What is your “Missing Connection”? — Challenges in Teaching Millennials

Learning is something that we should have as wonderful teachers. We should be learning from every circumstance in our life. Without learning, life is empty!

If we are learning everyday, we can always find that MISSING CONNECTION!

Here are my notes in one of the good sessions I have attended to.  Learning from a Millennial himself, I want to pay-it-forward from Mr. Dannes Nestor Serrano of Metrobank Foundation.

How to get the best out of your learners?

SPICE THINGS UP IN YOUR CLASS!

“Hulihin mo yong lasa ng kung ano ang gusto mong lutuin”

… the herbs and spices of teaching.

Go back to the very foundation of why students listen.

REAL TALK: Why are my students not listening to me? Why do some of them don’t feel like going to school — and the worse, why do some of them drop out from school? 

It could be that “something is missing”!  There should be that FOUNDATION, but there is a MISSING CONNECTION!

Students would never listen to somebody they don’t like

So just what is it that we need to create?

CHALLENGE: Can I UNDO the usual things that I do?

“I am not paid to be loved”… is this one of those lines we’ve once said?

Now, what could be that FOUNDATION?

ACCEPTANCE.

               “tanggap mo ba sila?” 

Nobody’s perfect and nobody will – everybody commits mistakes. what you see is what you get

                  “ganyan sila ngayon, kaya ba natin silang tanggapin?

– thing is, NASABI MO BA SA KANYA?

THEY won’t’ CHANGE BECAUSE YOU HAVEN’T ACCEPTED THEM FIRST

Sometimes we’re becoming “perfectionists”

Seek first to understand than to be understood.

It all starts with acceptance.

Look for the opportunity to tell them that you accept them whoever they are. J

Teach them how to stand up in the class.

If don’t want to be bullied, you bully yourself 😀 😀

Those who are being bullied are only those who do not accept who they are.

Everyone has a value and that value needs acceptance

                  “mag usap tayo, ano ba tinging mo sa sarili mo?”

”what do you think of yourself?’

                  Somebody has to tell them that they are understood. – take that opportunity

Their ears will not be open if they don’t feel that they are accepted.

Tell them “I love you” many times.

If we don’t accept them, somebody else would.

 

BELIEF. BELIEVE IN THEM.

What do you want them to become?

What is your end-goal for your students?
we need to believe in the FAITH of what we HOPE our students to be.

It’s the faith that you believe in that you will become.

                  “pangatawanan mo na ganon ka kahit hindi pa nangyayari”

yong hindi pa nagyayari pero pinaniniwalaan mo na, nangyayari din!

DECLARE! But let it start with BELIEVING!

Why not ask your students to think of something they can become.

Give them the HOPE of what they can become.

We need to start believing in our student

Believing has a “statement” – tell them about it.

Keep on saying it until they get used to it.

Say to them those ‘POWER WORDS”!

Our PERCEPTIONS have POWER!

List down lahat ng bagay na maganda sa kanila.

 

CATCH YOUR STUDENTS DOING THE RIGHT THING

                  “hulihin mo silang gumagawa ng tama”

The nature of man is to always look for something which is not good.

We tend to forget the bigger picture.

We need to forget catching the wrong things.

Look for something good.

Nasa pananaw mo ang interpretasyon na ibibigay mo sa mga nakikita mo.

There is always something bad – but there is always something good

What are the good things that you see in your students?

Catch it, list it down and tell him about it.

Be appreciative.

Everyone have something good.

Always look for something good.

 

DISCIPLINE

Too much familiarity should be given Direction.

You may probably hurt them but do not harm them.

When you do your discipline, masakit pero nakapagpapagaling

You can hurt their feelings a little bit but it will make them well.

A child who is accepted can effectively understand why they should receive your discipline — but Make sure you’re first done with the ABC!

Do not belittle the little things that you can say to your students.  That little thing will occupy the biggest area in your students’ life.

So, on these notes Dear Teachers, what could be that connection that we rarely dare to recognize? 

Please give your reflections a voice! We want to tame these Millenials who direly need YOU to walk through with them in their journey!

Dare now, SAY IT and MAKE YOUR MARK!

Happy Teachers’ Month everyone!

“No significant learning can occur without significant relationship.

You’ve got to build that connection with people.

Our actions are not seen in the way we do things

“All learning is understanding relationships” – Churchil

 

 

Could “they” have “you”?

 

The Canvas of Society by Joey Velasco in is just within our realms — a painter’s transformative journey through the children’s afflictions, desires, and deliverance from their circumstance that can reach across generations and cultures.

The likes of Nene, Itok,  Imong, Onse, Buknoy, Michael, Joyce, Tinay, Dudoy, Jun at Roselle & Sudan — 12 characters whose cries no one hears, whose scars are already in their being, whose eyes pierce through, whose minds are innocent yet vulnerable to get tempted by the needs unmet, whose character is subject to ridicule … have you ever asked yourself what you can do for them?

“baka may magawa ka pa!” 

The likes of them who have the ardent hope that “They have Jesus” — could be there just within the four corners of the classroom.  How could you give life to them? How could you reach out to that one soul who still wants to be complete despite being shattered? — that every single soul, longing for one who could listen and understand, who could give guidance and counsel?

What is your commitment then — to them, who are expecting to be noticed while you actually gaze at them in those corners of your eyes?

How could you help calm the storms that others have been through?  What could you do to help others’ life not to be wasted?

How much of yourself could you offer to address the needs of those eyes who need not speak?

How much of your time could you share to embrace the situation of those hearts which cannot feel that they are worthy of another’s love and attention?

I know you could be one’s source of hope. This may be the time that while you are challenged to scrutinize your students’ stories to be of significant help, you may as well WORK ON YOUR OWN STORY! For at the bottom of the line, you can never really share what you don’t have.

Let your story be that one which brings inspiration to other’s hopelessness. What you have at hand might just be those five loaves and two fishes — too little as it may seem, but as long as you give God your “Amen”, no amount of yourself will ever be too small. #sunset

 

 

Early Childhood Education — A Moral Issue?

Some business leaders in an International report contended that “Investing in Early Childhood Education is one of the wisest things we can make!”  

Considering the fact that “Children from 0 to 5 can’t fight for themselves to get a better start at life,” they say that this is not just an economic issue, but the moral justice issue of our time.

To align with the promotion of Universal Kindergarten, the Philippine Educational System instigated the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program. Supported by UNICEF, such program intends to deliver the best start for all children and to contribute to the Global platform for Primary Education. Collaborations have been in occurrence with government & private associates to promote a holistic approach to early learning and to bring in, series of actions for each child’s progress. Parental Involvement is also enhanced, in coordination with educational advocates, so as to appropriately aid the children in their first five years’ crucial development.

However, despite the investment of time, treasure and effort towards the emerging Four Themes in Early Childhood Education, it turns out that we are still facing major issues that need to be addressed amidst pressing times in terms of: [1] the ethic of social reform, [2] the importance of childhood, [3] transmitting values and [4] a sense of professionalism.

On [1] Ethic of social reform, we are currently experiencing inequities & mediocre child care. There is still the deep need for social justice since the goal of closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority pupils have not been realized as of yet.

On [2] The Importance of childhood, sad to say, children of today have no choice but endure “an endangered childhood” because there is so much emphasis on survival, while kids are chaotically exposed to reality and adult experiences. Families, where they belong are under different forms of stress such as restoration of relationships, too busy working parents who rarely have quality time with them, parents who are working their way to the edge just to fight poverty, and the likes.

On [3] Transmitting values, adults as we are: parents and stakeholders, we more often than not forget that “Early learning is powerful!” In a majority of instances, we are caught unaware by our own reactions and viewpoints along with the confronts of media’s exposure of violence, tragedy & social diversity – with which, children are subconsciously developing some kind of behavior, if not deep scar or trauma, especially if we’ve reacted unconstructively.

On [4] Professionalism, not many of our stakeholders are persistent in an advocacy of passionately fulfilling “a better start at life” service in the field of early childhood. Teachers are not given proper and significant training to help them deal with children when differences arise between the cultural patterns of the home, community and those of the school’s.

Fantasy and reality in the minds of young kids are not separate things. Innocent as they are, they have that strong expectation that adults will respond to what they need – in which case, we’ve got to harness the discrepancies between their make-believe and reality, otherwise, we are not giving them THE BEST START that they should get. However, being confronted with the above-mentioned matters in reality, wouldn’t we worry that we may disappoint the youngs of our time? Would you agree that this is more of a moral justice issue rather than economic?

Being both A FACILITATOR OF LIFE and a CURRICULARIST, would it then still be wise to Invest in Early Childhood Education? Please share your idea.

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If we are not prepared, we are going to spend the rest of our time REPAIRING!

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PhotoCredits: http://www.livequotes.online/library/quotes/quotes-on-education-for-all/quotes-on-education-for-all-12.jpg

Resources:

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-preschool/104635-trends-in-early-childhood-education/

https://mymission.lamission.edu/userdata/bazikyi/docs/COC/15_GordonBrowne9e%20PPT.pdf

http://www.delmarlearning.com/companions/content/1418011339/resources/Ch1.asp

http://voxglobal.com/2013/05/top-trends-and-issues-in-education-takeaways-from-the-education-writers-association-ewa-conference-2013/

THE CHECKPOINT!

What will make education exciting is that we should TALK ABOUT US and OURSELVES!

You can make that difference when you’re already THERE “in that position”!

— but DO NOW while you’re still WHERE YOU ARE!

Modernization of Times, as well as Global Alignments both demand Education to be “exciting” — yet Stakeholders and Cohorts do not really succeed as they should! – don’t you think so? – but WHY?

Millennial generation wants EDUCATION TO BE EXCITING! They “do not do well being passive learners” (Starlink, 2004). A group of students born between 1982 and 2000, they are also dubbed as “Millennials”. They have the characteristics unique to the digital age. Their comfort level of technology is on ipod, laptop, cell phones, computers and the Internet – at which, the students that we actually have at present are already so much exposed and even addicted to.

Institutions cannot deny the point that the “digital age” could possibly cause GAP between expectancy & actuality. The reality that education could be creating may not be what Millennials are expecting – which could be the reason why even at this point, some of our learners would still not have enough motivation to battle against their “night afters”.

Meeting students’ needs should be very crucial and should be the optimum goal of stakeholders and every educational entrepreneur.

Educational Organizers & Managers may have all the skills thereat required to get promoted to a position level after gathering years of experience in service; they may have gone through the tedious process & flow of the Essential Fundamentals of Management; and they may even have gotten several trainings on School Leadership – but what could have been wrong, or what could have been the “missing link” why the MILLENIAL GENERATION still do not get the help that they need that would make them totally engaged in their learning?

Reality & Expectations -– where will both ends meet?

Credits to the following links:

http://www.facdev.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/students/millennials_our_newest_generation_in_higher_education.pdf

http://www.starlinktraining.org/packets2004/packet129.pdf

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/portmoodysecondary-november222013-share-131125113818-phpapp01/95/planning-with-the-end-in-mind-approaches-to-summative-assessment-2-638.jpg?cb=1385379618

 

 

How Should we Transfer what We Should?

What’s up with us now?

Chaos here and there … there has been a lot which we need to unlearn from the archives of our past.  There should be a lot which we need to learn & re-learn from the scenarios of our present.

Adult as we are, we may not identify which is which to learn and unlearn at this point in time — How much more a child would?

Everything now is at stake! – don’t you think so?

If we ever intend to “map-out” a good journey for our children’s future, there are “Windows of opportunity” which we need to look into; yet we vaguely are able to ascertain which and what and how.

 

Children Learn What They Live; Children Live What They Learn

Children learn what they live

Children live what they learn

Teach them the way to love in their hearts

They will find love in the world.

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn,

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient,

If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence,

If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate,

If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.

If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith,

If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself,

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,

he learns to find love in the world.

— taken from Les Crane Desiderata album

How a child learns and develops is very critical!

UNAWARE as we possibly are, children would even learn even those that we do not teach.

This fact makes it even more DANGEROUS — for we are not so sensible of the things and actions that children may capture.

Now the thing is, WHAT is it that WE SHOULD TRANSFER to each child? and HOW should we transfer what we should? [please expound your idea through AN ARTICLE of your own, with your own title.]

In this Millennial Age, if we ever want to make REAL TRANSFORMATION, we have to see children in a new light!  They are not ours to just keep, they are our RESPONSIBILITY TO NURTURE – and most importantly, they could be THE CHANGE that we could be OPTIMISTIC ABOUT!

photo credits: http://www.debbierossi.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Children-live-what-they-learn.jpg

 

The Future that we should Take Care Of

“We cannot move forward if we allow the past to pull us back.

It is the present that we are concerned with

and the future that we should take care of.”

– Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte, 1^st SONA, 25 July 2016

The response and performance of a TEAM is the REFLECTION of its Manager’s ATTITUDE! – would you believe so?

If “Management” is the judicious use of means/resources to achieve goals; and having commands of the whole range of management skills, what can you say about Pres. Duterte’s statement which gained applause during his 1^st SONA — what “manager’s ATTITUDE” is he trying to portray?

Any institution could only have worthwhile accomplishment if the one leading it has a healthy concept of what he should FIRST & FOREMOST DO to eventually meet a successful end!

With every MAN leading for a certain cause, CHANGE is not always easy – BUT it is something that we always seek out in different areas of life: in any group, in any institution, in whatever situation. Hence, one can never really EFFECT CHANGE if he does not INFLUENCE anyone.

What does it take then to be an “effective influencer”?

Making a RECALL of the activity that we did in class: [you can insert a picture of your output] the various dots that you have placed all over the sheet which you preferred to work on, how you’ve plotted/organized your dots, the innate skills that you can share, the responsibilities which you’ve accepted to fulfill, and the four quadrants where unaware as you were you’ve placed those “life elements” – what does it tell about you as a “manager of your own life”? How do you think could it help you AFFECT INFLUENCE?

MANAGEMENT may never be an easy task though; but so long as you would strive to experience it FOREMOST TO YOUR “SELF” even with struggles, you would eventually realize that with the way you ORGANIZE your thoughts and your actions, you can certainly TAKE CARE not only OF YOUR FUTURE – but of your CHILD’S & others’ LIFETIME too.

 

“Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little,

has its stages of drudgery and triumph;

a beginning, a struggle and a victory.”

                          — Mahatma Gandhi

What will make you Ready?

In this course, we will be Assessing the Behavior of Young Children who belong to our Early Childhood Education Program.

If you will initially be asked to do your first “Assessment Task” among these Young Children, what “emphasizing truth?” could you observe?  Do the kids really get that “meaningful experience” which should be rendered to them in terms of Assessment?

More often than not, most of us may have that natural tendency to identify factors that should give that “consequential experience” from the outside – such as lack of facilities, number of teachers, inconsistencies, and the likes – such that we may find it an excuse that our actions are limited by the outside “consequences”. But US, being part of Early Childhood Education should be the first customers of our program. Attempting to Assess the Young Children’s Behavior is just like “looking into their eyes” with an “innate skill” which “i feel” is actually not significantly accorded in any Teacher Trainings if there are any.

We can never really see what lies within each child’s eyes if we haven’t exerted effort “looking into our own” – for we can never really deliver that “meaningful experience” if we haven’t even devoted ourselves through it.

“The first years of life are important because what happens in early childhood can matter in a lifetime!” – Harvard, 2009

Kids have dreams! They hope we would care to shape their future!

Our existence as teachers would matter in each child’s lifetime – yet, we can never really give what we don’t have; and we wouldn’t know what to give if we wouldn’t identify what we have. In the same way, we wouldn’t really strive to work for something else if we are not aware of what we don’t have.

To BEST BEGIN, why not strive “to look into your own eyes” – the window of your soul!?

It’s never too late: PEEP-INto your OWN WINDOW! Grab this opportunity now … look within, query around, reflect on feedbacks, find opportunities of your better understanding your “self” so that you may also be able to understand the young children you’re catering to.

Begin filling in your window:

Photo Credit to: http://www.startofhappiness.com/wp content/uploads/2012/07/johari_window.png

This is a Johari Window, a Model developed by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955, an idea derived as the upshot of the group dynamics in University of California. The name ‘Johari’ came from joining their first two names: Jo-Har-I.

As a Psychological Tool, the ‘Johari’ window model is relevantly used to identify TWO TRUTHS in your life: the “known”  and the “unknown” areas which you and others “see” and “do not see” .

It could aid in improving self-awareness, ‘soft’ skills and in motivating personal development as you go through the journey of discovering “who you are” as a person. – while you enhance your perception on others through social  “trust” as you thrive to achieve the task of understanding and enhancing communication for interpersonal development when you’re already in a group.

Each person is represented by the Johari model through four quadrants or window panes which signify personal information, feelings, motivation and whether that information is known or unknown to oneself or others in four viewpoints:

1. “Open self” or Arena – the “Public” area which you and others see in you: attitudes, behavior, emotions, feelings, skills and views.  You typically do not mind discussing with others this part of you. Most of the time you agree with this view you have and others have of you upon “feedback solicitation”.
2. “Hidden Self” or Façade– the “Private” area which  you see in yourself but others don’t; known to you but is kept unknown from others which you feel reluctant to reveal: feelings, past experiences, fears, secrets, faults, weaknesses, and dysfunctions due to modesty, vulnerability & protection.
3. “Blind self” or blind spot–the area which you do not see in yourself but others see in you: those that others know in a group but you are unaware of it. Others may interpret yourselves differently than you expect; sometimes a mismatch between your talk & walk which you fail to detect.
4. “Unknown Self” area – the “Undiscovered” area of your self that you cannot see nor others around you: your feelings, capabilities, talents; even the traumatic past experiences or events which can be unknown for a lifetime and makes you unaware till you discover your hidden qualities and capabilities through observation of others. You would need to strive for Open Communication to effectively decrease the unknown area and thus to communicate effectively.

So long as you are ever willing to open up those windows, more doors of opportunities will be opened.

Now that you have accomplished such self-discovery and disclosure, how do you think would this self-assessment help you in Assessing the Behavior of Young Children?

 

Thanks & Credits to these links:

http://communicationtheory.org/the-johari-window-model/http://www.slideshare.net/ksdhillon85/the-johari-window

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_windowhttp://www.businessballs.com/johariwindowmodel.htmhttp://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/07/08/the-johari-window/

We Should Do Something for Them!

Kids have dreams!

From Early Childhood to Growth …

Amidst Individual Differences which are needed to be addressed and understood, someone out there should say “i care”!

Welcome to this Course: Assessing Behavior of Young Children and find out for yourself “how you can” and “how should” you “care to care”!

 

 

What is Your “Piece of Peace”?

#Master of Arts in Educational Management 
#Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education

Can we not strive for this?

You are beautiful! You are unique! YOU are YOU!

YET, you might have forgotten to ASERT YOURSELF because you might have had so little confidence in your self.

Over some period of time, there might have been some incidences of feeling neglected and it gave you enough justification  to shy away from the world, from other people; shy away from yourself until you’ve just been contented hoping to just blend into the background.

Could you ever imagine when was “that time” you begun feeling worthless?

When was it that you started changing yourself, hoping to just impress the thoughts of others?

Without you realizing, you are actually harming yourself because you’re hoping to improve … when in fact, you’re doubting your very self because you no longer feel that confident to VOICE OUT amidst those times when your thoughts and actions have just been rejected & by-passed. In effect, it gave you the only choice to just close your eyes and shrug your shoulders because you allowed yourself to feel helpless.

You no longer feel great just the way you are because you’ve already forgotten WHO YOU REALLY ARE!

You believed it when people say you’re not worthy; you stopped giving yourself the chance to gain credits despite the many striving times you’ve exerted. You’ve pressured yourself too much because you’ve allowed those chaotic, abrupt-changing systems to disturb your “simple piece of peace”.

You were supposedly to work giving out your BEST for God’s glory in an imperfect world; yet, you keep on justifying that you are “not perfect” — that is why, you’re also justifying “not being able to give your BEST” in every little thing that you do because of what you believe in.

“You can never be perfect?” What does it say about your “self esteem”?

Could you imagine what will happen to “that thing called Tadhana” if everyone of us would take care of this kind of mindset? Destiny — as a predetermined course of events may be conceived as a predetermined future.  What lies in the future would always depend upon WHAT WE DO TODAY!

Many of us would tend to complain about several “turn out of situations which doesn’t give us any choice!” — that is why we keep on “piercing our heart” with that arrow which we keep on pointing to other direction other than our own SELF!

If there should be some "PIECE OF PEACE" that we should bring to our future not only as a teacher but as a Child of God, 
what do you think would that be?

Try visiting these links for progression:

http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/21st+Century+Teacher

http://www.principals.org/Content.aspx?topic=61219

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/09/11/03mindset_ep.h33.html

If you only have 15 Dots …

How many times would you lift your pens up in connecting your available DOTS?

#Curriculum Making for Early Childhood Education

In "crafting", there are no mistakes; 
it is your own unique creation!

If you only have 15 dots, how would you connect each, to come up with something that would TELL WHAT YOU WANT?

What would each dot represent and how could it align with your Philosophy, Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives?

Those Significant DOTS …

Yes, in crafting, there are no mistakes … but considering that when you “craft” in Curriculum-Making the  UNIQUE development of each CHILD” should be our “apple of the eye”, an educator’s COMMITMENT should then really matter the most.

TIMES may be tough and there may be VAGUE SPACES between dots YET, EVEN THE LIFTING OF OUR PENS would talk about our ADVOCACY while we DRAW OUR LINES so carefully so that our unique creativity will "not mark a mistake" in every child's life. 

“