Meet our young serial readers

“The Looking Glass Tree,” an environment-friendly tale written by Cyan Abad-Jugo and illustrated by Steph Bravo, was this school year’s featured story in the Inquirer in Education (IIE) Serial Reading Program sponsored by Bench.

Each chapter was accompanied by a student activity guide designed to check comprehension and develop creative and critical thinking skills.

Bench donated copies of the Inquirer to more than 2,500 Grades 5 and 6 students of 29 partner teachers in 22 schools, from as far as Laoag City, Ilocos Norte; Bataan; Meycauayan and San Rafael, Bulacan; Biñan, Laguna, and Olongapo City, and as near as the cities of Pasay, Manila, Malabon, Muntinlupa and Makati.

The series started in 2008 with just four schools participating. Today, 22 schools are onboard.

What a journey it has been. Refinements and innovations have been introduced.

When the project started, as the story unfolded part by part, teachers prepared lesson plans individually.

The series has brought together like-minded people who share a love for reading. It gave the children the chance to learn to enjoy reading the daily newspaper.

Through the years that the Inquirer and Bench have conducted the serial reading program, partner teachers have become friends and learned to help each other academically—sharing inputs and invaluable knowledge.

The debriefing of teachers just before Christmas was a highly anticipated event. Our students’ works would be on display.

Partner teacher Myra Regalado of Pembo Elementary School in Makati City was amazed that there were many ways to use the newspaper in teaching. With Sue Ann Zurita-Ramos, Jeniffer Tolentino and other partner teachers (too many to mention) uploaded pictures of the Big Books and other student outputs on the program’s Facebook group page.

It is a pity that out of 16 divisions in the National Capital Region, only five actively participated in this worthwhile activity.

Teacher Arlin Montuya of Maximo Estrella Elementary School said, “The children find reading the newspapers a great and exciting idea” and they felt bad when the series ended.

Teacher Monina Millafre said, “Pupils were more active and interested in the lessons, especially with Chapters 6 and 7 that attracted their interest because they were more on fantasy.”

“I find the lessons really interesting because every time I read the story I learn different lessons in life that I can adapt to my present life,” said Justine Ortega, a sixth grader and an honor student.

Nicole Arriola, a sixth grader, said, “Reading the story, I feel like I’m traveling to or exploring another world.”

“Every time I read the story, my vocabulary grows and I learn many lessons that can be applied in my life. (By reading) the story I can travel to different places,” Rebekah Flamengco said.

I find it amusing that partner teacher Oliver Quiba of Nellie E. Brown School would say “pang-demo” whenever I helped co-write lesson plans. But I really find great satisfaction when I see partner teachers use the lesson plans that my group has developed. I especially like writing the lesson plans for the first and last chapters as I have done in the last two years.

I hope to rally other partner teachers to take lesson plan-writing seriously. This is their chance to write a lesson plan that will make them proud as other teachers use it.

I always come prepared for the pre-series workshop, bringing my rose-colored netbook, handy thesaurus, PELC (Philippine Elementary Learning Competencies) objectives, graphic organizers and engagement activities.

I believe my output should always be much better than my last work. As others have said, let us sign our work with excellence.

Partner teachers can draw inspiration from Marnelli Bautista, Leora Ferry and Marlyn Gerio Baliton, who are as gung-ho as I am in education matters.

Because we spent the better part of a day at the Inquirer during the briefing, we should make every minute count. Carpe diem!

For me, the series is no longer the Inquirer’s alone. All of us partner teachers are co-owners and, as such, we should treat it as our own. We should strive only for the best. If we love something so much, we should see to it that nothing goes wrong with it.

I look forward to another year of working side by side other partner teachers. As a Reading doctoral student at the University of the Philippines, I will share my learning and other materials with the different groups next year.

That is a promise I intend to keep for love of the Bench-IIE Serial Reading Program.

PHOTOS BY ARNOLD ALMACEN, ALEXIS CORPUZ, RICHARD REYES AND RODEL ROTONI