Unit 4: Enhancing New Literacies in Teaching the

Content Area and Teaching Across Curriculum

Introduction

What is literacy? What are the different types of literacies? All these questions have been
answered in the previous units whose answers will help you better understand your content
area and teaching your content across curriculum to your future learners focusing on its
significant areas and using the appropriate pedagogies and materials.

Unit 4 will help you acquire a better idea on how to become a teacher in the Enhanced Basic
Education Curriculum and later help your learners cope with the new literacies by knowing
the nature of teaching in the content areas and across curriculum. More specifically in this
unit, you will be able to understand teaching in the content area and across curriculum through
a study of the four areas of knowledge required from every teacher: knowledge of the content,
learner, pedagogy and materials.

To achieve the outcomes of the unit, you shall be given readings, activities and class
discussions to understand the concepts in every topic. You shall also be required to perform
inquiry activities to strengthen your learnings on the readings and discussions that shall be
given you.

Work with your teachers, with your classmates and with your materials along with other
stakeholders in curriculum development and become the best teacher in your content area and
across curriculum that you can be.

Unit Learning Outcomes

At the end of the unit, you shall be able to:

1. Explain the nature and importance of becoming a teacher in the content area or across
curriculum ;
2. Demonstrate knowledge of the content area, the learners, the content pedagogies and the
curriculum materials integrated with the new literacies across curriculum; and
3. Present a Review of Related Literature and Studies (RRLS) on building and enhancing the 21 st
century literacies as content area or in teaching the content area and teaching across
curriculum.
Activating Prior Learning

Think, Pair, Share!

Directions: Think of your answer/s to the questions that follow. Get a pair from your class
and discuss each other’s answers. Look at the comparison and contrast to your answers and
be ready to present them in your class discussion or forum using LENS or other modes of
digital and online learning you agreed to use with your teacher.

1. What was your favorite subject in both elementary and high school and why did it
become your favorite subject?
My favorite subject in both elementary and high school is Science. I've always
found an interest in figuring out why things work the way they do. It's really fun to learn
all about the processes of life and the things behind them. I've definitely changed my
views on some things after taking science classes. Specifically, I’m interested more
about life science like animals and sometimes natural disasters as they're super
interesting to study and they're so cool to watch in action. Science has always been one
of my favorite subjects because I get to learn about all the new things that are happening
in the real world! Being able to learn about different forms of science sounds super cool.
I think it's a huge advantage to understand things like science so you're able to educate
others to an extent. I've found having knowledge about a few science subjects bring
some ease in the sense that you know "what you're made of" and the things around you.

2. Who is your favorite teacher in any of the following subjects: English, Mathematics,
Science and Social Studies and why? To help you justify your answer, recall how your
favorite teacher demonstrate his/her knowledge of your lessons, understanding of your
needs and preferences in the classroom, methods and strategies of teaching and the
resource materials he/she used in teaching.
Though, there are a lot of inspiring teachers that stepped into my life, the
teacher that truly made an impact up until this day is my Grade 8 adviser, Mr. Jun
Mallillin. During those days I’m not confident enough to my skills and capabilities, but
Sir Mallillin approached me after our first meeting with him and told me that, “I believe
in you so believe in yourself” This line helped me to believe and boost my confidence to
my skills and capabilities. From there our relationship grows into a beautiful story. He
always made sure that I always believe in myself; in every school activity he never fails
to remind me that “I am something.” He was the reason that I was able to achieve many
milestones in my studies. Furthermore, I was also inspired by how he shares his lessons
and knowledge to his students, although most of the students are terrified of him because
of his intimidating façade, he always renders his service in teaching us many things from
literature to English grammars and especially showering us in many life lessons. And all
throughout my junior high school days, he’s been molding me into great writer and
speaker to raise my ideas and express myself into the world. To sum it up, he was not
just a teacher, teaching us skills we needed in out studies but more than he is a father and
a friend who taught me many wonderful lessons in life that I’ve been applying in my
journey.
3. Choose a pair from your classmate with another favorite subject. Share each other’s
answers in nos. 1 and 2 paying attention to the similarities and contrasts to your answers.
 Topic 1: Understanding the Teaching
of the Content Area and Across Curriculum

Learning Objectives

At the end of the topic, you shall be able to:

1. demonstrate an understanding of the nature and benefits of ‘teaching in the content

area’ and ‘teaching across curriculum’; and
2. synthesize the expectations from one when becoming a teacher in a content area and
across curriculum.

Presentation of Contents

Teaching in the Content Area

According to The Glossary of Education Reform (2013), content area refers to a defined

domain of knowledge and skill in an academic program and now used as a synonym
for subject or subject area among educators. It also refers to the discipline, major or field of
specialization.

Worldwide, the most common content areas in the basic education curriculum, elementary and
secondary, are English (or English language arts), Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies
(or now called Makabayan). In some cases based on DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2012
(www.teacherph.com/), traditional content areas are now combined or blended in the
Philippines K to 12 Curriculum such as:
 humanities (typically a blend of English and social studies),
 fine and performing arts (a blend of visual art, dance, music, and theater)
 STEM (an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math).

This reform from traditional content areas were made by:

 creating new blended content areas (such as humanities or STEM),
 creating new academic programs, such as theme-based academies; and
 integrating multiple domains of knowledge and instruction into a single assignment,
lesson, or course. 
For example, teaching strategies such as authentic learning or project-based
learning typically bring together multiple domains of academic knowledge, skill and study
that would have been taught in separate content-area courses in the past (The Glossary of
Education Reform, 2013).

In the undergraduate curriculum in higher education or tertiary level during the first years of
the 21st century, the content areas continued to consist of the following subjects based on
CMO-No.20-s2013 (https://ched.gov.ph/ ):
 core courses (general education requirements)
 major/specialization, and
 electives.

The purpose of said curriculum, adopted by most institutions, has been to ensure breadth
through distribution requirements and depth through the major subjects. Such curriculum
design goes along with changes in the goals for learning – from emphasis on knowledge of
disciplinary facts and concepts (what students know) to broadly defined competencies (what
students are able to do with what they know) to ensure that graduates have the skills needed to
prepare them as professionals and in citizens in the twenty-first century.

In both the basic and higher education curricula, content areas are considered by academic
institutions as basis to organize knowledge as well as teaching and academic programming
where learning standards, standardized tests, academic teams, graduation requirements and
faculty departments are often organized according to the content areas.

Teaching Across Curriculum

On the contrary, teaching across curriculum or Cross-curricular instruction is also called

interdisciplinary learning—a teaching strategy that allows educators to unite concepts and
skills from various disciplines. Traditionally, subjects are taught and learned in isolation
focused on the knowledge of the subject matter and not on applying the knowledge to
practicality. When teaching or learning across curriculum, the need to see the relationships
within and between disciplines is important. Each subject becomes a part of the whole and
relating the parts leads to synergistic learning where the teacher, learner and other curriculum
stakeholders interact and cooperate thus helping the learner better acquire the learning
outcomes and competencies in his/her subjects or lessons.

Cross-curricular instruction requires a great deal of efforts from planning to implementation

and evaluation and back to planning again in order to innovate and adapt to the changes tht
resulted due to psychological, philosophical, sociological and historical factors but offers a lot
of advantages to both the teachers and the learners (https://sites.google.com/).

Advantages to teachers:
On the teacher’s part, the benefits that follow are more than their difficulties:
 collaboration with other teachers within and outside their discipline
 fostering collegiality through cross-curricular planning because teachers can develop a
deeper appreciation of each other’s expertise
  quality of the lessons and management of time and resources are efficiently maximized
where school heads can schedule professional learning communities during curriculum
days and ensure that teachers have opportunities to meet

Due to said advantages for the teachers, their talents are channeled to construct richer lessons
and to provide a high-quality education for students.

Advantages to learners:
Cross-curricular instruction offers the following advantages to students:
 increased motivation
 improvement of the learning process
 genuine teamwork
 pathways for further discoveries

Cross-curricular instruction encourages critical thinking, interaction and reflection. As the

subject matter becomes relevant, the students’ ability to analyze and synthesize information
greatly improves. They are able to generate meaning, compare, draw conclusions and make
predictions. The acquisition of these attributes demonstrates higher-order thinking.

Through interdisciplinary studies, students are able to collaborate with one another. Humans,
are social beings; therefore, positive interaction serves as enhancement for acquiring new
knowledge. Teamwork paves the way for new discoveries. It allows the students to share
realizations and new ideas. Group members can experience multiple viewpoints, which lead
to a better understanding of the material and human interaction. By keeping an open-mind,
students can learn to be adaptable—a pertinent skill to have before entering the workforce.

Becoming a Teacher in the Content Area or Across Curriculum

Congratulations for deciding to become a teacher in the 21st century. Your responsibilities as
future teacher are getting more difficult for knowledge will continue to expand. The
curriculum is enriched with more and more topics making teaching tend to adopt a swift pace
thus making learning superficial. In the end, both teachers and learners becoming jack of all
trades but masters of none is a frightening but could become a real scenario.

You have decided to become a teacher in your content area because you enjoy your content
area. Maybe, you are even passionate about it. You are a Language major in either English or
Filipino because you love to communicate in both spoken format as well as particular about
your grammar structure and interested in the literary arts. You are taking Mathematics
because you have interest in numbers, love to solve problems and find mathematics in your
everyday life. You are taking Science because you loved animals in your childhood and
probably became interested with stargazing and tree planting when you grew up into a
teenager. You are taking Social Studies for reading the current news on the papers or posted
on your social media and learning more about the political issues on television or radio are
some of your favorite pastime. You may either be in Technology and Livelihood or
Vocational Education

But more than being engrossed in your content area, you will want to communicate that
content to young people (your future learners). You will hope to interest them in applying
your content area in their everyday lives and probably to interest a few of them in pursuing the
subject as their career (Allan and Miller, 2005). However, as you help them be interested and
be competent in your content area, you need to teach across curriculum to help your students
prepare for the 21st century and on.

Recognizing the need for knowledge in subject matter and in teaching the subject matter
across curriculum, the Carnegie Commission (1986) states:

Teachers must think of themselves if they are able to help others think for themselves, be
able to act independently and collaborate with others and render critical judgement.
They must be people whose knowledge is wide-ranging and whose understanding runs
deep…. They must be able to learn all the time…. Teachers will not come to school
knowing all that they have to know, but knowing how to figure out what they need to
know, where to get it and how to get others make meaning out of it.

Both knowledge in your content area and students in your classes will continually change thus
your teaching also becomes a continuous career learning experience. You have begun learning
your content area subjects and other more subjects in your basic education and undergraduate
preparation, but even as you gain more experiences, you will have to continue learning in
these same areas and more.

Application

Activity 1: Read and Recall!

Directions: Answer the questions below and use the table that follow to present your answers.

1. Read DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2012 and CMO-No.20-s2013 and tell what are the
subjects you find to be common for all level in the elementary, secondary and tertiary
education? Which subjects are considered content area subjects (to be written in Capital
letters) and which are not?

Common Subjects in All Levels

Elementary Junior High School Senior High School College
General Mathematics in t he
Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics Modern World
Science Science Earth Science Science,
Technology a nd
 Society
Physical Education Physical Education Physical Education Physical Education

2. Still using DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2012 and CMO-No.20-s2013, what are the subjects
you find to be exclusive in every level? Which subjects are considered content area
subjects (to be written in Capital letters) and which are not?

Exclusive Subjects in Every Levels

Elementary Junior High School Senior High School College
Introduction to
The Contemporary
Araling Panlipunan Araling Panlipunan Philosophy of the
World
Human Region
Oral Purposive
English English
Communication Communication
Edukasyong Edukasyong
Disaster Readiness
Pantahanan At Pantahanan At
and Risk Reduction Ethics
Pangkabuhayan Pangkabuhayan
(DRRR)
(EPP) (EPP)

3. Who of your teachers influenced you in your choice of major or specialization and why?
Specifically describe your teacher influencer and use the table below to present your
description.

Major/Specialization: Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS)

Description of My Teacher Influencer
My teacher influencer is very passionate and dedicated to
Mastery of the Subject teaching especially her field of specialization – social sciences.
She made use of authentic assessment in teaching through this we
can have a deeper understanding and application of our lesson.
Her teaching method is very effective because we students of her
applied what we have learned in her subject to a real-world
scenario.
In her teaching method, classroom interaction and engagement is
Understanding the very important. She values the uniqueness and differences of
Nature of the Learners every learner. She let her students speak what was in our mind to
have an exchange of opinions and ideas. She accepts all the ideas
and embraces the individuality of every student. Through this,
she can able to understand the nature of learners and to make sure
that no students left beyond.
My teacher influencer teaching strategies are authentic
Teaching Strategies assessment and student-centered. She made use of different
creative activities both individual and group that are related and
applicable to the real-world scenario. Having these teaching
strategies is very useful to us to have a deeper understanding and
application of what we’ve learned.
My teacher influencer is very resourceful when it comes to our
 Learning Tools learning tools and materials. She makes use of improvise one
when the materials needed are not available. It is because she
wants to make sure that the materials needed are provided in
order to have a better implementation of activities to have a
better understanding and delivery of learning.
After discussing the different disciplines of social sciences, she
Use of Cross – compares and contrasts it with a Venn diagram in order to have a
Curricular Instruction clearer understanding and prevent confusion to a different
(cite a sample use in discipline. After that, she administered different activities related
one of your specific to a real-world scenario, this serves as an application of our
lesson)
insights to each discipline and to better facilitate learning among
students.

4. While training to become a teacher in your content area and to teach across curriculum,
what major preparations are you doing in order to become an effective teacher in your
discipline/specialization? Briefly describe your preparations inside and outside the
classroom.

Preparations in Becoming an Effective Content Area Teacher and Teacher Across Curiculum
Inside the Classroom Outside the Classroom
In becoming an effective content area In becoming an effective content area
teacher and across the curriculum, I need teacher and across the curriculum, I need to
to possess strong communication skills possess social skills outside the classroom.
inside the classroom. When teaching I need to connect to the outside world in
across the curriculum, the need to see the order to be connected to relevant issues
relationships within and between and the ideology of society. Through this, I
disciplines is important. I need to have a can able to come up with relevant ideas
teaching strategy that allows me and my and strategies that are related to the real-
students to unite concepts and skills from world scenario that is an important aspect
various disciplines. Through strong of teaching my specialization. Also, being
communication skills I can able to pursue connected to my students will allow me to
this wherein I communicate to my students assess their learnings if they can apply it to
to have harmonious and interactive their lives. I can monitor their progress if
classroom discussion to better facilitate I’m connected to them outside the
learning. Having interactions and good classroom. Having social skills outside the
engagement with students will allow me to classroom will provide me the opportunity
conduct different creative activities using to connect to real-world situations and able
cross-curricular instructions and applicable to learn new things and skills that I can
to real-world situations will provide able to apply to my teaching strategies as a
students a deeper and better understanding teacher that will help me to deliver better
of the different content areas. If my learnings to my students. If I can able to
students can able to apply their learnings pursue this goal of mine outside the
and have an impact on their lives, I will be classroom, I will be an effective content
an effective content area teacher and area teacher and teacher across the
teacher across the curriculum. curriculum.
 Feedback

I. Choose the best answer to complete the statements that follow. (5)

A 1. The terms below tell about the meaning of content area EXCEPT ___.
a. curriculum b. discipline c. specialization d. subject area

C 2. The ___ recommends the content area subjects in the basic education curriculum.
a. CMO-No.20-s2013 c. DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2012
b. CMO-No.20-s2017 d. DepEd Order No. 43, s. 2002

B 3. In the Philippines and the world, the ___ are usually classified as content area
subjects EXCEPT___.
a. Social Studies b. Filipino c. Mathematics d. Science

C 4. When using cross-instructional learning, the BEST benefit to learners in becoming

people-smart is ___.
a. increased motivation c. improvement of the learning process
b. genuine teamwork d. pathways for further discoveries
D 5. The LEAST benefit of using cross-instructional learning to teachers is ___.
a. collaboration with other teachers within and outside their discipline
b. fostering collegiality with other teachers
c. developing a deeper appreciation of each other’s expertise among colleagues
d. quality of the lessons and management of time and resources

II. Tell whether the statements that follow are true or false. Write A if both statements are
True; B if both statements are False. C if the first statement is True and the second is False
while D if the first statement is False and the second is True. (10)

C 1. According to the Carnegie Commission (1986), Teachers must be people whose

knowledge is wide-ranging and whose understanding runs deep. They must be able to
learn all the time and to come to school knowing all that they have to know.

A 2. The body of knowledge that your teachers learned are the same with what you need
to learn now as pre-service teachers. Therefore, you have nothing to do but master
what your content area teachers teach you in order to become experts in your
discipline.

A 3. Cross-curricular instruction encourages critical thinking or what now is described as

higher order thinking skills or HOTS. As a content area teacher, one gives activities
that require learners to generate meaning, compare and contrast, draw conclusions and
make predictions.
 D 4. In higher education, the content areas are the major subjects while other subjects are
either core subjects or electives according to DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2012 and even
the orders before and after it.. The subject Mathematics in the Modern World is a
content subject for Mathematics majors while Readings in Philippine History is for the
Social Science majors.

A 5. The traditional teaching of the content area used to only concentrate on the separate
teaching of the subjects or lessons in English, Mathematics, Science and Social
Science. Now, these content subjects are blended such as the cross-teaching of
Science, Technology, English and Mathematics or STEM.

III. Briefly explain your answer to the questions that follow in only a one paragraph essay.
Your answer, each item, will be graded with the following rubrics: 3 points for relevance of
content, 1 point for organization and 1 point for language use and writing mechanics. (10)

Questions:
1. What is your content area or field of specialization and how do you briefly describe it?
My content area or field of specialization is Health. In my course, one of its
coverage areas is health. In this content area, we educate student about health. Areas
within this encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional
health, intellectual or mental health, as well as sexual and reproductive health
education. The purpose of this area is to positively influence the health behavior of
students and their communities as well as the living and working conditions that
influence their health. As a future teacher of this area, my role is to educate and assist
students to make informed decisions affecting them, their family and community in
health and wellness matters. My teaching process will focus on the behaviors and
voluntary behavior change that prevent disease and promote wellness among
individuals and communities.

2. How would you synthesize the expectations from you in order to become a teacher in
your content area and across curriculum?
Having the goal and objective in my teaching process, I would synthesize the
expectations from me in order to become a teacher in my content area and across the
curriculum. As a teacher, having the goal and objective in my teaching process will
help me to synthesize expectations and convert them to inspiration and motivation in
teaching my content area and across the curriculum. The goal and objective are very
important to teachers because it will serve as a direction and prevent me from
confusion in my content area and across the curriculum. Through this, I can able to
acquire a deeper and better understanding and provide me an effective teaching
method and strategy. I can able to implement good learning tools and activities to my
students to better facilitate their learning able to apply it to their lives. Having the goal
 and objective in my teaching process will be a big help for me to become an effective
teacher in my content area and across the curriculum.

Topic 2: The Contexts of Teaching

in the Content Area and Across Curriculum

Learning Objectives

At the end of the topic, you shall be able to:

1. explain the significance and the relationship of the 4 contexts of teaching in the
content area and teaching across curriculum; and
2. evaluate a lesson plan using the four knowledge in teaching the content area and across
curriculum as basis; and
3. write a brief lesson plan in a content area taught across curriculum and enhancing the
traditional and new literacies.

Presentation of Contents

Knowledge of the Content Area

Master the subject matter.

In preparing to become an elementary or a secondary teacher, you have been majoring in a
field of specialization or a content area. When you graduate, you may have studied many
topics of your content are but not everything. You will need to update your knowledge about
your content area. As a Social Studies content area teacher for example, you studied
Philippine history and probably know by heart the important events and people in every
period of our history. But after your graduation and on to your years of teaching, new events
happen involving new heroes or anti-heroes. Therefore, becoming a continuous learner in
your content area may require you to learn new topics, build on your current knowledge and
learn about new ideas and theories in your field of specialization. And more than just
concentrating on the different events involving different people, you probably can help your
learners draw the cause and effect of the events or draw their comparison and contrast to the
events in the neighboring or other countries and in the end help them come up with
conclusions in relation to economics, politics or even cross-learning with new knowledge such
as theology or technology. You can even probably help them create products representing
every period and harness their creative and artistic literacies as well as their financial literacy
in producing and marketing the said products.

Teach how to learn.

As a content area teacher, rather than communicating isolated facts, you do not only want to
communicate the major ideas in your content area. You as well teach the strategies to learn in
your area according to McDiarmid, Ball and Anderson as cited by Allan and Miller (2005).
You need to help your learners master all fundamental operations in Mathematics for them to
solve all problems given them in Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Statistics, Calculus and
more. But more than knowing the fundamental operations as well as the important formulas,
you also need to help them theorize on which operation is best and how to create with their
own simpler formula in order to arrive at the same correct answer.

Check what experts say

There may be many ways to view a content area. Experts in the same area may agree or
disagree about some domains of “knowing” or “doing” things in a content area. When
teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) for instance, the English content area teachers
may teach differently because they believe in the effectiveness of different ESL acquisition
and learning theories. One who believes in the theory of Stephen Krashen will minimize the
anxieties of the learners while learning a second language (L2) applying Krashen’s Affective
Filter Theory. Krashen also formulated the Input Hypothesis which claims that language input
constitutes the main communicative process through which we acquire a L2. Krashen believes
that fluency in speaking or writing in a second language will naturally come about after
learners have built up sufficient competence through comprehending input thus an English
teacher will give her student many listening and reading materials in English. On the other
hand, Merrill Swain’s Output Hypothesis proposes that it is through language production that
learners will acquire a L2 (http://eslarticle.com/). Therefore, it is when a learner uses the
English in speaking and writing, despite fear in using it, that he/she acquires and learns
English. Being able to speak and write in the target language will make an ESL learner
acquire and learn English.

Follow the standards.

In cases of disagreements from your sources about the ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ in your content
area, what now do you do? You can be helped by reading and learning further and find out
which way is favored by more experts or sources. You can also check on the accuracy of
concepts by benchmarking on the curriculum standards set in the country – DepEd for the
basic education and CHED for the higher education. Next, you can check web sites of
organizations in your content area and learn more by reading their curriculum standards and
learn from them. These standards, from national regulatory agencies and from the
academic/professional organizations, set guidelines on what students should know and
demonstrate after every lesson thus will help you decide on what to teach about your content
and how to teach it.

Philosophy matters.
Finally, you need to check your principles and values in life as a person and as a teacher. You
should also check on how you view your content area. Although you will have curriculum
mandates and standards to meet, the kind of values you have as a person along with how you
view your content area as a teacher will surely influence the ideas and concepts you will
teach, how you will teach the ideas and the intensity and quality of ideas you will impart to
and imprint in your learners. As future Science content teacher or a BTLEd major who is
anchored on humanism philosophy believes that the curriculum is after the process, not the
product and who focuses on personal needs, not on the subject matter and clarifies
psychological meanings and environmental situations considering learners’ as human beings
who are affected by their biology, culture and environment, you will require varied activities
for vegetable gardening. You will ask the learners where they live – rural or urban to help
them decide on methodologies, what are the vegetables they like eating to help them choose
what to plant and probably their economic status to help them do gardening as a hobby or as
added source of income.

Knowledge about the Learners

Remember the foundation in understanding learners.

Prior to your curriculum, education students were given separate subjects Child Psychology
for those taking Bachelor in Elementary Education while Adolescent Psychology for Bachelor
in Secondary Education. Based on CMO – No. – 78 – s. – 2017 (https://ched.gov.ph/), very
early in your curriculum during the first semester of first year, you are given the subject
Understanding the Self as one of your Core subject in order to not only understanding yourself
but understanding your young future learners like you are now through reading and research
activities on theories of cognitive and emotional development. In the second semester, still of
first year level, you are given one of your Foundation/Theories Subjects which is The Child
and Adolescent Learner and Learning Principles. And as you move to second year first
semester, you take the Foundation/Theories Subject Facilitating Learner – Centered
Teaching: The Learner – Centered Approaches. The last two subjects will further help you
understand your learners who probably come from diverse cultural backgrounds and different
levels of learning development. More importantly, they teach you how to help your learners
learn the content areas, learn across curriculum and learn traditional and 21st century literacies.

Know your learners’ diversity.

Your future learners’ gifts are their identities, knowledge, skills, cultures, learning styles and
attitudes towards learning that they bring into the classroom. As their teacher, your foundation
in understanding young people and learners to be able to respond to their individual
characteristics. Understanding your learners, in the end, will help you better teach them how
to learn. This will not happen in one day nor in one month. According to Reyes (1992),
teaching is not a recipe or a “one size fits all” formula; it is learning about and with students.

Focus on who your students are in the classroom and even who they will be in the future.
Understanding their diversity in relation to their ethnicity, religion, language, socio-economic
status, gender and sexual orientations and even their special need will help you teach them
learn and understand your content. Considering the diversity in language of your students due
to their ethnicity, the use of their mother tongue is allowed in the kindergarten and in grades 1
to 3. However in grades 4 to 12, the English and Filipino languages are used separately (not in
combination where code-mixing or switching is always allowed) to teach content area subjects
as described in the Bilingual Policy of Education in the Philippines DepEd Order No. 52, S.
1987 (https://www.deped.gov.ph/). The policy states that teachers will only use Filipino in
Filipino subjects as well in Social Studies subject. But in the 21st Century curricula, all
teachers are English teachers and are as responsible as the language teachers in helping
learners learn the traditional and new literacies in both their content area and across
curriculum. Graduating in the secondary and college with proficiency in both Filipino and
English will greatly help your learners demonstrate understanding of their content area and
demonstrate literacy skills that will further help them become life smart.

Know what your learners bring into your classroom.

Ask yourself what your students bring into your classroom in terms of the following:
 schemata or content knowledge from past school experiences or from their everyday
experiences,
 strategies for learning that may be conscious or intuitive, and
 motivations, value and beliefs about their own learning ability, your content area and the
school in general.

When your learners’ schemata do not match the new body of knowledge or new literacy
skills, there is a possibility of learning difficulty or even inability to understand the content of
the lesson for them. Today, considering the schemata and preferences of our learners in
relation to their digital technology exposure will also help.

Be open to the fact that students will bring into your classroom learning strategies from
previous school, home and their community. The following strategies, says August and
Hakuta (1998) may be demonstrated by the students and are also influenced by their
diversities:
 watch – then – do strategy
 learn by trial – and error
 cueing into the teacher’s questions
 work in cooperative groups
 work independently

It is generally expected that your learners, even in the pre – school demonstrate readiness to
learn, anxious to learn or simply resigned to learn. Here are the influences of motivations of
learners according to Schunk and Zimmerman (1997):
 beliefs about themselves,
 feedback from their peers and adults, and
 past and present experiences.

Below is a matrix showing the generation of learners and some of their preferences adapted
from Gomez (2019) with modifications and which you can consider to have knowledge of
their schemata, strategies and motivations for learning:

Generation Name Birth Years Remarks

Generation Alpha 2018-2025 Baby Boomlets
 PsyFi high (action reader) WIFI low (wireless com)
Generation Z WIFI high (wireless com)
Baby Boomlets/ 2016- 2021 PsyFi low (action reader)
/iGen handheld communication devices and accessories to communicate Boomlets
Generation Z
Boomlets/ /iGen Eco-fatigue
Born 2001- computers and web-based learning
2015 less interested in toys and desire cell phones and video games. Savvy consumers and
Generation Z saturated with brands.
/iGen/Centennials
WIFI low (wireless com)
PsyFI out of reach (action reader) Utilize text messaging & social media
“Echo Boomers”
Nurtured by omnipresent parents, optimistic, and focused. Respect authority
Falling crime rates
Falling teen pregnancy rates
School safety problems
Learned early that the world is not a safe place.
Millennials or Born 1981- Schedule everything
Generation Y 2000 Feel enormous academic pressure
Feel like a generation and have great expectations for themselves.
Prefer digital literacy as they grew up in a digital environment Netizen of the world
Prefer to work in teams.
Assertive with strong views

Envision the world as a 24/7 (hours/days)

Are special, and they expect the world to treat them that way. They do not Live to
work, they prefer a more relaxed work

You can also check on your learners’ Multiple Intelligences according to Howard Gardner at
https://www.verywellmind.com/, Learning Styles by Dun and Dun at
https://www.shmoop.com/, David Kolb’s Learning Style and Experiential Learning Cycle at
https://www.simplypsychology.org/ for further help.

Knowledge of Pedagogy

What does pedagogy mean?

Merrian – Webster (2020) dictionary defines pedagogy as the the art, science, or profession
of teaching while in Greek, pedagogy and pedagogue come from the paidos which
means ‘boy, child’ plus agogos which means ‘leader’, (https://www.vocabulary.com/). In a
literal sense, the word pedagogy stems from the Greek word that effectively means “the art of
teaching children.” More specifically, agogos means ‘leader’ in Greek, pedagogue refers to
‘teacher’ and ‘paidagogos’ were slaves tasked with taking boys to school and back, teaching
them manners and tutoring them. Read further on the topic history of pedagogy from Tes
Editorial (https://www.tes.com/).
Pedagogy is often confused with curriculum. The latter defines what is being taught, while
pedagogy actually refers to the method on how we teach – the theory, style and practice of
educating. Read further on the topics teaching theory and teaching styles from Tes Editorial
(https://www.tes.com/).

Pedagogy is the relationship between learning techniques and culture and is determined
based on an educator’s beliefs about how learning should and does, take place (Persaud,
2019).

What does content pedagogy mean?

Content pedagogy is what will make you a content teacher. It includes all the teaching –
learning activities that converges or connects your knowledge of your content area and your
knowledge of your learners, aligning with their needs and cultures and in the end will help
you achieve the lesson’s learning outcomes. To help you decide on the appropriate strategy,
you are asked to think about your own strategies in learning in your content area, especially
what literacy strategies you use. The better you are aware of your own strategies, the better
you shall teach your learners what strategies to use and to what situations to use them.

In bridging your content and your learners, you make instructional decisions, which may be
the same or not compared to other teachers’ decisions, about your teaching tools and learners’
activities that help support and enhance their learning. For example, not all teachers will
similarly teach ‘martial law’. An English teacher will use literary selections – poems, essays
and fiction – to portray the cruelties of martial law and those by the Marcos regime while a
Mathematics teacher may use the number of human rights violation such as the cases of the
‘desaperacidos’ or the death toll of missing people believed to have occurred during the
martial law and on. The Social Studies teachers will teach it as part of the political history of
the Philippines but will use different content pedagogy thus may teach it differently. One may
decide to picture Former Pres, Ferdinand Marcos as a hero of the ‘New Society’ while another
will picture him as the villain that caused persecution and illegal arrest of his political
opponents like Former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. and more. The Science teacher may look into
the substance in the ‘tear gas’ that the police used to disperse street demonstrators branded as
the anti – Marcos rallyists and discover its harmful effects as well as ways to help one to
avoid them.

Why is knowledge of pedagogy important?

Having a well thought-out pedagogy can generally improve the quality of your teaching and
the way your learners will understand your content. Being mindful of the way you teach can
help you better understand how to help them achieve deeper learning. The appropriate use
of pedagogy will help you and your learners in more specific ways according to Berger
(2010) and Persaud (2019):

Education is generally tailored in order to improve the lives of the learners thus the use of
appropriate pedagogy will generate some benefits for the learners which will include the items
that follow:
 learners move beyond simple forms of thinking as defined in Bloom’s taxonomy
pyramid, like basic memorization and comprehension, to complex learning processes
 like analysis, evaluation and creation. Your learners can leverage their preferred
learning styles with a teaching process that supports them and the way they like to learn.
This process is called metacognition where learners build a conscious learning skills or
learning powers.

 There is increased independence among learners. Having a pedagogical purpose in

every day lessons will assist them in inquiry based or problem based learning lessons.
They will have a wider range of "tools" to get unstuck and learn by themselves.

 Improvement of task behavior of learners and quality of work is achieved as the learners
take each task seriously after knowing the purpose of their task and understanding.
 Students expand their knowledge base and understand how to use that knowledge in
authentic and relevant real-world scenarios and contexts, as well as connect concepts
from lessons with situations in their own lives and from their own cultural knowledge
allowing the student to reflect more objectively on new concepts, and open their minds
to different approaches.

All your efforts in choosing and using the appropriate pedagogy will not be in vain for below
are the benefits you can possibly get:

 Teachers are able to develop multiple strategies to teach the same topic, understand and
identify the misconceptions students are likely to have. Ultimately teachers are better
equipped to teach, unteach and reteach.

 Lessons are better planned for the use of appropriate pedagogy considering the learners’
culture and needs increases teacher reflection thus will not stop planning the lesson and
start including focused learning activities which are easier to understand for the learners
and more productive of the desired outcomes for the lesson.

 Autonomy in the classroom is allowed and then built. Asking why strategies work will
lead to asking how a teacher can adopt the strategy which will eventually lead to
creating his/her own.

 The opportunity for the process of action research is created and increased thus
providing teachers professional development. Rather than sharing anecdotes about your
teaching especially your use of appropriate pedagogies, you can share and discuss
objective data based analysis of the new things you are trying on your classroom.

What are the common types of pedagogy?

Brown (2019) and Persaud (2019) shares the common pedagogies and they are as follow:
1. Social Pedagogy
Social pedagogy suggests that education is critical to a student’s social development and
wellbeing, and thus must be understood broadly as a way to support a person’s growth
throughout his/her entire life. Thus, social and educational questions must be considered as
one, since students are, by nature, social beings. But they require education in order to
communicate effectively as such.

The way social pedagogy is approached can vary in different countries, and based on different
social and cultural traditions. In Germany, for example, educators typically view social
pedagogy in the same vein as social work. In Norway, the emphasis is on working with
children and young people.

An example of social pedagogy

An example of how social pedagogy could be used includes emphasizing the importance of
things like compassion and being kind-hearted, and using dialogue to communicate lessons;
studying concepts in the context of modern lifestyles; or looking at common issues within
society that relate to our desires and needs to be social beings, such as social exclusion, its
causes and consequences.

2. Critical Pedagogy
To engage in critical pedagogy is to break down and deconstruct typical world views about
topics and learning. It often involves more critical theories, and even radical philosophies. The
goal is to continuously challenge learners to question their own thoughts and ideas, beliefs,
and practices, to think critically and gain a deeper understanding. Forget the dominant beliefs
and paradigms – try and figure out things on your own, and in your own way.
The best known popular example of a critical pedagogical method is in the movie Dead
Poets’ Society, where an English teacher challenges the typical methods of teaching, opting
for unorthodox methods to inspire his students to live more freely and ‘seize the day.’
However. You are encouraged to take extra care in the choice of a critical pedagogy and bear
in mind to always properly guide your learners in their analysis and conclusions.
An example of critical pedagogy
Educators can adopt critical pedagogies by asking learners to look for deep meaning and root
causes of everything from religion to war and politics; or to explore and analyze relationships
and issues of power within their own families. They might also look for underlying messages
or biases in popular culture and mass media.

3. Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

In a culturally diverse society, three functional dimensions—institutional, personal, and
instructional – are used together to recognize and respond to cultural differences among
various learners, and celebrate different approaches and methods of learning. To adopt such a
style, an educator must be willing to accept to different needs of a multicultural classroom,
and create an equally comfortable and enriching learning environment for all learners.

This pedagogical method often relies on a learner-centered approach to teaching, whereby

educators identify different cultural strengths of learners, and nurture those to ensure that they
have a positive sense of self, and can achieve their goals.
To apply culturally responsive pedagogy requires teachers to adapt their practices to
accommodate the different cultural needs of learners. It can also mean that an institution has
to reform its school policies and procedures to encourage more community involvement.

An example of culturally responsive pedagogy

A culturally responsive approach should respect and encourage the sharing of different
ethnicities, races, and beliefs, and be aware of the backgrounds of learners. In a culinary
course, that could mean including knowledge of cultural dishes in course work. In a political
course, it might involve debates and analyses of different political topics, approaching them
from different cultural angles. In law, it could be respecting various religious beliefs, or
cultural differences in how families might view the same legal issues.

4. Socratic Pedagogy
Following a more philosophical approach, Socratic pedagogy involves a process whereby
learners can develop their social and intellectual skills in order to live more actively as part of
a democratic society. Learners are encouraged to challenge traditional assumptions about
knowledge, look for alternatives, and create knowledge through their own thoughts and
experiences, as well as via meaningful dialogue with others. Thus, curriculum will often
involve collaborative and inquiry-based teaching and thinking as learners test established
ideas against others to open their minds and gain a deeper understanding of concepts.

An example of Socratic pedagogy

An example is the community of inquiry by C.S. Peirce and John Dewey, which, instead of
basing knowledge on fixed scientific facts, looks for social context to learn more about a
topic. Another is Bohm Dialogue, which involves group conversations where participation
happens without judgment in order to come to an understanding on a topic. Learners in a
science or math course, for example, might look beyond the hard facts to determine why and
how a particular scientific or mathematical principle is what it is, and what that means for
society.

5. Scientific Pedagogy

Pedagogy is an applied science. At the end of the 19th century, the development of such
scientific fields as sociology and psychology is accompanied by the emergence of pedagogy
viewed as a true science is not so much to describe or explain but instead to guide the process
of teaching and learning. It is a field of science, though not a fully-formed discipline, that
teaches educators how to teach. Today, the debate on whether pedagogy is an art or a science
is no longer necessary. Pedagogy is an applied science geared towards the practical
application of acquired knowledge without ignoring its theoretical side which make it truly
scientific.

Examples of scientific pedagogy

Pedagogies are scientific because they are said to be anchored on theories. The most common
examples of these are the following from Vellas (2020), retieved from
https://lepole.education/:

 Behaviourism
A behaviourism pedagogical approach would say learning is teacher centered. It would
advocate the use of direct instruction, and lecture based lessons.

The theory of behaviourism in a classroom setting came from pedagogical research

by Thorndike (1911), Pavlov (1927) and Skinner (1957) . Behaviourist pedagogy is the
theory that you should be the sole authority figure leading the lesson. Knowledge should be
delivered in a curriculum where each subject is taught discretely (as opposed to topic based
learning, for example). In a lesson using a behaviourist pedagogical approach, you initiate
or mostly dominate a mixture of lecturing, modelling and demonstration, rote learning and
choral repetition.  However, during the course of the lesson, the shift may come where the
learners becomes the center of the activity and demonstrates their learning.

 Constructivism
Constructivism is a theory that people learn through experiences and reflection and puts the
learner at the center of the learning and is sometimes called ‘invisible pedagogy’. A
constructivist approach would incorporate project work, inquiry based learning, and might
adopt a Montessori or Steiner method.

Constructivism in a classroom setting is based on the pedagogical research of Piaget (1896-

1890). Piaget wrote extensively about ‘schemas’, an idea that learners come ready to learn,
and you must build activities to facilitate their learning. Your younger learners work things
through physically, whereas older learners tackle symbolic and abstract ideas.
A lesson might include differentiated activities, a slower pace, hidden outcomes and less
teacher talk. You could also place emphasis on being outdoors and engaging with nature.
Constructivism is also sometimes described as a progressive teaching style.

 Social Constructivism
A Social Constructivism pedagogy could be considered to be a blend of two priorities:
teacher guided and learner centered. Cognitive psychologist, Lev Vygotsky developed
social constructivism, building on the work of Piaget, but argued against the ideas of Piaget
that learning could only happen in its social context, and believed that learning was a
collaborative process between learner and teacher.

The use of social constructivism in the classroom requires you to use group work elements,
but would use smaller group sizes, and limit the choice in topics. You might also use
teacher modelling, questioning, and a mixture of individual, pair, and whole class
instruction.

 Liberationism
Liberationism is a critical pedagogy developed by the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, the
Director of the Department of Education, and developed an approach of teaching where he
was able to teach illiterate adults to read in just 45 days. Freire focussed on removing the
two barriers to learning: poverty and hunger. Freire was then imprisoned following a
military coup. Once he was released, he wrote a book called Pedagogy of the Oppressed
where Freire wrote about the dehumanisation of learnerss in schools, and argued for
cooperation and unity.

When you use liberationist approach in the classroom, you place the learner’s at the center
creating a democratic classroom. You become a learner yourself and discover the content
subjects together with your class.

How can one create a pedagogy?

To create your own pedagogy, start by devising a personal philosophy of teaching statement
that can help learners manage expectations about your teaching methods and approach to
curriculum. Support learners in finding the best ways to understand the subject matter and the
language used within it by building on their culturally-based ways of talking and encourage
purposeful conversation between student and teacher, as well as among fellow learners and
peers.

Be mindful of interacting with learners in a way that you respects their preferences for
speaking and communication. This might include monitoring for cues like wait time between
talking in a conversation, eye contact, spotlighting, and more. Use real-world experiences to
demonstrate abstract concepts, and link them back to everyday experiences to which learners
can relate and design activities that involve students and their communities, and that will be
meaningful to them.

Once you have created your own pedagogical process for basic education and higher
education, develop course material and activities that are challenging for the learners and that
will assist them in their cognitive development ensuring that they advance their understanding
of concepts to higher levels. With a clear understanding of your pedagogy, your learners will
follow your instruction and feedback clearly and will know what they need to do and how to
do it encouraging a healthy dialogue between you and your students, as well as among
students themselves.

How is pedagogy changing?

Over the years, pedagogy has been evolving to better support 21st-century skills and ideas, as
well as the changing nature of teaching. The traditional classroom lecture is no longer as
effective as it once was. Teaching has expanded to include new forms of learning, like
interactive and collaborative projects and online and remote curricula, and to accommodate
more flexible schedules.

Real-world scenarios and cultural differences are being taken into account, allowing learners
new ways to acquire, construct, and organize their learning. Pedagogy is shifting focus
beyond basic memorization and application of simple procedures to aiding learners in higher-
order learning, including critical thinking skills, effective communication, and greater
autonomy.

 Online learning
In a world where new media has taken a significant role in teaching and learning, any modern
pedagogy much account for learners finding, analyzing and applying knowledge from a
growing number of constantly changing sources. This requires higher-order skills like critical
thinking and the ability to learn more independently, as well as in larger groups, both in
person and online.

Learners must be comfortable using technology to help them learn, and to access, share, and
create useful information and gain better fluency in a subject. You can use technology to
enhance course materials and further support their pedagogies through blended learning that
combines classrooms with online teaching, flipped classrooms that provide materials students
can access after class, like videos, lecture notes, quizzes, and further readings, and overall
wider access to sources and experts online.

You can integrate new forms of technology to teach, like videos, animations, and simulations
through sources like YouTube channels, iTunes University, clickers, and more. Even modern
textbooks can incorporate content like video and audio clips, animations, and rich graphics
that learners can access and annotate. All of these content enhance the experience for learners,
and particularly benefits learners who are struggling. It can also reduce spending, since
learners have plenty of valuable, real-time updated information at their fingertips for free.
Social media, meanwhile, allows learners to develop communities to share experiences,
discuss theories, and learn from one another. You can interact with students beyond the
confines of the classroom, too.

 Personalizing pedagogies
It is critical that what you are teaching learners that which is relevant and meaningful and
personalized to their experiences. The increase in non-formal, self-directed learning methods
means that learners have more access to over all information. It makes it easier for you to
track their learning through digital activities, but also requires more attention in guiding them
to the right sources, adjustment of lecture contents and approaches based on online activity,
and collaboration.

In the latest forms of pedagogy, there is a power share between you and your learner. They
can learn more on their own versus only following a set course, lectures, and textbooks from
you. And in many cases, learners thrive, while educators can use lecture time more effectively
for discussion and collaborative work.

The educator, then, becomes a critical guide and assessor for students, linking them to
accepted sources of information and emphasizing the importance of accreditation. They are no
longer the only source of information, delivered in chunks via lectures. And this requires an
overhaul of the strategy towards how student learning is achieved, monitored, and assessed.
Pedagogies are constantly evolving. You can develop your own, inspired by common ones
and modified for 21st-century learning. A pedagogy must fit your audience, and focus on
helping students develop an understanding of the material beyond basic memorization and
surface knowledge. Students should be able to relate concepts back to the real world, and even
their own lives.

Every pedagogy is different. A good starting point is to create a philosophy of teaching

statement that outlines your communication goals as a teacher and how you plan to relate the
work you do in the classroom to professional development once the learner moves on to a
career. Then, design classroom experiences around this philosophy, work with your learners
to adapt methods to encourage positive responses and determine how you will evaluate and
assess their performances. Try to also consider how you will integrate technology into your
lesson plans and class work, as well as promote inclusivity.

Taking all of these into consideration makes for a great recipe for a successful pedagogical
approach. The more aware you are of the way you are teaching, the better you will understand
what works best for your learners.

Knowledge about the Curriculum Materials

Definition of materials
The terms materials or resources are used to mean all objects used to carry out your lesson
and one aspect of content pedagogy is learning about curriculum materials. The availability of
materials is often a deciding factor on how to teach or even on whether to teach a topic at all.
Teachers are always in search for a more current article, a more accessible primary source or a
new author that will better support the teaching and learning process. As beginning teachers,
you may probably rely on textbooks but you are encouraged to use other sources such as
library books, journals, researches, primary sources like interviews and on-line texts, audios
and videos.

Rationale for the variety of texts in the content area

In this topic, we shall focus on text materials, printed or electronic, that your students could
read or could write about. Encourage them to read and write even if they are not verbal
learners for reading and writing literacies are the foundation of all new literacies. Using
variety of text materials that would complement your content area and the multiple
intelligences of your learners will benefit them in a number of ways:

 They will gain more in-depth knowledge because they have read widely;
 They will remember concepts and important vocabulary because they have met them
repeatedly in different contexts;
 They will have an opportunity to explore and practice a variety of literacies strategies as
they learn from different types of texts;
 They will learn that they can express their own ideas in a variety of texts; and
 They will recognize that authors write for a variety of topics and audiences and they
could too.
Types of texts

Textbooks
Textbooks are usually considered by university and college professors as suitable major
sources of content for most discipline which may have also been the case in your pre-service
education. Getting to know the content in most disciplines through the textbooks is
acknowledged. But remember that textbooks are designed to survey content and present a
synthesis of information thus may present the content with incomplete and static view.
Therefore as a future teacher, you are encouraged to appreciate the coverage and organization
of content provided in your textbooks with a more in-depth analysis and supplement lacking
and/or additional information from other resources.

Trade books
Trade books are composed of fiction, nonfiction or informational books and picture books.
Your aim in the use of a trade book is to entice your learners to read and in the end learn about
the subject/course as well as other facts across other contents. If you are a Science teacher
whose lesson is Astronomy, you can use The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury to achieve
the purpose of using trade books. The book will teach them the content and at the same time
enjoy the strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences in Mars, filled with intense images
and astonishing visions (https://www.goodreads.com/).

The use of nonfiction books , another type of trade books, is also advantageous because they
provide full discussion of topics and give learners exposure to important content-vocabulary.
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly can be used for Mathematics. This is a nonfiction
for high school students who can enjoy and can dive deeper into the true story of African-
American women whose calculation helped launch NASA astronauts into space. For younger
learners, there’s a young readers’ edition and a picture book version
(https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54983/10).

Electronic texts
Electronic texts are trade books and other texts in multi-media format and supported by
technology. Electronic environment fosters real opportunities for learners to engage in
meaningful research and inquiry and in interactive and captivating communication situations.
The varied needs of your learners are addressed by audio, video and graphic parts that stand
alone or that accompany the content are parts of hypermedia and multimedia environments.
The many sites are connected to many other links that would explain further the concepts that
your learners need. Further, the learners, according to Wepner, Valmont and Thurlow (2000),
are able to control their own learning pace and the format of the electronic text compared to
printed text. They also pointed out that teachers are able to make adaptations based on their
learners’ needs.

Some of the samples for electronic teaching and learning materials include the following sites:
 PBS Learning Media (inspiring collection of free multimedia resources that were
specially made for classroom use)
  National Geographic Education: Photos & Videos (outstanding database of engaging
photos and videos that are related to social studies)
 Library of Congress (one of the world’s largest collection of online digital resources)
 Smithsonian Learning Lab (a treasure trove of Smithsonian resources)
 Project Gutenberg (Internet's oldest and one of the largest provider of free electronic
books and classic or unknown texts in many different languages to read on your PC,
Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone and Macintosh computers too)
 The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (a public voice of mathematics
education supporting teachers to ensure equitable mathematics learning of the highest
quality for all students through vision, leadership, professional development and
research)
 Grolier’s Multimedia Encyclopedia (provide an in depth discussion of a variety of
topics that correspond to many national and international standards of discipline)

However, many learners now tend to excessive and unnecessary use of the Internet thus you
are strongly advised to evaluate the electronic materials before your learners use them to
ensure accuracy, quality of presentation, appropriateness for the learners and curriculum
connections.

Other sources
These materials that enhance content area and across curriculum learning include researches,
journals, magazines , newspapers and student texts found both in school , at home or in the
community of the learners. You are encouraged to use these materials for several reasons:
 Students reading an article from a journal or a newspaper in a familiar format sounds
more appealing than reading it from an entire book.
 Magazines and newspapers usually contain recent information that support books.
 The photos, graphics and illustrations featured in the newspapers and magazines provide
motivation or additional information for reading.
 Primary sources are recommended because they can make History, Science and
Mathematics come alive through the descriptions of real life actions and interactions.
 Student texts, on print or online, are important sources that can attract learners. Young
audiences like to share notes and experiences which is good for further learning.

Selecting literacy materials

Here are some points to consider when deciding on choosing a material for your content
according to Allan and Miller (2000):

1. Readability range
 Would you teach the multisyllabic words?
 Would you expect your learners to read them independently?
 Do the long sentences have too many ideas, or do they really connect ideas?
 Do the short sentences seem choppy or clear?
2. Considerate format
 Does the table of contents show an orderly sequence?
 Does the book contain reader aid such as index, bibliography and glossary?
 Does the introduction and subheads clearly represent the chapter’s organization?
 Are the illustrative material clear and connected to the text?

3. Considerate context
 How many ideas are presented? Is the number reasonable?
 Are the ideas explained clearly and explicitly?
 Do the examples and analogies match the learners’ background knowledge?
 Is an overarching principle evident?

4. Fairness
 Do the illustration have a fair representation of race or ethnicity, gender, or class?
 Do the illustration have people of nonstereotypal roles?
 Do the examples and problems n the text present a nonstereotypal representation of
race or ethnicity, gender or class?
 Does the text use nonsexist language?

Application

Directions: Work with at least two of your classmates and imagine that you are now high
school teachers. Decide on a lesson you shall plan and write considering your content area,
learners, pedagogy and materials. Perform the activities that follow which shall help you in
planning and writing your lesson.

Activity: On Knowing Your Learners

1. Choose a junior HS student from among your relatives and/or family friends in your
nearby neighborhood and imagine that he/she belongs to your future class;
2. Conduct an interview with your chosen learner to describe his/her:
 Personal profile in terms of age, gender and sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity,
socio-economic status and special needs (add more if needed)
 Learning (literacy) strategies using any of those mentioned in the module on
Knowing what your learners bring into your classroom.

Activity: On Knowing Your Content, Pedagogy and Materials

3. Decide on your specific topic that can be taught in 1 hour;
4. Formulate your objectives, at least 3, considering knowledge, skills, attitudes and values
(KSAV);
5. Decide on a pedagogy and materials that will help you achieve your objectives, and
help your learners acquire the content of your lesson;
 6. Choose one of your objectives and write your lesson proper (analysis and application
only) to achieve it. Remember to consider your lessons on Knowing what your learners
bring into your classroom, your content area, and knowing your pedagogy and
literacy materials.

Feedback

I. Choose the letter of the best answer to complete the items that follow. (5)
A 1. Being around people from different backgrounds can expose you to new ideas and
inspire creative thinking. Talking and working with them can help you gain new
perspectives when approaching your task. This creative thinking is called ___.
a. communicating c. networking
b. analyzing d. experimenting
A 2. The ___ is the LEAST skill teachers must focus on to help develop HOTS among
learners.
a. remembering b. understanding c. applying d. creating
D 3. A teaching strategy to enhance higher-order thinking skills among students according
to Thomas and Thorne include analytical, practical and creative thinking. Lessons that
include practical thinking activities that will help learners become life smart are as
follow EXCEPT ___.
a. invent b. implement c. apply d. utilize
A 4. Many believe that the student-led or student-centered classrooms are more productive
than the teacher-led or the teacher-centered classrooms for several reasons EXCEPT
___.
a. reduces the negative concept that there are students who are bad or slow in
academics
b. allows mistakes through trial and error
c. listening to and absorbing information
d. encourages learners to rely on themselves even at an early age
B 5. Applying questions as an important part of learning and using questions that lead to
activities generating further questions or ideas BEST characterizes ___.
e. creative thinking b. inquiry learning
f. higher order thinking d. collaborative learning
II. True or False. Read the paired statements and write before each item the letters that
follow: (5)
A – if both statements are True C- if the first statement is True and the second is False
B – if both statements are False D- if the first statement is False and the second is
True

A 1. A fitness club opens with 80 members. Each month the membership increases by 15
members. Which equation represents the relationship between the number of months
the club has been opened, x, and the total fitness club membership, y? a. y=15x
 b. y=15x+80 c. y=x+15 d. y=80x+15. The sample assessment clearly helps
develop HOTS among learners specifically on the level of synthesis.
D 2. Howard Gardner identified synthesis (now creativity) as one of the most difficult skills
in his Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain. While creativity is one of the higher-order
psychic functions that differentiates humans from other living creatures according to
R. J. Sternberg.
C 3. Listening triangles, talk partners, think-pair-share and snowballing are all strategies
for developing collaboration among learners. All, except talk partners, lead to a group
discussion and group collaboration.
A 4. History shows that many things created today were imagined in the past. Thus
creativity is believed to begin with imagination that requires cultivation.
B 5. Students are given opportunities to make choices about their own learning and
contribute to the design of learning experiences in a teacher-led instruction. Also
called teacher-centered learning, this does allow students to decide and to become the
authority in class over their teachers and develop literacy through their own creativity.

III. Briefly explain your answer to the question that follow in 3-5 short paragraphs. Your answer will
be evaluated 6 points for content and 4 points for correctness of language use and writing mechanics
(10).
Question: If one of your objectives as future teachers is to develop your learners in becoming experts
and leaders in their content areas or in their respective professions or simply leader citizens of the
future, which one of the teaching methods/ strategy should you use and why?

If one of my objectives as a future teacher is to develop my learners in becoming

experts and leaders in their content areas or their respective professions or simply leader
citizens of the future, the teaching method or strategy suitable is the Socratic Pedagogy. In
becoming experts and leader citizens of the future, learners must possess the skills and
qualities of active participation, initiatives, and being an effective questioner. These qualities
are needed to be experts and leader citizens can learn in Socratic pedagogy.
Socratic pedagogy involves a process whereby learners can develop their social and
intellectual skills in order to live more actively as part of a democratic society. To become
experts and leader citizens, students must possess skills that will allow them to be actively
participants of the society, and through Socratic pedagogy, it will educate the student to
involve themselves especially to relevant issues of the society and it will provide them the
skills needed like critical thinking to address different issues of society. Through this, they can
able to become experts and leader citizens of the future.
In Socratic pedagogy, learners are encouraged to challenge traditional assumptions
about knowledge, look for alternatives, and create knowledge through their own thoughts and
experiences, as well as via meaningful dialogue with others. Learners must do things without
being told; find out what they need to know; keep going when things get tough, and they spot
and take advantage of opportunities that others pass by. Learners must understand that they
have to find new paths and creative modes in order to accomplish something. Having these
qualities will make my students in becoming experts and leader citizen of society.
 And through Socratic Pedagogy, it will educate the students to know how to ask or
become a good questioner. According to Peter Drucker, “The leader of the past may have
been a person who knew how to tell, but certainly, the leader of the future will be a person
who knows how to ask.” Socratic Pedagogy instills the power of questions among students to
encourage a culture of curiosity and innovation. Curiosity to address the hidden knowledge
about something so that learner can able to come up with new ideas that can help on the
society. And innovation, learners can able to promote progress not just for themselves but for
the betterment of the society in the future. Having this skill can lead them to become experts
and leader citizens of the future.
           Socratic Pedagogy is one of the best leadership tools that teachers can use to instill and
educate students about the important qualities of becoming experts and leader citizens of the
future. It provides the essential knowledge and skills needed of every learner to enlighten their
minds about the value of leadership. Socratic Pedagogy as a teaching strategy will be an
effective method for teachers in educating their students to be experts and leader citizens of
the future.