Cebu Daily News photographer, Lito Tecson, shares his knowledge about photo journalism with teachers and students during a campus journalism workshop in Lapu-Lapu City.
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
They may not be competing in writing contests but teachers need as much training and preparation as their students to guide and motivate them to write inspiring stories.
This is why attending campus journalism workshops is always a cause of excitement among school paper advisers and coaches because it gives them the opportunity to upgrade their skills and improve their knowledge.
“We teach students how to write news stories, editorials . . . but we are not experts in these fields. We can only teach what we know. I am grateful for workshops like this because we learn from the practitioners themselves,” said Rodrigo Bentulan who teaches Mathematics and Science in Babag 2 Elementary School.
Bentulan and 300 students and teachers from 21 elementary and high schools in Lapu-Lapu City attended the Siloy Campus Journalism Workshop organized by Cebu Daily News last Monday held at the Lapu-Lapu City Sports Complex.
The Siloy Campus Journalism Workshop is a corporate social responsibility project of CDN to help mold the new generation of writers and journalists.
Last Monday’s event in Lapu-Lapu City was the fourth in a series of lecture-workshops held after the cities of Naga, Cebu, and Mandaue.
Passion
Bentulan, along with six co-teachers and school paper coaches, was seated on the front row of the venue and was eager to ask questions to speakers.
“Learning has no boundaries. We should learn more as we grow older because some of the things we know are now obsolete. We should open our minds to new learnings and be willing to share this with others,” said Bentulan, who has been teaching for 19 years.
Bentulan was reassigned to Babag 2 Elementary School 15 years ago from his previous assignment in Mactan Elementary School.
In Babag, he spearheaded the formation of the school publication and encouraged other teachers to join him. Today, the school has two publications: Vision for English and Panan-aw for Filipino.
In Pusok National High School, Edna Gesulgon serves as the school paper adviser for the Filipino publication, Ang Sidlakan.
Gesulgon said motivating students to improve their skills in writing can be a daunting task because most students have a hard time focusing on one interest.
“It is my responsibility to guide, teach and motivate students to train well so they become better (writers). I have the trust and confidence of our office to serve as the paper adviser and I take that to heart so I can do my job honestly and sincerely,” said Gesulgon, a teacher of 25 years.
Challenges
Aside from training students, Bentulan said one of the challenges in running a school publication is the limited funds allotted for seminars for teachers.
He said a three-day seminar-workshop on campus journalism he previously attended charged P2,500 per teacher.
Since the school can only send limited representatives to these seminars, Bentulan said he usually conducts learning action sessions to fellow teachers to share what he learned from the workshops.
Bentulan said it was his first time to attend a free campus journalism workshop whose speakers are practicing journalists.
“We don’t get this kind of workshops everyday. I am very grateful to Cebu Daily News for conducting this workshop because I learned about the different facets of the journalism practice. I was able to ask follow-up questions and approach the speakers to clarify points I did not quite understand,’ he said.
Talent
Both Bentulan and Gesulgon noted that finding students with the talent and focus to write and do research can be challenging but these are not impossible tasks.
It is important to continuously train students even when it is not the season for writing competitions.
Among the attendees of last Monday’s workshop was Scarlette Jane Dotillos, an eight-year-old pupil of Gun-ob Elementary School. She was the youngest among the attendees but was all ears in listening to the lectures and participating in the workshops.
“Sometimes it is hard to understand some terms. I do not understand the inverted pyramid but my teacher said I should continue to listen because it will help me learn more things I do not know. Right now, I know that a writer needs many details to write stories,” said Scarlette.
The grade three pupil said she hopes to become a teacher someday.
She said a teacher writes many lesson plans and reports so if she becomes a good writer, she will also become a good teacher.
“My parents, Geraldine and Pablito, who are also teachers, will be very proud of me if I become a good writer and teacher,” she said.