LEARN BY HEART A regular classroom setup pre-pandemic
What else could be done? According to reading specialist Daisy Jane Cunanan-Calado, apart from participating in international assessments, we should develop our own culture of assessment, which focuses on cognitive ability in major subjects to improve instruction or the methods of teaching as well as profiling of students who really need attention.
A public teacher in grade three shares how she reads stories in class. After reading a paragraph, she would ask her pupils questions regarding certain details like who, when, what, where, before proceeding. Toward the end, she would then ask the final question “why?” This approach is way better than the old-school method of reading the whole story first before inquiries and clarifications are made.
“Student involvement plays a vital role as they are at the heart of the instructions,” she says. “Asking them to make predictions, establish connections, visualize text content, ask questions and summarize or retell events of texts read would completely change the comprehension game.”