PINOY READING BUDDIES
The primary goal of teaching is to help build students' thinking skills so that they can thrive as human beings. We know that the learners are thinking if they are looking closely, making connections, explaining with evidence, examining systems which a phenomenon is often a part of, considering other stakeholders' point of view etc (PZ MTV: https://pz.harvard.edu/who-we-are/about
Our Mission
Provide transformative professional development opportunities for Filipino public school administrators and teachers
Promote engaging teaching practices that encourage and build student curiosity, engagement and agency.
Why PRB?
Pinoy Reading Buddies (PRB) collaborates with Filipino educators and institutions to develop teaching methodologies that build students' thinking skills and agency to problem-solve in their immediate communities. With our partners, we facilitate student involvement in exploring how literacy and science are powerful tools in effecting social change. PRB aims to disrupt systems where knowledge is deemed as static and learning means memorizing a set of formula and trivial information. PRB seeks educators who are determined to make a difference in the lives of their students!
Education Philosophy
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” ― (Plutarch). Learning facilitators light kids’ fire of curiosity and discovery. Children will learn best when they are meaningfully engaged and their voices are heard.
PRB also promotes the primacy of storybooks written in the mother tongue, especially for young students who are just beginning to read. Children think in the language that they are most familiar with. And reading is not simply decoding. Reading is thinking. Young children may first learn to decode and read but later on, they must read to learn. PRB believes that thoughtfully written and illustrated, culturally-relevant reading materials may facilitate the development of robust thinking skills.
We echo the challenge of the great writer, Toni Morrison: “If there’s a book that you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.”
Reach
PRB has connected with thousands of teachers over the past few years. We have trained several hundreds thus far in the art of engaging their students. We have initiated working relationships in schools in the areas shown in the map:
However, even though we have gained a large base of followers in social media at some point, PRB seeks educators who value learning and demonstrate engagement in thinking as well. We prefer quality over volume
Meet the Team
Pinoy Reading Buddies, Inc
Board Members
Mitch Feldman - Director of Administrative Affairs (Planning, Finance, overall Operations); former Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines, former bank VP; MA in Teaching English; English Teacher in Boston.
Dr Maricris Lodriguito Mayes and Dr Sarah Jaye Oliva -Co-directors of Science Curriculum Resource Networking and Design.
Dr Mayes, Chemistry Associate Professor at UMass Dartmouth, lead researcher on " electric double-layer supercapacitors (EDLs) for more efficient energy storage systems." ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S001346862300316X... )
Dr Oliva, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (University of Victoria, Canada) (https://www.facebook.com/universityofvictoria); explores ways to make science teaching relevant and meaningful.
Pacita Bing Fortin Director of Teacher-Volunteer Formation Program; a PhD candidate, Assistant Professor V with the Department of International Studies & Department of Social Work, School of Arts, Sciences and Education at Miriam College in QC, Philippines
Dr Ruth Manzano Nacua -Manila Program Coordinator; Elementary School Teacher in QC Philippines; designs and implements lesson plans that build her students' thinking skills and engagement in learning.
Rowena Jimenez - Executive Director in charge of Vision, Program Design, Implementation and Assessment; MA in Urban Social Policy, Certified Middle School Math Teacher; exploring ways to engage students in math thinking using the Singapore Math philosophy
