Daily lesson planning, anyone?
Cross-posted from my weblog.
OCTOBER is the month when public school students go into a week-long break ending the first semester of the school year. The break also allows their teachers to attend training arranged by their respective division or district offices.
I was reminded of this after my wife, who teaches geometry at Camarines Sur National High School, was extra-busy last week — as Math club president, she had to oversee their departmental in-service training and aside from that prepare something to share to fellow math teachers.
There was something in one of our conversations last week that grabbed my attention, and I took mental note of it. It had something to do with a sharing by a fellow teacher on the new Cyber Education Project (CEP)-compliant lesson plan format, for which a week-long training was recently arranged by the DepEd.
From a simple format that requires only five sections, the new lesson plan now has 13, ostensibly in preparation for CEP’s eventual implementation. The sharing drew sharp reactions from the audience: instead of simplifying matters, lesson planning has just become more complicated if this P26.4 billion project really pushes through!
This reminded me of the Rapu-Rapu Education summit we facilitated last August 25 under the auspices of the Synergeia Foundation. If there is a search for the most unpopular task ordinary Filipino teachers must grapple with, preparing lesson plans day in and day out will be the hands-down winner.
In that Rapu-Rapu event, the dynamics between the teachers and their supervisors again came to the fore, mirroring all other events I have previously attended where the issue came up: is there really a need for these daily lesson plans in the task of educating the Filipino child?
On one hand, supervisors argue lesson planning is part of the job description, as teachers are given only six loads daily, with the two others allocated precisely for that task. Further, they are essential tools for the monitoring function of supervisors.
Teachers, on the other hand, argue they will be most thankful to DepEd if ready-made lessons can be provided them, or other alternative schemes are implemented, and these two hours be devoted instead to efforts to improve their delivery of the lessons.
Well, being a non-teacher, I scoured the net and ended up with an item on “lesson plan” from Wikipedia, part of which says
“In today’s constructivist teaching style, the individual lesson plan is often inappropriate. Specific objectives and timelines may be included in the unit plan, but lesson plans are more fluid as they cater to student needs and learning styles. As students are asked to engage in problem or inquiry learning, rigid lesson planning with title, behavioral objectives, and specific outcomes within certain time constraints often no longer fit within modern effective pedagogy. Today, formal lesson plans are often required only of student teachers, who must be demonstrably familiar with the components of a lesson, or teachers new to the field, who have not yet internalized the flow of a lesson.”
Now, you tell me: Is there really a need for these daily lesson plans in the task of educating the Filipino child?
For five days, I am running a poll in my weblog on the above question until Sunday. Feel free to join or better still post a comment, especially if you happen to believe that there is a better way.
Im a public school teacher in a small school with only 10 teachers…
POLICY OR NOT…LESSON PLANNING FOR THE TEACHERS IN THE FIELD SHOULD ALTOGETHER BE REMOVED!!!!
I was visited by a group supervisor and they ask to see my lesson plans…
She did not bother to want to observe my class to see how amazing I look and can damn well perform as a teacher in front of my dear students… She just want to get a hold of my lesson plan..as if it was the holy grail, the ultimate tool of what my whole existence was all about…
Damn… LESSON PLAN IT IS…
I just could not provide one.. so I read her face saying like “this one damn stupid, lazy asshole who does not deserve to be in the excellent line of teachers the whole of public system can offer..” I could see their faces was filled with dismay, disappointment and probably disgust..
WITH ALL THE WISDOM I CAN MUSTER THAT DAY I STRUGGLE TO EXPLAIN …
Mesdames, this a small school for the past 6 years i have handled Physics, biology, geometry, aralin panlipunan, english IV, and ICT…I also have an advisory class of which i prepare all the reports plus other school reports such as TSNA, School improvement plan, resource mobilization, students follow-up, maintaining the school and classroom surrounding tidy…. etc.. Etc….
WELL SHE just DOES NOT CARE ABOUT IT SHE GOES ON SAYING THAT WE ARE JUST SUPPOSE TO FOLLOW THE RULES AND SINCE I APPLY FOR THE JOB I HAVE TO FOLLOW.. OTHERwise I COULD ALWAYS LEAVE…. WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…….
Damn it again… Now i know I was the F@#%$% problem all along.. me and my lazy ass…
My teaching load is more than six hours…they don’t pay me extra, im not complaining… and here I am still not enough for this bunch of all knowing superiors… I must be really missing out on something.,
By the way im being paid just 13k or 16k now (I guess, im not sure im debt-ridden)…hehehe.. and my all to eager and hardworking principal earn 9thousand more than mine…she is about 25k worth…. all she does as any willing eye may discover is to prepare reports which they mostly delegate to another kiss ass…me and other willing victims….
And here in front of me are supervisor who with their driver and cozy car… free to roam around.. visit school.. have free snacks and lunch… Earn definitely more than I …..10k more than I guess….
AND THEY TELL ME IT ISNT ENOUGH????
DAMN…. these seniors does not know shit…
WELL, I was just so damn depress… this blog I guess is my outlet…
They actually think im short-changing my dear students.. Who wouldn’t be depress…
SOME FACTS: Ive heard that in an informal survey conducted by students in UP Diliman about lesson they found out that:
1. It takes a master teacher 2 to 4 hours to make a good Lesson plan…I GOT ABOUT 4 DIFFERENT SUBJECT TO TEACH
HYSICS,BIO,GEO AND ICT: AND ONLY LESS THAN TO 2 HOURS TO MAKE THEM. PLUS AT THE END OF EACH YEAR THEY ARE ALSO CHECKING MY VISUAL AIDS..HEHEHEHE. MY GOLLY GOD, WHO ARE THIS PEOPLE?? WHERE HAVE THEY COME FROM???
2. Most of the teachers in preparing their lesson plan since it is time demanding and mentally exhausting will just copy their previous LP..But this process still eats about 30minutes to 1hour of the precious time of the teacher.. WHAT A WASTE OF PRECIOUS TIME… THEY CAN BARELY MAKE PREPARATION OR STUDY THEIR LESSONS OR OTHER UPDATES ALL BECAUSE OF THE ALL TOo IMPORTANT LPs..TADAH!!!! AND THERE IS NOT EVEN AN IOTA OF LOGIC IN COPYING YOUR OWN LP ANEW FOR SOMEONE TO PUT A RED MARK ON IT???? WHAT A STUPID ROUTINE…
Right now there are prototype LPs design by a team of experts WHO spent not just one hour per topic but long tedious hours and only after a satisfied deliberation.. WHY NOT JUST IMPLEMENT ThIS LESSONS DESIGN BY EXPERTS???? The teachers in the field don’t know how?? Train them… don’t let them design their own lesson plan.. I MEAN COPY THEIR OLD LPs..hehehehe.. what else?? Give them the materials to implement the lesson according to the specification of the prototype LP…
NOMORE COPYING OF OLD LPs please… ABOLISH THE LP POLICY..
The world.. this world belong to the open-minded, to those who can accept reason when clearly there is one… LEARN TO EVOLVE COZ CHANGE IS PERMANENT.. THOSE WHO CANNOT CHANGE WILL SOON MEET HIS DOOM..
THE TEACHERS ARE SUPPOSE TO BE THE BRIGHTEST AMONG ALL THE PEOPLE.. THIS same tenet is being challenge right now.. why cant we change ,,,. Why the unwillingness…
(Soon I will leave the public education system.. its eating me up.. I cannot stand the debilitating condition of both men and the system of which I am a part…. Ive paid my due as a DOST scholar…))
Here is something I guess is worthy of consideration:
THE SOLUTION: First, Stop blaming the teachers in the field… and start asking them what the problem is rather than looking for problem, try being part of the solution… Why ask the teachers you say??? Because we are smack in the middle of it all … we are with the client… we are diagnosing the disease AND THE SUPERIORS ARE SUPPOSE TO GIVE THE MEDICINE??? Nowadays the superiors and administrators— principals included—- slouch in their air-conditioned office and their suppose to know what is happening in the field?? They and their masters and doctorate degrees have only keep them close minded to the real world…
Second we ask for more flexibility in the field… my GOD… have nobody ever realized until now schools have different needs and you cannot just give a national policy or memorandum that applies to all…
The mainland school works on different stimuli, so does the island school, so does the big school and so does the small school…
Look: im from a small school I teach 3different subject and work the six hours teaching load and I still got advisory class… IF I WERE TO BE ASSIGN IN A BIG SCHOOL CHANCES ARE I WILL JUST TEACH MY MAJOR WHICH is PHYSICS EVN IF I TEACH FOR 6HOURS WITH DOUBLE THE NUMBERS OF STUDENTS I WOULD NOT BE THAT EXHAUSTED BECOZ I ONLY HAVE TO PREPARE FOR PHYSICS.. got my point??
Things are different for each school… Flexibility is the answer…
YOU SAY… BUT THE TEACHERS MAY GO ALL BERSERK with the flexibility thing…
No way,,,If Screening of teachers are to be followed..on the merits… not on palakasan… then I guess we are in good hands.. besides lets be output oriented rather than method oriented…
Leave the method to the teachers in the field… design a good standardized test to assess the output..
If the teachers are performing below the standard, ‘TINGNAN MO…ALAMIN MO KONG BAKIT’’Otherwise if they are in the best possible rating..let them be..EDUCATION IS REALLY WORKING ON THAT PART OF THE WORLD..
AGAIN LETS BE OUTPUT ORIENTED…
Third, empower the teachers…let them build there own local organization you will be amazed how this can help professionalized the teaching profession and develop synergy to the whole system..
LASTLY… THE ADMINISTRATORS, SUPERVISORS AND PRINCIPAL/ SCHOOLHEAD SHOULD BE TAUGHT HOW TO ASSIST THEIR TEACHERS MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR THEM… RIGHT NOW THE BULK OF WORK ARE WITH THE TEACHERS BECAUSE OF THE “BOSS” MENTALITY.. LEARN CONSULTATIVE LEADERSHIP… PROVIDE THE BEST TECHNICAL ASSITANCE TO YOUR TEACHERS IN THE FIELD.. DON’T ASK FOR SO MANY REQUIREMENTS/REPORTS… if needs be do the data gathering yourself…
God bless all THE TEACHERS… WE AFFECT ETERNITY…
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