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Academics

 

Full implementation of K-12 Curriculum

In the advent of worldwide curriculum change, SMCM responds to the call of preparing its clientele for a global perspective. Thus, embracing the Department of Education's call for the demand of “a 12-year program which is founded to be the best period for learning under basic education, as well as the recognized standard for students and professionals globally” (DepEd, n.d.), makes SMCM takes its responsibility not only in nation building but making every Marian known to the world.

SMCM takes its role in the delivery of a national educational program. Thus, restructuring its curriculum utilizing the standardized skills and competencies for gradual students’ lifelong skills was considered.

With a decongested 12-year program adopted along with the guidelines and orders of the Department of Education, SMCM gives the Marians ample time to master the skills and basic competencies. Furthermore, this will cater to the needs of the students to be prepared in the academe as early as five years old for kindergarten, a prerequisite for Grade 1, and graduate at eighteen years old as Grade 12 Senior High School students, who are either ready for college pursuance or employment. This is possible with the students’ choice of the various tracks which prepares them for higher education or employment; thus, making SMCM graduates not at far with the global educational perspective giving Marian graduates mutual recognition with the other countries. 

Moreover, the academic offering of SMCM is based on the curriculum guides set by the Department of education according to grade levels and subjects.

Nursery. SMCM believes that education bounds no age, thus, it caters to young learners who are ready for the school set-up of education and training. The nursery is formerly known as the Junior Kinder, where young learners are given both learning and social activities in Filipino, Language, Reading and Mathematics in preparation for Kindergarten, based on the given Omnibus Policy.

Kindergarten. SMCM is one with the DepEd that adheres to provide chances for young students to be “developed physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually and formed with values and character”; thus, offering a Kindergarten Education to five (5)-year old children which includes the following learning areas:

a.      Socio-Emotional Development (Pagpapaunlad ng Sosyo-Emosyunal at Kakayahang Makipamuhay);

b.      Values Development (Kagandahang Asal);

c.       Physical Health and Motor Development (Kalusugang Pisikal at Pagpapaunlad sa Kakayahang Motor);

d.      Aesthetic/ Creative Development (Sining);

e.      Mathematics;

f.        Understanding the Physical and Natural Environment; and

g.      Language, Literacy, and Communication (DepEd, n.d.).

The said learning areas are incorporated in the four subjects such as Filipino, Language, Reading, and Mathematics. Moreover, learning spaces are provided for both Nursery and Kindergarten to maximize their learning potentials.

Grade 1 – 10. SMCM offers young Marian learners basic skills and competencies on Christian Living as the core subject, Mathematics, Science, Filipino, English, Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH, HELE/TLE Computer.

CHRISTIAN LIVING. As core subject of the curriculum, it is founded on the competencies and skills aligned with the DepED and the RVM Educational Ministry Commission scope and sequence. The curriculum dwells much on the core values of faith, service, and excellence. To fully make the students live out the concepts learned in Christian Living, students include in their weekly activity the so-called community involvement, which they must serve with definite time allotment as altar server, lector or commentator, choir or serve at their respective parishes or barangays.

MATHEMATICS. The curriculum in Mathematics was anchored by experiential and situated learning, reflective learning, cooperative learning, constructivism, as well discovery and inquiry-based learning. Students are also engaged in the use of Mathematics SRA to further develop their mathematical skills. Moreover, SMCM is collaborating with the other Mathematics Organization such as MTAP and MTG for training mathematically inclined students. Thus, the Marian students will be armed not only with theoretical mathematical concepts but situational concepts applicable to their everyday living.

SCIENCE. SMCM offers Science starting Grade 1 until grade 12. Science lessons are focusing on the acquisition of healthful habits and development of curiosity about self and their environment using basic process skills of observing, communicating, comparing, classifying, measuring, inferring and predicting. Higher level grades also entail scientific inquiry skills development with simple investigatory designs. Moreover, lessons include scientific, technological and environmental literacy as well as obtaining scientific and technological information from global issues that have impact in the country.

With this regard, SMCM will cater to the needs of the young learners in terms of thinking and creating scientifically that makes them really prepared for the 21st century learning; thus, incorporating in the Science curriculum the use of the STEM Laboratory.

FILIPINO. Despite the achieving global competitiveness, SMCM still believes in the enrichment of the FILIPINO language, thus, the curriculum includes Philippine Literature and Language during students’ learning. The curriculum utilizes interactive/ integrative learning, discovery learning, basic interpersonal communication skills and cognitive academic language proficiency skills. Moreover, celebrating Buwan ng Wika as prescribed by the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF), was also done as culminating activity in enriching the language.

ENGLISH. The institution believes that students have their innate language knowledge since birth that can be developed throughout the course of their life, thus, enhancing what the students know and developing them into more complex contexts and increasing sophistication (or the spiral/ gradual progression) was utilized during classroom procedures. This fully illustrates the adaptation of the theory of constructivism in language teaching.

For students to excel in their comprehension skill, Scientific Reading Activity (SRA) was done in every quarter. Each student is given a year-beginning inventory with color assignment as starter level. The student in the long run can further level up based on their reading progress in accordance to time.

The speech lessons incorporating the use of Speech laboratory was also done to meet the needs of the students in pronouncing English appropriately. Moreover, establishing a culture of English speaking school with the intensification of the English drive through positive reinforcement further makes this belief realizable.

ARALING PANLIPUNAN. SMCM still adheres to the preservation of the Filipino culture through the development and enrichment of the Filipino language. This curriculum entails to the development of basic competencies that “promotes functional literacies thru collaborative learning, constructivism, as well as experiential and conceptual learning”. Along with these competencies, students are also given opportunities to be part of the social events by exposing them of the current issues and social concerns the country is facing with as well as dealing with community involvement integrated with their Christian Living subject; thus, they become socially aware.

MAPEH. The area serves as an avenue of learning necessary skills and values in “artistic expressions and cultural literacy”. This also entails a spiral progression of the various components such Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health. The curriculum offerings deal with the learners as performers and exhibitors of performance-based knowledge and skills incorporated with their multiple intelligences. Intramurals, an annual culminating activity of the area further enhances the skills of the students in terms of Physical Education.

HELE/TLE COMPUTER. Known as the “laboratory of life”, TLE by its nature is dominantly a skill subject and so we must engage our students in an experiential, contextualized, and authentic teaching-learning process, which caters to the development and acquisition of knowledge and skills that deal with practical life applications, Home Economics (HE) as well as meeting the demands of the fast-changing Information and Communications Technology (ICT).  It is a subject where students learn best by doing. It integrates concepts, skills & values (Mercedita Reyes, 2017).

However, only the Exploratory Home Economics subjects are offered to the Grade 7 and 8 that include: Foods and Food Service (Basic: Baking; Cookery; Food & Beverage Services; & Food Preservations); Dressmaking (Garment and Textile); Beauty Care Services; Housekeeping; Entrepreneurship; and Handicrafts.

On the other hand, the Home Economics subjects offered to the grade 9 and 10 include: Bread and Pastry Production; Cookery; Food and Beverage Services; and Beauty Care and Wellness.

    The school’s choice of offering is determined by the availability of its resources (faculty, who are all NC II certified and well-equipped facilities) as well as the local needs and resources of the community (Mercedita Reyes, 2017).

Moreover, actual HE/TLE and Computer laboratory utilization maximizes the learning experiences of the students. In here, they utilize equipment and tool that will make them fully apply the lessons they have in the said subjects.

Senior High School. The Senior High School caters to the last two (2) years of the Integrated Basic Education which prepares the students to either to pursue higher education or employment. The SHS curriculum includes the core subjects, applied subjects, and specialized subjects based on the students’ respective tracks. Moreover, students are given practical and explorative activities for them to fully maximize the skills they need in their track.

To meet the demands of the existing technological innovations, students are given the chance to use the educational online platforms. SMCM, despite the fast-changing technology, still meets the need of exposing students to responsible information and communication technology; as well as engaging the teachers in the advent of emerging technologies useful in educational setting, learning and creative inquiry of a global perspective. Thus, Ed-Modo, an online platform, assisted both the young learners and educators to take chances of distant and home-based learning, taking the possibilities of reaching out to students even without coming to school.

 

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RVM Pedagogy

Along with its sincere desire of providing the quality education, SMCM caters its clientele a taste of multi-integrated disciplines for holistic learning. RVM Pedagogy carries out a four-pronged integration as part of the lesson evangelization of every Marian, thus living out the true value of Faith, Service and Excellence.

Furthermore, “it is a way in which teachers journey with the learners towards their integral development and growth as productive citizens through an interactive learning processes that lead to the realization of learning goals unfolding of learning standards and eventual demonstration of learning outcomes”.

The pedagogy was rooted from the theory of constructivism that considers the context of a learner with their “uniqueness, background, culture, experiences and willingness as well as readiness to learn and demonstrate learning outcomes. The learners construct new knowledge based from their previous set of knowledge, thus, activated at the beginning of the lesson and corrected during or after the lesson. In this way, learners’ new knowledge is then internalized and reflected upon and becomes their enabling force to demonstrate learning outcomes”.

The learners are encouraged to engage in purposeful, critical and reflective inquiries to give deeper meaning and significance to long lasting ideas, thus making meaningful, creative, functional connections and application of their knowledge and skills in varied real life situations.

These purposeful, reflective and critical inquiries are intended to essentially include the following four-pronged integration:

a.      Ignacian core and related values (Core Values)

b.      Meaningful connections of concepts to contemporary social realities (Social Awareness)

c.       Concepts across subject boundaries (Subject Integration)

d.      Biblical texts reflections in relation to concepts taught (Biblical Passages)

This further includes the process of assessing the learners on lessons learned, values gained and how they connect and apply to the varied context of life what they learned and gained. Often, these are done through the performance tasks, including culminating demonstrations of learning given to the learners.

Even at the end of the lessons, the learners are tasked to express, illustrate and relate in their own words or in their creative manner, their understanding of concepts (summary); and further challenged to do something from what they have learned (action) to determine the apt use of knowledge and skills, values and social consciousness in their lives.

In doing so, the Marian learners will be able to live out the expected Ignacian Marian graduate attribute set by the Education Ministry Commission for SMCM learners.