CONTENT KNOWLEDGE AND PEDAGOGY

San Joaquin School of Fisheries transitioned from modular, to blended, to limited face to face mode of learning just in a span of two years. The moment I entered the institution as a practice teacher, I got to experience the shifting, allowing me to create a holistic development in terms of pedagogical content knowledge.

In summary, I've handled eight online classes in the Third Quarter and five classes under the limited face to face in the Fourth Quarter. With these, I was able to design lesson plans enough to developed the body of information I share to learners and the approach that supports their growth and development.

As observed, learners' engagement varies deeply on how the teachers manages the duration of teaching a specific topic for a specific subject area. This was my first thought before my actual demonstration teaching. Luckily, I got to observe my mentor first on his online lecture before me. That's why, I was able to determine the strong and weak points from his teaching approach, the things to consider for my own class and the strategies to be applied.

My mentor, who happens to earn a degree in Educational Philosophy, reminded me to treat the pedagogy as the core of providing quality education to students. This challenged me on how I could imply all the observations I made from his class, his reminders, and my own personal styles which I wanted to implement for my students.

So I focused on designing my first lesson plan along with its instructional material. Since it is a virtual encounter, I limited the resources to what is convenient and accessible for my students. I had my first demo and earn positive feedbacks from my mentor and cooperating teacher. Good thing there was constructive criticism which I really applauded as it didn't made me feel hopeless for myself, but motivated me to stick with the standards I set on the demo.

As for evaluation during the demo, the key positive feedback and reminder I earned was to always make sure that I include integration, contextualization, and localization in my class so the learners would get to engage more as they find the lesson reflective to their context. This then became my trademark. I always consider the relation of the activities, examples and discussion to the context of learners.

The process resumed for many more online meetings bringing the trademark and the feedbacks. I was actually glad that my learners were able to familiarize my approach in teaching as we keep on having online classes. They always expect me to used a current trend from society and social media as my activities and examples. So they get to prepare themselves with the current news to gain idea on the possible inclusions of my lesson.

This process continued until the shifting of mode of learning from blended to limited face to face. I was excited as finally I could brainstorm and use better and bigger approaches to my learners. The best experience I had was when I taught the topic for "National Development" or "Pambansang Kaunlaran" where as a pre-activity, I let my students watched a film showcasing a transformation of a specific place from nothing to an improved one with rising buildings. Afterwards, I asked them with their observations and thoughts about the video. They responded on and it started the healthy exchange of conversation between me and them.

As soon as the formal discussion started, some students started asking random questions which is related to the topic but could be considered as not relevant. Students enjoy the sarcastic approach of their classmates but for me as a teacher, it might be a possibility that we could lose track from our goals for the lesson and got nothing to achieve. So I responded to the question and as I speak, I unknowingly noticed that I was actually able to connect it to what I was discussing.

As a pre-service teacher, this little thing really made me proud of myself because I was satisfied with the knowledge I have shared to them knowing that it was completely unexpected and random. It was more fulfilling that I actually realized it being a reflective approach, leaving a lesson that is applicable to their own context. And to make it short, the students didn't bother asking question which they finally realized to be sarcastic and rather went formal keeping a more healthy exchanges of ideas. The class ended with an assurance that they learned the lessons and the objectives were achieved.

As a future teacher, I was thankful that I was able to encounter such scenarios which appears all of a sudden, because it gave me the idea on how to stick with my purpose considering my pedagogical content knowledge. I realized that no matter how prepared you are, there are things that happen without you knowing it, and if you never know enough about what you teach, you'll appear less of a teacher from your students. Luckily, I came prepared and was able to prove them that I knew what I was discussing, I was sure with what approach I am using, and that I am never losing track from my intention of providing them with the essential knowledge for their personal growth and development.

As a result, I became more critical in designing my lesson plans, choosing my instructional material, picking my examples, creating my activities and tasks, and deliberating my lesson. No wonder why I was so confident the moment I had my final demonstration, because it, being the last class I had, I assured that I applied all the ideas, lessons, and realizations I got from my experiences towards designing the most effective lesson plan, instructional material, and the teaching approach.

Examples of best lesson plans created with instructional material. Click to access.