Field Study 4: Exploring the Curriculum Episode 3: Let’s Craft the Curriculum

1. Field Study 4:
Exploring the Curriculum
Episode 3: Let’s Craft the Curriculum
Name of FS Student: Ma. Cristina D. Panganoran
Course & Year: BSE-3 English
Resource Teacher: Mrs. Irenea P. Dizon Signature: ________________
Date Signed: ______________
Cooperating School: Holy Cross College (High School Department)
Instructor: Mrs. Gloria A. Silva
Date of Submission: August 09, 2011
Date Submitted: August 08, 2011

2. Resource Teacher: Mrs. Irenea P. Dizon
Cooperating School: Holy Cross College High School Department
Class Observed: 3-2
Date Observed: August 02, 2011
Observation Report
After observing the class of Mrs. Dizon, I was able to pinpoint that that the curriculum used was in
the vertical design because the broad topic literature being learned by the students is also taught in all
the other year level but in a deeper sense as the level goes higher. From the main subject literature, the
lesson on what is the difference between prose and poetry comes before the lesson about fictional
stories such as epics, myths, legends, short stories and novels.
The curriculum is also learner-centered because the focus of all activities in the class revolves
around the students. The students during the lesson are very active and it is notable that reporters are
knowledgeable about their reports and are able to interact with their classmates during the reporting
activity. The teacher acts as the facilitator and gives additional information after each report. The
teacher emphasizes the importance of reporting in class and at the same time gives tips on how to
improve their performance.
The lesson also has a bit of affective factors because reporting helps the students build
confidence as early as possible to prepare them for college life. The teacher made it clear to the students
that her subject is at their service to be used as a training ground for the future. The teacher also
praises her students’ efforts to be able to deliver a report that they researched themselves.
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Horizontal Articulation
History
Grammar
Lesson Literature
Example:
Past Tense/
Vocabulary/ Science
or Sentence
Structure
Arts or Music
Appreciation

3. In the horizontal articulation, as shown in the illustration at the page previous page, grammar
lessons can be taught using other subjects as content like History, Literature, Science and Music or Art
Appreciation.
Example in History: The teacher can use a part of the Philippine history to be used as a part of the
grammar lesson.
In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines.
He claimed the islands for Spain.
Colonization began when a Spanish explorer arrived from Mexico.
Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico in 1565.
He formed the first European settlements in Cebu.
In 1571, the Spanish established Manila as the capital of the Spanish East Indies.
The students can now try to identify which is the subject and predicate. Get examples of past tense usage
and even unlock vocabulary words such as
colonization
explorer
settlements
capital
established
Example in Science:
Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase.
Condensation is the reverse of evaporation.
Deposition is when the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly.
Words such as of, on, from and into are good examples of prepositions.
Example in Art Appreciation:
Select some pictures to show the class and place them around the room, like a gallery. Using a worksheet
or letting students work freely, ask them to
describe the picture orally
speculate what the painter was thinking or feeling or doing when s/he painted it
how does the painting make them feel
Let the students write a few sentences on their feelings about the paintings. 3-5 sentences will do. Task-
based learning of the language is being done here.
Example in Literature: Let the students read a short story and then let them retell the story in their own
words using questions as guide for their grammar lesson. If it’s for the past tense then make sure the
questions given to the students will lead them to producing the output wanted which is the past tense
usage.

4. Vertical Articulation
1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year
Literary types Literary genre Literary Genre Literary techniques
(Philippine Literature) (Afro-Asian (British and American and Styles
Literature) Literature) (World Literature)
Understanding Understanding Understanding Understanding
Appreciation Appreciation Appreciation Appreciation
Express one’s identity Relationship between React to the Express the belief that
and cultural heritage. man and his experiences of other people can make a
environment and the cultures or actions of difference as
need to protect the characters in relation highlighted in
latter. to real life situations. literature and show a
State the effect of a keener sense of value
literary piece in one’s for what is worthwhile
value system. trough exposure to
literature. Indicate
commitment to values
and humanity.
I got this chart from the PSSLC copy I obtained from one of my professors in HCC. I believe this
chart is correct because as the year gets higher the understanding and appreciation becomes deeper
and more meaningful rather than just memorizing the characteristics of the short story from a novel, it
gives more emphasis on the environment one lives in and the other people around or the society. It
becomes broader in a sense where students will want to try and understand the actions of other people
by being exposed to literature. After understanding other cultures one will try to do something to make
things improve or change for the better by being committed to the values he/she learned during the
encounters of the lessons in literature.
It’s really heavy if you weigh in everything but this is part of the Philippine Secondary Schools
Learning Competencies (PSSLC). This is required of the students after they graduate from 4th year high
school. They may think it’s redundant but these things need to be carved really deep in their minds and
hearts for this is part of fulfilling the vision of the school of molding our students into model citizens of
our land.
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Analysis:
1. Examine the BEC. What aspects do you want to modify? Why?
I still lack experience to give any input to a curriculum made by experts, but I will try my best to
convey my ideas. Since there are still non-readers when students reach high school, then part of it must
be because of the curriculum. If I were the one to modify, I would suggest the allotted time for the
subjects be changed and the number of topics should be lessen for the lower grades and give more focus

5. on the major subjects such as Language, Science and Mathematics. If this is done, I believe more time will
be spent on learning the 4 language arts namely, Speaking, Reading, Listening and Writing. It is also vital
to give more emphasis on basic Mathematics for mastery development to avoid wasting time with
remedial classes in high school.
This is really a great demand to all teachers because we can only comply with what the
curriculum requires. Producing non-readers is not acceptable and is considered a failure on the part of
the teacher. The distribution of time for each learning area should be reconsidered because this is what
our learners need at the moment.
When it comes to each subject the topics should be lessen because according to my research, the
evaluation showed that
An overcrowded curriculum results in students’ poor performance in Grades I-III. Students need
more time in Science and Mathematics.
Our students are deficient in reading ability and have not yet developed higher order thinking
skills at Grade V.
There is a danger of reverting back to illiteracy if the student drops out even before completing
Grade VI. Teachers should all be aware of this and try to act now before it is too late.
Our country ranked 39th among 58 countries in the 2010 World Competitive Yearbook (WCY), but
remained the least competitive of the 13 economies in the Asia-Pacific region that were included in the
study. This is the second time that the Philippines ended up at the bottom of the list of competitive
countries in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Edilberto de Jesus, president of the Asian Institute of
Management (AIM), the results showed that the Philippines has improved but is still at the bottom of Asian
countries. We were once at the same level with Thailand. Now Thailand is ranked 26th or 13 places ahead
of us which is really showing that we really have problems in our educational system.
2. What curriculum models do you prefer? Why?
I personally prefer the learner-centered design model, particularly the experience-centered
because I want to give activities to my students which they are comfortable with and when they are
proficient with their strengths, the next step is to take them out of their comfort zone to test their
weaknesses and provide experiences for them to overcome these things.
I want to give my experience as an example with F.S. 4. I was comfortable with having to do tasks
in this subject with a lot of time in my hands, but suddenly I only have half of the days than what my
classmates have to finish this episode. It was August 2 when the episode was given and August 3-5 will be
my seminar in Assumption. I was nervous and sweaty hoping on that same day, August 2, I will find a
resource teacher who will be willing to let me observe without prior notice. If this fails, then I can only
observe on Monday, the day before submission and that would be really hard. Luck was on my side and I
was able to see a teacher who was just starting their opening prayer, I was relieved that she was even
glad that I came to observe her class. I’m thankful that I was able to get out of my comfort zone and I was

6. able to come out alive and hopefully victorious. This was really a working under pressure scenario and I
really had to pull out all my resources including human resources such as teachers to provide my copy of
BEC, and PSSLC in English so I can better understand the Horizontal and Vertical articulation. It was
seminar by day and typing by night. Research here and there and ofcourse putting together my
observation report from Mrs. Dizon’s class activities.
My point is, if I never had this experience, I wouldn’t know that I can pass this hurdle and even
pass my report ahead of schedule. I discovered something about myself that I never expected. I just want
to share this feeling with my future students. The feeling of accomplishing something and gaining
experiences for personal growth and finding out that I can do things that I never knew I could.
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Reflections:
What do I like best in these curriculum designs?
Subject-Centered Design
• Easy access to resource materials
• It is the most familiar design
• Easy to deliver
• Aims for mastery in every subject
• Provides a solid foundation for the next
level
Learner-Centered Design
• Recognizes the importance of the learner
in the curriculum
• Cognitive, affective and psychomotor
development is emphasized
• Develops interpersonal skills
• Stresses the development of positive
self-concept

7. Problem-Centered Design
• It is a unique design
• Various problems are given emphasis
• Focuses on real life experiences of the
learner
• Aims for social betterment
• Includes the common needs and concerns of
the learner on a deeper level or beyond the
subject
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Why I Like All 3 Designs
Just like with the methods and strategies, there is also no single best Curriculum Design because
the designs are all needed for each characteristic of a learner to be improved. The development of a child
cannot rely on only one of the designs. They all work well in combination to serve the needs of the
students better.
First, I want to state why I like the subject-centered design. This design is easy to deliver because
the materials or the textbooks will be the guide of the teacher. This design is the most familiar to
everyone. This is also a strong foundation for the implementation of the other designs in class. It serves
as the students’ background knowledge of a subject. So when other designs such as problem-centered
and learner-centered are implemented the student will easily adapt to them.
Second is the problem-centered design. This is suitable for the higher level students since this is
the time when they need to start being mature people, stop daydreaming and face reality. The issues they
will be facing when they graduate and become workers will be much bigger so it’s a good time to practice
in school by starting to face the problems they encounter in their life and how to solve or overcome them.
Though I said in the title that I like them all, the learner-centered design is what I like the best.
Teachers have it hard because they are supposed to correct mistakes but we have to be ready of the
consequences as students may take it the wrong way and stop participating. We must find ways of dealing
with errors because the path to fluency must include a lot of mistakes. The only way to make no mistakes
is to say nothing and one will never learn anything that way.
As much as possible I want my future students to be active. Rather than showing them that I’m
the one in the room with wisdom, I would like them to feel that they are welcome to speak their mind in my
class without the fear of embarrassment. I want my students to be confident while reciting or reporting.
In any activity, my dream is for everyone to participate and learn by doing things they haven’t done before
as a result, making them grow not by size but by heart and mind.