L.E.A.P. 4 Athletes

L.E.A.P. for Athletes


INTRODUCTION

I have been a teacher of several athletes for twelve years and I’ve noticed that majority of them were academically-challenged and had not performed well in academics. The advisory class I handled last year and the one I am handling right now have a high number of athletes, and the experience of being with them everyday gives me a significant information on how to address their situation. They have been in this situation not because of their inability to learn but because of their everyday training and regular competitions that sap their energy, take away their time and focus in studying and reviewing their lessons.

It is in this context that leads me to decide that the program I implemented in my class LS 305 last school year can also help them improve in their academic performance. I am proposing “L.E.A.P. for Athletes” which stands for Lasallian Education Assistance Program for Athletes. This simple program aims: (1) to provide academic assistance to academically-challenged athletes through tutoring, mentoring and coaching, (2) to improve the academic performance of the athletes, and (3) to inculcate the value of formal education in achieving their goal to succeed as an athlete.

The said program would also give the academic community the opportunity to share their time, effort, and energy with the academically-challenged athletes in the Integrated school; and at the same time addressing the clamor of some parents to have a clear academic program for the athletes in Senior Learning Community.

I believe that having this kind of program, we would be able to provide a holistic formation of our athletes following the popular Latin maxim: “Mens sana in corpore sano”—which means “ A sound mind in a sound body.” It is also imperative to all of us to respond to the need of these young Lasallian athletes who continually give their very best performance during sports competition.

Process of Implementation

1. The author submits and proposes the program to the Vice-Chancellor for Mission, Sports Director, Principal, and Assistant Principal for deliberation and approval, and to the PENCIL, Inc. for whatever assistance it can give to the program.
2. The I.S. academic council will articulate on the details of the program and come up with various ways of providing academic mentors, tutors, and coaches for the athletes.
3. If possible, the Academic Council will appoint one academic adviser for the athletes whose function is to monitor the grades of the athletes, and provide necessary information to the Council for a needed intervention. S/he informs the athletes to regularly attend the sessions.
4. Budget for the program is needed for paying tutors and the teachers who will conduct remedial sessions for the academically-challenged athletes.

5. The program will follow the schedule below:

A. The academic adviser informs the athletes to attend tutoring or remedial sessions.
B. There should be at least 3 sessions a week to be held in a designated room.
C. The subjects to be reviewed for the day will be determined by the academic adviser based on the students’ academic performance.
D. A minimum of 30 minutes will be allotted for each session that starts at 12:10 to 12:40.
E. The assigned teacher/s in a particular subject area will facilitate the remedial, review, mentoring sessions for the athletes.
F. The Academic Adviser will inform subject teachers about the program so that they could be of help in providing feedbacks on the students’ performance in their subject area.

Prepared by:

Raul Paras
CL Teacher
PENCIL, Inc. Representative-Level 9

January 18, 2010

Issue # 1 : Graft and Corruption

Since last week I have been discussing the various issues that our country is facing today, and in order to know the opinion of my students about the topic I asked them to participate in the survey by voting and expressing their thoughts about the top problem that should be addressed first by the government. After the poll's closing time, graft and corruption got the highest votes and the students believed that the said problem is the root cause of all other problems in the Philippine society. The opinions of my students on graft and corruption reflect the stand of the Church about the issue by saying that: “Graft and corruption is our country’s biggest problem right now”. To give support to this issue, I am posting in full an article written by Msgr. Socrates Villegas, former Bishop of Balanga, to invite us to do something and find a solution to the issue of graft and corruption in the government.

“To steal is wrong. It is a crime. It is a sin. When stealing is done by those high up in power and authority, it carries a greater culpability. The corruption of the best is the worst. The social problem of graft and corruption in public life in our country has reached abominable and embarrassing proportions. How shall we describe graft and corruption in our country? It is systemic. It is rewarding. It hurts the poor the most.
Graft and corruption is systemic and structural. It is not only individual or isolated persons who corrupt and get corrupted. The present system—the elected and the electors, the employers and the employees, the appointed and the appointing powers—has become so corrupt that what we do need is a radical, systemic, interior change. Changing personages through the electoral process or even through legal processes like impeachment and court suits will not necessarily result in reform unless there is a willingness to change from the heart and soul. Pinning our hopes on legal processes unaccompanied by conversion from within will lead us to nowhere but deeper frustrations. We can hear the protest “Tama na. Sobra na. Alis na.. Kami naman!”. It is important that those who investigate or prosecute corrupt officials will not gain political or financial benefits from convicting or absolving the accused.
Graft and corruption is rewarding and rewarded. It is hardly punished. The politicization of the judiciary and the perennial rumors about rogues in robes are problems we need to address urgently. Vigilance is lacking... Political will is weak. Prosecution plays favorites. The penal system is flawed. Pardon and clemency is cheap. Among our people, there is an increasing level of tolerance for corrupt officials. Corruption does not seem to anger many of us anymore. We are not outraged enough by graft and corruption... Widespread graft has sadly numbed our morals.
The public money that goes to graft is money stolen from the poor. Because of graft and corruption, schools buildings cannot be constructed and teachers are not paid; public hospitals cannot protect us from untimely death; soldiers are deprived of their just wages.
Our biggest problem in our country is graft and corruption. This problem must be faced courageously now. We are risking the life of our nation if we continue to ignore it. I appeal to the consciences of our countrymen. Do not leave the solution of graft and corruption to corrupt officials. Our problem cannot be our solution. Let us come together as Catholic faithful to fight the sin of graft and corruption. We cannot profess faith in God and not get angry at widespread graft and corruption. Faith in God and outrage at sin go together. Outrage is not enough; it must lead to action. If we are not outraged by the sin of stealing happening all over our once beautiful land, could it be that our faith has turned cold and uncaring? If your faith has turned cold and uncaring, how can you be saved? Fight corruption or lose your soul!
I place this appeal at the feet of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.”
From the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, Balanga City, November 27, 2008
+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS
Bishop of Balanga

iCARE:Sowing Joy

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth; anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Mark 10:13-16


We had a wonderful and meaningful celebration of Christmas with the pupils of the three schools where we have our teaching ministry during our meeting last week. The student catechists of my two classes in LS 307 and LS 407 prepared the party to make the pupils happy. I reminded them of just having a simple party with their pupils since the school has no budget allotment for this kind of activity, but they insisted on having snacks, gifts, and game prizes for the kids out of their own pocket.

My students had experienced the true meaning of joy through giving of their time, energy, talents and even their own savings just to make other people happy. We’ve responded to Jesus’ call of blessing and caring for the children entrusted to our care for the kingdom of God belongs to them.

iCARE 407: small groupings

We have been encountering situations in teaching the grade three pupils in the apostolate area. As I have observed, my students are having difficulty disciplining the kids. The kids have been very unruly, noisy, and fidgety in the classroom for the past three meetings. I had to assist the group the last time and helped them pacify the pupils, telling them to stay on their seats and to refrain from standing on their desk. The kids do these every time their teacher goes out of the room to give way to the student catechists.

To address the situation, I suggested to the team to divide the class into three groups and execute the lesson plan in that small group each member is handling. The strategy was very effective. The kids were indeed listening attentively to their big sister sharing some bible stories related to the topic of the day.

We hope to do this regularly to manage the unruly behavior of the pupils entrusted to our care.

CareVille: New shirt-New Enthusiasm

We've got a new CARE polo shirt that we are going to wear every time we do our Lasallian mission of teaching the minds, touching the hearts, and transforming the lives of the public school pupils entrusted to us.

My students are so excited to teach wearing the new shirt and the positive feedbacks of students regarding the new uniform has been an inspiration that leads us to actively make a difference in the lives of the pupils we teach. I believe that now is the perfect time to get motivated to tackle goals that we've set this year.

A special thanks to our administrators for approving our request to have the said polo shirt as our official uniform. May they continue to assist us in fulfilling our goals and help us to move forward during these exciting yet challenging times.
Animo La Salle!!!

Lasalle Ville: Bringing out the best in people

The story of a woman who quit her high-paying job to be a school teacher reminded me of my duty to bring out the best in my students entrusted to my care this year. In the first day of school, she made a different approach by telling her students to write their names, addresses and interests on one whole sheet of paper. While they were doing it she walked up and down the rows and secretly memorized their names.

Then, she told the class that they were going to have the test, they complained, but the test was not for them, it's for her. If she could memorize all their names then all students would get a perfect score in the first test. She correctly called out all their names and the students were impressed. She had their attention. She told them that she's there to encourage and bring out the best in each one of them.

Similarly, it is my commitment to bring out the best in my students as adviser and a subject teacher. In the previous years, I used to criticize and focus on the weakness of my students rather than on their potentials. However, after some soul searching and exploring some ways to find my purpose in life, I was able to find my purpose and decided to live my best life now.

I have shown my concern and care for my students by providing a venue for them to hone their skills, interests, and signature talents to improve themselves in all areas of their lives. Three programs have been implemented to bring out the best in them. These are the i-CARE or Integrated Catechetical and Religious Emissary for my two cream classes, LEAP or the Lasallian Education Assistance Program for the academically–challenged students in my advisory class, and the B.E.C. or Basic Ecclesial Community Program for the rest of the classes I am handling in level 9.

I am convinced that through these programs and the experiences that I have shared with them, they will be encouraged, motivated, inspired, and challenged to bring out the best in them and leave this year level better off than they were previously.

LasalleVille 9: Living B.E.C.

BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITY
(Curriculum Innovation)


Introduction

Many of Level 9 students today would admit they do not have a profound and sufficient knowledge about the Christian faith in its personal and communal nature. Most of them got their simple knowledge of Christian life from the Christian Living classes and ceremonies which are connected to family celebrations and practices such baptism, marriage ceremony and funerals. Only those who are members of Youth for Christ and Search-inners have experienced faith as personal relationship with Jesus the Lord. Furthermore, not many of them recognize the social and communitarian nature of faith. They are not in any way involved in various issues on faith and morals. What they do most of the time is focused on gadgets, not on people.

These situations imply the need to make the faith understands and accepts Jesus’ teachings, to develop faith which is something personal, and to make the faith more active in community involvement. This can be done through the implementation of the program called BEC or Basic Ecclesial Community.

Basic Ecclesial Community is basically a parish-based program which seeks to form small communities in the parish to address the urgent call of informing, forming, and transforming individual’s faith. This program helps the parish priest to facilitate the spiritual, communal, and social formation of the people in the context of community living.

The said program is adopted and modified to fit the Christian Living Curriculum of De La Salle Lipa Integrated School. Its primary goal is to lessen the academic or intellectual nature of Christian Living subject and make its objectives focus on God’s purpose for man, that is, to serve Him faithfully, to worship Him fully, and to love Him more dearly.

It also aims to provide venue for the students to (a) develop a personal relationship with Jesus, (b) experience a new way of being in the Church, (c) share their faith experiences with the group in the context of fellowship prayer services, (d) and to translate into actions the values they have learned from the different activities of this program. To turn these goals into reality, each class is divided into seven small groupings which we may call “Cell groups”.

Methodology

1. Procedure of Implementation

A. Classes were divided into seven groups with 5-6 members each. The servant leader, tapped by the CL teacher, facilitated the choosing of a secretary of the group who documents all the results of sharing and other related activities of this program.
B. All appointed servant leaders served as members of the Core Group of the class. They assisted one another in the implementation of regular activities of the groups.
C. The three meetings in Christian Living subject were spent for each activity.

C1. First Meeting

The class spends the 15 minutes for reflection writing using the Gospel Reflection Book. Then the remaining time is for transacting God’s business, that is, for sharing reflections, thinking of 1 ARK 1, monitoring spiritual growth, and deciding what group intensification activity or G.I.A. will they have for the week.

C2. Second Meeting

The teacher takes the lead in discussing to students the topic of the week taken from the CL syllabus-based work text. He integrates all the elements of the program with the lesson of the week.

C3. Third Meeting

It is spent for prayer service or praying of the rosary which is facilitated by the assigned group. Through this fellowship in the context of prayerful atmosphere the students are able to experience the presence of God in a new way.