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It’s known to us, as future teachers, that our students are ever changing, hence our curriculum would also be changing. The years of experience in teaching doesn’t simply amount into simple ideals that are static. It simply won’t work anymore as our generation has evolved into the “difference makers” of society. Treading the path untrodden would be a dangerous aptitude but this is why it's called a teaching and learning “journey” and not a “road.”  This is why it can be observed that our teachers have grown with us through the pandemic, through the several transport strikes, through difficult times of life etc. The lenses of our teachers are different from when they were starting to teach from when they would be a veteran in the future. Hence, this teacher's documentation of experiences was made.

The documentation of Learning Experiences, Nuggets, and Sharing from Educator’s Schema (LENSES) was respectively recorded via interview in an online setting through Google Meet and an onsite setting. This concerns a teacher with less than five years and more than five years of experience of teaching.

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She is currently an English teacher in Immanuel Conception Academy of Manila (ICAM). She teaches for Secondary Education under Grades 7, 8, and 11. She is a graduate from Philippine Normal University (PNU) with a degree in Bachelor of English Education, a four-year baccalaureate program, last 2022. Moreover, she has experience teaching elementary students in her earlier years. She started in ICAM in June 2024 at the start of the regular school year, hence teaching for a year in the school. Previously, her profession was focused on English in Second Language (ESL) learners, particularly Japanese students, for six (6) months online. The interview was conducted online through Google Meet.

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Sir Sekito presented with a certificate of appreciation

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He has been in the teaching profession for 11 years. He graduated in 2013 from the University of Santo Tomas (UST). Later on, he would be teaching on his first job in St. Jude Catholic School in Manila near Malacanang wherein he would experience secondary education. The area had a significant Chinese influence and population so he was also able to touch on English as Foreign Language (EFLs) as well. Regarding his first six (6) years of teaching, he would be teaching mixtures of junior and senior high school students at the start of the K-12 curriculum. Additionally, he was also able to experience the first year of K-12 teaching in 2012, hence being one of the pioneers of the said curriculum. In 2016, he would also experience the creation of senior high school wherein students aging 16 or 17 to choose their specializations with STEM, HUMMS, and the like. In 2019, he finally enters the doors of a University to teach at the tertiary level for the rest of his five (5) years. He attended teaching for Far Eastern University (FEU) first before transitioning into his Thomasian life with an invitation from the Department Chair of Literature.

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The interview with Ma'am Joana Jane Calangi illustrates the curriculum's transformative impact within the MTB-MLE framework. The Republic Act No. 10533 (2013) posits that the curriculum should consider that Filipinos are naturally bilingual speakers. As learners, our native language can differ from everybody else and not just Filipino. She fosters an inclusive and stimulating learning atmosphere by considering students' diversity of languages and cultural backgrounds as top considerations. By incorporating the MTB-MLE policy, she gives students the freedom to use their mother tongues as a teaching medium, which helps them grasp academic material more deeply and develop a more incredible feeling of cultural identification. Ma'am Calangi's method highlights the value of cutting-edge teaching techniques that promote fairness, excellence, and cultural relevance in education—despite challenges like resource modifications and addressing educational institutions' limitations. Using the MTB-MLE framework, Ma'am Calangi's descriptive curriculum is applied to adapt instructional content to her students' language and cultural backgrounds. Rather than strictly following prescribed materials, she modifies the curriculum to capture the essence of the varied linguistic landscapes of her students. Making learning experiences meaningful and relevant to students' real-world experiences means including references to local languages and cultures in instructional materials. Ma'am Calangi emphasizes contextualization and cultural responsiveness by embracing the descriptive aspect of the curriculum, which helps her students engage and comprehend the material more deeply. As students see their identities and experiences mirrored in the curriculum, this method improves learning and creates a sense of empowerment and inclusivity.

On the other hand, the descriptive approach is applied to Sir Sekito's curriculum, given his emphasis on enabling learning to the interests and learning styles of his students. While the descriptive nature of curriculum entails modifying teaching strategies and instructional materials to meet learners' unique needs and settings, constructivism is primarily concerned with how students construct knowledge via active engagement and inquiry. As he modifies his teaching style according to the individual characteristics and identifies his students' capabilities, his emphasis on individualized instruction, unique instruction, and flexible assessment methods, in this instance, embodies a descriptive approach. Sir Sekito's curriculum is inclusive, relevant, and responsive because it incorporates the ideas and knowledge of the students into the learning process. This is an excellent example of the descriptive character of curriculum.

The fact that Sir Sekito frequently uses essay tests rather than objective ones indicates how the nature of the curriculum is descriptive. He chooses essay tests to highlight the need for in-depth comprehension, critical thinking, and idea expression over rote memorization or simple recall. With this method, students can show their understanding, critical thinking abilities, and originality in their response articulation. Essay tests also give Sir Sekito essential insights into each student's unique learning process, enabling him to modify support and instruction according to the student's areas of strength and improvement. Ultimately, Sir Sekito's use of essay exams reinforces his dedication to a curriculum that places a high value on meaningful learning experiences and authentic evaluation, supporting his teaching style's descriptive aspect.

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At this point, we have learned that philosophical foundations provide the guiding principles in teaching, helping educators understand the purpose of education and inform decision-making processes. That being said, both of the teachers we interviewed seem to follow the “progressivist” mindset, where they focus on developing the skill set of a student in order to adapt to the fast-changing environment they live in easily. As said by Nager and Shapiro (2007) in regard to progressivism, "Education is a vehicle for creating and promoting social justice and encouraging participation in democratic processes.” As English teachers, they focus and give importance to critical thinking as it is vital not only to the subject matter but also to the workforce, where they’ll have to participate in the future. Hearing about their insights made us realize the effectiveness of their teaching strategies that are based on the philosophy they follow as they share their experiences in regard to their students’ responses. In their case and situation, they have proven progressivism effective, but as situations and circumstances differ for every teacher, so following and deciding on what to follow would not be the same for every teacher and could yield different results.

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It’s easy to forget the humble beginnings of education as methodologies and theories, regardless of how stubborn the proponent may be, change throughout the years. Theodore (2009) supports the views of our fellow interviewees as experience broadens perspectives, not the thickness of your head. For Teacher Sekito, it’s evident that evidence of the perennialists and idealists still exist during his student life as the so-called “terror teachers” were quite common and they exist in our educational sphere for a reason. For him, he sees these teachers as challenges to overcome as did the Spartans with their training, Greeks with their Socratics, and so many more. For Teacher Calangi, she sees them as simply a product of a bygone age that can be viewed as educational fossils per se. It’s difficult to understand these teachers’ circumstances as they’ve grown up with different lifestyles, different mentors, different environments, different histories that encapsulate their humanity as of late. They are in Theodore’s words, “gone but not forgotten.”

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For us, the instructional practices employed by Teacher Calangi, who teaches students spanning Grades 7, 8, and 11 in senior high school, are influenced by pertinent educational policies. Specifically, her teaching aligns with DepEd Memorandum No. 189, s. 2003, Section 1-C, which stipulates that English serves as the primary medium of instruction in both public and private secondary institutions. This regulation is applicable to Teacher Calangi's professional domain, given her role as an English language educator, in the sense that English should be acculturated in a way that it should be implemented in a concrete manner to prepare the learners for the corporate world (Department of Education, 2003). Furthermore, Teacher Calangi's pedagogical approach incorporates the use of learners' mother tongue languages within the classroom setting. This multifaceted linguistic strategy is congruent with the principles outlined in Republic Act 10523, commonly known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, which advocates for the implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) framework. According to this legislation, learners are encouraged to engage with their native language alongside additional languages, such as English or other foreign languages like Japanese or Korean, within the educational context. However, for the Philippines, English emerges as the more pertinent second language due to historical and sociolinguistic considerations. By integrating both English and the learners' mother tongue languages into her instructional practices, Teacher Calangi exemplifies a pedagogical model that aligns with the legal frameworks and educational policies aimed at fostering linguistic diversity and effective learning outcomes in the Philippine educational landscape.

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Similarly, psychological foundations aid in the pedagogy of the teacher by allowing educators to understand their students better. Teacher Joana shared that as she connects with her students by allowing herself to be more warm and relatable, she has gained the trust of her students to the point that they could comfortably share their personal lives with her. Following this, we can associate the experience with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as she created an atmosphere of trust, warmth, and care. On the other hand, Teacher Sekito believes in constructivism, where he gives lessons to his students based on their existing knowledge and he builds up from that. It makes the lessons easier and more understandable. From both of their experiences, we could conclude and prove that student-centered teaching is effective nowadays to match the current needs and abilities of modern day students. Ahmed (2022) shared insightful words on how psychological foundations are vital to the curriculum by sharing: "The psychological foundation is based on individual differences, every student has her own unique personality and they have differences in nature so they can not be treated alike in the teaching-learning process... Therefore, the curriculum should be based on the above facts, and it should be designed to support the capacity and potentiality of all the students. Psychology plays a vital role in the teaching-learning process."

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Ahmed, S. (2022, August). The role of psychological foundation of education on a child’s behaviour. ResearchGate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362890134_The_role_of_psychological_foundation_of_education_on_a_child's_behaviour

Department of Education. (2003, June 19). DepEd Memorandum 189 s. 2003. Department of Education. Retrieved March 24, 2024, from https://www.deped.gov.ph/dm_s2003_189-3/

Nager, N., & Shapiro, E. (2017). A Progressive Approach to the Education of Teachers: Some Principles from Bank Street College of Education. Occasional Paper Series, 2007(18).

https://doi.org/10.58295/2375-3668.1169

Republic Act No. 10533. (2013, May 15). Official Gazette. Retrieved March 24, 2024, from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/05/15/republic-act-no-10533/

Theodore, C. (2009) Gone but not forgotten: the decline of history as an educational foundation, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 41:5, 569-583

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BOBIER, David Bryan

CARTERA, Corrine

DE LEON, Julie Ann

MERCADER, Hasia Willa

TORRES, Reginald