School In-Service Training (Opening the Class Doors)

It was indeed a great honor when Mrs. Salvacion V. David, our very own school head, assigned me to discuss some important topics during our School-Based In-Set last May 26. She tasked me to discuss about 21^st Century Teaching Strategies and The New Classroom Assessment.

I was really anxious at first. It was really a different feeling, like I felt more pressured, when I talked in front of my co-teachers than when I did it during the National Training of Teachers. Perhaps, because these teachers were already familiar faces and that some of them were really expecting so much from me, because I was introduced by Mrs. David, herself, as a National Trainer. Honestly, I knew from the start that this would really happen, I considered this as my payback opportunity for all those times that she allowed me to attend those write shops and trainings in preparation for the NTOT for Grade 5 Teachers. Every time the DepEd would send their invitation for me through her office, she never hesitated to say yes. In fact, she would always tell me that it’s an honor for her to have a teacher, whom the writing and speaking skills were recognized by the DepEd Central.

After I have delivered my talk, I received a lot of positive feed-backs from them (to God be the glory) and I was also thankful because my fellow teachers became very active and cooperative audience. Just right after my training session in our school, I needed to leave immediately because I still need to prepare for my talk in Clark, Pampanga with TLE Grade 10 teachers of our division.      

Some candid shots during my talk (ha-ha)...

  

Opening of Classes

June 1, Monday – marked the opening of classes.

Another school year has begun. Another class advisory. I was so excited to meet my 10 – Lalaguna. I prayed hard that these bunch of students would not give me so much worries or problems this school year. When I met them, I was kind of right. They seemed to be so kind and obedient. Hopefully, this good start would continue until the school year ends.

I was assigned in mid-shift. Yes! Goodbye to the struggle to wake up so early in the morning. Ha-ha!

This is the campaign poster I designed last year about DepEd’s goal to serve with a SMILE (Serve with Meaning In Life-long Education). I would like to believe that this campaign is still relevant to this school year and for the next school years to come.

Let us always "Wear A SMILE" every time we teach :)

The K to 12 National Training of Trainers (VisMin Cluster)

After the success of our NTOT in Luzon Cluster, we all went home to relax a bit and prepare for the NTOT for the VisMin Cluster. The two-day rest was never enough, but for the Filipino children, we needed to prepare again for a flight going to Ecotech, Cebu City, where the NTOT for Visayas and Mindanao Cluster was held.

It was afternoon of April 20, at NAIA Terminal 2, I met the EPP Training Team again. Everyone was excited and thankful for a good weather condition. And I was like a million times more excited than them because this was actually my first-ever flight (I am blushing now ha-ha).

We boarded at exactly 3:25 PM and our plane took off at exactly 4:15 PM. 

Photo op before we boarded :D

When Dr. Rogel learned that this was my first time, he insisted that I should seat at the window side for me to enjoy the view. He even reminded me to take pictures for souvenirs, and so I did:

We arrived at Mactan International Airport at exactly 5:20 PM and from there we were fetched by an official shuttle to Ecotech Center, wherein we will stay for the rest of the training. The same program of activities. The participants were gathered for a plenary session for the opening program and video presentations of Secretary Luistro’s message and Undersecretary Ocampo’s updates about K to 12.

The participants for EPP were housed in the Applied Nutrition Center (ANC), so that our training team still needed to travel from Ecotech to ANC through the official shuttle they provided us. This was the difficult part, the shuttle was scheduled to fetch us every 6:00 AM sharp. We needed to wake up so early because of this call time. Thank God, because I was never late and thank you also to Sir Noni, my roommate, who sometimes served as my living alarm clock. LOL

All the training sessions went well. We were informed by the NEAP Training Evaluation Team that EPP-ICT Group performed great as based on the training evaluation they designed on-line. We received a lot of compliments from the participants. To God be the glory. Although, there were still some suggestions for improvement, particularly on the time allotment for each learning episode. They hoped for more time. Perhaps, we could still improve the session guides by capturing all the essential topics within the required time allotment.

The NTOT for Visayas and Mindanao cluster was also a success! We were all thankful because we were able to echo, in the loudest possible way, how to properly implement the K to 12 curriculum. The trainers for the Mass Training of Teachers were now equipped to run the same sessions and guide the classroom teachers in optimizing the use of the Learners’ Materials and Teachers’ Guides, utilizing different teaching strategies applicable for the 21^st century learners and performing effective classroom assessments.

The K to 12 National Training of Trainers (Luzon Cluster)

Three days before the National Training of Trainers (NTOT), I had put my shoulder to the wheel in finalizing our session guides and slide presentations. I studied the topics assigned to me, which was about Teaching Strategies. I even bought a book about teaching strategies so that I could revisit the theories, approaches and strategies in teaching, and searched the net for the current trends about pedagogy in the 21^st century. I made my script and prompts for my talk. I also prepared an outline of the whole session.

It was like over-thinking and preparing exaggeratedly , but I considered it a normal thing for someone who would experience to become a chief trainer for the first time in a national level training, with participants who were officials in their schools or divisions. I really took this task seriously.

The night before I leave for the NTOT Luzon Cluster, I really prayed hard for strength, wisdom and confidence to effectively facilitate my sessions. Honestly, I’m having nightmares about being a chief trainer, like failing to facilitate the learning session or dealing with a challenging participant. But I would just console myself with prayers for I know that God is our great comforter. He will be there for me to support me in this enormous undertaking.

I left our home last April 11, 2015 for Teachers’ Camp, Baguio City, where the NTOT for Luzon Cluster was held.  I arrived at exactly 12:30 in the afternoon. It was Day 0 of the training, many participants were already at the administration office for setting in and waiting to be accommodated.

There was a plenary session that was held in Day 1 (April 12), wherein we were all welcomed by the Bureau of Elementary Education. The participants also watched the video message of DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro and the K to 12 Updates by Undersecretary Dina Ocampo. The learning sessions started in Day 2 (April 13), wherein a plenary session for all Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP) trainers was organized by our team for the levelling of expectations, house rules and discussion on the conceptual framework of EPP/TLE.

The EPP Training Team was divided into four sub-groups, namely EPP-ICT group, EPP-HE group, EPP-Agri group and EPP-IA group. In EPPP-ICT group, I was with Sir Virgilio Laggui and Ma’am Eden Samadan, they were my co-writers in the development of LMs and TGs. We also divided the number of EPP trainers into three classes (Class A, B and C). Every time that our group was on board, we would see to it that the participants would actively participate. The learning engagement was fun-filled with lots of inputs about the utilization of Learners’ Materials and Teachers’ Guides, teaching strategies and classroom assessments, all to equip them in their Mass Training of Teachers (MTOT) in their respective regions or divisions.

All in all, this was a great experience. I felt so accomplished after our effective facilitation of sessions and rewarded because of the positive feedback of our participants. To God be the glory.

Orientation of Chief Trainers for the Grade 4 National Training of Trainers (NTOT)

Last March 16, I went back to TICC, Tagaytay City to attend the Five-Day Orientation of Chief Trainers for Grade 4 NTOT. I was so excited and a little anxious on what was in store for us in this orientation. To be honest, this was my first ever experience to become a trainer in a national level. I became a division trainer for website development last year, but to become a chief trainer for a national training, whose participants were the best of every divisions and regions, really gave me goosebumps.

I was thankful that this orientation equipped us with all the necessary skills to facilitate the session effectively as chief trainers. The following were the highlights of our orientation:

• Undersecretary Dina S. Ocampo  gave the updates about the K to 12 BEP curriculum for Grade 4 including instruction and assessment.
• Dr. John Arnold Siena of NEAP equipped the chief trainers with skills to facilitate discussions among teacher-participants the effective implementation of the Grade 4 curriculum.
• There were also  sessions about teaching strategies like Differentiated Instruction by Dr. Evelina Vicencio and Localization and Contextualization by Dr. Ma. Theresa De Villa.
• SFX, through the cooperation of Australian Aid,  introduced the new social brand of DepEd: “Tayo Para sa Edukasyon.” This is a great communications campaign to sustain reforms in Basic Education. (I will dedicate a post about this social brand, to inspire everyone to take active participation in the current reforms in our basic education).

After this orientation, I felt so eager to become a chief trainer, I learned a lot and I wanted all these learnings to be shared with all the other trainers nationwide. 

This photo is priceless, we are with one of the great education champions 

of our country, USEC Dina S. Ocampo.