The Lighthouse Diary 2025: Looking Back and Moving Forward in the IB School System

Rounding up my entries on the work I do in school. 

The Lighthouse Diary #67: Expanding Our World: Reflections on World Languages and Literature Week 2025 - During this year’s World Languages and Literature Week, we, at the BA Library had the privilege of hosting three remarkable authors namely, Joel Donato Ching Jacob, Robin Sebilono and Artie Cabezas who shared not only their books but also their writing journeys and the literary works that have shaped their thinking. Each talk, spanning 30 to 40 minutes, became more than just a discussion of craft and the writing life —it was an invitation to step beyond the familiar borders of language and thought.

 The Lighthouse Diary #68: Biñan Day and Griffin Games 2025 - The city of Biñan celebrates several significant milestones this month: its 15th Cityhood Anniversary on February 2, its 80th Liberation Day from Japanese occupation on February 3, and its 278th Foundation Day on February 4. In commemoration of these historical events, the Biñan LGU has organized various activities for the residents, and classes in schools are suspended throughout the city. Meanwhile, we are gathering at school to participate in our annual Griffin Games.

The Lighthouse Diary #69: A Model Text for the Exploratory Essay 1 of 2 – We kicked off our Extended Essay (EE) Journey last February, around the third week and we have been dwelling in topic selection; identifying sources that will inform us of breadth and depth of topics, using thinking tools such as the KWL-I Chart and Mind Maps to see connections and organize our thinking.

The Lighthouse Diary #70: A Model Text for the Exploratory Essay 2 of 2 - This is part 2 of the model text I wrote for the Exploratory Essay we require our grade 11 students to write. We have been conducting research sessions with our grade 11 students since February. They are in Phase 1 of the Research Design Cycle where selecting a topic, doing initial research and preparing an annotated bibliography are essentials. From here on, we will model the feedback mechanism that comes into play in a given exercise.

The Lighthouse Diary #71: Research Skills: Source Evaluation and OPVL 1 of 3- In November 2024, our Grade 8 students had a library and research skills session on the OPVL. The OPVL is a strategy for evaluating sources—specifically, historical sources. Nonetheless, it can also be used to analyze the validity and reliability of information and sources we encounter everyday. Focusing on Origin and Purpose, I asked my students to evaluate information from both online and print sources. I prepared a variety— books, magazines and journals, posters and calendars, labels of kits, games and the like. And of course, social media posts. Working in pairs, they were able to come up with a review of their assigned source. They took away valuable insights on the importance of source analysis, along with the skills necessary to understand historical documents, their context, and their reason for being.

The Lighthouse Diary #72: Research Skills: Source Evaluation and OPVL 2 of 3 - This is my lesson plan for the session on Source Evaluation with our Grade 8 Students.

The Lighthouse Diary #73: Exploratory Essay: Working on Feedback & Creating a Research Pathway - This is an update on the Exploratory Essay I wrote as model text for our grade 11 students. Not only are we modeling writing as technique and strategy to teach and learn, we are also simulating the process involved in academic writing. To read Part 1 and Part 2 click the links.

Lighthouse Diary #75: Learning Through the Seasons

The closing weeks of the Academic Year is often laden with events and activities that drum up accomplishments, nostalgia, gratitude and hope. For the first time, I walked with our graduating seniors in their Batch Night bearing witness to the rituals and traditions that define us -- the senior tribute and send off. What was new this year was the recognition of staff and faculty who served in the Academy for a decade and more. This was definitely a surprise.

The Lighthouse Diary Entry #76: My Personal Code of Use on ChatGPT: Working with AI in Integrity, Creativity, and Compassion

Modeling responsible AI use is a powerful form of digital citizenship. In my context as a librarian, bibliotherapist, educator, and fan community member, it’s more than policy to practice. It is  formation.

The Lighthouse Diary Entry #77: Libraries as Partners in Becoming

Our week long library orientation closes in a few days. Facilitating the learning and acquisition of literacy skills through the library is always a big challenge. By high school, students have reached a point of view and a perception of the library as a place to soak in the aircon, which it is. And with the erratic changes in weather, this reason for going to the library can be taken advantage of. So, we persist.

The Lighthouse Diary Entry #78: Martial Law Stories PH

Taking off from Russell Molina’s talk last August 29 for Filipino Week, here is one line that refuses to leave: “Martial Law is not an event. It is an idea. Ideas can be resurrected.”

The Lighthouse Diary #79: From Curiosity to Inquiry: How the Library Can Help

I am a Louise Rosenblatt bias and a KWL junkie. It’s not surprising that I anchor my library skills and ATL sessions on Transactional Theory, Metacognitive Awareness, and Constructivist and Inquiry-Based Learning. The recent integration of the BA Library’s research services and reference program shows how theory, approach, and strategy converge. Helping students move from curiosity to inquiry, and inviting teachers to collaborate with the library in guiding authentic research.

The Lighthouse Diary #80: Inquiry and the Library

The 2nd term is the shortest of the four terms in a school year. It also has the most number of school-wide activities and holidays. With midyear exams in December, it is a packed calendar that tests everyone's mettle. We take this in stride in the Academy, but we are fully aware of the timetable and how to make the most of class days amid class suspensions. In light of the tight schedule, teachers still find time to bring their students to the library. It's been a busy term and we're not complaining!

The Lighthouse Diary #81: Books for Binan

Let's share the gift of reading!

Bangtan Herman Notes: Marketing Magic or Fandom Phenomenon? Trust BTS, ARMYRANG!

 

Book Review: Zero O’Clock by C.J. Farley

Zero O’Clock by C.J. Farley is the story of Geth, a perceptive and thoughtful teenager, living through the early months of the pandemic. It is through her point of view that I witness once more, the unfolding of a world in chaos. It is traumatic to return to 2020, but reading Zero O’Clock is, in a way, a healing experience. It feels as though Geth and I walk through the experience together. She is ARMY, besides.

So, a lot of BTS’s songs are mentioned and the group’s presence in the book is very much a part of the novel’s emotional grammar. They accompany Geth through fear, isolation, and uncertainty, offering steadiness rather than easy consolation.

Zero O’Clock is not a story about resetting. It is a narrative of courage and resilience, of moving forward while carrying loss and grief. Because, in the end, Geth runs bearing the shifts and changes of the times. And she is beautiful!

#bookreview #BTSreadinglist2026 #ARMYofBangtanBookClub #booksBeatsBTS

Bangtan Hermana Notes: ARMYRANG means BTS "with ARMY"

I have been sitting with this for hours now, trying to steady myself because, my goodness, BTS has done something sublime, yet again.

Because, to name the comeback album, “Arirang” is not just an album title. And for them to send ARMY a message on Apple Music, calling us ARMYrang is not just a message.

As a librarian, as a folklorist, as a writer of folk tales, and as ARMY, this moment reaches far deeper than fandom. It touches the part of me that understands how culture survives; how stories of ordinary people make the fabric of sovereignty and nationhood.

Arirang comes from folk tradition. It is not a song you own. It is a song you carry. It is a story you offer.

It has no single author. It belongs to farmers and migrants, to those who labored and waited, to people who crossed mountains and borders with grief in their pockets and hope folded carefully into song. Arirang has always been sung at thresholds, when leaving, when returning, when words are not enough.

So when BTS name their comeback album, Arirang, this is not nostalgia. This is not branding. This is not a trend.

This is inheritance. This is heritage. A cultural artifact brought back to consciousness.

BTS is not saying we are back. They are saying we endured. They are saying we crossed. They are saying we remember who we are and where we come from.

And then, ARMYrang.

That word undid me.

In folk traditions, the refrain of song and story exists so others can join in. The song lives because someone answers back. To be named inside a song and story is to be acknowledged as part of its survival.

ARMYrang is not a term of endearment. By using folk literature, BTS is addressing us as kin and community.

BTS says: you are not the audience. You are not just a market. You are not merely a number. You are part of the refrain.

As a librarian, I know this as second skin: for culture to survive it needs to be remembered and to be lived. Because someone must keep on singing, retelling, passing it on with care.

As a folklorist, I know what it means to step into collective authorship; to speak with humility, to carry a story without flattening it, to trust the people who receive it to hold it well.

As ARMY, I know what it has meant to wait. As a mother, I learned how to hold joy and sorrow together. Being a woman, I know how to sing quietly when shouting would break us.

And now, ARMYrang. It feels like love eternal not because it promises forever but because it promises continuance.

Eternity, in folk culture, is not endless time. It is unbroken transmission.

A song passed hand to hand. A name spoken with care. A people who show up, again and again, to sing. To tell stories.

This comeback does not ask us to scream. It asks us to listen.

It does not demand attention. It asks for reverence.

Putang ina. Paiiyakin tayo ng Bangtan.

Not because this is dramatic. But because this is true.

This is what it looks like when artists return not as products, but as people. And when they call their listeners not fans, but kin.

I am still gathering my wits. Really.

I think I will be for a while.

But I know this much: To be ARMY in this moment, to be called ARMYrang, is to stand inside a very old song, to be held, and to belong there.

Apobangpo! Purple and true!

Writing Children's Stories: Voice, Structure and Care

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Book Donation: For Papa's Dementia Care

Books for Birthday Treats: Gentle Companions for the Spiritual Journey

 

Our library has begun a book recommendation service. We're sending our "book reco" to birthday celebrants of the month.

Book_Reco_january_flor_tinggay by ZarahG

Magis Deo Youth: Epiphany, Gratitude and the Ignatian Examen

 

EPIPHANY & GRATITUDE by zarah gagatiga

Reading Right Now: Zero O'Clock by C.J. Farley

 

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Book Review: Doll Eyes

Because today is the Feast of the Black Nazarene, January 9.

Doll Eyes (Santos & Mallari, CANVAS) is a story about two street children whose lives briefly intersect with the grace of the Black Nazarene. It captures how faith, hope, and courage can emerge even in the most frightening circumstances. The story honors the mysticism of the Black Nazarene as epiphany, a moment of being seen, held, and protected, inviting young readers to recognize grace not as something distant or grand, but as something that arrives exactly when it is needed.

Doll Eyes shines a light on the quiet ways faith can move and redeem.

In 2014, Doll Eyes was awarded the National Children’s Book Award by the Philippine Board on Books for Young People and the National Book Development Board.

On this day, being the Feast of the Black Nazarene, and Epiphany, may our inner light lead us in discovering ways to be of service to others and to the community.

https://www.canvas.ph/catalog/doll-eyes

Disaster Ready Kids: Volcanic Eruption

My Favorite Fantasy and Historical Fiction Books

 

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Bangtan Herman Notes: The Power of Seven

At a pottery workshop with ARMY friends last month, while our hands were busy building pots and mugs, we were marveling at something we could suddenly articulate: BTS was designed to grow individually without growing apart. As separate clay projects took form side by side, the metaphor felt unavoidable. It is rare to witness fullness without fracture, change without loss.

That moment stayed with me long enough to send me back to Murray Stein’s Map of the Soul: Persona, Shadow & Ego in the World of BTS. The book is grounded in Jungian psychology, particularly the framework of individuation: the lifelong process of becoming whole through the integration of persona, shadow, and ego. Stein, a Jungian scholar, wrote with evident excitement about BTS’s thoughtful adoption of Jung’s ideas. This was the Map of the Soul era, when BTS was preparing for a world tour that would never come because of the pandemic.

I think, one of the most striking creative choices of this era lies in the rap line tracks themselves, Persona, Shadow, and Ego. Each song samples an intro from BTS’s earliest albums. Skool Luv Affair for Persona; O, RUL8 2! for Shadow and 2 Cool 4 Skul for Ego. This is not nostalgia nor is it just a creative design. It is musical intertextuality: BTS treats their own discography as a living text, returning to earlier works to make meaning of the present one. In Jungian terms, this is individuation, but in song and in sound. The present self revisiting its origin points, not to discard them, but to integrate them.

Stein reflects that “the number 7 completes things,” and that completion signals not an ending, but a time to rest after immense creative labor. In hindsight, Chapter 2 feels less like interruption and more like care. Care for the self. Care for the other. Rest became part of the work.

Seven, Stein reminds us, is also a prime number that is indivisible except by itself. In BTS’s 7, it exists as a single entity not by suppressing individuality, but by safeguarding it.

When I first read this book, it was during the pandemic, and I was a Baby ARMY learning alongside my ARMY daughter, who gently guided me through songs, names, and histories. I read Stein then with curiosity. I return to him now with recognition. Watching BTS today, sometimes alone, sometimes together with ARMY Daughter or with ARMY friends,I see the truth of Jung’s insight made visible: separation does not undo the whole. It deepens it. Seven remains prime. Seven is one. One is seven.

Apobangpo! Purple and true!

Media Literacy in Fandom: Always Check the Source

First Book Acquired in 2026

 

@titazeeh7

BTS Book Budol 💜😅💜

♬ Stay Alive (Prod. SUGA of BTS) - Jung Kook

Companion Reads for the New Year: I Say Thank You and The New Bicycle

Dear Teachers and Parents,

As we welcome the New Year,  I invite you and your young reader to reflect on gratitude and wise choices as foundations for new beginnings. My books, I Say Thank You gently introduces children to the practice of noticing kindness, care, and everyday blessings, helping them develop a habit of appreciation that grounds emotional growth. The New Bicycle, on the one hand, complements this by exploring patience, saving, and responsible decision-making through a child’s realistic and effort. Read together, these books support meaningful conversations at home and in the classroom about values we carry into a new year: thankfulness, self-control, and thoughtful hope.

Companion Reads for the New Year

I Say Thank You introduces young readers to gratitude through everyday moments, showing how noticing small kindnesses builds awareness and care. The book invites children to name what they appreciate in their lives, from people to experiences. It frames gratitude not as obligation, but as a practice that grows gently with habit.

The New Bicycle

The New Bicycle explores the idea of waiting, choosing, and valuing what one works toward. Through a child’s desire for a bicycle, the story introduces basic financial literacy concepts such as saving, prioritizing, and understanding needs versus wants. It emphasizes patience and responsibility without moralizing.

Why They Work as Companion Pieces

Together, these books speak to the New Year as a season of intention:

• Gratitude (what I already have)

• Agency (what I am working toward)

One looks inward with appreciation; the other looks forward with purpose.

Two Short Interactive Activities

My Thank You & My Goal Page (10–15 minutes)

How:

• After reading, ask children to fold a page into two columns.

  • Left: “I say thank you for…”

  • Right: “This year, I am working toward…”

• Younger children may draw; older children can write words or short sentences.

Why it works:
This links gratitude (I Say Thank You) with intentional planning (The New Bicycle), helping children see that appreciation and effort can coexist.

Choice Talk: Today or Later? (5–10 minutes)

How:

• Present a simple scenario: “You want something today, but you can also wait.”

• Ask:

  • What do I already have that I can be thankful for?

  • What happens if I wait? What might I gain?

Why it works:
This reinforces financial literacy ideas from The New Bicycle while grounding decisions in awareness and contentment from I Say Thank You.

My Reading Inventory 2025

Well. Here we are with another yearly tradition. 25 Books in 2025.

1.  Siddharta by Herman Hesse

2. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

3. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

4. Pretty Peach by Reni Roxas

5. Little Rhino Lost by Candy Gourlay

6. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

7. Sa Ibang Katawan ni Lean Borlongan

8. Coming of Age in Second Life by Tom Boellstorf

9. Wayang Alimagnum by Joel Donato Ching Jacob

10. Just Not Today by Paula Joan Garcia-Casrtro

11. Alpabeto ng Kalikasan by Anya Santos-Uy

12. Josefina by Russel Molina

13. Sixty-Six Book 2 by Russel Molina

14. BTS A Little Golden Book by Ann Park

15. Lunatics by Russel Molina

16. Robot Versus Dinosaur by Jomike Tejido

17. Mars May Zombie by Chuck Berry Pascual

18. Life by Rob Cham

19. Galatea by Madline Miller

20. The Cat Who Saved the Library by  Sosuke Natsukawa

21. What You Are Looking For Is In the Library  by Michiko Aoyama

22. Sleeping With Dogs by Barbara Barth

23.Life Lessons by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

24. Strange Weather in Manila by Ali Calleja-Co

25. Pasakalye by Lean Borlongan