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WINNERS’ FOLIO: Outstanding Teachers from DepED Region XII SchoolsAssisted by the Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA) under the EQuALLS2 Project


Winner’s Folio: Outstanding Teachers from DepED Region XII SchoolsAssisted by the Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA)

under the EQuALLS2 Project


Disclaimer: This publication was made possible by the generous support of the American people throughthe United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this publication are thesole responsibility of the Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA) and do not necessarily reflect theviews of USAID or the United States Government.


Contents

Background 4Insights Gained and Lessons Learned 6

Meet the Outstanding Teachers from DepED Region XII SchoolsAssisted by ELSA under EQuALLS2 8

English 8Jainal Abidin IsmaelDominador Baron Rebugio, Jr.Cynthia GasparJean PepugalLeny SimoraMarivel PapnaEdna Pondong

Science 22Edna SantanderAnnalie LaidiaMelody SalamancaFlora Mae BaylaranMary Jane RafaelNapiza UzmanMelinda Lee

Math 36Araceli RoblesBridget NemenoLiza BaronOfelia ChivaEvelyn JacintoGenny RabagoLea Loro

Meet the Partners of the EQuALLS2Educators’ Professional Development Program 50

Annexes 53


Background

The Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills Phase 2 (EQuALLS2) is aMindanao-focused education project of the United States Agency for International Development(USAID) in partnership with the Philippine Department of Education (DepED). The project aimsto help increase access to quality education for elementary schools and relevant learning/livelihoodskills training for out-of-school children and youth. EQuALLS2 is managed by the EducationDevelopment Center (EDC) in partnership with implementing organizations and groups, includingthe Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA).

ELSA is a multi-stakeholder, and multi-sectoral public-private partnership composed of AyalaFoundation (AFI), Consuelo Foundation, Petron Foundation, Philippine Business for Social Progress(PBSP), and International Youth Foundation (IYF) which is the Lead Partner of the alliance. Asan implementing partner of EQuALLS2, ELSA works in eight provinces – Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, HadjiMuhtamad, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, Cotabato City and Cotabato Province.

One of the major project components of EQuALLS2 is StrStrStrStrStrengthening engthening engthening engthening engthening Capacity for Capacity for Capacity for Capacity for Capacity for TTTTTeachingeachingeachingeachingeachingEnglisEnglisEnglisEnglisEnglish, Math and Scienceh, Math and Scienceh, Math and Scienceh, Math and Scienceh, Math and Science which is designed to support the Educator Professional DevelopmentProgram of the Department of Education though the following interventions: core training programsin English, science and math which are designed to develop a pool of learning facilitators at the schooland district levels; refresher courses meant to supplement the core training programs; and Training ++which helps ensure that no teachers in the project sites are left behind. The priority target beneficiariesof Training ++ are teachers who may not be reached through mentoring.

The culminating activity of the Educator Professional Development Program of ELSA was thesearch for outstanding learning facilitators/mentors in its projects sites in Region XII. Its objectivewas to give due recognition to EQuALLS2 teachers who utilize innovative teaching strategies in theirclassrooms, based on their learnings from the project, as well as share these learnings with theirlearning partners/mentees and their other co-teachers.

The search was a joint undertaking of the DepED Region XII and ELSA, through the InternationalYouth Foundation, Petron Foundation, and Notre Dame of Marbel University. Planning work startedin the last Quarter of 2010 and the recognition day was held last March 28, 2011.


The following activities were undertaken:The five ELSA-assisted schools divisions

selected their most outstanding teachers inEnglish, Science and Math last December 2010.DepED Region XII developed a set of selectioncriteria and chose a division winner in each of the3 subject areas – English, science and math(ESM). 1 In sum, there were 21 division awardeesin the 5 ELSA schools divisions.

Two ELSA partners – IYF and NDMUreviewed the various EQuALLS2 training designsin order to determine the scope of validation tobe conducted on the division winners. The majorobjective of the validation was to confirm/assesswhether the division awardees utilized innovativeteaching strategies learned from EQuALLS2training programs in their classrooms andwhether they shared their learnings with theirlearning partners/mentees and other co-teachers.

NDMU developed 5 validation tools:2

information sheet of division awardees,interview guide for division awardees, interviewguide for school head, rubric for classroomobservation/reflection notes of validators, videodocumentation of the interviews with awardees,the school head, PTCAs and other educationstakeholders. NDMU also took charge of writingofficial letters to the school heads and learning

facilitators; preparing the schedule of fieldvalidation, and; selection of field validators fromNDMU. Orientation sessions/briefings with thevalidators was done in January 2011.

IYF and NDMU requested the DepED XIIregional office to allow the project to visit thedivision awardees and conduct validation workon the 21 division awardees. When the RegionalDirector learned about the search, she requestedEQuALLS2 to schedule the awarding during theopening of the Mindanao Educators Congresson March 28, 2011.

Validation work on the 21 division awardeeswas done from 25 January to 5 February 2011.Video documentation included not only theinterviews with the division winners but also withthe school heads and other project stakeholders(PTAs, community leaders and otherstakeholders). Folios of the 21 division awardeeswere prepared, to serve as basis for the finalselection of three grand awardees in each of thesubject areas of English, science and math (ESM).

IYF and NDMU invited ESM specialists toevaluate the 21 folios, interview the divisionawardees, review the reflection notes of thevalidators, and select the 9 grand awardees inESM. The recognition of the 21 awardees and the9 grand awardees was done on March 28, 2011.

1 Please see Annex 12 Please see Annexes 2a-e

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Insights Gained and Lessons Learned

In profiling the awardees in the ELSA search for outstanding teachers in its project sites, a numberof factors emerged as having positively contributed to the making of a winner in the EducatorProfessional Development Program of EQuALLS2. They may be categorized into two: extrinsic andintrinsic factors.

Extrinsic FactorsAll-out Support of the School-head. The 21 EQuALLS2 winners are fully supported and are given

technical advice by their school heads. Having been oriented on the Learning Partnership Program(LPP) themselves, the school heads provide leadership by encouraging the rest of the school facultyto participate in the program. Further, since they have also been provided training on classroominstructional practices, content areas and strategies of teaching English, science and math, these schoolheads are able to continuously monitor the classroom activities of the outstanding learning facilitators-mentors as well as the sharings and group learnings in LPP sessions.

Acceptance and Collaboration of the Learning Partners/Mentees. Although there were initialworries on whether the LPP would be accepted by the learning partners/mentees, the EQuALLS2winners have noted either immediate or gradual interest among the rest of the school faculty tojoin the LPP sessions. This acceptance is generally attributed to quality demo teaching done by thelearning facilitators/mentors during the LPP sessions and the readiness of these learning facilitatorsto help their learning partners in their day-to-day classroom activities.

Partnership with Respected Educational Institutions. ELSA’s partnership with Notre Dame ofMarbel University (NDMU) in the implementation of the Educator Professional DevelopmentProgram is a contributory factor in motivating the EQuALLS 2 winners to do their best in theirparticipation in the training programs and in the LPP. NDMU is a leading institution of higherlearning in Central Mindanao and the EQuALLS 2 winners felt proud to attend NDMU-managedEQuALLS 2 training programs. Being associated with NDMU was a major reason they cited for theirperfect attendance in the EQuALLS 2 training prgrams.

Support of Community Stakeholders. Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), local governmentunits (LGUs), school governing councils (LGCs), community business and other community groupsin the schools of the EQuALLS2 winners show substantial interest in EQuALLS2 activities. Theyhelp source funds for acquiring the learning materials needed by the school and also provide in-kindcontributions to implement these activities.

Enabling Policy Directions. At the beginning of School Year 2010-2011, the Department of EducationRegion XII issued Regional Memo 86 s. 2010 entitled Strengthening the Learning Partnership Program(LPP) Cum Mentoring in the Region. This issuance provided impetus to the wide scale implementationof the LPP in Region XII. The EQuALLS2 schools, having been thoroughly oriented on the programfor about three years, emerged as natural frontline leaders at the school, district and division levels.They readily implemented the LPP activities with ease and without major setbacks.

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Support from Home. Family support isevident in the activities of the ELSA winners –from allowing them to be away from home duringthe training sessions to showing sympathy fortheir long hours of mentoring. This familysupport is an important consideration especiallyfor the married learning facilitators.

Intrinsic FactorsConcern for the Pupils. The EQuALLS2

winners feel considerable fulfillment when theyobserve that their students are able to understandthe concepts taught in the classroom. Theirfulfillment is multiplied several times over whenthey see the students gain not only a goodunderstanding of the subject matter but alsowhen they imbibe positive values such as learningto work together, sharing of learning materialsand having fun while learning. The EQuALLS2winners, in turn, are more inspired to do betterin their work because they see improvements inthe school performance of for their students.

Nurturing Attitude, Sincerity to Help. Tothe EQuALLS 2 winners, teaching is a taskwhich has a seamless coverage, from school tonon-school dimensions. They provide anurturing environment to their learners, whichthey find as a positive anchor of high studentinterest in learning.

Ability to Effect Transfer of Learning. TheEQuALLS 2 winners show exemplary ability to

teach their students by utilizing student-centered strategies. Equally important, they donot simply depend on prototype learningmaterials. They make the necessary adaptationto suit them to the context of the learners andto make them more culturally sensitive. Theyare able to apply the learning strategies theylearned using their own devices and readilyavailable resources.

Initiatives to Innovate. The profiles of theEQuALLS2 winners show that they use variedspringboards in handling their classes as well asin their sharings during LPP sessions. In theclassroom, they choose what they truly perceivecan create better results, based on theirassessments of where students are, and theytake off from these student circumstances andcontexts. They share these approaches andstrategies with their learning partners withenthusiasm and vigor.

Moreover, in the day-to-day classroomactivities of the EQuALLS2 winners, there areevidences showing that the learnings they gainedfrom the Educator Professional DevelopmentProgram go beyond the ESM boundaries. Theyhave applied their learnings outside of theEnglish, science and math classes – in relatedcurricular activities, in enrichment programs andeven in community development initiatives.

With these emerging positive profiles, theultimate beneficiaries are indeed the younglearners of Mindanao.

Insights Gained and Lessons Learned


Jainal Abidin Ismael••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher in

English, Schools Division ofCotabato City

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee in English inthe Search for Outstanding USAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers in the ProjectSchools of the Education andLivelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA)

When he passed the Licensure Examination forTeachers (LET), Jainal Abidin Ismael had a chance tochoose from several schools of Cotabato City where hewould be assigned. He chose the J. Marquez Schoolof Peace (JMSP). This school was established in 1997as part of the support of the Department of EducationRegion 12 to the 1996 Peace Agreement between Muslimfreedom fighters and the Republic of the Philippines.Specifically, the JMSP is the education sector’s responseto provide learning opportunities to children of ex-rebelswho have decided to live as ordinary civilians after yearsof fighting, as well as to families of war-affected areasespecially the school-age children. A big majority of thestudent population (99.7%) are children of these ex-rebelreturnees.

A young man with earnest dark eyes, Jainal felt hecould be of help to the efforts of the Department ofEducation to provide quality education to the Muslimyouth. More especially, he wanted to help Muslim students who did not quite see the value of theEnglish language and attended the subject only because they had to finish basic schooling. Whenhe started teaching at JMSP six years ago, he noted that his students were either non-readers or hadconsiderable difficulty in reading. Hence, he scheduled his English class activities with more timeallotted to reading. He feels that efficient time-management of lesson activities should provide ampletime for students to internalize information and to apply learning in meaningful contexts.

When he was selected by EQuALLS2 to be a mentor and undergo a series of training programsin English, he took special attention not only to the content learning strands but also to thedevelopment and preparation of audio-visual materials. The EQuALLS2 core programs, including

English

“Most teachers rushlearning. Students need

time to think and use theirminds. It takes time forinformation to become

meaningful. There is notrue learning unless thechild mentally acts upon

the information.”

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Meet the Outstanding Teachers from DepED Region XII SchoolsAssisted by ELSA under EQuALLS2


mentoring , refresher coursesand most especially theTraining++ afforded him theopportunity to focus ondeveloping indigenous, low-cost but colorful and attention-getting learning materials. Heregularly used these materialsin his classroom, together withthe strategies he learned ondeveloping reading readiness.He gradually noticed thegrowing interest of hisstudents in the class activities,particularly during classrecitations and actual reading time.

His confidence boosted, he shared thesestrategies with his co-teachers and learningpartners (mentees) during group mentoring andone-on-one sessions with them. Scheduling theLearning Partnership Program (LPP) sessionsdid not pose a problem for Jainal. In schools wheremajority of the students are Muslims, Fridaysfrom 10 am to 1pm are prayer hours. Whilemajority of the students in his school are Muslims,most of his co-teachers are Christians. Heproposed to his school head that LPP sessions beheld during this “free” time, and the latter readilyagreed, noting that the school would be able tocomply with a DepED Region 12’s memo to allottwo to three hours once a month for school-basedin-service training of teachers. With this brightidea, the school went beyond the time allotment.Thus, he and his learning partners were able tohold learning sessions every week.

During the first few weeks of holding in-school LPP sessions, Jainal was worried that hisbeing a Muslim and his learning partners beingChristians, might pose a challenge. But theseteachers showed interest to learn from hissharing, especially on the strategies in teachingleast learned competencies in English. Havingdemonstrated that student learning could bemore fun and meaningful with the use ofappropriate and interesting audio-visualmaterials, Jainal earned the respect of his co-teachers. Even the more senior facultymembers sought his assistance during the LPPsessions and also whenever they had queriesabout content points and teaching techniques.

Jainal has been able to put to good use hisacquired knowledge and skills from EQuALLS2not only in his classroom and in the school’s LPPsessions but also in creating enrichment activitiesoutside the classroom. Under his guidance, theschool paper Kalilintad won 12th place as bestschool paper in Region 12 and 14th place under theFeature and Literary Page category. This awardqualified the school to participate in the nationalpress conference of the Department of Education.

Janial was chosen as the ELSA outstandingEnglish teacher of Cotabato City under theEQuALLS2 in 2010. In March 2011 he wasselected as one of the three grand awardees inthe 2011 search for outstanding EQuALLS2English teachers in ELSA schools of DepEDRegion XII.


Dominador Baron Rebugio, Jr.••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher in English,

Lambayong District, Sultan Kudarat

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee in English in the Searchfor Outstanding USAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers inthe Project Schools of the Education andLivelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA)

Dominador Baron Rebugio, Jr., fondly called Toto by his familyand friends, was a consistent Dean’s Lister, major in Biologyat the University of Southern Mindanao where he graduatedin 2001. At first blush, he seemed like a round peg in a squarehole. Asked why he, a Biology major, is teaching English, Totoexplains that English is a major springboard for students tofurther understand science concepts. He has adopted theintegrative method where science concepts are integrated inEnglish speaking and reading exercises and he has noted thathis students find it a meaningful approach to learning bothEnglish and science.

Keenly interested in honing his teaching skills and in sharing these skills with his co-teachers,Toto participated in all EQuALLS2 core and refresher courses in English as well as the mentoringprograms from 2008-2010. In the district-based Training ++ of Lambayong, Toto served as the teamleader in English, taking charge of developing the context-based training designs of the three cycles.His other responsibilities included: serving as trainor/facilitator, managing the preparatory work suchas orienting trainors and other logistics, like preparation of learning materials, documentation,training evaluation, post training report preparation and selection of training venues.

Toto spearheaded a 2010 summer reading remediation program for non-readers and slow readersin Mamali Elementary School. The program was completed with flying colors. By the end of summer2010, all the 30 participants could read and comprehend reading materials suitable to their respectivegrade levels.

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“Teachers do not need to travel to far places to look for strategies thatwould help their students learn meaningfully. All they need to do is to put

their students in the center of the learning environment and reflect ontheir needs. I have a reflection journal where I describe the progress andareas for improvement of each of my students. This journal guides me on

what learning strands and strategies to use in my classrooms.”


Toto’s classroom is full of attractive learningmaterials . The EQuALLS2-donated dictionariesand reference materials are in a strategic corner- now showing wear- and-tear signs because offrequent student use. There is also a board wallof new words to be used during the day. Toto alsoinitiated the “English Wizard” program torecognize fast learners in speaking and reading.He notes that this scheme has motivated hisstudents to be more engaged in his classroomactivities. His “Today, I have learned…” is anotherstrategy of his which keeps his students engageduntil the end of the class, and they actively listtheir learnings in their lesson logs. This strategyalso enables him to get feedback from his studentson his teaching approach as well as to evaluatestudent performance on a daily basis.

A natural born leader and endowed with apleasant personality, Toto took no time to earnhis colleagues’ trust and confidence as theirEnglish learning facilitator (mentor). Under hisleadership, the English teachers in his schoolcrafted a master plan for improving the school’sEnglish scores in the School Year 2010-2011National Achievement Test (NAT). The plancalled for Saturday review classes during theschool year. This was not an easy task, asstudents usually help their parents in house workor business on weekends. Thus, Toto and hiscolleagues conducted PTA meetings to orientthe parents on the value of these review sessionsin improving their children’s schoolperformance. During these meetings, he woulddiscuss with the parents the student learningneeds contained in his reflection journal.

Equally important, the students themselves hadto realize the importance of this undertaking intheir over-all standing in school, thus helpingsecure their academic future.

The persistence of Toto and his team paid off.The school registered a 100% student participationin these review classes. The result of this initiativespeaks for itself – the NAT results show that in2011, Mamali Elementary School ranked 7th from168th in the previous year. The school head andToto’s co-teachers are one in the opinion that hisleadership mainly contributed to the creation offaculty teamwork, resulting in a cohesive andfocused goal to improve student achievement.

Toto’s school involvement goes beyond theconfines of his classroom and his sharing of hisEQuALLS2 learnings with his partners. He alsoparticipated in PTA training programs onresource mobilization, financial managementand community leadership. These trainingprograms serve him in good stead as adviser ofthe school PTA. He has also helped in mobilizingthe business community to provide financialassistance to an audio visual project for MamaliElementary School as well as a matching grantfor training out-of-school youth not only in hiscommunity but for the whole Sultan KudaratProvince.

In 2010, Toto was chosen as the ELSAoutstanding English teacher of Lambayong,Sultan Kudarat and in March 2011 he was selectedas one of the three grand awardees in the 2011search for outstanding EQuALLS2 Englishteachers in ELSA schools of DepED Region XII.

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Cynthia Gaspar••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher in

English, Tantangan District, SouthCotabato

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee in English inthe Search for Outstanding USAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers in the ProjectSchools of the Education andLivelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA)

With a 25-year teaching experience, Cynthia Gasparcould have opted to stay in her comfort zone— thefour confines of her classroom in New IloiloElementary School in Tantangan, South Cotabato.After all, she already had a chance to teach almost allgrades at the elementary level. She was quite familiarwith the local situation in her community and was ableto contextualize her teaching approaches in order torespond her students’ learning needs.

But when she was chosen to participate in theEQuALLS2 Educators’ Professional DevelopmentProgram, she did not hesitate to be part of the projectteam to be trained and subsequently to be one of thelearning facilitators of her school. A teacher’seducation is never done but this program meant shewould spend many days away from home during the training sessions, and after the training, severalhours of mentoring her co-teachers, in addition to her already full days of teaching and other extra-curricular work. No matter, Cynthia had a major purpose in joining the EQuALLS2 teacherdevelopment program. She wanted to enrich her knowledge in more up-to-the-minute teachingstrategies in English, particularly on ICT-based instruction which she feels, is “ able to make teachingmore meaningful, with less work for the teachers.”

While she was undergoing the training program, Cynthia already started to plan on how she wouldshare her learnings with her co-teachers. She would convince them that while preparatory workentailed by these newer strategies is admittedly substantial, actual classroom work would be moreefficient and easier to complement because the students would be more engaged in the learning-by-doing approach.

“ I consider mentoring as a two-way process – while sharing my

EQuALLS2 learnings with myco-teachers, I am in turn able toget insights from them on howto further enhance my teachingstrategies and make my lessonsmore enjoyable to my students.”

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During the Training ++ sessions where sheserved as trainor/facilitator, she was able to givedemo lessons on these strategies. Like otherEQuALLS2 learning facilitators, Cynthiaharboured some apprehensions in mentoringteachers belonging to different social andethnic backgrounds. However, when theseteachers attended her Training ++ sessions,they appreciated and eventually adopted thestrategies she shared with them in herdemonstration classes. Cynthia has receivedgood feedback from her learning partners thattheir students are now more active in theirclassroom activities. The school head likewisehappily notes that the teachers being mentoredby Cynthia now work as a team in addressingleast-learned competencies in English and inpreparing audio-visual resources and otherlearning materials. This practice is cost-savingsince the materials are widely shared by manyother teachers.

Cynthia’s classes are heterogeneous, a mix offast and not-so-fast learners with differentlearning styles. To address this challenge, shedivides her students into two groups – the fastlearners are assigned to be “little” teachers to thenot-so-fast learners. One fast learner is pairedwith one not-so-fast learner. Cynthia allots thirtyminutes after class for the pairs to do somereading and writing work. Cynthia is happy tonote that aside from more efficient learning,thisapproach has promoted closer relationshipsamong her students. The “little” teachers give

Cynthia the highlights of the sessions and sheuses the feedback and queries asked during thediscussions as basis for remediation and foridentifying learning gaps, as identified by thestudents themselves.

Still, Cynthia cites many challenges that needto be continually addressed—particularly thepresence of many indigent students in herschool. They go to school with empty stomachs,with headaches and other ailments. Every year,Cynthia brings this matter to the attention of theschool head, who in turn does substantialmobilization work for the school feedingprogram. For her part, Cynthia continues to bea second mother to her students.

Endowed with a natural motherly mien, shestrives to provide a nurturing learningenvironment where she may be approached anytime by her students and fellow teachers alike.She tries to understand their learning concernsand counsels them, even if they are not schoolissues. She gives them advice on their family andother non-school problems. Because of thispersonal touch, she has earned the trust andconfidence of the school community.

When she was named an outstanding Englishteacher in Tantangan under the EQuALLS2 in2010, nobody among her peers and students wassurprised. Neither were they surprised when shewas chosen as one of the three grand awardeesin the 2011 search for outstanding teachers inELSA schools of DepED Region XII.

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Jean Pepugal••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher in English,Pigkawayan District, SchoolsDivision of Cotabato Province

As a classroom teacher, Jean Pepugal has taughtEnglish in almost all grade levels and in differentschools of Cotabato Province for more than ten years.Yet, she conducts her classes with the sameenthusiasm and vigor as when she was a young teacher,using many multi-colored learning materials andaudio-visual aids. She thrives despite the even morecolorful social and political milieu she lives in.

The Pigkawayan Central School where Jean teachesis located at the border of Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces. It is often caught in crossfiresbetween Moro freedom fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the MoroIndependent Liberation Front (MILF) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In spite ofintermittent encounters between and/or among these forces, the school strives to maintain smoothinterpersonal relationships among its Muslim and Christian students.

Like most teachers in this school , Jean dreams of achieving peace in the community throughquality education — not merely through the use of conventional classroom strategies but also withnewer techniques that are guaranteed to arouse the interest of learners of today who have variedlearning styles and abilities brought about by technology gadgets which already abound in thecommunity. Hence, when she was chosen to participate in the EQuALLS 2 Educators’ ProfessionalDevelopment Program she diligently attended all the core and refresher courses. She activelyparticipated in the implementation of the Training ++ in the school district of Pigkawayan. Inthese courses, she tried to equip herself with present-day teaching strategies focused on the useof ICT-based strategies such as the use of media-assisted instruction.

One of Jean’s back-to-school tasks after completing the EQuALLS 2 training programs wascommunity mobilization work in order to acquire instructional materials for her school. She was ableto obtain financial assistance from local government executives as well as from the school’s PTA.She has shared these materials with her learning partners during individual and group mentoringwork. She has likewise initiated the use of computer-assisted instruction in her classes, a strategywhich she also encouraged her co-teachers to utilize. She notes that they are gradually becomingmore interested in this approach. They now recognize the importance of newer technologies in making

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“Teaching is not just aprofession to earn (from)but a vocation to live for.”


the learning environment attuned to needs ofthe learners of today who are exposed to variousICT gadgets and tools for learning.

In addition, Jean has shared with her learningpartners many other approaches she learnedfrom EQuALLS2, particularly the pupil-centered strategies in teaching English, such as:the KWL chart where the students share whatthey know (K) about the topic at hand, what theywant (W) to know about it and finally what theylearn (L) on the matter through the selectionread. This strategy makes students moreparticipative because their memories arerefreshed on their past knowledge and are madeto connect the old with the new. The SemanticWeb allows them to classify concepts and theVenn Diagram is used to extract similarities anddifferences in two to four variables described ina write-up. She also uses concept maps to enrichher students’ vocabulary, gallery walk wherestudents view the output of their classmates andthink-pair-share activity sheets where studentsshare their ideas with their partners and with thewhole class. She observes that “when I use thesestrategies … my students become moreparticipative and more interested in learning. Ialso note that their level of confidence hasimproved.”

Her use of these strategies is encouraging.The 90-minute time allotment for English thather students previously perceived as quite longfor one lesson is increasingly becoming shorterand insufficient for these interesting classroomstrategies. The learning environment hasbecome more vibrant, with students activelyengaged in classroom work.

Concerned about the non-readers in herschool, Jean and four of her co-teachersconducted a special reading program for non-readers during the School Year 2010-2011. Afterobtaining the permission of the parents of theirtarget learners, they conducted reading sessionsduring non-school hours, using the followingapproaches: individual reading, peer reading andgroup reading, supplemented by the gallery walktechnique. The fast learners in the readingsessions were asked to assist in tutoring their

classmates. The parents were also encouraged toask their children to read books while at home.

Notable outcomes of the program include:students have become more active in class; thestudent/peer mentors have gained moreconfidence and leadership qualities; and theteachers have been encouraged to work as one inconducting school activities designed to enrichlearning. For her part, Jean has done mentoringbeyond the confines of her school . She conductsLPP sessions in neighboring schools. She admitsthat sustainability of the LPP is a challenge asthere is a continuing need for interesting andattention-getting learning materials. She plans tocontinue mobilization work, as she notes that thecommunity is now more willing to help becauseof the marked increase in her school’s rating inthe NAT. The community leaders also recognizethe achievements of Jean’s school in Read-a-thoncompetitions.

Jean’s efforts did not go unnoticed – in 2010,the young, waif-like dynamo was chosen as theEnglish awardee of Pigkawayan, CotabatoProvince in the ELSA search for outstandingteachers under the EQuALLS2 Project.

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Leny Simora••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher

in English, Sto. NinoDistrict, Schools Division ofSouth Cotabato

“I was hesitant to join the EQuALLS2Educators’ Professional DevelopmentProgram, particularly when I was asked bymy school principal to attend the series oftraining programs that would prepare meto be an English learning facilitator atGuinsang-an Elementary School in Sto. Nino,South Cotabato,” Leny Simora admits toguests who observed her class recently. Sheadds that she is well aware of the fact thatmajority of her co-teachers are more seniorthan she is, and that many have highereducational qualifications. Further, sheconfessed apprehension about mentoring sessions that would either be frequently cancelled orrescheduled because of many unprogrammed school activities that needed teachers’ attention.

Still, being a good soldier, Leny participated in all the EQuALLS2 training programs. Also, afterassessing the teaching strategies she used in her classroom vis-à-vis the present-day characteristicsof learners, she realized that she needed to get updated in her teaching strategies designed to makelearning a more interesting experience for learners.

Oozing with more self-confidence than ever and equipped with her newly acquired competenciesand skills, particularly on authentic assessment with the use of individual student portfolio, she wasable to identify weak learners in her classes, together with their unique learning needs. She thendeveloped a customized instructional strategy and conducted special remedial learning sessions forthese weak learners. The strategy had positive outcomes. It has encouraged them to be more interestedin learning, more creative and more appreciative of the value of participation in class work. Theyhave displayed higher order thinking skills in their responses to questions posed to them, patiencein accomplishing given tasks and working with various groups and individuals.

Noting the improved pupil performance specifically in terms of critical thinking and creativityin doing their work, Leny shared the strategy with her learning partners who likewise notedimprovements in their students’ participation in classroom activities. The whole school community

“I believe collaborative efforts andunified focus of the whole school,aided by new innovative and cost

efficient initiatives, are thefoundation of quality learning.”

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attributes the very impressive NAT performanceof the school to this learner-centered teachingstrategy. The school ranked number one in the2011 NAT in the whole Schools Division ofSouth Cotabato.

To Leny, team work among the schoolmanagement team and teachers, as well asengaging community involvement areimportant factors in the implementation of LPP.The teaching strategies she has learned fromEQuALLS2 require considerable attention,time, effort and financial assistance. The schoolgoverning council (SGC) of the school, theparents and the whole community appreciatethis LPP requisites. Thus, they have put in placea resource mobilization mechanism to assistthese initiatives. They have a continuing fundgeneration campaign among communitybusiness groups, local government units andNGOs. Her being a Purok Enabler, a volunteerwork she does for her municipality, helps her doher advocacies in improving the learningenvironment in her school. While she doescommunity service, she is able to motivate localleaders and businessmen to help her schoolprojects. For their part, these stakeholders feelgood in helping the school because they note

that its number one rank in the NAT resultsshould be maintained. They are very proud ofthis accomplishment. Hence, they supportLeny’s initiatives in conducting individuallearning sessions among her students.

She believes that achievement of learninggoals does not solely depend on classroomefficiency; that collaboration on shared goalsshould exist even beyond its four walls. Her beliefechoes the message of the adage that “it takesa village to raise a child.”

Leny was chosen as the ELSA outstandingEnglish teacher of Sto. Nino, South Cotabatounder the EQuALLS2 Project in 2010.


Marivel Papna••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher inEnglish, Esperanza District,Sultan Kudarat

Like other teachers of Sultan Kudarat,Marivel Papna did hesitate to join theEQuALLS2 Educator Professional Development Program which envisioned to select a cadre ofmentors that would undergo a series of training programs from 2008-2010. She knew at the onsetthat she would need to allot substantial time for the project in addition to her already heavy teachingload. Moreover, she was unsure of whether she would be accepted as English mentor by her co-teachers,many of whom are more senior than she is in the teaching profession. In spite of her initialapprehensions, Marivel decided to join the program because she wanted to help improve theperformance of her school in national achievement tests.

After completing the EQuALLS2 training programs and after a series of planning sessions withher school principal who also underwent orientation and training on LPP, the task of mentoringdid not seem insurmountable nor heavy any more. Her learning partners accepted her as their Englishlearning facilitator because they saw the good practices she shared with them during her demo sessionsin the three cycles of Training++ in Sultan Kudarat. They showed interest in student-centeredstrategies that she used during these demo sessions.

Even while conducting LPP sessions, Marivel implemented a weekly 30-minute readingenhancement program in School Year 2010-2011. The improvement of the school in the 2011 NATwas attributed to this program – from rank 15 in the previous school year, the school ranked secondin the NAT. Not content with this achievement, Marivel continues to conduct remedial teachingin reading among her slow readers and non-readers.

Marivel is tapped to serve as demonstration teacher at the Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat. Sheregularly holds sessions on beginning reading in division-level seminars of the National English

“I continue to be inspired when I see my students go to the libraryafter my class and look for books that dovetail with my lessons for

the day. It means that they have been motivated to seek answers tosome questions they may have, or to further understand what they

learned in class.”

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Proficiency Program (NEPP) of the Departmentof Education, using strategies and approaches shelearned from EQuALLS2. Hence, she is able toshare her learnings not only with her co-teachersin Sagasa Elementary School but also with otherteachers in other schools throughout themunicipality of Esperanza. Marivel is also theadviser of the English Club of her school whereshe gives technical assistance to all English-related school activities such as spelling contests,essay writing contests and other competitions.Marivel acknowledges the support of parents andthe whole community in these activities. Theyhelp in financing the participation of her studentsin various projects designed to improve studentperformance in English.

For Marivel, there are three ingredients in asuccessful teaching process – collaborative,strategic and experimental.

Collaborative: She regularly encouragesparents and the community to become majorstakeholders in enriching the learningexperiences of her students. She initiated afeeding program twice a week for School Year2010-2011 where the community leaders andparents helped in preparing packed lunch forslow learners in remedial reading sessionsduring non-school hours. She also asked the

community leaders to assist in the renovationof the school library and to purchase libraryresources such as books, audio-visual aids andother learning materials. Today, when one visitsthe school library, he/she sees the good resultsof Marivel’s initiative – students quite absorbedin reading the attractively packaged referencematerials and tinkering with learning kits.

Strategic: One example of Marivel’s strategicapproach is in resource mobilization work.Aware that her community is a disadvantagedone, she has asked her students to help incleaning the school surroundings and theirhomes by bringing to school discarded bottleswhich the school sells for recycling purposes.The proceeds are used for the purchase oflearning materials of the school.

Experimental: Marivel sees to it that shecontextualizes and applies her in-servicelearnings in her classroom. She is encouraged bythe good results she sees – reduced tardiness andabsenteeism, more active participation inclassroom activities, and better schoolperformance as evidenced in the 2011 NATresults.

In 2010, Marivel was chosen as the ELSAoutstanding English teacher of Esperanza,Sultan Kudarat under the EQuALLS2 Project.

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Edna Pondong••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher inEnglish, MalapatanDistrict, Schools Divisionof Sarangani

Edna Pondong has diverse interests incommunity development. In addition toher teaching work at the MalapatanCentral Elementary School (MCES) she isa volunteer in the purok-based Bayanihanwork on proper waste disposal, helps in cleaning the seashores of Sarangani Bay and joins reliefservices to victims of flood and other natural calamities.

Edna belongs to the B’laan tribe, many of whom are impoverished and have inadequate knowledgeof the value of education. She realized at an the early age that education has great significance towardthe improvement of the quality of life of her tribe. Since she started teaching twenty-seven yearsago, her passion for reaching out not only to the B’laan community but also to other cultural andreligious groups, has not waned. Every year, she helps in house-to-house campaigns to encouragethese groups to enrol their young children in Grade One in MCES. These campaigns have helpedin the increase of enrolment of childrenbelonging to tribal communities in MCES aswell as in other Malapatan schools. Ednadraws in strength from the fact that she is ableto make students want to learn more.

Primarily utilizing the cooperativelearning approach (CLA), a strategy shelearned from the EQuALLS2 teacher trainingprogram, Edna’s students show signs of beingable to learn and work together. Like the otherteachers who have undergone EQuALLS2 training programs, she has a board wall where studentsvisit to learn new words and to use these words to communicate. Group work activities which sheregularly conducts among her students enable them to share their ideas and do hands-on work duringregular classes and homeroom sessions.

Edna also religiously implements DEAR (Drop Everything And Read), a daily student reading activityfrom 1:00-2:00 in the afternoon before her English class formally starts. Her classes also participate

“My students have diverselearning styles, particularly those

who belong to indigenousgroups. I try my best to tailor my

teaching approaches to thesedifferent ways of absorbing the

content of my lessons.”

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in READATION – a reading comprehensioncompetition. In the last school year, her studentswon first prize in this competition in Malapatanand they represented the district in the Divisionlevel competition. She is also the adviser of“NEWSPEN”, the school paper of MalapatanCentral Elementary School. Her students won inthe broadcasting category of the Division level inthe 2009-2010 competition held in the annualpress conference of the Department of Education.This award qualified her students to represent theSarangani Division in the Regional School PressConference. It boosted her students’ confidencein English speaking and writing, resulting inmuch improved school scores in English in themost recent NAT.

After completing the three EQuALLS2English core programs, refresher courses andmentoring program, she was chosen to serve astrainor and demo teacher in the three Training++cycles in Malapatan. Armed with thecompetencies and skills she gained from theprogram, Edna conducted several demoteaching sessions during these Training ++sessions. When she started to do the mentoringwork expected of her as a learning facilitator inher school, her learning partners accepted her togive them counseling and advice because shewas able to gain their confidence during thedemo sessions she conducted during theTraining ++ sessions.

The school principal, after being oriented andtrained on the LPP concept, guided her and theother learning facilitators of the school inidentifying the least-learned competencies of the

school and in developing the teachers’ learninggoals, implementing strategies, and scheduleswhich were integrated in the school’s LPP plan,and; in scheduling her mentoring work.

Initially, the major challenges which Edna hadto address in conducting LPP sessions were:getting her learning partners interested in the LPPand scheduling of LPP sessions. With the help ofthe school principal, these challenges wereeventually met and at present, her mentoringefforts are highly appreciated by her learningpartners and the school principal, especially afterthe school showed improvements in the 2011 NAT.

Aside from mentoring, Edna is a regulartrainor in the Teacher Induction Program in theSchools Division of Sarangani. She feels that herlearnings in EQuALLS2 also helps her in thisprogram, as well as in the other school projectsrelated to the teaching of English.

As a recognition of her initiatives, Edna waschosen as the ELSA Sarangani Division Awardeein English category last December 2010. Morethan the award, Edna finds great consolation inthe smiling faces of her students, many of whomare indigenous people (IPs), when they recite inEnglish and when they use the dictionary to findthe meaning of English words they encounter forthe first time in her lessons.

The Malapatan Central Elementary Schoolas well as the members of her B’laan communitywere very proud when Edna was chosen as theELSA outstanding English teacher ofMalapatan, Sarangani under the EQuALLS2 in2010.

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ScienceEdna Santander

••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher inScience, Malapatan District,Schools Division of Sarangani

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee inScience in the Search forOutstanding USAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers in theProject Schools of theEducation and LivelihoodSkills Alliance (ELSA)

It did not come as a surprise to the students,teachers and the school principal of LunPadidu Central Elementary School inMalapatan, Sarangani when Edna Santanderwas chosen as the Schools Division 2010awardee in science by the ELSA search forOutstanding Teachers among its project schoolsunder the USAID/EQuALLS2 Project. Theschool was joined by the whole Malapatanmunicipality in celebrating her exemplaryperformance as a master teacher and learningfacilitator for the LPP.

Edna has come a long way from the time shecompleted the EQuALLS2 training programs inscience teaching. She has extensively used thepractical work approach which involvesconsiderable hands-on activities and explorationsin learning science concepts. Her students alsouse the work sheets distributed by the project,coupled with active student participation andinteraction in science activities. Moreover, thescience kits and other equipment provided by theproject are used not only by her students but byall students in her school.

“Before the science kits were givento our school by EQuALLS2,

majority my students did not evenknow how graduated cylinders,

beakers or test tubes looked like.Ever since the project gave sciencekits to schools, my students have

been able to manipulate thesescience equipment with ease andconfidence. Noting this classroom

improvement, the school head nowbuys these equipment for the use of

all students in the school. ThePTCA and other community

leaders also extend their financialhelp to acquire these resources.”

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Her exemplary classroom practices are notconfined to her teaching science. She hasadopted the use of board wall to enable herstudents to learn new words every school day —an integrated approach to teaching both scienceand English in one lesson. Moreover, she has aplace in her classroom where she displays goodstudent outputs for the day. This strategy hasmotivated her students to turn in well-preparedwork and to be more active in science activities.

The school principal and her co-teachersappreciate her sharing of these classroompractices with her learning partners under theLPP, as well as her other colleagues in science.While the DepED Region XII encourages theconduct of LPP sessions once a month, theschool now holds these sessions twice a week ,two hours per session. Edna makes herselfavailable for one-on-one consultations every dayof the week, as needed by her co-teachers. Sheresponds to their queries even after the officialLPP sessions.

Edna’s coaching and mentoring style is bestcharacterized as “you-can-see-me-anytime”approach, almost a 24/7 consultation schedule.Her friendly attitude has resulted inmore teachers consulting her on theirindividual teaching activities.Moreover, she invites her peers toobserve her classes so that they wouldbe able to gain insights from her newlyacquired teaching approaches andstrategies.

Edna’s classroom is full ofindigenous, low-cost learning materials– branches of trees, leaves, seeds anddiscards like empty bottles and basins.She says that these materials are lessintimidating because they are familiaritems used by the students in their dailyactivities. However, more sophisticatedequipment are also all over herclassroom, for students to use in theirscience experiments.

Another laudable initiative of Ednais the regular feeding program of LunPadidu Central Elementary School.

This initiative is a response to students whocome to school without having taken meals athome. The feeding program has reducedabsenteeism and has resulted in more activeparticipation of the more disadvantagedstudents in her science activities.

Edna holds regular consultation sessionswith the parents of her students, PTA officersand other community leaders to determinepossible gaps in the science teaching strategiesof the school and to develop solutions toaddress these gaps. She involves them indeveloping a seamless learning environmentfor the students, with the home and thecommunity as part of the whole learning set-up. The marked improvement of the school inthe 2011 NAT is happily attributed to thisinitiative.

Just like in 2010 when nobody was surprisedthat Edna was selected as the USAID/EQuALLS2science awardee of Malapatan, Sarangani in theELSA search for outstanding teachers in itsproject schools, neither was anyone surprisedwhen she was chosen as one of the three ELSAgrand awardees of the search in 2011.

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Annalie Laidia••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher in

Science, Pigkawayan District,Schools Division of Cotabato

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee in Science inthe Search for Outstanding USAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers in the ProjectSchools of the Education andLivelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA)

Annalie Laidia believes that educational technologiesand present day strategies are important elements inthe learning landscape, especially in teaching science.Although her school is located in an area often caughtby crossfires between Moro freedom fighters of theMoro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the MoroIndependent Liberation Front (MILF) and the ArmedForces of the Philippines, she dreams that the day willcome when the school will extensively use ICT-assistedlearning materials and strategies for learning scienceconcepts in all classes . She also wishes that newstrategies result in improving the quality of educationin her school; that the learners of disadvantagedcommunities would likewise be given this same qualityeducation that would redound to the promotion of peacein her community.

When she was chosen to participate in the EQuALLS2 Educators’ Professional DevelopmentProgram , Annalie felt she could realize her dreams by absorbing as much as she could during thetraining programs. One of the science teaching strategies which she feels is beneficial to her studentsis the POE approach – predict , observe and evaluate. To her, this approach helps the students learnscience concepts better, based on experimentation and gathering evidences to support their ideasand predictions. Her pupils have eventually become more observant and analytical.

Just like the other learning facilitators in ELSA schools, Annalie had an active role inidentifying the least-learned competencies among the students of Pigkawayan CentralElementary School and in preparing the LPP plan , including its learning goals, implementationstrategy and monitoring/evaluation plan. And just like other learning facilitators, Annalie had

“The ultimate beneficiaries ofthe Educators’ ProfessionalDevelopment Program ofEQuALLS2 are the younglearners of our school. Onecannot describe the joy of

learning in their hearts whenthey manipulate the

laboratory equipment andrealize that science is not a

mystery after all.”

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growing pains in conducting LPP sessions.Many of her learning partners were hesitantto adopt the teaching strategies she sharedwith them and the conflict of schedulesresulting in the learning partners’ inability toattend LPP sessions was made a convenientexcuse. On the learning materials, it tookAnnalie some time to convince her learningpartners to manipulate the science kits,stressing that they need to know how tohandle these materials so that they could begood models to their students.

Her school principal provided technicalassistance by making revisions in the classroomteaching schedules of her learning partners andby conducting frequent orientation sessions onthe importance of LPP in the improvement ofthe school’s NAT performance. She alsopersisted by continuously holding demo classesand by sharing with them the learning materialsshe received from EQuALLS2.

By the second quarter of School Year 2010-2011, Annalie could hardly accommodate therequests of her learning partners to assistthem in their science lessons, from preparinglesson plans to actual experimentation andstudent evaluation. There were severalinstances when her fellow teachers would askfor her help while she herself was holding herown class activities. There were also timeswhen she had to leave her own students in

order to help her learning partners. Eventually,this problem was resolved when the schoolprincipal assigned other teachers to take overher classes while she was with her mentees,giving them technical advice or observingthem in their classroom activities.

Annalie considers the provision of sciencelearning materials as one of the majorcontributions of EQuALLS2 to her school. Theymake the students more engaged in experimentsand in classroom recitation. She believes that theproject interventions have helped in improving theschool’s NAT performance, her students garneringthe fifth place in the division-level Science Quizand most important, the growing confidence of herstudents in conducting experiments and inexplaining/defending their ideas.

Annalie’s dream of giving quality educationto the youth whom she considers as the mostvaluable resource of her community, remains forthe most part, a cherished dream. But she nowsees many features of this dream slowly butsteadily becoming a reality.

Annalie was chosen as the ELSA outstandingScience Teacher of Pigkawayan under theEQuALLS2 in 2010. In March 2011 she wasselected as one of the three grand awardees inthe 2011 search for outstanding EQuALLS2Science teachers in ELSA schools of DepEDRegion XII.

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Melody Salamanca••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher in

Science, Lambayong District,Schools Division of SultanKudarat

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee in Sciencein the Search for OutstandingUSAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers inthe Project Schools of theEducation and Livelihood SkillsAlliance (ELSA)

Melody Salamanca is rarely seen in her classroom.She is often in the school yard of PidtiguianElementary School, located in the remote village ofPidtiguian, Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat. With herscience students, she is either watching them getsome soil for their experiments, checking whetherthe faucet could be used in her lessons, sorting thebranches and leaves needed as specimens, orcounting the containers where science tools andgadgets would be placed.Then, she asks her learningpartners and other co-teachers to examine thelearning materials, so that they could also use thesematerials in their science classes.

For seven years, Melody has been teaching in this school which is also her alma mater. Before joiningthe EQuALLS2 Educators’ Professional Development Program three years ago, she encountereddifficulty in accessing science materials and tools for her lessons. More seriously, her students oftengot bored with their “chalk-talk” experiments and they either fell asleep or became noisy and restlesswhile her classes were going on. One Grade 3 student named Carl was quite naughty and troublesome.Although he was always present in class, he loitered around, talking loudly and irritating his classmates.His test results were very low, indicating either his lack of interest in the subject or he simply did notunderstand the science concepts.

Although not a science major, Melody joined the science training of EQuALLS2 when she wasasked by her school principal to be the representative of her school. She was challenged to learn morescience concepts and teaching techniques. After completing the science training programs, Melody

“Before I employed thestrategies I learned fromEQuALLS2, my students

listened to my lectures, but Iknew they did not understand.

Now they have learned todiscover science concepts

together with their classmatesby manipulating the science

learning materials. I also notethat there is less misbehavior

in my classes.”

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started to utilize indigenous learning materialsand to implement the hands-on approaches tolearning science. She formed various groups inher classes and gave each group specificresponsibilities in conducting theirexperiments.

Gradually, she noticed her students becomemore inquisitive, display higher order thinkingskills in class discussions and showresourcefulness in obtaining learning materials.They even volunteer to get materials availableat home and surrounding areas. Carl, now inGrade 6, has excelled in conducting scienceexperiments, and has made colorful materialslike graphs and illustrations. More importantlyhe now shows leadership potentials, oftenconducting peer teaching sessions among hisslow learner classmates. Melody’s co-teacherswith whom she has shared her learnings fromEQuALLS2, have also begun noticing positivechanges in their students.

Of the many strategies which Melody learnedfrom EQuALLS2 and which she has shared withher learning partners, the group work approachhas been observed to result in positive changesin the students. This approach is anchored onthe fact that the responsibility of learning restson the learners, given the right concepts and

delivered in a fun, enjoyable manner. Melodyand her fellow-teachers now maximize the groupwork approach among the students to enablethem to discover for themselves the conceptsand theories behind what they observe aroundthem. In short, the students have become moreengaged in science exploration.

Melody and her learning partners now uselocally available and affordable materials toexplain scientific phenomena. They also prove tobe practical and are easier to relate with. In placeof expensive materials and tools, Melody learnedfrom EQuALLS2 that she could use alternativesthat would give the same results and outcomes.

Parents, community leaders, businessmen,and other local groups who have seen theimprovement of student performance in the 2011NAT, now show more interest in the schoolprojects. They put up counterpart activities andgive cash or in-kind donations to finance theseprojects.

Melody was named the outstanding scienceteacher of Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat in theELSA search for outstanding teachers in 2010.In 2011, she was selected as one of the threeEQuALLS2 grand awardees among all thescience teachers in ELSA schools of DepEDRegion XII.

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Flora Mae Baylaran••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher in Science,Sto. Nino District, SchoolsDivision of South Cotabato

Every day, Flora Mae Baylaran goes to her class andgreets her students with a big smile, and theyinstantly warm up to her with equally big smiles.She is a young teacher and her classroomatmosphere makes one feel her exuberance andenthusiasm in teaching, using colorful audio-visual aids, attractively packaged books, referencematerials and science gadgets displayed (and used!) in accessible areas.

Flora Mae finished her college program in elementary education just a few years ago and startedteaching in J. Blanco Elementary School at the start of School Year 2010-2011. She transferred fromAmbalgan Elementary School where she taught for three years. She was therefore considerably worriedwhen she commenced her work as a learning facilitator at J. Blanco. She underwent the EQuALLS2teacher development program while she was still teaching at the Ambalgan Elementary School andshe was getting ready to do her mentoring work there when she was transferred to J. Blanco ElementarySchool. She did not quite know how to approach her work as a learning facilitator.

And then, there was a second concern. The new school was, and still is, a non-EQuALLS2 school.It did not receive the support project inputs like science kits, reference materials and other learningaids which have been given to the project’s recipient schools. Neither was it expected to implementthe LPP.

Fortunately for Flora Mae, the teacher-in-charge (TIC) of the school was among the school headsthat attended a division-wide LPP orientation and training workshop for the municipality of Sto.

“Although my school is not an ELSA school, the teacher-in-charge(TIC), parents and community leaders are one of the feeling that my

learnings from EQuALLS2 are beneficial to their children. Thus,they help in sourcing financial assistance for the acquisition of

science learning materials.”

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Nino, South Cotabato. The TIC learned that theDepED Regional director requested the programofficials to include even the non-project schoolsin the LPP orientation sessions and trainingworkshops. Thus, the TIC was able to participatein these activities. After participating in theseLPP sessions, she requested Flora Mae to helpin crafting the LPP program of the school.

The other teachers of the school did not eventhink twice in deciding to help in these tasks.Nor did they see Flora Mae’s being new in theteaching profession and her short residence inthe school as deterrents. What they consideredmore important was her potentials as a learningfacilitator who would share with them herlearnings from EQuALLS2.

Flora Mae generously shared the scienceteaching strategies she learned fromEQuALLS2, particularly the learning-by-doing approach. She did demo teaching on themechanics of this approach, one of which isdividing the students into groups with specifictasks and roles in conducting scienceexperiments. The lack of science gadgets did

not discourage Flora Mae and her co-teachers.They used indigenous materials readilyavailable in the community. Flora Mae and herlearning partners noted that with thisapproach, students have ceased to be passivelearners. They are now active participants inthe science activities and they feel responsiblefor the tasks assigned to them. Furthermore,they have learned to express themselves wellwhen describing their work.

There was another positive development.The school governing board (SGC) holds itsregular meetings in the school’s multi-purposehall and its officers regularly meet with theschool officials and faculty on the school projectsand concerns. These meetings provided a venuefor orienting the community leaders on LPP, andthey have shown commitment to the programby helping finance its activities.

In 2010 Flora Mae was awarded theoutstanding EQuALLS2 science teacher title inSto. Nino, South Cotabato under the ELSAsearch for EQuALLS2 outstanding teachers.

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Mary Jane Rafael••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher in Science,Tantangan District, SchoolsDivision of South Cotabato

The responsibilities of a learning facilitator arenot new to Mary Jane Rafael, a science MasterTeacher 1 of Tantangan Central ElementarySchool in Tantangan, South Cotabato. She hasbeen in the service for more than 15 years and asa master teacher, she is frequently requested tohelp conduct in-service training programs by theDepartment of Education Region XII and tomanage school-based workshops for teachers.

Hence, when her school principal asked herto participate in the EQuALLS2 Educators’Professional Development Program in order tofurther enhance her knowledge and skills in scienceteaching and to prepare to serve as a learningfacilitator to her co-teachers, she readily agreed,thinking that these tasks were already quite knownto her.

Mary Jane realized that the EQuALLS2 sciencetraining program was quite rigorous, with manyconcepts and strategies introduced to theparticipants for the first time. Moreover, she learned that the project’s LPP would entail not onlyconducting demo sessions and managing school-based training programs. She learned that it wasmuch, much more. Once she realized the big tasks ahead, her first instinct was to back out of theprogram. However, she decided to take a second look at the present-day science teaching strategiesof EQuALLS2. She did not stop at looking. She in fact learned so much and had another realization– that these strategies would be helpful to her classes .

Hence, she decided to carry on. She now says she is glad she decided to continue participating inthe training programs. Confident that she had been fully armed with the knowledge she gained fromthe program, she started her LPP work with the help of her school principal. She helped initiate thecreation of the LPP Advisory Council, specifically the formulation of the roles and responsibilities of

“EQuALLS2 has helped reducetardiness, absenteeism and drop-out

rates in our school. Students nowcome to school from Monday to

Friday and are more interested inschool work.”

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the officers and members. She is now the sciencefocal learning facilitator of the school-based LPP.

At the initial stage of the LPP, she workedclosely with the school principal and the mentorsof the other subject areas, namely English andmath, in crafting the school’s LPP learning goalsand plan, based on the least-learned competenciesshown in previous NAT results. She also helpedthe school principal in the preparation of thelearning partner/mentee selection criteria, pre-LPP assessment of learning partners for thebaseline data of the program, the modification ofteachers’ work load to allow them to participatein LPP sessions and the conduct of school-levelLPP orientation sessions.

As Mary Jane had predicted, she encounteredsome challenges in her LPP work, overlapping

activities, conflict of schedules due tounprogrammed tasks that demand teacherattention and lack of funds for acquiring thescience learning materials needed inimplementing the strategies and techniques shehas learned from the EQuALLS 2 trainingprograms. Mary Jane and the other learningfacilitators in her school made a plan to sharelearning materials with neighboring schools andto hold fund raising campaigns among businessgroups, local government units and othercommunity groups in order to generate funds forthese learning materials. Already, they have madeconsiderable headway in terms of soliciting theassistance of community stake holders.Donations in kind have been given by variousgroups and individuals.

A way-forward task for Mary Jane is theregular monitoring of the progress of herlearning partners in implementing the strategieslearned from the EQuALLS2 science trainingprograms. She also plans to solicit morefeedback from her learning partners on thepresent LPP set-up and operational strategies inher school, and revise them as needed.

In 2010, Mary Jane was chosen as theTantangan science awardee in the ELSA searchfor Outstanding EQuALLS2 Teachers inRegion XII.

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Napiza Uzman••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher inScience, Schools Divisionof Cotabato City

In 2008, the school principal and theteachers of Krislamville ElementarySchool could hardly believe the news thattheir school was chosen as a beneficiaryof the EQuALLS2 project. They were veryhappy to know that benefits included: aseries of training programs for their of PTA, professional development training programs for theschool principal and selected teachers, who would in turn serve as learning facilitators to their co-teachers, provision of learning materials like science and math kits, and the community incentivegrant for the improvement of the school facilities and resources.

Napiza Usman, one of the teachers in this school, recalls, “Ever since I can remember, our schoolhas hungered for books, desks, and blackboards. Even if the school is in the heart of Cotabato City,is has barely received these educational resources which are the basic requisites for learning.”

And she was more pleasantly surprised when she was informed that she had been chosen toundergo the project’s teacher training in science and to prepare her to be one of the school’s learningfacilitators. Like a hungry child, she absorbed with gusto all the science learning strands in thetraining sessions. She was likewise a conscientious participant in the project’s training program onmentoring techniques and approaches.

She now shares with her co-teachers the teaching competencies she has learned as well as theteacher handbooks and other reference materials she received from EQuALLS2. Furthermore, sheregularly consults the Cotabato Schools division officers in order to give feedback on the progressof LPP in her school as well as get guidance and updates on the program.

“Majority of the teachers in our school are new in the teachingprofession. My training in EQuALLS2 has given me confidence to

help them enrich their teaching competencies and gainself-confidence in doing their classroom work.”

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Napiza’s learning partners showed a highdegree of interest in the Training++ conductedin Cotabato City. Napiza served as one of thescience trainors and resource persons in severalsessions. She also held several demo lessons toshare the science teaching strategies she learnedfrom the EQuALLS2 science training programs.In particular, she shared with the participants thenature and scope of the practical work approachand hands-on learning activities with the use ofscience manipulables.

She also held materials development sessionswhere she demonstrated how to develop low-costand locally available science gadgets. After theTraining ++ sessions, Napiza was tasked to helpin the evaluation of the different sessions andalso in the preparation of training reports andother post-training documents.

In her science classes, Napiza has shiftedfrom the teacher-based strategies to student-centered approaches. She says “Our school nowutilizes a collaborative-participative method ofteaching where the teacher assumes the roles offacilitators and resource persons and wherestudents gain as much insights, discover forthemselves the science concepts of the lessons,and draw conclusions based on the explorationsthey have made. The teacher motivates thestudents to think critically through varioustechniques in asking questions.”

As a learning facilitator, Napizacontinuously works with her learning partnersin improving their LPP activities of the school.She regularly holds demo sessions and othersharing in groups or one-on-one LPP sessions.She also helps them prepare learning materialsas well as share teaching insights with themduring the science sessions of the LPP. Theyalso regularly consult her on their daily lessonsand use the science learning materials providedby EQuALLS2. As a school which has longhungered for educational resources, Napiza’sco-teachers feel that they need more learningmaterials. To address this concern, they havesought the assistance of different groups likelocal businessmen and the local governmentexecutives to provide these materials. Help hasstarted to come – supplies and materials areprovided by business groups and otherorganizations.

Finally, Krislamville feels that its hunger foreducational resources is now being addressed,through the pro-active efforts of the schoolprincipal and teachers .

In 2010, Napiza was chosen as theCotabato City science awardee in the ELSASearch for Outstanding EQuALLS2 Teachersin Region XII.

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Melinda Lee••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher in Science,Esperanza District, SchoolsDivision of Sultan Kudarat

Being a full time teacher and busy family woman,Melinda Lee had to consult her husband and fivechildren before she made a decision to join the firstEQuALLS2 science mentors’ training program.Like many teachers who were asked to join theprogram, she was told at the onset that it entailedher being away from home and also from herschool several days during the training sessionsand a lot more work once the LPP is launched. Herfamily showed support for whatever decision shewould make; hence she was able to inform herschool principal that he could join the program.

Looking back, Melinda feels she made the rightdecision. Although she has been teaching for morethan eighteen years, she was able to learn aboutpresent-day classroom teaching techniquessuitable to the needs of today’s learners. For her,the applicable adage to describe her EQuALLS2learnings is: “I hear and I forget, I see and Iremember, I do and I understand.”

In addition to acquiring present-day science concepts, Melinda believes that the learning materialsand kits provided by the project have benefitted her, her co-teachers and pupils of Paitan ElementarySchool in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat.

At first, Melinda had difficulties applying the new techniques she learned, such as the practicalwork approach, the 4As, and POE – predict, observe and evaluate. She had to shift from the classroompractices she was so used to doing in her science classes to those that she learned from EQuALLS2.It took some time before the input grew on her but her persistence resulted in noticeable improvementsin her students’ participation in science experiments in particular and in their attitudes towardslearning in general. Specific improvements were in terms of communicating, classifying, analyzinginterpreting, recording, reading and other higher order thinking skills.

“Science learning should not beconfined to the four corners of the

classroom. Students should beencouraged to be observant and

alert in their surroundings, inschool or in their homes. Thisbehaviour is the first step ingetting introduced to science

concepts.”

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Eventually, she became an advocate of theseapproaches. When she served as sciencefacilitator/trainor in the Sultan Kudarat DivisionTraining++, she conducted demo lessons usingthese approaches and she has made follow-through dialogues with her learning partnersduring individual and group LPP sessions. Theyhave likewise noticed improvements in theirstudents’ performance in science classes. Theschool principal of her school and also her co-teachers feel that the use of these approaches hasresulted in the school’s 2009-10 mean percentagescore in science of the NAT which increased by5.80% from that of the previous year.

Melinda cites a number of challenges sheencountered in her mentoring work at the initialstage of the LPP implementation, foremost ofwhich was lack of time. All the teachers in herschool had full-time loads. This issue wasresolved when DepED Region XII issued amemo enjoining schools to allot two hours everymonth for school-based in-service training ofteachers, including LPP. The school principalmade adjustments so that the teachers could befree for these activities.

Another issue Melinda had to contend withwas the diverse orientations and situations of herlearning partners. With her patience and

persistence, they began to appreciate her effortsand eventually adopted the techniques sheshared with them. Now, she can barely cope withthe numerous requests of her co-teachers torespond to their queries on their science lessons.However, she manages to assist her learningpartners especially when she receivesencouraging and positive feedback from them.

Melinda has initiated other science-relatedactivities to enhance student knowledge inscience. She proposed the construction of ascience-math park in the school grounds and therenovation of a vacant room to be used as ascience room and library. She plans to put thescience learning materials given by EQuALLS2in this room, so that the students can use themin their science work. She is also the adviser ofthe school’s science club and holds science quizbees and science trivia sessions every month,both aimed at enriching student knowledge ofscience concepts. Her students have participatedin district science quizzes and they have“brought home the bacon” by winning in severalquiz categories.

In 2010, Melinda was chosen as theEsperanza, Sultan Kudarat science awardee inthe ELSA search for Outstanding EQuALLS2Teachers in Region XII.

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MathAraceli Robles

••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher in Math,Esperanza District, Schools Divisionof Sultan Kudarat

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee in Math, underthe Search for Outstanding USAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers in the ProjectSchools of the Education andLivelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA)

Araceli Robles recalls the days when her studentsdreaded attending her classes. “A big majority of themwere math phobics,” she sighs. She adds that many ofher students had many not-so pleasant impressionson the subject – “Boring,” “It is very difficult, nothingbut computations and formulas.” She often wonderedwhy children were either afraid or bored with the oftrepeated lessons. She thought it was especiallysurprising for pupils to consider math as boring when it has all the features that could tickle theirnatural curiosity.

When she learned that she was to participate in the math training programs of the EQuALLS2Educators’ Professional Development Program, she predicted that these training programs wouldprovide her with the opportunity to learn teaching strategies that would make her students like math,or at least not hate it. During the math core programs and refresher courses, Araceli tried to internalizeas many techniques in math teaching as she could. Although she already had about 30 years ofexperience in teaching math, still she was able to acquire a number of student-centered techniqueswhich she felt would be useful in her teaching

Back in Esperanza Central School in Sultan Kudarat, Araceli conducted demo lessons for her co-teachers and shared the math kit and other learning materials she received from EQuALLS2. Shealso served as resource person/facilitator in the math sessions of Training ++ in Sultan Kudarat. Asa recognition of the leadership she displayed in the Training ++ activities, Araceli was elected Chairmanand President of the Municipal Mentors’ Association of Esperanza and Over-All Chairman of themunicipal level Training ++ . Her major responsibilities were: coordination of the development ofthe training design, actual conduct of the training activities, training evaluation, preparation oftraining reports and managing the logistics required by the training.

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In 2009, Araceli developed instructionaldevices to enable her students to learn maththrough hands-on manipulation of thefollowing: fraction wheel which introducesfraction concepts by rotating the wheel intoidentified fraction form or value; fraction clockwhich enables pupils to visualize the operationsof similar and dissimilar fractions; blank andnumber squares to determine odd or evennumbers, prime and composite, as well as tointroduce ratio and proportion and concepts ofwhole numbers, and other math devices. These

“ Children have negativeattitude towards the subject

partly because of theuninteresting teaching

strategies that focus only ondrills, memorization of

formulas, computation ofnumber exercises and numberdrills. The already complicated

world of numbers is mademore difficult by traditional

teaching strategies thatteachers use.”

math devices are designed to improvemathematical thinking skills and provideexperiential math learning based on real-lifesituations.

These instructional devices have beenadopted by all schools of Esperanza district,including the non-project schools. Mathteachers, even those who are not Araceli’slearning partners, consult her regularly to learnmore about applications and the mechanics ofoperation,

Araceli’s other advocacies in math teachingare: Math Mentors Outreach Program whichaims to share the learnings gained fromEQuALLS2 with schools in neighboringcommunities and a school-based outreachtraining for math teachers in Doroteo PastorMemorial Elementary School, a non-ELSAschool. Araceli feels that her learnings fromEQuALLS2 should also be shared with as manymath teachers as possible, so that the mathphobic students could learn to enjoy the subject.

In December 2010, Araceli was chosen as theteacher awardee in math by the Schools Divisionof Sultan Kudarat among teachers in ELSAschools. In March 2011, she was one of the threegrand awardees in mathematics among all ELSAteachers in Region XII.

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Bridget Nemeno••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher in

Math, Sto. Nino District,Schools Division of SouthCotabato

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee inMath in the Search forOutstanding USAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers in theProject Schools of theEducation and LivelihoodSkills Alliance (ELSA)

Although Bridget Nemeno is a graduate ofNutrition and Dietetics, she has been teachingmath for the last 18 years, and she has enjoyedevery moment of seeing the “Eureka” look of herstudents when they finally understand mathformulas, concepts and how-to steps in solvingmath problems. At first, she had a personalreason for teaching the subject. She was to learnmath concepts “on the job” so that she wouldbe able to tutor her own children in their mathassignments. Later however, she decided to continue with teaching math because she had learnedto enjoy guiding her students in their math work.

Bridget believes that teaching is “touching lives in a positive way.” When she acquires teachingstrategies through training programs she participates in, she does not use them in her classroomimmediately. She does informal “pre-tests” with her children. She discusses them with her childrenand prepares “try-out” exercises for them to do. If her children find them enjoyable and meaningful,then she uses them in school. Through this process, she is able to pilot test the strategies first sothat she can anticipate reactions and plan appropriate counter reactions that could optimize thestudent experiences in math activities.

Bridget has found that the process of “pre-testing” is useful in her LPP mentoring work. Theprocess first involves a demo-teaching session after which she solicits feedback from her learningpartners, particularly the suitability of the techniques in the demo lesson to the needs and learningstyles of their students. Together, they make the necessary revisions, adaptation and othercontextualization work in order to make the lessons more fun and interesting.

“I hope teachers would stopspoonfeeding their students butinstead, ask thought-provoking

questions because they will discoverthat there are nuggets of wisdom,though in- the-rough, which areinsights worth considering in theplanning of classroom activities.”

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Bridget’s learning partners agree with herthat the teacher-centered, Socratic approachwhere students are passive observers andlisteners is a thing of the past. Thus, with theguidance and advice of the school principal, sheand her learning partners jointly plan the LPPsessions precisely to generate school-basedmath approaches in order to respond to theunique needs of their learners.

The task is not easy. Although all the teachersare willing to embrace learner-centeredapproaches, paradigm shift is a complex andcomplicated process, especially because many ofthe teachers have been so used to teaching withtheir “comfort zone” strategies, many of whichneed updating. For her part, Bridget makes it apoint to regularly share all the hand-outs,instructional materials and reference materialsgiven by EQuALLS2, and to explain theobjectives and mechanics of using thesestrategies in LPP sessions and in one-on-onedialogues with her learning partners.

As chairman of the school’s specialcommittee on the preparation and developmentof instructional materials in mathematics,Bridget coordinates and gives advice to her co-teachers on planning, production and actualutilization of learning materials and audio visualaids. Further, she visits her learning partnersduring their own classes and gives themsuggestions on how to improve their lessondevelopments. She notes that her learningpartners welcome these suggestions especially

after they see the good results among their ownstudents. Bridget often gets notes ofappreciation from her learning partners,thanking her for her patience and advice.

A major concern of Bridget is studentassessment. Teachers usually rely mainly onwritten tests in evaluating student performance.Bridget has started to introduce the assessmenttools she acquired from EQuALLS2 and she ishopeful that they would be adopted by herlearning partners the way they had welcomedthe teaching strategies.

Bridget has another area of interest –providing hot meals to students, especially thosewho do not take their meals before going toschool. As a nutritionist, she helps prepare low-cost but nutritious meals, with locally availableingredients like moringa (malunggay)-basedrecipes.

When she was chosen as the math awardee inof South Cotabato Division under the ELSAsearch for outstanding EQuALLS2 teachers, shearticulated the project’s ultimate goal: To drawfrom the students through well-crafted questionstheir own insights which are valuable tools forcreating newer and more interesting activities.

Bridget was the 2010 Math Awardee of Sto.Nino, South Cotabato and one of the threeEQuALLS2 Grand Awardees in Mathematicsunder the ELSA Search for OutstandingTeacher-Mentors in its project sites.

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Liza Baron••••• 2010 Outstanding Teacher in Math,

Lambayong, District, SchoolsDivision of Sultan Kudarat

••••• 2011 Grand Awardee in Math inthe Search for OutstandingUSAID/EQuALLS2 Teachers in theProject Schools of the Educationand Livelihood Skills Alliance(ELSA)

Liza Baron uses simple, low-cost but colorful learningmaterials and kits in her math classes. Her studentsplay around with these kits and actively discuss themath formulas, and whenever they have queries, theygo to Liza to give explanations, examples and further details on the formulas. Then, they go backto their discussions and give day-to-day application of the math concepts that they have learned.The classroom atmosphere is not quite like that of a conventional math class where the teacher doesthe talking all the time. The students are engaged, defending their ideas or listening to their classmates’arguments.

This has not always been the environment in Liza’s classes. She began noticing more animatedstudent participation when she started to make her students cut colored paper into different shapesand to use crayons to do their math activities. She learned this approach and many more learner-friendly strategies in teaching math from the math core and refresher courses under the Educators’Professional Development Program of EQuALLS2.

Liza has received good feedback from her co-teachers on the strategies she has shared with them.They tell her that their students are already beginning to enjoy the subject and that the strategies

“As a student, I did not like numbers and was afraid to attend mymath classes. As a teacher, I initially had problems teaching the

subject. But my EQuALLS2 math training gradually made me like it.I spent hours manipulating the math gadgets in order to gain

confidence in using them in class. Now, I must admit I have fallen inlove with math.”

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she has shared with them have registeredconsiderable positive impact, foremost of whichis their school’s having won almost all the majorprizes in the 2010-2011 district-wide mathOlympiad.

Because of these positive changes in the mathclasses in Mamali Elementary School in Mamali,Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat, Liza and herlearning partners have revised the math sectionof their LPP plan, making it more robust in termsof the development and preparation of learningmaterials and application activities. The planincludes more demo sessions and groupmentoring on how teachers can increase the timeallotment for students playing multi-coloredboard games especially DAMATH, aneducational board game where players have to domathematical computations whenever theycapture an opponent’s chip. In the game, playersmust use the 4 basic mathematical operations.The plan envisions to solicit more studentrecitation and peer review of classmates’ output.It also includes assessment strategies to measurestudent progress.

Liza’s LPP sessions are conducted twice aweek, with at least two hours per session. Theatmosphere is friendly, and one can hardlyidentify who is mentoring who, as the learningpartners actively participate in the discussions.In addition to the groupsessions, Liza also devotesan almost 24/7 one-on-onedialogs with her learningpartners. She is with themwhen they prepare theirlesson plans, the learningmaterials and audio-visualaids. Like other learningfacilitators, she regularlyobserves them as theyconduct their classes andgives suggestions forimprovement.

A believer in the value ofaudio-visual aids inpromoting interactivelearning, Liza has sought

the help of the school principal in sourcing fundsfor the acquisition of learning materials such ascolored paper, crayons and other supplies. Theresponse of parents and the community as awhole is encouraging. To begin with, the PTAand local officials already have a good workingrelationship with the school. Sometime back, thePTA received a community incentive grant fromEQuALLS2 to help finance a water supplysystem for the school. The community wasthankful to the project for this assistancebecause it has benefitted the students andteachers alike. Hence, it took the school only alittle bit of resource mobilization to make thecommunity give assistance for the acquisition ofmath learning materials.

For their part, the school principal and Liza’steam have prepared a long term sustainabilityplan by embarking on school-based micro-enterprises. The main project is vegetableplanting. The big school grounds shall be theproject site, where high value crops are to beplanted.

Liza was chosen as the EQuALLS2 2010outstanding math teacher of Lambayong,Sultan Kudarat and in 2011, as one of the threeGrand Awardees in the ELSA Search forOutstanding Science Teacher-Mentors in itsproject sites.

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Ofelia Chiva••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/EQuALLS2

Teacher in Math, Pigkawayan,District, Schools Division ofCotabato Province

Upon her completion of the core and refresher coursesof the EQuALLS2 Educators’ ProfessionalDevelopment Program, Ofelia Chiva decided to focuson one strategy she learned – the learning-by-doingapproach. In addition to what was given duringtraining programs, she developed games, puzzles,charts, diagrams and other gadgets to aid in student-centered activities.

She did not regret this decision. She noted the gradual improvement in student participationin her classes. They would even volunteer to prepare materials using their own materials and itemsavailable at home. Seeing these good results among her students, Ofelia shared the learning-by-doingstrategy with her co-teachers and they too noticed that their students have become more active indiscussions and in doing tasks assigned to them.

When LPP was launched in August 2010, Ofelia and her co-teachers developed the school-basedLPP with the learning-by-doing approach as the springboard for the school’s individual and groupmentoring activities. Knowing that instructional materials needed for this approach would not besufficient for all the math teachers of the school, Ofelia and her co-teachers, under the guidance ofthe school principal, planned on doing some improvisational work. The improvised materials weremade from local materials which are readily available, accessible and affordable but can serve thesame learning objectives.

The results were encouraging – the formative, summative and periodic test results increased byat least 10% from the students’ previous scores – from 65% to 75% or from 75% to 85%. The schoolprincipal of the school also noted some unintended benefits from the regular LPP sessions. Theyhave strengthened the bond among the teachers. They have become more open in sharing their audio-visual aids with each other and have shown willingness to stay even beyond school hours for theirLPP sessions.

“There were initial worries among my co-teachers in joiningmy LPP sessions. However, they gradually became interested

in the learning strategies I learned in EQuALLS2, particularlythe ICT-assisted instruction.”

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An innovative mentoring strategyintroduced by Ofelia is the integration of thefeatures of the LPP and the SLAC. TheTraining++ served as initial platform in thisintegration, where she held sharing sessionswhich covered not only math concepts, trainingstrategies and materials development but alsosessions on educational trends and theirapplicability in Pigkawayan. The latter sessionsare usually discussed in LAC sessions. After thethree Training ++ cycles, Ofelia and her learningpartners prepared their weekly activitiesadopting this approach of integrating LPP andLAC activities. The LAC school-based projectsare included in their discussions, most notablypeace education which is a major concern of theschool that is located in a security-challengedarea; K-12 which is presently a majorintervention of DepED, and other recentdevelopments in the education landscape. TheseLPP cum LAC sessions are held on weekends asthe teachers have full teaching load throughoutthe week. Having realized the value of thesesessions, there is 100% learning partnersattendance in LPP cum LAC sessions despitethe schedule.

Ofelia makes herself available to her learningpartners from 4 to 5 pm every day. She also goesto nearby schools that request her to hold eitherdemo sessions, to discuss their concerns and/orto show them how to make instructionalmaterials and audiovisual aids in math.

To Ofelia, evaluating student performance isa key component of the teaching process, andbasis for remediation and planning the contentpoints to be handled in subsequent lessons. Shenotes that, “The usual practice before was that thetest results were merely recorded in the studentlog. They were not analyzed... thus, teachers didnot have enough basis for what to teach next.” Ittook her some time to make her learning partnersassess the test results of their students. Thispractice, together with the knowledge and skillsgained by the learning partners are seen as factorsthat improved NAT results of the school.Certainly, Ofelia feels that her efforts inimplementing her project-acquired learning aswell as her mentoring work have paid off.

In 2010, Ofelia was chosen as the EQuALLS22010 outstanding math teacher in the ELSASchools of Pigkawayan, Cotabato Province.

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Evelyn Jacinto••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher inMath, Tantangan District,Schools Division of SouthCotabato

The school principal of San FelipeElementary School in Tantangan, SouthCotabato, has been actively involved inELSA activities since 2004. Her active involvement has inspired Evelyn Jacinto to also getinvolved in ELSA initiatives, particularly in the Educators’ Professional Development Program.

After completing all the math core and refresher courses, she devoted substantial time and effortin the planning, implementation and post-training activities of the first cycle of Training++ in theTantangan district. As a recognition of her leadership in Training++ Cycle One, she was elected asVice-President and then President of the math mentors group in the subsequent two cycles. Shemanaged the development of the math training design, actual implementation, training evaluationand report writing. She also served as trainor/facilitator in all the Training++ cycles.

Her hard work did not go unnoticed. The Schools Division of South Cotabato selected her as oneof the division-level trainors in the following training programs: Seminar/Workshop on Mastery ofCurriculum Content in Elementary Mathematics and Mathematics Teaching for Slow Learners.Hence, Evelyn has trained not only her co-teachers but also all math teachers in the entire provinceof South Cotabato. The participants in both training programs are teachers in non-EQuALLS2schools. Evelyn has participated in the division’s effort to roll-out the project’s math teaching strategiesto all math teachers in the province.

“Although I felt I was adequately prepared to teach math, I learnedmany new strategies from the EQuALLS2 math core training

programs and refresher courses. In fact, they equipped me with myassignment as trainor in the Math Training++ programs which we held

in my school district. At the classroom level, the real happiness of ateacher is when she sees her students learning from her lesssons.”

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This achievement is a sourceof pride to her, her colleagues,and her school principal. Themath teaching strategies whichEvelyn learned from EQuALLS2and which she utilizes in herclassroom have resulted inmarked improvement amongher students. They use themanipulables in solving mathproblems and refer to the mathkits in their classroom work.Evelyn now exerts less effort in lecturing orexplaining math concepts because she says the“students themselves have learned how to learn”through hands-on activities. She also adds thather students are now more articulate inexplaining their ideas and in asking questionsthemselves.

Although the LPP was launched in her schoolonly in the second Quarter of 2010, Evelyn looksforward to a doing the full implementation of hermentoring in the next few months. At present,she has done one-on-one meetings with herlearning partners and group mentoring. She

plans to do more observations of her learningpartners’ classes as well as conduct a series ofdemo teaching to expose them to more strategiesin teaching math which she learned fromEQuALLS2.

As a learning facilitator, Evelyn has realizedthat the number one strategy for change is theattitude of the teacher toward her work. If sheis concerned with the future of the little childrenwaiting for her every day, then she must learnto love her work, teach them everything she haslearned. Her real satisfaction comes when shelearns that her pupils are learning. She tries tokeep this in mind while she teaches, and alsocontinuously shares these thoughts with herlearning partners.

Evelyn is fully aware that she has a long wayto go as a learning facilitator. Aside from sharingher learnings on technical content and teachingstrategies with her learning partners, she hasidentified the basic instructional materialsneeded from Grades 1 to 6. Substantial resourcesare needed to acquire these instructionalmaterials. Thus, she holds continuing resourcemobilization work dialog with her co-teachers,the school principal, PTA officers and members,local executives, community business groups,NGOs and religious organizations. Assistancecomes in the form of cash and in-kind items.Books and reference materials have started tocome from local and foreign NGOs and they areused extensively by students and teachers alike.Emboldened by her little successes, Evelyn plansto link with other groups to obtain moreresources for her school.

Evelyn was chosen as the EQuALLS2 2010outstanding math teacher in the ELSA Schoolsof Tantangan, South Cotabato.


Genny Rabago••••• 2010 Outstanding USAID/

EQuALLS2 Teacher inMath, Schools Division ofCotabato City

Genny Rabago is one of the manyEQuALLS 2 learning facilitators who haveused the school learning action cell (SLAC)in conducting mentoring work in herschool, the Krislamville Elementary School.She started using the SLAC in 2009, evenbefore the LPP was formally launched inCotabato City. Established in the 80s, thelearning action cell is a school-based venuefor conducting teacher-initiated in-servicetraining activities and there are SLACs allover the country where teacherdevelopment programs are conducted. InGenny’s school, LAC activities are heldregularly; hence, she decided to share herlearnings from EQuALLS2 with her mathco-teachers during the LAC sessions.

Genny’s initiative paid off for. By thetime the LPP was introduced in CotabatoCity, her learning partners were already used to her mentoring sessions. The only major LPP tasksthat the school head and Genny carried out were the identification of least learned-competenciesand preparation of learning goals based on these least-learned competencies. The teachers who arealready used to holding mentoring sessions did not anymore encounter difficulties in adjusting theirtime schedules and activities. They only had to integrate the LPP activities in their LAC hour.

In the beginning of School Year 2010-2011, Genny developed a teacher activity plan thatintroduced the LPP scheme with ease. It had the following objectives: involve Krislamville teachersin planning activities to improve student achievement in math, and; develop innovativeinstructional materials targeting specific learning goals. The teacher learning activities wereconducted every last Friday of the month from June to December during SLAC sessions. Theactivities were focused on least-learned competencies such as ratio and proportions; computingpercentages, fractions problem solving and basic geometry.

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“I tell my students I am their motherin school. I encourage them to tell me

their concerns, both in and out ofschool. Once I gain their confidence,

they become more active in theclassroom. I have a high sense of

fulfilment every time I see mystudents enjoying their activities.”

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Having undergone all the EQuALLS2training programs, Genny was a natural choiceto serve as trainor and facilitator in the threecycles of Training++ in Cotabato City. Inaddition to several lecture sessions on present-day math concepts, she held several demolessons in math where she shared the teachingstrategies she learneds from EQuALLS2.Moreover, she also handled the session oninstructional materials development andevaluating pupil performance in math.

There were other tasks at hand, including theregular observation of learning partners’ classesand the technical help that would help thelearning partners improve their teaching stylesand strategies. Also, she had to pay specialattention to new teachers who made frequentrequests for her to assist them in lesson planningand choosing appropriate strategies to teachmath concepts. Genny has been able to carry outthese tasks with vigor and enthusiasm, and herco-teachers have likewise shown their

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appreciation by taking over some of her classeswhenever other teachers need her help. Shebelieves that the important roles of a learningfacilitator, in addition to sharing strategies andgiving suggestions to improve the teachingstrategies of her learning partners, are to showgenuine concern for the learning partners andlisten to their feedback and insights which maybe used for planning future LPP activities.

Genny considers the EQuALLS2 math kits,manipulables and other learning materials ashelpful learning tools because they are user-friendly and ready-to-use. Teachers needminimal orientation to be able to use them.Aware of the fact that they need to be replacedsometime soon, Genny and her co-teachers havestarted several fund raising campaigns forreplacement of these learning resources.

In 2010, Genny was chosen as theEQuALLS2 2010 outstanding math teacher inthe ELSA Schools of Cotabato City.


Lea Loro••••• 2010 Outstanding

USAID/EQuALLS2Teacher in Math,Malapatan District,Schools Division ofSarangani

Eager to share the math contentstrands and strategies in teachingmath which she learned fromEQuALLS2, Lea Loro createdsmall discussion groups in June2010 among her co-teachers inMamanawa Elementary School, Sapu Masla, Malapatan, Sarangani. This was before the LPP waslaunched in August 2010. She had reasons for this initiative. She wanted to make the sharing whileher learnings were still fresh in her mind and so that her co-teachers could already utilize them intheir classes at the start of the school year.

These informal sharing sessions proved beneficial to the school. When LPP was introduced inthe municipality of Malapatan, Lea and her co-teachers already had firm ideas on the least-learnedcompetencies of their students. They were able to carry out with ease the LPP planning work, fromthe division level to the district and school levels. Like many schools in Malapatan, MamanawaElementary School has been able to achieve beyond what was prescribed in DepED Region XII MemoNumber 86 Series of 2010 which suggests a once a month two-hour LPP sessions. The school devotesat least two hours weekly for its LPP sessions. This achievement is attributed to Lea’s proactiveapproach in conducting mentoring sessions.

The LPP is widely accepted by the teachers of the school. They observe that the instructionalmaterials and the teaching techniques that Lea has shared with them have resulted in improvement

“Although I have so much work every day, seeing the improvement instudent participation is more than a reward for me. I hope that

eventually, with pupils beginning to show more interest in schooling,absenteeism and drop-out rates would be reduced.”

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in student interest to join classroom activities.The school has a big Muslim and B’laanpopulation. The teachers are not familiar withtheir dialects. When they started to use eye-catching and colorful instructional materials,they noted that the students became curious andinterested to use them. Since then, they havealso used these materials in their ownclassrooms.

For her part, Lea continues to conduct one-on-one and group mentoring with her learningpartners. She knows that she has a bigmentoring responsibility and the LPP requiresconsiderable time and effort from her, but it isrewarding to see the improvement in studentattitude toward schooling in general and shehopes that this would reduce absenteeism anddrop-outs. She also hopes that the school’s mathrating in the NAT would improve in the nextschool year.

To sustain the LPP gains in MamanawaElementary School, the school principal and Leacontinue to link with various groups in thecommunity and orient them on the schoolactivities that need their support. These groups

have begun to provide assistance to the LPP aswell as other educational projects in thecommunity. Lea feels that a continuingnetworking with them would sustain theirinterest in helping the project initiatives of theschool.

Looking back at the EQuALLS2 mathtraining programs she underwent underEducators’ Professional Development Program,Lea notes that she did not go back to her schoolempty-handed from the core and refreshercourses that she attended. Aside from thetechnical content and strategies she learned, shehad handouts, books, modules and instructionalmaterials she was able to share with her co-teachers. She did not mind if she carried theseheavy materials or if sometimes she had to payfor excess baggage. The happy look of her co-teachers and students whenever she showed andshared these materials with them, has made hersay, “It was worth it.”

Lea was chosen as the EQuALLS2 2010outstanding math teacher in the ELSA Schoolsof Malapatan, Sarangani.

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Meet the PMeet the PMeet the PMeet the PMeet the Partnersartnersartnersartnersartnersof the EQuALLSof the EQuALLSof the EQuALLSof the EQuALLSof the EQuALLS22222Educators’ ProfessionaEducators’ ProfessionaEducators’ ProfessionaEducators’ ProfessionaEducators’ ProfessionalllllDevDevDevDevDevelopment Progrelopment Progrelopment Progrelopment Progrelopment Programamamamam

Valuable inputs and advice were provided by many project partners during the planning andimplementation of the EQuALLS2 Search for Outstanding Teachers in English, Science and Math in theELSA sites of Region XII, most notably:

Department of Education, Region 12 EQuALLSDepartment of Education, Region 12 EQuALLSDepartment of Education, Region 12 EQuALLSDepartment of Education, Region 12 EQuALLSDepartment of Education, Region 12 EQuALLS22222 Management Management Management Management Management TTTTTeameameameameamIsabelita M. Borres, Ph. D., CESO IV, DepED XII Regional DirectorAllan G. Farnazo, Ph. D., CESO V, DepED XII Assistant Regional DirectorShirley S. Bulosan, Ed.D., EQuALLS2 LPP Regional CoordinatorPancho G. Balawag, EQuALLS2 Regional Coordinator

SCHOOLS DIVISION SUPERINTENDENTSSCHOOLS DIVISION SUPERINTENDENTSSCHOOLS DIVISION SUPERINTENDENTSSCHOOLS DIVISION SUPERINTENDENTSSCHOOLS DIVISION SUPERINTENDENTSMelinda S. Maruhom, Ph. D. CEO V, Schools Division of Cotabato CityRemy M. Rivera, Ph. D., CEO VI, Schools Division of CotabatoDeborah A. Adrales, Ph. D., CEO VI, Schools Division of SaranganiRaphael C. Fontanilla, Ph. D., CEO VI, Schools Division of South CotabatoKahar H. Macasayon, Ph. D., CEO VI, Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat

EQuALLLSEQuALLLSEQuALLLSEQuALLLSEQuALLLS22222 IR2 DIVISION IR2 DIVISION IR2 DIVISION IR2 DIVISION IR2 DIVISION COORDINACOORDINACOORDINACOORDINACOORDINATORSTORSTORSTORSTORSGloria I. Irig, Schools Division of CotabatoEmily F. Enolpe, Schools Division of Cotabato CityPerla O. Caminade, Schools Division of SaranganiLalaine SJ Manuntag, Ph. D., Schools Division of South CotabatoRahma A. Abdulkarim, Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat

DISTRICT SUPERDISTRICT SUPERDISTRICT SUPERDISTRICT SUPERDISTRICT SUPERVISORSVISORSVISORSVISORSVISORSLorna P. Valdevieso, Schools Division of Cotabato, Pigcawayan North DistrictLyme S. Arellano, Division of Cotabato, Pigcawayan South DistrictAgera I. Engga, Schools Division of Cotabato City District IIIGeronima I. Adil, Schools Divisionof Cotabato City District VPerla O. Caminade, Schools Division of Sarangani, Malapatan DistrictFrancisco B. Llavore, Schools Division of South Cotabato, Tantangan DistrictCarmen R. Mangisel, Schools Division of South Cotabato Sto. Niño DistrictLinda L. Latog, Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat, Esperanza District IAmelil S. Mamaluba, Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat, Esperanza District lIReynaldo M. Souribio, Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat, Esperanza District IIITapa C. Guinaid, Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat, Lambayong District INaguib U. Macasayon, Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat, Lambayong District IIIsmael S. Pasawilan, Schools Division of Sultan Kudarat Lambayong District III


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School Heads of the 21 School Heads of the 21 School Heads of the 21 School Heads of the 21 School Heads of the 21 WWWWWinnersinnersinnersinnersinnersPeter Van Ang-ug, J. Marquez School of Peace, Cotabato CityTess Apao, Krislamville Elementary School, Cotabato CityCrisencia Gayosa, Sagasa Elementary School, Esperanza, Sultan KudaratMarigold Querimet, Paitan Elementary School, Esperanza, Sultan KudaratDelia Lirazan, Esperanza Elementary School, Esperanza, Sultan KudaratDarwin Galang, Mamali Elementary School, Lambayong, Sultan KudaratAgnes Lim, Pidtiguian Elementary School, Lambayong, Sultan KudaratRegina Verano, Malapatan Central Elementary School, Malapatan, SaranganiDelia Cornejo, Lun Padidu Elementary School, Malapatan, SaranganiCharlie Daguplo, Mama Nawa Elementary School, Malapatan, SaranganiLenie Soriano, Pigkawayan Central Elementary School, Pigkawayan, CotabatoNelida Castillo, Guinsang-an Elementary School, Sto. Nino, South CotabatoAlma Segura, J. Blanco Elementary School, Sto. Nino, South CotabatoLuz Huesca, Teresita Elementary School, Sto. Nino, South CotabatoLornino Bergonio, New Iloilo Elementary School, Tantangan, South CotabatoElena Seneca, Tantangan Central elementary School, Tantangan, South CotabatoDaisy Darroca, San Felipe Elementary School, Tantangan, South Cotabato

The management and coordination teams in ELSA Search for Outstanding Teachers in English, Scienceand Math in the ELSA sites covered of Region 12 are:

OvOvOvOvOvererererer-A-A-A-A-All Project ll Project ll Project ll Project ll Project AAAAAdvisory dvisory dvisory dvisory dvisory TTTTTeameameameameamGloria D. Steele, Mission Director, USAIDAivan Amit, Education Specialist, USAIDMir Shariff Tillah, Education Specialist, USAIDMarcial Salvatierra, Chief of Party, EQuALLS2Kevin Corbin, Deputy Chief of Party, EQuALLS2

Planning and Management Planning and Management Planning and Management Planning and Management Planning and Management TTTTTeameameameameamMarilou G. Erni, Executive Director, Petron FoundationBro. Wilfredo E. Lubrico, FMS, President, Notre Dame of Marbel UniversityNoemi B. Silva, Ph. D., EQuALLS2 IR2 Cluster 4 Project DirectorJack Boyson, ELSA Program DirectorZenaida T. Domingo, Ph. D., ELSA Project DirectorIna Aquino, Education Specialist, EQuALLS2

School School School School School VVVVVisit/Visit/Visit/Visit/Visit/Vaaaaalidation lidation lidation lidation lidation TTTTTeameameameameamAl F. Quillope, NDMU Faculty MemberBuenafe F. Quillope, NDMU Faculty MemberCecilia S. Villena, NDMU Faculty MemberMary Bien P. Catalan, NDMU Faculty MemberErni A. Bonzo, NDMU Faculty MemberJulius Ireneo S. Ubas, NDMU Faculty MemberAbraham L. Cantayoso, NDMU Faculty MemberCorazon B. Fuentes, NDMU Faculty MemberJerwin A. Tampe, NDMU Faculty MemberMelvin S. Apenton, NDMU Faculty Member


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EvEvEvEvEvaaaaaluation luation luation luation luation TTTTTeameameameameamFilma G. Brawner, Ph. D., Executive Director, Philippine Science High SchoolMs. Lita Esdicul, Officer-in-Charge, Bureau of Elementary Education, Department of EducationLina Diaz de Rivera, Ph.D., Professorial Lecturer, De La Salle University ManilaGutierrez A, Mangansakan, ELSA/IYF Monitoring and Evaluation specialistNoemi B. Silva, Ph. D., EQuALLS2 IR2 Cluster 4 Project DirectorZenaida T. Domingo, Ph. D., ELSA Project Director

Coordination Coordination Coordination Coordination Coordination TTTTTeameameameameamRacquel Cedeno, ELSA IR2 Project Coordinator, Petron FoundationGonzalo R. Rivera, Senior Manager, Ayala Foundations, ELSA IR1 Cluster 4 ManagerNino Rocamora, ELSA/IYF Program SpecialistSara Spears, IYF Program Operations Manager

TTTTTechnicaechnicaechnicaechnicaechnical Support l Support l Support l Support l Support TTTTTeameameameameamMs. Myrna C. Dador, EQuALLS2 IR2 Administrative AssistantFely O. Ardina, NDMU Head, Finance and Support ServicesMs. Ivy D. Amar, EQuALLS2 IR2 Administrative StaffMs. Josephine M. Sulpico, EQuALLS2 IR2 Support StaffMrs. Luvisminda E. Zaragoza Accountant, Finance and Support Services

TTTTTechnicaechnicaechnicaechnicaechnical Progrl Progrl Progrl Progrl Programs, ams, ams, ams, ams, AAAAAdministrdministrdministrdministrdministrativativativativative, Finance, Documentation/Learning,e, Finance, Documentation/Learning,e, Finance, Documentation/Learning,e, Finance, Documentation/Learning,e, Finance, Documentation/Learning,OutrOutrOutrOutrOutreach and each and each and each and each and Communication Communication Communication Communication Communication TTTTTeameameameameam

EDC Officers and Staff


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Annex 1SEARCH FOR SEARCH FOR SEARCH FOR SEARCH FOR SEARCH FOR THE MOST INNOTHE MOST INNOTHE MOST INNOTHE MOST INNOTHE MOST INNOVVVVVAAAAATIVETIVETIVETIVETIVE

CLASSROOM PRACLASSROOM PRACLASSROOM PRACLASSROOM PRACLASSROOM PRACTICESCTICESCTICESCTICESCTICESFFFFFor EQuALLS- RECIPIENT MUNICIPor EQuALLS- RECIPIENT MUNICIPor EQuALLS- RECIPIENT MUNICIPor EQuALLS- RECIPIENT MUNICIPor EQuALLS- RECIPIENT MUNICIPALITIES ALITIES ALITIES ALITIES ALITIES AND DIVISIONSAND DIVISIONSAND DIVISIONSAND DIVISIONSAND DIVISIONS

1. The guidelines and criteria for the search are the following:

A. A. A. A. A. GuidelinesGuidelinesGuidelinesGuidelinesGuidelines

1. Only mentors with class advisory are qualified to be nominated by the school principal.2. Selected mentors must submit success indicators, class program and MOVs to support their

nomination in the division level.3. The school principal must submit a recommendation letter to support the nomination of the

qualified mentors.4. There must be a school level selection for the search. Each school will have to come up with

only three qualifiers: one English Mentor, One Science Mentor and one Mathematics Mentor.5. After the school level selection, the District Heads shall validate the papers of the qualifiers and

prepare a transmittal to the Division Office.6. The Division Screening Committee composed of Assistant Schools Division Superintendent,

ESM Supervisors, and EQuALLS Coordinator will select the best mentor for English, Scienceand Mathematics. These best mentors will be the awardees during the Culminating Activity inMarch 2011.

B. B. B. B. B. CritCritCritCritCriteriaeriaeriaeriaeria

1. Evidences of Success 75%a. Number of mentees mentored 15%b. Sample copies of pupils portfolio 15%c. Best practice binder 30%

( a collection of success stories and best practices)d. Action research/ activity design/ Action plan conducted 15%

2. Linkages to stakeholders for sustainability of the project 20%3. Personality Traits( interview based)

-leadership skills, competence, competent 5%

100%100%100%100%100%A

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Annex 2aEQuALLSEQuALLSEQuALLSEQuALLSEQuALLS22222 IR2 (CLUSTER 4) IR2 (CLUSTER 4) IR2 (CLUSTER 4) IR2 (CLUSTER 4) IR2 (CLUSTER 4)

LEARNING FLEARNING FLEARNING FLEARNING FLEARNING FAAAAACILITCILITCILITCILITCILITAAAAATOR/MENTOR INFORMATOR/MENTOR INFORMATOR/MENTOR INFORMATOR/MENTOR INFORMATOR/MENTOR INFORMATION SHEETTION SHEETTION SHEETTION SHEETTION SHEET

NAMEAddress

Contact Number Email addressBirth date BirthplaceCivil Status ReligionName of Spouse Number of Children

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Baccalaureate Degree School Year Graduated Award/Scholarship (if any)

Graduate Degree School Year Graduated Award/ Scholarship (if any)

WORK EXPERIENCE (start from the present position)

School Position Number of Years Grade level

Other Non-teachingAssignments in the last 3 yrs.

AWARDS AND SPECIAL TRAININGS (last three years)

ACTION RESEARCH AND SPECIAL PROJECTS (last three years)


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ADVOCACIES OR COMMUNITY EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

EQUALLS2 TRAININGS ATTENDED (Please check)

Area: English [ ] Science [ ] Math [ ]Core Trainings: Phase 1 [ ] Phase 2 [ ] Phase 3 [ ] Mentoring [ ]

Refresher 1 [ ] Refresher 2 [ ] Refresher 3 [ ]

RESPONSIBILITIES DURING THE TRAINING ++ (Specify if you were assigned as trainer,documenter, etc.)

RESPONSIBILITIES/TASKS AS A LEARNING FACILITATOR. KINDLY GIVE PROVIDE THEFIELD VALIDATOR A COPY OF YOUR LPP MENTORING PLAN, SAMPLES OF MENTORINGREPORTS AND OTHER MATERIALS ON YOUR MENTORING ACTIVITIES

I certify that the above information is true and correct.

Signature of NomineeDate:

IMPORTANT: Please prepare the important evidences (e.g. portfolio, photos, etc.) to support innovativeclassroom practice. These will be looked into by the field validators.


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Annex 2bINTERINTERINTERINTERINTERVIEW VIEW VIEW VIEW VIEW GUIDE FOR MENTORSGUIDE FOR MENTORSGUIDE FOR MENTORSGUIDE FOR MENTORSGUIDE FOR MENTORS

Name of Mentor ________________________________________ School ________________________________________

Name of Validator ________________________________________________________ Date ________________________

DirDirDirDirDirection: ection: ection: ection: ection: Learning Facilitators/Mentors are requested to write a narration ahead of the validationschedule to ensure a thorough and well-thought out report. They will use the guide questions below towrite a 2 -3 page essay describing the innovative practice that they have implemented.

Your task is to validate and ask follow-up questions from learning facilitators/mentors to ensure that what theyhave written is true and complete. Clear, handwritten responses are acceptable. Use extra sheets please.

QUESTIONQUESTIONQUESTIONQUESTIONQUESTION ANSWERSANSWERSANSWERSANSWERSANSWERS

Are you actively involved as a learning facilitator/mentor? [ ] Yes [ ] No

If yes, describe your activities as a learning facilitator.

What problems, gaps or challenges have you encountered as a classroom teacherand/or mentor? (This may be on instructional practices, teaching strategies,methods, student assesment, etc.)

Describe the change strategy and tools that you have used to address/solve theproblem or gap.Please be specific and thorough in describing the change strategyto respond to the problem, who are the benefeciaries, what are the milestonesthat indicated that the change is going as expected.

What do you think makes your strategy different from what you and others havebeen doing? (e.g. Is it innovative, cost-efficient, effective?)

What are your indicators of success? Describe before and after theimplementation. Give data if needed.

What are the facilitating (motivating/positive) factors?

What are the hindering (negative) factors?

How did the EQuALLSS 2 IR2 trainings help you in implementing this changestrategy?

How do you plan to sustain this change strategy/practice?

What lessons/insights did you learn while implementing your change strategy?


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Annex 2cINTERINTERINTERINTERINTERVIEW VIEW VIEW VIEW VIEW GUIDE FOR SCHOOL HEAD/PRINCIPGUIDE FOR SCHOOL HEAD/PRINCIPGUIDE FOR SCHOOL HEAD/PRINCIPGUIDE FOR SCHOOL HEAD/PRINCIPGUIDE FOR SCHOOL HEAD/PRINCIPALALALALAL

Name of Principal ____________________________________ School __________________________________________

Name of Mentor Nominee ____________________________________________________ Date ____________________

DirDirDirDirDirection.ection.ection.ection.ection. Please write your answers legibly on the space provided. Use extra sheets if needed. Follow-up questions may be asked during the field validation.

QUESTIONQUESTIONQUESTIONQUESTIONQUESTION ANSWERSANSWERSANSWERSANSWERSANSWERS

Are you actively involved as a learning leader in the EQ2 LPP ? [ ] Yes [ ] No

If yes, describe your activities as a learning leader.

How do you assess the mentor-nominee in terms of teachingperformance, personality and attitudes or values?

How would you assess the change strategy that your mentor- nomineehas implemented? (Specify the change strategy that the mentor/ learningfacilitator had identified in the interview)

What do you think makes this strategy different from what other teachersare doing? (Is it innovative, cost-efficient, effective?)

What are the indicators of success that your observed? Describe beforeand after the implementation of this change strategy.

How did the EQuALLS 2 IR2 trainings help your teacher-mentor(learning facilitator in implementing this change strategy?

How will you sustain/continue the changes that you have implemented?

What lessons/insights have you learned as a learning leader?

Thank you very much! Name and signature of Field Validator


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Annex 2dName of Mentor ____________________________________________ School _____________________________________Subject ___________________________________________ Topic _________________________________________________Name of Principal/Validator __________________________________________ Date ______________________________

RUBRIC FOR RUBRIC FOR RUBRIC FOR RUBRIC FOR RUBRIC FOR TEATEATEATEATEACHINGCHINGCHINGCHINGCHING(To be accomplished by Principal and Field Validator)

DomainsDomainsDomainsDomainsDomains PPPPPoor (1)oor (1)oor (1)oor (1)oor (1) Basic (2)Basic (2)Basic (2)Basic (2)Basic (2) ExExExExExemplary (3)emplary (3)emplary (3)emplary (3)emplary (3) Rating &Rating &Rating &Rating &Rating &RemarksRemarksRemarksRemarksRemarks

Knowledge ofSubject Matter

Planning andPreparation

TheClassroomEnvironment

Mentordemonstrateslittle knowledgeof content

Mentor showslittle knowledgeof pedagogy andthe students.Instructionalgoals, resourcesand materials,and instructionaldesign are looselyconnected,ineffective orpoorly adapted tostudent needs

Interactionbetween studentsand between theMentor andstudents areinappropriate anddisrespectful.Classroomprocedures andmanagement ofstudent behaviorare vaguelydefined,ineffective, orboring,

Mentordemonstratesadequateknowledge ofcontent

Mentordemonstratesadequateknowledge ofpedagogy andstudents.Instructionalgoals, resourcesand materials,and instructionaldesign are allconnected andsomewhatadapted to theneeds of thestudents

Interactionbetweenstudents andbetween theMentor andstudents arerespectful.Classroomprocedures areclear and studentbehavior ismanaged withlittle or no lossof instructionaltime. Physical

Mentor demonstratesin-depth knowledgeof content

Mentor demonstratesin-depth knowledgeof pedagogy andstudents.Instructional goals,resources andmaterials, andinstructional designare tightly connectedand highly effectiveand are well adaptedto the needs of thestudents.

Interaction betweenstudents and betweenthe Mentor andstudents areappropriate andrespectful, with highexpectations forlearning. Classroomprocedures areseamless andestablish achallenging anddynamicenvironment forlearning. Physical


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DomainsDomainsDomainsDomainsDomains PPPPPoor (1)oor (1)oor (1)oor (1)oor (1) Basic (2)Basic (2)Basic (2)Basic (2)Basic (2) ExExExExExemplary (3)emplary (3)emplary (3)emplary (3)emplary (3) Rating &Rating &Rating &Rating &Rating &RemarksRemarksRemarksRemarksRemarks

contributing to apoor learningenvironment.Physical space ispoorly or unsafelyorganized.

Students areuninvolved or onlypartially engagedin learning as aresult of poorcommunication,low-levelquestions, littlestudentparticipation indiscussion, littlefeedback onlearning, and theMentor’s rigidadherence to aninstructional plandespite evidencethat it should bemodified.

Mentor is nervous,has a low voiceand cannotcommunicateclearly, mastery ofthe subject matterand medium ofinstruction werenot evident, doesnot show opennessto students’opinions and didnot answerstudents’ questionsclearly.

space isadequatelyorganized tosupport learning.

Students areengaged inlearning, as aresult of clearcommunication,appropriateinstructionalstrategies andmaterials/equipment, andproductive use offeedback. TheMentorsdemonstrateflexibility whencontributing tothe success ofthe lesson.

Mentormanifestedmastery of thesubject matter,goodcommunicationskills, opennessto students’opinions andexplained in amanner that canbe understood.

space is skillfully andsafely organized tosupport learning.Students themselvesmake substantivecontribution to thesmooth functioningof the classroom.

All students arehighly engaged inlearning, and makematerialcontributions to thesuccess of the classby asking questionsand participating inthe discussions,getting activelyinvolved in learningactivities, and usingfeedback in theirlearning. TheMentor ensures thesuccess of everystudent by creating ahigh level learningenvironment,providing timely,high-qualityfeedback andcontinuouslysearching forapproaches that meetstudents’ needs.

Mentor’s expertise ishighly evident asshown by mastery ofthe lesson, withcomposure, excellentcommand of themedium ofinstruction. Mentorclearly explained thelesson and welcomedstudents’ opinions.

Instruction

MentorPersonality


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Annex 2eBEST INSTRUCTIONAL PRABEST INSTRUCTIONAL PRABEST INSTRUCTIONAL PRABEST INSTRUCTIONAL PRABEST INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICESCTICESCTICESCTICESCTICES

OBSEROBSEROBSEROBSEROBSERVVVVVAAAAATION PROTOCOLTION PROTOCOLTION PROTOCOLTION PROTOCOLTION PROTOCOLEQuALLSEQuALLSEQuALLSEQuALLSEQuALLS22222 IR2 IR2 IR2 IR2 IR2 ClustClustClustClustCluster 4er 4er 4er 4er 4

Notre Dame of Marbel University

School: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name of Name of Name of Name of Name of TTTTTeacher/eacher/eacher/eacher/eacher/ IdentifiedIdentifiedIdentifiedIdentifiedIdentified ObservObservObservObservObservation Field Notation Field Notation Field Notation Field Notation Field Noteseseseses ReflectionReflectionReflectionReflectionReflectionNomineeNomineeNomineeNomineeNominee Best PrBest PrBest PrBest PrBest Practice/sactice/sactice/sactice/sactice/s (Indicators/Manifestations Field NotField NotField NotField NotField Noteseseseses

of Best Practices) (Insights, learningUse additional and meanings)

sheets if needed

Name of Field Validator: __________________________________________________ Date ______________________ (Signature over Printed Name)

outstanding teachers from deped region xii schools ... · views of usaid or the united states...

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