Tag: #synergeia

Synergeia trains teachers in push to develop independent readers, critical thinkers

Posted on by synergeia
         Synergeia CEO Milwida Guevara led the reading workshop for Iloilo teachers.

By Manolo Serapio Jr.

The pandemic has kept Philippine schools shut for more than 19 months now and with most students left to fend for themselves with self-learning modules, a core skill has become even tougher to learn: reading.

Reading is best taught inside real classrooms and with face-to-face classes still prohibited to prevent the spread of Covid-19, it has become far more difficult for teachers to teach their young pupils how to read and more importantly, how to read properly.

Yet many teachers across the country do what they can to help students learn how to read well in the era of distance education. As part of its mission to improve the quality of education, Synergeia Foundation conducted a virtual workshop on October 15 on teaching reading for teachers in Iloilo province.

The workshop was led by Synergeia President and CEO Milwida Guevara. An Undersecretary at the Department of Finance for nearly a decade, Guevara was a former grade school teacher and currently teaches public finance at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government.

Also part of the webinar were Synergeia mentor Joaquin Hagedorn, who worked as a public elementary school principal in California for 32 years, and Synergeia program officer Edwin Nacionales.

The webinar was a refresher course for teachers aimed at helping them mould their students to become independent readers.

The first step in reading properly is knowing the sound of each letter in the alphabet and then blending the sounds to form words, said Guevara.

“Don’t teach by rote. If you teach by rote, the children will not become independent readers,” she told the workshop participants from schools in the different Iloilo municipalities including Oton, Miagao, Leon, San Joaquin, Ajuy, Concepcion and Pototan.

Phonetic awareness

Combining the sounds of letters to form words is akin to putting notes together to create music, and after illustrating her point, Guevara asked participants to do the same – to correctly pronounce the sounds from A to Z along with some words.

It is important to aspirate, she said, or to pronounce a letter or word with a breathy sound, to say them accurately. For example, the first sound in the words “pick”, “tick” and “kick” are aspirated because they are pronounced with an accompanying forceful expulsion of air.

The same rule applies to Tagalog words, said Guevara. “It’s all about phonetic awareness – saying the sounds correctly and blending them correctly.”

To develop reading comprehension, Guevara said teachers can use pictures, body language, contextual clues, definition, synonyms and antonyms and by giving examples and through word association.

“Do not translate, otherwise you won’t help children develop their thinking skills,” she said.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

It was an interactive three-hour webinar with many participants including Oton administrator Japeth Salinas and Lucia Lamanero, head of Jamabalud Elementary School in Pototan, joining in the drills and exercises, which Guevara said the teachers can do with their own students through online platforms.

Lamanero said teachers in her school have been holding daily 20-minute reading tutorials by phone to help students from kindergarten to Grade 3 become better readers.

In developing reading and comprehension exercises, teachers should use Bloom’s Taxonomy, Guevara said. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical model that categorizes learning objectives into varying levels of complexity, from basic knowledge and comprehension to advanced evaluation and creation.

There are six levels of cognitive learning according to Bloom’s Taxonomy: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.

Synergeia CEO Guevara explains the importance of using Bloom’s Taxonomy in developing reading and comprehension drills for students.

“Always take it to the next level because that’s how you develop a child’s critical thinking skill,” Hagedorn told the teachers. In the current learning setup where students are mostly confined to answering modules, there should be activities for learners that will allow them to be creative as it gives them a chance to express themselves, he said.

Synergeia has been holding webinars on teaching reading in a bid to help teachers.

It conducted similar workshops for teachers in the municipalities of Antique and other parts of Iloilo last month and for those in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Cotabato in May.

The non-profit organization works with more than 400 local governments to make sure that every child completes a good basic education and is given equal opportunity to become the best of what he or she can be.

Even before the pandemic hit, Philippine students have fallen behind their international counterparts, highlighting the learning gaps in the country’s education system that the health crisis may have exacerbated.

Only 10% of Filipino Grade 5 pupils had achieved the reading literacy skills expected at the end of primary school, versus 82% in Vietnam and 58% in Malaysia, according to the 2019 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics study released last year by the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization.

Fifteen-year old students from the Philippines ranked lowest among 79 countries in reading proficiency in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment.

For more guides on reading and other subject areas as well as a full suite of learning kits from Synergeia, you can go to https://paaralangbahay.synergeia.org.ph

La Union town mounts crucial intervention to help students in need, curb dropouts

Posted on by Florendo Guevara
An SGC workshop in Agoo, La Union that paved the way for the tutorial program in the municipality to help students complete their learning modules.

By Manolo Serapio Jr.

Jhayson Dalao was among millions hit hard at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic last year after the private school where he was teaching in the town of Agoo in La Union closed down. Fortunately, the Local School Board hired him to be part of an education help center meant to assist students in the era of remote learning.

Now, he is helping the local government tutor hundreds of students who, also due to pandemic-shaped circumstances, have struggled with distance education. They include a Grade 8 student who just gave birth a few months ago and needs to complete a ton of school work before the school year ends next month.

Dalao would not have known about the student had the local government of Agoo not launched the tutorials last week to help more than 500 elementary and high school students complete their learning modules.

The Covid-19 health crisis has kept Philippine schools shut since March 2020, forcing children to learn remotely. With most places in the country saddled with poor Internet connectivity, the modules are the main mode of learning for many students.

That puts the full responsibility of mentoring the children squarely on their parents and in many homes, not all parents are up to the job either because they are unschooled themselves or they are busy working.

Dalao, 27, said he learned about the young mother from the barangay captain who asked if he could help her. “She just gave birth a few months ago but she’s very willing to finish her modules when I spoke with her,” he said.

While she has a baby to tend to, she will need to also focus on completing all her school requirements “and I will make sure she gets all the help she needs to do it,” he said.

The tutorial program, which only began on Friday, is the local government’s way to ensure that there won’t be any dropouts or repeaters in its public elementary and high schools even as education shifted outside classrooms.

SGC workshops

The problem of unfinished modules surfaced during the in-person workshops organized by Synergeia Foundation in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development last month.

Synergeia capacitated local governments so that they can do the workshops on reviving and strengthening School Governing Councils themselves. A total of 22 schools joined the seminars in Agoo.

During the discussions, it turned out that the learning modules picked up by parents from schools were not returned to the teachers due to issues at home ranging from working or separated parents or parents not having the capacity to mentor their children, said Elizabeth Sheila Milo, the municipal administrator who made the proposal to hold tutorials.

“We were worried that the dropout rate might spike again so we knew we had to stage an intervention,” she said. “But without the workshops we would not have known about the problem so we’re very thankful to Synergeia.”

The SGC workshops, initiated by the Northern Luzon Education Council, were rolled out by 10 local government partners of Synergeia, shortly after Synergeia program officers Ningning Doble and Eduardo Tiongson conducted a webinar in early May to train SGC leaders and members in Northern Luzon to facilitate their own workshops to strengthen SGCs in their municipalities.

Agoo is one of the 421 local governments that work with Synergeia in improving the quality of basic education across the country. For its exemplary work, Agoo is a two-time recipient of Synergeia’s Seal of Good Education Governance.

Agoo Education Help Center

The tutorials will cover more than 130 elementary students and over 400 high school learners in all 49 barangays of Agoo. The goal is for all learners to complete and submit their modules by the end of June.

Apart from teachers hired by the Local School Board, the local government also tapped students from the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University College of Education as well as members of the Sangguniang Kabataan and local barangay officials for the program.

They will be held in barangay halls, daycare centers and covered courts in the communities with strict adherence to health and safety measures, said Milo.

Dalao began tutoring five grade school students on Friday and will also mentor junior high school students this week. He is also part of the Agoo Education Help Center, created by Mayor Stefanie Ann Eriguel to help students cope with the demands of distance learning.

Mainly staffed by teachers hired by the Local School Board, students and parents can reach out to the center, by calling, texting or messaging the center’s Facebook page, for help with learning modules.

The center, located at the Dr. Eufranio Chan Eriguel Congressional E-Library, was launched shortly after public schools opened in October.

Set up in October, the Agoo Education Help Center is staffed by teachers to help and guide students in the era of remote learning.

“We were concerned that children and parents would have difficulty with the new system of learning during the pandemic, so we thought that there should be an institution that they can ask help from and guide them,” said Milo.

While the center’s services have been well advertised, apparently not everyone has availed of it, hence the need to do the tutorials, she added.

Marlene Buyan, a Grade 9 teacher with nearly seven years of teaching experience, is among those who volunteered to mentor students. In Barangay San Marcos, where she’s assigned, the tutorials will cover 40 high school and two elementary students.

One of them told her on Friday that she was having a tough time answering her modules since her mother only reached sixth grade. “I told her not to worry because I will help her,” Buyan said.

United We Stand: North Luzon LGUs show the way to good education governance

Posted on by synergeia
Mayor Carlo Medina of Vigan City presides at the North Luzon Education Council meeting

By Manolo Serapio Jr.

A firm commitment and a united approach among stakeholders, a genuine desire to champion education reforms and a willingness to emulate the best practices of other communities are among the key elements towards good education governance, local officials say.

At the first quarterly meeting this year of the Northern Luzon Education Council, municipal mayors who won the Seal of Good Education Governance shared some of their learnings and secrets with fellow mayors and officials, hoping to encourage them to take similarly bold steps so children can continue learning in the middle of a pandemic.

Ten local government units from Northern Luzon received the Seal awarded by Synergeia Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development at the 14th Washington SyCip National Education Summit held in March.

The region copped more than a third of the 27 SGEG awards given to cities and municipalities that excelled in delivering basic education, measured through a reduction in the number of frustrated readers and an increase in enrolment and cohort survival rate, among others.

“We wouldn’t have achieved this without the support of our constituents who inspire us, particularly our students who study hard, and our fellow officials at the local government who share our vision,” Mayor Kenneth Marco Perez of San Manuel, Pangasinan said at the virtual NLEC meeting on April 28.

San Manuel was one of seven local government units that won the Seal for the first time, becoming the first municipality in Pangasinan to receive the honor.

“I believe that education is key for our youth to realize their dreams and I believe that good education leads to a better community,” said Perez.

Synergeia President and CEO Milwida Guevara said San Manuel’s victory was “very significant” considering that Synergeia has been in San Manuel for 15 years.

“It took Mayor Perez for San Manuel to finally win the Seal of Good Education Governance. You were like a meteor that came out of nowhere and it changed everything for this town. We’re very, very happy,” Guevara said.

San Manuel implemented the Balligi Effective Assistance Reading program which increased the number of independent readers in the municipality. Through the program, teachers assess students’ reading skills either online or by visiting their homes, and discuss the assessment outcome with parents to determine appropriate strategies to improve the child’s reading comprehension.

‘Follow what is good’

Mayor Francis Fontanilla of Bacnotan, La Union said they have visited other local government units to learn their best practices on education governance which they implement in the municipality after making some tweaks.

One of the many efforts of the town towards education is a mobile library that is usually swarming with children, which Fontanilla said is a testament to every child’s eagerness to read and learn.

Bacnotan earned the Seal for a fourth time this year, joining eight other local governments that have won the award every year since Synergeia and USAID began conferring them in 2017. There was no SGEG given out in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Fontanilla says the most essential ingredient to winning the SGEG is having the commitment to reach the goal. “Synergeia guides us in what we have to do, but we need to do the work and we can only do that if we’re committed,” he said.

Bacnotan has been a local government partner of Synergeia for many years, and is among the 421 cities and municipalities that the foundation works with to boost the quality of basic education in the country.

A screenshot of the Northern Luzon Education Council meeting

“We should emulate those who are doing good, let us follow what is good. And to the winners, let us share with those who want to learn from us,” said Mary Jane Ortega, Synergeia mentor and former mayor of San Fernando, La Union.

Ortega said local governments should join hands to fight regression amid the falling proficiency among Filipino students based on international assessment standards.

“We used to be one of the best. Let us regain that crown, let us show the way, let us do it here in the NLEC,” she said.

For San Gabriel, La Union, a two-time winner of the Seal, innovating is a continuous process to deliver better education to children.

“When we see the best practices from other places, we make some adjustments to fit our locality and we implement them,” says Mayor Hermie Velasco. “We are still learning from what everybody else is doing not just in education, but in governance as a whole.”

‘Best solutions’

As the pandemic shut schools across the Philippines, some teachers and barangay leaders in San Gabriel, with the help of the municipal government, launched limited, safe in-person tutorial sessions to help students cope with remote learning.

“The best solutions come from them – the teachers, parents, barangay officials – the municipal government is just there to help and enable them,” said Velasco.

Despite being a fourth-class municipality, San Gabriel’s School Governing Councils and Parent-Teacher Associations have been generating their own funds, he added.

Other SGEG winners from the region were San Fernando, La Union; Agoo, La Union; Vigan City, Ilocos Sur; Tuba, Benguet; Villaverde, Nueva Vizcaya; Solano, Nueva Vizcaya; and Diffun, Quirino. Saguday, Quirino and Candon City, Ilocos Sur were in the list of honorable mentions.

Apart from the Seal, awardees will each receive P75,000 worth of gas cards from Seaoil Foundation, P79,000 worth of phone cards from Smart Communications and a package of children’s books from SGV Foundation worth P50,000.

NLEC is one of the Regional Education Councils developed by local government units and Synergeia, in partnership with USAID and the United Nations Children’s Fund supported by the Government of Japan, to help spread and strengthen education reforms in the Philippines.

Twenty-six local government units from Northern Luzon participated in mentoring sessions for Local School Boards from December last year to March 2021.

“The new Synergeia members had a chance to understand what a reinvented LSB looks like in terms of the strong leadership of the mayor, an expanded membership, the use of data and performance indicators in decision making, planning and target setting and the ability of the LSB to engage community members to make education work in their communities,” NLEC Chairman and Vigan Mayor Carlo Medina said.

The sessions, done virtually and in-person, included self-assessment tools for mayors, their LSB members and other key stakeholders.

Nineteen local government units from the region also used the assessment tests on learning outcomes designed by Synergeia to determine the level of proficiency in English, Filipino and Mathematics among Grades 2-6 students.

“The LSBs want to see if there are struggling learners so remediation programs can be designed and implemented with the help of the Special Education Fund or other funds,” said Medina.