Activity 3.

3: Observing the school experiences of learners who

belong to indigenous groups.
Resource Teacher: __________ Teacher’s signature____________
School____________
Grade/Year Level: ___________ Subject Area: ___________________ Date: ______________

Address: Marilu, Capes, Tarlac Date of Visit: Virtual Visit on September 10,
2021Flora Primary School in Marilu, Capes, Tarlac is a school exclusively for
Aeta-Magnates students or commonly known as Negritos. There are 50
students in the school with only 3 teachers. With the travel conditions, the
students contact hours with the teachers are 4 days. Each classroom has
mixed of different grade level students. One classroom is composed of Grade
4and Grade 5 students due to the lack of teachers and the facility. However,
the class are very interactive as they participate in every class discussion.
They are very determined to learn amidst the inadequacy learning materials
such as books. One student said that they are using a Grade 4 textbooks
instead of Grade 5 textbooks because the rainy season hinders the delivery
of the books to their school. Teachers are also resourceful and creative with
their instructional materials. Even though they find it hard to teach using
chalk and board only, they still find ways on how to teach the lesson
effectively. For example, one teacher shared his idea that he used pebbles
from the river to teach addition or multiplication. Furthermore, they are
adhering to the indigenized curriculum. One teacher shared his challenge in
teaching alphabets based on the words that we commonly associate with the
letter. Instead of teaching letter “A” using apple, he uses those words that
are more familiar to the students. The challenge in the curriculum is also a
factor that affects the progress of the students’ learning. Indigenous Peoples
Education Curriculum Framework is not utilized in this school because it is
not yet distributed to them. So, they resort to the Old Curriculum Framework.
But the time frame in this curriculum is not applicable with the IP students’
ability level. Sometimes, one topic covers 3 days. No matter how eager and
effective a teacher is, the problem with the lack of food affects the
students’ performance in the school which makes it hard for teachers to
achieve their objectives which is to help the IP students to learn better.
ANALYZE
Curriculum Design, Answer each question based on your
Competencies, and Content observation and interview data.

1. Does the school foster a A Mangyan teach er taught Mangyan literature

sense of belonging to one’s before other belie f. For example, when t heir
ancestral domain, a deep lesson is about Filipino L literature “Alamat”
understanding of the Mangyan Legend is the priority.
community’s beliefs and
practices. Cite examples
2. Does the school show Absolutely, the school represents the people
respect of the community's themselves, and as a result, they truly respect
expression of spirituality? how? one another through kind words and acts.
Respect to one another is essential in
supporting the children's learning environment.
Everyone is united and lives harmoniously with
their culture and education.
3. Does the school fostering the Yes, the school adopts adjustments that are
indigenous learners a deep suited to each learner's identity. This is
appreciation of their identity? accomplished by teaching them about cultural
How? practices and concepts from their native
language and enriched culture. They are very
appreciated by the school, especially teachers
 who sacrifice their teaching careers in
mountainous regions.
4. Does the curriculum teach Yes, the curriculum focuses on their daily lives,
skills and competencies in the including family life, health, nutrition,
indigenous learners that will sanitation, cleanliness, and food. It contributes
help them develop and protect to the development of Indigenous people's self-
their ancestral domain and care and disease prevention strategies, as well
culture? as their rights to ancestral lands, economies,
and revenue.
5. Does the curriculum link new Yes, it happened that the school taught
concepts and competencies to students’ new concepts and applied them to
the life experience of the real-life situations. Introducing Indigenous
community. viewpoints into education is intended to assist
students acquire greater respect and
understanding.
6. Do the teaching strategies The “indigenized” strategies that the teachers
help strengthen, enrich, and employ in teaching the topics complement the
complement the community’s Aeta’s teaching-process which makes the
indigenous teaching-process? learning more effective.

7. Does the curriculum One example on this aspect, is the integration

maximize the use of the of cultural dance of the Aeta in classroom
ancestral domain and activities activities that highlights the concept of
of the community as relevant preserving and valuing one’s culture and
setting for learning in tradition.
combination with classroom-
based sessions? Cite examples?
8. Is cultural sensitivity to Unfortunately, this aspect was not shown in the
uphold culture, beliefs, and video.
practices, observed and applied
in the development and use of
instructional materials and
learning resources? How? (For
example, culture bearers of the
Indigenous Peoples are
consulted).
9. Do assessment practices The assessment practices that the teachers
consider community values and employ consider community values and culture
culture? How? through ensuring that the assessments are
culturally sensitive and regards their culture
specifically in the language, tools that are
available in the community and the concepts
that are relevant to the group’s background.
10. Do assessment process As I have observed, the activities employed by
include application of higher the teachers contributes to the students’
order thinking skills? development of critical thinking skills through
using real-life concepts/problems that the
students need to solve.

What do you think? Can you still be done to promote and uphold
indigenous people’s knowledge systems and practices and rights in
school?
Based on what I have gathered from the video of Aeta students in Tarlac, the
following are my suggestions regarding the knowledge systems and
practices and rights of indigenous peoples in the Flora Primary School:
1. The Tarlac DepEd Division must ensure that the IPED curriculum is
distributed in mountain schools, especially those that serve only IP pupils.
2. Tarlac's DepEd Division must devise effective ways for instructors who
struggle to go from their homes to mountain schools without losing student-
teacher contact hours.
3. The DepEd Division of Tarlac should hire more teachers to teach in
indigenous people and provide them appropriate compensation.
4. Tarlac's DepEd Division must supply current instructional resources for
teachers as well as textbooks for students.
5. The curriculum for indigenous framework should emphasize valuing of
culture and tradition of the indigenous peoples through integrating real-life
concepts in each lesson.

REFLECT
Reflect based on your actual visit or videos that you watched.
1. What new things? Did you learn about indigenous peoples?
 Based on what I have watched, the students are more concerned
with the harsh possibility that they may be fooled if they do not
study than focusing on their dreams and aspirations as learners.
I also learned that there are numerous factors that affect the
students’ performance in class so teachers as well as the parents
of these students should be aware of these challenges and as
much as possible, find way to at least solve the problem. For
instance, the lack of food which greatly affect the students.
2. What did you appreciate most from your experience in visiting the
school with indigenous learners? Why?
 I admire the teachers in teaching in NAGPANA in terms of their
determination to teach the students no matter how difficult the
situation is. I appreciate their effort to travel 3-5 hours just to
teach the students, and most importantly they never give up on
helping these students achieve their dreams. For them, teachers
are the only heroes that will help the students claim their rights
to education.

3. For indigenous learners, as a future teacher, I promised these

three things:
3.1 Be willing to respect indigenous peoples by being a culturally
aware and competent communicator who influences others to
appreciate indigenous people and takes the lead in defending
their rights.
3.2 Be willing to respect indigenous peoples by being a culturally
aware and competent communicator who influences others to
appreciate indigenous people and takes the lead in defending
their rights.
3.3 Advocate for indigenous peoples' education by continuously
supporting the development and enhancement of IPED curricula,
as well as sharing meaningful suggestions with the heads of the
Department of Education/Commission on Higher Education on
how to improve the curriculum to better meet the needs of IP
students.

SHOW Your Learning Artifacts

With the principle of individual differences in mind, what methods and
strategies will you remember in the future to ensure that you will be able to
meet the needs of both the high and low achievers in your class? Make a
collection of strategies on how to address students’ different ability levels.
Ways to address the students' different ability levels.

 Encourage them to participate and explore in ways that

they like the most. Some children prefer to work alone,
with a partner, in a small group, or as a large group.
Allow children who are sensitive to sensory stimuli,
such as sand, potting soil, or gal, to investigate sensory
objects by using tools or wearing gloves. Even when
communicating with children electronically, having
options shows that we value their freedom and
preferences.
 When designing an activity to share with students,
consider how you may modify it in the moment to
accommodate students who require more time,
additional guidance, or experience with real objects to
understand the concept. Consider scaffolding the
experience for advanced learners.
 Students are generally aware of their own and their
peers' talents. Honor each student's knowledge and
encourage them to help children who could benefit
from their assistance. Share examples of students' work
during virtual sessions to congratulate them on their
achievements, even if they are far away. To
demonstrate this willingness to seek assistance, you
could, for example, ask the classroom dancer to
demonstrate his signature dance move.