GRACE MISSION COLLEGE

Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro

e-Mail: [email protected]

MODULE 1

Learning Plans in the Context of the 21st Century

At the end of this Module, you should be able to:

1. discuss the role of technology for teaching and learning in the light of the K to 12 Curriculum Framework;
2. review the K to 12 Curriculum Guide focusing on the development of 21st Century skills;
3. review learning plans from various sources that integrated ICTs in the teaching-learning process;
4. plan activities integrating ICTs that would facilitate the development of 21st Century skills required in
the curriculum guide and
5. brainstorm about digital citizenship and related this to the development of 21st Century skills among learners.

INTRODUCTION
The basic education curriculum of the country was enhanced with the implementation of the K to 12 Curriculum.
The K to 12 Program covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of elementary education, four years
of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School [SHS]) to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and
skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development,
employment, and entrepreneurship.
The implementation of the K to 12 Curriculum is expected to contribute to the country's development in
various forms. It is believed to be necessary to improve the quality of our education which is critical to our
progress as a nation.
One of the features of the K to 12 curriculum is the requirement to equip every graduate with the following
skills:
• information, media, and technology skills;
• learning and innovation skills; • effective communication skills; and
• life and career skills.
The development of these skills can be done with the aid of technologies for teaching and learning which is the
focus of this course. This course aims to present activities that will prepare pre-service teachers to integrate ICTs in the
teaching-learning processes in the various fields of specialization. It aims to help pre-service and in-service teachers to
expand the boundaries of their creativity and that of their students beyond the four walls of the classrooms. It aims to
enable teachers to discover the power of computer technologies as teaching tools for greater learning.

Lesson 1: The K-12 Curriculum Framework

Lesson Outcomes:

Lesson 1: The K-12 Curriculum

Framework
Lesson Outcomes:
1. discuss the salient features of the K to 12 Curriculum requiring ICT-pedagogy integration skills;
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

2. analyze the learning competencies of every year level according to the field of specialization of the
pre-service teachers; and
3. review some units in the curriculum guide with a focus on the development of 21st Century skills.

Explore
The implementation of the K to 12 Curriculum of the Department of Education paved the way for the
enhancement of the Teacher Education Curriculum of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The salient
features of the K to 12 Curriculum have been thoroughly considered to ensure that all the courses in the
teacher education program will meet the demands of 21st-century classrooms. One of the considerations is the need
to implement the following salient features of the curriculum through integrating technologies for teaching and learning.
The use of technologies is done in the different levels of learning and in teaching the various fields of specialization.
1. Strengthening Early Childhood Education (Universal Kindergarten)
With the Universal Kindergarten program of the Department, every Filipino child is expected to have access
to early childhood education. This access can be facilitated using technological tools that are readily available to the
school for teachers' use. The use of technology in kindergarten by various schools is very evident in teaching the
kindergarten pupils the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors through games, songs, and dances in their Mother
Tongue.
2. Making the Curriculum Relevant to Learners (Contextualization and Enhancement)
Research shows that learners will value a curriculum that is relevant to their lives. Students are often heard
saying, “Do I need to know these to live a meaningful life?” “How will I use this lesson in the actual workplace?” “What is
the relevance of this to me?” and so on. The answer to the question of relevance is vital to help the teachers think of
some ways by which they will be able to let their students realize that their daily lessons are of good use to their
well-being and their professional preparation. Sara Bernard (2010) stressed that students need to have a personal
connection to a lesson material that can be done through engaging them emotionally or through connecting the
information with that which they already know. This she calls “Give It Context, and Make It Count”.
Briggs (2014) shared a few tips for making learning engaging and personally relevant as cited by Willis, Faeth,
and Immordino Yang:
• Use suspense and keep it fresh
• Make it student-directed
• Connect it to their lives and to what they already know
• Provide utility value
• Build relatedness
To be able to apply the tips recommended by various experts and to allow students to realize the value of
their curriculum,
• technological tools can be used. 21st Century learners are expected to be demonstrating 21st Century
competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving to be able to thrive in this
world (Rich, 2014).
Contextualizing the curriculum of the students for meaningful learning poses challenges in enhancing
teachers' pedagogical skills as well as technological skills.
3. Building Proficiency (Mother-tongue Based Multilingual Education)
To be able to promote the child's dominant language and to use it as a language of instruction, maximum use of
-technological tools is highly encouraged. Currently, a lot of teachers and schools are into developing learning materials
to be able to implement the MTB-MLE program properly especially since there is a dearth of printed and e-materials in
the mother tongue of the students. Mother Tongue is used in instruction and learning materials of other learning areas.
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

The learners retain their ethnic identity, culture, heritage, and values. Children learn better and are more active in class
and learn a second language even faster when they are first taught in a language they understand.
4. Ensuring Integrated and Seamless Learning (Spiral Progression)
Learning basic concepts that lead to a more complex and sophisticated version of the general concepts entails
TPACK: Technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge. Rediscovering concepts previously
presented as students go up in grade level will be fully supported if all the areas of specialization will be aided by
technologies for teaching and learning. This will further strengthen retention and will enhance mastery of topics
and skills as they are revisited and consolidated time and again. This also allows learners to learn topics and
skills appropriate to their developmental and cognitive skills.

5. Gearing Up for the Future

The K to 12 Curriculum ensures college readiness by aligning the core and applied courses to the College
Readiness Standards (CRS) and the new General Education (GE) Curriculum. Hence, the K to 12 Curriculum focused
on developing appropriate Specialization Subjects for the Academic, Sports, Arts and Design, and Technical
Vocational Livelihood Tracks. All of these specialization subjects have to be supported by educational technology for
better learning.
6. Nurturing the Holistically Developed Filipino (College and Livelihood Readiness, 21st Century Skills)
To nurture holistically developed Filipino, every K to 12 graduate is expected to be ready to go into different
paths - higher education, employment, or entrepreneurship.
Every graduate is expected to be equipped with information, media, and technology skills, learning and innovation skills,
effective communication skills, and life and career skills. This may happen with the proper implementation of the
curriculum and with the facilitation by excellent teachers. For teachers to maintain excellent performance, they
need full support, one of which is technological support.

Exchange
Teachers play a very important role
in the facilitation of student learning
by designing,
implementing, and evaluating the
curriculum. In the Philippines, teachers
are expected to actively
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

engage themselves in curriculum

design to ensure that the K to 12
Curriculum will be best
delivered to fully realize its intended
learning outcomes.
Teachers make decisions about how
they will implement the curriculum of
their specific
field of specialization. They decide on
how they must structure the activities of
their lessons and
manage students' responses and ideas.
Hence, the decision of teachers is very
important. It has
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

an impact on the students' learning.

The following are points to consider
in identifying and
understanding teacher’s roles as
curriculum designers:
• Undoubtedly, the most important
person in the curriculum implementation
process is the
teacher. With their knowledge,
experiences, and competencies, teachers
are central to
any curriculum development effort.
Better teachers support better learning
because they
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

are most knowledgeable about the

practice of teaching and are responsible
for introducing
the curriculum in the classroom
(Alsubaie, 2016).
• Curriculum is the planned
interaction of pupils with instructional
content, materials,
resources, and processes Tor
evaluating the attainment of
educational objectives —
Jadhav and Patankar (2013).
• Curriculum is content, but when
contextualized, it comes alive for
students. The role of
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

teachers in the curriculum process is to

help students develop an engaged
relationship
with the content. Active learning
increases the focus and retention of
the curriculum,
resulting in an exciting learning
environment. Teachers build lessons
that include
simulations, experiments, case studies,
and activities to deliver a curriculum.
This
interactive approach intertwines
curriculum and practical experiences
that immerse
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

students in learning. The curriculum

process provides an opportunity for
teachers to be
creative and put their unique stamp on
the classroom experience (Meier, 2018).
• Teachers, on their part, have practical
knowledge based on their daily work
with students.
This knowledge is useful to curriculum
committees because teachers can assess
whether
the ideas being developed will work in
the classroom (Young, 1988).
Exchange
Teachers play a very important role in the facilitation of student learning by designing, implementing,
and evaluating the curriculum. In the Philippines, teachers are expected to actively engage themselves in curriculum
design to ensure that the K to 12 Curriculum will be best delivered to fully realize its intended learning outcomes.
Teachers make decisions about how they will implement the curriculum of their specific field of specialization.
They decide on how they must structure the activities of their lessons and manage students' responses and ideas.
Hence, the decision of teachers is very important. It has an impact on the students' learning. The following are
points to consider in identifying and understanding teacher’s roles as curriculum designers:
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

• Undoubtedly, the most important person in the curriculum implementation process is the teacher. With their
knowledge, experiences, and competencies, teachers are central to any curriculum development effort. Better teachers
support better learning because they are most knowledgeable about the practice of teaching and are responsible for
introducing the curriculum in the classroom (Alsubaie, 2016).
• Curriculum is the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and
processes Tor evaluating the attainment of educational objectives —Jadhav and Patankar (2013).
• Curriculum is content, but when contextualized, it comes alive for students. The role of teachers in the
curriculum process is to help students develop an engaged relationship with the content. Active learning increases
the focus and retention of the curriculum, resulting in an exciting learning environment. Teachers build lessons
that include simulations, experiments, case studies, and activities to deliver a curriculum. This interactive
approach intertwines curriculum and practical experiences that immerse students in learning. The curriculum
process provides an opportunity for teachers to be creative and put their unique stamp on the classroom experience
(Meier, 2018).
• Teachers, on their part, have practical knowledge based on their daily work with students. This knowledge is
useful to curriculum committees because teachers can assess whether the ideas being developed will work in the
classroom (Young, 1988).

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Answer the following:

1. How will technological tools for teaching and learning promote the salient features of the K to 12 Curriculum?
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: [email protected]

2. What are the 21st Century skills that are highly required to be developed by your field of specialization? Rank
them in terms of the identified standards and competencies of your curriculum guide.

Prepared by:

ROSWELL O. TOLENTINO, EdD

Wake up! You can!