The Lighthouse Diary #61: Gratitude Week at the Academy: Grateful for the support of leadership and external partners

UPDATE On our BA Library management System (LMS aka KOHA) 

In our meeting with our LMS partner, Mr. Tamayo, this morning we were able to add new features in the BA Library LMS such as: 

1. the extension and renewal of borrowed books; 

2. identifying the reference of books to weed out and to whom these old books will be donated; 

3. and polishing a reporting system for auditing of existing book collections versus the ones deselected from the recent inventory. 

All library admin stuff. 

We continue tomorrow to discuss HTML Coding for our BA Library Web Page updates and use of Google Drive into the database for access of ebooks and digital resources. 

It can be overwhelming, but we're still smiling!

Open for Learning: On PAASCU Visits and Accreditation

The PAASCU Team who was invited at Manresa School

 Last February 6-7, 2017, I was part of the PAASCU accrediting team that was invited by Manresa School to evaluate their self-survey and analysis in the aims of improving their school's academic pursuits and students services. I was there to look into the school's report on their Instructional Media Center, find out the extent of implementation of the previous PAASCU team's recommendations, and discover new things about school librarianship in general as well as specific best features of the school library being accredited.

The Manresa School Library in the grade school unit has an impressive space and physical design of its reading areas and storytelling rooms. The library staff are very welcoming and their commitment to providing the best school library services to students and faculty is evident in their reading campaigns and promotions. The school, in general, has a vibrant student body and a teaching force that is young and eager to learn.

While many see the visit as an ascension of gods and goddesses, we, the accrediting team emphasize in every interview the role we play in the whole exercise. We are colleagues excited to be engaged in the validation of best practices, We are partners in conversations with educators, just like us, who strive to be better at this craft we call teaching. After every PAASCU visit, I always have "take-aways". Here is a link where I write about Insights from a PAASCU Visit in De La Salle Zobel.

This time, I left Manresa School with these questions in my mind: How can school librarians support the reading development of students transitioning from K-3 to middle grades? How can school librarians firm up his and her role in the teaching and learning processes of a school community?

These two questions are not unique from my PAASCU experience in Manresa School. Somewhere, sometime, an answer to these questions can be found. For now, I am keeping tab of these thoughts.

Is your school library "open for learning"?

I have written about my experiences in previous PAASCU accreditations. Working in a big school previously, PAASCU visits are big events, indeed! How everyone in the community prepares for it!  Death by PAASCU is a humorous take on the PAASCU preparations. PAASCU work is not a one year deal. The recommendations to work on are starting points for conversations, reflections and the identification of courses of actions that should not be seen as a way to please PAASCU. But a plan to inform one's self and the school community that it is fulfilling its mission and goals.

I now think of the relevance of PAASCU visits. For one, it is service. We get very little but the joy of learning from one another. Back in 2009, I have received the Fr. James Meany Award for my involvement as accreditor since 2003. I have been called to participate in the evaluation of PAASCU forms and systems. In 2008, the PAASCU office called for a Consultation and Revision of the GS Resurvey Form. We have been using the revised form since then.

In the field of education, a system of assessment and evaluation among peers is a healthy exercise towards a learning community's path to growth and development.

We never stop learning. It is a lifelong process. PAASCU always teaches me that and reminds me that I need to hold my truth lightly in my hands because, wisdom and knowledge do not spring from one source alone.

NBDB's Kapihan with Librarians

I am looking forward to this round table discussion with stakeholders of the book industry. Meanwhile, I am sifting through my list of what to share and what not to share.

Tandem Telling: Juan Tamad and The Rice Pot

The Regional Conference on School Librarianship: Directions for the Future of School Libraries in Bacolod was, indeed, a memorable conference. I had a great time with friends, old and new, from the profession. Presenting a paper and a workshop was a good breather for me now that I keep a full time job.

When school librarians go out of their schools to see the bigger learning community, horizons are broadened and linkages are fortified. This help in establishing professional learning

network (PLN) that is essential for continuing professional education. In an industry that changes so fast, thanks to technology, a support system via PLN is a compass for the school librarian who navigates a library in a sea of constant influx. PLNs also offer collaborative opportunities to further strengthen programs and services.

The thing with collaboration is that, it can be done in many ways from the simplest to the most complex of tasks. Take for example the storytelling workshop I had in the conference.

In my storytelling workshop, I took the opportunity to tandem tell with another librarian who hails from Bacolod. Mr. Melquiades "Milky" Alipo-on graciously said yes and together we told the story of Juan Tamad and the Rice Pot. This folk tale is from Batangas and is found in the collection Tales From the 7,000 Isles (de Las Casas and Gagatiga, 2011). Batangas is a province in the Southern Tagalog Region of the Philippines. The tandem telling was impromptu. Milky Alipo-on translated into Hiligaynon the Tagalog version I told. And he was awesome! He even sang a lullaby in his mother tongue, the Dandansoy, to add in the story a Negrense flavor. A link of a video clip can be viewed here.

In light of this experience, I could not help but think about the issue on developing resources and materials on the mother tongue. Language is learned orally. To listen and to speak the language leads one into acquiring and learning from it and about it. I will make it a point to always include a tandem telling using the mother tongue in all my workshops.

Now I have to thank Margaret Read McDonald, Dr. Wagupta Tosaa of Thailand for demonstrating this technique way back in 2002  at the Singapore Storytelling Carnival; and to EthnoTec for performing in tandem at the 1st Manila International Storytelling Festival. It was inspirational to watch you all, fantastic storytellers! My gratitude goes out as well to Dean Dina Ocampo of the UP Diliman, College of Education for giving me the opportunity to run a storytelling workshop during the Mother Tongue Instruction Institute in 2009 where in I asked participants to do tandem telling of their favorite folk tale in Filipino and their mother tongue. Such experiences would not have led me to continue on experimenting ways to use tandem telling.

If we all work together and collaborate, surely, we are effectively using our time and putting our talents into good use.