#lesson idea

It’s good to be making a post again after so long! I can’t say I’ll be updating frequently because I’m still in the midst of A-level examination hell, but here’s something for now, since I recently encountered it via my studies.

Pick a story you are working on, or a character from it. I find that characters are not only easier to use for this task but also much more effective, but I’d recommend working it out for yourself.

Next, single out the main conflict. If you’re looking at a story, what is the main decision that this story makes? What possibility is being explored and what questions are being asked? If you’re exploring a character, what is it that they are striving for, or hoping to change? What do they consider to be the most important struggle of their life?

Decide on two possible outcomes or answers to the conflict.

Now, the fun begins: Make a list of multiple reasons for one side to be true/definite. You can start each item on the list with “because” but you don’t have to. You could use first, second or third person and it wouldn’t matter! Also, this is a good way to break your comfort zone if you only ever write in one of those. 

Finally finish your list with one isolated reason for the other side.

This exercise helps you to warm up, explore your characters and their struggles and also give new depth to existing concepts! On top of all that, it can be done quickly!

In one class I was able to make several of these, and found them very refreshing.

If you don’t know where to start, here are some suggestions:

- 10 reasons to leave and one to stay (screams in lady gaga)

- 5 reasons why you should stop and one as to why you should continue

- 8 reasons to live and one to die

- 6 reasons to keep the money and one to spend it

You can use any numbers or conflicts you want! Go crazy with it. Shout out to my writing mentor Sarah for showing me this idea! It really helped me out and maybe it will help you too.

I am not ok with what is happening in the country.  I am not ok with the fact that I somehow have to stay “neutral” in the classroom while still teaching my students how to be global citizens.  So, I have decided to fight the wave of hatred around me with the #readingwithoutwalls challenge set up by Gene Luen Yang. There are activities that have already been created for your classroom. And you can check out the Macmillan page to find out more.

I don’t have an example I made for this one but I have used this art experience with 1 year olds before! The beautiful combination of water color and oil is another way to teach kids about the difference between oil and water and how they repel one another! 

Name the School Object…

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Are you looking to do something different to avoid those “blank face gaze”. Send the students out on a mission to capture photos of everyday objects in the classroom or throughout the school. Set a time limit for returning to their seat. Once students are back in seats provide them with a link to a Google Forms where they will upload the images. Now open the…

It has been a norm of being a Filipino to study hard, get good grades, finish college so that you could land for a good job.  However, the journey that I have taken right now is less ventured. In a tough economy, people tend to contract rather than to expand, thinking that's the prudent way to survive. You should not spend money foolishly, but running a business out of fear never works.

Last week, we have already came up with an idea and that is to create a smart water meter. In order, for this idea comes into reality what we do this week is we’ve formulated our first Business Model Canvas (BMC) based on our hypothesis. In order to check and verify our hypothesis whether our idea is marketable, could be used, and can stand outside the university for next 5 to 10 years.  Our first week’s interview is targeted to the distributor of water in CdeO, which is the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) and to strengthen more our hypothesis we interviewed some of the household customer. In COWD, we have met Engr. Butron, the head of the engineering department. According to him, our proposed idea is one of their target however, they cannot deploy those meters in the city for the reason that COWD is a government owned company and it takes long process to get a budget to sustain the idea. Through this, it made me reflect that it is not every time what you have created is a need I mean it is not all the time the problem you have identified is their priority. Moreover, out of five household consumer we have interviewed 4 of it said that they can’t see and figure out the need to change meter for the reason that they are satisfied with the services COWD gives.