A PhotoStory About What I Do

“The Story About What I Do”

My name is Jeff Liwag, and this is the story about what I do.

I was born and raised in the Philippines;

in the tiny town of San Miguel, Bulacan, which is in Luzon, just one of the 7,107 islands that comprise the Philippines.

I spent literally half my life in a Catholic school.

Despite adamant discouragement by the nuns, I went to a state university – the University of the Philippines...

...where I understood why they did not want me to venture out of the sterilized confines of the Catholic world.

I learned to question everything and more than that, how to think for myself.

This is also where I met my wife, and where I realized what to make of my life. I took up Special Education.

Uprooting myself and my family of three happened in 2003, when we decided to move to El Paso...

where I took up an Alternative Certification Program in UTEP to be able to teach Special Education in Texas even though I majored in Special Education, but life works out that way sometimes.

A year and a half in the desert helped us realize that nothing is quite the same as living in the tropics...

...so we moved closer to the water, to Galveston in 2004 where we still work and play until this day.

Seeing and being with children with a plethora of special needs all these years have helped me realize how lucky I and my own children are. Not only do I learn a lesson in patience and humility every single day, but in celebrating successes, no matter how small, as well as appreciating every single person and thing in life, for better or for worse. 

Sadly, I am trying to transition out of Special Education and into the field of Educational Technology. Every year, the “accountability” rules that the “No Child Left Behind Act” put in place de-motivate and infuriate me. These rules run contrary to the act’s original intent of not leaving children behind. I would rather move to a nascent field where I can still help people become successful.

Reflection:

The assignment this week was to create a Personal Digital Story using Microsoft PhotoStory 3. Besides the tool being rather outdated, the experience was gratifying, as much as (I imagine) any activity wherein one has to talk about oneself. It was an unusual activity for me (if not uncomfortable) if truth be told, but I find it to be a good exercise in creating multimedia content that can also be used in an educational setting.