“Was PowerPoint Born Out of the Innovative Use of Manila Paper?”

The Teacher Then & Now: Snippets of my Journey as a Teacher since the 90s to Present

If you don’t know these papers as teachers, most likely you’ve used something similar to this back in the early days. If you’re from the Philippines, you’ve been missing what we’ve had with no technology.

Somehow I wonder if Powerpoint was born out of teachers ‘ innovation in using Manila paper 😀

I have had a great love for this cheap and eco-friendly Manila paper. Since I was an education student in the early 90s, my classmates and I used this paper in multiple ways. We cut, design, label, post, and save it!

As a visual aid, we had to use a broad-tip type of pentel pen to make sure our handwriting was neatly styled. We marked it with crayons, colorful pens, or art papers on the sides to give an excellent edge and creative borders when used as a bulletin, reading chart, or poster to capture readers and focus on our content. It was cut, too, in many ways, such as cue cards, game cards, and even arts and crafts. I used to burn the edges with mosquito coils to create the old remnants effect for my big creative storybooks for kids when storytelling.

Its versatility makes it convenient to use it in many forms and shapes. We also used it like a background paper behind other artsy papers and materials that we could stick on it. When taped together, it can be a great back draft on stage!

Is it not just like using PowerPoint? As long as you have the right skills and creativity, Manila papers can capture your attention and present your ideas visually with excellent bullet points and personalized layouts and designs.

There’s more!

Like you, who saved your PowerPoint files, we had our way of preserving our Manila paper “files,” too. We covered them with broad transparent adhesive tapes horizontally or vertically. In short, we laminated each paper with adhesive tapes! In that way, we could reuse these Manila papers for several classes and even in the subsequent batches of students for the next school year! That was, of course, if the instructional materials created on Manila paper were still relevant to the lesson.

Facts on Manila Paper

What’s your story in using Manila paper? Did you use anything similar to this paper as visual papers in class?