In this huge educational world, where does curriculum fit in? How important are government and district imposed guidelines? I strongly believe there be some sort of guidelines set-up because we cannot just teach what we would like to but in the best interest of the students, how much of what we chose to teach them is meaningful? How are we the all-knowing teachers going to chose what is going to impact them for the rest of their lives and what is necessary for them to be better people? In my teaching Freddy Jr where the comma goes in a sentence really going to give him happiness in life? Moreover, I am sure the students all have great interests in which they would like to pursue without a nagging teacher breathing down there necks about commas or grammar.
Where shall we draw the line and say this is not necessary for my student's future? Of course I think it is very appropriate to learn how to properly communicate in society, but then again what is proper? The way I talk or the way you talk?
4 comments:
This is a very in depth question. I have a feeling that you are going to be choosing one or two questions and focus on the details of those. Are you going to incorporate standards? Standardized testing? What about incorporating many learning styles instead of just focusing on one to teach, then you may reach more students!? Good luck!!
I think this is a good idea for a paper. I honestly don't know if the inorporation of standardized testing is even needed for the paper. I think the incorporation of various learning and teaching styles would be of more relevance than standardized testing.
I've popped over here after a link from Bud the Teacher's blog - and I found your question about curriculum. Having taught for 10 years and now serving as a "curriculum coordinator" in a small, rural district - this is a question that we wrestle with on a daily basis.
In working with teachers - we use the state standards as guidelines. We need to determine the set of information and skills that are important in our district for our kids to have when they walk out those doors with a diploma in their hands. Each district in our state may have different specific goals, but we are all working under the same umbrella.
The impact that teacher have, in my humble opinion, is not in the content that they teach, but in the love for learning and inquiry that we can instill in our students. That is the challenge - one that is not often accepted when it is so easy to fall back on textbook or state assessment for curriculum.
I'm not sure what your paper requirements are - but how about surveying teachers with various years in the profession to determine what they define as "curriculum" or how they concept of curriculum has changed over time?
I think you're asking good questions and hopefully arriving at some answers will be beneficial to your future teaching. One thing you might want to consider, however, is that every school offers you varying amounts of control over curriculum. Some schools open the book room to you and pretty much say "teach what you want, but coordinate with other teachers," some will say, "you will teach X and Y and go through these exact units in the textbook."
At some point, hopefully you'll be part of the decision-making process in choosing curriculum, but in some situations it might be a better question to ask what you can do within a specified curriculum, as theresa gets at in her comment. In what ways are excellent teachers able to take a prescribed curriculum and convey the love of learning and inquiry that Theresa speaks of?
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