reflection #8

Component 2 of the

Components of Curriculum and Curricular Approaches:

Curriculum Content or Subject Matter

“Knowledge is a model we construct to give meaning and structure to regularities in experience” –

Gerome Bruner

What could be the most and very crucial stage in developing a curriculum? It could be no other else than selecting the content of it. This significantly defines the subject matter that will be taught in the different subject areas in order to achieve the objectives. Fortunately, there are some criteria that should be used in selecting the content. But before we move on, one thing is for sure,

Let us not neglect the little things.

In selecting the subject matter content or knowledge for designing a curriculum, here are some criteria:

* Self-sufficiency – it is helping the learners to attain the utmost independency in learning yet in an inexpensive way is the most important guiding principle in selecting the content according to Scheffler. This means, more of the results and effective learning outcomes though a lesser amount of the teacher’s effort and so with the learner’s effort.

* Significance – It is significant if fundamental ideas, concepts, principles and generalization are supplied in the subject matter to achieve the overall aim of the curriculum.

* Validity – the genuineness of a content selected is by its legality. The subject matter to be selected has to be legal to avoid selecting the obsolete ones.

* Interest – the learner’s interest is a major factor in selecting the content.

* Utility - deciding on subject matter, its usefulness is considered to be essential.

* Learnability – if there is a quotation to “live within our means” then there is also the consideration of “teaching within the means of the learners.”

* Feasibility – content selection takes into thought the possibility, the practicability and the achievability of the subject matter in terms of the availability of the resources, proficiency of the teachers, and the personality of learners especially within the framework of the society and the government.

We have learned the very crucial stage in designing a curriculum, therefore, we must take into regard even if it is considered the little thing in the curriculum yet the most critical and decisive part of selecting the content or the subject matter.  

reflection #7

Component 1 of the

Components of Curriculum and 

Curricular Approaches

The first component of a certain curriculum is to identify the aims, goals and its objectives. In a particular institution called school, whether directed by the government or by the private sector, a positive curriculum is implanted. In this beloved country, our educational system is split into three levels, we have primary, secondary and tertiary – each has its particular aims, goals and objectives.  As we are now applying and approaching the K to 12 educational program, the Tri-Focals of the country has been develop, namely, the Dep Ed for the primary level and CHED for the secondary and tertiary level and TESDA for vocational skills. 

We have also discussed the importance of the school’s vision and mission and goals. We have that VMGO acronym which stands for Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives. For us to know what would become of a particular institution, its vision would help us clarify it. For the vision to be carried out, the school’s mission statement is then significant, targeting to bring into being the kind of persons the students will become after having been educated over a certain period of time. Then, broad statements or plans to be accomplished, school must go further to its goals, which comprise the learners, the society and the support of knowledge. For the goals to be made simple, specific objectives are set for the achievement of an individual learner. It also direct to behavioral change which is the ultimate intention of learning. These are also the bases for which learning outcomes are to be evaluated.

I have also learned from Ma’am Olga about the 21^st Century Skill Literacy among Filipinos. One is considered literate if he/she is able to communicate well, expressing his/her ideas in the proper situation. Also, if one is comfortable or confident in terms of handling or manipulating the ICT; productive and competitive. 

The above checklist of a Filipino literate in this present generation is just one of the manifestations that the designed curriculum of an institution which entails its vision, mission, goals and objectives, is ever effective, successful and useful.

As we desire to be a curriculum designer one day, we then have to take into thought of what vision, mission, goals and objectives are to be considered as to the need of the learners and the society which comprises the first component of constructing a curriculum.

reflection #6

 Campaigns!

Yes! K to 12 Campaigns! This is a shout out for all of us to awaken and be in line with the advance and not a decongested curriculum. We have long been burdened with the previous curriculum of 10-year educational program in which this system had led us to many jobless Filipino people, multiplying street children and out-of-school youth.

With the new (only in our country) K to 12 educational program, it offers a more balanced approach to learning that will enable children to acquire and master lifelong learning skills. This will also help releasing parents of the burden of having to spend college just to make their children employable. Not just this is a better program but that this will help in ensuring employment for our graduates.  This new k to 12 basic education curriculum will be sufficient to prepare students for work. It will enable students to acquire Certificate of Competency (COCs) and national Certifications (NCs) that will be in accordance to TESDA training regulations. This will allow graduates to have middle level skills and will offer them better opportunities to be gainfully employed. 

Additionally, these K to 12 Program will be offered for free in public schools and its graduates will have higher earning potential since they will be more competent and skilled compared to graduates of the current 10-year system. Therefore, this is not at all an additional cost to parents.

Plus, this program will also help students intending to pursue higher education because this curriculum will be in accordance with the college willingness standards from CHED which sets the skills and competencies of the k to 12 graduates who wish to pursue higher education.

What more is that this K to 12 Program will help working students in college level by having DepED in collaboration with CHED to provide more opportunites for working students to attend classes. DepED is also working with the Department of Labor and Employment to ensure that jobs will be available to K to 12 graduates and that consideration will be given to working students.

The good thing is that the curriculum will be learner-centered, enriched, and responsive to local needs. It will also allow students to choose electives that suit their interest. This should partly address those who drop out because of lack of interest. DepEd will also continue to offer programs such as home schooling for elementary students and the dropout reduction program for high schools. These programs the learning needs of marginalized students and learners at risk of dropping out.

What better curriculum could we ask for? This educational system is our most awaited system. The DepEd’s goal of EFA, Education for All, will now be taken into action. So, YES for K to 12 Curriculum!

Reflection #5

ACTIVITY 1 - Curriculum Defined

Persons Interviewed	Answer to Question: What is Curriculum to You?
Elementary Grades Teacher	Curriculum is an orderly, arranged skills of learning used to guide teaching-learning process
School Principal	Curriculum is a form of education prepared to cater the knowledge of individual to mold and guide him the right carrier where he should be in the future.
College Teacher	Curriculum/Curricula pertains to the subjects included in a course of study, that includes any program of activities, schedule of the subjects being taught, units or allotted time, grading system, strategies, approaches, and objectives. As a totality, most curriculum have a main goal for the total development of the learners that they may use for a lifetime.
Student Teacher	Curriculum is dynamic
Non-education college Student	Curriculum is a schedule, it maybe for a month or a year. Certain schedules are made to be followed. In school, curriculum refers to how many days, holidays, or when or exams are to be conducted.

Comments:

As an interviewer, I find the answers of my interviewees as similar and correlate to each other.  The diversity of their answers makes up one sense of meaning. Curriculum is a guide, a direction, a way, a path, a course in which one has to track to be able to reach the finish line.

ACTIVITY 2 – Identifying the Curricula Operating in the Schools

Name of School: Mindanao Technical Training Academy

Types of Curricula Operating in School	Examples from Observations or Interviews
Recommended Curriculum	ACE - Accelerated Christian Education Curriculum
Written Curriculum	ACE - Accelerated Christian Education Curriculum
Taught Curriculum	Art making activities
Supported Curriculum	PACES - Packaged Accelerated Christian Education System, DLP, Laptops
Assessed Curriculum	Diagnostic Test, Check-up Test, Self-Test
Learned Curriculum	National Achievement Test, Periodical Exams
Hidden Curriculum	prayerful children, giver and helping children

Activity 3 – Curriculum from Two Points of View: Traditional or Progressive

Points of View of Curriculum	Illustrative Examples of Practices
Traditional Curricular Practices
Progressive Curricular Practices

REFLECTION

1. Can a school exist without a curriculum? Why or why not?

      

     Yes, a school cannot exist without a curriculum.

 A school is put up to be an institution of guidelines, an institution for educating children into the knowledge they have to attain for the sake of survival in the world of community they live in. 

Furthermore, without curriculum, a school is worthless or of no use. The establishment that consists of subjects to be taught during the whole school year, the amount of each lesson to be taught, the materials to be used during the lesson, the textbooks, the schedule of exams and test to be taken, the due of paper works, projects and the programs to be made during and in between school days - all of these, is what we called the curriculum.

Therefore, a school is made up of and diverse of curriculum and the school is made known because of its curriculum. 

Curriculum makes the school special and essential.

2. How does a strong belief or philosophy influence curriculum?

      One has to have a strong belief or philosophy or a spoon full of values for a curriculum to exist.

To enable to design a curriculum, there are factors which influenced it. It could be political development, social development, emotional development, physical development, psychological development or even technology.

If we are to design a curriculum, we have vision on what would become of our children, and to be able to see this vision coming to life, we have to have a goal - a curriculum is this mission.

Without a strong belief or strong philosophy, we are tossed to and fro and we cannot see our vision reach the goal.

3. As future teachers, how important will a curriculum be to you?

Curriculum is the heart of my teaching.

     That is how essential, valuable and important curriculum is to me as a future teacher. How can I know what to teach, how to teach and why to teach if i don't have the curriculum. 

It is my guiding light to lead the learners to the essentials that they should learn.

Through curriculum, I can know when to give them a certain lesson, when to let them have the test and exams. I can know when to give them practical evaluations. 

In it, I can evaluate my students and assess them into which level they have achieved, have been achieving and will be achieved.

4. What are the implications of an ever changing curriculum to teachers?

Teachers must therefore learn the new curriculum, this is the primary implication of an ever changing curriculum. 

This means, teachers will need to gain knowledge in the new parts of curriculum, in many cases. They will also need to attend sessions such as professional development or better yet, return to school if possible.

Teachers may have to change the way they teach depending on how the curriculum is changed.

A change in curriculum is a good thing because often times, it is changed to accommodate the learners' changing needs and abilities.

SELF - CHECK

1. Name five persons who contributed to the field of curriculum. Give the contribution of each.

• Franklin Bobbit (1876-1956) - Bobbit presented curriculum as a science that emphasizes on student's need. Curriculum prepares students for adult life. To Bobbit, objectives with corresponding activities should be grouped and sequenced. This can only be done if instructional activities and tasks are clarified.
• Ralph Tyler (1902-1994) - As one of the hallmarks of curriculum, Tyler believes that curriculum is a science and an extension of school's philosophy. It is based on student's needs and interest. To Tyler, curriculum is always related to instruction. Subject matter is organized in terms of knowledge, skills, and values. The process emphasizes problem solving. The curriculum aims to educate generalists and not specialists.
• William Kilpatrick (1871-1965) - Curricula are purposeful activities which are child-centered. The purpose of curriculum is child development and growth. The project method was introduced by Kilpatrick where teacher and student plan the activities. The curriculum develops social relationships and small group instruction.
• Werret Charters (1875-1952) - Like Bobbit, to Charters curriculum is a science. It gives emphasis on students' needs. The listing of objectives and matching these with corresponding activities ensures that the content or subject matter is related to objectives. the subject matter and the activities are planned by the teacher.
• Harold Rugg (1886-1960) - To Rugg, curriculum should develop the whole child. It is child-centered. With the statement of objectives and related learning activities, curriculum should produce outcomes. Harold Rugg emphasized social studies and the teacher plans curriculum in advance.

2. How do philosophy, psychology, history and society influence the development of a curriculum?

Educational Philosophy lays strong foundation of any curriculum. It provides educators, teachers and curriculum makers with framework for planning, implementing and evaluating curriculum in schools. It helps in answering what schools are for, what subjects are important, how students should learn and what materials and methods should be used. In decision making, philosophy provides the starting point and will be used for the succeeding decision making. It helps curriculum makers reflects his/her life experiences, common beliefs, social and economic background and education.

Psychology provides a basis for the teaching and learning process. It unifies elements of the learning process and some of the questions which can be addressed by psychological foundations of education whether how should curriculum be organized to enhance learning or what is the optimum level of students' participation in learning the various contents of the curriculum.

The Historical Development shows the different changes in the purposes, principles and content of the curriculum. This implies that curriculum is ever changing putting in knowledge and content from many fields of disciplines.

The relationship of curriculum and society is mutual and encompassing. Hence, to be relevant, the curricula should reflect and preserve the culture of society and its aspirations. At the same time society should also absorb or take in the changes brought about by the formal institutions called schools.

3. Explain how the three processes of planning, implementing and evaluating are used in curriculum development.

The three processes of planning, implementing and evaluating are essential in the curriculum development because these processes make up the development of a curriculum. These three processes are called the three parts of a curriculum.