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I am coming on board as curriculum upgrade consultant for Xavier School. I am currently a faculty member of the Education Department, Ateneo de Manila University and trainer of Understanding by Design. I am a mother of 4 and grandmother of 2.

note: I have just come on board as consultant so cannot be more specific about names or exact positions of actors who should be involved. || Possible action(s)  || Context-based lessons must be introduced. We are only starting to consider the MYP for the school. The teachers are not yet familiar with the AOI. || Department chairs, teachers || Curriculum consultant, administrators || More conversations among teachers about the concepts and big ideas in their units have to be held. More time to collaborate on concept-driven units has to be built into the summer inservice sessions. || Department chairpersons review the units and delivery of instruction with the teachers. || This is not explicitly done as part of each unit. || Department chairs, teachers || Curriculum consultant, administrators || Come up with policies and SOPs so that reflection becomes part of both the unit review cycle and the regular formative assessment of students. Hold a conversation about the possibility of including explicit questions to facilitate reflection on the unit. ||
 * Issue ||  Facilitating factors  ||  Inhibiting factors  ||  Stakeholders  ||   Actors
 * 1. Sharing information about the MYP || The parents are clamoring for MYP. The school has had good feedback about the DP program from students, teachers, and administrators. || However, they have misconceptions and apprehensions primarily about the way it will be aligned with the curriculum and the "rigor" question. || Administrators, teachers, parents, students || Curriculum consultant, administrators || Hold conversations w administrators. Plan conversations w teachers, and then parents, being careful to pinpoint key ideas that need to be clarified first. ||
 * 2. Intercultural awareness through the LP || Numerous programs, activities and curriculum components are in place to promote both Filipino and Chinese culture. || However, there is much work to be done to instill a truly "international" outlook. There is, for example, not enough meaningful work being done to have students explore ethnic diversity in the Philippines, etc. || Department chairs, faculty, students, parents || Curriculum consultant, administrators || Revisit more closely the IB learner profile and the school VMO from the perspective of "how does having an international outlook" look. ||
 * 3. Holistic Learning || There are already 3 language requirements. || There is a need to strengthen the Arts program. || Arts teachers, all other teachers and chairs || Curriculum consultant, academic heads || Design a HUMANITIES program. Encourage the use of arts interdisciplinary themes. ||
 * 4. Collaboration in curriculum review and implementation || Collaboration among teachers in a subject area is always done. || Schedules and structures do not always facilitate Inter-subject collaboration. || Department chairs, teachers || Curriculum consultant, administrators, department chairs || Identify inhibiting factors and address these. The school is embarking on a curriculum upgrade process, including curriculum mapping, which has mixed group reviews that will address these. These will eventually become part of an ongoing curriculum review cycle. ||
 * 5. Aligning the curriculum vertically and horizintally || A curriculum upgrading process, with the vertical and horizontal alignment of curriculum as one of the main objectives, is ongoing. || Consideration of how to integrate elements of the MYP, should the school decide to adopt this, has to be factored into the curriculum upgrade process. Integration of the new national curriculum, which is in Year 1 of implementation, must also be taken into consideration. || Department chairs, teachers || Curriculum consultant, administrators || Implement the curriculum upgrade process as planned. Sit down with administrators to start mapping curriculum objectives against MYP objectives. ||
 * 6. Introducing concept-driven curriculum and the aoi’s || The introduction of the Understanding by Design framework, whose principles have since been integrated into the school's own Ignatian Pedagogical Framework, has facilitated the establishment of a concept-based curriculum. || Newly-hired faculty have to be trained to design concept-based units. Also, teachers have to collaborate so as to further enhance units.
 * 7. Planning concept-driven units of work || same as #6 || same as #6 || same as #6 || same as #6 || same as #6 ||
 * 8. Introducing criterion-referenced assessment || Done || NA ||  || Curriculum consultant, administrators, department chairs, teachers || Review and creation of performance tasks and rubrics is ongoing. ||
 * 9. Reflection as integral to MYP units of work || The teachers pencil in, in their unit plans, things that worked and didn't.
 * 10. Using IB language as the common “curriculum language”. || Certain vocabulary words have been agreed on and are clearly understood by all. || Upon seeing the command terms of IB, I realize that we still have to work on using common language that directly impacts the way the students understand the work they do. || Teachers, students || Curriculum consultant, administrators, department chairs || Conduct professional development sessions to clarify meanings of terms and to impress upon the teachers the importance of using a common language. ||
 * 11. Introducing the Personal Project || Similar projects are already required, usually built around Community and Service themes and thrusts of school. || However, the primary focus is on reflection and learning about social issues. The learning experience can be maximized if we were to use the framework of process,product, and reporting of project. || Teachers, students || Curriculum consultant, administrators || Revise projects so that the framework/structure of the projects are built around process, product, reporting of project. ||
 * 12. Setting priorities – developing a school action plan || Done, but minor revisions needed based on learnings from this workshop ||  ||   || Curriculum consultant, administrators ||   ||