Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est

“Life is more than merely staying alive.”

I was raised in a family where helping others and contributing to the society is given utmost importance. My father is a physician while my mother is a volunteer health worker. For them, it is more important to know ourselves, develop our potentials through education and use them in helping others than any fancy academic degrees and hard-earned money from hard work. I was also educated in an institution where we are continually reminded of the great responsibility of contributing to society and giving back to my country who gave me the privilege to be educated in a premier state university.

More than 6 years ago, I decided to resign from my very first corporate job in a company where I stayed for several years. I felt that my job is becoming a burden more than a blessing. I felt that I’ve stopped growing as much as personal development is concerned. I realized that I can still do better things with my life. My immediate supervisors, as well as my colleagues, are wondering why I have to give up my career and waste a lot of opportunities in the company. People are reminding me then about my resignation plans as there is no assurance whether I would get a better job, as “rewarding” as this one. But then, I resigned. What matters to them doesn’t matter to me.

There is more to life than financial stability. A part of me wanted to help, and I will not be able to do that if I stay and spend most of my time in that company. I have to give in to that desire and use my time improving myself and discovering my potentials in helping others and contributing to the society. This desire brought me to the teaching profession. And as they say, the rest is history.

Years ago, I faced another challenge: going back to school to improve my teaching skills. It took me some time before deciding to finally enroll in UPOU. My first term in UPOU was the hardest. Most of the times, I felt demotivated and wanted to give up due to the pressure caused by studying tons of reading materials and the challenging tasks and activities that needs to be accomplished. Not only once I did ask myself why I should stress myself out to learn when I already have more than enough experience to prove that I am an effective teacher. Then, I was reminded about my parents’ advice and the reason why I am doing these. Now, my motivation to learn is more than just getting good grades and impressive performance in completing all the tasks and course requirements. It is now about fulfilling my goal to improve myself and become a better and more effective teacher.

Having a well-defined educational philosophy will guide us to become more effective educators. It gives us direction to effectively teach and educate our students. Educational philosophy helps us establish where we stand and strengthen the ground that we are standing on. It helps us identify our desired destination and plot the best route toward reaching and achieving that goal. Lastly, it gives us the ability to evaluate other philosophies and modify our own, whenever necessary, to meet the demands of continuously changing world.

“I was given the ability to share knowledge and the capacity to learn and there’s nothing more fulfilling than to utilize them in helping others experience learning, improve themselves and succeed in life.”

(Learning to Teach. Teaching to Learn., 2013)

Educational Philosophy Test

Here’s the result of my Educational Philosophy test arranged from the highest to the lowest scores.

Social Reconstructionism – 25
Progressivism – 24
Existentialism – 20
Essentialism – 16
Perennialism – 14

I was not fully aware about my educational philosophy before this test; although I can say that my learning and teaching strategies are a bit different from the traditional ones. I know that education has to have standards on what is acceptable at every level. In the same way, I also believe that each student has his/her own learning abilities and strengths, which should be the basis of every learning and teaching method/s for every individual learner. While I value knowledge and ideas from the “Great Books”, I strongly agree that experience is the best way to learn as it validates knowledge and makes it permanent.

I agree with the results of my test. It shows that while I am more of a Social Reconstructionist and Progressivist type, I also value other philosophies as there are items in them that I agree with. This somehow shows my idea that each philosophy is essential in shaping every learner.

I think what influenced my educational philosophy are my parents and my upbringing. I grew up in a family of Christians and we are always reminded that it is important to know ourselves and develop our potentials through education and use them in helping other people in our society. Moreover, my education in UP influenced me most towards social reconstructionism and progressivism. During my stay in UP, I was reminded of the great responsibility to contribute to society and give back to my country who gave me the privilege to be educated in UP.

Now, I am currently working as an academic tutor, usually to individual student or a small group of students. I also work as a trainer and adviser to other tutors. I provide individualized instructions based on every student or tutor’s unique abilities. I devise teaching techniques and strategies that would help students learn and understand certain topics in different perspectives compared to the ones we usually experience in a regular school setup. Through this, I discover and am always amazed of the great potentials of each learner and teachers and how they can be maximized beyond what we ordinarily perceive.

I am not saying that this will be the only philosophy and values I will stand for for the rest of my learning and teaching journey. I cannot even say that this will still be the same philosophy I will be standing for after finishing this course. Being able to identify and understand these educational philosophy throughout this course will help me evaluate my current philosophies and change towards what is good and beneficial not only to me as an educator but also to my students and other people around me.

Know Thyself

“The first thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer.”

— Adam Smith, The Money Game

Knowing myself and what I want helps a lot in learning. I will not perform a task just because I am required to do so. I will not accomplish an activity just because everyone is doing it. Being able to identify my strengths and weaknesses helps me strategically plan my learning and use them to my advantage.

As a student, I am usually an observer and consumer of information during discussions, not much of a contributor. I love reading and listening to ideas of other people and process them to help me with my own learning. I am the type of learner who is most comfortable when given specific instructions or procedures to follow and is allowed to work on them independently. I often take more time and work deliberately, showing all steps on homework or taking detailed notes in class or during group work.

Planning and thinking takes most of my time while studying. This might also be the reason why I procrastinate. At times, I am consciously putting off an activity because I need more time to understand and process it deeply, or because I am currently in the process of thinking and deeply processing other ideas. This doesn’t mean that I am avoiding them but rather, I am prioritizing and taking time to successfully complete and fully understand them. I do not subscribe to the idea of multitasking. I let the ideas sink in my brain one at a time. I am in control of my learning and taking appropriate time to understand and process concepts and ideas in my brain helps me improve my organizing skills. It keeps me focused, patient and disciplined. I may or may not finish on time, but I will not feel like I completed an activity just because I was required to do it.

I consider reading novels and writing essays my weakest abilities. I am definitely not a wide reader. While most readers say that novels are more accurate and are always better than their movie adaptations, I would rather watch them in cinemas. Most of my friends say I can write. However, I would rather answer hundreds of Math exercises rather than write a one-page essay.

At times, especially during my first term here in UPOU, I feel demotivated and want to give up because of the pressure caused by studying tons of reading materials and challenging tasks and activities that need to be accomplished. Not only once did I ask myself why I should stress myself out to learn these materials when I already have more than enough experience to prove that I am an effective teacher. Now, my motivation to learn is more than just getting good grades and impressive performance in completing all the tasks and course requirements. It is now about fulfilling my goal to improve myself and become an effective teacher.

Juggling school, work and personal life all at the same time is a very challenging task. Too challenging that my time management skills, which I strongly believe and am very confident that I am very good at, was put to the test. At work, I was tasked to lead a team that requires me to give more time for work than school. Because of this, I was not able to catch up with our readings and barely accomplish all our course requirements on time. I feel like a juggler in unicycle while in a roller coaster ride!

To start this term, I took these self-assessment tests to help me learn more about myself and know where I’m at now, specifically in terms of my strengths, weaknesses, study skills, self-regulatory capability and time management skills.

Here are the results of the tests:

SWOT Analysis

Strengths: Time management and planning skills; Good note-taking skills; Fast learner

Weaknesses: Procrastinating, spends too much time on tasks; Loses focus and gets distracted easily; Short-lived motivations, short attention span and lacks discipline; Accepting too many responsibilities and tasks

Opportunities: Flexible time at work (at least as of this moment)

Threats: Increasing and unpredictable demands at work

Study Skills Inventory Results

Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ)

SRQ Test Score: 233 [Intermediate (moderate) self-regulation capacity]

Time Management Skills Test

TMS Test Score: 50 [Good Time Manager]

While I am not surprised by the results of these tests, especially in terms of my strengths in time management, note-taking and study skills, I am instantly tempted to make excuses for my weaknesses and justify them. But I realized that these tests are for me to assess and know who I really am to become a better learner.

I need to do something and work on my weaknesses if I want to become better learner to become an effective teacher. Specifically, I need to focus and stop procrastinating. In terms of accepting tasks at work, I have to learn how to say no when necessary. Moreover, I need to improve on my reading and note-taking skills. I have to be an active reader and note taker.

I have learned a lot of lessons from my experience last term. Learning should be fun and not a cause of any stress and exhaustion. That’s why this term, I only took two subjects. I have to take my time in “savoring” all the new knowledge and skills I can learn this term.

These experiences, together with these self-assessment tests, allow me to discover more things about myself. I am now more aware of my strengths and weaknesses and hoping that these help me improve myself as a learner to become a better and more effective teacher, on my own pace, one step at a time.

My Pledge of Commitment

I, Emmanuel B. Butin, am committed to completing this course with diligence, perseverance and my utmost potential.

I commit to put balance between studies and work, not neglecting any of the two.

I commit to submit all course requirements not just on time but with honesty and integrity in all my works.

I commit to refrain from procrastinating, be intrinsically motivated and be a self-regulated learner at all times.

I commit to contribute, interact and participate more in discussion forums.

I commit to research and seek help from my teachers and classmates when needed.

I commit to give my best in accomplishing all the requirements in this course.

I commit to improve my reading, writing, note taking and organizing skills.

I commit to continuously evaluate myself, be open-minded and critical about my own philosophy.

I pledge to be at my best at all times.

Starting Over Again (Know Thyself Revisited)

2015. A new year. A new term. A new season of my student life. A fresh start.

It’s already my third term here in UPOU under the BES program, and yet, I want to start all over again after my experience last term.

My first term is a very challenging and fulfilling one. This might be the reason why I get too excited to learn and, on the following term, decided to take 12 units of core courses *but wait, there’s more!* and one more PE course! I guess I get too overwhelmed with the idea of learning and being a student again that I “hoarded” all available courses that I can take that term without thinking of my other priorities and obligations outside school.

Here are the results of the tests:

SWOT Analysis

Strengths: Time management and planning skills; Good note-taking skills; Fast learner

Opportunities: Flexible time at work (at least as of this moment)

Threats: Increasing and unpredictable demands at work

Study Skills Inventory Results

Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ)

SRQ Test Score: 233 [Intermediate (moderate) self-regulation capacity]

Time Management Skills Test

TMS Test Score: 50 [Good Time Manager]

My Pledge of Commitment (Revisited)

I, Emmanuel B. Butin, am committed to completing this course with diligence, perseverance and my utmost potential.

I commit to put a balance between studies and work, not neglecting any of the two.
I commit to submit all course requirements not just on time and to the best of my ability but with honesty and integrity in all my works.
I commit to refrain from procrastinating, be intrinsically motivated and be a self-regulated learner at all times.
I commit to contribute, interact and participate more in discussion forums and class activities.
I commit to research and seek help from my teachers and classmates when needed.
I commit to improve my reading, writing, note taking and organizing skills.
I commit to be open to new learning, views and opinions that are different from mine.
I pledge to be at my best at all times.

References:

SWOT Analysis

Study Skills Inventory

Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ)

Time Management Skills Test

Educational Philosophy Test

Here’s the result of my Educational Philosophy test arranged from the highest to the lowest scores.

Social Reconstructionism – 25
Progressivism – 24
Existentialism – 20
Essentialism – 16
Perennialism – 14

Learning to Teach. Teaching to Learn.

“By learning, you will teach. By teaching, you will learn.”

– Latin Proverb

This course gave me a new perspective about learning and teaching. I learned that learning not just about acquiring knowledge while teaching is not just sharing knowledge.

As a student, I am usually an observer and consumer of information during discussions, rarely a contributor. I love reading and listening to ideas of other people and process them to help me with my own learning. As a teacher, I take the responsibility of transferring and sharing my knowledge and expertise to help my students conquer their fear and difficulties in learning.

Writing eJournal entries forced me, in a good way, to reflect, express my thoughts and process the knowledge I acquired in this course. It helped me monitor and evaluate my own learning. I am surprised how much meaningful article I was able to produce. Being able to create more than 30 entries in less than three months is not bad at all for a first-time blogger. Most importantly, it helped me conquer my fear in writing. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I had hesitation creating a blog for several reasons (or excuses): I didn’t know what to write about, I have lost my writing skills since I haven’t written anything for a very long time, and I am not good expressing myself through writing in English (the lamest excuse I came up with!).

Knowing yourself and what you want helps a lot in selective learning. I will not perform a task just because I am required to do so. I will not accomplish an activity just because everyone is doing it. Being able to identify my strengths and weaknesses helped me strategically plan my learning and use them to my advantage.

Required tasks and activities help me identify the important concepts and ideas that I should learn in a given topic. Forum discussions keep me on the right track. Exercises and assignments reinforce my understanding and deep processing. Deadlines are reminders how much time and effort I should allot and exert, helping me to strategically plan and accomplish my goals on my own pace. Quizzes and tests assess and evaluate my learning.

Assignments, projects and other requirements can be stressful only if you allow them to stress you out. Finishing a task on time does not guarantee quality of work, in the same way that quantity of activities does not mean you will learn a lot.

All of these work together to help me apply all the concepts, ideas and theories I’ve learned in this course. Putting them to practice will help me become better and more effective learner and teacher. These will then help me to continuously improve and evaluate my current behavior, social skills, strategies to learn and teach, and change them, whenever necessary, so I can keep myself motivated and so I can critically and creatively think to create new knowledge and useful products in helping others learn and teach.

So far, I am very happy and satisfied with what I have learned and am still learning in this course. And for that, I am very thankful for every person who contributes, motivates, believes and helps me go through this course.

There will come a point in your life when you want to learn because… well, you just want to learn. Gone are the days when my motivation to study is driven by getting perfect test scores, high grades, fancy degrees and numerous academic awards. And by “study”, I mean going through tons of memorization, a number of sleepless nights cramming for exams and accomplishing every requirement, and other exhausting and stressful forms of “shallow” learning.

Now, I want to learn for learning’s sake. All the time, efforts and resources will not go to waste and will be spent in continuously improving myself. I was given the ability to share knowledge and the capacity to learn and there’s nothing more fulfilling than being able to utilize them in helping others experience learning, improve themselves and succeed in life.

How Should We Grade Students’ Math?

How should we evaluate and grade students’ solutions and answers to Math problems?

a)    A correct final answer obtains a perfect score.
b)    Points for showing the solution, but more points for the correct final answer.
c)    Most points for the solution; minor deduction if the final answer is wrong.
d)    Most points for explanations and justifications for procedures (and its errors); major point deductions for inadequate reasoning, regardless if the procedure was perfectly executed and the calculations were correct.

Ideally, option (d) would be the best way to grade students’ maths. Students who can solve math problems and rationally explain how they come up with their solutions and answers, I think, are the best critical thinkers. On the other hand, students who can perfectly execute problem-solving procedures and calculations but cannot explain how they come up with such solutions and answers exhibits and practices rote-learning. Students who subscribe to this type of skills do not develop critical thinking and will fall short when variations in math problems were introduced and changes were made to the problems they are familiar with.

Based on my experience as a student, most of my teachers in math usually check my solutions and my answers. Some give more points to my solutions (c) while some give more points for the correct final answer (d). As much as enhancing critical thinking skills is concerned, I think option (a) is the least nurturing one because a student might just guess the answer without thinking critically, or worse, copy his/her answer from his/her classmates.

Math is an exact science. Thus, precision is of utmost importance. Correct solutions will most likely result to correct answers. Therefore, I think most points should be awarded for a solution, with a minor deduction for an incorrect final answer.

As the famous travel quote says:

“It’s not the destination… it’s the journey that matters.”

How about you? What are your thoughts on this?

Concept Map on Complex Learning Processes

“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.”

― John Steinbeck

COMPLEX LEARNING PROCESSES

Concept Map on Complex Learning Processes
owelbutin (c) 2014
Click image to view larger

My Failed Attempt to Learn Math and Science in the Past

Until now, I still cannot say that I am a Math expert, even after almost a decade of experience of improving and strengthening my math learning and teaching skills – skills that many people around me “envy” based on their reactions and comments whenever they discover that I teach Math.

Learning math and science are highly regarded to help us improve our high-order thinking skills. Math and science boast themselves as developers of critical thinking. But how far do Math and Science taught in schools really bring us to developing these skills?

I can say that I “did very well” (take note that I did not intentionally use the verb learn) in Math and Science during my elementary and high school days. These are supported by my consistently impressive grades and a number of science competitions I participated in, both resulting to numerous academic awards. Obviously, my interest and my remarkable performance in these subjects inspired me to take civil engineering course in college. I was very confident then that I will be a great engineer someday.

It was only until I entered college when I discovered that like many other students, I am a product of traditional and passive ways of teaching, preventing me from developing high-order thinking skills. I was spoon-fed with math formulas and scientific principles through rote-learning. I was trained to sit in class and listen to my teachers’ lectures without questioning the knowledge given to me and not actively participating in class. I was “tricked” that to be able to “do well” in math and science, I have to just understand and memorize scientific terms and facts, and correctly answer math problems using techniques that will help me answer them as fast as I can, and if possible, mentally.

I know that we can all relate how college gave us the freedom to learn on our own. Gone are the days when everything is provided and spoon-fed to us. We have to accomplish tasks and discover knowledge independently with a little guidance from our instructors, co-learners and other people and resources around us.

High order thinking is more than just being able to answer math problems correctly using mathematical formulas, supported by accurately executed solutions taught and preferred by our math teachers. Critical thinking is not just being able to perform science experiments, following step-by-step procedures and coming up with results so we can answer questions in our lab manuals and comply with the requirements of our science class.

High order thinking skills goes beyond memorizing and understanding mathematical formulas and scientific principles. More than being able to apply, analyze and evaluate them, critical thinking helps us create new knowledge. It is always a misconception that creativity is only applicable in the field of arts. Being able to create new knowledge and practical products as a result of critical and creative thinking is a solid determinant and proof of reaching high order thinking skills.