1. Jayven’s engagement in the literacy lessons with regards to:

Attention, Effort and Attitude

          In this particular session, Jayven was remarkably engaged as he asked me questions about the instructions of the activity worksheets. He also suggested some alternatives on how we could do the “pabitin” activity more exciting for him.

          Essentially, Jayven’s attention to the lesson, effort to accomplish the tasks, and attitude towards me and others have been vastly consistent. As a student majoring in Special Education, I am exposed to kids with short attention span to no task commitment at all. But with Jayven, I never had to think of strategies that I need to incorporate when teaching the lessons because he already has an attitude that is attentive and determined to learn. But even though Jayven doesn’t require me any teaching quirks to learn effectively, I noticed in this session that he would sometimes take a peek at what Claire, another student tutor, and her tutee was doing whenever Claire would bring out stickers and other fun bonuses. I realized here that I should step up my game so that Jayven would really enjoy our session and not see his every Monday as a “boring extracurricular learning” day.

2. Jayven’s display of:

a. Understanding of the lesson

Jayven doesn’t have any problem with the letters Mm and Aa. He has shown his competency by correctly uttering the letter sounds and by sorting various images according to the beginning letter. We went through every activity in our lesson plan smoothly and with ease.

b. Motivation and interest in learning literacy skills and others

In this session, I somehow observed how Jayven wasn’t that enthusiastic anymore with the activities compared to our previous sessions. I think the reason behind this was because the activities more or less have the same concept: reading wordless picture books, grouping pictures according to beginning sound, encircling pictures that start with a particular letter, and so on. And honestly these activities do not challenge Jayven. Thus, I had the feeling that Jayven was “stuck” doing these activities that do not really benefit him anymore because he already knows them.

There were even moments when I would emphasize the sounds of the letters Mm and Aa (because that is the objective of the lesson plan) and Jayven would display a look on his face as if saying, “paulit-ulit nalang, naaral na natin yung letter M na yan.”

3. Challenges and strategies during the literacy lesson + 4. Changes

As I have mentioned above, keeping Jayven challenged is a challenge for me especially when the topic of the lesson plan does not challenge him at all. Jayven has certain weaknesses with letter sounds that are not met because the objectives of the lesson plan provided target something else entirely. As usual, I provide him supplementary activities whenever we finish early (which is all the time). In this particular session, we played a game wherein my objective was to expand his vocabulary and widen his phonological awareness with vowels. This game is called, “eye spy” with a twist. So the gist of the game is that we would “hunt” for objects around the court that starts with the vowels a, e, i, o, u. All in all, I think the game helped strengthen Jayven’s phonological distinction between e and i.

Name of Tutee: Jayven

1. Jayven’s engagement in the literacy lessons with regards to:

            a. Attention to the lesson and tasks

            Before our session has started, Jayven momentarily approached a classmate close to our spot to merely say his regards. Then, we went back to my side to simply wait for an activity. That was the only time that he had his attention on others. By the time our session has started, Jayven was once again completely engrossed in our lesson. There was even a time when a random kid went to our spot, looked at what he’s doing and urged him to play with him. But he didn’t even bat an eyelash to the kid, so the kid went on his way. When I asked Jayven who the kid is, he just shrugged his shoulder. I can tell that was really keen in finishing his tasks and was hungry for more academic food than the physical snack that I was offering him in-between the session.

b. Effort to accomplish a task

Jayven usually does his best when finishing the tasks required of him. However, there was this particular activity wherein his input seemed short, forced, and not deliberately thought of. In this activity, he has to tell a story based on a picture book using his own words. Jayven did not look excited when I asked him to do this task. Instead, he looked burdened. While telling the story, his body language and tone of voice gave me the impression that he did not want to do the activity. He also seemed to give me the look saying that I should have been the one telling him the story, and not the other way around.

Apart from that activity, he seemed to be exerting a 100% effort in completing the rest of his tasks, especially when an activity involves coloring/drawing.

c. Attitude towards task, teacher, and others

Like I said before, Jayven is generally a sweet child. He pays respect not only to the older people around him, but also to the kids of his age.

2. Jayven’s display of:

a. Understanding of the lesson

Jayven has either studied the lessons before or is naturally a fast learner. I can say this because our pace moves pretty quickly to the point that we can manage to finish a session for about 48 minutes on average! Except from the storytelling part last Monday, Jayven generally accomplished every task with ease.

Frankly speaking however, Jayven’s phonological awareness is not perfect. In fact, there are several sounds of the letters in the alphabet which he gets confused with. As his Tutor, I will surely make sure that at the end of this term, he will be able to improve, if not perfect his phonological awareness skills.

b. Motivation and interest in learning literacy skills and others

Jayven is determined to finish the required tasks concerning literacy, but he was more willing to carry out activities that involve his interests: coloring and drawing.   

3. Challenges and strategies during the literacy lesson:

            The most perceptible challenges from last session were: (1) Jayven’s discomfort in conducting the storytelling; (2) His poor inner representation to the sounds of the vowels in the alphabet; and (3) Our tendency to finish the lesson early, causing him to be bored for the rest of the meeting.

            For the first challenge, I tried to lift up the atmosphere first. Since I did not know the cause of his discomfort, I experimented for a bit. I initially joked with him and asked him to remember how I did my storytelling with “Ang Pamilya Ismid” and I asked him to just copy how I do it. Then, I urged him to take his time in analyzing the pictures of the book. I gave him ample time to familiarize himself with the book so that he won’t forget what to say when the storytelling starts. I think these strategies helped him, because the second time that he conducted the storytelling, he wasn’t as bland or as pressured any longer.

            For the second and third challenge, I will incorporate some lessons next meeting when we finish early so that I will be able to help him improve his phonological skills and at the same time, keep him preoccupied with a purpose.

4. Initiatives in literacy // and 5. changes in my teaching and in the student’s learning

             When it comes to Jayven, I usually tend to teach him according to his interests. During our free time last Monday, I actually asked him for the first time to do an activity which is not part of the lesson plan. This activity is for him to make a story that uses the words that start with letters M and A. To make it enjoyable for him, I asked him to represent these words using pictures. Thus, he has to draw and color which are his favourites. The reason behind this is because I wanted to know if he is capable of telling a story properly and equivocally if given time.

            Surprisingly, he asked me if he could also tell the story in written words. Of course, I agreed. However, when he was done with the supplementary activity, I found out that his story was even more confusing in written form. This has caused me to be confused with the story of his drawing as well. I’m not even sure if the drawing and the written story in words have any correlation at all. Despite this, I was very much proud that he took on the initiative to do something that CAN improve his literacy. He is usually a timid child, so having him volunteer to do something that I didn’t require him to do is a milestone for me.

            Jayven is a work in progress. Now that we’ve spent a lot of time together, I can now see little bits of academic struggles that he might have, but that doesn’t stop me from focusing on his potential and what his determined spirit is capable of doing.

Name of Tutee: Jayven

1. Jayven’s engagement in the literacy lessons with regards to:

            a. Attention to the lesson and tasks

            Jayven was wholly responsive in every aspect of our session. He had a presence of mind and concentration which he only locked on what we were doing. He never once looked at the other cluster of people surrounding us nor entertained a few of his classmates who would pass by and take a peek at our activity. The only time that he stopped doing an activity and looked around was when his neck ached from crouching in order to write on the ground. He then asked me if we could go to the side of the covered court where there is an elevated floor for him to use as a makeshift table. Unfortunately, that side of the court was greatly exposed to the sun’s harsh rays. So I just urged him to endure writing on the ground in the meantime and assured him that I will bring own travelling table so that he will not have any trouble next time.

b. Effort to accomplish a task

I see Jayven as a naturally determined child. Unlike some other kids, he does not seem to force himself or even “try” to exert effort because it is already natural to him. He is relaxed and at ease during our session which made me consider that maybe these kinds of activities is in his comfort zone. Although there were some details during the session that he sometimes missed, these were literally too small to take note and would not debunk my impression that he generally never had any difficulty finishing the tasks at hand.

c. Attitude towards task, teacher, and others

Until now, it still surprises me how well-behaved Jayven is. He has this sense of understanding towards himself and his environment. He knows what kind of behavior is appropriate during a particular moment and what is not. He also does not take advantage of me and would always insist for me to buy him just enough food when I offer to buy him a lot.

Last session, when we finished early, I saw how Jayven interacts with his classmates. Even then, he was still a sweet boy. He would smile and wave his hand at them and that would be it. He did not ask me if he could go play tag with them. He also did not force me to play tag with him unlike the other groups. He did not become envious of what the other groups were doing which is what I expect from an 8-year old boy. Personally, I think Jayven’s psychological maturity is quite unique and is something that I adore.

2. Jayven’s display of:

a. Understanding of the lesson

It is apparent that Jayven already has the knowledge of the lesson outcome. He has shown this by going through each activity smoothly and by accomplishing each task correctly and independently. Thus, the only matter that I have to emphasize during the session was the simple directions of the activities that he has to accomplish. Having said this, my primary goal last session was not to make him understand the lesson but to go beyond that. This means, to reinforce and refine his knowledge of the lesson and to somehow expand it.

b. Motivation and interest in learning literacy skills and others

Jayven demonstrated his drive and interest to learn the lesson and to learn more than that by actively participating in the session. He did not just do the activities because I ask him to, but because he wanted to. He validated this by asking to do more activities when he managed to finish everything already. He also offered to play some riddle and word games during his snack time.

Jayven enjoys and is very interested in stories. He likes reading and being read to. I think reading comprehension is one of his strengths. But more than that, he also thoroughly enjoys when I ask him to draw or color something during an activity. I think this gives him a break and helps him to think of the session as fun and exciting.

3. Initiative in literacy (reading, understanding & writing) learning

            Jayven revealed to me last session that he likes reading books at home. He especially likes riddle books and even shared some of what he can remember with me. I see this as an initiative in his part because not all children are curious enough to read on their own. Reading riddle books is a great start for Jayven because as he grows older, I know that his interest will expand to other types of books.

4.     Challenges and strategies during the literacy lesson:

            The most prominent challenge that I can remember during our session is my struggle with using the right words and language that he can understand. I am not used to speaking in straight Filipino. And most of the time, when I teach literacy lessons to kids, I use terms in English because I was more exposed to it. For example, I don’t use the word “titik.” Instead, I use the word “letter.” This little detail is a nuisance to me because I mostly have to pause while speaking and think of the right Filipino word. Sometimes it also distracts me from my train of thought and causes me to not explain things properly to him. This is why I’m grateful that Jayven is very patient and sensitive to my difficulty because he usually tries to guess what I was trying to say, making it easier for us both. Honestly, the only solution that I can think of in response to this challenge is continued practice. Maybe apart from daily conversations, I should start using Filipino more often in my academic performance.

Another thing that I realized during the session is how important variety is. This is in order to maintain the child’s enthusiasm towards the lesson. Ensuring a smooth transition is also important to keep the child’s focus within our own little bubble.

5. Changes in my teaching and in the student’s learning

            From last week’s session, I’ve learned that emphasis in teaching goes a long way in the child’s learning. Before, I thought teaching the sound of each letter of the alphabet doesn’t need a lot of time. But because of this session, I realized that it actually has to be established to the child so that he wouldn’t be confused in the later stages of his academic life. Creativity also matters. In presenting a lesson to a child, I realized that you have to think of different ways in presenting them, and not just sticking to one.

            With regards to the child’s learning, I can say that even though he already knows the lesson, reinforcing it still gives him progress in terms of his vocabulary and phonological awareness. Last time, we played a game wherein we have to take turns in saying a word that starts with the letter M. This game really urged him to think through and I believe, really improved his literacy skill.

Whenever I think about volunteerism in the Philippines, the first concept that comes to mind is “bayanihan.” As Filipinos, it is in our blood to help our brothers and sisters who are in need. It is our natural tendency to help. It is in our culture. And I think this is what keeps us apart from other countries. One sad thing that I could notice about the concept volunteerism in the Philippines is that it differs depending on whether the place is urban or rural. Usually, the concept "bayanihan" as volunteerism is only apparent in the provinces. In the urban cities, volunteerism is usually signified by community immersions and donations to the less fortunate. There is nothing wrong with these two views. It is just that volunteerism in the concept of "bayanihan" is more natural and in a sense, promotes equality. Meaning, you do "bayanihan" because you wanted to help. Volunteerism as helping the less fortunate, on the other hand, simply spells out that you are helping because you have more, and others have less.

My point here is that I hope there will be equality in all the faces of the earth. So that when we volunteer, it is because some people need some kind of assistance, and not some kind of charity.

I believe that the true welfare of human life is reflected by the condition of its natural habitat. If the environment is scanty and desolate, then it is most likely that the lives of the people living in it are wasted as well due to the reason that they are deprived of the provisions that are necessary to their health.

Nature sustains our life. It is where we get our oxygen, food, water, shelter, clothing, and basically anything that is under the umbrella of our basic biological needs. If we were to wake up in an environment that cannot produce and supply our basic needs, then obviously, that is where our lives can end. In the modern day era, humans are so obsessed with "creating" artificial dupes that can possibly replace the "natural" ones. Humans are so fixated with exploring every part of the universe for a chance to find a place where humans can possibly survive. But let me tell you what I think: The earth cannot be replaced. It is one of a kind. And as rational beings, we should be responsible for it. Humans are so adamant with upgrading, but why can't we just take care of the original version of the earth that we are blessed with? For me, it is because it is our tendency to think that everything degrades. But honestly, we are the ones who did this to ourselves in the first place. We created cars that cause pollution just so we can experience some aspects of our lives better. We become so distracted by these things that we forget the only thing that keeps us alive is NATURE.

Again, as the only rational beings on this planet, nature is our responsibility. We are the only ones who can save or break it. Therefore, we have to take our actions now before it is too late. As a naturalist, it breaks my heart to see our environment degrading. But even if I am merely a student, I can do something about it already. I can bring my water bottle to school so that I would not need to buy water that are placed inside a disposable bottle. I could opt not to use a straw when I am in a restaurant. I could choose to just dine in my food rather than to take it out. I could bring a shopping bag when I shop for groceries so that I could avoid the exploitation of plastic bags. All of these simple things can help save nature. It might be inconvenient sometimes, yes. However, I believe that a simple inconvenience is better than a heavy dose of suffering in the future.

"Parang sasabog na yung puso ko" was the only line that I could internally scream off at the top of my head after hearing the sentiments of our indigenous kababayans during our visit last Monday, October 24, at their camp near the College of Fine Arts.