BRAINSTORM DURING A STORM

For two literally stormy days, from the 27th to 28th of July 2017, twenty selected administrators and faculty took off from the Ateneo de Manila campus and braved the weather to huddle at the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo for a much-needed brainstorm. Their agenda? To form a consortium of schools and departments of the university engaged in teacher education and training.

During his welcome, Fr. Jett Villarin SJ, AdMU President, expressed his delight at such a multi-disciplinary gathering of educators, and he took the opportunity to share his vision for this effort. The open and rich conversations throughout the two days–described by Dean Jonathan Chua as “relatively painless!”–led to a clear consensus about the planned institute of education for the university.

One of the highlights of the workshop was the presentation by Assistant Jesuit Archivist, Bro. Madz Tumbali SJ, who inspired the group and regaled his audience with intriguing stories about the Escuela Normal, the very first –but little-known–Teacher’s College in the Philippines, which the Spanish Government had entrusted to the Jesuits in the 19th century.

The lost memory of the Jesuit Escuela Normal had so captured the imagination of those present that many said every Ateneo teacher should hear of it. They even kidded about naming themselves, the institute’s core groupm the “Abnormalistas.” 

By the end of the two days, the participants agreed on the general nature and functions of the institute, which Fr. Johnny Go SJ, the group’s convenor, had proposed to call the Ateneo SALT Institute–short for Ateneo de Manila Institute for the Science and Art of Learning and Teaching.

Three deans graced the workshop with their presence: Banjo Bautista of the School of Science and Engineering, Jonathan Chua of the School of Humanities, and Nandy Aldba of the School of Social Sciences.

Also in attendance were the following department chairs: Corni Soto (Education), Gary Devilles (Filipino), Isabel Pefianco-Martin (English), Lianne Habana (History), and Mira Ofreneo (Psychology). Joining them were key teacher educators and trainers like Michelle Paterno (Ateneo Center for English Language Teaching); Rhoda Nicdao (Ateneo Teacher Center); Trish Panganiban-Lambino (Formation Institute for Religious Education); Cathy Lagunzad (Math);  Chris Peabody (Science), Estela Banasihan (History); Jethro Tenorio (Filipino); and Ixie Palma-Alejo, Galvin Ngo, and E-yes Gonzalez (Education).

Many thanks to the members of this core group for their enthusiasm and all the great ideas.

Watch out for the soft launch of the SALT Institute this coming 5th of October, Teachers’ Day.