It has been months since I last shared my thoughts in here. How have you been? How has COVID-19 "moved" you to do wonderful things for you and the people around you? It's never easy to make changes but the age-old truth is this "Change is here to stay. Either we adapt or perish".
So having said this, and knowing that our lives have been changed forever, why not embrace the idea that we are to adapt, adjust and survive?
All aspects of our lives are, and have been, affected by this pandemic. From the way we greet people, celebrate birthdays, bury our dead, eat in the restaurants, go to work, do our work, our lives will never be the same again...until that golden discovery or invention of treatment and vaccine for COVID-19. Let me clarify this: COVID-19 treatment will be available before the vaccine. At least that's what my friends and relatives in the medical sector believe. So until then, we really have to be extra careful.
And in the realm of education, yes, I happen to be a teacher and a sports coach. Our way of learning has taken a sharp turn. Don't get me wrong. With the invention of the Internet and reaching the "critical mass" or what others would love to call "tipping point", the way we learn and teach has changed and it changes with the availability of resources. Right resources.
So how does one learn in the 21st Century? Or in the 3rd millennium? Well for a start, we need to be aware of a lot of terms and widen one's vocabulary bank. Check this list:
Social Media
Internet
China
Hong Kong
Trump
Trumphism
Pandemic
All Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter
Nine-Dash-Line
The New Normal
Spox
DDS
Dilawan
Cyberbullying
Cybercrime
Cyberpunks
Bubonic Plague
COVID-19
WHO
Earthquakes
ECQ
GCQ
MGCQ
Curfew
LGBTQ
Kardashian
#Metoo
#Pedo
ABSCBN Franchise
Wuhan Virus
Online Learning
Online Selling
Zoom
Google
Yahoo
Meets
Zoom Bombing
Platform
.....
And I'm exhausted filling out the list.
If you and I, assuming we're both adults and teachers, get confused (and lost) with all these terminology, can you imagine the tremendous information learners need to grasp in a so-limited-restrictive-traditional way of learning? Overwhelming. Gigamongous! Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius!
As a teacher to the middle schoolers, I caught this simple approach early on: Let the millennials lead the way in terms of technology use. Seriously!
Let the kids lead us and be a facilitator in the teaching and learning process. You read it right, facilitator.
I'd like to share some more but for now this will do. I have created a Google Site for my academic year 2020-2021 announcements and outpouts. Visit https://sites.google.com/view/coachfrancis/home
and let me know how I can have it improved (if needed).
This Site will help me simplify my online work for the schoolyear. Hope it helps you too.
It's been 54 days since Luzon and other parts of the country was placed in Community Quarantine. I've gone full beard with regular haircut to full beard and skinhead and then crew cut to no facial hair at all.
In the last 54 days, me and my family has prayed the Holy Rosary together every five in the afternoon. During the Holy Week, we were able to pray Rosary in full, with Novena prayers to the Divine Mercy of Sister Faustina.
And it has been 99 days since the Philippines had its very first COVID-19 case courtesy of.......drum roll please, a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, the origin of the disease. The woman arrived in Manila from Hong Kong on January 21.
And then:
February 2, 2020. Second case of COVID-19 in the Philippines. A 44-year-old Chinese male who was the companion of the first case. His death on February 1 was the first recorded outside China. He suffered from co-infection with influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae.
February 5, 2020. Confirmed third case of 60-year-old Chinese woman who flew into Cebu City from Hong Kong on January 20 before she traveled to Bohol where she consulted a doctor at a private hospital on January 22, due to fever and rhinitis. Samples taken from the patient on January 24 returned a negative result, but the DOH was notified on February 3 that samples taken from the patient on January 23 tested positive for the virus. The patient upon recovery on January 31 was allowed to go home to China.
March 30, 2020. 128 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed on 30 March, compared to 343 cases on 29 March. 7 additional deaths reported on 30 March, and 3 on 29 March.
April 15, 2020. A total of 5,453 confirmed cases reported in the Philippines, 55% are male, with the most affected age group 60-69 years.
May 1, 2020. A total of 8,772 confirmed cases reported. 68.4% of cases reported from National Capital Region (NCR), followed by CALABARZON (13.3%), Central Visayas (7.6%) and Central Luzon (4.4%). The large number of cases in Central Visayas is attributed to several localized outbreaks in Cebu barangays and prisons.
And on Sunday, May 10, 2020, we will be celebrating Mother's Day. Let us all remember honor our mothers and all the mothers all over the world.
And in celebrating this very special day, let us remember Mother Mary, the Mother of God:
How have you been? The COVID-19 has affected all of us tremendously. Thousands have died and many more have been infected. The World Health Organization wasn't prepared at all and our own Department of Health couldn't figure a way to contain and stop this deadly virus. Together with my family, we continue to pray for the safety, protection and enlightenment of everyone from this global pandemic.
And if you have run out of things to do at home and if you have gone to visit all the spots in your house, you're probably searching for distractions. Have you gone on to develop that biceps you have been wishing to do so? Have you, just like much of the FB posters and users have done, gone on to do baking? Or have you started playing chess online again after a long hiatus?
Or are you one of the millions of readers all over the world in search of books? Free books?
Well I'm sharing the following links for you to visit. They are not mine but they will give you tons of books to download for free. No gimmicks.
"It is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. Choose among free EPub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world's great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for enjoyment and education."
"Founded in 2008, HathiTrust is anot-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries preserving 17+million digitized items. HathiTrust offers reading access to the fullest extent allowable by U.S.copyright law, computational access to the entire corpus for scholarly research, and other emerging services based on the combined collection. HathiTrust members steward the collection---the largest set of digitized books managed by academic and research libraries ----under the aims of scholarly, not corporate, interests."
The Internet Archives can also give you books for free. Aside from free books to download or read, they have a Way Back Machine were you can type-in a website name or link and it will show it to you.
But here is my newest favorite discovery, a website that "reformats" an books into newer versions of Ebooks. Ladies and gentlemen here is Standard Books.
"Free and liberated Ebooks, carefully produced for the true book lover". And finally, my go to place, PDFDrive.Com. You don't need to create an account to get any available book you may have in mind. As long as it is available out of 80,915,893 eBooks for you to download for free.
The announcement was made by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, as approved by President Rodrigo Duterte. These are the following areas:
Region III: Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga Region IV-A: Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Quezon Region IV-B: Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro Region V: Albay, Catanduanes, Visayas, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Cebu & Iloilo Mindanao: Davao del Norte
Did you know that the IATF-EID that was created in 2014 through Executive Order No. 168 which was issued by then-President Benigno Aquino III? It was organized as government's instrument
to assess, monitor, contain, control and prevent the spread of any potential epidemic in the Philippines.
The two busiest regions in the country, NCR and CaLaBaRZon, in terms of population and economic movement, have the highest incidence of COVID-19 deaths. Metro Manila has 4,673 confirmed cases with 310 deaths while CaLaBaRZon has 818 confirmed cases with 62 deaths as of 4 PM today, April 24,2020.
In the last 5 weeks of quarantine what have you done at home?
With the Enhanced Community Quarantine, we were forced to stay home. It was scary right? But it also gave us more time to be with our family. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into a month, we learned how to cope. Some of you found ways to help, others helped in very subtle ways.
We learned to help and cope with the situation. On my part, ECQ gave me time to look into my chess and basketball video collection and realized I can share them on YT. With the videos online, there will be more opportunities and materials for viewers to stay home by watching these videos.
As much as I would love to, and in fact would really appreciate it, if you subscribe to my channel and like our videos, it is still your choice to subscribe to my channel. But I wish you would.
And now, allow me to share some of my basketball videos. Most of these involve coaches and player development. It's been a productive seven-year run for me as a varsity basketball coach.
Let me start with The Shooting Guide Series video from my YouTube Channel in three parts.
Coach Mitch Buonaguro of SIENA COLLEGE for Five STAR Basketball Coaches Clinic. Go check him out guys. Such a great, detailed teacher.
In the last five year, I have been fortunate enough to participate in the National Basketball Training Center's Coaches Convention by Coaches Eric Altamirano and Alex Compton. These two guys have been prominent players in the coaches development in the Philippines.
Here are some of the videos from the Coaches Convention:
Gilas Point Guard Jimmy Alapag talks about Leadership, Trust and Vision in the 2017 Edition of NBTC. I've always followed the idea that coaching is more of culture implementation. And the culture of the team is set by the coach, first and foremost.
There are many videos to watch and I hope it helps in keeping the people inside their homes with these video tutorials.
I have discovered this GIPHY Website that helps me create GIPHYS of chess games I played and chess games I wish to study.
On top of life happening to me and my wife, raising four beautiful kids, we have homeschooled in the last ten years. We have seen our children adjust and do well in the regular classroom after their homeschooling with us.
In view of the COVID-19 situation, almost everyone is doing home learning. I found a lot of comments online about the difficulty of having to handle their children's "academic" tasks. It can be overwhelming but there are several ways to handle this perception. After all, there is so much we can do for our families.
Let me share some insights.
1. Home time is family time.
This is an opportunity to spend quality and fun times with your loved ones. Everyone's home, no one is allowed to go out, for safety sake. With Luzon on a community quarantine (lock down right? why play with words?), we ought to stay home. Make your time with your kids fun, meaningful and light.
2. Support your child's online conference.
If your child's school has a set schedule for their daily classes until April 15, please make sure you give them the space they can use for online conferences AND the necessary WiFi connection. In our home I had meeting with my three teenagers, my wife and my 8-year-old and asked them to log-off from the internet once they see me running my online conferences with my students. I have had a couple of students struggle and miss our conferences because their internet connections were bad. It pains to see my students worry about these missed conferences. You might as well call your child's home room teacher and ask about your child's online learning program...if there's one.
At Blank School where I teach, we are using Zoom for online conference with Google Suite as our smorgasbord we can choose from. Google classroom and Google hangouts are very useful and easy to use. By default, I have Managebac platform for uploading tasks and submissions. We have used Managebac in the last several years and its only logical to continue using it. As a teacher and a father, I don't want to add to confusion to my students' learning by introducing other platforms that are otherwise served on MB.
3. Reading with your children.
The older your children gets, the more independent they become. This holds true to reading and other academic responsibilities.
Here's a great reminder: YOU CAN ENJOY READING with your CHILDREN at any age!
I really think (and feel) that the secret to attracting your children to enjoy reading is by making their reading experience meaningful and enjoyable. If you are a reader like me, you would have lots of ideas on how to make this happen. If you're not but would want to make a difference in your child's reading development, then it's the perfect time to open and read those pages. I'm sure you will have fun discovering those stories and characters you've always wondered about.
And here's something that works well, with my children, my nieces and nephews and during my storytelling gig at The Children's Library by The Gokongwei Brothers Foundation:
"Tell a story from your own childhood, your own life experiences and stories you've heard from your childhood...these personal stories are more meaningful because they evoke emotions and bring you back in time when life was simple, innocent and full of wonder".
4. Do workouts and other goal-oriented physical activities.
Me in white shirt and Bunso with the 2 Balls
With the 24-7 time we have at home, there is no excuse for missing physical fitness and workouts. You have a bonus his time: Workout with your children and wife. It is time to bring out and use that treadmill you bought a couple of Christmases ago. Let that gluts (Maximus and minimus) and traps (Trapezius right?) do their work in a repetitive movement.
Our Scholastic Basketball Camp and PIT Workouts
Ok you have younger than 10 year-old kids? Then it's more fun having them around while they mimic your reps and sets. You don't have space for these activities? Then do some stationary workouts like jogging in place, high knees, butt kicks and push ups.
It is important to to keep in mind that making these times fun and light will give your child the opportunity to spend more time with you. And keep them away from worrying about COVID-19.
Workouts Anytime, Anywhere
5. Jamming. Play the guitar, play music. Videoke-Karaoke time!
If you have, in some way, read up on the life of St. John Bosco of Sales, you would know how St. John utilized and cherished music in his half-way homes for the boys ( I guess its the same with the girls). Let me cite some quotes on the power of music by St. John of Bosco of Sales:
"The music of the young should be listened to with the heart and not with the ears." "A school without music is a school without a soul, for music aids education. It is a most effective means to obtain discipline, morality, and help good feeling..." "An Oratory without music is like a body without a soul."
Caveat: Your child may or may not be the next Mozart, Cayabyab or Leah Salonga but this SHOULD NOT STOP you from enjoying music with them. Sing songs with them from TV commercials and jingles. Hum hymns and beats from Sunday service and Holy Eucharist. Listen to sounds coming from the environment: water dripping, iron gates clanging and banging, car motors broom-broom and people talking with different accents and intonations. Sounds are the basic build-ups of music. Heck, those hip hop rhymes might eventually improve their vocabulary and music sense. (wink!) 6. Art and all the (fun) work that goes with it. Once you realize the power of DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE Learning and Teaching, everything else will be easy. The same goes with art development. Exposure and the opportunity to work with different art materials and different genres, coupled with fun times with mom, dad and siblings, it will be a breeze. Bringing awareness to your kids of the subtle color and hue changes, to those classical masterpieces of Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Michelangelo may sound weird or even pretentious but hey, you'll do anything for your children right? Since museums and other artsy places are probably closed, why not make your own masterpieces with your child? These artworks can come in different forms. The more practical outputs would be t-shirt paintings or doodles, tie-dye shirts and shorts, paper and pencil drawings, heat transfers with personalized designs and lately, hydro dips. Check out my daughters' work on my phone case:
Pat and Fides Hydro Dip Work
7. Do household work together.
As early as 2005, five years into my teaching gig, I came across a workshop that promotes household chores intentionally given to students with a simple premise: "children who grow up in families that ask them to do household chores become more responsible and confident adults". There were various studies and surveys cited in the workshop and it makes sense.
One interesting study cited was the comparison of five boarding school student population where a third of the subjects were asked to do chores while another group was not given any household chore related and still another group were given the option to participate in household work if they want to or can opt out of the chores if they want to.
The study was carried through and the subjects were followed through their adult lives. Guess what happened to the students who had to do chores? Let me give you a hint: adult living requires you to manage responsibilities from different areas of life. Adult life will almost always ask you to follow through, commit and give best effort to be successful.
Which group do you think had 4 to 6 years of doing work with expectations from school admins and house mothers?
"Children can learn a lot from doing household chores.
Doing chores helps children learn about what they need to do to care for themselves, a home and a family. They learn skills they can use in their adult lives, like preparing meals, cleaning, organising and keeping a garden.
Being involved in chores also gives children experience of relationship skills like communicating clearly, negotiating, cooperating and working as a team.
When children contribute to family life, it helps them feel competent and responsible. Even if they don’t enjoy the chore, when they keep going they get the feeling of satisfaction that comes with finishing a task.
And sharing housework can alsohelp families work betterand reduce family stress. When children help out, chores get done sooner, and parents have less to do. This frees up time for the family to spend doing fun things together."
Washing the dishes, doing the laundry, preparing the dining table, preparing the dish for lunch, wiping and cleaning the window glass, disinfecting the doorknobs and sweeping the floor...there's just a lot of work that can be accomplished at home.
The bonus? Spending time with family and cleaning up the sanctuary called home.
8. The family that prays together, stays forever.
Whatever religion you may be part of, or philosophical adherent you choose, or any cultural membership you are with, all of these require you to reflect, meditate and pray in a superiors intelligence or presence.
Even those that claim to be an aetheist or agnostic, these guys would often look back, review and ponder upon life's situations.
In moments of disillusion, look back and savor your life's consolations. And in moments of achievements and comforts, look back and do some contemplation.
It's never too late or too early to introduce the power of meditation to your family.
Pray. Pray unceasingly. Pray like it will be the last time you will be able to do so.
Homeschooling.
It's a great time to be dipping your fingers into your child's education. This is the best time to share your love for reading, counting and all sorts of stuff. Now's the time. Take the chance. This is it. The most opportune time show another side of you to your children.
When the going gets tough?
Take a break. You are not in any way expected to go crazy while teaching your children.
By now the COVID-19, which has reached the pandemic level, has greatly affected everyone all over the world. The quick scan and survey of the latest Global Situation Report 54 (PDF) released by the World Health Organization as of March 14 at 10 AM: - 153,527 Confirmed cases - 5,733 Deaths - 144 countries, areas and territories with cases You may visit this interactive map of Novel Corona Virus (Covid-19) Situation.
And in the Philippines, the total number of reported cases went up to 144 with 12 deaths. The Department of Health seeks public cooperation. In a press release, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III stated:
“Now it is our turn to do our part in mitigating the spread of the disease. The DOH earnestly asks for everyone’s cooperation. Our front line health workers and medical personnel are risking their safety to respond to the needs of the public, all we ask is for you to do your part: practice preventive measures, go on strict home quarantine if you are experiencing mild symptoms, and help halt the spread of fake news. The success of our measures to contain COVID-19 is hinged on your participation. We will get through this together,” the Secretary added.
“At this most trying time, our strongest weapon as a nation is Vigilance, Preparedness, and Solidarity. We are seeing these values at play now as DOH is receiving an influx of support from individuals and organizations who are willing to render assistance in any way they can. Let this be a reminder for all Filipinos to step up to the plate and heed the call for cooperation,”
It is important to be aware of the implementation of the "Community Quarantine" tomorrow, March 17, Monday. The Inter-|Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) adopts several measures when our country raised the |Code Red Sub-Level 2 of COVID-19.
Almost all events have been cancelled and the movement going in and out of the National Capital Region will be restricted and monitored closely. The Mayors of Metro Manila or NCR has issued a curfew to limit movement within the region.
Let us all help one another. Stay home and do your basic health improvement regimen. Avoid crowded places.
By now, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has reached a pandemic level. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared the rapid spread of COVID-19 outbreak as pandemic. Pandemic level can be understood easily with this description: "114 countries have reported that 118,000 have contracted Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, known as SARS-CoV2. Nearly 4,300 people have died.
In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte announced on March 12 that the National Capital Region is to be placed on "community quarantine", playing with terms and intentionally avoiding "lock down" during his much awaited but delayed press briefing in Malacanan.
With the community quarantine following the WHO's directive for national governments to step up in addressing the virus' effect and death toll, there were so many questions arising from PRRD's press briefing.
The virus causes mild respiratory infections in about 80% of those infected, though about half will have pneumonia. Another 15% develop severe illness, and 5% need critical care.
How do we address this? Let us borrow from the many ways social media has reached us like Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Google's Gmail and Blogger, Twitter and many more.
Here is another one, this time an infographic on Effective hand washing:
Knowing the Corona Virus:
Let me share the message I sent to my Scholastic Basketball Camp-PIT Workouts players the other day:
"Hi PIT Camp family! Musta na? No classes and stay at home? Fear not the COVID-19 Virus. Here are some reminders:
1. Exercise regularly, twice a day. Morning and afternoon.
2. Eat healthy. Gulay, isda, prutas (veggies, fish, fruits). STAY away from sugary food and drinks. Mas madali kumapit ang mga bacteria sa sugar inside the body (bacterias like to stick with sweets especially inside the body).
3. Rest well. Sleep early and wake up early.
4. Drink Vitamins. Double-up on your Vitamin C intake.
5. Drink enough water. Stay hydrated.
6. There is a reason for school cancellation. May dahilan. Kasi kailangan ma-contain ang virus and one sure way is to avoid crowds. Stay home.
7. Pray. Pray unceasingly. Pray everytime you have the chance.
8. Follow what your parents and guardians are saying. Obedience is one virtue we all could learn and be protected from.
9. Social Media SHOULD NOT be Your MAIN source of information. Fact check. Always.
