Esteban School Wins 4th MISAA Chess

The Chess Team of Esteban School captured the crown of the Middle Years Program (MYP) Division of the 4th Manila International Schools Athletic Association (MISAA) Chess Tournament yesterday at the Auditorium of the Beacon School, Taguig City.

There were three participating schools for the fourth edition of MISAA chess tournament, St. Scholastica's College-Westgrove with four teams, Beacon School and Esteban School. Chief arbiter for the event was NA Gatz Luz while Richard Sales acted as the tournament director.

MISAA is a league composed of schools having an average student population of five hundred and below with a mission to provide students a venue where they can play and compete in sports in the context of camaraderie and sportsmanship.

Although there were some questionable behaviors coming from one of the coaches during the tournament, I can say that the event served its purpose and provided the student-players the necessary experience to further their skills in the game.

Final Ranking after 5 Rounds:

Esteban School with Game Points (GP) of 19 and Match Points (MP) of 10. St. Scholastica's College Westgrove A (GP) 13.5 and (MP) 7. Beacon School (GP) 12.5 and (MP) 7. St. Scholastica - W B took the 4th spot, D took the fifth and C on the 6th.

Individual board performance after 5 rounds for my team, Beacon School:

Board 1: Isa, 4 points with a rating performance of 1640. Good for a silver medal award.
Board 2: Jae Ha, 3 points with a rating performnace of 1472. Good for a 4th place position.
Board 3: James, 2.5 points with a rating performance of 1400. Good for a 3rd place spot.
Board 4: Tomas, 3 points with a rating performance of 1472.   Good for a 4rd place position.

Photos from the event to follow. See you soon guys!

Special Education: Lecture Notes 1

I finally had the time to post here. I thought of sharing to you our discussion notes in our MA class under Dr. Waldet Sison, Program Modification in Special Education. We meet once a week for 3 hours at six in the evening. How's that for teachers who spend eight hours in school?

Thanks to Ms. Bernadette Bachini for doing the following: recording our class discussion,  transcribing the audio and sharing it to the whole class. Man that's effort and selflessness! Thanks to Ms. Ria too for readily sharing some of the notes I missed when I had to skip one session due to some personal reasons.

Enjoy the supply of  lecture notes:

modif_1[1]

And here are the links for 3 more notes: Differentiation of Teamwork in Special Education setting, SpEd Program Concepts/Models  and Illustration of Models in Sped Programs.

30 Full Scholarship Grants for Teachers in RP

Hello there once again!

With all the carnapping and brutal killings happening in and around Central Luzon and natural disasters randomly striking anywhere around the globe, here is one news that's refreshing for Filipino teachers:

From the Office of School of Education and Human Development of the University of Asia and the Pacific:

"We are now campaigning for our scholarship programs for the upcoming academic year June 2011. Kindly help us spread our announcement. We are looking for 30 teachers who would like to take their MA for free."  

UAP Scholarship Announcement


Related documents: UAP Scholarship Application Form and UAP Scholarship Recommendation Form.

Thanks again to Ms. Josephine Teves for the infos.

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

I found a presentation about Bloom's Revised Taxonomy on Scribd and I really, really want to share this to all of you. As a brief backgrounder for the topic, Benjamin Bloom thought of developing this idea in the 1950's. This so-called Taxonomy has been adapted and used for classroom as a planning tool. More than fifty years later, it still is used almost universally. It provides a way to organize thinking skills into six levels, from the most basic to the more complex levels of thinking. 

In the 1990's, thanks to Lorin Anderson, a former student of Benjamin Bloom, revisited the taxonomy and had the guts to revise it and made even helpful for teachers and trainers. 

Read below:

Blooms Revised Taxonomy Presentation for Teachers New

Thanks to mbernardhi for the upload!

Chess Teaching Materials Arrived

I finally got my new chess teaching materials courtesy of my sister based in New York.  Last night I finally had time and energy to go through the stuff and while I was at it, I can't help but wonder and ask myself "Why can't Filipinos produce wonderful tutorial and guide materials like these?

Let me tell you what I got.

Learn Chess in 30 Minutes DVD by GM Susan Polgar. This one is a superb production meant for absolute beginners. Talk about teaching chess to those who need it most. I've read and heard chess scholars, experts, masters and even bloggers talk and write about chess teaching and chess coaching. Some say you have to be rated 2000+ to even think about chess coaching. Some say all you need is a good communication skills. Some weirdos even question other coaches for getting into the thing called chess coaching.

But this work by Susan Polgar on Learn Chess in 30 Minutes clearly tells us that to have chess students for your profession called chess coaching, you must have people interested in chess and one way to grow this sector of the society is to make sure they at least know the basics of the game and those are all in the DVD.

So if you ask me why I teach or coach chess probably you have an idea why. First, I am a teacher by nature and I just can't help but share something I truly believed is worth my student's time. Second, I believe in the power of chess as a source of academic skills like concentration and logical thinking. Chess as an academic tool is something the educational system should really go into.

So my rating for this DVD, with 5 stars as the highest I give 5!

Aside from the DVD of Susan Polgar, I also have with me now the 3 volume book Teaching Chess Step by Step. A foreword from Garry Kasparov at the beginning of the book, one realizes that the former world chess champion also believes in the developmental aspect of teaching and learning.

People from the academe and chess combined to create a concise but well-thought out work, Teaching Chess Step by Step is one teacher's guide that everyone should have working with children. People from the Garry Kasparov Foundation did their work.

Now let me go offline and say thank you to my sister!

Legaspi Wins Magnolia Rapid Chess

Gary Legaspi won the recently held 1st Saturday Magnolia Rapid Chess Tournament with a score of 6 points out of 7 rounds. He claimed the top spot via tiebreaks against Jerry Areque and Efren Arguelles.

The nth Edition of the 1st Saturday Magnolia Rapid Chess Tournament was held in cooperation with the Baranggay Don Bosco Chess Club and Chess Arbiters Association of the Philippines and Magnolia Products of San Miguel Corporation.

Congratulations to everyone and thank you to Mr. Gatz Luz for the infos.

1st Saturday Final Standing  

Seminar: Dissolving Boundaries for Children with Special Needs

Hi there!

An invitation to attend the seminar, Dissolving Boundaries for Children with Special Needs to be held on January 29, 2011 at the PLDT Hall, APEC Communications Building, University of Asia and the Pacific from 8:30 to 5:00 pm.

Speakers will be Ms. Genevieve Rivadelo and Ms. Ma. Lourdes Pacaldo.  

Here's the seminar program:

CDE Program 1 UAP Seminar

Check out DepEd Advisory No. 243, s 2010 for details.  

Thanks to Ms. Josephine Teves for the info.

Manuel L. Quezon III: Escaping the Comfort Bubble

Well you know who mlq3 is and you simply adore his works, ideas and everything the man has done for our beloved homeland, the Philippines. Its a shame though that his YouTube video I found has a handful of views. in a time when senseless and junk videos online gain a million viewers in less than a month, educational and helpful videos are left out.

So let me take the chance to share this wonderful, insight-provoking and bubble bursting talk by Manuel L. Quezon III. To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Beacon School, a bimonthly series of Beacon Talks is presented for parents and teachers.

Escaping the Comfort Bubble in 3 parts:







Here's another one, Beacon Talks: Perfect Storms Ahead by Dean Tony La Vina.