GRATEFUL. With one hand raising thank you cards and another clutching their gifts, the 70 kids flash their smiles during the Year-end gift giving activity of Project WE INNOVATE led by Dr. Mary Ann Grace Dulay on Dec. 30, 2019 at Brgy. Pugaro, Pangasinan.
PHOTO COURTESY OF Dr. Mary Ann Grace Dulay 
by Mary Rose Go
“Be the solution!
The time to innovate is now!”
This is the battle cry of Dr. Mary Ann Grace B. Dulay, a scholar in the 2019 Korea – Philippines Teacher Exchange Programme (KPTEP), as she leads the campaign on global citizenship in Pangasinan.
Empowering educators thru WE INNOVATE
Project WE INNOVATE or Introduce New and Notable Outputs through Varied Approaches and Techniques in Education served as the Re-Entry Application Project (REAP) of Dr. Dulay after serving as an exchange teacher in Korea for three months.
The project, in support of the advocacy of UNESCO-APCEIU, aimed to empower educators by incorporating Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their classroom lessons.
The main goal of this project was to produce several outputs such as Learning Modules, Strategic Intervention Materials (SIMs), Worksheets, and Action Research that are helpful in realizing the importance and beauty of having a global perspective in improving the quality of education and teaching strategies of teachers.
Two years ago, this project was already initiated by Dr. Dulay but the current WE INNOVATE stood under a new light for it now embraced the idea of global citizenship.
School Learning Action Cell sessions were introduced to brainstorm ideas in coming up with the additional teaching and learning materials with global insight that would be useful in classroom.
According to Dr. Dulay, innovation in pedagogy will motivate the students, as well as the teachers, to be globally competitive individuals especially that they have the knowledge in the SDGs and GCED.
The gains: Outcomes of the project
The implementation of WE INNOVATE started on August 1, 2019 and ended on February 29, 2020. For six months, the project has given notable contributions in the field of education.
The project supported DepEd progams, one of which is 3Bs: Bawat Bata Bumabasa (Every Child a Reader), wherein the group of Dr. Dulay provided reading materials and manipulatives formulated in WE INNOVATE. The instructional materials would be utilized in enhancing the learners’ literacy and numeracy skills. There were three recipients of the documents namely: San Ramon Elementary School, Tebag Elementary School, and Balacag Elementary School.
One thousand units of coin banks were also distributed to several schools because Dr. Dulay wanted to inculcate the value of frugality and financial literacy skills among the young learners.
Aside from distributing vital materials in honing the students’ literacy and skills, Dr. Dulay spearheaded community outreach, tree planting, and recycling.
Activities of WE INNOVATE have reached other schools in the division and have left a mark on the teachers, enough for them to adopt this innovation in their own classroom teaching.
Dr. Dulay shared that currently, 20 science teachers in Manaoag National High School continuously integrate SDGs and GCED in teaching which are weekly monitored and inspected in class observation by the Science Head Teacher.
“It always excites me to hear news and positive experiences about other teachers integrating the SDGs in Science teaching,” Dr. Dulay said as she shared her happiness in the result of her efforts in her advocacy.
WE INNOVATE does not stop at pursuing Quality Education (SDG No. 4), but it also addressed different goals which are Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG No. 7), Climate Action (SDG No. 13), Life below water (SDG No. 14), and Life on land (SDG No. 15).
A new journey: Future plans on the project
Project Innovate has already accomplished its mission in Manaoag NHS and nearby schools but it is not yet the end of Dr. Dulay’s battlecry. Now that the KPTEP alumna has been designated as a Regional Education Program Supervisor, she is bringing the fight of WE INNOVATE to the entire Region I by introducing it to its 14 divisions.
Wanting the project to have a greater scope, Dr. Dulay humbly rated her project at 7 from a scale of 10, in terms of effectiveness. Until then, she will continue to shout “Be the solution! The time to innovate is now!”
It’s a wonderful experience to share what PROJECT WE INNOVATE can do in transforming our society.
It has always been a wonderful and inspiring experience to work with Dr. Dulay as one of the best and outstanding teachers of the Science Department of Manaoag NHS as her Head Teacher. She never ran out of ideas that persistently aimed to elevate the performance of her students and served as guide and model to her fellow teachers. She’s a very positive person and a shining star that started to shine from our school and now to the whole DEPED Region I.
We are glad to have shared Dr. Dulay’s story in PIGEON. She is indeed an amazing educator. Thank you for visiting the website. Please check our other articles that may be of interest you.:)
It’s good to know that there are teachers who passionately do their role as teachers and are willing to go beyond what is expected of them to help their communities. Thank you for this story. Thank you for the good news.
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