The Justin Bieber Experience

If you are like me who has a daughter in her twinner years, you are most likely tormented on a daily basis by this phenomenon called Justin Bieber:



And weekend music at home is just too monotonous with all those baby, baby and favorite girl lines which get you into "last song syndrome" mode.

Special Education: Lecture Notes 3

After spending the Valentine's evening writing our midterm exam in our class, we spent the next Monday assessing special education programs and dissecting other program elements as well.

Below is one transcription of our discussion:

Elements Special Ed Program


It doesn't take a genius to realize these elements most specially if you have been in the practice for a decade or more. In fact you tend to forget such "insignificant" bulleted ideas when you are in the classrooms. I really hope the global education system will follow the IBO Practice.

For the armchair learners, here are two more transcriptions from our class discussions: Elements of SPED Programming 1 and Early Childhood Program for Sped.

And yes, the 25th Anniversary celebration of EDSA ended last night with all the singing and dancing while Filipinos in Libya, New Zealand are trying to keep their lives and hopes alive!

That's the f#@$ing spirit of EDSA!

25 Years After EDSA Revolution

I was ten when the EDSA Revolution happened. My dad was there joining thousands of Filipinos rallying for the ouster of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. No classes for almost a week and all we had to do was pray the Holy Rosary with our worried mom.

After the People Power Revolt, the whole Philippine Society lived optimistically for awhile but as soon as the People Power fever subsided the nation plunged back to its old, backward ways.

While the rich are living it up, the poor are living below minimum wage.

What does EDSA Revolution really mean for us Filipinos?

I feel the same way as Dong Abay of Yano does:



Alfred de Vigny once said "History is a novel for which the people is the author."  

1st Mini Special Olympics in St. Scholastica's College

Here is a write-up sent in by my Ms. Hazel Tan, a former colleague who now teaches/trains future special needs education teachers in St. Scholastica's College, Special Education program.

SSC Ed Soc holds its 1^st Mini Special Olympics

Hazel Musngi-Tan

It was Tuesday morning.  The sun was bright --not too hot.  The wind was blowing, the air was cool –truly a perfect day for an Olympics.  But this was not just any Olympics.  This was Education Society’s first Mini Special Olympics for children with special needs.  Under the guidance of their moderator and professors, with the organizational skills and commitment of our Education Society officers, and the enthusiastic participation of all our future teachers, this was truly a fun-filled educational experience for all.  Participated in by around 46 students with exceptionalities, along with their teachers, from three different special schools in Makati and Paranaque, this event truly rocked St. Scholastica’s field that morning.  Despite the magnitude 4 earthquake that was said to rock Manila earlier that day, it felt more like a magnitude 7 as the SSC field wobbled and trembled as little students, big students, teachers and parents all thundered to the field as they jumped, ran, danced and played ball all in the spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship. 

Children with special needs from ages 5 to 25 along with their “ates” from the Education Department gathered in front of the stage at around 8:30 in the morning for some pre-game warm ups and exercises led by the 4^th year students.  The oath of sportsmanship was led by Jeko Soquiat, a young boy with autism, from Pio Makati Sped Center.  After which, the students were divided into groups and sent off to the game stations.  They participated in the long jump, ball catching, obstacle course, three legged-race, doughnut eating contest, and many others. 

After playing and sweating it out on the field, everyone was entertained by a song number from Erica See, a freshman ECE major.  Some talented students from the different schools also came up on stage to sing or dance with the music. Everybody’s energy was still up that nobody seemed to feel hungry even as the food and drinks were served.  During all these, face painting was also ongoing as some of our artistically talented Educ students made canvasses out of our little visitors’ arms and faces.

Everybody ended the morning with lots of hugs, kisses, goodbyes and promises of seeing each other again.  Thank you to everybody who took part and made this event a very fun learning experience for all.

Other activities during the Ed Soc week include:

• Talk of Mr. Isagani Cruz on the Enhanced K+12 Education Curriculum


• Talk of Mrs. Dang Kao on the Journey of a mother of a child with Autism


• Awareness Exhibit which was prepared by the First year students


• Talk of Kcat Yarza, a young lady affected by Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2)


• Science Quiz Bee featuring Early Childhood Science lessons


• Story Telling and Puppet Show for street children from Child Hope of Asia

Booths were also set up near the SSC field promoting various products which included:

• Handcrafted items made by persons with disabilities (PWD) from Tahanang Walang Hagdanan


• Kcat Yarza’s designed shirts, mugs, baller tags and other items which serve as fundraising for her medical treatments


• Autism Society of the Philippines’ products which includes the Angel’s Walk for Autism tshirts


• The Teacher Store, an all-in-one store of teaching aids and materials made for a teacher’s needs


• Grasshopper Preschool Kits, for parents and teachers of preschoolers

Congratulations to the Education Society of St. Scholastica's College!

Adam Sandler Films

He is ten years older than I am but his choice of music for his films reflect the same music I like. Last Sunday I watched his latest film, Just Go With It and it made us laugh all through the screening time. Adam Sandler's movies are hilarious!

Here is one music video I really like from one of his films:

Donaire KO's Montiel

Nonito Donaire Jr. is the King of the Bantamweights after he sent Fernando Montiel of Mexico to the canvass in the second round match of their fight yesterday. With the win, Donaire Jr. the World Bozing Council and the World Boxing Organization Bantamweight Titles.

Checking the Wikipedia entry for the Filipino boxing champ, I learned that he is an ambidextrous fighter who switches to the southpaw for a defensive purposes and then uses the orthodox stance for attacking. Surely this is something every opponent must worried about.



Visit the Official Website of Filipino Flash to learn more about his career.

Education Society of St. Scholastica's College

There are two major events coming up from the Kolasa's and here are the announcements:

The Education Society of St. Scholastica's College - Manila invites you to attend the seminar "K + 6 + 4 + 2: A Primer on the Enhanced K + 12 Basic Education Curriculum" on February 21, 2011 from eight until eleven in the morning with the former Philippine Undersecretary of Education and Adviser of the Steering Committee for K + 12, Dr. Isagani Cruz.

The 1st Mini Olympics, Games for Children with Special Needs is happening on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at the College Field of St. Scholastica's College from eight to eleven in the morning.

For details and inquiries, visit the Official Website of St. Scholastica's College.

IBO: Making the PYP Happen

I found my book, Making the PYP Happen,  after a month of searching and when I did I realized its been six years since I had the in-house teacher training. I've been teaching and working in the international schools circuit for the last eight years and so far, the IBO system has shown that it does work.

This is the educational system that leads the way to learning for life with focus on teaching the students skills for life and not just for academic purposes. If you read the document here and truthfully apply the beliefs and values of PYP, you'll know this is the reason why you went into teaching.

Central to the PYP beliefs and values and the entire International Baccalaureate Organization is the statement below:

The mission statement of the International Baccalaureate Organisation Through comprehensive and balanced curricula coupled with challenging assessments, the International Baccalaureate Organisation aims to assist schools in their endeavours to develop the individual talents of young people and teach them to relate the experience of the classroom to the realities of the world outside. Beyond intellectual rigour and high academic standards, strong emphasis is placed on the ideals of international understanding and responsible citizenship, to the end that IB students may become critical and compassionate thinkers, lifelong learners and informed participants in local and world affairs, conscious of the shared humanity that binds all people together while respecting the variety of cultures and attitudes that makes for the richness of life.

I have practiced in almost all academic settings which include the public schools, private schools, rehabilitation clinics and orphanage but it is the IBO way that really matters. An educational system that caters to the needs of the 21st century global citizen.

If you have the opportunity to be in an IB school, grab it and learn from it.  It is probably the best in the world.  
 

Trial Posting by Gmail

The start of my long weekend begins today. The second term ended
yesterday, February 18 and students will be back midweek next week. So
here I am doing a trial entry through my Gmail account. Let's see how
it goes!

Chess Lessons for Free

I gave up up the lifestyle of a freelance teacher, chess coach and resource speaker. I took a teaching job in the only fully accredited international school in the Philippines by IBO, I have stayed away from over-the-board chess games and  contented myself with  1 minute games over at chess.com.

Sometimes I would check Chessbase and to my surprise, they would publish articles that's very useful for everyone. Chess blogs do give bits of chess news here and there too but the big boys of online chess publishing is simply at the top of their game-- none comes close to second.


Chessbase offers the following lessons for free: Master Moves 1-5 and GM Efstratios Grivas' Lecture Series.

I guess the suburban full moon tonight and these articles make a good companion for the next two hours. Enjoy them!

Filipino Chess Writers Discovered

I have been reading the chess book authored by veteran PR and Advertising practitioners Tony Benedicto and Frankie Lacambra and I am amazed at their passion for chess, specifically, Philippine Chess. The book called "The Philippines vs The World" was published in 2002 by CONTEXT Communications International, Inc. and if not for my return to DLSU Manila to finish my graduate studies, I would have never discovered one of the best ever published book about Philippine Chess.

The book has twenty chapters that starts with a chapter aptly titled "A Nice Beginning". It covers Asia's first international grandmaster, Filipino chess Icon, Eugene Torre. His games against Portisch of Hungary, Hort of then Czechoslovakia, Schmid of West Germany, Hartson of England, Sanz of Spain and Pavlov of Bulgaria were featured with historical sketches of what was then happening to chess around the world.

The book also covered several well-known Philippine chess stories --Bong Villamayor's grandmaster title run in a short period of time, the Odessa Odyssey of GM Balinas, GM Joey Antonio's World Championship run in 2009 1999, IM Andronico Yap's death at the beach and others.

There was a chapter where the young guns of Philippine Chess were featured and guess what, the names like Paragua, Caoili, Mariano, Dableo and Laylo were the ones in it.

What have I been doing the past eight years that I simply missed the launching of this book in 2002? I have not found a single copy of this book in any bookstores here in the Philippines nor was it ever been mentioned in any online chess forum among the Filipinos too.

It's a nice read and again, it shows you the stories of the times when the games were played, all were written in the eyes of a Filipino and made for the Filipinos.

Here are some links you can find on the Internet  that deals with the book and its authors:

- A hobby becomes and obsession
- Philippine National Library Catalog

And I found an entry at Chess Games DOT Com by Spawn 2:

I was going around greenhills last night and I happen to pass by Fully Book located along the stretch which was formerly known as Crossroad. They have the most number of chess related materials in all the bookstores Ive visited in the Philippines. Titles I saw were : Petrosian vs The Elite, Najdorf Life and Games, The Bishop Opening explained, The French Defense to name a few. But the price of the books I mentioned is more than a thousand bucks, I had second thoughts of buying them (we have to remember na me global crisis : )Then I saw the book "The Philippines vs The World" written by Tony Benedicto and Frankie Lacambra with 150 pages with a price tag of P 350.00. After browsing through it, I immediately went to the counter and pay for the book. It was a pleasant surprise to find a book discussing Philippine Chess which was not written by Bobby Ang. The book contains chapters like A New Beginning, Battle Royale in Manila, Tribute to Yap and Rodriguez, One-on-Onederful (which showed the game Torre vs Short in 1988 which was part of a six game mini series (one game won by each player and 4 games were drawn) etc. Going thru the book, the P 350 price tag is very reasonable. There is one copy left. If you are interested you can call the Publisher : Context at 7275251. Why am I promoting the book? Well, if the demand for chess books will be substantial and both the writer and publisher will get a good income from the book, they will be encourage to write and produce more books in the future. Information will be a key in promoting the game of chess to the public.

About the copy I have, I found it in the Filipiniana section of De La Salle Unveristy-Manila and its been on my loan cart for the last seven weeks.
 

National Training Workshop for Teachers in Cebu

We have received another email from the Office of Professor Celerino C. Tiongco, Ed.D. The Dean of School of Education and Human Development of the University of Asia and the Pacific thru Ms. Josephine Teves for a very important announcement.

Here it is:

We would like to invite you and your school for our National Training-Workshop on Building and Sustaining a Vibrant School Culture (Principles, Issues, and Challenges Related to School Improvement) which the School of Education and Human Development (SED) of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) will on May 17-20, 2011 at Ecotech Center, Cebu City.

Our school has been holding national training and workshops for educators for seven years now. The forthcoming conference on school culture is meant primarily for school principals and administrators, as well as teacher-leaders of public and private schools.  Attached is a copy of the conference program.

At the end of the conference, the participants should be able to
a.      self- audit and describe the culture of their respective schools;
b.      have a deeper understanding of school culture, its components, and the forces that shape it
c.      assess the operational implications of their self- audit and force- field analysis of the culture         of their respective schools; and
d.      draw up action measures (for improving the present culture of their respective schools)           that focus on the key aspects or elements of school culture that are within their control.

The training- workshop is P4, 500.00 per participant, inclusive of conference materials and certificates, board lodging and meals (3 major meals and 2 snacks). Participants are encouraged to confirm their attendance on or before April 30, 2011.

Our national seminars, conferences and training workshops on values education, the National Culture of Excellence, and peer accreditation in public schools/universities have been appreciated in the field. Since our school is a CPE provider duly accredited by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC), all our conferences and seminars will have corresponding CPE units.

For more information, please contact Ms. Josephine Teves (mjteves@uap.edu.ph) or Dr. Gladys Golo at telephone nos. (02) 637-0912, locals 378 or 210, or direct telefax:(02) 634-2828.

Your participation will not only enhance the perspectives of one another, but also extend one's academic relationship.

Sincerely yours,

Celerino C. Tiongco, Ed.D.
Dean
School of Education and Human Development
University of Asia and the Pacific
Telephone Nos. 634-2828

Also, do you remember my other post about the 30 Full Scholarship Grants for Teachers in RP? Good news is, the School of Education and Development is also open for scholarship grants for qualified and deserving teachers in the private sector.  The memorandum below covers only the teachers in public schools:


Memorandum for MA Programs 282011

Special Education: Lecture Notes 2

Here is another set of  notes sent in by my classmate, Ms. Bernadette Bachini. We all owe her a big, big favor - thanks much!

Medical and Educational Models(Bender p49)

And for her notes on Special Education Programs and Modification, click here.

No to Mining in Palawan

I received a flyer yesterday from one of my colleagues which asks me to sign against this mining project in Palawan. And today I got an email from someone asking me to do the same. Turns out there is one big personality going against the Palawan Mining and it's none other than Ms. Gina Lopez, Managing Director of ABS CBN Foundation Inc.

Here is the letter signed by Ms. Lopez:

My Dear Friends,

On January 24 a very dear friend and colleague Gerry Ortega was shot in the head dead. I was just with him that weekend - and a few minutes before he died what we were discussing over the phone was an anti-mining campaign in Palawan - given that on December two huge mining applications were railroaded - and they were to be near protected sites.

Gerry is dead but we will not let go of his dreams - and mine - and probably yours too.

Palawan has 17 key bio diversity sites - which means it is part of the 70% bio diversity sites which are essential for sustaining life in the planet. It has 2 world heritage sites, 8 protected sites . Yet if you see Palawan on the map you will note that it is a very thin island - which is 82% mountain. It means that if the forest gets denuded and the minerals excavated - the tailings seep directly int o the sea affecting the coral reefs. The top soil is thin - and the island eco system is fragile.

Mining is not the way to go for Palawan. I have five eco tourism sites wherein the communities involved can now send their children to school, can dream bigger dreams. Mayor Hagedorn in Puerto Princesa has banned mining and logging - and focused on tourism and agriculture. From 2 flights a week, Puerto Princesa now boasts 10 flights a day. His revenues have gone up from several million to several billion.

Mining as an economic path in a magnificent "Last Frontier" is based on a paradigm of economic growth that is myopic and archaic . In this age of climate change and global warming any economic development that does not recognize and revere the web of life should be thrown in the dustbin.

Please please support the ten million signature campaign to Stop Mining in Palawan. The richness of Palawan is the wealth and pride of the country, it is the wealth of the world. Log in to ww.no2mininginpalawan.com . Register your vote and please please send it to thousands others. You can also include your household by downloading the form printing it - and faxing it t 4152227 or you can scan it and send it to signatures@no2mininginpalawan.com. Questions can be sent to signatures@no2mininginpalawan.com.

Register at http://www.no2mininginpalawan.com/ and vote NO TO MINING!!!

Free Chess Training Course - Play Like Mikhail Botnivik

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of 6th World Chess Champion Mikhail Botnivik, ChessOK gives out a free training course Play Like Mikhail Botnivik. It is in Peshka interface, easy to install and use with two main parts, Theory and Practice.

Theory mode consists of lightly annotated games played by Botnivik himself. In the practice mode, you can check your stats either per lesson or overall percentage of correct moves. The exercise format tracks your performance as well.

So visit the ChessOK for the download link.

Seminars for Teachers by PASEO Group

We have 2 seminars scheduled on February 12, 2011 organized by The PASEO GROUP:

Familiarize & Equip yourselves with the various teaching models which teachers can use in order to make teaching and learning experiences as meaningful and dynamic as possible…

 

Teaching So Students Learn:

Using the Models of Teaching

With Dr. Ernie Grio & Mr. Alberto Dakila, Jr.

8:00 am - 12:00 nn

 

 

 

***********************

 

What are the legal concerns related to school and cyberbullying?  When can a school monitor and search student internet records and files?  When can a school legally respond to cyberbullying by disciplining the student?  When must a school respond to cyberbullying?  When should parents consider civil litigation against the bully and the parents of the bully?  When should the school contact, or assist the parent in contacting, law enforcement officials?

 

A 2^nd Serving of

Cyberbullying: The Legal Issues

With Atty. Ulpiano “Ulan” Sarmiento

1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

For further details you may reach Totie and Bessie Sampedro:

THE PASEO GROUP

Unit 105, Benigno Mayo Hall, Institute of Social Order (ISO) Complex,

Ateneo de Manila Campus, Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Tel. Nos. 355-4740 * 232-6082  *  426-6001 loc. 4889        Fax: 426-6001 loc. 4866  

Cellphone 0915-8725857

* Paseo Center for Educators' Continuing Formation

(formerly Paseo TLJ Education Services)

* Paseo Educational Exploration & Tour Services

* Paseo Marketing, Sales & Communications Company

* Educators' Review Editorial & Publishing House

Find time to attend and participate in these workshops, you will surely learn a lot from this.