Saysay-Husay-Sarili: SHS Teaching Framework

Saysay-Husay-Sarili (Meaning-Mastery-Ownership), the Senior High School teaching framework, is at the core of the Aligned Classroom Instruction Delivery (ACID) Plan introduced during the 3-day 2017 DepEd-PEAC’s In-Service Training (INSET) for Senior High School (SHS) for Teachers in Private Schools held at the Lyceum of the Philippines University-Calamba which ran from July 26-28, 2017.

Highlights of the In-Service Training (INSET)

Given the opportunity to participate in the training, I came to realize how successful and productive it was; hence, the following were the highlights:

• SHS teachers in private schools had the opportunity to identify and address new challenges that face learning experiences and teaching practices in the senior high school levels.
• SHS teachers became well-informed about the SHS teaching framework and the imperative alignment among content and performance standards, learning competencies, assessment tools and techniques, and enabling teaching strategies.
• With workshops and teaching demonstrations, SHS teachers shared and showcased their expertise, experiences, best classroom practices, and effective teaching strategies.
• Certified SHS teachers earned 15 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) units required by Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) upon renewal of PRC ID.

Breaking Down Saysay-Husay-Sarili (SHS Teaching Framework)

Saysay (Meaning) corresponds to the why of the lesson. Senior High School teachers should facilitate an understanding of the value of the lessons for each learner to engage fully in the content on both the cognitive and affective levels. It further emphasizes the teaching of real-life skills in the 21st century settings, hence providing authentic examples and concepts that address real-life problems and challenges.

Husay (Mastery) emphasizes the how of the lesson, the mastery of the competencies and higher order thinking skills (HOTS) among learners. With this, SHS teachers should allow more avenues for the learners to analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and create.

Sarili (Ownership) highlights the what to do with the lesson. SHS teachers should empower learners to take ownership of their learning on the backdrop of developing their independence and self-direction – the holistic development of self. With saysay and husay, learners know what to do with the pieces of knowledge and skills in the development of globally competitive young Filipino learners.

Aligned Classroom Instruction Delivery (ACID) Plan

Aligned Classroom Instruction Delivery (ACID) Plan is a guide for Senior High School (SHS) teachers in developing the content of every part of the teaching guide (TG) or daily lesson plan, hence ensuring the alignment of all learning activities with the standards and competencies specified in the curriculum guide (CG) issued by the Department of Education.

What is an Alignment Principle? Alignment Principle is a rule applied in the implementation of a curriculum guide (CG). It (a) articulates assessment activities from the standards and competencies specified in the curriculum guide, (b) ensures that assessment activities respond to the thinking skills needed to be developed among the learners, and (c) defines effective teaching strategies that enable learners to develop thinking skills, and perform tasks demanded by performance standards (Montalan, 2015).

How is the Curriculum Guide (CG) Implemented? As expected, the curriculum guide issued by the Department of Education incorporates and emphasizes the saysay-husay-sarili SHS teaching framework. Montalan (2015) identifies three general steps in implementing the curriculum guide:

1. Define the PURPOSE in including the subject in the SHS curriculum. The question on why the subject must be taught in senior high school may be fully answered by the Culminating Performance Standard – can be defined by the first or last performance standards in the curriculum guide, hence the culminating performance standard that identifies the Performance Task (PT). Other tasks demanded by enabling performance standards, or the Performance Checks (PC), check the readiness of the learners to perform the big task.
2. Articulate the necessary THINKING SKILLS to develop among the learners to enable them to carry out the Performance Task. Identify the highest thinking skills required to carry out the Performance Task (PT). These thinking skills are identified in Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domains. Given below are (1) the KUD classification levels (Knowing, Understanding, Doing), (2) Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels (Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating), and (3) Enabling General Teaching Strategies (Representation, Connections, Communication, Reasoning and Proof, and Problem Solving):
   • KUD Classification: KNOWING
     Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT) Levels: Remembering, Understanding
     Enabling General Teaching Strategies: Representation
   • KUD Classification: UNDERSTANDING
     Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT) Levels: Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating
     Enabling General Teaching Strategies: Connections, Communication, Reasoning and Proof
   • KUD Classification: DOING
     Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT) Level: Creating
     Enabling General Teaching Strategy: Problem Solving
3. Identify appropriate TEACHING STRATEGIES that are necessary in developing the levels of thinking. As shown above, there are five Enabling General Teaching Strategies (Representation, Connections, Communication, Reasoning and Proof, and Problem Solving) that can be very helpful for SHS teachers in coming up with appropriated specific teaching strategies (e.g., Gallery Walk, Think-Pair-Share, Quescussion, Two Column Method, etc.) You can download a sample Aligned Classroom Instruction Delivery (ACID) Plan here.

What are the parts of a Teaching Guide (TG)? A Teaching Guide (TG) is a concrete teaching blueprint that demonstrates the alignment to the DepEd SHS curriculum guide, hence the actualization of the saysay-husay-sarili SHS teaching framework. Its basic parts are (1) Introduction, (2) Motivation, (3) Instruction Delivery, (4) Practice, (5) Enrichment, and (6) Evaluation. You can download a sample Teaching Guide (TG) here.

Source: Montalan, G. L. (2017). Training Handout: Summer 2017 DepEd-PEAC’s In-Service Training (INSET) for Senior High School (SHS) for Teachers in Private Schools. PEAC: Private Education Assistance Committee. Lyceum of the Philippines University-Calamba, Laguna, Philippines (July 26-28, 2017).