On March 16, over 900 Elementary School Heads of the Iloilo Schools Division gathered at the Sarabia Manor Hotel for the 2016 Conference Training for Elementary School Heads. With the theme “Ignition for Greater Action,” the conference featured speakers who spoke various topics geared towards the holistic development of the academic heads in primary schools.

Pocholo “The VoiceMaster” Gonzales was the first speaker of the day, who energized the morning with a 2-hour workshop on the voice. With his talk entitled “Voice of the Teachers: Mastering Your Voice,” Pocholo taught the audience about the power of the voice, and its importance in the field of teaching. He started by sharing his story about how he started his career as a voice artist, which led to him being the most recognized and respected coach and trainer in the field of voice. He also talked a little bit about his advocacies on voice, particularly Voice Care for Teachers.
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Pocholo gave the participants a glimpse of his Voice Care for Teachers program by doing a workshop during his talk. He started by discussing about the “Generation Z,” the young people who are dominating the classrooms of today. He described this generation of young people to give a better understanding of how to deal with them, especially in the classroom. He then went on to say that the VOICE is a teacher’s greatest tool in reaching out to these students, so they need to know how to use it effectively.

Pocholo centered his workshop around 2 important keys to mastering the voice – vocal power and vocal variety. Through various posture, breathing and vocal exercises, Pocholo taught the participants a handful of techniques that will not only make them effective speakers, but will also enable them to preserve and take care of their most valuable teaching tool.

On March 4th, over 500 teachers from all over Metro Manila and nearby provinces filled the Marikina Convention Center to participate on the first day of St. Matthew’s Publishing’s event, dubbed as “UnlockED 2016.” As a pioneer in the educational publishing industry for preschool and elementary school books in the Philippines, St. Matthew’s Publishing holds this annual event to unlock the potentials of the teachers as well as to maximize their skills as educators. With this year’s theme “Designing Dynamic Learning Environments,” the seminar featured speakers that teach the participants various ways to make learning fun through creativity.

Pocholo “The VoiceMaster” Gonzales was the last speaker, who spoke about one of his advocacies, VOICE CARE FOR TEACHERS. In his hour-and-a-half talk, he emphasized the importance of the voice as a teacher’s primary tool in carrying out their teaching vocation. Pocholo discussed the different factors that made teachers prone to voice problems, and gave tools, exercises and techniques that would help them prevent voice problems in the future with the proper production of the voice.

Another important part of Pocholo’s talk was about mastering the voice, and how teachers can consciously cultivate habits that will not only prevent them from developing voice problems, but also how they can use their voice effectively in teaching today’s youth – also known as the Generation Z – who easily get distracted and bored, and have a short attention span of 4-6 seconds. He also shared his knowledge in voice acting, which teachers can also utilize in the classroom to make their teaching fun, memorable and meaningful. The VoiceMaster proved how voice acting can make a huge difference in engaging learners, by showcasing his own voice acting prowess.