San Joaquin School of Fisheries, being a public institution, is obliged to follow and implement the guidelines and memorandum orders of the Department of Education. These are the first words which were said to me by the School Principal the moment I entered the school. His intention was to remind me that all things we will be doing and experiencing are exactly the call for the demands of learning as stated in the constitution.

This lines were extra deep for someone like me who has less knowledge about the works of public school teachers. It was proven with the changes in learning modality through the revised curriculum. During my academic days, I have read the curriculum for Araling Panlipunan but quite surprised when I found out that these were not used for the mean time.

The school follows the recommended Most Essential Learning Competency provided by the DepEd. For Araling Panlipunan, there are four MELC's both in 3rd and 4th Quarter of Grade 10 while eight to nine for the 3rd and 4th Quarter of Grade 9. Each MELC are given two weeks to be learned by learners. Knowing that these competencies are combined topics, it actually became a struggle encompassing several topics at one discussion. So my mentor and I planned out for how these MELC's will be discussed considering the time provided for online lectures.

During the first shift, where we still had online classes, I teach Grade 10 - Contemporary Issues. As agreed, each MELC are provided with two lectures per week. The basis of what topic are to be discussed came from the previous curriculum guide of Araling Panlipunan. The work was a bit hard since there are numerous lesson plans that must be prepared. Luckily, the other half of my mentor, who is also a teacher of the school, is an active writer of course syllabus and lesson exemplars in the Division of Iloilo. She has expertise on designing, arranging and picking the best strategies for teaching a specific topic no matter what the subject is.

Before working on the execution of plans, I and my mentor had a consultation with his wife whose expertise are immeasurable. It was a great experience because I was sitting with together with the Head Teacher who was once a Social Studies Teacher, my mentor who is a Social Studies Coordinator, and his wife who is a writer in the DepEd - Division of Iloilo. It feels good that they are together in training me towards making the best teaching practice with consideration to the curriculum and the context of learners. They were the ones to suggest to used strategies such as authentic learning, discovery learning, community engagements, modeled teaching and cognitive apprenticeship.

After the consultation and some experience sharing, I took note of the strategies and reminders then come up with a holistic approach for teaching my students. They observed if I was able to execute effectively the plans, and based on them, it was a job well done. So just like how I made my examples a trademark, I also did consider my strategies as a part of me, being a teacher. I used the same strategies when I hold face to face classes in Grade 9 Economics during my second shift and it never failed me. Starting then, I became firm as I already had develop an identity of myself as a teacher.

As I had my consultation and story sharing on the experiences of the teachers in writing a syllabus and curriculum planning, I was inspired to chase the same level of accomplishment that they have done. They were not only teacher, but writers, designers, and creators of materials needed by learners. And with what these teachers taught me, I realized that being involved in the making of curriculum is actually a fun and wholesome experience. I had these thoughts of one day doing it too, but as of now, I will just take my time making effective plans, designing instructional materials, and practice on its implementation.