As I was reflecting on what to write on this week’s journal I can across the video of Marcelito Pomoy on America’s Got Talent. I was expecting him that he will be able to get the Golden buzzer but Simon was telling him that it is too early. Comes Semifinal round, he sang Con Te Partirò. He was indeed very talented, and as always Simon’s comment is that he need to take a bigger risk because the surprise is now over. Simon’s constructive criticism will help Marcelito higher chance of winning the contest.
We were grouped in Dr. Malou’s group assignment on EDS 103. Most of my groupmates are from different group, we have different characters and most often than not we argue on some things but we were able to complete the given task one week prior submission. At the end of the task we are required to give a self and peer assessment. If my recollection is right, the criteria include: Concept, High Order Thinking, behavior, articulation and a brief justification of assessment.
The assessment for me has been very challenging because you have to weight things according to the set of criteria and not just how you feel. The strategy of assessment is to assess the contribution on the given task of their group mates. In self and peer assessment, this tool helps student learning process and develop their critical thinking and analysis, learning and lifelong skills. That timely feedback, identified weaknesses and strengths are acceptable for improvement. That why comprehension of assessment criteria is very important.
Assessment is always a big factor in the lives of many students. I believe assessment was created to measure what have we learned during the course. Meaning, all the basic knowledge particular on several activities, programs and projects, including quizzes, examinations that are being undertaken by the educational institution are carried out to ensure that the student’s learning process will continue to grow. I have come to realize that teaching and learning practices are essential to have an adequate assessment for improvement that is centered on to achieve its goal to lifelong learning. Therefore assessment is important to improve the level of knowledge and skills.
Upon learning this module, I can say that assessment’s purpose is to use it as a tool to strengthen the links between the students and the educators. I understand it much better how important it is as a practice and how it should be used to improve and prepare each and every one for the next level. Thus, I must adhere with the process of assessment which aims to achieve the objectives of the educators.
I completely agree that the process of assessment should improve the lives of the students. Maybe, if we think in that way, we clearly followed the principle of complete objectivity; that evidence should not be biased. But, being part of the student’s race as a whole.
It is in my responsibility as a student to discover new things that better the lives of others without of course decimating mine. And yes, we really went through the process and we are totally anxious most of the time. I remember I almost giving up and entertained negative thoughts even thinking of dropping if I cannot make it. However, it was the grace of God that all of us passed the previous courses.
My family and new found friends are my source of strength. We overcome challenges through the help of each other. I am glad that we have a chance to monitor our own progress and we continue to provide feedback. I must admit that the course was very challenging for me especially in the area of time management as I also struggle with personal and work concerns, However, despite the challenges, everyone finished the tasks, made last-minute posts, and wished everyone good luck in the days to come.
Surely the tools and principles taught here will be useful in my present work and I hope that the friendship with the people I’ve met will go beyond this course.
The lesson in this course is a useful tool to attain the utmost accomplishment so to you my dear friends and classmates, “Do not Panic, We’ve got enough nerve!
For a student, assessment is a powerful tool to gauge the student based on what they learn. With our topic this week, this made me realized that what I’ve been doing from the past is not the proper way of assessing the learner’s. I’ve been training people the traditional way, and at the end of the training a 30 items exams that they passed- and it should be perfect, else you will have to retake.
One of my Aha moments on this topic is, I may have to align the learning intention so I may be able to engage the trainees and probably assess the questionnaire if I need to cut down and leave the essential ones. It also caught my attention that even I, should be assessed by the trainees so that I can effectively support and motivate them on their journey through learning.
I was certain I wanted to become a teacher that is why
Education is definitely the most important thing in my life. I want to develop
more my own personality, boost confidence that will increase my general
knowledge and skills. To better reach my dreams, I do believe that I should
have proper education for getting bright future.
As I mentioned with my previous journal, I was forced to
stop my education due to financial constraints but when I learned about
distance learning programs, through hard work, I feel very privileged to have
been given the opportunity to study again. UPOU has not only here to shape my
future but also it has given me the opportunity to meet new people, professors,
students that we may share common interest. They motivated me in so many ways
and become my inspiration.
While continuing learning, I used this powerful tool even at
work. From what I already know and already experienced, I can now integrate
this into positive outcome. At work, as a trainer, I help my trainees to
construct their idea and be more responsive on their own needs because they
have daily tasks at hand. Make them engage with activities and develop their
interests so that they may be able to explore and solve problems. As of now, my
trainees follows my instructions, know what they are doing and why they need to
complete their tasks. It is my duty to work as a team so that we can transform
by bringing negative into positive result. It seems to me that all this have to
do with constructivism.
Honestly speaking, in this course, their learning-teaching
materials developed my abilities. This certainly built self- discipline.
Reading and supplementary materials are overwhelming but Dr. Lou gave us an
option to breathe and slowdown to digest the information we need to learn. My
interaction among my classmates and professors improves my personal
advancement, building my expertise, my behavior and became a good learner in
different aspect. My source of confidence is through their effective teaching
process. It inspires me to do things on my own as a self-directed learner.
As a future educator, I would present my own experiences to
our younger generation and help them by teaching them how to learn, engage and
construct their thoughts. I will make sure that their values and point of views
be heard. I have grown in many ways, that I do know how to answers those
questions and get a solution to all those challenges. I can use my knowledge
for further developing and creating new learning skills. I can look at one
situation from a different perspective so learning never stops.
However there are still issues in the quality of teachings
in the Philippines. Student’s life is not all about education. We also need to
consider their interests and we shouldn’t force them to learn what they do not
have interest especially to our young learners. Teachers should seek new
strategies, new learning material to get their attention. Reading doesn’t have
to be boring. Let them find educational books that they think would be
enjoyable and try to engage with their imagination and views. With this,
teachers are not actually influencing young students that reading is really fun
but also increase the efficiency learning of the students as well.
Finally it has become clear to me that teaching’s intention
is not just providing guidance and support but help the learner to bring out
their best and use their critical thinking.
My life when I was still “young” was
very challenging and it was never easy. I carried a lot of responsibilities
both physically and emotionally. As a teenager and a student at the same time,
I’ve encountered pain, low self-esteem and pressure along the way. This was the
stage when I felt I needed some sort of freedom and I was lucky that my parents
allowed me to do things that I want to do.
I became more confident during this stage. I chose to enroll on one of the University and took up engineering course that I thought would match my interest. They’ve provided amazing educators and excellent mentoring. They fully shared their knowledge and expertise up to problem solving to mathematical procedures to follow. We exchange ideas scientifically as basis for our agreed solutions.
At first, it was very interesting,
especially during interaction with my classmates. In between those times, I
also need to balance my schooling and part time job. I knew I wanted to learn
and take whatever opportunities that comes along my way but I was told I cannot
continue my education due to financial constraints. And I gave up!
I’ve lost and wasted 13 years of my life. A lot of regrets and this
cannot be undone. I had a solid plan so I could come back at school and finish
it. I took all the challenge so I worked hard and I thought of saving some
money for my future. I told that I wished to study and still carry my dreams.
Then I enrolled in UPOU where I could manage my own time. They allowed us to
better use our own thinking and gave sense of accomplishment. I learned to
engaged and interact with my classmates in a variety of ways. We are working as
a team to build our characters, trust and confidence as well. I believe, when
you desires something, nothing can stop you from achieving your dreams. I was
born to learn till the end.
At work, I’ve introduced my social
learning principles. I modeled my own experiences for them to understand our
real world, for them to use this as their inspiration to motivate themselves to
work harder and achieve their goals. I always encourage my trainees to not stop
dreaming no matter how easy or difficult our life is, we would always find a
great solution. Try to learn and acquire knowledge and practices from others
experiences. Communication and interactions could help us improve our
knowledge. I find it useful to share and construct everything I’ve learned.
Changing all negative experiences into positive aspects and nothing could stop
me!
Finally, it helped me get back on track. I am sure that I possess much knowledge and able to understand reality. I am able to use these experiences I had to pursue my goals. This approach became the great significance of the knowledge of epistemology in my teaching and learning skills. While taking full time at work, I know that one day I will get my diploma.
I was moved by a short Indie film entitled “Changing
classroom”. All of the students were not aware that the teacher was already
inside the room because students were all busy with so many stuff. Teacher was
very disappointed seeing her student’s behavior as she entered the classroom.
She had been thinking what was happened during the day. So, the next day, in
order for the students to be more participative and interactive, she encouraged
the students to form a group and share topics that matters to them and what
their interests are. Teacher noticed that all of the students liked the
activity.
How constructivist I am?
Being a working students, I tend to be participative and
well interact with all my classmates and co-workers to access more information
and knowledge. I usually ask some of my classmates and co-workers because I
want to know also about the work of others for me to adapt learning approach
that may help continual progress in my academics and jobs. Learning from every
one of them contributes greatly to what I had already in mind and utilize this
to further improve and develop my skills and knowledge.
How to become contructivist?
Being a working student, I would prefer sharing my thoughts,
what I already know, my experiences in life so that everyone around me would
have the chance to view and expand their ideas. To become constructivist, I
would like to empower everyone’s understanding through exploration. To my
classmates, sharing good thoughts, helping them with our self-generated
strategies on our activities improve our work and personal relationships. I
believe our different knowledge could be constructed effectively. The idea is
not just based on what we should learn but how we could actively collaborate
individual’s skill to learn grow and make changes.
How may I influence education practice to shift towards constructivist
ideology and practice? (Should I?)
We have probably done a lot of strategy to make our learning progress. And this idea directs us to where we are heading that makes our teaching process will work best for students like me. Perhaps, my education practice fits right to constructivist ideology and practice because I always consider every one idea and help discovering other methods on our own. Even in the most traditional teaching, continuous support and guidance can enhance some type of knowledge. As for me, communication serves as a guide to expand and share my knowledge like what I am doing both in school and workplace. I will continue to use this approach to simply construct and interpret the whole concepts.
I am a working student back when I was in
College. So I have work in the mornings followed by my responsibilities as a
student. It became my routines. So whenever I attended my first subject in the
afternoon, I was really tired already and couldn’t concentrate. I was pretty
sure that it has a negative effect both on my work and studies. Getting a poor
grade was really difficult at that time, but I cannot do anything because I am
also concentrating in my work. After trying so hard, I still get bad grades to
the point that my friend offered an after school tutorial but I refused
instead.
Thanks to my early experience. I sooner realized
that it would have been a different story if I let my friend to tutor me. But as the
saying goes, past is past and that I have to move on. That was my first heart
break on my acads.
When
I came across Constructivist theory
emphasize
that
the learners construct and integrate information inside their mind based on
their experiences and prior knowledge. This made
realized that scaffolding
could have helped me improved my grades through the help of others. That a
person with a high knowledge self-efficacy will helps to guide a person who is
perceived to have less.
I was so grateful when I entered UPOU because we have this strong support from other students. Assimilation and accommodation were included in the picture in constructivist theory. As a future educator, we should be there for the student not to spoon fed but act as a support system to help them able to develop and create their own learning. This will help them succeed in the future.
Since I am a full-time employee and works on shifting
schedule, I mostly did not able to have enough sleep. Being busy with lots of
things in the company, when I got home, I am usually so tired and regularly get
4 hours of sleep everyday. I only get a full bed time during my rest day. So, when I am in the company, I always grab a
chance to have a power nap whenever we are on break to keep me up on my work
activities which requires full attention.
I tend to multitask. While working on a powerpoint presentation, I am
also doing leg work at the same time. Sometimes, it works but there are times
that the quality of my work did not match to what I expected. Then I realized
that multi-tasking has a negative effect on performance.
I have to stay up because after 8 hours of work, I have to
focus now on my readings to be able to catch up on our forums and several
tasks. But since I am not getting enough sleep, I can’t think straight. The
best way to complete your tasks is to focus on the most important aspect of it.
Short tasks usually can be completed and did not require intense concentration.
This could avoid wasting of time. However, there are other prioritization
factors such as work habits and work ethic. These two are significant ideals
for us to focus on our tasks. It is important to have a full attention.
As a future educator we should be able to balance the activities given to the student, yes we teach them to be critical thinkers but we also need to consider their personal limitations.
Marie Paz's Journey 