What I Forgot To Say In The Philippine Children's Literature Forum

And so, it came to pass. The forum, for me, in most parts had been fun. Thank you very much to Gwenn Galvez of Anvil for organizing the event. To Roselily Medrano, librarian of the College of Fine Arts, professors and teachers of the College of Education, a job well done for staging this event with Anvil. To Prof. Chito Angeles and the dynamic librarians of the UP Diliman Main Library, thank you for supporting the PBBY and the book, Bumasa at Lumaya volume 2. I am happy to be with my kin in the profession discussing and being involved in the growth and development of children's literature.

Literacy advocates all!

However, there are some things I forgot to say during the open forum and that blogging about it will make sleep come easy. The question about curriculum and how reading can further enrich it are two of the topics I wish to expand on this blog post.

First of all, I use the curriculum as one of my guides in developing the library's collection particularly the non-fiction books. What the library has, in its holdings and resources, must adhere and answer to the school's curricular offering. Budgeting would follow since prices of books differ from one subject matter to another. This is a measured and safe technique in collection building. Using the curriculum as a selection guide in the acquisition of library resources would lead to an alignment of pedagogy and practice. What happens in the classroom can be extended in the library in the form of a research activity, reading assignments and writing tasks that pertain to requirements in the subject areas.

I also use the curriculum as my selection and acquisition tool to widen the breadth of the collection as well as to deepen it. Not only am I acquiring books and resources that meet the competencies, skills and concepts in the curriculum, I also look at areas in the curriculum that inform me to acquire materials that will enrich and amplify teaching and learning experiences. The exciting and challenging part is, I do not do this alone. I work with academic coordinators and teachers in developing the library's collection.

Other than this, there are the circulation reports, feedback from students, parents and our own evaluation that matter in collection development. Once the library has stocked enough learning resources, the librarian can now recommend useful resources. What happens when there are few resources? Librarians reach out to linkages and network through inter-library loan, open source and library consortiums.

Many academic libraries follow this model. Schools, especially high school libraries, recommend their students visit colleges and public libraries for research and reading tasks. I think, it is about time to have consortiums set up at the level of school libraries. In the K-12 age, resource sharing may be a solution to the scarcity and shortage of learning resources.

Celebrate the Teacher With In! Happy World Teachers' Day! Part 1 of 2

L-R: Teacher Hazelle, Me, Miko, Jerson, Michelle and Teacher Portia

A week ago,  I was given the opportunity to train teachers and future teachers by conducting a storytelling workshop at the Benitez Hall, College of Education, UP Diliman. I was able to do this with the help of teacher friends from the UP Reading Education Area. Together with student led organizations, the said department and reading advocates sponsored the annual A Day with Weavers of Magic. This day of magic weaving is already a tradition in the UP "Eduk". What Lina Diaz de Rivera started back in the 90s lives on through the effort and zeal of teachers Portia Padilla, Hazelle Preclaro Ontengco and Maita Salvador. Their students and leaders of student organizations in the college lent valuable support and manpower.

During my workshop in the afternoon, I met teachers from different parts of the metro and nearby provinces. Students from the UP Reading Education Area were also in attendance. One of the teachers who attended the workshop, Mr. Norman Tabios, tagged and mentioned me in this Instagram post:

I had the pleasure to meet Zarah Gagatiga last Saturday during the seminar-workshop "A Day with Weavers of Magic" at UP Diliman College of Education.

I wish that our country have more teachers like her. Her love for teaching, reading, and writing is something that every teachers must emulate. Long live Ma'am Zarah Gagatiga!

Continue inspiring more teachers and students to love reading and learning. Mabuhay po kayo!

Mr. Tabios teaches at the Our Lady of Fatima University. In his return to the university, he immediately shared all the wonderful things he took away from the Weavers of Magic workshop. He shared the wonder of books, reading, writing, book making and storytelling to his students in the college level.

Thank you Mr. Tabios for the good wishes! Your response is truly heart warming. I am inspired to continue on!

To all the teachers who have inspired us and are continuing to help us become better persons, happy World Teachers' Day!