Lasallian Educator
My Best Lesson Ever
Graziella V. Santos Language Teacher Gr.3
Academic Year 2018-2019
On the Ground
A Person With a Great Goal
Graziella V. Santos is a graduate of De La Salle Lipa College in Lipa City, Batangas. She took up Bachelor in Elementary Education. To further improve her craft, she has already taken 39 units in the Graduate School. She took up Master of Arts in Education specializing in Reading Education at Philippine Normal University in Manila and Master of Arts in Education specializing in Teaching Elementary Education.
A Teacher by Heart
Graziella has been working as a school teacher since 1999 after she graduated. She has taught in several schools like De La Salle Lipa. She also worked in Batangas College of Arts and Sciences, Elizabeth Seton School and presently at De La Salle Santiago Zobel School. For nineteen years, she has never considered other careers believing that she is really meant to be an educator. She simply loves teaching.
Graziella is married to Christopher Santos, also an educator. She is already a mother to two beautiful children named Chloe Simone V. Santos and Gabrielle Elise V. Santos. As a pro-family woman, Graziella always makes sure that she has a balance between family life and career.
On Challenges
As an English teacher, I always want my students to be able to have an authentic use of what they have learned from my subject.When I say authentic, this means that I want them to use it for the purpose of achieving effectiveness in communication- getting the message across effortlessly both in written and oral form. In written form, students have the chance to do so in their written performance tasks which are not optional for them to do. the challenge is
in the oral form. How can they get to use what they have learned in formal or informal conversations with real people, in authentic situations and at the same time I can witness?
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The Ladder
First, I picked a very interesting topic where I can have a conversation or chat or dialogue activity. I picked Interrogative Pronouns. To spice it up, I invited some people with a very interesting background in the field of education in the Zobel community. I sent them invitation emails with the assistance of my coordinator and arranged schedules for them to meet my grade 3 students. We were able to invite Ms. Ruby Ramos, Bro. Martin Sellner, FSC, Ms. Em Hadjirul, Ms. Martha Mina, Ms. Wilma Renolayan, Ms. Winnie Diola, Sir Rafael Reloza, and Bro. Vince Paildan. They were asked to share about their successes in their careers in education. I titled the activity, "May I Ask a Question, Teacher?" After their talk, the students were asked to formulate questions that begin with interrogative pronouns. The question should be related to their topic.
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At the Top
The whole experience turned out to be fun seeing faces that they don’t usually see in school. It was one way by which they got to know better other people in the DLSZ community. These invited resource speakers shared themselves and their experiences as educators to the kids to their delight. The most important thing that happened is the authentic communication that took place. The students were able to use interrogative pronouns in their sentences while they converse with these people.
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Looking back
Students from different sections had notable different reactions to their respective speakers. There were sections that exhibited enthusiasm and active participation. There were sections that seem to be very shy or detached. There had been a section that seemed to be active but the questions they ask were not related to what the speaker shared anymore. I guess there are some factors that affect how the students will take this approach. First, the introduction is done by the English teacher of the class. I noticed that the more restrictions or rules given to the class at the beginning like how they should behave when the speaker is in front, the more that they feel suppressed in the course of the activity thus in the latter classes, I tended to not focus that much on the behavior rules and just let them enjoy the activity and leave the disciplining to the speaker him/herself.
This experience can help the teachers be inspired in getting help from other members of the DLSZ community in imparting the knowledge that they wish the students can learn.