The title sounds political. Not really. It just wants to ask you which part of your brain is stronger- left or right? front or back? Following is a test on "How You Learn" which was asked of us during my seminar at Museo Pambata. So pick up a pencil and paper and try learning about how you learn.
DIRECTION: Check the statements which describe things that you do not have to make an effort on. When you have completed all the questions, count up the number of checks in each section. The section with the highest number of checks is the section of your brain you most usually use.
LEFT FRONTAL
___ I prefer to have the final say in family money matters.
___ I am logical and tend to think in straight lines.
___ I love machines and enjoy using tools.
___ I like delegating and giving orders.
___ I like to be able to measure success objectively- it is not enought just to be happy about what I'm doing.
___ I feel comfortable working with figures.
___ I enjoy verbal arguments. I like to get my ideas across.
___ I tend to take responsibility for big decisions.
___ I am good at technology.
___ I value effectiveness in other people.
___ People often look to me for leadership.
___If there is a problem, I can see usually what is causing it and come up with an answer.
___ I am good at managing money.
___ I enjoy doing things for myself.
___ I believe thinking is more important than feeling.
RIGHT FRONTAL
___ I use a lot of hand gestures when I talk.
___ I like to work on several things at once.
___ I often come up with new inventions.
___ I often rely on hunches to solve problems.
___ I get some of my best ideas when I am not thinking about anything in particular.
___ I am very energetic.
___ I am artistic.
___ I like to use metaphors and visual analysis to explain and understand things.
___ I get escited by off-the-wall ideas.
___ I always 'file' things in stacks rather than in cabinets.
___ I tend to be more interested in the 'big picture' rather than the details.
___ I can always see in my mind's eye how to arrange furniture in a room, or pack a car boot in order to get everything in.
___ I have a sense of humor, which has at times got me into trouble.
___ I am good at ball and computer video games.
___ I loathe routine tasks.
LEFT BASIL
___ I don't like to have my routine disturbed.
___ I find filing, sorting and labelling relaxing.
___ I am uneasy with ambiguity and uncertainty.
___ I think rules are important and should be adhered to.
___ I always read the instruction leaflet before I use a new appliance.
___ If I have to do something tricky, I am happiest if I have an established protocol to follow.
___ I put my social commitments in my diary- and stick to them.
___ I have a place for everything and everything is in its place.
___ I think people should keep their emotions under control.
___ I am reliable and loyal.
___ I enjoy doing repetitive task accurately.
___ I always tackle tasks step by step.
___ I like working with details.
___ I uphold traditional values.
___ I am reliable and thorough in my work.
RIGHT BASIL
___ I think cooperation, not conflict, is the way to get things done.
___ I tend to reach out to comfort people.
___ I love to sing, dance and listen to music.
___ I think personal growth is something worth working at.
___ I think that feelings are more important than thoughts.
___ My family relationships are the most important things in my life.
___ I automatically watch people's faces when I am talking to them.
___ I know instinctively what people are thinking.
___ I feel uneasy when people start arguing around me.
___ I am good at making other people feel enthusiastic.
___ I think you can measure success by how happy you are feeling, rather than what you achieve.
___ I think spiritual values are more important than material things.
___ I often touch people spontaneously when I talk to them.
___ I am good at interpreting body language.
___ I cry easily at sloppy films.
INTERPRETATION:
The Left Frontal brain is best for reasoning, logic and leadeship qualities. The Right Frontal brain deals with ideas and creative thinking. The left basil is used for organizing and maintaining routine. While the Right Basil deals with intuition and emotional feelings. How does these data relate to Learning. Here is their explanation:
UPPER LEFT
Learn by: Respond to:
- acquiring and quantifying facts - formalized lectures, factual content
- applying analysis and logic - financial and technical case discussions
- thinking through ideas, building cases - textbooks and bibliographies
- forming theories - program learning
- behavior modification
UPPER RIGHT
Learn by: Respond to:
- taking initiative - spontaneity
- exploring hidden possibilities - free flow, experiential opportunities
- relying on intuition, self-discovery - experimentation
- constructing concepts - playfulness
- synthesizing content - future-oriented case discussions
- visual displays
- individuality
- aesthetics
- being involved
LOWER LEFT
Learn by: Respond to:
- organizing and structuring content - thorough planning
- sequencing content - sequential order
- evaluating and testing theories - organizational and administration case
- acquiring skills through practice discussions
- implementing course content - test books behavior modification
- program learning
- structure
- lectures
LOWER RIGHT
Learn by: Respond to:
- listening and sharing ideas - experiential opportunities
- integrating experiences with self - sensory movement
- moving and feeling - music
- harmonizing with the content - people oriented case discussion
- emotion involvement - group interaction
So what are you- leftist or rightist? But any which way, I'm sure you know better now how you could learn better and how you could help others learn better.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Charlie
He used to ask me where I want to go and what I want to do. In fact it became too often I'd get angry hearing him asking me the same question over and over again.
He'd ask me in anger. And I'd reply in anger. Because my reply would always be "of course I'd want to retire in Sagpat (a sitio in Zambales) and help Aytas. It's my destiny- or so I'd think.
But when the hubby died, I thought about the same question. Was he asking this because he was really jealous- which was the reason I'd tell him why he's angry and why he'd repetitively ask me that question. Maybe it was because he was jealous of my barkada-teachers in school, my own family because I was his second wife, my education because I graduated from UP and he finished high school- not even if he was accelerated in class and graduated valedictorian.
And I'd remember myself seething with rage because he'd often ask me the same question when he's drunk. He explained to me that if you're a real organizer, you'd have to learn to drink with the masa- magsasaka, manggagawa, katutubo.
"But why should I," I'd shot back at him. "Hindi ba parang mas lalo ko pang ibinaba ang pagtingin ko sa kanila pag uminom ako at 'nakisama' sa kanila?
"Dahil hindi mo maiintindihan ang kalagayan nila kapag hindi mo sila nakasama," he'd reply.
"Perhaps," I would reply in anger.
Charlie's the kind who'd look real angry while raising a fist against all the dictators in this country. He's the kind who'd go at length organizing the have nots to encourage the masa to join rallies and forget about earning (in whatever way) for a day and probably days. He's the kind who'd return sa bundok, after all these rallies, with the katutubo at magpasan ng sako ng puso ng saging so that a farmer-Ayta father and mother could feed their children. He's the kind who'd bring our kids ("immerse" them, in my language) for weeks and months sa bundok to see him organize the Aytas, dance with zest to Talipe in lubay (g-string). He's the kind who'd come home thin and with sunken eyes because there's just nothing to eat sa bundok. He's the kind whose soul we thought was still washing dishes because he never wanted to see his mother do this chore.
Thinking about these things, I thought my accomplishment ("pakikipamuhay" sa masa described one of my professors in Community Development) as development worker is not even comparable to his or pales if actually compared with his accomplishment.
Ako'y burgis. Which is probably why I cried the first time I ate sinangag, in my in-laws' house, na walang ulam.
I would somehow play up that I was angry, during rallies, for the inequality in this country. And walk with the masa wearing rubber shoes and hankerchief in hand to rub my sweat off. While the masa around me walked in soon-to-tear slippers na walang pakialam sa tindi ng sikat ng araw.
I'd be amused at an Ayta leader who'd never run out of anything to say on top of a makeshift stage, bellowing hard facts of injustice. Me? I thought "marami pa akong kakaining bigas" to be like him. That's read as I'd have to attend so many seminars and trainings to be endowed with such "skill."
"Sigurado mo'ng gusto mo'ng tumulong sa mga Ayta? o naaawa ka lang sa kanila?," the hubby once asked. That was surprising for him to ask. But I thought he had a point. Though I also asked myself if he just wasn't confusing me.
One time feeling desperate seeing poverty at home I asked him. "Hindi kaya magbago (read: sumama) ang ugali natin kung yumaman tayo? And he smiled. For a poor family, it was difficult to imagine being rich.
But I think everybody wants to be rich. The opportunities are just so few- perhaps for the many impoverished.
Management books like "Rich Dad and Poor Dad" would say "it's all in the mind." "Believe and you will see," they'd say.
But your conscience asks you. Must I leave organizing, development work and the masa in order to be rich? Does this sense of communalism- with my in-laws' family work?
I scrimped on my meager salary as a teacher to buy/ loan a hand-tractor, a mini-thresher, and an old jeep. We'd let no chemical fertilizers touch our palay farm because this is costly, anyway. But the miracle of richness never came.
The hubby has died - having been riddled with bullets which sounded like sinturon ni Hudas on a New Year's Eve.
Me? I'd probably spend some more New Years with my kids before Kamatayan tells me "Time's up!" My accomplishment in this lifetime may still pale compared with other organizers', and development workers' accomplishments. But I hope my own contribution to a more peaceful and equitable world for my kids and the future generation will not have been for naught.
It's 3 am. I hope I'd merit sleeping under Inang Laya's kanlungan someday.
He'd ask me in anger. And I'd reply in anger. Because my reply would always be "of course I'd want to retire in Sagpat (a sitio in Zambales) and help Aytas. It's my destiny- or so I'd think.
But when the hubby died, I thought about the same question. Was he asking this because he was really jealous- which was the reason I'd tell him why he's angry and why he'd repetitively ask me that question. Maybe it was because he was jealous of my barkada-teachers in school, my own family because I was his second wife, my education because I graduated from UP and he finished high school- not even if he was accelerated in class and graduated valedictorian.
And I'd remember myself seething with rage because he'd often ask me the same question when he's drunk. He explained to me that if you're a real organizer, you'd have to learn to drink with the masa- magsasaka, manggagawa, katutubo.
"But why should I," I'd shot back at him. "Hindi ba parang mas lalo ko pang ibinaba ang pagtingin ko sa kanila pag uminom ako at 'nakisama' sa kanila?
"Dahil hindi mo maiintindihan ang kalagayan nila kapag hindi mo sila nakasama," he'd reply.
"Perhaps," I would reply in anger.
Charlie's the kind who'd look real angry while raising a fist against all the dictators in this country. He's the kind who'd go at length organizing the have nots to encourage the masa to join rallies and forget about earning (in whatever way) for a day and probably days. He's the kind who'd return sa bundok, after all these rallies, with the katutubo at magpasan ng sako ng puso ng saging so that a farmer-Ayta father and mother could feed their children. He's the kind who'd bring our kids ("immerse" them, in my language) for weeks and months sa bundok to see him organize the Aytas, dance with zest to Talipe in lubay (g-string). He's the kind who'd come home thin and with sunken eyes because there's just nothing to eat sa bundok. He's the kind whose soul we thought was still washing dishes because he never wanted to see his mother do this chore.
Thinking about these things, I thought my accomplishment ("pakikipamuhay" sa masa described one of my professors in Community Development) as development worker is not even comparable to his or pales if actually compared with his accomplishment.
Ako'y burgis. Which is probably why I cried the first time I ate sinangag, in my in-laws' house, na walang ulam.
I would somehow play up that I was angry, during rallies, for the inequality in this country. And walk with the masa wearing rubber shoes and hankerchief in hand to rub my sweat off. While the masa around me walked in soon-to-tear slippers na walang pakialam sa tindi ng sikat ng araw.
I'd be amused at an Ayta leader who'd never run out of anything to say on top of a makeshift stage, bellowing hard facts of injustice. Me? I thought "marami pa akong kakaining bigas" to be like him. That's read as I'd have to attend so many seminars and trainings to be endowed with such "skill."
"Sigurado mo'ng gusto mo'ng tumulong sa mga Ayta? o naaawa ka lang sa kanila?," the hubby once asked. That was surprising for him to ask. But I thought he had a point. Though I also asked myself if he just wasn't confusing me.
One time feeling desperate seeing poverty at home I asked him. "Hindi kaya magbago (read: sumama) ang ugali natin kung yumaman tayo? And he smiled. For a poor family, it was difficult to imagine being rich.
But I think everybody wants to be rich. The opportunities are just so few- perhaps for the many impoverished.
Management books like "Rich Dad and Poor Dad" would say "it's all in the mind." "Believe and you will see," they'd say.
But your conscience asks you. Must I leave organizing, development work and the masa in order to be rich? Does this sense of communalism- with my in-laws' family work?
I scrimped on my meager salary as a teacher to buy/ loan a hand-tractor, a mini-thresher, and an old jeep. We'd let no chemical fertilizers touch our palay farm because this is costly, anyway. But the miracle of richness never came.
The hubby has died - having been riddled with bullets which sounded like sinturon ni Hudas on a New Year's Eve.
Me? I'd probably spend some more New Years with my kids before Kamatayan tells me "Time's up!" My accomplishment in this lifetime may still pale compared with other organizers', and development workers' accomplishments. But I hope my own contribution to a more peaceful and equitable world for my kids and the future generation will not have been for naught.
It's 3 am. I hope I'd merit sleeping under Inang Laya's kanlungan someday.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Philippine Origin
How many of us have had the experience of being with the Aytas? There are probably only a few. But we know them from rote memory because it's more likely our teachers told us that Aytas/ Negritos were the first people to inhabit the Philippines.
But did you ever ask yourself if this is factual? To children, it is not for them to ask why. I didn't when I was young. But now that I'm older and supposed to have become wiser, I asked why.
Teachers tell us that this is because the Negritos (which they also call Aytas) have dark skin, are short, flat-nosed and have kinky hair and thick lips. But think again. Is there a connection between these characteristics and being the first Philippine inhabitants, especially considering the time gap?
Our teachers argument probably goes this way. There are Aytas today. Aytas look this particular way. Aytas have somehow retained their culture. Early History books say so. Therefore the first inhabitants in the Philippines are the Aytas.
Perhaps. But let me use the argument on characteristics and let me pose some questions again.
If Aytas have kinky hair today, could kinky hairs have been unearthed millions of years ago in the Philippines? If the early Filipinos have been flat-nosed, could anthropologists have found flat noses in middens in Palawan? If the Aytas today are dark-skinned, could the first Tabon cave people's skins (which must be dark) have been fossilized in stones and were found as evidences? And if the early Philippine inhabitants were short, could they have found bones, that time, which are short?
Except for the hair and bones which could be preserved and survive all these years no flat nose, dark skin, thick lips, and kinky hair have been dug, as yet. Perhaps now that the Arctic ice is fast receding into the sea, we may find these. But for now, we don't have hard facts.
In fact historians note that some Tabon persons found then were 5'10'' in height! And mind you, there are Aytas today who are this tall.
My exposure to their communities, not history books, taught me that Aytas may still be classified into 7 subgroups. I remember 6 of them: Mag-anchi, Magbeken, Mag-indi, Talimaren, Abellen and Ambala. And they all don't look the same. Some are fair-skinned. Some have straight hair and noses like Michael Jordan. I'm sure Manny Pacquiao would want a nose lift now that he can very well afford a nose lift.
Times change and Filipinos will always have their origin. But to say that the first Philippine inhabitants can't be categorically be proven as Aytas is not excuse for some of us to treat them the way some of us, or many of us, still call them - minorities.
In an article published by the Tebtebba Foundation, it wrote that "indigenous peoples (Aytas included) are the sole guardians of vast habitats critical to modern societies for regulating water cycles, maintaining the stability of the climate, and providing valuable plants, animals, and genes. " We depend on them for about 50% of the world's medicine and around 80% of the world's food.
So keep on remembering every month of October, which is Indigenous Peoples month, that there can't be us without them, whether Aytas be our forefathers or foremothers.
But did you ever ask yourself if this is factual? To children, it is not for them to ask why. I didn't when I was young. But now that I'm older and supposed to have become wiser, I asked why.
Teachers tell us that this is because the Negritos (which they also call Aytas) have dark skin, are short, flat-nosed and have kinky hair and thick lips. But think again. Is there a connection between these characteristics and being the first Philippine inhabitants, especially considering the time gap?
Our teachers argument probably goes this way. There are Aytas today. Aytas look this particular way. Aytas have somehow retained their culture. Early History books say so. Therefore the first inhabitants in the Philippines are the Aytas.
Perhaps. But let me use the argument on characteristics and let me pose some questions again.
If Aytas have kinky hair today, could kinky hairs have been unearthed millions of years ago in the Philippines? If the early Filipinos have been flat-nosed, could anthropologists have found flat noses in middens in Palawan? If the Aytas today are dark-skinned, could the first Tabon cave people's skins (which must be dark) have been fossilized in stones and were found as evidences? And if the early Philippine inhabitants were short, could they have found bones, that time, which are short?
Except for the hair and bones which could be preserved and survive all these years no flat nose, dark skin, thick lips, and kinky hair have been dug, as yet. Perhaps now that the Arctic ice is fast receding into the sea, we may find these. But for now, we don't have hard facts.
In fact historians note that some Tabon persons found then were 5'10'' in height! And mind you, there are Aytas today who are this tall.
My exposure to their communities, not history books, taught me that Aytas may still be classified into 7 subgroups. I remember 6 of them: Mag-anchi, Magbeken, Mag-indi, Talimaren, Abellen and Ambala. And they all don't look the same. Some are fair-skinned. Some have straight hair and noses like Michael Jordan. I'm sure Manny Pacquiao would want a nose lift now that he can very well afford a nose lift.
Times change and Filipinos will always have their origin. But to say that the first Philippine inhabitants can't be categorically be proven as Aytas is not excuse for some of us to treat them the way some of us, or many of us, still call them - minorities.
In an article published by the Tebtebba Foundation, it wrote that "indigenous peoples (Aytas included) are the sole guardians of vast habitats critical to modern societies for regulating water cycles, maintaining the stability of the climate, and providing valuable plants, animals, and genes. " We depend on them for about 50% of the world's medicine and around 80% of the world's food.
So keep on remembering every month of October, which is Indigenous Peoples month, that there can't be us without them, whether Aytas be our forefathers or foremothers.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Feel Good Movies
The long weekend last October 12-14 was good. Yes, there was enough time to go watch and see movies. But unlike in the '80s when watching movies was actually going to a movie theater which I think cost only about 30 pesos ( I think- which reminds me of my age), the Ghost Rider which we watched in SM Baguio last December cost us a staggering P70! each. That's P210 for me and my 2 kids - the same amount for 2 kilos of chicken.
Its good the DVD was invented so we didn't have to go to the only theater in Olongapo. We watched at home and did a marathon of watching movies. Below is a list of Feel Good Movies which you might want to see. Enjoy! We deserve it.
Shall we dance
Akeelah and the Bee
Tarzan I (the cartoon version)
Brother Bear
Jump in I
We are Marshall
Goal
Violet Ladies
Duma
Jersey Girl
Little Man Tate
Magnifico
Miracle Worker
Facing the Giants
Drumline
Its good the DVD was invented so we didn't have to go to the only theater in Olongapo. We watched at home and did a marathon of watching movies. Below is a list of Feel Good Movies which you might want to see. Enjoy! We deserve it.
Shall we dance
Akeelah and the Bee
Tarzan I (the cartoon version)
Brother Bear
Jump in I
We are Marshall
Goal
Violet Ladies
Duma
Jersey Girl
Little Man Tate
Magnifico
Miracle Worker
Facing the Giants
Drumline
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Butterfly
Sometime in 2002, I had the chance to be participant to Museo Pambata's seminar entitled "Establishing Children's Museum." By the way, Museo Pambata is in Roxas Boulevard, beside the US Embassy.
It was actually my mother's plan to build one in Subic. Sounds boring, di ba? Kasi ba naman pag nasa museum ka bawal maghawak ng kahit ano, bawal mag-ingay, bawal tumakbo. Kulang na lang magsalita ang museum at sabihing "Sana hindi ka na pumasok."
But this seminar was so good. We had to be like children. Nag-drawing kami. We were read children's stories. Mind you, nakaimbento pa ako ng jingle namin which could've sounded like it was made for a Pong Pagong tv episode. At one activity, everybody was made to hold hands while sitting. We were all giggling, not minding what a Science Museum guide was making one participant hold. And then the "Eeeeeeekkk!" scream by everybody. Kuryentehin ka ba naman. Siyempre, buhay pa kami. Everyone actually shrieked dahil gumapang sa mga kamay namin yong kuryente.
But this blog isn't really much about Museo. It's about kids and what we, adults, are capable of doing to them. I hope we don't forget the lessons here. This was actually shared during that seminar at Museo. Happy Children's Month!
"I remembered one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as
a butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited a while,
but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it
to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before
my eyes, faster than life. The case opened, the butterfly started slowly crawling out
and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and
crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them.
Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath. In vain. It needed to be hatched
patiently and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now
it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear, all crumpled, before its
time. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand.
"That little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience. For I
realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not
hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.
"Childhood:
A journey, not a race."
It was actually my mother's plan to build one in Subic. Sounds boring, di ba? Kasi ba naman pag nasa museum ka bawal maghawak ng kahit ano, bawal mag-ingay, bawal tumakbo. Kulang na lang magsalita ang museum at sabihing "Sana hindi ka na pumasok."
But this seminar was so good. We had to be like children. Nag-drawing kami. We were read children's stories. Mind you, nakaimbento pa ako ng jingle namin which could've sounded like it was made for a Pong Pagong tv episode. At one activity, everybody was made to hold hands while sitting. We were all giggling, not minding what a Science Museum guide was making one participant hold. And then the "Eeeeeeekkk!" scream by everybody. Kuryentehin ka ba naman. Siyempre, buhay pa kami. Everyone actually shrieked dahil gumapang sa mga kamay namin yong kuryente.
But this blog isn't really much about Museo. It's about kids and what we, adults, are capable of doing to them. I hope we don't forget the lessons here. This was actually shared during that seminar at Museo. Happy Children's Month!
"I remembered one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as
a butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited a while,
but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it
to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before
my eyes, faster than life. The case opened, the butterfly started slowly crawling out
and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and
crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them.
Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath. In vain. It needed to be hatched
patiently and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now
it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear, all crumpled, before its
time. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand.
"That little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience. For I
realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not
hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.
"Childhood:
A journey, not a race."
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