ICLiP Demo

Our demo in Iclip starts with making the lesson plan. The first question was what book are we going to use. Although we had some books to chose from and our own preferences we had to consider some things. The first one would be which stories were appropriate? Which ones were already told to the children? And which ones would be a good springboard to the grammar lesson. It was beneficial that we were able to ask Ate Julie what kind of book would she recommend and she gave us specifics: repetitive simple text.

Even if there were many books that had this kind of text, we couldn’t just choose any of them as we had to consider which books would the children appreciate. This is why Ate Julie chose “The farmer and the Beet” over our other book that was although interesting, had concepts that our class would less likely to appreciate.

Compared to our precious lesson plan, making this one was a lot easier. First, it was because we now have a clue as to what we were doing. Second, we found out that google docs works for us very well as a group. Through it, we were able to make and edit the lesson plan all at the same time without having to be physically together. It was also much more efficient since we can see what the others are typing in the document in real time and thus we are able to check it edit any mistakes early before having it printed. It also removes the need to upload and reupload revisions every time something was changed.

It also helped in making the materials since we all can see the copy of things we need for the demo. It was a constant reminder for us of what materials we need to make or buy.

As far as making the materials was concerned, the trouble we was the weather. Originally, we planned to make the materials together. But due to the rain and floods, we had to split the material making process. And even as we made the materials at home, the wet and cold weather prevented the materials (masks and mache) to dry completely. Also, we forgot some materials so we had to cram on making them on the day of the demo itself. The lesson here is to make an actual checklist of materials that we need for the demo.

In our first day of the demo, we only had two students so I was a little worried because we prepared for four. The literature part of our demo went on smoothly even if there were only two students. It was in the second day that we had problems.

I was late in the skills development half of our demo due to my cellphone being lost. We also forgot to print pictures for our last activity. For me, it was going really bad. It made me panic when JR did not follow the lesson plan to teach the grammar lesson so I had to consume more time in the activities so as to make sure that the children did understand the skill we wanted them to learn.

On the other hand, I learned that in the skills development part of the lesson, it is not only in one part that you could teach the rules. If they didn’t get it in one go, maybe they will understand it more in the guided practice or other parts of the lesson. But rule of thumb: try to be as clear as possible early on so that you wouldn’t have to struggle in the latter parts of the lesson.

I honestly liked our demo in ICLIP as it was more relaxed and personal. I learned a great deal from it and if given the chance, I would like to do it all again for experience’ sake. If my schedule is lax this coming second semester, I would definitely want to teach there.

ICLiP Apprenticeship

When I learned that we are going to have an apprenticeship in ICLIP, I was really excited. I have never taught young children in groups before. It was always one on one sessions wherein I could focus on the child and easily make a connection. I felt that this would help me a lot by giving me a feel of a real classroom setting where there is more than one child bouncing around as you try to compete for their attention with everything else. The thought was scary in a good way. I immediately had a feeling that I would enjoy this more than my experience with UPIS (which was also fun, by the way) because working with younger children always paints a smile on my face.

 I had no idea where and what ICLIP was before. I have never heard of it prior to our EDR110 class so this experience was totally new to me. I imagined it to be a small school with children in uniforms and several classrooms with medium size classes but my guess was wrong.

When we first went to ICLIP, I was surprised that it was part of the local government unit's  compound. I did not expect it but I was glad to see that the local government cares about education. I liked the place because it seemed very peaceful and wholesome. I especially liked the river but I wished that it wasn't cluttered with trash.

After Ate Julie introduced the beginnings and the present situation of ICLIP, I was much more excited because we would be teaching children that are behind their peers in reading. These children are the ones that need more focus from the school. But sadly, the most public schools don't usually have the time or teachers to do remedial since we have limited rooms and budget. With institutions like ICLIP, this gap is bridged and children are prevented from going to the wrong path.

We were assigned to the beginner English class because my groupmates were more comfortable in English. I actually wanted to be in the other classes just to see how different it is to teach in Filipino. But of course, I had to compromise. Even if I were given the option to have a lesson plan of my own, I still wanted to work with Nico and JR because I was a actually afraid that they would have a hard time dealing with children who speak very little English and at some point they will need to code switch.

 It wasn’t really a surprise that we only had an average of four students since it was the most advanced level in the programme, I believe. I was expecting a small number but I was a little jealous that the other groups had more students because I believe that we also learn from every child that we teach. This means that they got to interact with more students and therefore got to learn more from them. But nevertheless, it was also a blessing to have fewer students because we were able to get to know them more in the short time that we spent with them.

The least number of students we had in the apprenticeship was two. The most was five. I admittedly am very bad with names but I got to remember three of them; the three that went to our actual demo. If I remember correctly, they were all in the third grade which is the same as my youngest sister; therefore, I got a comparison point in terms of skills. At eight years old, my sister is now reading English independently and can write long sentences and paragraphs in that language with some mistakes in spelling. I remember, a month ago, she was asking me to proof read her poem. And so, when I met the children in ICLIP who are the same age as her but can barely understand English, I knew that ICLIP’s work is very much needed by these children. I was glad to be part of it, even for just a few days.

Among our students, I believe that Alexa Nicole (who coincidentally has almost the same name as my youngest sister, Alessandra Nicole) learns the fastest. She is always the one to raise her hand and give answers. It makes me happy to see that there are students in ICLIP that are learning fast and are very participative.

On the other hand, there is Ruth Jean who was identified by Ate Julie to be making the slowest progress in the English class. She is easily distracted and excited that she tends to not hear the instructions clearly most of the time. But even so, she is very enthusiastic and participative too. She is a very sweet child who I will remember most because she was the one who suddenly tied my long hair, saying that it was too hot.

It is also nice to note that when we volunteered for Children’s  Day, the children who I got to meet for the first time didn’t hesitate to talk and interact with us. There was this small boy who clung to my arm everywhere we went and everyone else also seemed to welcome our presence well.

One thing that I learned in the Children’s Day celebration though is about how physiological needs play a great part in the general attention span of the children. In the morning, they were generally easier to manage. But as noon came near, the children were already hungry and didn’t want to participate nor listen anymore. By the time that we were in the fourth station, they were all running everywhere and very few would like to participate in the games prepared.

Over all, the experience was something that I learned from a lot. It is something that I wouldn’t forget and definitely I would like to try again, given the chance. I am considering volunteering in Iclip once I get my schedule for next semester settled.

Class Observation UPIS Grade 5 (Reflection)

Supposedly, we were going to observe the higher grades class of UPIS before we were to do our group teaching so as to give us a feel of how the classes go there. But since I was not able to go with my classmates, I had to strike out on my own and it wasn’t until after our group teaching that I was able to do so.

Securing a permit to do an observation was quite an adventure but it is a story to be reserved for another paper maybe. What I want to talk about now, is the experience itself observing the Grade 5 English class of Ms. Abad.

Since I was there on very short notice, I was able to observe the class in a more natural setting. No preparations. No prior words from the teacher for them to behave better or whatsoever. The material used was just their modules and a piece of manila paper wherein the sample sentences were written.

I would like to say that I appreciate it better since it gives me a more authentic classroom feel and not a false notion that students really behave and participate all the time. With this being said, I take back what I wrote on my other reflection paper that I don’t really hate higher grades students anymore. I have to be honest and say that they are a pain to manage compared to younger ones.

It was very apparent that Ms Abad was having a bit of a hard time in managing the class. At first, keeping quiet until they too kept quiet worked. But that same strategy off course wouldn’t work all the time. They stood up and roamed around. They made a lot of unproductive noise and they made comments that I would have to say are “trying” in relation to the teacher’s patience. Nevertheless, Ms. Abad kept her cool and successfully went on with the lesson.

One thing I noticed is that when the class read text and they weren’t synchronized, Ms. Abad asked them to repeat it. It reminded me of what Teacher Maita said. I can make them repeat in case they weren’t reading properly. But sadly, I wasn’t able to apply that in our group teaching. I should make it a point to remember this the next time.

Another thing I took note of was when there was a mistake in the modules, she corrected it and wrote it on the white board so that everyone would know. I think this is an important thing because our materials wouldn’t be perfect all the time. We should be ready to make adjustments and corrections. We must also make sure that when we do make these corrections, all of the students would be aware of such changes so as to avoic confusion.

Aside from this, I also found it nice that they had rules set before. Like for example, when they checked their seatmate’s paper, they all knew what guidelines they should follow and Ms Abad reminded them by asking someone about the guidelines (write your name and date; check using a different color of pen). I think rules and guidelines like this, that were set beforehand makes things in the classroom smoother because the teacher doesn’t always need to tell them what to do anymore. They would all know what the guidelines are and should be reminded only occasionally.

Lastly, one technique that I picked up is that when someone asks the teacher a question, the teacher would always share the question to the rest of the class. I think this is beneficial in two ways. The first one is that when you share the questions to the class, there might be a chance that someone knows the answer and therefore it wouldn’t need to be coming from the teacher. Second is that when the question is about something that concerns everyone and only one student asks about it, the teacher wouldn’t have to answer the question again and again if he or she answers once and for all after sharing the question given. It saves time and effort. Also, it promotes the students voicing their questions or opinions out in the open.

Overall I wouldn’t say that this visit is the best. I certainly liked the kindergarten more. But I think it is more real and therefore I learned more.

            

Class Observation UPIS Kinder (Reflection)

            Being a TEG major who enjoys the company of children, it is such a joy to go to UPIS K-2. The atmosphere is always light and colorful. The students are surprisingly well behaved as compared to students this age in other schools. The walls and windows scream happiness, color, shapes and rhymes. The students’ art projects covered the bulletin boards. It gives me a sense of happiness and relaxation. I do look forward to working in a place similar to this someday.

I would like to note that this wasn’t my first time to do an observation in this department and I’m sure that it wouldn’t be the last. I was able to observe in the same room (although it was a different class and teacher) last semester in my EDTEG101 under Teacher Yvette. Back then I had no idea of what framework they used for teaching as we were more focused on the general concepts of teaching in early grades.

Now, since this is my second time to watch how a class goes in UPIS K-2, there were a lot of things that I didn’t really get back then that makes a lot of sense now. Last semester I was wondering how on earth the teacher manages the class when there were three different groups doing different things at the same time. I was also wondering as to why they have to do different things anyway.  Aren’t they all kindergarten students who had basically the same needs and therefore the same activities should be required of them in the name of fairness and equality?

Apparently not.

What strikes me most in this observation is that even if they were doing different activities or worksheets from one another, they generally seem to be satisfied or maybe it would be better to say occupied with it since it is tailored to cater to their own pace. I learned that the groupings are according to the level of the students.

Even if they are in the same classroom, there will always be students who perform better than others. There are those who will be on the average. And there will be those who will need to catch up. The groupings of the students make the catching up possible without having to hinder the growth of the other students. Although they are all learning the same subject, they are given different questions or activities depending on their current level.

I would also like to point out that the groupings of the children are named after food instead of numbers or letters wherein it would have been easier to figure out that “Oh, this group is the fast learners. That one is …” . By using non ordinal names, the students wouldn’t be labeled which is something that we generally would like to avoid.

Aside from the groupings, something that really struck me in this observation is how good the teacher was in managing the class’ behavior. It was as if she had an army of ways to get them to listen and not wander about. She uses the story, songs, and many other things to subtly tune the behavior of the student whenever they get a little too energetic. It is remarkable how she maintained a smiling face while trying to get children to keep quiet or sit properly. I can’t help but think how different my own early education was in terms of discipline. I remember that it was more blunt and not so much subtle. I hope to learn such skills in classroom management someday. 

Problems in Reading Education

            What’s more difficult than learning from scratch? It is learning from scratch with kittens scratching you on the side. It is already a known fact that reading is one of the first skills a child must acquire on the early days of his life. With no basic back-ups in the cognitive department other than his instincts, learning how to read becomes a great obstacle a child faces. However, this already seemingly challenging phase of his life is being more bothersome with the society - in general - subconsciously creating an environment which I think is less conducive to learning with respect to what we already have in theory. With the lack of good and appropriate materials for reading education, as well as the premature use of English as the medium of instruction to the students who are using another language at home, the Filipino kids are indeed facing a war against the society and themselves. It does not also help that when these kids grow up, the monsters that were created from the terrors of past wars continue to haunt the students in the form of low-level efforts in attaining the highest goal of reading education.

            I have read before that a child is like an empty slate, not much knowledge is imprinted on his brain. Thus, the reason why a child is always at search for answers to his never-ending questions. This curious-child phase of a person is a great platform on promoting the beauty of reading and learning through reading. However, as much as a Filipino kid wants to learn more about his surroundings, the Filipino society seems not to be on its full gear in helping this child on pursuing the pursuit of knowledge. The society provides less than adequate amount of materials and resources on helping a child read - more so learn. In this vulnerable stage of a child with not much things on his hands, I can’t blame him so much if he turns sour towards reading and learning. When he has this interest, he can’t look for help. When his heart is so ready to fight, he has nothing but his might. Might might not be enough, because it only takes too much valor to overcome an on-going war. Poor kid has nothing but a depleting one.

            And what does the society say when it was asked why it does such - or should I say “does not”? Simple. They lack money - to buy books, to build schools. With all these elegant houses I see, and the billions of peso being spent on few’s luxury, they indeed lack money. Poor child, he has dishonest people as protection. But, is there still light despite the disgustingly dark life he was in? I think there is. The society needs to pull off the selective blindfold it wears. Look at your children who were so starved of knowledge. Let them receive what they need. Let them receive what they deserve. Afterall, they are the ones who will take care of you when you slowly forget how to…

            I also find it funny how the self-declared society tries to compete with its rich neighbors. However, this poor society cannot emulate the elegance its neighbors exhibits. In this case, its money is indeed not enough. Reading may be elegant, but it does not have too much price. However, the funds for luxurious spectacles must be bottomless. Philippines does not have that. Poor society, it can’t go head-on. But worry no more because it has sought a solution for its problem. Let them hear if they can’t see. The Philippine society, for the reason of being globally competitive, tries to choke everyone with the overdose of English in their systems. No age is being looked at. Even the poor, vulnerable children, they have to swallow their reason. They just have to follow because the elders tells them to do so. With not much training in arguments, they just zip-up their lips. No words spoken, just taken what he can take. The poor child was even at risk of being thrown out of their little kingdoms - called self-esteem - if they try to break the rule. Much worse is that they will be thrown out of general existence if they refuse. If the very home he considers fails to appreciate him for what he has and not what the language he says, how much more is the cruel community that surrounds? But it all boils down to attitude towards success. For the previous problem relying more on the lack of attention, and this problem leans towards the overkill of attention. The easiest and best solution must be the modification of outlook on education. The good thing here is, we are already on our way there. With the promotion of using the child's mother tongue as medium of instruction in early education, further hindrance of his learning at such an early stage can be no more. 

            Now, we are already on the stage where we assume some passed the test of persistence. They are now on the higher stage of pursuit of knowledge. However, like what I have said before, not all of them passed the test, worse is that those who passed just made it by molding themselves into a clone of the prototype the society wants them to be. They haven’t made themselves be the man of their reason. And when some of these unfortunately become teachers, the cycle goes on and on with exponential growth. There’s a big probability that he has one of his teachers as this one. These teachers are now promulgating the hate towards reading by veiling the beauty of reading with easy questions and shallow understanding. Poor child-no-more, when he has thought he is past that problem, here he is facing another form of one. The solution I suggest is that these products of pseudo education must be redesigned in a way that they will be the one to analyze themselves on how much they can do to contribute to society’s growth. The keyword there is analyze. If they can’t analyze, or they were too young to think of those, and too old to remember those, then let them remember. Perhaps, late is better than never.

           

Microteaching Reflection

Prior to our demo teaching in UPIS, we had to do a microteaching session with our classmates. Due to the storm and class cancellations, instead of two meetings, we had to cram everything into one day so as to push through with the scheduled demo teaching.

At first it was a little overwhelming because instead of focusing on just the first part of our demo which was the literature, we also had to also do the skills development part which was honestly the harder chunk. If in the literature half, the problematic part was unlocking of words; in the skills development, it was teaching the lesson without really having to state the rules explicitly.

Before the microteaching, I thought that I had the grammar teaching part covered since I already taught this lesson to my students before.  But it turned out to be a totally different experience since we are using a different method of teaching. When I was teaching direct and indirect objects to Koreans before, we went for a sentence pattern approach. We state right away that this is this, and that is that. We give examples and so on and so forth. But this time, we had to draw out the definitions and generalizations from the students themselves. When you first look at it, it’s really hard because most of the time, the students expect you to give them the answers. But then again, rethinking on this, maybe it really is a better method since you do not bank on the notion that they have prior knowledge but on the belief that they have the capacity to figure it out on their own without having to spoon feed them. 

For the microteaching of course, we had it easy since our classmates were our students. They participated well, most probably because we were all on the same boat. In the same way, we participated and enjoyed their presentations. They also gave feedback that helped us later on with the group teaching in UPIS.

But that doesn't mean that our microteaching would be flawless. The main fault was our lesson plan. We had revised it a couple of times, but still it wasn't the best, nor would I say that it was even appropriate. We learned a great deal from out classmates. Admittedly, theirs was a better presentation of the same topic we had. We learned that we had to fix the second half of our lesson which was the skills development. We had to redo a lot of our sample sentences and worksheets. After the microteaching, our lesson plan had an overhaul. I am really thankful that we had a microteaching session. If not, we would have failed very very badly in our group teaching. 

There are many things I have learned in it. First is that you should always check your samples and exercise items –all of them—if they are covered well by the definition you gave. Second, you can make your students do the same thing over and over again without them being tired of it if you present it in different creative ways. Third, being on time lessens the anxiety. Fourth and the most important one: no lesson plan is ever final. There will always be revisions and you must be ready to make them no matter how little time you have.

All in all, I believe that the microteaching has helped us a lot in preparation for our group teaching. It is not the perfect simulation but it prepared us and helped us find holes that we can still fix. Sadly, there isn't always a microteaching session for all the lesson plans that we will make in the future. That being said, I think we all should practice and try to learn as much as we can from these experience.

Demo Teaching – UPIS (Reflection)

            Before I talk about the demo teaching itself in UPIS, I would like to share something about myself. I hate teenagers. Not exactly hate as in  loathing their presence; it is more of  being irritated to no end by this age group. Mainly it is because I know how they process as I was not so long ago one of them. But if there is an age group that I veer away from, more than teenagers, it would be what they call the ‘tweens’. These are the children who are not exactly children anymore but not really teenagers yet. The age range is about nine to thirteen years old. Why I am terrified of this bracket is because they are more conscious and image dwelling than their teenage counterparts. This is the time where they adjust from being their parents babies to the little rebels (of course, I kid) that they will be as teenagers.

            As I learned that we were going to teach sixth graders, you could imagine how anxious I was because I don’t particularly like kids this age. They aren't cuddly anymore. They have crushes that they take too seriously and they like music that I can’t stand. I was doomed.

Luckily, I wasn't going alone. I had my groupmates with me. There were three of us; meaning, I will only have to suffer a third of the anxiety. If the case had been otherwise, I probably would have hyperventilated and passed out as this was my first time to teach in an elementary classroom setting.

Surprisingly, it wasn't at all that bad as I was expecting. Yes, they were a little too energetic at times but it was very different from how I imagined it to be. The students were actually nice and cooperative for the most part. I am speaking on the general sense here because they didn't really want to answer on my part of the lesson. This concerned me a lot because they were participative on JR’s part and were really rowdy on Nico’s part. But when it was my turn to speak they just sat there and looked at me shyly, smiling and generally avoiding being called to answer. I found out, on the second day that they thought I was Japanese; hence the apprehension to talk to me.

That bit taught me two things: one, pair share or group discussion in case no one wants to answer; two, make sure they know that I understand Filipino so as to prevent scenarios such as this. When I think about it, I find it silly that I thought I was scary or I looked intimidating. It all boils down to this, connect with your students.

When one of the students asked me if I were Filipino and they even had to confirm it by asking me to speak in Filipino, they were more or less at ease to talk to me. Some even try to call my attention when they had to ask something. Normally, I wouldn’t really make a big deal out of it but, but after experiencing being avoided for the most part of the class, I was just so glad that they were actually talking to me towards the end of it.

Another one important thing I proved is that you have to know what they like. While I was making the worksheets, I had to research for what kids these days like. Although we weren’t really able to put them to use, I saw that we could have actually made use of those things so as to get their attention.

            Voice control is another note to be taken. I used to think that my voice was loud. It turns out that it wasn’t. Or I wasn’t employing it properly would be a better way to put it.

            Lastly, the most important thing I learned in our group demo teaching is that I don’t really hate ‘tweens’. I just need more exposure to them. They are generally just starting out to develop their self image which makes it more challenging to handle them as we may come across as adults who do not understand what they are going through. But if we try to make them feel and see that we are trying to bridge that gap, I believe that they would be easier to get along with.