What Curriculum Meant to Me Before
I Became a Teacher:
Before
I began teaching if someone asked me what curriculum was I would begin by
stating the different resources or texts that were used to teach mathematics,
reading, writing, science, and social studies. My teaching would be based off of these texts to teach the
students the intended concepts. If
the students mastered these concepts than I would believe that my teaching and
the way I presented the curriculum was a success.
What Curriculum Means to Me Now
That I Am a Teacher:
Now
that I have been teaching for three years, I know that curriculum means much
more than just the resources we use to present material. I strongly believe that teaching
curriculum deals with the teacher being concerned with the subject matter and
the way it relates to a total growth experience!
The
first step in teaching is to really get to know my students. I need to become aware of their
strengths, their weaknesses, their culture, their home lives, their motivators,
and just simply get to know each and everyone of them. However, this cannot happen if I do not
provide a safe and secure classroom environment.
I am a
kindergarten teacher in a needy district where students thrive for
attention. Many of my students
have not had prior education experience before they come to me on the first day
of kindergarten. I believe the first
month of school my job is to create this safe and secure learning environment,
where my students feel respected and have trust in me as their teacher. Like the Donovan article stated, I also
believe that the use of emotion and human connection is key to reaching every
student. Once I have created this
connection with my students I am able to teach the curriculum in a way that the
student’s can most relate with.
Link to the article Curriculum and Teacher Motivation Crucial
for Quality Education
Neupane, Babu Ram. (January 16,
2013). Curriculum and Teacher Motivation Curcial for Quality Education.
The Himalayan Times. Retrieved from:
This article
shares that curriculum alone cannot make students succeed or make students
learn. It is up to the teachers to
take that curriculum and find the way to best motivate our students in order to
get them to understand and learn the curriculum. I strongly agree with this, as I do believe that as a
teacher it is our job to motivate and model what learning looks like and how to
be a successful learner. I also
agree with the article in that curriculum is useless if teachers do not take a
minute to determine what needs to be taught, the best way to present this
material, and reflect back upon how the material was presented. As a teacher, we need to take an active
role in teaching curriculum in a way that our students can best relate to
it. That means teachers need to
use familiar vocabulary and examples in which our students can base new
knowledge off of. This brings me
to the idea that children are not blank slates. Children bring their culture, language and experiences into
the classroom. It is up to the
teacher to provide a quality-learning environment where the students can use
their experiences to motivate new knowledge.
The Purpose of Teaching Curriculum
I
believe that the purpose of teaching curriculum is to make learning an active
process in the student’s lives. I
like how the Child and the Curriculum
article stated that “it is the child and not the subject=matter which
determines both quality and quantity of learning.” (Dewey). This
year in my classroom, I have informally assessed my students learning abilities
by using observations and by keeping anecdotal records. I have documented ways that my
students learn best. Having this
knowledge allows me to teach curriculum in a way that they will be the most
successful.
In my classroom, I
agree with Dewey in that nothing can be developed from nothing (Dewey). I am constantly modeling and
selecting material that will allow my students to gain new experiences, while
making connections to existing experiences. I believe the purpose for teaching curriculum is to keep
these students prior experiences in mind so that the students have a schema to
build on from. This is my
goal everyday in the classroom. I
want my students to be able to relate to the curriculum that is being presented
to them. I strongly believe that
if I can get my students excited about learning, they will be more apt to take
in more knowledge, therefore allowing them to master new skills or
concepts.
Link to the Advance organizers: Activating and Building Schema for more Successful
Learning in Students with Disabilities article:
The article
titled, Advance Organizers: Activating
and Building Schema for more Successful Learning in Students with Disabilities,
presents many visual organizers that can be used to actively tap into student’s
previous knowledge on a concept.
I wanted to highlight one of the visual organizers that I recently tried
out with my kindergarten students.
This organizer is called PLAN. PLAN is a strategy that offers, pre,
during, and post reading tactics.
The steps are:
P: Predict by
previewing the text and creating a concept map. (Use a tree trunk with extending branches, for the visual.)
L: Locating prior knowledge on the map
with checks and new concepts with questions marks. (Put the ideas on the branches)
A: Add new
branches to the map to represent new knowledge acquired while reading.
N: Note: After reading how new knowledge can be
applied to everyday tasks. (May
add leaves to the branch to add how we can apply the new “branch” information
or idea.)
By using this
visual organizer with my students I was able to actively engage my students in
their knowledge about a particular concept. We used this in my classroom most recently with weather as
the topic. It was exciting to be
able to incorporate so many curriculum and standard goals. For just this strategy the students
were involved in asking and answering questions about details in a text, make
connections to events or ideas, identify events, compare and contrast different
weather climates, support their own thinking, and overall be actively engaged
in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. Incorporating
active learning allows the child and not the subject matter to determine both
quality and quantity of learning.
This is crucial in the purpose of teaching curriculum.
~Caitlin Meyer
Hi Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteAs I read your blog post for cycle one I noticed some similarities in what we both believe in to be the best for our students. Before I became a teacher I also had similar believes about curriculum as you had.
I also believe that getting to know your students and providing a safe environment for them is one of the most important things. I am also a kindergarten teacher, and this is one of the first steps we take at the beginning of the year. After about four weeks of school we have parent-teacher conferences with the parents. However, these conferences are a little bit different. We use an eco-map to find out more about the child and their family life. We ask the parents questions like; Where was your child born? Do they have siblings? Do they have play dates? How many hours of TV do they watch?, etc. These conferences are the most important part of the beginning of the school year. We find out so much about our students and this information helps us make sense of specific students. With this information we can help gear them and move them in the right direction. You had quoted Donovan on the fact that the use of human emotion and connection is also important in reaching a child. I believe Donovan is 100% correct on this. Once we find out more information on a child's home life we have a different out look on some of our students who might be struggling, and we begin to mold and shape our classrooms to fit the needs of all our students. Striving to make them feel comfortable, wanted, accepted, and loved.
I found your first article on curriculum and teacher motivation to be very interesting. I had never thought of looking at curriculum in this perspective before and didn't realize how important it is for us to model to our students how to be successful and motivating students. Most of our students look up to us and we are their best role models. We need to help prepare curriculum that will meet the needs of all our students, and curriculum that is going to motivate each and every single one of our students. What I found interesting is that in the article they mentioned, “The child's voice and heritage should be represented in content examples. Authentic cultural data, literature, music, art, artifacts, primary source materials and cultural history should be used in the curriculum” (Neupane, 2013). I am a full believer of this. I work in an international school and I have students that come from all over the world. I feel as though it is really important for all of my students to learn about all the different cultures that their classmates come from. I think it increases my students motivation when we do talk about their culture and represent it in our curriculum some way. It makes them feel important, and feel as if they are represented. I often find it difficult to find children's books that represent all of the students I have in my classroom. I believe that this is one of the biggest motivators for my students. For instance I have one student who is German, and any time we talk about Germany or talk about the flag he is extremely interested and wanting to share information or bits and pieces about his country to the whole class.
Your first parent-teacher conference of the year is really interesting. This would be great, not only for kindergarteners, but upper elementary as well. That information is so important and plays a great role in the types of connections and questioning they make through their learning. This type of information can also give us insight on reasons the students may be struggling or areas to focus on for achievement.
DeleteIt is interesting you bring up the blank slate theory because I used to believe that my students entered into the classroom with a blank slate. However, working with students who come from all over made me realize that they aren't blank slates when they come into my classroom. As you had mentioned they bring in so much with them like their culture, and their language. They are in fact far from a blank slate. We as teachers just help them to build on from this, and add to their slate helping them to gain more knowledge on a variety of different things. Especially in my classroom where they are surrounded by many different students who may speak more than three languages, and come from different cultures. They can learn so much from just one another. Which through observations I find very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI also use observations and anecdotal records to assess my students and find out more about them and where they are developmentally. This information is extremely important to teachers because we use this information to help alter our curriculum, and lesson plans to fit the needs of all our students. I also agree with the fact that you mentioned that our students prior knowledge is really important in being successful. Our students use all of this prior knowledge to build on from, and learn new things and to be successful learners. I think that we can get our students excited about learning by getting to know our students, finding things that might motivate them, and incorporating their culture into our curriculum. If our students see themselves being represented someway they think that they are important too. We want our students to feel important, and feel like they matter.
Larissa
Sorry the rest of this did not post above!
Hello Larissa,
DeleteThank you so much for responding to my post. I was eager to learn that you are also a kindergarten teacher. It will be fun to see how our experiences relate throughout this semester.
I found what you had shared about the first parent-teacher conferences to be so interesting. My school has different questionnaire forms that we send home but what a neat idea to meet with all the families in person. We do this later on at parent teacher conference time but I so can see the benefit from gaining this knowledge early on.
I really like how you use the student’s culture as a motivator in your classroom. It is so true that the student’s really become engaged when they can directly relate to what we are talking about. This is why I try to reach out to the student’s own previous experiences as much as possible. However, like I had mentioned this can be hard because not all students have the same experiences and some students really lack experiences.
Thanks for sharing. I will be eager to keep in touch throughout this semester!
Caitlin
Caitlin-
ReplyDeleteFirst let me apologze, but I have to split this post as it was too lengthy for the blog to accept.
I really enjoyed your post and found myself frequently nodding in agreement as I read your positions regarding curriculum. The article you shared from The Himalayan also spoke to me. Like you, I agree that, “the curriculum alone cannot make students succeed or make students learn.” It reminds me of that old notion, “my students know this because I’ve taught it.” As teachers it could be very easy to fall into the idea that simply because we have “covered” the curriculum, our students have learned it. However, good teachers know that is almost never the case. Knowing how to take the curriculum and make it speak to each of our students in a way that is meaningful for them is truly what lifts teaching to the level of art.
However, this reminded me of a struggle I frequently face in my own practice which is the battle between depth verses breadth. Good teaching and true learning takes time. This is something that I feel curriculum designers and policy makers often forget. The amount of curriculum teachers are required to present is growing every year making it very difficult to teach with the level of quality to which most teachers I know aspire. In other words, curriculum designers/policy makers seek to raise the level of student learning by adding more for them to learn, but by doing this, they are actually negatively impacting student learning because the depth of instruction needed for true learning cannot be done if a teacher intends to “cover” the entire curriculum. I find myself every year in an internal debate between quality and quantity. The good teacher in me wants to plan instruction that will inspire learning and lead to true understanding, but the rule follower in me becomes anxious knowing that might mean not getting to every standard, unit, etc. For example, I would like to include more project-based learning. However, projects and inquiry learning require much more time than simple reading and worksheets. The best I can do is tried to find a good balance between deeper learning opportunities and making decisions to move quickly through other areas. The Common Core really adds to this pressure because the depth of understanding required by these new standards is much different than standards we have used in the past. While I am very much in agreement with this change, feeling that the level of depth now required is a good thing for our students, but teaching to that level is, again, a time-consuming (and ,yes, valuable) proposition. I wonder if you feel the same pressure in your district and classroom.
I also agree that finding ways to help students activate their schema is crucial in helping them to internalize the subject matter being presented. If students are unable to build upon/tap into their initial understandings the level of their learning will be very surface and likely never lead the application level in a new situation. Like you, I also feel that graphic organizers and other visual representations that help students to organize their thinking and tap into prior knowledge have significant value in the classroom. I liked the PLAN organizer you discussed and explained and can certainly see its value in the classroom. I plan to use PLAN () with my students in an upcoming unit. Unfortunately, the second link you posted to the site containing the graphic organizers was not working properly on my browser and I was unable to access it. If you would be willing to repost the link, I would greatly appreciate it.
Hi again-
ReplyDeleteHere is the remainder of my response. Again, I apologize for the length and having to split it into two posts.
Additionally, I connected to the section of your post referring to the types of assessments you use and ways in which you use your assessment data. You stated, “I have informally assessed my students learning abilities by using observations and by keeping anecdotal records. I have documented ways that my students learn best. Having this knowledge allows me to teach curriculum in a way that they will be the most successful.” This is precisely what I do in my own classroom. I often find the informal assessment data to be much more effective in helping me to differentiate my instruction. However, we also have multiple formal assessments that we use to gain a full picture of our students current needs and understandings. In my building, we use our assessment data to drive our instruction. This is especially true as we use the workshop model to teach math, reading, and writing. Since making the move to this style of delivery for instruction, I have not only seen great improvements in my students’ learning, but I also feel much more connected to my students and have a better understanding of their needs because of the amount of time I spend with them in small groups and individual conferences. I wondered while reading your post if you also use the workshop model with your kindergarten students.
I did wonder, however, if you thought about any additional purposes of curriculum beyond helping students to make connections. For example, did you agree with any of the four positions on curriculum as presented in the Schubert article? It seemed as though you are on the side of the Experientialist. However, did you have any connections to the other positions? For example, do you feel at all, like the Social Behaviorist, that curricula should prepare students for their economic and professional futures?
Hello Maria,
DeleteI can relate with what you shared regarding the challenge between depth of knowledge verses covering the entire curriculum. I face this challenge, just about daily. I feel that in order for my students to really comprehend the material or for myself to be able to meet my tier two and tier three students it takes time. Time is what we just do not have when it comes to teaching. There are many content standards we need to cover and now with the Common Core Standards, we are held even more accountable to meet every standard. This is a lot of pressure, like you shared. We currently in my district are trying to figure out how to do all of this but also include those hands on and engaging lessons. It is a constant battle but as teachers it is one that I will continue to fight everyday!
On a side note, I am sorry that second link did not work. I have tried the following link to the same article and it worked. Maybe try this one…
http://www.learningace.com/doc/425934/a8f9248202e66afc683f9bfd7a80452b/danielk-advance-organizers-activating-and-building-schema-for-more-successful-learning-in-students-with-disabilities
As for the Schubert article, I really liked the discussion regarding the need to look into all curriculum tasks to determine what best fits each situation. This is what teachers do everyday. We are constantly reflecting on what experiences and knowledge is most worthwhile at each moment in time. So, to answer your question I can see myself taking a stand for each viewpoint at some point while teaching.
Thanks again for commenting!
Caitlin
Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteI will try to keep this one a little shorter and stay within one post. :)
Like you, before my first teaching job, I had the the same insight on curriculum as you did. But, after teaching a few years, curriculum is so much more! You are right; the students we have come with so many experiences about life from home and the surrounding world they see. It is important to get to know your students at the beginning of the year, but I believe it is so much more important for you in kindergarten, especially if it is their first school experience. You also need to know their prior experience, so you can help students make connections and build schema.
I really like PLAN. It really seems to work for your little guys, but can definitely be something my 5/6 kids would like. I will definitely be looking at the article to look at the other graphic organizers!
Hi Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your work. My job almost dropped when I saw you had eight responses! That might be a record, even if some are double and some are your own responses. Very cool that your post generated so much discussion!
I agree with Maria that you seem to fit pretty nicely into the experiential camp--that's great, because the whole history of this way of doing things come from early educators like yourself (though cool things have been done with it in high school as well).
So many things you talked about here fit so nicely with that way of thinking about curriculum--informal assessments, focus on warm and caring relationships, a focus on heart as well as head, detailed knowledge of children and what they bring to the classroom.
You smartly note, that as an experienced teacher, you now see curriculum as asking questions about how subject matter relates to a "total growth experience." That is really wonderfully put, and makes total sense in terms of how you approach things as a teacher.
I would love, actually, to hear more about how you would define a total growth experience? Maybe in a future post?
Also, this is just a side note, but I was interested in the way you linked teaching and curriculum in your post: you often spoke of "teaching curriculum." I've heard of teaching subject matter; also the more common saying of "teaching kids not content."
I wonder if this is just because this is a course on curriculum, or is this something you say often. I ask because I sometimes think that curriculum is not something you can teach--as Dewey said, as teachers, we direct students indirectly. We teach by shaping the environment, including the learner's internal motivations and emotions. But we never teach by pouring curriculum into kids' heads. So this phrase is of interest to me, as I know you mostly agree with Dewey on this account.
Thanks for your work!
Kyle