DepEd urges teachers to hold conversation with students once in every 3 months

The Department of Education (DepEd) urged teachers to hold “conversations” with their students at least once in every quarter. It is for teachers to assess how the learners are coping up with the distance learning.

Photo credit: depedtambayan.org

During a virtual briefing, DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio said that teachers are trained to detect the students understanding of a specific topic and if they are the one who made their activities.

One of things we’re expecting from our teachers is for them to hold once a quarter conversation with the children,

San Antonio said in Filipino.

It does not have to be a question and answer type conversation or those with definition, it can be like a simple conversation just to gauge their understanding on the concepts that the student needs to learn,

 he added.

San Antonio said that this is one of the ways by which teachers can guarantee that academic requirements are completed or submitted by the students themselves and not by the adults at home.

The portfolios would demonstrate their competencies and we also asked the schools to come up with other formal schemes to assess the students,

San Antonio said.

For students under online distance learning, he explained that teachers and the students can discuss topics. 

The students can also ask questions and clarification from their teachers and our teachers can also ask about the outputs submitted by the students,

he added.

To adopt with the new normal in the education system, DepEd has revised the assessment and grading policy for learners. Also, it decided to come up with an assessment and a grading system that is “flexible” depending on the chosen learning modalities.

DepEd released the interim guidelines for the assessment and grading of students for SY 2020-2021 before the class opening on October 5.

As cited in the new policy, teachers must also communicate regularly to their students as well as their parents, especially on monitoring and recording the children’s academic progress.

Teachers need to be creative and flexible in assessing student learning, while still adhering to the principles of quality assessment practice,

DepEd said in the policy.

Also, the department reminded teachers to “set realistic expectations and use their professional judgment” so they can find a good balance between what is deemed effective and what is feasible to accomplish especially under the remote set-up.