Allan Paul Baldesancho Ventura (interviewee)

Allan Paul Baldesancho Ventura (Facebook account)

June 19, 2022, via Facebook messenger

Ezra Grace Tuppal

I had an online interview with Mr. Allan Paul Ventura, a high school teacher at Sta. Ana Fishery
National High School. He graduated from Cagayan State University – Andrews Campus with a
degree of Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Mathematics.

I asked him questions regarding assessment and evaluation, where authentic and traditional
assessment embarks on students' learning in mathematics. Assessment and evaluation play a
principal role in mathematics education as they often define the mathematics that is valued and
worth knowing. I posed the first question, "What strategies do you employ in evaluating students'
performance?" He briefly answered, "In evaluating students' performance, I usually use
individual and group performances." He stated that he lets his students work individually and in
groups on his subject.

The second question was to describe his strategy and what are the advantages as well as the
disadvantage (if in case there is a disadvantage). He explained, “In individual task strategy of
teaching, you can quickly know the intellectual intelligence of the students in any subject matter.
And on the other hand, using group activities, you can mix the intelligent ones with the coping
learners for them to have a simple collaboration about the solving methods. The advantage of
this strategy is to help the coping learners to get a high grade and it can help them to understand
the lessons that the teacher discussed. And I assure you that when we have group activities, all
the students are cooperating with the others.” Mr. Ventura wanted to make sure that his strategies
are effective both for individual work and groups. With this, the homeroom has acquired a new
look, and the educators and the students have new jobs. The students have become active bearers
of the process of gaining the necessary competence skills that are relevant to the job, and the
teacher simply gives the directions for the activities. Working with groups and working
individually allow students to apply their skills and knowledge within a context that more
closely resembles problem-solving and knowledge application in most jobs or daily tasks.

I also asked him about the specific traditional as well as the non-traditional or authentic
assessments that he utilized in assessing mathematics performance. He said that he uses paper
and pencil tests in the traditional assessment while in authentic assessment, he lets his students
work together. Brainstorming and collaboration are his ways to evaluate his students. Traditional
assessment forces educators to spend time teaching students how to manage tests, including
strategies for selecting correct answers from a listed group. Alternative assessment allows
educators to focus on critical reasoning skills, which students will be able to apply naturally to
long-form test questions.

And for the last question, what are the challenges that you encountered in evaluating math
performance and how did you cope with these challenges? “The main challenge that I encounter
is that every year, students are inconsistent in remembering Math facts not only remember but
also in the mastery of this subject matter. And the reason behind this is the lack of motivational
activities in their past grade levels to love and to easily understand mathematics”, he explained.
Mr. Ventura did not elaborate on how did he cope with these challenges. However, I know that
he fills what is lacking in his students’ ability in understanding mathematics.

In conclusion, I will be adopting the same strategy in evaluating the performance of my students
because through their individual and group work, I will be able to see how they progress as they
work by themselves and with groups. Giving them exercises that they can use in real life,
allowing them to explore what more they can learn in mathematics as they go outside the
classroom, and most especially to impart in their minds that mathematics can be more enjoyable
to learn.