I was so blessed to get a slot.

Day 3

I was so excited (and quite nervous) to attend the last day because of my scheduled demonstration. I just told myself that it was a chance for me to share also my strategies with my co-participants on how to effectively use those ICT tools that we learned and I should make the most out of this opportunity.

During the morning session, Mr. Red trained us how to use Audacity, which is a sound-editing program that can actually help us record and edit our voices for instruction or for interactive learning module development. He also shared a lot of websites, wherein we can access interactive educational games.

Micro-demonstration teaching in ICT integration

My micro-teaching demonstration was indeed a success. Although, I was cut because our time was just limited, I believed that I covered the essential parts that my co-participants should capture. In my micro-teaching instructional plan, I used the ASSURE model. This was something that I would really like to share to them. With ASSURE instructional design model, we can integrate technology tools more effectively. 

Orientation for the Candidates of Online Flexible Learning Tutors and Associate Tutors

I was overwhelmed, delighted and flabbergasted, because of the invitation that I received yesterday. I was invited by the DepEd NCR Office to attend the orientation of candidates for Flexible Learning Tutors and Associate Tutors. 

I just can't believe it! 

Just two months ago, I accepted the challenge of my school head to be part of the GURO21 Course 1: "Facilitating the Development of 21st Century Skills for Southeast Asian Teachers." I spent my weekends pounding the books just to accomplish the module assignments. I devotedly attended online chat sessions and actively participated in our virtual class discussions. Last January, I was fortunate to be one of the learners who were invited to attend the revalida (an oral defense of your learning portfolio). To my surprise, our online tutor chose me to give our class reflection, a task assigned for the top performing learners of the class. This is indeed another achievement for this wonderful journey... 

And just as I thought this is the end of my SEAMEO INNOTECH/GURO21 story... 
A memo from our Division Office informing me about the said orientation was sent to our school.

After I read the memo, my head teacher saw how I beamed into great happiness! She knew that to become a trainer is really one of my dreams.

I went the orientation today excitedly. I met my other fellow GURO21 learners who were also invited as candidates. We talked about our past experiences as GURO21 scholars and shared our common feelings of 'overjoy' for the thought that we were chosen and that we could be part of the SEAMEO as online tutors. 

Dr. Maria Teresa A. Namoro, Assistant Chief of Secondary Education Division, DepEd NCR, gave her opening remarks, explaining the memorandum of agreement of SEAMEO and DepEd and the plan to open the third batch of ICeXCELS and GURO21. 

During the orientation proper, Dr. Namoro discussed about course background. She enlightened everyone about the course and its objectives. She also discussed about the roles of flexible tutors and associate tutors.

Ms. Elizabeth Meneses, Education Supervisor, talked about the course policies and requirements, while Dr. Rowena Ontangco, Regional ESP Coordinator, explained the rating rubric guide and criteria in grading the performance of the ICeXCELS/GURO21 learners.

The orientation in itself is both promising and challenging. This is indeed another chance for me to prove to myself that I am really a Brave Teacher! I am thanking God for blessing me with so many wonderful opportunities. To Him I offer my gratitude and devotion. 

Cooperative Membership Education Seminar

Brigada Eskwela Update: Last Friday was the culminating day for our Brigada Eskwela 2013. As for my last task, I was assigned by my Head Teacher, Mrs. Tanfelix, to help in the enrollment of our incoming senior students. It was an easy chore at first, but when the line of students and parents started to pile up in our receiving table, I started to be perturbed on how to entertain them one by one. I was thankful that I was not alone assisting our Master Teacher, Sir Cruz. I was with Ms. Ferrer, our new TLE teacher. She was in-charge for the enrollment forms, while I focused on looking for the names in the master list and collecting their fee for the Identification Card.

In the afternoon of the same day, we, the faculty officers and some selected members, attended the Cooperative Membership Education Seminar held at Legislative Building of Valenzuela City Hall. This seminar was actually requested by our Faculty Club President, Mrs. Lo as the first step in launching our Faculty Club Credit Cooperative.  The speaker talked about the history of cooperative in our country, RA 6939 establishing the Cooperative Development Authority, Principles, Practices, Purposes and Types of Cooperative. We truly learned a lot from this seminar. The speaker even shared some factors to be considered for the success of our cooperative operations. 

The seminar concluded with an open forum for some questions and inquiries. I was very fortunate to be part of this seminar. It made me aware of some important principles behind a successful cooperative. Then, our Faculty President suggested electing the 5 interim Board of Directors and 10 Officers. Everyone agreed so that we could prepare for the accreditation of our cooperative and organized the first general assembly. I was appointed as the secretary. May God bless me with this another great responsibility.  

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

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.