Cycle Two - How Should Curriculum be Created and Evaluated?

How Should Curriculum Be Created?

            “…students want to know just what it is they need to do to earn a particular grade” (Eisner, 2001, p. 330) are the kind of educational experiences today’s students are having.  Modern day classes can’t be considered an authentic educational experience - rather a situation. Secondary students pass through seven classrooms, five days a week, and are told information they need to know in order to pass a test.  If a teacher attempts to have students explore the material they need to learn in order to pass a high-stakes assessment, time constraints often force her adhere to time-efficient, but academically less-effective, lectures for the sake of covering the material the students will see on the test.  “Schools have become a place to mass produce this product” (p. 330) of extremely well, but not so successful, test-takers where no child is left behind. 

            Throw away your pre-conceptions about education and that a student’s job is to answer questions.  Instead of the teachers asking the questions politicians think students should be asked, let students ask their own questions.  Eisner mentioned the rising trend in students, including doctoral candidates, of not being able to formulate in depth, critical thinking questions (2001).  This side effect can be traced back to the K-12 school days where students have no longer been allowed to ask questions - only answer.

            So what kind of questions would students ask that teachers could design a curriculum around?  Speaking from a high school math teacher point of view: How about how to do taxes? How to create and stick to a budget?  How do I buy a car?  Ralph Tyler suggested that the problems student solve, or in this instance – ask, should “arise in real life” (1949, p. 69). 

How often have you found yourself starring at a blank tax form and thinking, “Why was I never taught this in school?”

            Those on the side of textbook-driven curriculums and standardized tests might argue that students may not learn “real math” (the intricate formulas and messy equations seen in example after example in the textbook lessons) if not from a textbook.  And, that’s true.  Students may not get to memorize these equations, but how much more real math can a student learn when discovering how interest compounds on his mortgage or how his car value depreciates?  Rather than forcing students to answer questions about these types of functions, a curriculum should have students ask their own questions about these exponential functions they encounter day to day without even realizing it. 

            Take a look at the comments a few high schoolers made regarding how standardized testing makes them feel.  It’s time for the political standard-setters to start asking a few questions too.  Is this really how we want our students, the future of America, to relate to school and earning an education?

How Should Curriculum’s Success Be Evaluated?

            A present and pressing issue that demonstrates the unreliable method of evaluating a curriculum can be seen by the spectacle that is the state of Texas.  When examining Texas’ issue of creating new American History standards for their students to learn these opinionated issues seem minor compared to the people writing, examining, and implementing these standards – individuals who are far removed from the field of education (Shorto, 2010).  Why are dentists deciding what our children should learn in American History when the dentist himself was in an American History class possibly a decade ago?  To further this conundrum, now the College Board is adjusting their standards and frame work for their Advanced Placement United States History exam to please public opinion that was against the current objectives.  How can a curriculum such as this be evaluated effectively if the curriculum itself can change as soon as someone important does not like it?

            Although curriculums can be changed as fast as legislatures can vote, “changes in ways of thinking…develop slowly” (Tyler, 1949, p. 83).  How can the Board of Education in Texas and the College Board expect students to block out George Washington as a great American hero, one day, and the next his name is wiped from the textbook pages because parents aren’t happy that their children are learning about a former slave owner?

            Standardized testing may be the most efficient way to assess students’ retention of what they have learned in school, but it is not the most effective.  If a student must meet certain learning objectives, and the way to learn an objective is through behavioral experience, and the behavior must be practiced in order to master the objective, then why shouldn’t the student’s practice and then mastery, over a period of time, be a sufficient way of evaluating a curriculum (1949)?   While cleaning out one of my mom’s closets, she and I stumbled upon an old writing portfolio from my kindergarten days when I was just starting to master the construction of sentences.  The portfolio showed a transformation over time of my large, disconnected letters refining into smoother, clearly defined words.  My sentences may have been missing a few prepositions and punctuation marks, but any one could confidentially say I had improved my writing skills over those 9 months.

            Here I am suggesting the use of portfolios as evidence for a student’s improvement in a class over a set period of time, in every class, so as to not discredit any subject area, as a way to evaluate a school’s curriculum to show growth over time.  However, curriculum evaluation doesn’t have to be a portfolio, and this collection of works doesn’t have to be examined every single year.  But, the current system of standardized testing as the determining factor of a student’s success is only  a snapshot of what a students is capable of doing and is destroying our children - take a look.

References

Eisner, E. W. (2001). What does it mean to say a school is doing well. The Phi Delta Kappan, 82(5). Retrieved from http://gse.buffalo.edu/fas/yerrick/ubscience/UB_Science_Education_Goes_to_School/21C_Literature_files/Eisner,%202001.pdf

Shorto, R. (2010, February 11). How Christian were the founders? New York Times Magazine.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/magazine/14texbooks-t.html

Tyler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press

Cycle One - What is Curriculum? Purpose and Relationship

Curriculum is everything a student experiences as he or she goes through school.  Curriculum refers to the standards that are taught, the material that is left out, and the media a child is exposed to (Wilson, 2014).  But, how does an instructor determine what the curriculum should teach at school?

There are four curriculum traditions presented by William Schubert.  Each curriculum, although important, does not serve to educate a student on its own. Let’s combine the Intellectual Traditionalist and Social Behaviorist curriculums.  Students can be taught the classics that have stood the test of time and then use scientific investigation to explore modern advances.  The educational gaps appear to be filled.

But will this work for every child?  Dewey suggests education should be of interest to children, something that is useful for them (Dewey, 1923).  This does not mean that everything a student will encounter in school will be fun, but the education that children receive should motivate them to learn.  One of the goals of the curriculum presented in schools should encourage students to be life-long learners rather than good test takers.

Ken Robinson has summed up in eleven minutes and twenty seconds what many educators have been struggling with for decades.  Education nowadays is a manufacturing race.  How many standards can we train students to meet within a particular timeframe?  Test them on these standards periodically.  If the product is good then the students are packed up and shipped off to a university and expected to benefit society and the economy (Robinson, 2010).  How can this mass production of “educated students” be beneficial to the nation’s greatest resource that are our kids?

I urge you to watch this spoken word poem by Suli Breaks in which he declares the contradictory nature and harm the importance of test scores are having on students. 

There is a disconnect between what is happening in the classroom and how learning is assessed.  For example, why are we having students work in cooperative groups when they are going to be tested individually?  With Common Core, the standardization issue is exacerbated.  In Florida, I am no longer compared to my peers in Tallahassee. Now, I also must know exactly what those in Oregon are learning in their geometry class.  And, all students need to prove this knowledge on a test.

How is this fair?  Take a look at Billy Flood.  Although living with a learning disability, is it fair to say that he is not smart because he can’t pass the same test a boy his same age, without a learning disability, can?  To me this is comparing apples and oranges.  A standardized curriculum tries to level the playing field regarding what the students are taught and the kind of exam they take, but it doesn’t eliminate factors such as abilities, disabilities or home life. 

I struggled with this with my Algebra 1 students this year.  I was faced with the new Common Core (take a look at the shifts in standards my school district expects our students to master in one year) curriculum that expected students to think abstractly about mathematical concepts – something these students were never asked to do before – and all students were suppose to be proficient at the new skills by the end of April. Any hope of the majority of my students passing the Algebra 1 End of Course exam flew out the window when one looked at me and said, “I don’t understand negative numbers.”  Here she was 15 years old, a high school freshmen, and she did not have the math skills a sixth grader was suppose to master.  The majority of the class agreed. 

 So what was the purpose of the new curriculum I was supposed to teach my students?  If I sided with the standards I would spend the entire school year reinforcing to my students the fact that they lacked even the most basic skills.  I did not want to support the notions that math was impossible and that my students could never understand what math was all about.  So I did what I thought was best.  I met the state and my students halfway.  I found materials that supported the algebraic concepts my students were to learn in a way that made it possible for them to succeed in my class.  Not all of my students passed the End of Course exam, and that was okay, because learning did take place in my class. 

Some may ask why teach math?  What is the purpose of students even learning Algebra 1?  I tell my students that no, they will not explicitly use Algebra 1 after high school unless they become a math teacher.  To motivate them, my mantra is:  1) Do well in this class in order to pass the Algebra 1 End of Course exam because it is a graduation requirement.  2) Do well in this class to pass it and earn one of your math credits towards graduation.  3) Algebra 1 will help you learn critical thinking, problem-solving skills that you will use every day in real life.

 The third point is the goal of math, school, and any curriculum.  The curriculum we pass on to our students should equip them with the problem-solving skills they need to be a successful member of society.  If any part of the curriculum makes a student feel like they are not good enough, then the curriculum is not benefitting that student or the community as a whole.

References

Dewey, J. (1932). The school and society: The child and the curriculum.

Robinson, K. (2010, October). Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms

Schubert, W.H. (1996). Perspectives on Four Curriculum Traditions. Horizons, pages 169-176.

Wilson, L. O. (2015). The second principle. Retrieved from http://thesecondprinciple.com/instructional-design/types-of-curriculum/ 

Introductory Post

Professional Introduction

Why the name Ms. Hoffman2.0?   Well, when you work at the same school as your older sister the students will find creative ways to differentiate between the two Ms. Hoffmans.  I work at Plantation High School (Go Colonels!) as the proud math teacher of Pre Calculus Honors, Algebra 2, and Pre-IB Algebra 1.  I just completed my first year of teaching this past 2014-15 academic year.  My sister joined the ranks of being a teaching Colonel the year before - she teaches different levels of American History.  My sister and I shared several students this past school year and some of my current students were her's from the year before.  When the students realized that calling us Ms. Hoffman and Ms. Other Hoffman was not going to cut it, they deemed us History Hoffman, my sister, and myself, Hoffman2.0.   I was very lucky to have been hired right out of college.  I graduated from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Davie, Florida in May of 2014.  NSU is a small, private university in South Florida where I spent four years earning a Bachelors of Science in Secondary Math Education, a minor in Math, worked as a math tutor for undergraduate students and an assistant in the Honors College's Office of the Dean.  I was a proud and active member of the Honors College, as well!  

Personal Introduction

That so far are my professional and educational accomplishments.  On the personal side of things, my name is Marissa Hoffman.  I was born and raised in sunny South Florida and still call this beautiful state my home!  My favorite color is pink (and my classroom is a bright, bubble gum shade of this beautiful hue too!) and I love all things summer and sunshine!  I have one sister and both my parents live in Florida too.  I have only known education from the student and teacher point of view from what the state of Florida has offered and I am excited to see how the education profession is seen differently at Michigan State!  

Initial Meaning of Curriculum

Initially, as most people probably assume, I thought curriculum included the material used in the class.  This meaning the standards that the teacher must cover, the textbooks that the school district issues, and any supplementing materials the teacher may find to meet, remediate, or enrich the standards.  After perusing The Second Principle: Types of Curriculum by Leslie Owen Wilson, my perspective changed.  The piece that resonated with me the most was the null curriculum, "that which we do not teach" (Wilson, 2015).  There are news reports every year discussing that elective courses such as art, physical education, and music are removed due to budget cuts.  It never occurred to me that not offering these courses might send a message to students that these subjects are not important enough to be included in a school's curriculum.  For the most part though, different types of curriculum such as social media, what students retain from a lesson, and the material students are exposed to at home (2015) were all a part of a student's learning experience but now I will consider them as part of an overall curriculum.

References

Wilson, L. O., (2015). The second principle. Retrieved from http://thesecondprinciple.com/instructional-design/types-of-curriculum/