Tag: #synergeia

ACT 3: Teachers Are Our Heroes 

Posted on by Florendo Guevara

The Proof of Concept (POC) initiative, with the Province of Iloilo as the lead actor in the devolution of basic education to LGUs, hit the ground running in three noble ACTs enabled by Synergeia’s Kickstarter training workshops for the main performers- LSBs, principals and teachers. The core objectives of these workshops are to find out what issues and challenges we face and what should be done to obtain our bottom line of having all Grade 3 students read during the School Year 2024-2025.

There is this one quote that says, “‘If you have to put someone on a pedestal, it must be a teacher. Our teachers are our heroes in today’s society.”

What is a hero?

By definition, a hero is “a person who demonstrates an utmost commitment to their morals, no matter the obstacle or consequence. Heroes are venerated in stories for possessing extraordinary abilities, such as exceptional strength, intelligence, or fortitude.”

Thirty teachers from Iloilo province gathered in an insighting workshop which probed into their heroism, their struggles, their triumphs and failures in their mission to uplift our children and enable a brighter future through quality education.

In a bold and honest embrace of their challenging circumstances, these teachers pointed out they are battling with many issues like:

a. Innovative teaching  is being stymied by their inability to think outside the box because of mandated structured curriculum and methods;

b. Learning is affected by an unsupportive ecosystem which includes situational factors like poverty, poor health, lack of learning and instructional materials, and weak parental guidance; and

c. Reading is not the core teaching skill of teachers.

With heroism comes specific capacities to overcome adversity and demonstrate passion, excellence and the power to transform the learning and education of our children.

These teachers saw that they need to be HANDA as their strategy map to become more of the heroes that they are:

H- ave improved skills to teach reading in a more creative and engaging way.  The application of Gradual Psychological Unfolding approach which uses story telling  and other creative modes of learning  can be an effective way to encourage reading, participation and engagement. 

A- ddress data and information gaps which can be used as basis for monitoring, assessing and evaluating learning performance issues and interventions like profiling of students/learners, identification of children’s needs and reading levels and localized competency-based assessment tools

N -eed to have skills to teach sounds properly, to write better, and to focus clearly on one learning objective at a time.

D- evelop children’s critical thinking through the proper art of questioning, probing and analyzing.

A- dministrative, organizational and technical support to make teachers do their mission more efficiently and effectively like:

a. Ensuring proper placement or assignment of teachers depending on their core specializations;

b. Enabling teachers to have time to monitor and follow- through students’ progress with less administrative work and reporting or other community projects which consume their time away from teaching;

c. Strengthening a culture which nurture harmonious relationships with co-teachers and team effort by, among others, using the Learning Action Cell (LAC) sessions  for  sharing ideas  and techniques; and

d. Encouraging professional and personal development of teachers.

The heroism of our teachers cannot be truly measured. The only only thing we can remember vividly in our education is that one great teacher who gave us her heart to learn and succeed.

ACT 1: LSBs Pushed the Button for HANDA

Posted on by Florendo Guevara

The Proof of Concept (POC) initiative, with the Province of Iloilo as the lead actor in the devolution of basic education to LGUs, hit the ground running in three noble ACTs enabled by Synergeia’s Kickstarter training workshops for the main performers- LSBs, principals and teachers. The core objectives of these workshops are to find out what issues and challenges do we face and what should be done to obtain our bottom line of having all Grade 3 students read during the School Year 2024-2025.

ACT 1: LSBs Pushed the Button for HANDA

What happens when 60 participants from the LGUs, DepEd, the local schools, the PTA and local communities bond together and agree to pivot and make Local School Boards more functional and responsive to children’s needs for a better quality of education?

The insights and perspectives drawn from the workshop were clear, diverse and realistic. They saw the risks worsening for education should the LSBs not break through the barriers of innovating how to improve learning and reading, of enabling LSBs to lead, guide and transform towards having a more systemic approach on education planning, budgeting, prioritization and overall governance and of organizing the LSBs for increased effectiveness, efficiency and results-driven strategies.

As an outcome, the group pushed the button to start moving towards an action program that will make LSBs ready to raise its performance level or what can be summarized as HANDA:

H– aving a reinvented or expanded membership.

A– ctive and involved leadership of local mayors or the LCEs in the LSBs.

N-eed to have more consistency in lSB meetings and proper documentation.

D-evelop capacity for data development, utilization and analysis to improve strategy and outlook, SEF planning and prioritization, and conductnof education summits for needs asessment and strategic planning.

A– wareness and information campaigns in the roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and performance of LSBs and LCEs.

Indeed, ACT I ended with a resolve to make LSBs HANDA or prepared to evolve as more strategic, engaged and performance-driven agents of change and realize the POC’s goal of having Grade 3 pupils able to read during the School Year 2024-2025.

ACT 2: The Principals: The Good and Bad Eggs

Posted on by Florendo Guevara

The Proof of Concept (POC) initiative, with the Province of Iloilo as the lead actor in the devolution of basic education to LGUs, hit the ground running in three noble ACTs enabled by Synergeia’s kickstarter training workshops for the main performers- LSBs, principals and teachers. The core objectives of these workshops are to find out what issues and challenges do we face and what should be done to obtain our bottomline of having all Grade 3 students read during the School Year 2024-2025.

Like eggs in a tray, a dozen principals bravely took an introspective journey to examine what is right and wrong with how they are doing their business so that ultimately, they can rewire and reshape their roles and identity for the good of education.

These principals found in themselves the good eggs that are meant to be kept and the bad eggs that should be thrown away. 

The good eggs obviously pertain to the principals’ positive traits of being hardworking, competent, inspiring and transformational leaders.

On the other hand, the bad eggs point to their negative attributes which need to be changed so they can perform their roles better with a higher degree of integrity, transparency,  accountability and effective governance.

In particular, these principals found some of their strategies, approaches, and practices as misaligned with the best practices in cognitive, moral, and motivational leadership, planning and budgeting, research and teaching innovation, measurement of learning performance, community relationship-building, and capacity-building for teachers.

To better understand the reading crisis and what it takes to reverse it and have higher standards for learning and education, the principals while agreeing to reboot their roles and identity by leveraging on their strengths and improving their weaknesses, geared up for its HANDA strategy by:

H– olding the hands of teachers in elevating their capacities to teach reading, writing, and numeracy.

A- ctive involvement in the implementation and monitoring of the reading program to provide guidance and interventions (like already assigning outstanding teachers to Grade 1  pupils).

N– eed to engage with teachers and community stakeholders, including parents, for mentoring and coaching.

D– eveloping a culture of data collection, analysis and utilization for performance-based teaching strategies and approaches.

A-dhering to a back-to-basics discipline and approach for principals where teachers will be inspired and motivated to do their tasks.

As part of developing the Synergeia teacher training modules, the school principals also committed to provide short  stories, poems, and nursery rhymes whose provenance is Iloilo or Panay and stories of  Ilonggo heroes,  history, and culture.