Pedagogical Practices

This part of the blog contains the pedagogical content observed specifically:

Teaching methods of the teacher that you observed
Their learning materials and innovation
Sources of learning and technology used by the teachers
Authentic assessment used by the teachers
Others

Teaching methods of the teacher observed

I was lucky to have the opportunity to observe Mr. Laode Ndoali’s class twice, one for Level 10 and Level 12. Mr. Ali follows the Learning Outcomes of English Subject where different elements or macro skills are targeted. For both of his lessons, he focused on the ‘Writing-Presenting’ aspect; he requires the students to write and answer the activity that he assigned, before letting them present in front their outputs.

Following the Project-Based Learning or PBL, he allows students to work hands-on, fostering collaboration as activities are done in groups. Given that both classes I observed are activity times, he was still able to give a run down on the topic first to give the students a short review using igniter questions. After the class presentation, he does another follow up and review to conclude the day’s lessons.

Learning materials and Innovation

For both of the classes I observed, the teacher made use of their whatsapp groups to send out their learning material and the activity that they need to do.

Sources of learning and technology used by the teachers

The cooperating teacher that I observed focused more on activities, following the Pancasila Student Profile, following the Merdeka Curriculum. As a pre-service teacher, I believe that this is also important to just go back to the roots of teaching and not rely much on technology. Mr. Ali also mentioned that due to the lack of projectors he can use, he’s giving other teachers the chance to use what is available more than him.

Authentic assessment used by the teachers

Following the learning outcomes per year level, adhering to the ‘writing-presenting’ aspect, the assessments given were fit to the outcomes. The authentic assessment used by the teacher involves both written tests and performance-based evaluations. The students are assessed on their ability to complete tasks like writing narrative texts and presenting them. These assessments are designed to evaluate not just the content but also the structure, creativity, and collaboration during group work. Additionally, the assessment rubrics include categories such as group member involvement, content quality, and presentation delivery.

Anecdotes

Sir Ali’s method was new to me as it was a lesson plan for three hours. It made me think if Philippines can also benefit from that time every period instead of the 55 minutes – 1 hour only. I observed that students can have more time to think and get their mindset to focus on one subject only. But I also wondered how that can be for the teachers because as someone who experienced an three hours of one subject, if the teacher is focused on discussing only, then there would be lack of focus from the students so to ensure that the time is spent well with all students participating, activities should be done within that three hours. I worry that staying on top of creativity and creating new different assessments per lesson plan would be too much and also overbearing for the teachers. However, Sir Ali was also in disbelief how can Filipino teachers fit what they want to teach into what he considers as limited time. I would love to see and observe more and learn about the advantage and disadvantages of both curriculum.