A Filipino teacher goes global

MANILA, Philippines - Zamboanga del Sur high school teacher Shateen Seraña had a dream – to educate her students beyond the classroom, hone their skills in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and eventually, encourage them to use what they learn to give back to the community.

Taking her a step closer to making her dream a reality, Seraña was selected by Globe Telecom and the Cebu-based Coalition for Better Education to take part in the Global Filipino Teacher (GFT) program last year in Zamboanga City.

An intensive 54-hour, six-day teacher training program, GFT promotes the use of ICT via online collaboration and project-based learning approaches, helping teachers adapt to their new ICT learning environment.

The program involves ICT skills assessment, a teacher-enhancement program, and an evaluation system which monitors the interactive learning activities that the teacher-participant implements to make sure they improve classroom participation, promote creativity, and produce efficient learners and problem solvers.

There are now 247 GFTs all over the country. In 2010, GFT expanded its coverage in Luzon, Western Visayas, and Eastern Visayas. Elementary school teachers from Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao were also trained under GFT.

Taking a page from what she learned from the GFT program, Seraña adapted the project-based learning approach in teaching both Filipino and ICT skills with a mangrove tree-planting project for her fourth year high school students.

“I did some research on what the students can do to help the community and I thought mangrove planting could be a feasible project since it would be beneficial in protecting our coastal area from erosion,” she says.

“Since none of the students has ever experienced tree-planting before or used the Internet a lot for school projects, then this could be an interesting experiential project for them.”

For the project, Seraña asked her students to write proposal letters in Filipino to their local Sangguniang Kabataan, parent-teacher association, and even to their local community leaders.

“The best-written letter was translated to English and was used as a template for the letter we sent to the barangay, urging them to donate to the project and to join the students,” she explains.

Seraña also taught the students the best way to utilize the Internet for the project.

“We created Facebook groups where they updated each other on the progress of the tree-planting project and the tasks they had to do. One group was assigned to document the project online using Multiply,” she says.

Furthermore, “My students became more excited, less passive,” she enthuses.

With Seraña’s dream truly coming to fruition, the mangrove tree-planting project was recently hailed by Microsoft Philippines as the best project which used IT innovation for 2011 in their 7th Innovation in Teaching Leadership Awards (ITLA). Last March, Seraña represented the Philippines in the regional Microsoft ITLA competition in New Zealand, where she was deemed the Country Winner.

“Wala ako ngayon kung wala ang GFT (I won’t be here if not for GFT),” says a surprised Seraña, whose project bested nine other finalists this year.

“I am glad my project was recognized. My students also became more confident because of their newly acquired skills. School is not always about grades but about new experiences and memories,” she says.

Seraña, who has been with Taluksangay National High School in Zamboanga del Sur for only two years, is also pleased that the school has become more appreciative of innovation in teaching after she was chosen as a Microsoft Philippines ITLA finalist.

Rob Nazal, head of Globe Corporate Social Responsibility, revealed that this year, eight out of the ten finalists of Microsoft Philippines ITLA are products of GFT.

“This speaks a lot about the impact of the GFT program and the training they receive on project-based learning and ICT integration,” Nazal says.

He adds, “It demonstrates how ICT can provide teachers and students with more accurate and quicker access to information, tools for easier and faster learning, and a chance to collaborate with the rest of the world.”

“It was proven that by using ICT, there is increased teacher motivation and improved student memory retention and comprehension of various subjects,” he says.

As the ITLA winner, Seraña continues to live out her dream, and will represent the Philippines this November in the global competition which will be held in Greece.