Reply To: Lesson 6-3: Questions

[Desmond Mak]

In Hong Kong, chapters of textbooks are presented using the idea of spiralling. Each topic is taught in 6 to 8 school days.

Step 1: Know what you need to teach

Step 2: Assess by learning goal or standards

Step 3: Create topics, strands or big ideas

Step 4: Plan your cycles, spirals or chunks

Step 5: Be comfortable changing your plan

Step 6: Interleave your assessments

Out of the 6 steps of spiralling, step 3 needs to be enhanced as teachers here usually teach in the order of the agreed scheme of work. Seldom do teachers create topics or try out big ideas. We insert collaborative learning activities like estimation activity in F.1, travelling activity in F.2, experiential learning activity in F.4 on one of the school days per year. That’s certainly insufficient. There’s room for improvement. Perhaps with the help of flipped classroom, more time can be left for implementing special collaborative learning activities per month.