How do you Define Curriculum?

Although I work in an independent, progressive charter school that is just getting its feet wet compared with many other schools around the country, my definition of curriculum coming into this course was very much grounded in my own traditional K-12 experiences. I was willing to acknowledge the beauty of flexibility in the day-to-day work of educators and schools, but didn’t know what to call it. I considered the textbook to be the essential curriculum for many courses, whether appropriate or not ( I have thought NOT for a couple of years now...). I did not have the vocabulary necessary to describe my curricular observations. As a result of this course, I not only have access to an improved lexicon around curriculum in education, I have a much greater understanding of and appreciation for where we have been and where we are going in curriculum and assessment design.

Most certainly my favorite new phrase is “ideal curriculum.” This is the life-blood of the school. For a charter school, I see this as the essential first ideas put in writing by the founders of the school. The written, taught, tested, support, hidden, and other curriculum designations all branch out of the ideal curriculum, so it is very important that everyone (or as many people as possible) working at the school is authentically in agreement with it. For the school at which I work and for any future school thereafter, I would like to ensure that I am authentically in agreement with the established ideal curriculum. This ideal curriculum, which manifests itself in the vision or mission statement in many ways, should include Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, Paideia learning, differentiation strategies (OK, have to admit - I LOVED the Tomlinson text) and 21st Century learning experiences that are commensurate with reality, well-integrated, and tied to flexible assessment practices.

If someone were to have asked me for my definition of a written curriculum before this course, I would have probably mumbled something about the combination of textbooks and scope & sequence guides. I now realize that textbooks are not part of the written curriculum; instead, they serve as support curriculum for the written and taught curricula and their adoption and use should not be taken lightly. Scope & sequence guides are undeniably a part of the written curriculum, and should be accompanied by a list of essential questions and ties to the state or Common Core standards. I am glad we started with the Glatthorn text in leaning about developing and analyzing a written curriculum, as it provided a formal structure upon which future understanding or alterations could be built. I can see how truly vital it is for all stakeholders to have a part in the development of a written curriculum, and that rushing it can be a costly mistake. I have suggested the creation of a legitimate Curriculum Planning Council to my school’s Governing Council, and I hope they will consider it a necessary component to our current curriculum efforts.

Research has demonstrated time and time again that the single most important factor in student learning and performance is the effectiveness of the teacher in the room. This is where the taught (& learned) curriculum - the reality of what is actually presented to students and how it is done - becomes very important, perhaps even more so than the written curriculum. In order for effective monitoring and evaluation to occur, the school administrator has to rely on his/her teachers to follow the ideal and written curricula at a fairly high level. Teachers deserve (and should be given) a fair amount of classroom autonomy, but their actions should be justifiable based on best practices that are well-aligned with the ideal and written curricula. I consider the taught and support curricula to be inextricably bound, and would propose that the individual teacher create his/her own support curriculum. I believe that because of this, the taught curriculum is the one that requires the most financial AND human resources. It should be the primary focus of any school-based administrator, through a combination of intensive PD support, time allocation, money allocation, and strict standards for monitoring and evaluation. If the taught curriculum is reinforced in this way, many cogs will fall into place.

Authentic assessment is a common discussion thread in this course, and has taken center stage in many cohort discussions before it as well. It is discussed at every level, from the individual classroom to the national and even international stage. Our Jacobs text makes one very simple, extraordinarily clear statement that we must overhaul our curriculum to make it more appropriate for our ever-changing world, and that the overhaul should begin with assessment design. The tested curriculum is, at its core, our goal. We were asked earlier in this course about the purpose of schooling, and I have asked many students at my school the same question since then. My response was essentially related to the students’ future roles as citizens of the world. We have to prepare them to be successful engaging in various epistemologies and utilizing a variety of technologies in the process. While some students were able to give me answers relating to creativity and exploration, or even citizenship, the primary response I still get is “to be prepared for college and get a good job.” While that may truly be an objective of the school, it is most certainly not seen as our purpose to exist. Even with most of our students thinking that way, it is still very difficult to explain the purpose behind the annual state standardized exam. It is not reflective of their course work or shared experiences, and yet they must perform - why is that? We need to reform our assessments to be more indicative of what we actually want our students to be able to do. Last I checked, being able to correctly solve 40 multiple choice problems was at the bottom of my list. These assessments should also be flexible, and allow students to engage the material in a variety of ways (UDL, Jacobs). Whenever possible, legitimate technology use should be a part of it. Why write a paper every time if a multimedia presentation would do the job just as well (or even better)?

I were asked to define curriculum today, February 20th, 2011, I would say that it is the way we describe a school’s essential purpose and its corresponding reality. To put it another way, I would couch it as I did earlier in the course. It is an idealistic composite of proposed experiences and desired outcomes (ideal, written, & tested curriculum), blended with the reality of daily occurrences (taught, learned, organic, & hidden curriculum). If pried for more detail, I would engage the person with questions. I am fairly confident that I would be far better off trying to get them to understand what curriculum is through their own lenses than I would be given them a lecture about it. I might ask them some of the following questions:

• Why do you exist? What do you feel is your purpose?
• Why do schools exist? What do you feel is their primary purpose?
• In your profession, what have been some of the peak experiences and why?
• How do you feel it is most fair to assess a person’s work?
• Are all people capable of demonstrating the same skill in the same way?
• What is differentiation? (I really don't think most teachers know - I didn't know nearly enough until I read the Tomlinson text and now I want to know more...)
• What are the most interesting ideas you’ve ever discussed?

If you’re reading this, feel free to think about your own answers to one or more of these questions. What do you think? Feel free to comment...

John

Technology & Curriculum

I have decided to use VoiceThread to respond to these questions. You can access it here. Please have a look & listen, and then comment. I would love to hear your thoughts!

John

UDL / Differentiation / Tech Integration & PD Action Research Project Demo Photo

The School & The Curriculum: My Philosophical Belief Structure

School is essentially our opportunity to prepare our youth (1st phase) for diverse roles in their 2nd (citizenship) and 3rd (statesman) phases of life. My views about how schooling can do this are fairly well aligned with those of Mr. Mortimer J. Adler, whose Paideia Proposal still hasn’t been faithfully implemented by many (if any) schools around the world. In his Proposal, Adler calls for a “basic education” common to all students in the entire country. He outlines the general instructional approach, an even more generalized course of study, and proposes that the specific community and school make final decisions about how to implement the program and round it out with courses and extracurricular activities specific to the area. From this basic introduction of beliefs, I’d like to expand and offer my more personal views about what it means and how to make it happen.

I believe that, in every year of K-12 education, students should study Mathematics, English Language Arts, Foreign Language, Literature, History, Science, Physical Education, and either Art or Music. In addition, a 9th course should be offered which is offered as an experiential supplement to their general course of study. This 9th course would include things such as Home Economics, Keyboarding, Web Design, General Automotive Work (oil changes, etc.), Computer Programming, Health, and more. This 9th course is meant to be that which prepares the student for life in the modern world beyond the general and interdisciplinary work done in the other 8 courses. This would provide a wonderful opportunity for students to learn about technology that is not integrated into the general classroom, such as hardware and software design, animation, accounting, etc. These students are going to live primarily in the 21st century, and every effort should be made to ensure that they are successful, productive citizens in that realm. The 9 courses proposed above would be the only courses. There would be no electives, other than allowing students to choose their own foreign language and whether to study art or music more specifically during their high school years. Anything outside of the proposed curriculum is by definition extracurricular and should be offered only before and/or after normal school hours.

I believe that students learn best by forming their own conclusions from shared experiences. The school curriculum should offer experiences to the student which will allow for them to form an accurate conclusion about a particular idea, and the teacher-facilitator should serve as the students’ guide in the process, not merely a fact-checker. In our modern schools, we strive to impart thousands of years of human wisdom and discoveries to our youth in 12-13 years’ time. I believe this to be unrealistic, particularly when many of our students do not see the value in the discovery and have no interest in understanding a concept that their teacher isn’t even passionate about. Students should strive for conceptual understanding, realizing that while we may never truly understand something in full, the pursuit of understanding will provide us a sound education and fuller life.

In order for schools to be effective, they must be willing to connect all the primary stakeholders in the area. If the school can get community members, parents, and students all working together, the experiences available to students will be more diverse and more enriching. I believe that lengthy portions of the school year (at least two week blocks) should be taken out of the regular schedule for interdisciplinary projects, service projects, and field experiences (local, national, & international). The school should never stop providing experiences for students, and bringing in parents and other community members to share in the experiences with students will help tie the school to its rightful place as an anchor of the local community.

My work thus far as an instructor demonstrates these beliefs in the way I teach. We use the Paideia methods of instruction at my school, though it is not occurring with enough regularity for me to call our school a true Paideia school. I focus my teaching efforts primarily on producing critical thought, problem solving, and discussion amongst small groups of students. I put them in situations where they require those skills to solve a problem, and I never give an algorithm (I am a math teacher) in situations where students can solve the problem with what they already know. In fact, I have often seen students produce the algorithm themselves through discussion and critical thought. Our students have thus far done very well in the American Experiment that is our school, scoring well above state averages on standardized assessments. Truthfully, however, I feel it is not enough. The school could be doing more to be a long-standing member of the community. It could be more efficient and consistent with the Paideia method of instruction, and its curriculum could be developed more to facilitate teacher autonomy. Most importantly, the school could be doing a better job to mentor new teachers to use the Paideia methodology effectively. I hope to do more work in my education career to bring the true Paideia school into reality, as I believe from what I have read and experienced that there is no better way to organize a school’s curriculum for any diverse system of learners.