National monitoring team visits Bit-os elementary school
BUTUAN CITY — To be one of the two schools in the division of Butuan City to be monitored by the national monitoring team on the conduct of School Learning Action Cell (SLAC) is both an honor and an opportunity because not all schools are given the opportunity in such a rare encounter with the personnel from the Department of Education (DepEd) central office and from the regional office that opens the door for new learning experiences.
The said endeavor was graced by Mr. Julieven R. Abrea, Senior Education Program Specialist from DepEd Central Office, Dr. Gladys S. Asis, Regional Education Program Supervisor and ELLN Regional Coordinator, Dr. Beblyn C. Corvera, Curriculum Implementation Division (CID) Chief of the Division, Mr. Orlando O. Asis, Education Program Supervisor-I in Filipino and District monitoring supervisor and Mrs. Leona A. Carmelo, district supervisor.
A session on “How Do Children Learn Math” was conducted on August 26, 2016. Participants were coming from the kindergarten to grade-III teachers of the school in which they showed interest, collaboration and active engagement throughout the conduct of the session which made the learning engagement more enjoyable, meaningful and significantly enriching.
Group activities were conducted and sharing of personal thoughts and experiences by the participants were evidently observed. They also presented their group outputs comprehensively.
Furthermore, Mr. Abrea emphasized on the importance of conducting SLAC in his message in which he said that SLAC is an avenue for professional growth and development and must be implemented and sustained in order to ensure quality delivery of basic education in the country.
On the other hand, Dr. Asis gave her commendable feedback on the conduct of SLAC and shared some suggestions for the improvement of SLAC implementation in the school. Meanwhile, Dr. Corvera congratulated the group for its outstanding performance in the conduct of SLAC and gave some words of encouragement to the participants to sustain its good performance.
After the session, the group proceeded to the Mrs. Cloma’s room for class observation applying some session topics conducted. It was indeed a very successful demonstration teaching done by Mrs. Cloma.
It is hoped then that School Learning Action Cell (SLAC) will be sustained as a vehicle for professional growth and development of the teachers, building good relationships and cascading new learning gained to the learners.
The Department of Education has created a policy through DepEd Order No. 35, s. 2016 on the conduct of School Learning Action Cell (SLAC) in line with the implementation of Republic Act No. 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. This policy fully supports the continuing professional development of its teaching personnel based on the principle of lifelong learning and DepEd’s commitment to the development of teachers’ potential aimed towards their success in the profession. This can be done through the school-based LAC, which primarily functions as professional learning communities for teachers that will help them improve practice and learner achievement.
Furthermore, this policy aims to improve the teaching-learning process that will lead to improved learning among the students, nurture successful teachers, enable teachers to support each other to continuously improve their content and pedagogical knowledge, practice, skills and attitudes and foster a professional collaborative spirit among school heads, teachers and the community as a whole.
In the DepEd, a Learning Action Cell (LAC) is a group of teachers who engage in collaborative learning sessions to solve shared challenges encountered in the school facilitated by the school head or a designated LAC leader. LACs will become the school-based communities of practice that are positive, caring, and safe spaces. ## (By: Dr. Jonas H. Jomonong, DepEd Butuan City Division)
