Education: Key to Empowerment

13 September 2024

Once a battle-hardened warrior on the battlefields, retired general and now Mayor Jon Aying’s transition as a civilian leader has been remarkable.  As 200 people from different walks of life trooped to Sara National High School gymnasium to attend the municipal education summit,  Mayor Aying stood tall as he delivered his Education Address to his constituents. He reviewed the schools’ performance indicators, explaining what the figures meant. Starting from enrollment figures for the past three years in elementary and high school, he explained and gave comments for his constituents to clearly understand what those pie and bar charts mean in every performance indicator flashed on the LED board. When he came across the reading proficiency and numeracy indicators, he correlated them to the dismal performance of our school children, who lagged, as shown in the PISA results with the rest of the countries of the world. He also highlighted the nutritional status of the schoolchildren. His message is to develop strategic maneuvers to teach the kids competency in every ladder of their education journey. He told his constituents how the local government spend its Special Education Fund where they matter most: payment for additional teachers, infrastructure upgrades, and community engagements. He ended his message with his favorite African proverb, “It takes a village to educate a child.”  He wanted the children of Sara to remember his administration, not for the battles won but for the futures secured.   

In the workshop that followed, the participants coming from the PTAs, SGCs, Barangay Captains and the Kagawads in charge of education, LGU officials, Members of the Sanggunian, the religious sector and the CSOs were unanimous in their answers.

For them, the most essential learning areas we need to improve are:

• literacy and numeracy,
• good manners and right conduct, and
• nutrition.

Among the members of the PTA and the SGC, they push for the active involvement of parents in reading, numeracy and nutrition. A group of parents shared that they have been doing rounds of bible studies in schools to teach the kids the correct attitudes and values. Admittedly, school heads observed a decline in the enthusiasm of school children to learn because of the influence of gadgets. The heads of offices and the sanggunian members were passionate about pushing for the improvement of the health condition of the school children by actively supporting programs on health and nutrition by the local government. They commit to legislating local initiatives to improve children’s nutritional status in the first 1000 days. The barangay captain and their kagawads quickly added that every barangay and school should have their community and garden to provide vegetables for the school feeding program.

After attentively listening to the workshop reports, Mayor Aying presented his synthesis in a Manila paper he illustrated called the Education Governance Framework. Real-time feedback based on the answers to the workshop questions showed that the various sectors in the Municipality of Sara were pushing for improving literacy and numeracy among the school children to address the continuous decline of the state of Philippine education. Corollary to that is the concern and observation of  everyone that today’s schoolchildren hardly say sorry, excuse me, and thank you, to the dismay of everyone. Aside from their nutritional status, it also affects children’s memory, attention, and cognitive abilities. Mayor Aying pointed out that the identified problems are offshoots of the environment surrounding the child, which is the school he goes to, his family including its moral and spiritual orientation, the system of governance both at the local and national levels, and the kind of peace and order situation where he lives.   His marching order for everyone is for all stakeholders to cooperate and collaborate towards ensuring a better future for every Saranhon.

Source: Synergeia

(A five part series on the Training of Principals in the Province of Iloilo under the Proof of Concept initiative on the Devolution of Basic Education Towards Better Reading Outcomes to LGUs )

Part 1: Riding on the Journey of Self-awareness

When you see a Principal, what comes to mind?

The Head of a school whose voice demands attention and response. The most powerful and intelligent leader who believes in his power to change situations and people. The penultimate talent whose skills and experiences are above everyone else and therefore possesses the utmost credibility and integrity worthy of the best in its class of school commanders.

So how do you train a Principal without getting a piercing look in the eye, a raised eyebrow or a fierce tone?

Synergeia recently conducted a two day training workshop for 120 school principals from 12 LGUsin the Province of Iloilo, the experimental group for the Proof of Concept initiative on the Devolution of Basic Education Towards Better Reading Outcomes to LGUs.

The training activity was aimed at building the capacities of principals to produce 100 per cent of grade three students as independent readers by the end of school year 2024-2025.

How did the training go? In the end, why did the principals smile in gratitude, raise their right thumbs in approval, and pound their hearts in serious dedication and commitment to their mission of developing good readers of their grade three pupils?

The importance of self-awareness was at the core of gaining acceptance of how the principals viewed their roles, attributes and characters in the jobs that they perform (internal) and how others see them while they do what they are mandated to fulfill (external).

Self-awareness is quite a rare quality. The boldness and courage with which Synergeia filed the spirits and demeanor of the principals to ride on this journey of self-awareness was remarkable.

And the journey became more exciting because the principals didn’t ask “why” but “what” they can learn to see themselves more clearly. They were unanimous in their belief that no matter how much they have achieved, there is always more to learn.

In the process, the principals acknowledged that school leadership is a multifaceted and high expectations role that requires them to think, behave and relate as:

1. CEO of a school
2. Mentor
3. Listener and Consensus Builder
4. Team Lead and Collaborator
5. Role Models
6. Culture builders of learning and achievement

They also recognized that there are challenges confronting them which they must collectively overcome with the help of their local leaders.

Among them, the principals cited conflicts with parents, protection of teachers from aggression, differences in viewpoints with other school officials and superiors, problems in classroom infrastructure and supplies, constant changing of positions and tedious workload.

But the most compelling one was the set of values and skills that they must adhere to as a guide for their decisions, actions and interactions with others.

Part II. Rediscovering The Roles Of The Principals

The training was anchored on the outcome of the self-awareness process where the principals rediscovered their roles and how they visualized their transformation as multi-dimensional leaders in their schools.

1. As CEO

   The principals identified a CEO as the highest leader in an organization or corporation who oversees everything from its vision to execution to sustainability.

   They pictured the CEO as the guy who:

   • Identifies the problems and priorities;
   • Establishes systems and defines processes;
   • Sets performance targets or expected outcomes;
   • Implements programs that will achieve expected outcomes; and
   • Undertakes the monitoring/assessment/evaluation of program results vs expected outcomes.

   The principals agreed that their role is like that of a CEO who is responsible and accountable for the school’s performance in terms of learning outcomes, stakeholder management and resource generation.

2. As a Mentor

   The principals identified a mentor as one who:

   • Welcomes and values opinions, ideas, advice from other people;
   • Trusts and shows appreciation for teachers’ work;
   • Knows, emphasizes and understands concerns of teachers;
   • Fosters democracy, objectivity, fairness and equity in decision-making and conflict resolution;
   • Focuses on issues without being influenced or pressured by others, including politicians; and
   • Ensures transparency, flexibility and accountability.

   The principals further agreed that as mentors, they must be role models to inspire others and through time, earn their respect and admiration.

3. As Listener and Consensus Builder

   Through a case study, the principals were exposed to a potential scenario which raised the questions of how a decision-making process can be more effective through a participatory model characterized by collective listening, insighting and consensus building.

   Specifically, the case study revolved around a situation where a principal employed the School Governing Council or SGC to gather inputs and ideas on how the school could increase its potential to obtain a higher passing rate on the National Achievement Test for its students.

   The principals found that while a participatory model helps in developing the values of shared responsibility, accountability and transparency and in strengthening empowerment and involvement of stakeholders, there are some

   disadvantages. These included inefficiency, lack of competency of some stakeholders, and invariably the prevalence of a less solution-oriented discussion.

   Ultimately, the principals agreed that there is good in a more consultative and inclusive process but there is scope for improving how it is done to ensure diversity, equity, transparency and integrity of decision-making. This is most relevant in school programs requiring community support like the Brigada Eskwela, school donation drive, and beautification/cleanliness projects.

4. As Team Leader and Collaborator

   The concept of team building and collaboration was introduced through creative exercises which resulted in the affirmation of certain truths for the principals, including: a. People have similarities and differences in beliefs, ideas, perspectives and experiences; b. Diversity brings about a different level of quality in the way people think, behave and act which on balance, offers a more thoughtful and provocative alternative to generating community-centric wisdom and building consensus.

   The principals acknowledged that the team-building process, from Forming, to Storming, Norming and Performing, is difficult and challenging. But with courage, determination, open communication and alignment in strategy and objectives, the principals agreed that their role as team builders and collaborators can succeed in creating more productive and high impact initiatives in reading and education.

5. As Culture Builders of Reading, Learning and Achievement

   The principals recognized that as effective school leaders, they help build and shape the culture of their schools in reading, learning and achievement, influence educational outcomes, and impact the lives of students, teachers, staff and communities.

   Culture building is a huge mission that not only rests on the shoulders of principals but on the entire educational ecosystem which needs to work together and support each other.

   The principals discussed various forms of support from the LSB/LGU, DepEd, teachers, parents and community leaders and members, including:

   1. LSB
      • school building, classroom
      • teaching and learning materials
      • salaries or allowances of non-teaching personnel
   2. Teachers
      • home visitation; one to one student tutorials/remediation
      • community outreach – advocacy campaign, check students’ absenteeism
      • conduct of sessions with parents
      • create school FB page to showcase school programs and accomplishments and achievement scores
      • weekly meeting of teachers e.g. LAC sessions
      • encourage parental support and commitment; collaborate with parents
   3. Parents
      • parental support e.g. follow up of lessons at home; become para-teachers
      • peer to peer learning and parents mentoring
      • regular meeting with teachers; build rapport with teachers
   4. DepEd
      • a dedicated room in school to be used as audio visual room for creative learning
      • additional plantilla position for teachers in Batad who will focus on struggling readers
   5. Principals
      • presence and visibility in school daily
      • classroom monitoring and follow up
      • teacher motivation
      • participatory model in decision making
      • high intellectual and emotional quotient (IQ and EQ)
      • passion for mentoring and belief in teachers’ capacity and efforts
      • role models
6. As Role Models

   To become outstanding role models, the principals were equipped with knowledge about personality development and leadership to boost their self-image and confidence while they are performing their jobs.

   The principals agreed that combined with competency and professionalism, a remarkable personality imbued with belief and trust in one’s capability and power to make a difference in their schools will boost their potential for higher success in their mission.

Part III. Learning the Value of Data and Its Use

The principals were asked, which is better – too much data, lacking data or no data?

This question extends to many local chief executives who may not appreciate achievement scores or performance data.

The development of the principals’ capacity to use, understand, analyze and manage data to design reading and learning programmes is thus a major objective of this training programme.

The concepts of ratios and percentages were introduced to understanding performance data and thus provide a more rational basis for interpretation and analysis and ultimately, better judgment and decision-making.

Using data on reading performance and percentage and ratio analysis, the principals drew some interpretations, such as,

• Grade 4 female students perform better than male students.
• There still are Grade 6 students who are struggling readers.
• There are more male struggling readers than female.
• There are more female independent readers than male.

This showed that using the reading scores, the appropriate interventions and teaching strategies can be designed to address the reading problem. For instance, Grade 6 students need remediation because there still are struggling readers.

The principals agreed that the proper use, analysis and presentation of data is a strategic tool for deriving sound, timely and effective solutions to reading and learning gaps and issues. It will also facilitate community participation and engagement and elevate discussions to a more data-based insighting and ideation on the best options to address problems.

Part IV. Parting Words from the Local Leaders

What sets the Province of Iloilo apart in this noble experiment on the devolution of basic education to LGUs is how their local leaders talk and walk their talk in the continuing quest for improving the future of our children through reading and education.

Governor Toto Defensor relentlessly emphasized the urgency of turning around from this reading and education crisis which essentially is becoming a threat to our national security.

Mayor Jerry Trenas strongly framed education as a process of “forming” beyond “informing” to deepen our understanding of people, of human capital, who need to be developed and capacitated through education as the fundamental drivers of economic and social transformation of our nation.

With these voices inspiring communities to think and act with a deeper sense of commitment and resolve for better education, how can LGUs fail?

Part V. Delivering Through Commitment and Action

Motivated and driven by their local leaders’ call for commitment and action, the principals consolidated their individual school work plans aimed towards achieving the goal of making every Grade 3 student a reader by the end of SY 2024-2025.

The plans included:

1. Conducting a pre-assessment of students to get a baseline and know their weaknesses and needs in reading;
2. Meeting with teachers, parents and other stakeholders including the Mayor and LSB mayors to develop a comprehensive reading plan;
3. Strategic planning for reading and learning interventions like remediation, provision of reading materials, etc;
4. Training of teachers on better strategies and approaches to improve reading, peer-to-peer mentoring, sharing of creative teaching strategies and principals’ mentoring of teachers;
5. Training of parents to support reading lessons at home;
6. Conducting home visitation of struggling readers and doing one-to-one tutorials;
7. Monitoring progress of students’ performance through regular classroom observation and monitoring by principals;
8. Sharing of teachers’ best practices which can be done during Learning Action Cell (LAC) sessions;
9. Conducting students’ post-assessment;
10. Organizing assessment, analyzing results and preparing evaluation reports;
11. Presenting the results to school stakeholders and the LGU/LSB and providing recognition and incentives to the highest performing class; and
12. Planning for the sustainability of the reading program with the support of LGU/LSB.

Source: Synergeia

March 30, 2023

The study is a persuasive case of how critical the Special Education Fund (SEF) is in the delivery of basic education in the Philippines. The 2018 SEF of P32.98 billion was 15% bigger than the Maintenance and Operating Expenditures (MOOE) that were given to schools by the national government (P28.6 billion). On a per capita basis, the SEF of eight (8) Regions was bigger than the per capita MOOE that the Regions received.

Source: Synergeia

13 August 2022

In the last 15 years, Valenzuela City has evolved from a laidback and nondescript town to a progressive and bustling city. It has developed into a major economic and industrial centre in the country. The growth and forward-looking stance of Valenzuela City can be attributed to its immediate past and current leadership.

Valenzuela is known as the city with innovative practices. Leaders from all over the country have made it a favourite site for study tours or “lakbay-aral.” The City’s significant reforms on governance encourage other cities and municipalities to replicate and organize similar programs.

Alongside economic progress, the City puts a premium in the quality education of the children from Valenzuela. Typically, education is not within the wheelhouse of the local government and is often left under the Department of Education.

But Mayor Rex Gatchalian is out of the ordinary — taking on the trailblazing role of leading the implementation of the Valenzuela City’s Education 360° Investment Program. Launched in 2013, the Education 360° Investment Program is a holistic, comprehensive, systemic, community-driven and student-centric program that revolutionized the public education system in Valenzuela City.

The City government focuses on all aspects of student’s learning. It adopts a “cover-all-fronts” strategy and invests in every vital aspect of basic education – school supplies, curriculum, nutrition, teacher competency, parental involvement, sports and infrastructure. Through deep community involvement, the program aims to provide every Valenzuelano with quality basic education and produce a globally competitive citizen.

The Education 360° Investment Program consists of the following components:

1. Facilities Build Up: Facilities that inspire learning
2. Nanay Teacher Parenting Camp: Parents engaged for learning
3. Teaching Camp: Capacity-building for Valenzuelano teachers
4. Curriculum Development: Manualizing of operations
5. Reading Camp: Hitting the problem at its core – illiteracy
6. K to 6 Feeding Program: Rallying volunteers to combat malnutrition
7. Performance Incentives Program: Incentivizing performance equals higher attendance rate, higher degree of interest
8. Inclusive Learning: Special Education and strengthening of Alternative Learning System (ALS)
9. Well-rounded, Balanced Student Program: Tying up moral values to baseball and street soccer (sports skills)

The Mayor believes in participatory governance. Broad ownership of programs brings out enthusiastic involvement, shared accountability and gives opportunities to community members to contribute.

Empowerment starts with informing and listening to residents. The city government regularly conducts consultations with different sectors, school summits, and workshops with teachers and parents. These are opportunities to discuss the state of education in the City: how many are in school, how many are dropping out, how many are performing well, and why children are under-performing. The workshops turn into a listening session. Residents, local leaders, parents and teachers share their dreams for the students and the realities that they face. Their difficulties and inadequacies become the basis of programs that will be collaboratively undertaken by the community and will be funded by the SEF budget. The Education 360° Investment Program was formulated through consultations, listening and participatory planning.

Expansion of LSB

Citing Synergeia’s mantra of “Building a Constituency to Make Education Work,” Valenzuela City strengthened its LSB by expanding the composition of its membership through Executive Order 2019-324.

In addition to the LSB members mandated by the Local Government Code, the following are made part of the expanded LSB:

• President, Liga ng mga Barangay
• City Budget Officer
• Head, City Communications Office
• Head, Office of Senior Citizens’ Affairs
• DedEd Chief Education Supervisor, Curriculum Implementation
• Representative from Association of Private Schools
• Fr. Lito Caluag, Chaplain of Our Lady of Fatima University
• Representatives from Splash Foundation, Foodsphere Inc. (CDO) Foundation, Fatima Hospital
• Project managers of Education 360 program components (Nanay-Tatay, Reading Camp, SPED, ALS, Sports, Feeding, Teachers Camp)

To streamline meetings and decision-making, the expanded membership of LSB was clustered into multiple technical working groups headed by action officers/project managers. This makes work faster and more efficient. There is no need to call the whole expanded LSB to discuss specific issues that do not concern everyone.

Forming LSB committees allow for a more even playing field, ensuring that everyone is able to contribute and make their voice heard. By giving members this kind of opportunity, discussions and meetings will not only be more productive but more value adding for the team as well.

The Mayor stressed that bite-size programs should be owned by smaller teams and action officers. By challenging people to take ownership of their work, he encourages them to make things happen. These teams are tasked to meet regularly and report back to the LSB.

This system does not only speed things up but also allows the teams to develop a level of expertise or specialization in the areas of ALS, sports, feeding and so forth.

The regular LSB meeting is set every third Friday of the month. But in reality, the board meets at least twice a month or more. Core group meetings are held regularly. Project Managers convene regular committee meetings as well.

Dr. Meliton Zurbano, Schools Division Superintendent (SDS) of Valenzuela shared that he goes to the City Hall every week for meetings. He said in jest that he is more often seen at City Hall than in his office at DepEd.

Mayor Rex epitomizes the new breed of leaders – restless, energetic and believing wholeheartedly that things can be done better and more efficiently. He demands order in things. And he demands it from himself and from people around him.

His passion for education has moved him to directly takeover the transformation of education system in Valenzuela. He took the helm in planning and implementing a program using a bottom-up approach. Instead of piecemeal reforms, the city government embarked on a holistic approach that will strengthen all the processes which affect basic education.

Mayor Rex said, “The Education 360 Investment Program is systemic – this is its strongest selling point because we acknowledge that there are multiple dynamics at play. You need a lot of components to solve these problems.”

The Mayor is fondly called the “Other Superintendent.” He has a good picture of the current situation of education in the City, its performance successes, challenges and areas requiring attention. He is always up with new ideas and confers with the LSB on how else to improve programs. His energy influences others to do their job and do it well.

He sees to it that every action is oriented towards improving the LSB’s ability to meet the needs of every Valenzuelano child.

Formulation of SEF Budget

School principals convene and carry out the improvement planning process. Principals determine areas that need to be prioritized based on their School Improvement Plans (SIPs). The submitted proposals are consolidated and submitted to SDS for evaluation.

The proposed SEF budget prepared by the school level and city level are consolidated and submitted to the LSB Chair.

The annual budget calendar is prepared before the end of the year. It includes the plans of the LSB, budget estimates and indicative calendar for both division and city-initiated programs.

The Budget Officer stated that the Education 360 Investment Program is anchored on the City’s Comprehensive Development Plan. DepEd’s Division Education Development Plan (DEDP) falls under the Education 360 Program.

Action Officers and working groups of the Education 360 discuss, deliberate and evaluate the different programs. Any adjustments — enhancements, deletion/addition, scaling up or revision will be taken into consideration in the preparation of SEF budget.

Examples of adjustments include:

• Reformatting of Nanay-Tatay-Teacher Program
• Anticipated increase of ALS participants
• Decline in number of feeding beneficiaries / new program addressing malnutrition

The proposed budget from the school level and Education 360 programs are consolidated and reviewed by Budget Officer before it is presented to the LSB.

The Budget Officer said that the project/activity estimates depend on the type of expenditure and number of beneficiaries, if applicable.

It is the City Treasurer who estimates how much SEF revenues can be budgeted by the LSB. The basis of estimates is the collection of the previous year plus an increment of ten percent (10%).

The LSB sets targets and performance indicators for the SEF budget for the year. According to SDS, the LSB uses the targets and indicators set by the DepEd.

Disagreements arise when the Mayor increases the targets higher than the standard indexes.

The preparation of the SEF budget is a collaborative effort of the following key players:

1. Mayor – approval of SEF budget
2. Project Managers of Education 360 components:
   • Vice Mayor Lorie Borja – Reading Camp/Feeding Programs
   • Councilors Rovin Feliciano/Tyson Sy – Sports Program
   • Councilor Charee Pineda – ALS
   • Councilor Carreon – Anti-bullying
   • Core (voting) members of the LSB – review of proposed budget

After thorough review, planning and evaluation of the proposed SEF budget, the LSB passes a resolution authorizing spending of the SEF and the Mayor gives his approval of the disbursements of the SEF budget.

SEF spending

The LSB follows the standard procurement process for services, goods, repair, maintenance and utilities. If amount is more than one million Pesos, it would go through the standard bidding procedure.

The Mayor stated that nothing is disbursed over the budget, and no expense is allowed to exceed beyond what has been allocated. The Budget officer ensures that prices are reasonable and competitive.

The SDS prepares a quarterly report which is submitted to DepEd Central. The Budget Officer also submits a report to COA.

The LSB adheres to the principle of transparency and full-disclosure of budget spending. This information is posted on the official website of the City and transparency boards are located at three conspicuous places.

Revenue enhancement

Valenzuela City gained recognition for its resourceful tax collection efforts and honest utilization of funds. The City ranked first in Local Revenue Collection Efficiency in the National Capital Region (NCR) and second among all the cities nationwide for fiscal year 2017. It also registered the highest sum in the Real Property Taxes (RPT) in the region in the same year.

When asked if the LSB engages in any activity to increase the SEF collection, Mayor Rex was quick to say “No.” He said the LSB only knows how to spend.

Revenue enhancement is the responsibility of the Mayor and the City’s revenue enhancement team. As the number of children in the City grows every year, their needs increase as well.

The Mayor stressed the importance of building the SEF through continued efficient tax collection alongside streamlining of spending.

What can we learn from Valenzuela’s LSB?

The most powerful lesson for Valenzuela may not only emerge on the strategies themselves but the processes through which they are created – a concerted process that puts welfare of the student at the centre. In the face of piecemeal approaches to achieving higher quality learning experience, Valenzuela provides an alternative driven by a culture of collaboration, consultation and teamwork.

The Mayor cites what a revitalized LSB requires:

• The expanded LSB membership makes it more representative and participatory.
• LSB is turned into a consultative body which makes it less “Mayor-centric.”
• SEF budget is “Of the Students, By the Students, For the Students.”
• Change of mindset to make it more data-driven.
• Empower and unshackle the LSB to enable it to formulate programs to address pressing matters on the ground but not limited to supplemental programs.

Source: Synergeia

April 28, 2022

The topic given to me is critical thinking but I want to add problem-solving because critical thinking is really used to harness problem solving, so let us start with a problem.

You land a gig for three weeks and are given two options for payment:

Option A: You are paid P100 for the first day, P200 for the second, P300 for the third, and on and on up to 21 days. Each day, you are paid P100 more than the previous day.

Option B: You are paid P1 for the first day, P2 for the second, P4 for the third, also up to 21 days. Each day, you are paid double the amount of the prior day.

Which do you choose?

Because I only have 20 minutes, I won’t ask you to answer this. But if we had longer time, I would have asked you to solve this one and give me the answer. I often give this to my students. When the pandemic started, I decided that there be some Mathematics behind it. But this was in April 2020. We did not know much about the pandemic yet and people were quite scared. Of course, I used money because that is what most people want to know about. Pre-pandemic, almost all my students said they preferred Letter A. But after I asked them to get their hands dirty, which means they literally had to write down each amount and add them for 21 days, then they get a shock because this is what is going to happen:

Week 1, it is obvious that A trumps B. Week 2, though, B is more than A. Week 3, which is horrendous: 12,600 vs 2-M. In Mathematics, you call the first one linear growth. The second one is called exponential growth. Virus spread is exponential. It’s not linear. You can start with one person and you can get two million in Week 3. So that was my explanation. People did not know what it meant. That is one example of critical thinking and reasoning in Mathematics. 

I will go straight to what researchers say. How do we develop critical thinking? I wanted to get researchers who are Asian. I share the bias of Fr. Ben Nebres. He says we should learn from our Asian neighbors more than those of the West, so most of my literature would be Asian—how Asians do critical thinking and problem-solving. Most important of all is you have to master basic skills. You can’t really do critical thinking without them. That’s what shocks me sometimes. I’ve attended so many conferences on critical thinking. They have lots and lots of nice Power Point terms and, basically, the kids can’t do anything because they lack the basic skills. This is the elephant in the room that people do not want to talk about.

You cannot be innovative if you don’t have the basic skills, and this is what people don’t like. Many of my students hate it. They immediately want to get into the razzle dazzle of Math but they can’t even do Arithmetic sometimes. But after you master basic skills, we emphasize reasoning logic validity. They can identify possible solutions, evaluating, justifying, allowing them to be critical thinkers.

Meta cognition in psychology is also becoming a fad. It is a good fad—thinking about thinking, number sense. An example of number sense would be this: I would get very, very disappointed, and I tell that to my students when they do not even think about whether their answers make sense. For instance, just in basic probability, you ask them if you have a deck of cards, what is the possibility that when you pick one card randomly from 52 cards in the deck, it would be a heart? Usually, the answer would be one fourth. Sometimes, they would say one-fifth, one-sixth, two-thirds, that is fine. But what really irks me, and I do tell them is sometimes, is I would get an answer of – 6.4. I say, “What the heck is that?” Especially if we define probability to be anywhere between zero—zero means it will never happen—or 1 which means it is certain to happen. The answer must be a positive number, except that zero is neither positive nor negative, so zero to one. So, one-third, one-half, two-thirds, .6. It’s fine. But -6.2 probability doesn’t even make sense so there’s no critical thinking or meta cognition involved.

I have talked to certain professors in the Ateneo. Fr. Jett has a Physics degree. One of them, Dr. Joel Maquiling, tells me the horror stories he gets when he poses (very basic for him) mechanics questions to students. When the answer is something like a hundred kilometers, he tells me he would get an answer of two million. And he would just laugh. How could it be two million? Can’t you think about the validity of what you’re saying. So, that’s also critical thinking. That afflicts also, by the way, adults. But no time to talk about that.

Critical thinking guides students to identify scenarios, evaluate, select problem-solving strategies (this alone is what Fr Nebres and I teach), identify possible conclusions (and see if they are logical), describe, summarize, and indicate how they can be applied to more advanced problems and to real life. Focused thinking, planning, and strategizing are key aspects of organizational success, decision-making, and making life choices.

Going back to basic skills and applying them. This is a poster done by Ningning Roble and Dr. Nene Guevarra. Recently, my son and I did a Singapore math workshop with a hundred thousand teachers across the country. And there was no way out. Rather than giving a lecture, we spent three Saturday mornings, went overtime for all of them. The only way to do problem solving is to get your hands dirty and really solve the problem rather than theorize about it. Many of the people who theorize are actually so scared of getting their hands dirty. So, I was quite impressed by the tenacity of many of the teachers. I remember one teacher was up on a tree and you guys called her to answer and waited patiently for her to come down from the tree to do the solution. That inspired me so much. I told this to my students and I said none of you are on a tree, so please do not tell us you don’t have Wi-Fi. So, if there’s a will, there’s a way and it is problem solving. This young teacher wanted to learn. She did not have Wi-Fi, so she climbed a tree. That’s problem-solving.

Synergeia is at the forefront of doing Math. This is Basic Math plus problem-solving. This is the Model method; this is what we did. This forum is hosted by Singapore, so you know what Singapore Math is. We took this from your curriculum. I had a chat with some of your LOE before and Marshall Cavendish, the one who published the biggest textbook on Singapore Math. We are using it in the Philippines, in many schools. It is called the Model Approach and it’s learning by doing. I’ll do one more problem because this one has an obvious answer. Be honest with what your immediate gut answer is.

A big burger and giant fries together cost P100. The burger costs P90 more than the fries. What are the cost of the burger and the cost of the fries? If we are honest with ourselves, most of the time, the gut answer is, the burger costs P90 and the fries cost P10. That’s almost always the gut answer and of course it’s not.

This can be easily done with Algebra and, believe it or not, I’ve given this to several groups, ranging from Ateneo Grade 2 (they have a Magis Class, Grade 2 Grade 3). Before the pandemic, I used to give talks to them. We have the college, all the way to the executives. The ones that cannot answer this were the adults, the CEOs. The ones who did the best were the middle school students, not the primary but the middle school. Grades 6, 7 students did so much better. College students were very scared because they did not want to make mistakes. which is so sad. When they were younger, they were so open. The executives were not scared of making mistakes, but they made mistakes. The answer is not 9 and 10. The real answer is 95 and 5. Easy. When you get to think of the problem for a while, it’s easy.

Life is not about living without problems. I am at the forefront of mental health, which is sapping a lot of my energy. I prefer to stay in Mathematics. My students tell me life is difficult. I tell them, well that’s life. And many of them try to escape–social media and all that stuff. Gaming. It’s really escapist. A little bit of social media, a little bit of gaming is not bad to de-stress but getting addicted to it is not solving problems.

George Polya is the father of mathematics problem-solving. You can only learn it by imitation and practice. These are his four steps: understand, make a plan, do the plan, look back. These are all the problem-solving strategies that we use. When Fr. Ben and I teach the class, we go through the examples of these in Step 2. We give problems, sometimes problems that we don’t even know the answer to. You call it non-routine problem-solving.

I don’t know if I still have time, but just to tell students that Math can be hip, this is a clip from Die Hard…

(shows movie clip)

This is an example of a very old Mathematics problem. If you have a three-liter container and a five-liter container, how do you get four liters from three and five? That is a very simplistic problem. The students love it. They get their hands dirty. This is one way of doing it—you fill it up first, minus, add subtract, another one would be this, etc. What we do because we want to stretch their thoughts, after getting their answer, which practically everybody gets, we would ask them to stretch it and ask, “What is the general pattern that you see?” Suppose you have 10 liters and 8 liters: how do you get nine? And we would ask the computer science people to do a program. We would ask the business people to do something. We would ask the Math people to use calculus, etc. etc. One small problem would lead us to lots and lots of bigger problems which, despite themselves, the students find interesting.

What do we need for critical thinking? Grit. People who are very impatient, who want instant gratification, who, if they don’t know something, immediately Google the answer cannot be critical thinkers. The definition, mali na. It’s wrong. It can’t be done. Angela Duckworth defines grit as very long-term goals. Not just for the week, but for years. Life is a marathon and not a sprint and in my Positive Psych class, we talk about Carol Dweck’s fixed and growth mindsets wherein I really embrace challenges instead of avoiding them, persevere instead of giving up, and what I would really like to enjoin if there is a way, Konrad Adenauer, Synergeia, I myself and several other science teachers—Ateneo’s School of Science and Engineering (SOSE), finished a resilience study because, in the pandemic, we are not too happy with the resilience of several students yet we were very happy with the grit of some. So we wanted to see.

For science, you really need grit because there is no way you can do fast science. We were not very happy when several students run from error, when they ignore negative feedback. You give them feedback and they get mad, they cry, they avoid new experiences. The students tell it this way: they don’t really trust each other. Rather than friends, they have frenemies so they are really threatened if somebody else is successful.

We did a study on what makes our science students gritty. The Asian value would be: faith is there to my surprise. Many of the gritty students say they really find comfort and strength in faith. Which is not a Western finding. I was very shocked by that. Faith and, of course, being Filipinos, family is such a support. That one didn’t come out in Western literature, and friends who hold them accountable. This is all part and parcel of critical thinking, especially the second part. And cheating is rampant, not just in our country but world-wide. I was talking to a Western educator. Googling is not learning They Google the meaning of their lives. Which is so sad. A series of problems either defeat you or develop you depending on how you respond to it. And that’s it. Thank you.

Source: Synergeia

By Malio Aguilar

It takes him up to a week to make a video that lasts less than 20 minutes, but 38-year old teacher Arthur Datul thinks it’s a small price to pay for something that will benefit his students.

Datul, from Cabagan, Isabela, began his own YouTube channel called “Mestru Arthur” in 2019, posting mostly personal videos. But the pandemic that began last year which barred in-person learning prompted him to focus on producing educational videos for the Grade 8 and 10 students in his World History and Social Studies classes in Delfin Albano High School.

His first one, where he discussed world history for Grade 8 students, was shared by his fellow teachers in their respective classes and racked up nearly 50,000 views on YouTube. It inspired him to create more educational content, and he has made several video lessons since then on world history and social studies.

“I wanted to help and inspire my students since there are no face-to-face classes,” he says. “I’m just overwhelmed by the response I got.”

The videos were meant to supplement the self-learning modules of his students. He monitors them daily through their Facebook chat group by sending them messages about their learning progress.

His success as a vlogger caught the attention of TV Eskwela, a program produced by the Department of Education where teachers discuss lessons on air as the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools across the country, forcing learners to study from their homes.

He was invited to give a video lesson in Social Studies, putting him back in a familiar ground, having previously worked for a similar educational broadcasting service called Radyo Eskwela where he was a scriptwriter, voice talent and content editor.

Great cause

Datul has been teaching for six years now. Before that, he worked overseas for eight years, taking up non-teaching jobs in Dubai and Taiwan.

Apart from being a full-time teacher and a part-time vlogger, he is working on a doctorate degree in Educational Management at the Cagayan State University Andrews Campus in Tuguegarao City.

He is also the breadwinner in the family, and helps raise his nieces and nephews who live with him in the same house he shares with his siblings and parents and who feature in his fun videos every now and then.

Despite finding success as a vlogger, Datul says it’s more of a passion project for him. “I will keep on making inspirational videos for my students, for my school and for my community,” he said. “It’s a priceless feeling to know that somebody appreciates your effort.”

Datul has been active in his community even before he became a content creator, hosting events in school and in the local government. He says his videos are also aimed at raising awareness for both learners and community members at a time of great uncertainty.

Cabagan is among the 421 local government units that Synergeia Foundation works with to lift the quality of basic education in the Philippines, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Children’s Fund with support from the Government of Japan.

Datul said his relationship with Synergeia began during the pandemic when he was invited in a virtual meeting with the local government.

“I have a lot of plans in mind on how I can make an impact in the education of our Cabagan learners and stakeholders. I am very thankful that I am part of this great cause,” he said.

“I will keep on inspiring and honing young minds the best way I could. And I am grateful that through Synergeia and the strong support from our local government, I was able to build a stronger and wider connection with others,” he added.

Source: Synergeia