Cycle Four: How Should Curriculum Be Generated?

Cycle Four: How Should Curriculum Be Generated?

            Generating, creating, and revising curriculum can be a daunting task.  There are many factors to consider such as what backgrounds are associated with your students, the level of understanding the teachers have of the objectives, and the many decisions associated with the organization of the curriculum.  It is a necessary evil, as without a quality curriculum, the students will surely fall behind.

            I must begin by saying that underlying agendas should not be part of developing a curriculum.  It should never be about the agenda of the adults, but about the students themselves.  Private agendas such as the recent topic in Texas dealing with religious viewpoints should be saved for church and home environments, not public schools.  When I say this I am not stating that religion should not be taught.  I believe public schools should teach all religion and in an appropriate manner.  This would entail not leaving certain information out or only focusing on certain people in history.  One of my favorite high school classes was Global Studies because we learned about religions I had never heard before and what their practices were.  I went from only knowing one way of life, to understanding and discovering what else is out there and could embrace the diversity of religion.

            To restate the question at hand, we are studying how curriculum should be generated.  I believe it is important to take into consideration your students, their home lives, backgrounds, and interests.  Surveys should be sent to families and teachers should survey their students at the beginning of each year.  Yes there are core objectives to be taught, but you can teach an objective in many ways.  One example is how I taught mean, median, mode, and range this week.  I have an athletic class who thrives on sports and competition.  I timed 15 students in the hallway for how fast they could run from one door to the other.  We then calculated the mean, median, mode, and range for the set of data collected.  The objective was to calculate the mean, median, mode, and range of a set of data.  My students were able to do this after not only competing with one another, but also running in the hallway.  You can imagine the excitement.  Next year, I could have kids who hate running and therefore would pull another bag of tricks out of my teacher hat.  The point being, pay attention to the students and what will stimulate and engage them in order to provide learning experiences with the desired outcome.

            When it comes to curriculum, how it is organized is high important.  I believe the vertical and horizontal relations are important.  Each year should go into more depth of the previous year.  This year 4^th grade learned how to identify, add, subtract, and multiply fractions.  Next year they will divide fractions, begin working with mixed numbers, etc.  The next year they will incorporate fractions with algebra concepts.  It is taking a concept and going into more depth, which will deepen their understanding.  Horizontal relations are of equal value.  Last week the students were studying vocabulary terms from a government unit in Social Studies.  The term discussed was treason.  I explained what it meant and provided examples, but yesterday while reading a story about Nazis and the Holocaust they read an actual example of what treason was involving Adolf Hitler.  It was like 27 light bulbs going off in the classroom.  Not only were they excited that one subject had to do with the other, but they translated that term from one thing and deepened the understanding of it in another.  Curriculum must also be reiterated throughout the year.  If you teach one topic in November and never refer to it again, how can you expect students to remember it?  This leads into another concept for curriculum known as workshop.  I believe math, reading, and language arts in elementary schools should have scheduled workshop where the students are independently working with multiple forms of material such as manipulatives, pencil paper, etc.  This should give them that time to apply what they have learned from a previous lesson.  During this time the teacher should also be working with small groups on areas they have not reached mastery on.  This will help maximize learning because students are getting more one on one attention as well as having continuity of concepts.  You can have your students practice long division, which they may have learned 3 months ago, but they are getting continued practice with it.

            Another important concept in generating curriculum is how to evaluate what has been retained.  When it comes to the year as a whole.  Students should be evaluated at the beginning, middle, and end.  They should be evaluated on each subject area.  The North Western  Education Assessment program which my school calls NWEA test is helpful in this component.  It tests students in the fall, winter, and spring.  I am given data for Math, Reading, and Language Arts and Science.  Unfortunately it does not assess Social Studies.  The data I am given helps me see what areas my students need help on in each subject which are broken into dmaller categories.  Math is broken into Measurement, Geometry, Data and Probability, Numbers and Operations, and Algebra.  I can then find what objectives in those categories to work on with my students.  The students are given scores after being tested and receive goals to reach by the end of the year. They are given incentives for reaching their goals.  I know there are flaws as this is only one kind of appraisal and it is all computer.  You have students whom are poor test takers and other factors, but I do think it is good that it tests them and allows the teacher to gage where his/her students are at throughout the year.  As far as evaluating the lower levels of organization such as units, pre assessments should be made, formative assessments should also be done throughout the daily lessons in the unit, and then a final assessment should be made.  You should always know where your students are.  If 80 percent of students have reached mastery then the teacher can move on, however if it is less than 80 percent I believe re-teaching must occur.  These are all imperative points of evaluation.

            Who should be involved in all of this?  Everyone!  If 4^th grade teachers have no clue of what 3^rd grade teachers are doing then we have a major disconnect.  You can’t build deeper connections if you don’t know what the prior grade has done.  I also couldn’t agree more with the point that was made regarding how teachers all need to be on board when it comes to clearly defining the objectives and how they are to be expressed and evaluated.  It cannot be about me it has to be about we.  For the students are everyone’s responsibility from kindergarten until 12^th grade.

Sources

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/1122533/schools-cradles-innovation-says-twigg/

This article discusses ways of engaging students and the importance of this in curriculum.  This goes along with the theories of the second reading we did where the author discusses how important it is for students to be involved and engaged in learning experiences.

http://www.thedailywilton.com/schools/wilton-schools-examine-curriculum-changes

This article discusses a school that is in need of redeveloping their curriculum to align with state standards.  In relation to this cycle, it deals with the fact that teachers need to teach the actual objectives and have an understanding of the objectives.  To often do teachers find lessons that seem interesting, but have no tie in with objectives/standards needing to be taught.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/03/the_southern_poverty_law_cente.html

This blog was found on Education Week.  I found it interesting in it’s relation to my post as well as our reading in that it emphasizes the importance of developing highly qualified standards in which are engaging.  One form of engagement mentioned was to use primary source documents.  This, to me, engages students because it gives a visual as to a glimpse at history in various times.  I have seen this in Michigan standards and am glad it is being used.

http://www.nwea.org/

In my blog I mentioned the use of the NWEA test at my school.  There are many useful pieces of information to get a better understanding of what this assessment program is.  I have found it helpful for me but please keep in mind I am not a fan of only using a standardized test to gage students academic success.

http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/reading_workshop.html

I referred to having workshops in class daily.  This website is useful for implementing writing and reading workshops in the classroom.  It provides ideas, duration, and many other useful tips.  I recommend it!

Cycle Three

Cycle Three:  Should the Curriculum Address Controversial Issues?

            “-and the least educated are precisely those who are most inclined to be prejudiced against gay people’” ( Thornton).  This quote answers that question for me.  I went to a diverse school on the outer limits of Lansing.  It was considered suburban.  I remember being surrounded by many types of people whether referring to ethnicity, sex, etc.  One Sunday I attended a youth group event in Charlotte.  Now, no offense to anyone from Charlotte, MI, but I was taken aback by how narrow minded these kids were.  The minute they found out I was from the area I told them, they asked me how I could handle being around “blacks”.  At the time I remember feeling shocked at this.  Here I was 50% Lebanese and 50% Caucasian, and could have cared less what ethnicity anyone was.  I was taught about culture though, and they weren’t.  I learned it implicitly through the diversity my school produced, through my family, and my environment.  They, however, were not educated on acceptance, diversity, or the enrichment of different cultures.  In reference to sexuality, I don’t want to know what they would have to say about that.  This touches on the point that those lacking education on such differences will be the first to judge.  We judge or question what we are unfamiliar with.  This being so, we need to educate students on those differences.

            There are ways to go about this.  I don’t believe a fourth grader should be hearing about anal sex as an option during sex education.  I do believe they can hear a book read by their teacher about a boy with two dads, two moms, or whatever the situation may be.  Just like we don’t teach kindergartners about sex at all, they learn body parts.  So we need to teach sexuality in the same method.  Elementary sexuality should be taught in broad terms.  Times are different and we have multiple families with married parents, divorced parents, adopted parents, grand parents, gay couples, unmarried parents whom all raise families.  Yet in books we see mom, dad, and two children with a dog.  This is not the typical family anymore and students with the non-traditional family need to be represented so they don’t feel like outcasts.

            So when is it appropriate to teach students about homosexuality in a more specific way.  I personally believe 8^th grade is when we can start having discussions about teens and adults who are homosexual and accepting it.  This isn’t a promotion saying, “Everyone should be homosexual!”  It is merely teaching that you need to accept everyone for who they are whether it be gay or straight.  I agree with the article from New York Times when a student mentioned it would be too late to wait until high school.  Most students have awareness for homosexuality by freshman year and by this point the teasing has started.  Seventh grade may also be early enough.  I wouldn’t begin with 6^th grade from personal experience as a 6^th grade teacher.  I think it is too divided by maturity level and think some could handle it while others wouldn’t be able to.   

            Opponents of this concept may think this is selling a certain life style, which is.  The lifestyle it is selling is tolerance, acceptance, and love of others.   As the second article mentions by Elliot W. Eisner, teaching is notoriously based on tradition.  This implies that what has always been taught will continue to be taught.  So students are learning about sexuality by the implicit instruction of school structure with teachers who aren’t saying anything when a student is called gay, or via null curriculum and what is not taught which is devastating in the end.  The first thing I think of after the quote referenced earlier is the fact teenagers are killing themselves because of the lack of tolerance around them.  When will it end?    To me a student would feel accepted and normal by hearing that Alexander the Great was homosexual, or by reading about those that fought for acceptance in the early 1900’s.  This would make them realize it isn’t just them and that sexuality has always had differences.  This along with teaching students that everyone is important through group discussions and moral curriculum focus would create a safe environment for all because those feeling separate from others would realize they are not separate and those judging would realize nobody is an outcast.  Safety is what everyone should have in school and that is something that is lacking.  We as educators must teach acceptance and begin in a broad sense at young ages then expand on is as the students get older.

Resources

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/10/25/101025taco_talk_talbot

This article found in the New Yorker supports my theory of having acceptance.  It mentions that even though lately it doesn’t seem like it, people have become more accepting of open sexuality.  It brushes on the topic of those who believe educating kids is brainwashing them to become gay which was expressed in my reflection as an uneducated viewpoint.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/18/gay-history-in-textbooks-_n_850580.html

A district in California plans to add new curriculum to their social studies content that reflects homosexual historical figures.  It will have ample material that illustrates homosexuality and gives teachers the freedom to decide when the grade levels learn the information.  This is similar to my point that is should be taught but also with rational methods and in the right format.

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/teaching-and-learning-about-gay-history-and-issues/

This blog is from the New York times and provides resources/materials for teaching that includes homosexual people of history.  It  is useful in that it provides many lesson plans about gay history as well as links to articles and other resources.

http://safeandcaringschools.com/

This is a site that offers a curriculum in which students learn in a social context.  It teaches how to deal with bullies and be an overall good person.  The mission is to make each student fee safe and prevent bullying.  This can be linked to the controversy of homosexuality because this program is meant to accept everyone.

http://www.stopbullying.gov/

This site is fantastic for resources regarding bullying.  It has information for kids, parents, and educators.  I also noticed a special section for those being bullied based on sexuality.    

Cycle Two: What Should the Content of Curriculum Be?

            When analyzing curriculum we first looked at the sole purpose of curriculum.  Many thoughts were developed and I still find myself pondering concepts I discovered.  Now we dive into the question of what should the content of curriculum be?  I found a quote while reading from Hirsch that depicted my thought process of our last topic as well as the current one.  Hirsch stated that he believes the role of school is to be a system of preparing children for broader activities of society and train them in literature public culture.  These words made me realize that I want to better my ideas from the last cycle and implement them into this one.  So let us continue our journey of curriculum by talking about the content and what that should entail.

            What I love about education is that there are many leaders that have given us their own personal thoughts as to pedagogy, philosophy, psychology, and method of curriculum. One in particular was John Dewey.  I remember first hearing about him in my undergrad courses and thinking to myself what a genius he was.  My 19-year-old self fell in love with his romantic ideas of progressive education.  After reading some of his ideas about the content of curriculum I found there were ideas I would like to modify to fit my idea of content.  Dewey’s approach was that curriculum should be child centered.  Each child has his/her own experiences in which to develop on and adhere to with its education.  The curriculum should center on the differences of its students.  The truths of the child are moving and fluent verses stagnant.  Our role as the teacher is to provide direct information in an indirect way and allow the child to make connections and personal experiences from that medium.  We need to provide medium but make sure not to take away from a child’s ability to develop his/her own ideas.  To me the concept as a whole should be adjusted.  I feel students do have differences.  I have a student who moved from Texas with his mother who is currently in law school.  He had two brothers living with him that were very domineering as his dad is out of the picture.  Both brothers are very smart and moved out attending highly accredited colleges in other states.  Marcos who is the youngest and now left with a busy mother is struggling in school.  He is adapting to the current environment he is in.  As of now school is the last place he wants to be.  So yes, he is different from the boy next to him who was born and raised in Lansing.   He has two married parents and a very close family all at which that live together.  Allen is getting all A’s and constantly pushes himself to do better, while Marcos could care less.  Allen’s parents challenge him and have time to do so.  Marcos’ mother doesn’t have the time to make sure his homework is being done, or that his personal best is showing at school.  These boys are very different and Dewey does have a point that it is my job to differentiate in order to create connections for these boys, which are completely different.  However, Hirsch’s point that students should all learn the traditional materials lies true as well. 

            From Dewey I learned to make sure my students are connecting to what they learn and this concept is close to Hirsch’s theory because he too stated that this part of the intensive portion of curriculum is necessary.  From Hirsch I discovered that it is not neither fair, nor just to just accept that certain kids will know less than others.  No, I want all students to receive the same highly traditional educations.  In this way they will receive the same opportunities and make their own choices later in life based on those opportunities.  A student from poverty and a student from privilege should receive mathematics, Latin, English, sciences, and social studies because it will prepare them for the broader activities of society as mentioned earlier.    Is this core list of knowledge that all Americans need to know attainable?  Of course it is.  I remember making copies in the workroom 4 years ago and seeing a sign that simply stated your classroom is the environment you choose.  It made me see that my kids will behave the way I demand of them, they will learn as much as I teach them, and will reach as high as I push them.  So not only is it attainable, but it is desirable because every student should receive the best education and one with a curriculum that is enriching.    This ideal content would have ideals from Dewey of differentiating your instruction to engage all learners, but to also teach the needed traditional materials to produce the literate students once created in the late 1800’s. 

            In conclusion, the content of curriculum should be one with a balance of differentiated methods of delivery but that focuses on the traditional to produce a literate future.  I had a student today tell me that she now gets where the word hemisphere comes from because she learned Greek and Latin root words.  This is traditional teachings but is creating meaning to her on a personal level.  A balance. 

Resources

Websites:

http://www.coreknowledge.org/

This site is an excellent source to find out more about what Hirsch referred to as core knowledge. It is a foundation built on those principals with curriculum, schools, and how to get involved.

http://www.illinoisloop.org/coreknowledge.html

This site was helpful for me because it encloses websites with core knowledge curriculum to help me get a better understanding of how it looks.  It also includes articles discussing the core knowledge idea.

Articles:

http://www.journalpatriot.com/news/article_dcc196b4-491c-11e1-921a-001a4bcf6878.html

This article was helpful to me because it demonstrated that the common core includes teaching how and not just the what.  It talked about a school which will be implementing Core Knowledge next year.  Blooms Taxonomy will be used and their goal is to develop innovative thinkers in their students.

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/18/nyregion/education-about-education.html?src=pm

This article was about a man who helps students in poor environments of  a minority race, excel and perform at their best abilities.  He is compared to Dewey in his methods.  I appreciated this article because it reminded me that in my reflection I made appoint to note that in our delivery as teachers, it is very important to teach to our students’ needs.  They have so much going on and learn in different ways. 

Blogs:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/

I discovered this blog when researching different curriculum sites.  It is an edweek blog that contains multimedia, discussions, article postings, etc. all on curriculum topics.  I can see this blog helping me in future reflections as it entails so much with curriculum.  

What is curriculum and what is its purpose?

Cycle 1: What is curriculum and what is its purpose?

            Curriculum directors, new curriculum, curriculum development plans, curriculum enhancement, curriculum changes, and many other phrases are heard on a daily basis in the educational world.  As educators we follow the orders of the curriculum and teach what is expected of us.  Do any of us really sit back and think about what exactly curriculum is?  More importantly do we ever ponder our main purpose of teaching the curriculum to our students?  By definition curriculum is  the course of study.  Okay so we have a definition, but what does that really mean?  Does every child receive the same curriculum, is the curriculum providing each student success, and why are we teaching it?  I’ve been teaching for three years now and have only just began my journey into the world of curriculum but have some ideas as to what teachers need to think about.

            Everything in life should have a purpose.  So what is the purpose of curriculum you ask?  To me it is to prepare students to function as successful members in society.  They are the future and it is our job to ensure the future has people who can think and act within their best abilities.  We are preparing future career persons for jobs that may or may not be created already.  When I teach an objective I make it a point to my students when in the “real world” they are going to use it.  For example, when teaching measurement in fourth grade, the students need to be able to decide on the proper tool of measurement.  Whether they are building something in their home, or creating the next tallest building in the world, they must be able to do this.  Not only is that important to their success in later life but also the basic components such as multiplication and division for converting units with the measurements they make are imperative.  What they learn is vital in their success when finding their careers. 

            Teaching every student everything they need to know for the future sounds amazing, but is it even possible?  Each subject area is loaded with objectives that may or may not even be used in the future which then poses the dilemma of what is important to teach and what isn’t?  Well this depends on whom you ask.  To me there should be a balance.  Today my students created a timeline of major Michigan events between 1920 and 1980.  Will knowing this information help them become successful members of society?   I think so.  If they know how we got into the Great Depression then they will know how to alleviate this from happening in the future. I don’t , however, believe that students need to learn as many objectives of history that is required of them now.  When I taught 6^th grade last year, the students were expected to know too many objectives regarding European history.  There were not enough hours in the day or days of the year to cover all of it.  Quality is more important than quality and we need to find out what will help them in the future.    Another issue arises as well when ideally teaching every child the same content.  How can we teach students like Donovan?  I have not personally had a student with severe enough disabilities that their IEP goals couldn’t be met.  He hadn’t met them in years and was 20 years old, a senior making very little progress, which depended on the aid and teacher he had.  His mom had a valid point of teaching him the basic life skills and his principal had a good point that the academia is important.  I feel Donovan may not be able to reach the high goals  demanded but any progress is good progress in his case.  He needs balance.  Not just life skills and not only academia.   Wouldn’t Donovan benefit more from a good balance of academia and life skills that could help him in a better way?   I think each student is capable of different things and his IEP should be tailored to fit his needs and interests.   We have to accept that not every student is going to retain what is being taught because they have home lives, influences, physical disabilities, emotional disabilities, and many other obstacles in their way.  Individualizing goals can still each each student but not benefit others while others fail the system. This brings me to my next point of what do we do about it?

            Complaining about the system may make us feel better but it won’t fix the issues at hand.  There are many people who say a lot but again what is being done?  We are competing with countries like China who defeat us in schools.  One idea is a nationwide curriculum. I have a student who moved from Texas this year.  He is two years behind when it comes to what our students are expected to learn.  One reason is because Texas has completely different curriculum guidelines than Michigan and the other reason is because our school has different curriculum guidelines than schools in the area.    A nationwide curriculum would help this issue.  For students like Donovan and students who may not be of the math mind or literature expertise, I think the idea of going in between the liberal education concept and the idea of having schools grouped with students based on their talents and skills would the very beneficial to our students.  Students need to learn the basics no matter what their career pathway.  We need to decide on what core concepts must be learned and then those concepts would be taught in K-8.  Then in high school students could go to schools based on their talents and skills.  This would serve the best needs of each child and every child would still be receiving an excellent education, but it would be based on them and what they can do.    This idea is grand and I know there are complications but again nothing great in life is ever easy.

Resources

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/Transition%20Planning%20WEB.pdf

This article written by Edward M Levinson and Edward J. Palmer supports my theory of obtaining students skills and interest and then providing them with vocational trading.  This article is geared towards students with disabilities.  Not students as severe as Dobovan, although a case could be made that providing him with some skills training on very minimal work could give him enough skills for a job.  The article explains that when students with disabilities enter high school, many of them drop out.  The other portion is likely to be unemployed after high school and often does not go to college.  As of right now colleges do not offer a lot of support for the disabled so students without disabilities are trained in high school for academic success in college and leaving their disabled others behind.  The system referred to in the article would help those students have successful futures after high school.

http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/encyclopedia/en/article/114/

This article made a valid point regarding creating curriculum that is relevant to the needs and interest of the students.  It coincided with my emphasis on life skills for the severely disabled and did argued that using a curriculum that is more individualized to tailor students needs which agrees with my concept of making the learning meaningful to the students to prepare them for real world scenarios.  I also enjoyed that it made a valid point by stating that students with severe disabilities can rise to the occasion when it comes to teaching them academia.


http://coffeetheory.com/2011/12/22/on-the-importance-of-a-liberal-education/


Coffeetheory is a blog where books and other components of intellectual culture are presented.  The author is giving his feedback on a book about Liberal Education.  I wanted to read proponents of Liberal Education to get a better idea of it's importance to some.  This blog helped me have a better understanding of liberal education which is why I do believe teaching trades and grouping based on interest and talent should wait until high school.


http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat192.shtml


Education world is a wonderful website that offers lessons, professional development, and school topics.  I found an article that discussed a teachers methods in teaching students "critically" which means having them question and reflect daily in order to relate content to daily lives.  This theory supports my ideas of preparing students for the real world and providing relevance to education.


http://educationnorthwest.org/projects


This site supports my theories of a nationwide curriculum.  One of the projects on the site is known as common core standards.  These are standards that any state in the United States is welcome to use.  It is voluntary but would serve as a great method until all schools are required to follow a national curriculum.