Manila Internship: Understanding by Design (w1)

Kamusta Readers,

For the 1st week, I did regular activities associated with orientation ( getting familiar with the mode of operation, paperwork, ID, etc. ).  I learned a bit about the Center, and the English curriculum here in Phil (PI).  I also started copy-editing, and physically organizing the library.

One of the Center's goal is to train and help English teachers here in PI.  Since the 1980s, the Center have been following co-founder's (Father G's) philosophy of student-centered pedagogy ( also referred here as SHE - Significant Human Experience ).  Process is also stressed. ( I wonder how congnizant Father G was with this pedagogy exploding into popularity in the U.S. around the 80s as well. )

The English curriculum for secondary and post secondary education in PI doesn't just include grammar and literature, they also explicitly deal with the macro skills, such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing ( everything English ).  Understanding by Design (UbD) --by G.Wiggins and J. McTighe-- is currently being implemented in the curriculum, and the current problem is a paucity of instructional materials (sample lesson plans).

Based on my limited understanding of UbD, it's referred to as "backward design" because it's lesson planning with the end goal in mind first.  UbD doesn't just focus on taking tests/test results ( like NCLB ); it approaches learning (English) in a wholistic way ( the bigger understanding, the enduring understanding, transferrable skills, and meaningful experiences [very similar to the Center's mission and philosophy] ).

The theme for the Center's September magazine issue is UbD.  So far I've reviewed 3 articles that were submitted, and evaluated 4 lesson plans ( discussed submission guidelines/criteria, and tone of acceptance letters with Director N ).  I checked to make sure the lesson plans were easy to follow, and that they adhered to UbD's philosophy.  I also started re-organizing the library; I created a Fiction section, and a miscellaneous section ( auto/biography, poetry, children's literature/poetry, etc. ).