Making Learning Real at Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus

July 02, 2025 was the second day of an intensive seminar-training of teachers where external resource  speakers who are experts in diverse fields in the academe are invited  at Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus. The training is focused on how teachers can make learning truly meaningful for our students. We dove deep into "Designing Authentic and Purposive Assessments, Summative Tests, and Performance Tasks," and it was an incredibly insightful day, thanks to the wisdom of Dr. Alce M. Sentones, PhD.

Dr. Sentones kicked off the day by giving us a candid look at the realities of the Philippine education system compared to Singapore's. It was a powerful reminder that our job as educators is not just to teach facts; it is about making sure our students achieve meaningful learning outcomes. This perspective has definitely inspired us to create authentic performance tasks that are centered around our students' own experiences.

One of the big takeaways was the importance of carefully planning the sequence of our questions. When we do this, it really helps to bring out the best in our students, making every learning experience feel personal and truly from within them.

Most importantly, Dr. Sentones shared a ton of practical strategies for creating assessments that ensure the context, skills, and standards aligned to what our students know and can do. She guided us through five-dimensional frameworks, helping us look at our current ways of assessing and figure out how we can make them fit the needs of today's learners. It was a real "aha!" moment for many of us, helping us see how to truly tailor our teaching to our students.

We're so grateful to Phoenix Publishing House in collaboration with Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus for making this seminar possible. The solid and premium support afforded for teachers' professional growth, especially in helping us measure student learning through well-designed performance tasks, truly made a difference.

As the new school year gets closer, this seminar has given all of us Hijas-Hearter educators a fantastic chance to revisit and refine our planned performance tasks. Our goal is to build upon our students' experiences in the classroom, helping them grow and develop in a truly holistic way. It is exciting to think about how these new insights will help our students thrive!

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