About Me
- HeidiBradley
- I am currently taking 2 classes towards my masters, this being one of them. I am very excited to be taking this class and to learn about blogging and other technology that I have not previously learned about. I coach Middle School JV Volleyball and Middle School Basketball Cheerleading.
It seems like blogging is new to most of us. I wish us all luck!
ReplyDeleteBlogging (like much of technology) was really intimidating to get started, but much easier than I expected. It’s nice to have you in another class, Heidi Good luck this semester!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see that you are figuring this out- it is fun to have a new skill to use in your classroom and beyond. Neat that you are a coach- are you in volleyball season right now? Also what grade do you teach? Nice to see you here.
ReplyDeleteHey Heidi,
ReplyDeleteFinally got it! I'm a big girl now! This is going to be fun! Love the picture-it captures you beautifully! (Ha!). What! Cheerleading and volleyball? Shut up! That's great! You rock! Its so exciting to be in class with you again..talk soon
Lane - yes we are currently in volleyball season - I love it! I teach multiple disabilities K-6!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find your blog link? I wanted to visit and write on your virtual wall :)
I think my blog link is on blackboard under one of the announcements- look for it there and good luck with your volleyball season!
ReplyDeleteThank so so much and sorry for calling you Lane...I realized after I posted that you were the professor (brain freeze) or i would have addressed you as Professor Clarke. I apologize!
ReplyDeleteTask one question 1
ReplyDelete1. Why do we need to consider curriumlum
We need to consider curriculum for many reasons. Curriculum helps set a base and an organization for what needs to be taught and what needs to be known for students in your classroom. It helps decide what should be known and puts a structure to what students should know so that all students are learning the same concepts throughout the district and/or state.
However, when considering curriculum, guidelines need to be well articulated. “However, what they teach remains largely unexamined, and thus unavailable for sharing with less experienced teachers, or for explaining and if need be defending the program to a public increasingly concerned about the conduct of schooling”. Because the public is becoming more and more concerned about schooling and the curriculum the guidelines do need to be better organized and articulated so that the information can be examine and shared with less experienced teachers and so that the curriculum can be explained to the public as well and defended to the public.
Curriculum also needs to be considered because it needs to be organized well enough so that there is not overload in the classroom, however there is not too little material for the students either. Also, curriculum needs to be worthy of study. The information should be accurate and useful as well as valid. The curriculum should also relate to students lives and to life experiences that they have or may have. The last point I would like to make is that curriculum should make sure that there is room for students to take ownership in all activities that are done under the curriculum so that they feel like they are a part of what they are learning.
Curriculum is very important and needs to be considered by all teachers and everyone who is engaged in developing curriculum so that it is relevant and appropriate for all students.
Task one question 2
ReplyDelete2. What model of curriculum do you feel best fits your current role? What model are you most attracted to? What would be your preference?
I feel that the model of curriculum that best fits my current role is curriculum as product. In curriculum as a product, Objectives are set, a plan drawn up, then applied, and the outcomes (products) measured. I feel this is how I do things in my classroom. I work with students with multiple disabilities so I work with each of them on very individual terms. They all have different objectives and a lot of behavioral areas that I need to focus on as well. I set their objectives, make a plan as to what activities are appropriate for that students, I apply the activities that are usually hands on, and then keep data on each of the activities that I do with the students. I feel that this is the model that I follow.
This is also the one that I am most attracted to and that would be my preference because I feel that this allows for behaviors to be considered and for individual needs to considered as well. For my students this is a very important aspect of curriculum and objectives and activities.
Task one, question 3
ReplyDelete3. Wiggins talks about the need for a “modern” curriculum – what could this look like? Do you buy that we need a new approach to curriculum? Why or why not?
•Modern curriculum and what it looks like...
oTake no ones word for it, see for yourself.
oHands-on work
oLearn to change information into sustainable knowledge
oDevelop a thirst for inquiry for students
oHelp students to see how knowledge grows out of, resolves, and produces questions.
oAwaken the students mind – should be a goal of this curriculum
oQuestion, question, question
oHave the freedom to go where questions lead
oPut students in the habit of thought and questioning
oThe textbook would be a reference book for students instead of the outline or syllabus of the class
oInstead of a “Question-Answer” set up, it would be “Question-Answer-Question”
- In some ways I do buy into that we need a new approach to curriculum but in other ways I do not so I am very torn on this question. On one hand I think that we do because what we have now is, in my opinion, teaching to the test and not teaching knowledge that students actually need to know for their lives and for their future. Also I feel that the curriculum tells students what to know, has them memorize information, take a test, and then move on without actually absorbing the knowledge that they showed on the test. On the other hand, I don’t think curriculum should be changed, rather it should be modified to meet the needs of individual students. For example, teach the curriculum but allow more freedom for the students to ask questions and to be able to discuss information that they have learned instead of just hearing the knowledge and taking a test.
- It is also very difficult for me to see how the actual curriculum works right now because my students do not follow a traditional curriculum. I think that if I was more involved and embedded in the actual curriculum on a daily basis, I would have a stronger opinion on this.
Task 2 Question 1
ReplyDelete1. What is the purpose of curriculum – what role do we have as teachers in this purpose?
• The role of curriculum is to provide relevant information to students that they will need throughout school, for tests, and beyond school, to help make them successful and well rounded students. It is also to help students gain knowledge and not just memorize information that needs to be learned. Curriculum should facilitate understanding, retention, and generalization.
• Teachers have a great role in this purpose. Teachers need to take the curriculum that is given to us and make activities that are relevant to students and that help them gain understanding, retention, and generalization. As teachers, we must “reach beyond past practices of teaching for curriculum exposure and utilizing books as curricular guides”. Teachers need to help students get excited about learning and help them understand the content and how it relates to their lives. Teachers also need to use the curriculum and adapt it to meet students individual needs.
• Teachers need to take a role in this and make sure they know what they want their students to learn. From there they need to take an active role in the curriculum to make it relevant to all of their students to help them learn and retain the knowledge that the core content is intended to help them learn.
Task 2 Question 2
ReplyDelete2. How much control do we have in designing the curriculum? How much should we have?
• The amount of control that teachers have in designing the curriculum depends on the school and/or the school district. There is a core curriculum that is provided but the rest is up to the school or school district. Teachers need to determine and know state and local standards of core curriculum. Then, “some school systems publish pacing guides to outline curricular requirements; in some schools, teachers work in teams to determine content to target: in vet to other schools, individuals teachers determine how and when they will address specific standards”. So it varies in each school how much control teachers have in designing the curriculum. However, before designing curriculum teachers to have to determine and know the local standards and/or state standards or core curriculum.
• Although teachers might not have a lot of say in the design of the curriculum, they often get the ability to choose how to teach the curriculum (depending on their school) and get the ability to design their assessments that they want to use for the curriculum and how they want to assess the students. This gives them the chance to use basic tests to determine if the student has memorized the information, or to use application assessments where the students have to apply and explain what they have learned. However, in some schools this is restricted as well.
• How much control should the teachers have in designing the curriculum? I would like to say that teachers should have a much larger part in designing the curriculum, however I can not say that. I see too many teachers who would take this opportunity to do the least amount of work possible and to not do things for their students, but to focus on themselves. If all teachers looked at their jobs as a mission and not just a job, I think they would be able to group together to design a curriculum that would be relevant and useful to each and every one of their students.
• This is another difficult area for me to discuss as well though because I base most of my instruction off of communication goals, ieps, and life skills. I use core content through alternative assessments. At this point I am giving the core content that my students need to show that they know, and then I determine what they will use (manipulatives, pictures, choices, etc) and how I will assess what they know (pointing at picture, using words, pick up pictures, etc.) I see the skills however and get a little upset that I have to teach a student fractions, when that student needs to be learning how to differentiate between two pictures, wash his hands after going to the bathroom, asking for snack, following one step directions, identifying colors, assembling easy projects so that he can someday hold a job in a sheltered workshop. I know what my students need and the core content is not providing that for them. When this takes away from my instructional time (and it does take away from my instructional time for about 3 months out of the year in my opinion) it is frustrating because my students have life skills they need to learn to function in life and core content is not relevant. Teachers and schools need more say in curriculum design.
Task 3, Question 3
ReplyDelete• Curriculum in my classroom looks very different from a “typical” classroom. My students work on individual needs and we work with them based on what they need to learn to function in life and what they need to learn to become contributing and successful members of society. For me, teaching a student to add 10 + 10 is not a priority, but teaching them to count items from 1-10 using one to one correspondence is very important. I may have one student working on matching the color blue to the color blue the color red to the color red, etc, another student identifying colors when asked from a group of 3, and another student learning what colors are. I have so many different levels in my room, and all students need different things to help them improve and be successful. I use core content, however it is modified. I might use the 6th grade core content for a 6th grade student for reading comprehension, but I read a short story on a Kindergarten level and ask simple questions and give them 3 pictures to choose an answer from. Although core content is followed it is at a very different level than you would see in a normal classroom.
Heidi,
ReplyDeleteI also agree that curriculum needs to be well articulated. I think this would definitely benefit new teachers.I also agree that curriculum must be relavent. Where I teach, if students can't connect what they are learning to what they do, they consider it a waste. I spend a lot of time connecting what I teach to real-life situations.
I understand why you chose your model of curriculum. You do have many students with many different needs and documentation of those needs are imperative to show growth and to write new goals and objectives.
As for "modern" curriculum, I agree with mjodifing to meet students needs. Using curriculum as our guide and tayloring it to our students needs will allow our students to identify with what they are being taught. I feel they will retain the information because it fits their learning styles.
Hey Heidi- first I am only going to comment on task one since we are still there with the rest of the group. Also as a procedural note- try to put your information as a new blog post which should be on the top right hand of your blog when you look at it (if you are not sure watch the blog tutorial on pre-module again) this will make it much easier to read and much easier for others to respond to- ie. you post and then we comment. I know that this is new for you - don't worry you will get the hang of it- and please call me Lane- no need to be formal here.
ReplyDeleteOK- as far as the content of task one- I agree with many of your points and many others have made similar ones. I do think it is interesting that you raised the influence of the public and was thinking what role should they have in this process? I also would like the kids to have more ownership in the process or at least how the curriculum is enacted. I am wondering though at what point do we give it over to the kids and at what point are we the desiscion makers.
I see that you made i back to the post- do that for the next task and you will be back on track. As for Task Two i think you offer a good point about the relevance of curriculum for different populations in the school and boy is this a sticky matter. On one hand I think for too long educators had too low expectations for our special educations students and this really hindered their growth but now I wonder if the pendulum has swung too far in the other directions where we have set unrealistic expectations. How do you feel about this? I would like to hear from some other special educators on this too!
ReplyDelete