Nutrition Month 2014 Banner

Our school's official banner for the Nutrition Month 2014 celebration:

Nutrition Month 2014 Theme

This year’s Nutrition Month theme was already approved by the National Nutrition Council: “Kalamidad Paghandaan: Gutom at Malnutrisyon Agapan!”

Source: National Nutrition Council

Last June 23, our department had a meeting to plan for the schedule of activities we will hold for the month-long celebration. The following are the meaningful activities that we will conduct:

• Nutri-Quiz Bee
• Essay Writing 
• Manual Poster Making Contest
• Electronic Poster Making Contest
• Electronic Slogan Making Contest
• Nutri-Jingle

As a community service activity, we will also conduct a Disaster Survival Cooking Demonstration that will instruct the parents living in flood zone areas on how to prepare nutritious meals out of limited available resources during calamities.  

The Poracay Escapade

I know this is a bit too late, but still let me share this experience when we went to Poracay Resort in Porac, Pampanga last May 25.

At first, I was kind of indifferent about the idea of joining my colleagues in this outing that I would rather stay inside my room and read my philosophy books. But, the social animal inside started to creep in and I just found myself packing my things for this summer trip.

And I was right… this was one of the best summer escapades I've ever experienced (though I seldom join this kind of event). I was indeed so thankful that I didn't miss this chance to bond with my fellow teachers.

The most exciting part about this Poracay escapade was when I, together with Leila, tried to experience Hydro Zorbing… All the while, when we were buying our tickets for this amenity, we were thinking that the ride is just a kiddie thing... we will just roll inside a big inflated zorb balloon while floating in a shallow pool. But we were wrong. When we saw the facility for hydro zorbing, we were both shocked how steep the slope where the zorb balloon will roll down to the pool.

I was about to tell Leila if she would like to quit and refund our money, but I can see how eager and excited she was for this… “Great! I am also up to the challenge!” and yes I declared this with a very shaky voice. LOL :D

Before Hydro Zorbing...

And this is how we rolled... 

PGCB Conference at ADMU (Day 2-3)

Day 2 (May 30)

The second day of this conference was equally full of learning experiences. We had the plenary session with Dr. Christine Lim of National Institute of Education in Singapore. She talked about "Development through Lesson Study." She showed us some videos showing how teachers can collaboratively improve lessons to a more student-centered and authentic learning experience. 

In the afternoon, I joined my fellow teachers, who are Science major, in a semi-plenary session at Escaler Hall. The topic was all about "Science Teaching that Makes Practical Sense." Dr. Lee Yew Jin of National Institute of Education humorously discussed how science should be taught to learners in a more practical way. Here is the outline of his topic:

• Making science relevant and engaging
• Inquiry works but we all need practice
• Learning with students and other teachers
• The importance of feedback from teachers and peers

According to Dr. Jin, while good teaching is certainly important, what perhaps is more important is the quality of student learning that occurs in our classrooms.

Dr. Lee Yew Jin of National Institute of Education

In the afternoon, we attended two concurrent breakout sessions with the following topics:

• "Using Teacher Prepared Videos in Teaching Physics" by Mr. Bonifacio Caculitan Jr.
• "Measuring the Acceleration Due to Gravity Using a Massive Metal Ball and a Smaller Wooden Ball" by Mr. Arcenoel D. Zapatos
• "Virtual Laboratory Method in Teaching Electricity" by Ms. Carina D. Cabuguas

Day 3 (May 31)

The last of day of the conference and still we were all excited and anticipating of what insights we could learn from our plenary and breakout sessions. We were all amazed by our plenary  speaker in the person of Ms. Roselle Ambubuyog of Freedom Scientific. She has a very inspiring story. Despite of being blind since the age of six, she became successful in her studies and even graduated as class valedictorian among all summa cum laude graduates at ADMU. She actually reminded me of Helen Keller. On the personal note, I consider her talk about "Teachers Who Saw the Vision of a Blind Student" as a call to all of teachers to never give up on our students. Just like Roselle's teachers, who became so patient with her condition and guided her to achieve her dreams. 

Roselle Ambubuyog receives her token of appreciation as plenary speaker

I attended the last concurrent breakout session at David Hall for the topic "Using Music Inside the Classroom" by Vin Dancel and Tina Zamora from Republikha. They talked about how music can be integrated to the learning experiences of grade school pupils. They even shared some tracks on their official album, which features educational songs composed and sung by some of our contemporary music artists. 

After the breakout session, we went back to Irwin Theater for the closing ceremony. The audience went delirous when Mr. Ebe Dancel (lead vocalist of Sugarfree) performed a song tribute (Makita Kang Muli) for all the teachers. He even performed another song (Tulog Na) 

An inspirational message was given by Dr. Philip Wong, Programme Director, PGCB and this was followed by a closing remarks of Mrs. Carmela C. Oracion, ADMU Center for Education.  

Indeed, this conference was a great learning experience for all the teachers. It enlightened us to transform our practices into a more effective teaching towards increasing student achievement and equipping them the knowledge and skills needed to survive the 21st century. 

By learning you will teach, by teaching you will understand

PGCB Conference at ADMU (Day 1)

Last May 29-31, we attended the culminating activity of the Policy Governance and Capacity Building Programme for Leaders and Educators at Henry Lee Irwin Theater, Ateneo de Manila University. With the theme "Paunlarin ang Pagtuturo, Paunlarin ang Bayan," the conference aimed to showcase interesting strategies, experiences and exchange best practices of teachers who have undergone the various training programme under PGCB organized by Temasek Foundation, Singapore and ADMU. 

Day 1 (May 29)    

At exactly 8:00 AM we arrived at the Irwin Theater for registration and opening ceremony. We were amazed to see the great number of teachers coming from different divisions. Upon registration, we received our conference kits and snack and lunch stubs. We attended the opening ceremony and we were also entertained by cultural presentation from the amazing San Bartolome High School Handuraw Dance Tribe. 

Bagong Silangan Elementary School Choir

San Bartolome High School Handuraw Dance Tribe

Beautiful Costumes

Our first keynote speaker was Mr. Jose Luis M. Oquiñena of Gawad Kalinga. He talked about building the nation through the power of presence. I was personally pleased to hear that they had housing projects for teachers in some provinces in Mindanao. He believed that for a teacher to effectively function, his basic needs like comfortable abode should be addressed first. Gawad Kalinga is indeed a reliable partner of Department of Education. 

Jose Luis M. Oquiñena of Gawad Kalinga on his keynote address

Fr. Bievenido F. Nebres, SJ, ADMU on his inspirational message

After the opening ceremony, we had the plenary session with Dr. Ashley Tan from National Institute of Education. He talked about the "ICT Steps-Social, Student-Centered, Self-Sustaining." I was amazed to know how passionate teachers are in Singapore and how they flexibly integrate ICT through mobile technology in teaching and learning experiences. We also attended one semi-plenary session at Irwin Theater with Ms. Devi Benedicte I. Paez as our speaker. She spoke about "Teaching English Using Filipino: Investigating How and Why Filipino is Used in an Elementary Public School English Classroom."

Dr. Ashley Tan during our Plenary Session