Peer Teaching in Photo Editing

Our department is currently conducting a series of Peer Teaching as part of our Teacher Quality Circle Program. Mrs. Rona Reyes, our Head Teacher-In-Charge, assigned me to become the chairperson of this activity. I immediately wrote a proposal letter for this activity addressed to our Principal to allow us to conduct this endeavor that aims to further increase the mastery of the TLE teachers in the mini-courses they are teaching, improve teaching and assessment strategies, as well as to enhance their personality and total wellness.

The following are the proposed topics for the first batch of peer teaching:

•  Teaching Guides for Electronics by Mr. John Michael Gulmatico
• Personality Development for Teachers by Mrs. Rosanna Isidro
• Teaching Guides for Photo Editing by Mr. Marlon Lalaguna
• Teaching Guides for Hand Reflexology by Mrs. Shirbenly Garcia

Last January 23, 2015, I facilitated a peer teaching in photo editing using Adobe Photoshop. Our participants were Grade 7 and Grade 8 teachers, who are teaching exploratory courses. The learning engagement turned out to be both fun and challenging for the teachers.    

A delightful learning engagement with my fellow TLE teachers

Pope Francis in Philippines

Our country is so blessed to be visited by His Holiness Pope Francis. Being the largest Catholic country in Asia, this apostolic visit became the most anticipated event for the whole congregation of Roman Catholic in different parts of the country.  A historical event to be considered, the Palace declared non-working holidays (January 15-16 and 19) in the National Capital Region.

The Young Jorge Mario Bergoglio
"Pope Francis"
Photo Credits: Catholics Online

Pope Francis was saddened by the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan to the people of Tacloban, the main reason why he decided to visit our country and personally meet the survivors. Braving the storm, he held an outdoor mass for all the worshipers of Tacloban, who were mostly families of the typhoon victims. Pope respected the sentiments of all the survivors who lost their houses, livelihood and even loved ones, but he still encouraged them to never let Jesus down because He never let them down. He said “But Jesus is there nailed to the Cross, and from there, he does not let us down. There, he experienced all calamities that we experience. Jesus is Lord, the Lord from the Cross, he is there for you!” These heartfelt words of the Pope comforted and renewed the faith of the survivors.

Just this afternoon, Pope Francis held his concluding mass at Rizal Park. Perhaps, by now, the world is amazed how strong the faith is of the Filipino Catholics. Despite the heavy rains, still approximately 6 million worshipers attended the outdoor mass. Sadly, I wasn't able to attend this final mass, so I just watched this momentous event through our TV. But, it’s okay, I still feel so blessed because I learned a lot from his homily. J 

During the Holy Mass
Photo Credits: Today Online

The following are some important points from the Pope’s final homily:

• The Pope was so glad to celebrate the Sto. Niño Sunday with us. The image of the Holy Child Jesus should always remind us of the link of God’s Kingdom and mystery of spiritual childhood.
• As today’s gospel, he cited Mk 10:15:  “Whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
• He mentioned the lyrics of the official apostolic visit song “We Are All God’s Children,” which he considered as a perfect message of Sto. Niño to us. In Christ, all of us became God’s adopted children, brothers and sisters.
• We should focus on things that really matter. Be reminded that the devil is the father of lies, and often hides his snares behind the appearance of sophistication. 
• He said that Filipinos are called to be outstanding missionaries of faith in Asia.
• Lastly, just like how he always ends his previous encounters, he earnestly requested everyone to pray for him.

I will always pray for you Pope Francis, for good health and strength to continuously lead us in spreading the light of Jesus. Thank you so much for visiting our country. Long live Your Holiness! 

Happy New Year World!

So it's goodbye 2014 and hello 2015!

I pray that this new year brings us new hope and courage to continuously pursue our dreams. We should be thankful to The One that gave us the past 365 days and be even more thankful for the chance to make all things new next year.

Image Source: www.freevectors.net

#HappyNewYear #Hello2015

FVPHSTI Tree Planting – A Campaign for Environment

Allow me dedicate a post for this very fulfilling project of Federation of Valenzuela Public High School Teachers Inc. Through the efforts of the federation officers, a tree planting drive was successfully held last October 6 at Barangay Lingunan. This was in cooperation with Clean and Green Office and Public Sanitation and Cleanliness Office of Valenzuela City.

Many high school teachers from different schools attended this event. The dump site was suddenly turned into a nursery of trees and shrubs. It was fulfilling because it was actually my first time to experience tree planting as a community service. The day we spent in this kind of activity was all worth it. We were all tired after the event, but we went home with a smile knowing that somehow those seedlings that we planted would someday become huge and strong trees that could help to reduce the greenhouse effect and fight climate change. Thereby, securing a safer environment for the future generation.

By this simple act, we can fight climate change!

Groupie with my fellow Gen. T. High teachers, who also
woke up so early for this event

Together with Dr. Basil Sison, Head of Agriculture
and Clean and Green Department

My Catching-Up Post

Welcome ME back again blogging world! It’s been like so many months since I last posted here. My apologies, I was overwhelmed with so much happenings that I can’t find the time to post some updates here. So thankful for this holiday vacation that gives me a little luxury of time to enjoy and dedicate to some of my leisure pursuits (yes… like this blogging).

So what happened to me during that almost three-month hiatus? As expected (really huh? LOLs), my schedule was crowded with school-related activities, professional development assemblies, web development trainings and writing workshops. These are the highlights:

TECH TUTOR 6

Last September 24, together with my fellow ICT teachers, we attended the Tech Tutor 6 at SM Megamall, with the theme “The Mobile e-Learning Revolution.” This learning engagement with the great IT expert, Jerry Liao and other speakers was a showcase of latest technologies that support learning beyond the classroom walls. Smartphones and tablets are indeed becoming ubiquitous and their potentials to transform our education to the next level is indeed very promising. That is how I see the gist of this seminar.

Photo Credits: Jeffry Reovoca

WORLD TEACHERS DAY

Again, the celebration of World Teachers Day in our school last September 1 to October 5 was a hit! Banners that show appreciation and dedication to teachers were posted on the school lobby and hallways. Letters of endearment and token of appreciation to teachers were received. Greetings flooded our Facebook timeline and inbox. Truly, the feeling is magical. These are the moments when I feel so blessed that I am a teacher. Of course, student teaching was also organized by the Student Supreme Government (SSG). During the culminating ceremony, we were both surprised by my student teacher, Christian Sabadisto of IV – Gatus, when he was called as the Best Student Teacher for senior category. A citation that is well-deserved, because this young aspiring teacher is really good.

Christian Sabadisto, Best Student Teacher (Senior Category)
Photo Credits: Christian Sabadisto

WEB DEVELOPMENT TRAINING 

As part of the Division of Valenzuela’s goal to create an endless learning opportunities for both the teachers and students, every school in the division was required to develop a school website with virtual classroom. This project was made possible through 88DB as the website host. Every school was given a website domain.

However, the teachers, who were in-charge of website development, lacked the required skills to accomplish the website. This became our rationale in proposing a training design to help the teachers acquire skills in web development and enhance the visual appearance of their school websites. Together with Mrs. Jean Tropel, a Master Teacher of Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science, we proposed the training to Mr. Wilfredo Cabral, our Division Superintendent and we were fortunate that it was approved. Last October 7 to 9, we successfully conducted this three-day training and helped the teachers to develop their school web and content visual elements.   

Confession 101: This is my first time to become a workshop trainer... a great milestone indeed!  

A priceless picture with Ma'am Jean Tropel, Dr. Winnie Tugade, EPS in English
and Dr. Jenny Rose Corpuz, Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

GOOGLE TEACHERS WORKSHOP 

I, together with Mrs. Jenny Loseñada, was assigned by our head teacher-in-charge to attend the Google Teachers Workshop last November 15 at De Las Salle-College of Saint Benilde. This was a very interactive seminar-workshop with a lot of hands-on activities to train the teachers how to maximize the use of some Google applications to enhance the teaching and learning experience. I really like Google Docs, it has a feature wherein teachers and students can collaborate to work on a particular project.

A photo souvenir from the event's photo booth (cool!)
And yes... I forgot to apply a retro filter on this one. LOLs

REVISION AND FINALIZATION OF GRADE 4 EPP-ICT TGs AND LMs 

Last December 1and 2, I was again invited by the DepEd Central to attend the Revision and Finalization of Grade 4 Teacher’s Guides and Learner’s Materials for EPP-ICT. It was held at Emiramona Garden Hotel, Tagaytay City. I was glad to know that there were just some few minimal revisions as suggested by the content experts. It was from the language experts that we received a lot of suggestions for revisions. I would say that there is really a need for a seminar-workshop in Orthography of Filipino language for content writers. Hopefully, I could attend one someday.

Module content writers at work!