While all these things are happening, it is easy to point our fingers towards others. We blame others for our misfortune. At times, we also blame blame God. And wonder, where else to go.
From my experience, it is human nature to seek refuge, validation or approval from people we care about. It gives us hope, that together we will overcome. But what if the people that you rely on, the people you love, the people you thought will be your shoulders were not there? Or they might be around, but chose not to be there for you?
When hope seems lost and you can’t see anyone around, remember that God is with you. Always. He won’t judge you, he won’t qualify your achievements nor the money you have in your purse. He will simply listen, He will be there for you.
I hope you find this post, a useful reminder not to lose hope, for God is with us. Be grateful for each day that He has generously given us. In some parts of the world, people are fighting for their lives. Let each day remind you of Hope and that trials are temporary just like everything else, it will pass. Keep in mind that God has plans for you, even greater than what your mind can conceive.
I listen to this song so I can be reminded of God’s love..
How do you kill time? That was the question asked by one of my friends because obviously in this pandemic, that the whole world is suffering from, we have so many challenges. Businesses are closing, school buildings are closed and learning goes online, grocery supplies are very limited, and yes lockdown almost immobilized us.
My response to my friend, “actually I don’t kill time, I make time!”
How I Spend My Day
Practice Gratitude
As I wake up in the morning, I thank God I’m still alive, safe, have a roof over my head and food on the table and so is my family in the Philippines and my daughter in Thailand.
I record a short worship song each day, to reconnect with my Creator and thank Him for all that I am blessed with. I call it Daily Dose of Faith, Hope and Love:
Workout!
I make time for my wellbeing, by spending 7-min a day doing this workout:
I make time to connect with my family and friends via Facebook messenger and Instagram. We have a family chat and we do group video calls to send love, support, crazy stuff and sometimes vent out about various issues! Fun times always!
Family is ❤️❤️❤️
Cook!
I cook even though I have super limited ingredients, I’m actually becoming ‘eggetarian’ because eggs and a few spices are all I have.
I am missing veggies and fruits!
Work as Digital Learning Coach
I routinely check Seesaw and Google Classroom tasks assigned by my colleagues to their students, check my email as well to see if anyone needs me to support them with digital learning integration.. I also meet with my colleagues in groups via Zoom to check how awesome they are doing and also to catch up with what I can support them with.
Hosting Zoom Meetings for Digital Learning Integration
I also check Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to see if there are updates on the apps that we are using in school that I need to share with my colleagues. Sometimes I need to warn them when the app is down because I know they will start to panic. So yes, I’m also looking after their wellbeing remotely 🤗
I love how proactive Seesaw Experts and Educators are! You guys are amazing!
Create & Serve!
I started uploading videos to Youtube, mostly public service announcements on how to respond to pandemic:
Elementary PSA on COVID19
Just another way of embedding creativity, collaboration and service learning with our students from the International School of Hyderabad. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to include our students on a public service announcement before the school closure. I reckon the best way to teach students to stay safe and hygienic in these times of crisis is to include them in the process. In one of our production rehearsals, I suggested for elementary students to show different ways of greeting people with less physical interaction: No to beso-beso as Grade 1 are practicing Namaste, Grade 2 students dab when they sneeze, Grade 3 students started with Air Hugs, Grade 4 students on the other hand do feet shake to replace hand shakes, and awesome Grade 5 students suggested we do Air Bumps! I used Clips in creating this video 😊
If the youtube link is not working, here is the video:
Ways to greet people and stay hygienic: Namaste, Sneeze Dab, Air Hugs, Feet Shake, Air Bumps!
Pandemoji
Let’s combat pandemic one bitmoji at a time! Here’s my take, most of us use social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. I reckon why don’t I use it to advocate for a good cause? For this presentation, I used Bitmoji (hence the name Pandemoji, as suggested by a friend of mine). I then used Keynote to put my bitmojis together, saved the presentation as a movie and finally edited it using iMovie.
If the youtube link is not working, here is the video:
Pandemoji
Take some ‘Me’ Time
Play Ukulele
During my downtime I play my ukulele and record a few songs via SoundCloud
If I have spare time I play Homescapes. I want to visualize my future house! I read books irregularly though. Same as writing blogs. I watch some series on Netflix! It’s a lot to share, so I’ll just rest here!
When my creativity and love for service learning kick in, I create stuff. My hope is to encourage one and all to leverage the use of digital learning tools that are right in front of us.
Let’s combat pandemic one bitmoji at a time! Here’s my take, most of us use social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tiktok, etc. I reckon why don’t we use it to advocate for a good cause? For this presentation, I used Bitmoji (hence the name Pandemoji, as suggested by a friend of mine). So on my phone I used Keynote to put my bitmojis together, I did screen recording + narration while I’m playing the slideshow, saved the presentation as a movie, Air drop it to my Mac because it’s easier to edit on a bigger screen, edited the movie using iMovie, then shared it on Youtube.
Why is it important to continue to learn as a professional? What are the steps that we can take to achieve our professional learning goals
<Excerpt from ISTE Certification Criteria Guidelines>
Introduction
I studied computer science for my bachelor of science degree and did my teaching certifications and master’s degree specializing in educational technology. I started my career as a computer instructor in a couple of universities in the Philippines. I have enjoyed working in various international schools as an ICT teacher in Turkey then I became an ICT coordinator in Vietnam, a digital learning leader in India prior to moving to my current role as an Innovation Coach at Keystone Academy in China.
I am a Google Education Trainer, Apple Teacher, and Apple Professional Learning Specialist, and have provided professional learning sessions to various schools. I am passionate about supporting teachers, enhancing teaching and learning, and doing my best to make a positive impact by building professional relationships and capacity in individuals at all levels.
I regularly coach teachers and either facilitate or organize professional learning sessions to enhance teachers’ pedagogy. I co-plan with Grade level leaders and teachers to support their IPC unit goals in terms of identifying appropriate criteria of ISTE Standards for Students and what digital learning tools might enhance their lessons.
ISTE Standards for Students
I designed the ISTE Age Band Articulation charts for Primary to make it more user-friendly by adding icons to fit the criteria. I have also asked my colleagues to help translate the chart into Chinese. Our school supports bilingualism as one of our keystone and we value China as our host country. Note: Slide to the right for English chart or slide to the left for Chinese version:
ISTE Age Band Articulation Foundation – Grade 2
ISTE Age Band Articulation Grade 3-5
ISTE Standards for Educators
I also made this infographic taken from ISTE Standards for Educators. My next plan is to get it translated by one of my Chinese colleagues.
As an educator it is important to be a lifelong learner because our education system evolves and so are the needs of our students. Below are the steps that I consider to keep growing and learning as a professional:
Commit
Commit to Learn. Every learning starts with a person’s willingness to do it. No matter how enticing a learning opportunity is, it doesn’t and won’t happen magically if you don’t make a decision to commit to it. I start by writing down my professional learning goals. I think about what I would like to achieve this year, or this semester. Then, I chunk it down to monthly and weekly goals. I find it helpful to have mini-goals so I can periodically assess whether I am moving forward or am I stuck with a few things I would like to achieve but find them quite challenging. In those cases, I reflect on its feasibility, then I work around what are achievables.
For these 2 consecutive years 2019-2021, some of my goals include becoming an ISTE Certified Educator, Google Certified Innovator, Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert and Apple Distinguished Educator. Below are the reasons why I would like to achieve those aforementioned certifications.
I would like to:
equip myself to be a better digital learning coach
further develop my public speaking and coaching skills
learn from other certified educators and leaders
coach my colleagues with their professional learning certifications
develop contents that would be purposeful to my students which means both teachers and PreK-5 students
Connect
Connect with like-minded people or better yet find experts of the field you are passionate about. Seek for an online community if person-to-person is not possible especially in these trying times of social distancing due to the pandemic brought by COVID19. Strengthen your online presence by connecting to various personalized learning networks (PLNs). Follow and learn about organizations that provide standards in technology such as ISTE, COETAIL, Common Sense Education for Digital Citizenship, app developers like Google for Education, Microsoft Education, Apple for Education, FlipGrid, Seesaw, Wakelet, Book Creator, among many others. Follow educators and experts as well like Google for Education Trainers, Innovators and Educators, Apple Distinguished Educators, Seesaw Ambassadors, Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, for example. I have been learning with and from experts of various areas of technology and education that greatly influenced how technology enhances my content and pedagogy as a coach and educator.
Collaborate
Collaborate with others. Once you find your “tribe” or PLN, interact with them, collaborate! We can all learn from each other no matter what backgrounds we have, even experts learn from neophytes. Never hesitate to reach out and take that step forward. Share your best practices, welcome feedback, reflect on what’s good and what you can do to enhance your skills and pedagogy. Learn from and with your colleagues. One of the things I do appreciate now that I am more into coaching my colleagues on digital learning is that I get to learn from them a lot. For example, whenever we do lesson planning together or co-teaching their classes, ideas spark more than it would have been if I was just working in isolation. I thoroughly enjoy designing templates on Keynote and Google Docs used by lower elementary students. I was getting the content from interviewing my colleagues of what their plans are, what are the lesson objectives or what do they want their students to achieve, and so on and so forth. There is so much empathy on what the children might need, how we address different learning styles and are we giving them choices with the activities that we are creating. Some of the questions that we consider when creating: Are we addressing the needs of second language students and differently-abled students? What about those who have good oral comprehension but cannot express their thoughts in writing? Those are some of the things that we work on together and who’s the better expert in identifying the needs of their students but the homeroom teacher? It’s extremely important that we plan and work together to come up with teaching and learning resources that are appropriate for all learners.
How else can we connect and collaborate with PLNs? I love this article written by Matthew Lynch on ‘How to Create your Own Personalized Learning Network‘. Please feel free to read his blog, I summarized his suggestions below:
Be Selective
Be Thoughtful
Start on Social Media
Ask Questions
Create Your Own Content
Give Credit
Remember the WHY
Celebrate & co-celebrate
Celebrate! Give yourself a pat on the back, not just when you achieve something but every time you try! Celebrate your milestone, no matter how big or small they seem to be. Whenever I get an opportunity, I sign-up to webinars provided by Seesaw, Apple for Education, Google for Education, Wakelet, Book Creator, FlipGrid among others. One of my recent achievements was moving up to Seesaw Certified Educator from being a Seesaw Ambassador. Certified Educator is awarded to a member of the Seesaw Ambassador community for over three years.
some of my certifications and webinars that I attended in the summer
Co-celebrate successes of other people too. Never fail to affirm, encourage each other to up-skill and be better every day.
One of the many reasons why I love my job as a coach is that I not only facilitate sessions to support my colleagues’ certifications, I get to celebrate their successes too. I feel privileged with the opportunity to be part of their professional learning journey.
Twitter posts from a few educators that I supported for their certifications
I attended another webinar on Book Creator. I’m facilitating a session with my colleagues on Wednesday, so this is a great refresher for me! 🥳
I had a session with my elementary principal, Nick Neubert and 4th Grade teacher, Champa Nicholson to sort out some DLI support via Zoom.
I updated #Grade1’s choice board, I find it useful for children to have some choices on the tasks given to them. I also love having the opportunity to design, collaborate and plan together. It’s like problem-solving, I feel accomplished afterwards.
I had an amazing digital learning support session with a few Grade 4 students and instead of me doing the session to those who missed it last week, I got one of them to demonstrate to his friends. Pranav demonstrated to a few of his classmates how to use DocHub app to answer their worksheet on PDF file. He also showed them how to download the file on Google Drive and turn it in via Google Classroom. It is indeed powerful when a child demonstrates to his/her peers. I love empowering my students to lead our digital learning sessions.
Tonight, I’ll be working on my online courses and will polish my plans for the next couple of days.
Lockdown has started in India from March 22, 2020. All works are done online and everything is very limited. People are panic buying, curfew has been implemented. So much news and trending messages going around, it’s overwhelming more than the pandemic itself. Anyways, there are still so many things that we should be grateful for. We are blessed to be safe, to have a shelter, to have food, and simply live. The rests are all privileges that we usually take for granted. I’d like to spend time working, reaching out to my family and friends online and during my downtime, I get to play my ukulele and sing a song or two. Here are some of the songs I recorded so far:
Grow Old With You: for my future partner. I hope we find each other
Riptide: one of the first songs I learnt when I started playing. One of my students suggested this song to me. Thank you Zara, keep playing.
You Are My Sunshine: this song is for my Princess Geli. Thank you for bringing sunshine into my life. I am eternally grateful to God for giving you to me. I love you to bits.
I Don’t Know My Name: a song that I get really emotional to, especially when I started learning this song. It’s also inspiring that Grace VanderWaal composed this at the age of 12. She deserves to win America’s Got Talent. More power to you Grace 😊
Can’t Help Falling in Love: the hopeless romantic in me loves this classic song from Elvis Presley 😉
One Day: a song from Matisyahu. A song of hope and better future. A world where freedom and peace prevails. One day…
I haven’t really been listening to songs lately but I heard one of my former students sang this song. He is so good that I searched up the song and thought I’d learn how to play it.
I super love this song from Goo Goo Dolls so I thought of playing it. I searched up for some tutorials and found this ukulele cover lesson quite useful:
I was so busy over the last two weeks that I haven’t got the chance to learn something new to play. I heard this song from my nephew Jules and I thought it’s really good so here you go:
tinapeji21 