Reading is a grossly underrated activity, given the growing illiteracy rate in the Philippines. But looking at the statistics, READING HELPS BUILD BETTER INDIVIDUALS. Those people with higher education, meaning having read more books in their lives, accomplish more, and are more satisfied with their current status in life. These people also are the ones more open to new things, changes for the better, absorption of new ways and lifestyles which benefit society.
Just refer to our national heroes--Jose Rizal was an avid reader, and his knowledge has led him to reach new heights in his principles and advocacies. How about Andres Bonifacio, the great plebeian? You'd be surprised to know that upon reading his biography, he read books as a hobby during his pre-Katipunan days. Although having stepped the highest in elementary school only, he practiced his reading skills, and his interests lay mostly in key people in revolutions within Asia and in other non-Asian countries. It was narrated that he'd read before he slept at night, with the revolutionaries and their ideas as bedtime company.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDNm4y7_2Xw
This link is all about a little boy who's language skills have surpassed his class, through the help of READING. And his teacher learns of it through an unexpected situation. He may have also won the (then) love of his life's heart.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Games! Games!
In the online world, educators are waging a competition - competition against violent computer games, competition against inappropriate videos and pictures, competition against the time and attention of learners everywhere. Who wins this competition? Observe your kids', students', or even your own online activities and you'll get your answer. How much of our time online can we consider a time well spent?
If we look at our preoccupation online, we can observe something: we gravitate towards websites that are fun. That's why we linger on Facebook and its online game applications, right?
What if we can divert this attention to something that is more worthwhile? What if we can get the students glued to online games that, in the long run, would make them love learning and appreciate the world around them? We can do that. How? By providing options.
Here's an option that I hope you would spread around: http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/ . These games are to make the players understand the principles of the Nobel-awarded achievements. Here, you can play games that make you understand blood matching in blood transfusion, you can take care of a diabetic dog, you can play the DNA-double helix game, and a lot more.
Try and learn. And spread the word.
If we look at our preoccupation online, we can observe something: we gravitate towards websites that are fun. That's why we linger on Facebook and its online game applications, right?
What if we can divert this attention to something that is more worthwhile? What if we can get the students glued to online games that, in the long run, would make them love learning and appreciate the world around them? We can do that. How? By providing options.
Here's an option that I hope you would spread around: http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/ . These games are to make the players understand the principles of the Nobel-awarded achievements. Here, you can play games that make you understand blood matching in blood transfusion, you can take care of a diabetic dog, you can play the DNA-double helix game, and a lot more.
Try and learn. And spread the word.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Why do parents have tutorials for their kids?
Why do parents have tutorials for their kids?
1. They don't have time to sit down for one or two hours to discuss school lessons.
2. The lessons are hard, especially high school topics. It requires a lot of effort to refresh on those subjects to teach the kids.
3. No time.
4. There's little time.
5. And they have money to spend.
6. And they want some expertise on the subjects discussed in school--either in reviewing or in having advanced lessons.
There you go. Parents work hard at the office, and it's pretty tiring to start thinking again once they get home. About physics formulas, trigonometric functions, vocabulary words. What they can do is call on a tutor to help their kids understand the lessons and have higher grades because that teaching stuff is just not cut out for them.
For first-borns, parents generally still have the enthusiasm for acting as home tutors. But by the time the 3rd one comes along, they've been there, done that. This time around it can be the tutor who can experience the whole studying-for-exams, making-projects thing.
This is when tutorial centers come in.
Pisara tutors know all about it. Their ultimate goals?
1) Make the grades go up.
2) Instill proper study habits
3) Inspire the tutees to really learn, be it through focusing on favorite subjects, or explaining the reason why their hatest subject is important in their lives, or just having an enjoyable time studying that the kid will want to have tutorials even more.
Dial 4928004 now.
Math/ Science/ English Tutorials. It's better than watching TV.
1. They don't have time to sit down for one or two hours to discuss school lessons.
2. The lessons are hard, especially high school topics. It requires a lot of effort to refresh on those subjects to teach the kids.
3. No time.
4. There's little time.
5. And they have money to spend.
6. And they want some expertise on the subjects discussed in school--either in reviewing or in having advanced lessons.
There you go. Parents work hard at the office, and it's pretty tiring to start thinking again once they get home. About physics formulas, trigonometric functions, vocabulary words. What they can do is call on a tutor to help their kids understand the lessons and have higher grades because that teaching stuff is just not cut out for them.
For first-borns, parents generally still have the enthusiasm for acting as home tutors. But by the time the 3rd one comes along, they've been there, done that. This time around it can be the tutor who can experience the whole studying-for-exams, making-projects thing.
This is when tutorial centers come in.
Pisara tutors know all about it. Their ultimate goals?
1) Make the grades go up.
2) Instill proper study habits
3) Inspire the tutees to really learn, be it through focusing on favorite subjects, or explaining the reason why their hatest subject is important in their lives, or just having an enjoyable time studying that the kid will want to have tutorials even more.
Dial 4928004 now.
Math/ Science/ English Tutorials. It's better than watching TV.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Inspiring short film-commercial of a deaf-mute's journey to learn classical music... remember Helen Keller?
Sometimes, all it needs for a student is the drive and ambition--if in possession of these, learning is a stepping stone towards a greater dream. Having the right motivation is enough for some students to pursue academic excellence, such as helping the family, or personal fulfillment. In the video, the student struggles to learn a classical piece of music, in spite of her disability. Although a hundred times harder for her, she put in her best effort and passion into her music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A
***
Helen Keller, a deaf-mute-blind managed to learn how to read with the help of her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Her first word learnt was "water," wherein the letters of the word were finger-written in her palm while the water flowed over her hand. Later on, she progressed to the words "ball," her own name, her teacher's name, among others. What seemed impossible proved surmountable, little by little, word by word. In a few years she was learning braille, and became a teacher herself to others like her. Of course, her path to education would not exist if not for a teacher who lived her profession nobly. She poured in patience, her own determination, and love, yes love, for teaching, and compassion to Helen. Without her dedication, Helen would not be what she became under the tutelage of Annie Sullivan. It is also then true that with people around us who care enough to help us learn and be educated in the truest sense of the word with the right values and concepts, we can succeed. No man is an island. Remember Helen Keller? A truly worthy story of inspiration.
***
I'd like to add that for Michael Phelps, 8-gold medal record holder in a single Olympics (Beijing, 2008) in swimming, the biggest challenge for him is when people say that he can't possibly do it. He became motivated to go faster than the guy next to him in the pool whenever he read in news and magazine articles derogatory statements on his aquatic capabilities. Instead of letting these bring him down, he used it to prepare himself for the biggest competition of his life. In reality, the only barriers around us are our own mentality. We can reach excellence if we have the right mindset and we can learn anything if we are truly determined to do so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A
***
Helen Keller, a deaf-mute-blind managed to learn how to read with the help of her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Her first word learnt was "water," wherein the letters of the word were finger-written in her palm while the water flowed over her hand. Later on, she progressed to the words "ball," her own name, her teacher's name, among others. What seemed impossible proved surmountable, little by little, word by word. In a few years she was learning braille, and became a teacher herself to others like her. Of course, her path to education would not exist if not for a teacher who lived her profession nobly. She poured in patience, her own determination, and love, yes love, for teaching, and compassion to Helen. Without her dedication, Helen would not be what she became under the tutelage of Annie Sullivan. It is also then true that with people around us who care enough to help us learn and be educated in the truest sense of the word with the right values and concepts, we can succeed. No man is an island. Remember Helen Keller? A truly worthy story of inspiration.
***
I'd like to add that for Michael Phelps, 8-gold medal record holder in a single Olympics (Beijing, 2008) in swimming, the biggest challenge for him is when people say that he can't possibly do it. He became motivated to go faster than the guy next to him in the pool whenever he read in news and magazine articles derogatory statements on his aquatic capabilities. Instead of letting these bring him down, he used it to prepare himself for the biggest competition of his life. In reality, the only barriers around us are our own mentality. We can reach excellence if we have the right mindset and we can learn anything if we are truly determined to do so.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Learn ways to help your kid succeed in school
Why reading makes us smarter
A good read for all the parents out there:
http://momshomeroom.msn.com/?topic_id=6§ion_name=InfoList§ion_id=20764596&source=hp>1=25051
The article basically says that most vocabulary words are learned through READING. Normal everyday conversations seldom use "rare" words--even college students regularly use repetitive words that are not helpful in adding to a person's word bank. So even with educated parents, the best source of new, insightful words are BOOKS--whether classic novels, children's storybooks, biographies, fantasy, science fiction, or other what-have-you.
A good read for all the parents out there:
http://momshomeroom.msn.com/?topic_id=6§ion_name=InfoList§ion_id=20764596&source=hp>1=25051
The article basically says that most vocabulary words are learned through READING. Normal everyday conversations seldom use "rare" words--even college students regularly use repetitive words that are not helpful in adding to a person's word bank. So even with educated parents, the best source of new, insightful words are BOOKS--whether classic novels, children's storybooks, biographies, fantasy, science fiction, or other what-have-you.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Preparing for your lessons?
In planning for lessons, there are moments when tutors or classroom teachers get stuck. How will the concepts be better understood? Is there a new and interesting way of presenting the subject matter?
Internet access has enabled these questions to be answered with relative ease. One of the ways is through open-source learning. Open-source learning, the method of educating people using the internet, has been opening up more opportunities for a greater number of people.
Connexions (http://www.cnx.org) is one of those initiatives at open-source learning. They have modules and collections on a wide selection of topics and languages, and at different levels. What sets it apart is that you can modify the module or the collection to suit your needs and your audience and have the option to share your work by uploading it. You can even create your own! Not only are you given more ideas in teaching, it also paves the way for your brilliant ideas to be shared with others so that they, too, can benefit from them.
Internet access has enabled these questions to be answered with relative ease. One of the ways is through open-source learning. Open-source learning, the method of educating people using the internet, has been opening up more opportunities for a greater number of people.
Connexions (http://www.cnx.org) is one of those initiatives at open-source learning. They have modules and collections on a wide selection of topics and languages, and at different levels. What sets it apart is that you can modify the module or the collection to suit your needs and your audience and have the option to share your work by uploading it. You can even create your own! Not only are you given more ideas in teaching, it also paves the way for your brilliant ideas to be shared with others so that they, too, can benefit from them.
Who started this and why? Watch this:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/richard_baraniuk_on_open_source_learning.html
Monday, September 21, 2009
Confronting Sensitive Questions
“Teacher, teacher, what is a vagina?”
Science time. That was my seven-year old tutee asking me. I was a first-time tutor then, about four years ago. And that was my first day. I was prepared to answer questions, but not about things like that. To have more time to think about how to answer the question, I casually asked him why he wanted to know. He said his classmates would always say that and would laugh.
“Hmm, it’s strange that they find it funny”, I said. “All girls have vagina. That is what we have because we don’t have penis.”
Ok, I was guilty of assuming that he knew what penis was. I still had to explain it using a term which he was familiar with – bird. Having satisfied his curiosity, we got back to his assignment.
The following night, he had a new question – “What is sex?” I admit it was difficult not to laugh. Just the fact that it was coming from a kid made it seem so…weird. In an effort to get away with it, I just said that I think his Dad knows more about it than I do. He consented to ask his Dad instead. It turned out, however, that his Dad would not answer the question so the following night, I had to face him again.
You know how little kids are – you have to answer their questions in a convincing way or else they would not drop the topic. If that happens, good luck to your tutoring. S/he might still be wondering about it even if your topic is Math. So answer the question, I did. I told him, “That’s what parents do so that they can have babies like you. As to how they do it, you have to wait until high school Biology to understand. Right now, let’s just do your homework so that we can be sure that you can eventually get to high school.” Whew!
If you are a tutor, I hope this would not happen to you. But you must have noticed how kids nowadays hear about sensitive topics at an age earlier than we first started asking about them. I remember the time during my elementary days when my younger brother asked, over dinner, what sex means. The know-it-all girl that I was, I blurted out before anyone could answer: “Sex is whether you’re a male or a female! Just put ‘Male’”. He was satisfied. Honestly, that was all I knew about sex. I just had an inkling that there must be another meaning to it because my sister and her best friend laughed, saying that they got nervous as to what I would say.
I am not an expert in Child Psychology, but ever since it happened to me, I began to take interest in how I could answer questions like that without “damaging” a child’s mind. Here’s what I gathered:
1. Do not laugh. If you do, they’ll get even more curious. Or they might think there’s something bad about it.
2. If you are not confident that you can answer the question, refer them to their parents. Their parents might have foreseen that one of these days, their child would ask them these questions and they might have readied their answers.
3. If the parents would not answer or the child was not satisfied with the answers s/he got and you still are not confident that you can answer the question adequately, say that you’ll find out later and get back to him/her. (Please keep your word. That’s one way of teaching kids about word of honor).
It’s good to be prepared. So now that you have read this, go and find out more and better ways of dealing with instances like this. And please get back to us. Other tutors might also want to learn from what you have gathered.
Happy tutoring!
Science time. That was my seven-year old tutee asking me. I was a first-time tutor then, about four years ago. And that was my first day. I was prepared to answer questions, but not about things like that. To have more time to think about how to answer the question, I casually asked him why he wanted to know. He said his classmates would always say that and would laugh.
“Hmm, it’s strange that they find it funny”, I said. “All girls have vagina. That is what we have because we don’t have penis.”
Ok, I was guilty of assuming that he knew what penis was. I still had to explain it using a term which he was familiar with – bird. Having satisfied his curiosity, we got back to his assignment.
The following night, he had a new question – “What is sex?” I admit it was difficult not to laugh. Just the fact that it was coming from a kid made it seem so…weird. In an effort to get away with it, I just said that I think his Dad knows more about it than I do. He consented to ask his Dad instead. It turned out, however, that his Dad would not answer the question so the following night, I had to face him again.
You know how little kids are – you have to answer their questions in a convincing way or else they would not drop the topic. If that happens, good luck to your tutoring. S/he might still be wondering about it even if your topic is Math. So answer the question, I did. I told him, “That’s what parents do so that they can have babies like you. As to how they do it, you have to wait until high school Biology to understand. Right now, let’s just do your homework so that we can be sure that you can eventually get to high school.” Whew!
If you are a tutor, I hope this would not happen to you. But you must have noticed how kids nowadays hear about sensitive topics at an age earlier than we first started asking about them. I remember the time during my elementary days when my younger brother asked, over dinner, what sex means. The know-it-all girl that I was, I blurted out before anyone could answer: “Sex is whether you’re a male or a female! Just put ‘Male’”. He was satisfied. Honestly, that was all I knew about sex. I just had an inkling that there must be another meaning to it because my sister and her best friend laughed, saying that they got nervous as to what I would say.
I am not an expert in Child Psychology, but ever since it happened to me, I began to take interest in how I could answer questions like that without “damaging” a child’s mind. Here’s what I gathered:
1. Do not laugh. If you do, they’ll get even more curious. Or they might think there’s something bad about it.
2. If you are not confident that you can answer the question, refer them to their parents. Their parents might have foreseen that one of these days, their child would ask them these questions and they might have readied their answers.
3. If the parents would not answer or the child was not satisfied with the answers s/he got and you still are not confident that you can answer the question adequately, say that you’ll find out later and get back to him/her. (Please keep your word. That’s one way of teaching kids about word of honor).
It’s good to be prepared. So now that you have read this, go and find out more and better ways of dealing with instances like this. And please get back to us. Other tutors might also want to learn from what you have gathered.
Happy tutoring!
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