Coming Full Circle

Bugang Integrated School in Bugang, Sagay, Camiguin

Last May 28, I recieved an order to serve in Bugang Integrated School, a school from my hometown in Sagay, Camiguin. To be honest, I didn't want to leave my comfortable station in Mambajao National High School where I am a full time science teacher, to a school where I will become an international teacher teaching all subjects under the heat of the sun.

View of Mt. Timpoong from Mambajao National High School's PAGCOR building

I will surely miss this view from Mambajao National High School. I will miss my colleagues who are supportive of my initiatives,  the food that they constantly share, and the stories that often color our day. I will miss my students' smile, their naughty ways, and how often they make my day when I see them learn something new.

Grade 9 makeshift classroom

Whatever I will miss in my old school, I'll have plenty in my new school.  Moreover, my colleagues received me warmly, so did my students. They seemed happy that I arrived.

Yes, no windows nor door.

The sun enters the room freely in the afternoon. My students painted our tables as well as our chalkboard.

No ceiling but at least the roof is far enough.

The makeshift classroom of my advisory class, Grade 9, already promises abundant memories. I'm excited to make some.

Recommended DepEd Lesson Plan Format

I have served DepEd for a year now, but I did not follow the recommended lesson plan format because I didn't know what it was. I saw the format in my colleagues lesson plans but I couldn't appreciate it.

However, during my teaching demonstration,  I was required to provide a lesson plan DepEd style. This was my initiation into the 4 A's method and I actually like it.

Here's my lesson plan:

I. OBJECTIVE

1. Identify the relationship between the number of images formed and the angle between to mirors
2. Use the gathered data to derive the formula for determining the number of images formed when two mirrors are kept at a certain angle.

II. SUBJECT MATTER

Subject: Grade 10 Science
Domain: Force, Motion, and Energy
Module 3: Light - Mirrors and Lenses
Topic: Multiple Images

III. LESSON PROPER

a. PRAYER, CHECKING of ATTENDANCE

b. REVIEW: Call students to write their answers on the board for the following questions. Then have the class agree with their answers using their thumbs (thumbs up = agree, thumbs down = disgree, thumbs side ward = undecided)
1. If Maya is 1 m is away from the mirror, her image will be ____ m away from the mirror.
2. The height and width of a chair is ___________ the height and width of its image in the plane mirror.
3. The angle of incidence is __________ the angle of reflection.
4. The word "bed" would appear as __________ in a plane mirror.

c. MOTIVATION/ Ice Breaker
Ask students who wants to be rich. Those who wants to be rich would have to tiptoe and stretch their hands towards the sky.
After their stretching, tell the students that today's activity could be their key to becoming a millionaire.

d. 4 A's
1. ACTIVITY 4 Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (p 178-179 of the Learners Manual)
2. ANALYSIS: What is the relationship between the number of images formed and the angle between the two mirrors?
3. ABSTRACTION: Derive the formula for determining the number of images formed by two plane mirrors.
4. APPLICATION: How should the mirrors be arranged such that an infinite number of  images will be formed or seen?

e. EVALUATION
Take a "selfie" or "grouphie" using two or more plane mirrors showing multiple images.

f. ASSIGNMENT/ Agreement
Read on the types of reflection.

Teachers are acting as students during my teaching demonstration. They're having fun, I think.

Teachers from Iligan City are seriously answering the guide questions.

I hope my students would be as happy as these teachers when I finally have this lesson with them.

How to Implement the K to 12 Program

Just like most teachers,  I have doubts about the my own capability to implement the K to 12 program. Before I came to the Regional Mass Training for Grade 10 Teachers held at Xavier University last May 17-18, 2015, I had the following misconceptions and uncertainties:

1. My classroom management is poor if my class is noisy.

2. A K to 12 class is ALL activities, leaving the teacher rather useless.

3. An effective teacher is a disciplinarian with loud and commanding voice.

Teachers were acting as students during the training. Sometimes we got engrossed in our own problems but we still learned what we needed to. It was the positive environment that made the transition from personal to scientific discussion easy.

These notions that I had in mind were proven wrong by the trainors that we had. I am very pleased to have attended the training and gained these insights that would help me become a better teacher.

1. Maintain the positive environment inside the class, NOT the silence. As long as students are working towards the goal of the class, we don't have to worry too much if they talk about their lives in class. When you need them to be, they'll come around.
As Usec. Dina Ocampo said, "We have to address their social needs first before we address their cognitive needs."

2. A K to 12 science class BEGINS with an activity where students discover and ENDS with processing where teachers facilitate the formation of correct concepts. The teacher will always be a vital component in the classroom. I need not fear losing my job to a robot.
What I need to work on is my mastery of the content and my questioning skills. How do you ask the same thing in different ways?

3. Working around your strength is better than becoming someone you are not. Most of the teachers I admire have a loud and commanding voice that radio would have loved them. Sadly, I don't have that kind of voice but it's okay. I have other strengths and students will still learn from me.
For example,  most of our trainors have voices like mine. They compensated this with interesting activities, mastery of the content, and positive attitude.

The small things we do makes a lot of difference in our students' lives.

The K to 12 program is a challenge. We live in an era of great educational reform and for this to work, we have to do our part in educating our children for the unknown.

Diary of a Sience Teacher

Demonstration Teaching

Awarding of Certificates (with Facilitators Mr. Glen Dal and Ms. Melodina Estose and co-demonstrator Sir Mark of Iligan City)

Hello citizens of the world!

I am Moira D. Abesmo, Secondary Teacher I at Camiguin.

A few days ago, I had my demonstration teaching during the Regional Mass Training for Grade 10 Teachers.  This inspired me to write a blog that would document how I address the challenge of implementing K to 12 curriculum in our classrooms.

My aim for this blog is to help other Filipino science teachers to better serve our students.


I sincerely hope that my journey assist you with your own journey.