ULOG No.41 : Call to Act

In public service, or even just service in general, the ability is not the question but the person's availability. That is one of the reasons why some organizations die because those who should be sharing their skills do not tend to have time or they attend to other more important stuff. I base this observation on my own experience. I must admit that due to the fact that I am affiliated to an array of organizations and groups, I neglected some of those. This then led to resentments, setbacks, and a lot more. On the positive side, those who are available were able to learn and even exercise these different skills. Through experience they were able to learn knowledge as well.

Why am I even sharing these anyway? Mainly because I experienced a lot of wonderful things recently and I am sorry to you all that it is just now that I will share it.

Indeed I was not. But seriously, this is what happened to me last July 30 -- Monday evening. We were having our class in Assessment of Student Learning. After a long tiring lecture on different assessment tools, our professor proposed that we must have a workshop on Assessment in consonance with some assessment tools such as the creation of Table of Specifications for making of examinations.

At the back of my mind, I was like that is a great idea. I really do love workshops because I could easily understand concepts easily when there are hands-on exercises. I also like moving a lot or having a huge space for myself.

My mood just changed when Dr. Libed asked us who would facilitate that event and then few of my classmates pointed me to become the focal person. I could not help but volunteer. Of course I was a little bit excited for it since I had been managing different activities such as workshops way back in college and even when I was a volunteer on various organizations.

A huge part of me wanted to back out because I haven't done that for a couple of months already and I just do not want to miss anything out whenever I am put in a situation such as to lead. I also do not like being the person who needs to compromise a lot. Whenever I wanted something, as much as possible I wanted it to be carried out as soon as possible.

Called to Listen and Respond

The moment I took responsibilty as the facilitator/ focal person, I realized that I matured a bit. The moment I came up with ideas and shared it to them, I was a little bit annoyed when I was asked for a rationale behind every decision that should be taken. It was just later on that I realized that everyone in the group is correct. It is just that we needed to come up with decisions that are both feasible and cost-effective. Or as much as possible, we do not need to shell out a lot of money for our pockets.

Here are the things that really happened.
We had discussed preliminarily that the venue for the said event would be at the function room of the university's cafeteria. We had chosen that venue as it would allow us to move freely with the monobloc chairs, have tables to write on to, and food for dinner and snacks. The only issue is that every student then would be required to shell out 200.00Php or just 4USD each. That would include the dinner and snackthat we would purchase in the university cafeteria and stipend for our speaker.

I thought it was alright already when one voiced out that he would not be joining if the workshop would be that expensive. I was like, usually in workshops a peron pays a thousand peso for it or 20USD. But then I thought that I must not only take the consensus but also recognize the opinions of others as well. We then came up on the idea of using one of the Audio Visual Rooms [AVR] inside our university.

The following day (three days before the workshop) Ms. Noelle, one of my classmates booked the venue. It was also the day when a number of my classmates handed me some bills preliminarily to buy the stuff that I would be needing. I thank God I was able to reach the needed amount as Ms. Lyn, one of my classmates, donated 500Php or 10USD for our workshop.

Time is ticking!
Then Monday came, I was able to buy parchment papers for the certificates. I only had few hours left to make all the necesarry things and buy the necessary stuff. A day before the event, I was able to make the final template for the program and certificate though. That means I have ample time to execute my to-do list.

^{This is the program cover that I made. Thanks a lot to canva as I was able to check on some certificate and program templates.}

Phew! Preparing for materials is not that easy I must say especially when you try to layout. You really need to consider a lot of principles and elements. On of the issues is the content of it particularly the spelling. I cannot imagine going over the names for multiple times before printing it, and even checking it out after printing it. I also took some time reviewing the program. I have thought of not including the closing remarks as the workshop proper might take a long time -- which really happened.

Anyway, around four in the afternoon I was already downtown, particularly at Lim Ket Kai mall. I had my late lunch at Jollibee. Of course! I do not have that much since SBD and STEEM's value are not in great shape unlike last December and January. I know I also need to eat as the workshop might not give us short breaks, except for toilet breaks.

I thank God Augelyn was with me. She really helped me carry the envelops and a rim of short bond paper that I bought. I also bought ballpens as I found those important in our said workshop.

Moment of Truth

Of course, everyone enjoyed! The speaker is really a master on the workshop that he did with us. Aside from that, he was very considerate that he did not use educational jargons all the time. I appreciate that from him as most trainors in workshops just like to show off, unlike him, we could see thar he wanted to impart to us his skills. He was not a show off at all so we were not intimidated by him. Coming from work and being drained by comprehending deep english statements at the workshop would be difficult. He was good in explaining concepts using the Bisaya and English.

We got the opportunity to create our own table of specifications which would be used in determing the number of items that would fall on a certain topic for an examination. We were also able to identify the certain level of knowledge that would be used in every exam and how to make one.

We really enjoyed that we did not realize that it was already 9 in the evening. Everyone were eager to learn more.

Is it not that obvious in our faces that we all enjoyed? Til next time Mr. Narvaza. You were very awesome. And thanks a lot to Dr. Libed. She is a master of her own craft as well but she knows that there are people who just have the talent like Mr. Narvaza.

Another event like this to facilitate? Why not? Just kidding! Let us give chance to others to hone their skills as well.

Lots of love,
Johanna Gail

^{@gailbelga or Johanna Gail is a free-spirited freelance artist. She took up Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in one of the Ateneo universities in the Philippines. She is currently a candidate for Masters in Public Administrations. She is also taking up Certificate on Teaching. She volunteers in various non-profit/nongovernmental organization which aims for human rights through political education. She draws and writes about the country to provide awareness and promote the Philippines to foreign tourists.}