A Chance @Something

I have a record of working in 3 schools which a parent fondly labelled as 'pasadya'.  The term we use at Beacon Academy=boutique schools.   This however I find rather interesting because that means you can actually do what you can make out of it=a good chance to take a stab at things, craft something new or even different, scrap it if doesn't work then have another go. A good model can come out of it which we may continue to build as one solid contribution to our godforsaken Philippine educational system!!!

Of course, I had to figure out what the heck the LC job is. I thought then  I was coming in as Learning Support=LC, only to find out I ended up in a meeting with all the coordinators on my first day at TBA. Then there's this man in white talking about the bus and the right people. Hmmm....I'll take this ride then.

Oh boy, what a ride! Pero sige lang...

What else is there to do when you are 46 years old, a teacher of sorts who has been there, done this and that, personal investments included...and yes have done it 3x as hard as any normal person.  Come September these are what I have set myself to do:

-assist DoF in program development initiatives 

-monitor teaching at the classroom level in order to provide concrete suggestions for program dev't, teacher growth and success

-set up systems of work of the new LSDP and  monitor students with learning support requirements

-plan, coordinate and implement in service professional development sessions specific to teaching and learning

-create spaces for committee work towards meaningful teacher growth and involvement 

The first attempt to do the above upon the orders of HOS resulted to this:

-facilitate  and coordinate teacher evaluation 

Obviously, I am in this business of guiding you through the teacher evaluation process which I see as a chance for you to  look at your practice--not for me, nor the institution, but for you, THE teacher+lifelong learner+professional. I'd like to help you capture the best and worst of your teaching  in order for you to go on this quest and reflect on ways  to become better than where you are now.

For the very few who have given me that chance to know them, exchange ideas with them, observe them, this is how I am seeing you... 

There is one teacher, who perhaps is the strongest of them all. She has withstood the test of time and gut and  she is still standing. She mentioned that she has tried everything she was told to do. And yet she feels it isn't enough. What she does not see is that she can really become great at working with students individually and see them as 'cases' to become a specialist in her field. Perhaps all she needs is protected  time to step back, reflect on her practice and see how else she can address the needs of her students. She has been doing that anyway, but why not formalize it as a real job item the school needs.

I see another teacher who described herself as 'pasaway'.  She seems quite unforgiving to herself and admittedly, a perfectionist.  There are days she really looks busy and stressed out. But in her, I see the young teacher that I was--uncertain but trying my damned best to make things work. What I love about her is this: I am an impressed parent 2x during my PTC. She is able to respond to questions and that she truly knows my daughter for the language learner that  she is  and  not a mere summative score in her gradebook.

Another one has been here for quite some time. Her students are practically relaxed with her and yet she manages to hold her class together for important points, with an affirming tone and students truly engage in discussions--all because these allow them to directly understand who they are through her subject.

I had a glimpse of this teacher--through a worksheet she made by hand. Who does that these days! There were drawings, again, by hand---interesting. What goes on her mind whenever she sits at her place in the FacLounge to plan her lessons? Will she ever let me in her classroom space to see how she does her magic while at work with students?

And of course, who can overlook the seasoned one around--too bad she will never be my daughter's teacher. She is one quick to discern both strength and weaknesses   and uphold standards of work for that is what it means to be in an international school. Imagine the kind of critical thinking that goes in her class. Or how would I fair as a student in her class? Will I be able to perform in the manner she expects me to be? 

Then of course, how about the male teachers around.  This one has a very clear agenda in mind which he sets at the start of the class. To him it is also evident that a lecture is a lecture, a report is a report, no other way to deliver the goods but through pressing questions and engaging discussions. Behind all these is a genuine concern to connect with students as real people and get to know them for who they are. Can I make him change his mind and stay a bit longer?

Who can miss this teacher who writes wonderfully! Have you ever stopped to notice his comments on the advisory notes--he sees his individual students through the works they come up with. He defines them through the work they turn in, but to capture that in how many words is what amazes me. I'm glad enough to have seen his installations (+wifey+kids) up, close and personal!

Last but not the least,  is the teacher I can never forget for he was the one who 'broke me into' the LC job. The exchange I find quite gripping and up to this day, Im not quite sure whether I should have handled it in the manner I did. He can stand and deliver, sustain an engaging discussion for about an hour or so (voice power unwavering) and patiently come up with worksheets to address individual needs.  He will do just as good once he occupies  a leadership position.

I have yet to come to know the rest of you, there's still so much to learn about you as teachers. But with my LC job,   I'd have to shed off my co-teacher identity sometimes in order to get things done:

For program dev't concerns, Id have  to challenge you a bit with questions: why do you do this? what is the purpose? how do you know it's working? what else can you do or try? are you willing to try? so it doesn't work, tell me why? I will throw ideas from nowhere because I'd like to  see how you are viewing your subject matter in relation to the  program we have to define with the DoF. This is also my way to see program possibilities and define PD sessions we can do together. I tap another expert or I tap the expert in you to share and engage...this about your professional growth.

For teaching monitoring concerns,   I  need to examine your teaching practice from a different angle so that I can bring to light areas of strengths and areas for improvement which I can only communicate in a straightforward manner as we sit together. Best to get it straight from me than beat around the bush.  And as I speak, you are by all means enjoined deal with the matter directly.  If you cannot take that, rely on your peers to observe and help you see what needs to be seen.  Or consider student feedback, to be able to reflect on others' perspective of your teaching, reflect on your current practice and write, write, write about it.

I am one to request documentation of this and that or more as evidence of your self reflection so that by the time we look at your portfolio we know how else to capture your ongoing practice. Again, this is for you as part of your teacher evaluation.

And yes, I will patiently wait for the time to see you online, learning and embracing technology, not really to determine your lives, but to make powerful use of techtools to learn and collaborate.

So, shall we give THIS a chance? I hope so....

Diego + Verm= BIOMODD in my Brain

Reposting fr 2009

http://www.biomodd.net/lba2/updates/blog/diegovermbiomoddinmybrain

My Session 1: Artificial Life Forms

The first time I worked closely with Diego was in last year's Cultural Committee for the Sunduan 2008 of UP Open Universtiy. He really is a wonder boy. I honestly told him that I hope my children will grow up to be just like him: brilliant, tech savvy, caring and healthy. I find him to be a global Pinoy in the real sense of the word. I also admire the fact that he is gay: people who have a great capacity to be themselves despite the odds. They plunge themselves into the Arts and have the benefit of getting into all kinds of pants! Getting to know Diego through conversations about UPOU, life and love was a good peek into his brain and how he thinks. He would almost always expound on an idea by drawing from theories out there and fit it in beautifully through our exchanges ( all these as we fondly talk about our common topic of interest: xxx). 

I learned that Diego was fortunate enough to be schooled abroad, not just any school but an IBO school, which fostered intercultural understanding and respect through a rigorous interdisciplinary, inquiry driven curriculum. Diego's gifts must have been honed well in an international school of that caliber. He does demonstrate attitudes of responsibility, tolerance, compassion and care ...all of which are part and parcel of student profiles and learning outcomes advocated by the IBO schools. 

It wasn't a surprise that Diego worked with equally brilliant individuals from around the world. So the first time he mentioned something about Vermeulen (whom I fondly call "Verm" in my brain but say Angelo F2F). I just got kinda curious: http://www.angelovermeulen.net/ Uhmmm, good looking guy but so what? Interdisciplines + Verm. Interesting find as these are adults working collaboratively, perhaps products of schools such as IBO. Their works show evidence of criss crossing boundaries of disciplines. Imagine that: art + science + technology +ecology. What an interesting blend of perspectives and expertise! Moreso, what of the collaborative processes in the midst of all these.

My experience with interdisciplinary curriculum and integration is only at the basic education level in progressive schools I have worked with. My understanding of this educational idea evolved from my interest in doing Social Studies differently for school children. It all the more deepened as I was able to work in an IBO school in the Philippines for six years before getting into UP Open U. Alongside doing work for UPOU, I run a small school where I managed to transplant all these curriculum ideas from lessons learned over the years. Throughout my classroom practice and research, I have observed that programs grounded on these ideas genuinely work at the grade school level but I've always wondered how it can happen in a tertiary level class. This has also been a cause for concern as a parent-teacher-school owner. I need to make sure that my current investments with my school children will not be put to waste in some kind of traditional tertiary level institution. Working with UP Open University gave me a little hope that it will indeed be an  institution of progressive and dynamic teachers who can accommodate, if not model these types of thinking and doing among students.

Hence when Diego opened invitations to attend a course set up by UPOU and the Bio Modd project, I grabbed the chance to actually see Diego at work...for how does a beautifully blended and interdisciplinary-brained person work and teach?

Consciously, when Diego was lecturing, I was wearing 2 kinds of thinking caps: that of a student and that of a teacher: a teacher’s cap to cull and outline the flow of ideas and discussions in my brain, and a student ‘s cap to think and engage with the rest of the group. There we were one afternoon at Diego’s cozy apartment: Sarah, Vanni, Julius, Habs, Be-an, Leo and I. I was pretty excited to learn anything scientific. or artistic and anything around it or beyond. Diego allowed us to state our purposes: I came out of sheer curiosity and the will to be inspired. I was curious about the group process and the manner through which Diego will facilitate this through a merging of ideas. Of course I didn't admit that I was a Diego fan. 

Diego started with reviewing major concepts drawn from science and earlier lectures which tackle few issues concerning life vs. sentience vs intelligence. Apparently these were discussed I think in one of the earlier sessions with Verm: augmentation, simulation, mimicry, substitution, extraction, description. Once in while he would draw ideas from the group but mostly he allowed us to journey with him through ideas and thoughts pertaining to the emergence of life where we got a chance to review a few science theories and concepts related to the features of life. What I find amazing was how he used these as springboard, translate these into something else through samples from art and technology. He really is an instinctive teacher--teaching from perhaps the best way he was taught. There I was with my brain following all these in spirals. How I love thinking in spirals and the challenge of making all sorts of connections in  moments of disequilibrium and uncertainty.

Then all of sudden Diego landed us into thinking about programming: when simple rules are laid out, we can actually mimick or simulate life in other forms: whether through 3D art, computer graphics and gaming! Woooonnnderful...lIke tadddaaaah, a bulb lights up my brain. What a fix! Some kind of wasabe through my nose up to my brain. Ooooohhhhhhh.

Of course, on the side I sketched/ scribbled a moving image of Diego in my brain, doing this lecture in his own special way. In between writing on th whiteboard and pressing on his laptop keys, he'd hum sweet sounding tunes. He would pause and pretend to accommodate our ideas but gently point out which ones are worth pursuing. I remember that he even laid out one essential rule: no stupid answers. He managed to pull a lecture which was relaxed yet substantive (at least to me).

Whew! Can Diego live and teach longer at UPOU so my children can learn from him?

I’m back on the ground as a student with these questions:  What I'd like to find out in the end: How will the local culture and student ideas blend and contribute to the totalilty of the Biomodd installation which can perhaps represent a bit of who we are? How will the collaboration be like? How will Biomodd Philippines be similar to/different from previous versions Biomodd?

ENERGY= [Greater] Capacity 2Do Work

Reposting fr 2009

http://www.biomodd.net/lba2/updates/blog/energygreatercapacitytodowork

I was trying to adjust my brain a bit as last night, our teacher, this Librero was some kind of wishgiver as he played my faves with the UPOU band. But since I know this guy a bit and I heart him as a reliable colleague/ community site bud,  it wasn't hard for me to just be there as a student.

AFDL is just as gifted and blended-brained like  into Diego. Earlier the Biomodd project we were exchanging about  how he will fit in with the team.  I was confident his brains would fit but I wondered about his unassuming ways.  He himself admittedly labels himself as a 'Syano' (=probinsyano=provincial).   He was fondly christened "King" by his followers  for a reason. And this I see: that students can easily relate with him and I, as UP faculty with zero knowledge on  Gaming and with a bits of  grade schoolish  Science came to class  assured that this   teacher's height will not intimidate me for sure! But his beauty, oh well, such as it is. That he can't help and besides I'm quite content with my looks.

Librero's talk on alternative sources of energy +issues related was  sufficient to keep my tired body/brain going. Our teacher was able to draw from his obvious area of expertise and personal knowledge. He delivered it in some kind of informative storytelling. I was able to clarify the basic content I needed for me to discern this: my school kids now have the perfect hooks for a third science driven inquiry learning project:
    What's  on Earth?!?
    - an inquiry into the earth's resources,
    - how these generate energy 

    - and how we can use these wisely. 

I'm seeing threads in my school's  learning projects--it is definitely Science... way to go!

Librero's  style is simple as he was getting things across by reassuring us that we do know something and it's his job to clarify a few things, with the goal of having a common  perspective: How does energy  fit into  Biomodd ?

Of course I couldn't think like a scientist even after that interesting video  he allowed us to view (and I got a copy for free!) The group talked about heat and how it can be generated and maximized as part of the installation. My mind was somewhere else, though--I was trying to recall Prof. Sol Hidalgo's (UPOU colleague) very own  "kinetic molecular theory of learning"
This is how I understood it: that learning among a group of adults can  be energized and  maximized in some kind of chemical-molecular manner.

And this is how I was translating her theory to  Biomodd:
It's a fact. My classmates and I can never  get rid ourselves of this  Biomodd talk.
It clearly is in our system. It has been a source of inspiration to most --some kind of stored energy to be "kineticized"  every time people get into the lab and do work--all these exchanges in our course generate energy--some kind of growing capacity to do work. Work for what and work for whom? Obviously now it has come to a point where it just has to move forward in ways the core didn't predict at all from the start.

But the greater challenge is this:  the course has ended and where do we take it from here?
 

My mind was back to the group as now they were  concerned about the purposes of Biomodd and some kind of public statement it seeks to get across. This is what I tried to communicate, to some extent:  that Biomodd does not necessarily have to present itself as an art piece meant to issue a single public statement.  To my mind, artists may have specific purposes for their art which will not necessarily come across to its viewers. These purposes may even change over time. In the same way,  viewers of the art piece will  have their  own  personal take at  it. It may provoke an unexpected reaction. Personal meanings may sink in to some a bit much later. It may be even nothing to others. There is however one thing we can try to do as I  see Biomodd as a means for people, most of all children to wonder about, to ask questions, to raise eyebrows--just that. The fact that something of this scale shall be displayed at our National Museum is enough to awaken us in different ways. 

Hence, one aspect  we do have the benefit of showing is this: the people/ process behind the piece-- What's the source energy which propelled the team to get to where they are now? How was this energy utillized in different ways? What energy remains beyond all these? What energy can this installation pass on to the Filipino youth?

The last session of the course has come to an end. Whether we are a renewable remains to be seen or perhaps unseen as individually we are like molecules  redefining our identities as we go back to our usual lives. Beyond Biomodd, I ask:  will each of us have renewed energy--a greater capacity to do work and love every bit of ourselves  and others than before? 

A Short Personal History of my Ever 1st DP HISTORY 11

I started feeling a bit luckier than the others since for one I only have 3 students and  I have a lesser teaching load since a bigger part of my brains should be doing LC work which I foresaw to be kicking in start of 2^nd Q.  Then of course Unit 1 topic on Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany--it was interesting enough for me and I have at least background knowledge about it. Luckier me that I inherited the ever reliable polidong Unit plans of Ms Salvan who happens to be the best DP teacher according to DP Coord.

What I needed to know AND DO is  how to balance doing these: conceptual teaching vs essential content delivery vs  a bit of inquiry vs historiography=source analysis & historical investigation (whatever that means). Most importantly, I needed to OWN the experience of being a first time World History teacher. 

Sabehen na nateng nakapagturo na ko ng Kasaysayan, subalit saan? Sa UPOU=Phil Hist na pinakapangit kong eksperimento bilang guro sa isang unibersidad. Sa Builders, konsepto ng chronology, time periods, form and function, change over time ang mga nagawa ko subalit ang nilalaman ay di ganeto ka tende tulad nang nilalaman ng World Hist.

But then, being the oldie teacher that I am,  I usually set mediocre expectations (pwede na mode) for my first sy because to my mind, the first year in any kind of school setting is about making all the mistakes. What mattered most is for me to be able to see these mistakes right on and still make time to do something about it within the schoolyear at least.  But being a more experienced teacher, I expect myself to draw from my wealth of PCK and easily bounce back so that I meet my students at least halfway.=ergo I don’t waste their time. This is owe them and my ego (hellow, ang tanda ko na kasing guro).

Freedoms

Well there isn’t much wiggle room, really. The plans were handed down and I was expected to accept it and teach it…like some UP course outline/ syllabus already ironed out by prior experts and department heads. Who am I even to question that? It was the safest mode to operate  while I grapple with making sense of my LC. But then later on I discovered, there were items in the  unit plan itself which I did not completely agree with. I chose ideology to be the key concept during the first unit and this second unit’s statement of central idea I find too lame. What I did was to look into other curriculum sources online about Imperial Japan.  So my compromise is this: I’ll stick to at least ¼ of the initial plan. 

Obviously, my plans were ever changing from the original and remains to be a work in progress at Managebac and never a hardcopy version for submission to DP Coord.  Beyond figuring out the content was the bigger question of how  or ( will I)  use the content to  prepare for Paper 1.

Ang sagot: walang kamatayang OPVL=hope-PEEVE-HeLL…walang kamatayang pagsasanay sa paghahanda sa eksam. Bweset. Pet peeve ko kase ang baduy na explicit skills instruction at ang pag-check ng OPVL ay tipong aaralin ko pa kase may iisang paraan sinasabi ang IB.

Is this about resisting change=learning or just resistance to IB?

Challenges

It turns out my PCK has more PK. There was a lot of CK to contend with—too many sources to read and I can’t quite keep up. Bote nalang may DP Course Companion and  IB-DP packaged textbooks at sa ganito rin pala kumikita ang DP, haha. I was able to cope with the first Unit, being at least 2 steps ahead of the students when it comes to doing engaged reading and seeing content conceptually, devising work to address needs of my students.

Then came unit 2=total 0 knowledge of Imperial Japan.  I kinda panicked since I should be able to intergrate exam preps for Paper 1=ang dakilang subalit pinakboring na exam na nakita ko sa buong buhay ko.  It was like the purpose of doing the teaching and learning relied heavily on skills development and application of what to IB was necessary and it can only be done in the manner IB says so!!!! To what extent can one be flexible, and open ended and to what extent will teaching be test /IA driven. And I think at DP, it was the IA’s which are driving the teaching and learning more than ever.

What about my sense of ownership over what I think must be taught and learned? What about the student’s  view about their own questions and how these can be addressed? How to convince myself that a big part of what I should be skills instruction=ATL’s vs inquiry and project based learning?

Aleta, isang munting paalala: This is not about you..this is about teaching the subject matter. Get that into your thick head= ergo tolerance, obedience, stick to the mold.

But then my teaching history hardly show proof of sticking to the mold.

Future Directions
I think I just need to relax a bit and seek help from the experts: MM and CS--the most seasoned teachers of TBA. It is good enough that I have a wealth of PK, a PCK of Social Studies and Inquiry Teaching therefore definitely this will be the basis of growth of PCK, the IB kind.

The new unit on China should be interesting at least. Again, rely on the fact that "Interest" drives learning and instruction, according to Dewey and Pestalozzi.