Spiral Progression Approach: The Challenge

            According to the Republic Act 10533 also known as the Enhance Basic Education Act of 2013, Section 5, “The DEpEd shall adhere to the following standards and principles in developing the enhance BEC: (g) the curriculum shall use the spiral progression approach to ensure mastery of knowledge and skills after each level.”

            Spiral Progression is a teaching approach developing same concepts from one grade level to the next in increasing complexity. It revisits concepts at each grade level with increasing depth. This approach avoids the major disjunctions between stages of schooling provides the basis for continuity and consistency. Compartmentalization inhibit transfer of learning across topics; students who exit school early do not have the basic functioning skills across requisite areas especially in science (University of Melbourne, Curriculum Comparison Study, 2011).

            For example, the topic Heredity: Inheritance and Variation is taught across Grade 7 to Grade 10, but with increasing complexity in topics. In Grade 7 the topic starts with the Types of Reproduction. The students will be asked to differentiate sexual and asexual reproduction. In Grade 8, Cell Division and Mendelian Genetics will be presented.  Non-Mendelian Genetics will be tackled in Grade 9 and Central Dogma of Life is during Grade 10 (DepEd K to 12 Curriulum Guide, Science).

            Notice how the topics are gradually discussed all throughout Grade 7 to Grade 10. Consequently, mastery of knowledge and skills will be ensured. This helps learners learn the topics and skills suited to their cognitive and developmental statages. However, it is also important to note that the topics are connected to each other. To be able to understand and master the concepts and skills, one should possess the mastery of its basics, one should be able to recall. If the students could not recall the topics in their previous grades, the mastery that the spiral progression ensures would be very difficult and laborious.

            For instance, how can Grade 9 students understood Non-Mendelian Genetics if they cannot even remember who Gregor Mendel is? How can they understand the basic of DNA if they do not have the prior knowledge of word “genes” or “chromosomes?” Teachers will instead spend most of the time reviewing and going back to the basics always. So, this is the challenge in the spiral progression approach. A challenge that first confronts the teachers. Despite the fact that Spiral Progression Approach is meant to strengthen the retention and mastery of the topics and skills, the question still for the teachers is, how can they provide their students the instruction that is more memorable and meaningful? 

ICT: ICT (Information Communication Technology: Intervention in the Century’s Teaching)

Time after time everything changes and mutated. One of the various transformations and developments takes place in our human technology. With the bright, creative, innovative and practical minds of our fellows, technology has been modernized and digitalized. As technology changes, society also changes, our mode of communication (from telegrams to mms, sms, emails, and etc.), entertainment (from theatres to videos and movies) and socialization (facebooks, twitters and instagrams).

Furthermore, the innovation in our technology continues to arise in our present generation. Today, varieties of things are introduced; radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. Because of this, the term Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been presented to everyone, especially to the students.

The Information Communication Technology concerned with the manipulation of information digitally. This is why ICT is essential to education (teaching-learning process). Through ICT, various teaching styles are readily available. Teachers will be given greater options on how to deliver instruction or information more creatively. It is also through the help of ICT, teachers will be able to make his/her teaching approaches and strategies more suitable to the 21^st century learners.

This time, teachers are not already the main source of information but the filterer instead. In addition, because tons of different information are readily available to the cyber world, it is the duty of the teacher to filter those information to avoid misconceptions to the learners. This means that teachers should provide reliable sites and links in the internet for the students to surf.

Thus, integration of ICT in the teaching and learning process should be highly considered.  One should make use of technology for better classroom management, organization and communication. That is why, all teachers should do their best to learn and be more digitally literate to make sure that their teaching styles would compromise on the learning styles of their learners.

A Student Teacher’s Note: The Journey beyond Adversity

It is important that the teachers fully understood the meaning of the learners as the core in the teaching and learning process. Thinking of appropriate strategies and approaches in every lesson, had stressed me a lot. It was really a great challenge preparing activities that would harnessed the potentials of each learner.

Diversity in the classroom had also challenged me a lot. It has brought out my flexibility, creativity and sensitivity. Knowing one of mottos of the Enhanced Basic Education which is, “No child should be left behind”, pressured me to be more considerate and patient. Despite all the challenges and struggles I have encountered, I was still motivated and greatly encouraged to pursue teaching.

 Seeing my students’ happiness because they have understood the lesson easily, had brought delight in my heart. Hearing them compliment me was an additional profit that made me smile at the end of the day. That very pleasant feeling when I have inspired them to study more and love my subject, truly inspired me more to strive harder and become a great teacher in the near future.

 Teaching is a job that strictly requires a heart. To be able to teach effectively, a teacher should first love his or her learners. Those weaklings, selfish, conceited and self-centered, do not have a place in teaching. A teacher should always understand that the classroom is a stage for the learners to show what they have got and explore what they can do. Without the teacher’s eyes that see the heart of the learners, teaching will only be isolated in the minds and would only remain as shallow as the wounds inflicted by a needle.

A Guidepost

Lesson planning is one of the challenges every teacher has. It is a responsibility which a teacher should master. And for me, lesson planning is a vital component of the teaching and learning process. The effectiveness of teaching relies on the appropriateness of planning the lesson. As for my experience, there are three things which I realized about lesson planning.

            First, the lesson plans should be for the learners not for the teacher. In planning the lesson, the learners should be the first in considerations. The teacher should make the lesson for the convenience of the learners in learning not for the convenience of the teacher in teaching. The first question that a teacher should answer is, “how will I make my students understand the lesson according to the level of their thinking?”

            Second, the teacher should not necessarily follow everything written in the lesson plan. During the implementation of the lesson, the teacher should become sensitive on the different needs of every learner. There are cases that what was planned was actually not appropriate to the kind of learners present in the classroom. So it is the responsibility of the teacher to create modifications in his or her lesson plans to meet the learning styles and needs of the learners.

            Third, the effectiveness of a lesson plan will only be determined after the implementation.  A teacher cannot tell that his or her lesson plan is effective unless it is being implemented. There is really a teacher factor when evaluating a certain plan. There are cases that the plan is excellently done but the implementation does not coincide on what the lesson plan is telling. So it is important that the teachers should not only master the making of the lesson plans but should also practice well in the implementation stage.

            Hence, the role of the lesson plan is a guide. One will be lost if it is absent. 

How to be like SUPERMA'AM?

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Superma’am is a telefantastic series aired in the Philippines, on GMA-7 TV network every weekdays evening. It is a story of a teacher who was chosen to become a superhero. Inside the classroom, she is known to be Ma’am Minervah, but during troubles, she known as Superma’am. As a teacher, her job is save the learners from ignorance, but as a superhero, her work is to save the humanity from wickedness. The series is a hit especially in children for it is a superhero story, plus it talks about teachers whom are greatly admired by the public.

The question then is, how can a typical teacher become like Superma’am? As a viewer of the ‘fantaserye’ and as a teacher personally, I have come up with five tips to be like her. These are the things Superma’am has. I called it the 5Ms and I have relate it to the teaching and learning process. To become like her, it is necessary to become:

1.      MAKATAO. Like Superma’am, teachers need to think at others first. The learners should be the first priority in the process. All approach and instructions must be at the interest of the students.

2.      MAKAKALIKASAN. We only have one home, the Earth. So, it is just a must for the teachers to teach the next generation to value and take care of only home. Also, teachers should first become a model of a concern inhabitant of the Earth. Lessons such as proper waste management, minimizing global warming, fighting pollution and the like should be emphasized.

3.      MAKADIYOS. Students should be taught to become grateful and have faith to the Almighty One. Additionally, values should be a part of the teaching and learning process. Teachers must understand that there is always a lesson that can be learned in every subject area. If the teachers fail to become makadiyos and teach the value to the students, it might be possible to produce an educated monsters in the future.

4.      . MAKABANSA. Nationalism and patriotism should be emphasized and modeled by the teachers. Students should feel the pride of being a Filipino citizen and never become inferior about it.

5.      MAKAPANGYARIHAN. Well, you have read it correct. In reality, there is no such thing as a super power that can beat a thousand evil one at one time. However, in reality as well, there is really a great super power that can do all things. This is the most important thing Superma’am has, love. No one would disagree that love is a powerful thing in this world. Thus, to become a powerful teacher, one should possess love. Without this power, a teacher will surely find the teaching and learning process difficult.

Hence, how to become like Superma’am? Well, just possess the famous core values of a Filipino citizen, plus be powerful with love.