Wednesday, October 20, 2010

General Santos City's Lifestyle Magazine

Magandang Gensan! :)

I was at Coffee Dream in KCC waiting for someone. Got some magazines to kill the time and I was in complete awe when I got hold of GENSAN GAZER.

It said on the cover, Gensan's First Lifestyle, Trades, and Travel Magazine. And I got so excited! It was just recently when I wished that there would be something which talks about Gensan. And I never thought that this kind is already existing for quite sometime. Yey!

I'm so glad that Gensan Gazer is now available for the Generals and people at nearby provinces. Gensan's tourism must be improved and having this kind of publication will be a sure help.

Gensan Gazer magazine is published monthly. It's not for sale. It said on the magazine that it's only distributed at affiliate establishments and organizations. I don't know if schools are also given this. I haven't gone to MSU library but I hope that sooner, it would be readily available for all the Generals and for others who would want to visit our city. :)

I've learned so much about Gensan as I was reading through it. And I couldn't help but be excited to visit the places which were highlighted there.

Hey all Generals! Let's salute all the people behind this endeavor!

We can also check out all the issues at www.gensangazer.com.

Enjoy reading! And feel the pride of being a General!

P.S. I've also been following Bariles' gensantos.com. :)

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Go For Raisins!

I've only known raisins in my macaroni salad, in my buko salad, maja blanca, valenciana, in a some sort pork or chicken dish. It's considered to be a special ingredient so it was as if a sin at home to eat it as it was. When my mother prepared her dessert, the last to be put were the raisins. My brothers and I would sometimes act like crying, begging our mother to give us some before she'd allow the raisins to dive down to the sea of other fruits.



With my eyes in a slow-mo mode, I would watch the raisins fell down from the plastic container to the bowl of already white-covered fruits and watch them giving beauty to the whole dessert. My mother would then stir up everything and the black raisins would gradually be unseen. It had become white. Ahhh... No excitement anymore but then, when I started to eat the salad, I would search through the fruits in my mouth and when I tasted the raisins, I would shout. "I'm eating raisins! Yey! I have raisins!" Hehe... That's how it was when we were young.

Recently, I started shifting to raisins as a snack. I always craved for it. It's so delicious that I could't get enough of it. It's like Pringles ( a potato chip snack) "Once you pop, you can't stop." :) I heard that it was healthy. So before I got worried of having too much sweets, I searched for the benefits of eating raisins. And voila!!! I'm so glad I was addicted to it. :) Here's an excerpt from an article:

Antioxidants: Raisins are rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants protect our bodies against free radical damage.

Energy: Raisins contain many B vitamins known for boasting energy. I personally eat raisins for this very reason. Raisins are also high in calories, which is important for athletes.

Fiber: Raisins are a good source of fiber, which is important for your body to stay regular.

Healthy teeth: Don't let the sticky and sweetness of the raisin fool you. Raisins do not cause cavities and gum disease, and rather promote oral health because of the oleanolic acid found within them. This acid is very effective in killing the bacteria that cause cavities and periodontal dental disease.

Eyesight: Raisins are also a preventative measure for Macular Degeneration, which is the health of your eyesight.

Bone Health: Raisins contain Calcium which in known for causing bone health.

On top of all the other wonderful health benefits raisins are fat free, cholesterol free, and low in sodium.


How can something be so delicious and so healthy at the same time! Ohhh... I so love raisins! Go raisins! Go raisins! :)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Teaching Is Not Checking

Yeah! Definitely not! I do not become a teacher just to check! I dont want to spend my nights and my weekends bringing all my students' papers and checking them all at home. I dont want to watch my favorite tv shows with bunch of papers by my side and some on my lap using the commercial breaks to attend to the papers. I dont want to skip from my girlfriends' dates just to check papers. No! I dont ever want to make checking an excuse to attend to more important things. No!!!!! (Omg! Excuse me.I was sleep talking! I had this dream when I was still a thread away of being a teacher.)

That was such a nightmare! But hey, that's part of my life as a teacher. A Math teacher! And sad to say, my biggest nightmare is happening. Checking! Checking! Checking! When will I ever be spared of checking? I only wanted to teach! I never wanted to check! Huhu!

But that was when I haven't figured out the beauty in checking. Ahuh! It does have a beauty. ( Just agree with me, ok. I'm also trying to convince myself here. :P) Seriously, as years went by, I had learned to appreciate checking. It's just a matter of acceptance. It's part of the profession that I'd chosen and so I had learned to embrace checking whole-heartedly. Hmmmmmmmm... Ahhhh.... Checking! I love checking! More papers there? Let me have them. :P

I have learned some strategies to lighten up things for me. And I'm so loving every bit of learning I gain.

1. If possible, give short quizzes and assignments - just enough to evaluate the learning.
2. Seatworks can be done in pairs or small groups. This also promotes cooperative learning. (This was what I discovered in my classes - When students do things in group, they learn more because they discuss answers and solicit ideas. Sometimes, when they do things alone, it's either they depend solely on themselves or on others if they don't know the answers.) Cooperative learning works!
3. Give other forms of evaluation instead of just in writing. Try individual recitation or group reporting. It not only makes them express everything they know, it also develops their confidence.
4. Give multiple choice questions during exams. It can serve as a training ground. Board exams are given in multiple choice. Train them early.

The above not only makes things easier for me, it also improves students' learning and classroom experience is more enjoyable.

And another tip, by the way... Check with a group of checkers. I mean, group of teachers. :) That's what we do in the office every after final exam. We stay in the office for a day to check! It may be impossible to finish everything but as the day ends, we'll be more than half way of all the papers. Because, we motivate each other. We laugh together, we eat together, we tease each other, we compete playfully. And everything would just seem to be a play!

I never imagined checking could be so fun after all. Thank God! I would have quitted teaching. Hehe..

Final exams for this semester were done. Here's a view of a busy checking office :)




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