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Everything Starts with a DREAM

“If you can dream it, then you can achieve it.” -Zig Ziglar

It is never wrong to dream, I remember how my parents would ask me when I was little about my dreams and how I would eagerly talk about those with them. I remember how becoming a teacher is the most consistent dream I would tell them. I always dream of becoming teacher because I saw how my mother was able to change lives of her students by imparting her knowledge to them. I saw how she goes beyond what she can offer in the four corners of the classroom just to reach out to her students. I saw how she was respected by the people around her because she is a teacher. These were just some of the reasons why I dreamt of becoming a teacher and now I finally reached it. It seemed fulfilling, right? Definitely yes!

 However, when I left Educ Room 312 that night of March 23, after I heard the story shared by Ma’am Lynette Tupaz I cannot help but ask myself questions like, “Am I doing enough as a teacher?”, “ Can I be like her as well? Can I do it?”. Every story was just amazing as she was. I was amazed how she accepted the risk of going to Sapa, Malaysia just to educate our fellow Filipinos in the place. I was amazed how with limited funds and resources she was still able to make her program happen. I was amazed how she was able to change the lives of the Filipinos there by just making them literate. And more than anything else, I admired how she was not only able to teach them how to be read and write but as well as open their minds on how to dream.

 Everything starts with a dream, even if it seemed impossible, if you are able to dream about it then there is a chance for it to happen. Even how small or big those chances are, still you have a chance and you have to work for it. In the case of Ma’am Lynette’s students their dreams have become easier to reach because they were helped to be equipped by someone but it is also important to acknowledge the motivation that is coming from each and every individual in Sapa. Just like what Ma’am Lynette kept on repeating during her talk, “it is them, not me.”

 It was indeed inspiring to listen to a story just like Ma’am Lynette’s and her family. I view it as if this program was their dream that turned to a successful reality. It made me realize that maybe I can do more as a teacher. I should not be limited to the children who come to me every day and maybe I should start my small steps to reach other children, too. I can start dreaming and maybe a few years now I will be able to achieve it. Anyway, everything starts with a dream!

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           Being literate allows you to read and write. It gives you so much privilege to experience things by just simply reading a text or writing about your thoughts. I perceive reading as something which allows you to experience different emotions as the material brings you to a different dimension. Similarly, this is how I also view writing as it makes me reflect on the things that I experience in life. It gives me a feeling of happiness, sadness, anger and ‘kilig’ as well.

           Last session in my EDR 210 class, Teacher Hazelle shared the story of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It was six years ago when I first heard the story, I remember how the story went straight to my heart during that time. I remember how I was stopping myself to tear up then since I am surrounded by my classmates whom I believe do have the same feelings as I was having. After that class I was very eager to look for the book because I wanted to share it to my siblings. Student that I was during that time, I cannot afford to buy it from the National bookstore and so I looked for it in Booksale, luckily after several visits, I was able to own one. When I went home to province I read it to my brother who is only eight years old then. Like me, he was so affected by it. Then I realized more, how really powerful reading a book is.

            On that year I started collecting Children’s books. I did not grow up having many Children’s Books, I remember our shelves having Encyclopedias (which are still there up to now) but not so many Children’s books. Some of my personal favorites from my collection aside from The Giving Tree are I love You Forever by Robert Munch, Leo the Late bloomer by Robert Kraus, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. On the other hand, I have favorite books to read to my students as I believe that they can relate to these stories and these books give them opportunities to reflect, these are Chenelyn! Chenelyn! by Rhandee Garlitos, Just Add Dirt by Becky Bravo, Sampung Magkakaibigan and Si Pilong Patago-tago both written by Kristine Canon.

           I remember when I was in elementary, I studied in a very traditional school wherein textbooks are the only way to go. We were just limited by the stories written in these textbooks and my teachers were very comfortable presenting only those stories to us. Definitely no stories similar to what I mentioned above. But when I started studying in UP, and started having FLCD subjects and subjects from the College of Education I started to realize that it should never be that way. As a teacher, it is our responsibility more than it is our job to kindle our students love for reading because once they learn how to love reading they will eventually love learning. That is how I see it, for I consider reading as a key to many doors of new knowledge, new realization.

             Reading does not only provide you with understanding on your lessons but it can also give you real lessons which are important in life. Reading brings you to a place where you can reflect and improve yourself. Likewise, writing, as it allows you to express your thoughts and unload whatever emotions that were ignited because of reading.

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HOW DO WE TEACH A HEARING-IMPAIRED STUDENT?

Hearing plays a vital role in our everyday lives, for hearing we get to connect to people around us. Hearing allows us to express and receive language. Without the ability to hear, a person may have difficulty socially, emotionally and even cognitively. Hearing allows us to learn new things easier. Once an information entered our ears, our brain starts to process them and then we realize that a new learning had happened.

But, how about for those individuals who are having hearing difficulty? How does learning happen to them? How do they become literate? If we go back to the basic definition of literacy, it is a person’s ability to read and write. But how do deaf individuals learn how to read? How do they learn to intentionally write a word that is correct and with complete thought?

Last semester, I was privileged enough to witness this process when I visited Miriam College-SAID in Katipunan, Quezon City. MC-SAID caters deaf students from preschool to high school. On top of their regular classes, MC-SAID has a Special Academic Reinforcement Class (SPARC) for their students twice a week. SPARC is specifically designed to improve students’ ability to read. They use the Four-Pronged Approached in teaching the students in the regular class and in implementing the program while they use the SRA Reading Kit from ABIVA Publishing as their tool.

The students in the SPARC classes were grouped according to their reading ability and not with their age. I was able to observe the class of beginners when I visited the institution. The class is composed of students with mild hearing disorder and totally impaired of hearing students but with cochlear implants. The class has two teachers and the students were divided into three, one group is reading the Dolch List Sight Words (Pre-Primer), this is being supervised by one of the teachers, while the other teacher, is handling one-on-one reading session with a student and the other group is in the reading area where they can freely choose whatever book they want to read.

The teacher is utilizing both the read-aloud strategy and as well as the use of sign language in teaching their students to learn how to read. After reading, students are asked to answer questions to ensure that they were able to comprehend what they have read either orally or written. Written works maybe in a form of worksheets or drawing activities.

Once the teacher assessed that the students are ready to move on to the next level the students are promoted to the other group of SPARC classes however, this may take a year or more for some of the students. In this level, students are assessed which ‘color’ will their reading ability fall in the SRA reading kit. During the SPARC session, students are free to choose which books they will read within the specific color or level. Afterwards, they are asked to answer the questions the follow the story and they are also the ones who check their works. Teachers then, assessed the results afterwards so they will know which part of the reading process do students having difficult with. If the student will be able to finish all the level in the SRA kits, teachers provide a supplementary reading activities.

In MC-SAID every student is encouraged to express themselves and share their experiences with each other and through this they learn more. While I was amazingly observing how these deaf students are really trying to learn how to read in spite of their condition, I realized that no one can be disabled if they just try and love what they do. Furthermore, I realized more the vital role of teachers in making the students love learning. I recognize the challenge of the teachers when a regular student does not seem to love learning but I came to realize that making a disabled student love learning is more difficult. Nevertheless, I believe that all teachers shall accept the challenge of being a facilitator of their students’ learning.  

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What is Literacy?

“What is literacy?”, an easy question which I thought I always knew the meaning. However, the discussion we had last session in EDR 210 made me think what is the true definition of the word literacy. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is the ability to read and write. This was the same definition suggested by one of my classmates on that session we had but it made me thinking, is this enough? I asked myself, is being able to read and write made a person ‘really literate’? On that session, I was bothered by this thought thus I expressed that maybe more than reading and writing, literacy should entail understanding or comprehension from the receiver of information. Every day, people get to encounter different situations which requires them to be ‘literate’ to understand these things. And what are these kinds of literacy that a person must have? As generated by the class these include, media literacy, visual literacy, and information literacy.

On this paper, I would like to focus on discussing Information literacy which was assigned to our group. During the class, my groupmates and I discussed that to be information literate one should be able to know facts about a topic. This will mean that this information should come from a reliable source to ensure its validity. I believe that even the simplest questions can be hard to answer if not backed-up by an information that will support it. I think people are naturally eager to know a lot of information. People try to get them from books, newscast, internet like news websites or social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. However, I believe that it is important for a person to be able to identify facts from fallacies. This means that people should be critical in the information that they are getting. Furthermore, our group discussed some of the benefits that we can get if we are information literate, these are, first, we get to be equipped with information that we may use in the future, second, we earn confidence knowing that we are informed about things, and third, a person shall not be easily deceived by the people around him/ her.

 Having said all of the output of our group during the last session. I would like to relate this to the definition I got from my ‘reliable’ source which is from the American Library Association. According to ALA, Information literacy “is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to evaluate and use effectively the needed information.” I believe this definition sums up how our group viewed Information Literacy. ALA discussed how individuals are faced with diverse and abundant information choices. This information may come unfiltered to these individuals thus information literacy is really important. I would like to quote what ALA had said that “Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning”. It is the information that we know drives us every day to improve ourselves. However as discussed above and as expressed by ALA, the abundance of information present to people will not create more informed individuals without some complementary characteristics of person which are being critical to the information we are getting, being efficient in using this information to accomplish specific purpose, and being effective in accommodating newly earned information.

 In conclusion, I believe that Information Literacy is very much important in our daily lives as this can be our ticket in knowing more about life. Further, I believe that people should be introduced to this kind of literacy at an early age as this will help them to be better individuals in the society.

Sources:

Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. (2007, July 20). Retrieved January 25, 2018, from http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&template=%2FContentManagement%2FContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=33553

 Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2018, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literacy

 Literacy | Definition of literacy in English by Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2018, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/literacy