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/
Marissa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog this week and your response to my blog. I love that someecard- how true of these standardized tests! We use the PARCC, luckily my school is K-2 and our students are not required to take these tests. However, our 2nd graders spend a couple hours weekly in the computer lab working on speeding up their typing skills… to take the computer-based PARCC test. 2nd graders are still learning how to spell and construct paragraphs, but are expected to type paragraph responses for content on the PARCC. Ugh.
Enough about standardized testing for the moment, I’d like to comment on your idea of the 4 curriculum traditions. While I agree that the intellectual traditionalist and social behaviorist curriculum traditions are vital and together comprehensive, I would argue for a hybrid of all four traditions. The experimentalist tradition urges education to be student-focused. As I mentioned in my blog this week, I most closely relate to that Montessori philosophy. I see a lot of the experimentalist tradition within the Montessori philosophy. I do however understand that the experimentalist tradition is a bit hopeful, not always realistic (at least in my teaching experience thus far). The critical reconstructionist is a tough one, but nonetheless valid. It reminds me of Plato’s sorting of man and the education they are to receive.
“As the discussants considers the needs of the state and its collective people, they decide that the kinds of people needed fall into three categories: rulers, guardians (auxiliaries or warriors), and artisans (tradespeople)” (qtd. in Noddings, p. 428).
If I perceive the reconstructionist tradition correctly, in classifying people, “they are to receive an education compatible with their demonstrated natures” (qtd. in Noddings, p. 428). I think this is quite restrictive, but has its place in a balanced curriculum hybrid of the 4 traditions.
I was brought back to my high school memories when watching “I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate.” These are feelings that many students feel, and justly so. Throughout the poem there are points that I totally sympathize with- “I hate school but I love education,” “found answers on Google, followed their dreams on twitter, etc.” We live in a time where the youth (and most everyone for that matter) are educating themselves on what they’re interested in OUTSIDE of school. Wouldn’t it be something if our interests were fully explored in school to prepare for a career pertaining to that interest? A happier education in deed!
I’d like to quickly respond to your post to my blog. Princeton Montessori was a privately owned school. I am curious about your class size, how was your teacher able to deliver the individualized education with so many other students? Do you feel as though your Montessori education has affected your life in any way? When speaking with the director of educational programs, she said her daughter has a similar experience to yours when entering into a non-Montessori high school. She was excited and couldn’t get enough of studying and the academic workload of a public school. I wonder if this was based on the novelty of something new, a different approach? Or truly because she enjoyed studying and doing homework, she was intrinsically motivated to read and put her knowledge to use in the test format.
--Meg Carroll
Hi Meg,
DeleteBecause the class size was so large at my Montessori school I don't remember having any individual instruction. I was there K - 3 and I can only remember two instances of small group instruction. I was never behind in school and I feel that was because my parents worked with me outside of school. If the only education I received was from the Montessori school I feel like I would have been behind. I think a non-Montessori school environment worked well with me because when the teacher set high expectations I was motivated to meet them because that's how I was raised. A non-Montessori doesn't work for the majority because it takes a lot of effort, and is boring, to listen to lectures, take notes, study, and then take a test.
Marissa Hoffman
Hi Marissa,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post! I enjoyed reading it!
I really like how you picked up on the Schubert article and really thought about how those traditions come together for you. I agree that the traditionalist and the behaviorist together make a nice combination. We have knowing and doing, past and present, coming together nicely there. I don't think school can do everything and therefore I do think it makes sense for us as teachers to also think about the limits of what we can do (and those limits will be different for different teachers in different subjects).
Your critique of the testing and even the standards are well taken. Your story about the student in your class who didn't know negative numbers well is a good example. It seems you did the primary thing very well here--avoiding blaming the student. You just rolled up your sleeves and did the best work you could. I don't think the public can realistically ask for more.
We do need better assessments in this country. If the standards and the global economy all ask for collaboration, cooperative problem solving and the like, then we are risking a very dangerous short-time solution by relying on the cost effectiveness and ease of these tests.
Because, ultimately, as you write, these tests do some violence to kids. They do compare apples and oranges. Or they compare each of us against the other. But is that the world we live in? Is that the world we want to live in? Is the coming economy based on doing the same thing as everyone else (only better) or is it based on the power of finding new and creative niches? Is it based on scarcity of materials or the abundance of information? I know where I'm placing my bets. So to compare kids on single standards does seem to me a losing proposition, one likely to turn off a good segment of the population from the type of independent and sustained learning they will need to do to reach their full potential as human beings.
A great post, thanks so much!
Kyle