(1) The
Malaysian Experience 3, Part 3: Using the Tools for Curriculum Design,
Khaw Choon Ean
(2) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl
A. Edwards
(3) 5th Annual TOCFE
International Conference/First Annual TOCFE International Student’s Conference,
Cheryl A.
Edwards
(1) The Malaysian Experience 3, Part 3: Using the
Tools for Curriculum Design, Khaw
Choon Ean, Malaysia
During the past
two weeks, we have featured Khaw Choon Ean’s experience in leading a team of
educators in the use of the TOCFE tools to design a curriculum for Year-One
teachers. Part 1 described how the
tools were an inspiration for “sama-sama belajar,” a Malay term that
means, “let’s learn together.” Part 2
gave the account of how they used the tools to plan the workshop needed to
design the curriculum. And this week,
Part 3 lays out the fruit of their labor.
“The
amazing thing was to see these people who had been called from all over the
country, some of whom were meeting here for the first time, getting down to
really focused discussion. They had a
simple and effective tool in their hands that obviously empowered them to build
a module from scratch.” — Khaw Choon Ean
The Design for the Program Using the AT
Tool
This is how the AT tool was used to design
our curriculum program.
The Main Goal
was a Successful Transition Program.
a)
The Obstacles
that were identified under this goal could be identified as the program’s area
of concern. The intermediate objectives
for the obstacles became the areas of concern of the program. These areas of concern would become the
Module Units.
Example:
OBSTACLE: Teachers do not have
adequate knowledge of different teaching and learning strategies for Year-One
children.
INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVE:
Provide teachers with knowledge of different teaching and learning
strategies for Year-One children and train them.
AREA OF CONCERN: Teacher Preparation
MODULE: Year-One Teacher Preparation Module
b)
Prioritizing
was done at this point to decide what was needed to be achieved before another
in the program.
Goal: An all-around successful Transition Program
PRIORITIZED
INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVES:
Workshop example:
1) Before we develop a preparation plan for
preschool children for differences in primary school environment and routine,
we must create a relationship and
cooperation between preschool teachers with the feeder primary schools for
their preschoolers.
2) Before the primary school administration
learns to plan a suitable transition program for their own school, we must
develop a preparation plan for preschool children for differences in primary
school environment and routine.
3) Before we give teachers knowledge of different
teaching and learning strategies for Year-One children, the primary school
administration must learn to plan a suitable transition program for their own
school.
4) Before we prepare a conducive school and
classroom environment for transition children, we must give teachers knowledge
of different teaching and learning strategies for Year-One children.
5) Before we inform parents of the reasons for the program to prevent or
reduce resistance to the new program, we must prepare a conducive school and classroom
environment for transition children.
6) Before we have an all-around successful
Transition Program, we must inform parents of the reasons for the program to
prevent or reduce resistance to the new program.
c) The IOs were the
Important Focus and the Steps to be taken from the IOs became the Content of
the Important Focus of the Module.
Example:
INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVE:
Provide teachers knowledge of different teaching and learning strategies
for Year-One children and train them.
IMPORTANT FOCUS: Teaching and Learning Strategies for Year-One Teachers
ACTION PLAN /
STEPS:
• Expose teachers to different child
development theories
• Give teachers different teaching-learning
strategies suitable for Year-One
• Train teachers to spot problem cases
• Train teachers how to handle problem cases
• etc.
CONTENT OF MODULE UNIT:
• Different child development theories
• Different teaching-learning strategies
suitable for Year-One
• Training to spot problem cases
• How to handle problem cases
• etc.
USING THE MODULE DESIGN
The workshop participants were given the 2-hour slot on TOC on
the evening of Monday. It was my first
official delivery of TOC. The next day,
the workshop participants were given a quick recap of the AT tool and it was
down to business.
Everybody had a
go at using the tool collectively in identifying the areas for a successful
Transition Program. We had done it
ourselves on the quiet before this session so we were more or less prepared to
make sure some areas were not left out and to accommodate those we ourselves
had not anticipated.
A format had
been prepared using the AT tool as well as the sample of how the tool could be
used to design and develop a module.
Then we rearranged priorities and narrowed in on what modules were
important. Participants were divided into groups. No time was wasted because we were focused.
The groups were
given appropriate modules that they could draw on their experiences, e.g.
preschool people were set to work on the module for preschoolers and preschool
teachers, state education people and head teachers worked on the administration
module, teachers and teacher training college and university lecturers were
assigned the Teacher Preparation module, and whoever could not fit in any
particular module was slotted for either the Parent’s Module, Program Planning
and Implementation Module, or the information for the General Guidebook
section. Each module group was
encouraged to use the AT tool and the design format derived from it to further
explore their modules.
The amazing
thing was to see these people who had been called from all over the country,
some of whom were meeting here for the first time, getting down to really
focused discussion. They had a simple
and effective tool in their hands that obviously empowered them to build a
module from scratch.
Halfway through
the morning, a participant who came from a state education department, came up
to me and said, “You know, I like this tool.
I can see myself using this in my department meetings and cutting down
time wastage and errors.” Of course, I
was thrilled to hear that.
The next amazing
phenomenon was to find out that the groups had all finished building very
detailed modules by the end of ONE day, including typing them out nicely on the
computer. Now, talk about efficiency
and working fast!
And to cut a
long story short, we were able to take back with us the first drafts of many
modules prepared for the program, much to our immense satisfaction. They were not perfect editions but we had
now in our hands a compilation of modules we could work with now to build the
program. For a project that started
with a serious time constraint, we could not be more pleased. Of course, it took a few more editing and
quality control sessions to get to the final version but we knew it as the
beginning of many good things to come.
Again using the
AT tool ourselves, we could plan out the problem areas of our project. How we needed to try out at pilot schools to
see whether our manual and kit could be easily read and understood for the
program to be put into practice before we could plan our orientation course for
the whole country and a host of other things…THAT is another story!
Kay Buckner-Seal,
Cheryl A. Edwards
Next week, we
will feature the conclusion of “The Malaysian Experience 3.” If you would like to read the article in its
entirety, please visit our website at www.tocforeducation.com. We hope you are planning to attend the “5th Annual TOCFE International Conference/First Annual
TOCFE International Student’s Conference,” which will be held in Detroit this
year. Information for planning follows
in Connections. If you
would like to share with us, send your ideas by mail to Cheryl A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill Island Rd., Cedarville, MI 49719,
USA. Or, send hyperlink to
<redwards@sault.com> or <bucknek@earthlink.net.
(3) 5th Annual TOCFE International
Conference/First Annual TOCFE International Student’s Conference
From
Cheryl A. Edwards
“The best way to predict the future is to create it through
TOC."
TOC for Education, Inc. presents the 5th Annual TOCFE International Conference and the First Annual TOCFE International Student’s Conference!
Date: June 25-28, 2001
Location: Detroit, Michigan USA
Hotel: Northfield Hilton
5500
Crooks Road
Troy,
Michigan 48098
248.
879. 2100
The Northfield Hilton is adjacent to Interstate 75 at Crooks Road,
Exit 72
Reservations: 1. 800. HILTONS
Ask
for TOC for Education’s special room rates.
Single or Double Occupancy
Per night $139.00 U.S. + Tax
(6% Michigan Sales Tax and 7% Occupancy Tax).
This rate includes breakfast for two.
Transportation: Detroit Metropolitan Airport
(DTW)
To view TACTics in its intended
formatting and to read previous issues,
visit the TOC website at: www.tocforeducation.com