What constitutes a successful curriculum?

What constitutes a successful curriculum?

For the past several weeks, the staff members of our school have been analyzing, evaluating, and discussing our current reading, writing, and math programs in attempts to devise a plan to assist our preschool through sixth grade teachers with meeting the academic needs of their students.  As we are re-evaluating and transforming our elementary curriculum for reading, writing, and math, I, as the curriculum coach at the school, began to reflect upon not only the academic needs of our students, but whether or not we are succeeding at meeting these academic needs.  Of course, this reflection led my thoughts down the mysterious and winding road of state and national standards.  What is academically important for preschool and elementary aged students?  According to Nel Noddings in The Aims of Education, “At the beginning of the twenty-first century, educational discussion is dominated by talk of standards, and the reason given for this emphasis is almost always economic.  The underlying aims seems to be (1) to keep the United States strong economically and (2) to give every child an opportunity to do well financially” (p.431).  Interesting!  Instead of teaching our students the social, emotional, language, cultural, and cognitive skills to become successful and compassionate members of society in attempts to revolutionize our current, inadequate systems, we are focusing on teaching our students how to become rich.  Let’s not forget that we need to keep the United States economically rich as well!  Hmmmm?  Is that what we really want to instill within the young minds of our future generations?  To answer my own question, I would adamantly say, “Absolutely not!”  This may be my early childhood background emerging from within, but what happened to teaching the “whole” child?  Is the concept of teaching the “whole”  child to become well-rounded individuals unimportant to us as a society?  Are we, as a society, strictly concerned with providing future generations of children with the skills to be financially prosperous?  Even if this is the case, we might be in a bit of trouble.  If we are unsure of the purpose of education in the United States, the process of evaluation of our curriculum becomes even more complicated and quiet honestly worthless.

In addition to re-evaluating and transforming our curriculum over the past several weeks, we have also been preparing our students not only to successfully complete, but also to positively pass the Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards, as known as AIMS.  (The AIMS is equivalent to the MEAP.)  Even though I feel that the purpose of the education system in the United States of America is unclear, and therefore, any type of evaluation or measurement of education is invalid, I do understand the need for valuation.  Currently, in the state of Arizona, our system of education is driven by Arizona’s State Standards.  Therefore, each and every third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grader at my school has to “prove” that their teachers spent the school year teaching state standards.  Even though I consider myself one of the lucky ones since I teach first grade and do not have to “evaluate” my students’ learning with a standardize state test, I still have to assist the upper elementary teachers with evaluating  our students.  As I walked up and down aisles of students, sitting silently, with a test booklet and a number two pencil in front of them for what seemed like forever, I couldn’t help to think, What is the purpose of this?  What does AIMS really meausure . . . .a student’s ability to accurately understand and answer multiple choice questions?  a student’s ability to remain absolutely silent for an hour?  a student’s ability to color in a circle?  a student’s ability to perform well in class?  Certain inly, the AIMS does not measure a student’s knowledge!  Elliot W. Eisner, in What Does it Mean to Say a School is Doing Well, wrote, “Because those of us in education take test scores seriously, the public is reinforced in its view that test scores are good proxies for the quality of education a school provides.  Yet what test scores predict are other test scores” (p.329).  Ahhh – The AIMS simply measures and predicts how students will score on tests.  In real life, how important is this skill?

Even though I find the answer to the question, - What constitutes a successful curriculum?  - complex, complicated and challenging, I do believe that Central Park East Elementary School (CPEES) and the Harlem Children’s Zone is taking a step in a new direction of not only curriculum, but also the process of evaluating curriculum.  Meier wrote, “A good school for anyone is a little like kindergarten and a little like a good post-graduate program – the two ends of the educational spectrum, at which we understand that we cannot treat any two human beings identically, but must take into account their special interests and styles even as we hold all to high and rigorous standards” (p.49).  What a phenomenal way to educate children, yet it all seems so simple – teach individuals as individuals!  Additionally, Mr. Canada stated in Sharon Otterman’s article, Lauded Harlem Schools Have Their Own Problems, “We are attempting to save a community and its kids all at the same time” (p.  1).  Now – that is my idea of education! 

How should curriculum be generated?

How should curriculum be generated?

Is it worrisome that I am the curriculum coach, as well as a full-time first grade teacher, at an elementary school and I am struggling to write an answer to this question in simple black and white?  I am going to stick with a modest answer – not at all.  The question, “How should curriculum be generated?,” is complex, complicated, and challenging.  Currently, the school that I teach/coach at is in the process of re-evaluating and transforming our elementary curriculum for reading, writing, and math beginning with the preschool curriculum and continuing throughout kindergarten to the sixth grade.  This isn’t an easy task that can be successfully accomplished by a single individual.  According to Ralph W. Tyler, the renovation of a school wide curriculum should include the participation of the school’s faculty.  He wrote, “Unless the objectives are clearly understood by each teacher, unless he is familiar with the kinds of learning experiences that can be used to attain these objectives, and unless he is able to guide the activities of students so that they will get these experiences, the educational program will not be an effective instrument for promoting the aims of the school.” Our faculty consists of one school leader, one secretary, one office manager, nine highly qualified teachers, two assistant teachers, two interventionists, and an infinite number of parent volunteers and students – all in which are actively involved with this complex, complicated, and challenging evaluation and transformation process of our curriculum.

According to Ralph W. Tyler, “In planning an educational program to attain given objectives we face the question of deciding on the particular educational experiences to be provided, since it is through these experiences that learning will take place and educational objectives will be attained.”  As our tiny, yet extremely knowledge and highly educated staff, attempts to successfully tackle generating a curriculum perfectly suited to meet the individual social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and language needs of our student population, we are quickly discovering that this is a task for educational experts, which can include members of your own faculty, specifically teachers.  Teachers are the ones that are required to maintain their certification with continuing education courses, to uphold and implement current educational theories and trends, and to reexamine methods of teaching in order to continually meet the individual, educational needs of each and every student.  Yet how much input do teachers really have in regards to developing and generating curriculum?

As I was reading the article, How Christian Were the Founders by Russell Shorto, I couldn’t stop thinking about this question.  In reference to the educational system in Texas, Russell Shorto stated, “The board has the power to accept, reject or rewrite the TEKS, and over the past few years, in language arts, science, and now social studies, the members have done all of the above.  Yet few of these elected overseers are trained in the fields they are reviewing.” Really? Why are untrained, uneducated amateurs, in the educational field, controlling educational issues?  I am a teacher specializing in early childhood development. I am a trained, educated specialist who understands the manner in which young children learn.  I, also, effectively educate early elementary teachers with skills, strategies, and best practices for teaching young children.  However, I would never even consider stepping into a college classroom with the intentions of teaching teachers to teach.  This is not my field of expertise.  In the article, How Christian Were the Founders, Russell Shorto quoted Tom Barber stating, “In general, the board members don’t know anything at all about content.”  Isn’t it common sense that the people “in charge” have some type of content knowledge?  Shouldn’t the educational experts be “in charge” or at least have some input regarding matters of education?  In my personal opinion, I believe that the state of our country’s educational system has a lot to do with this travesty – the people in charge simply do not know what they are doing.

For now our tiny curriculum committee, consisting of our entire staff, as well as representatives from our parent and student populations, has decided that we are just the educational experts that our students need in order to re-evaluate, to transform, and to generate the ideal curriculum for our school.  To be honest, before reading Ralph W. Tyler’s Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction, I slightly doubted that our staff could accept, let alone accomplish, the daunting task of generating a school-wide reading, writing, and math curriculum.  However, Ralph W. Tyler stated, “The program may be improved by attacks beginning at any point, providing the resulting modifications are followed through the related elements until eventually all aspects of the curriculum have been studied and revised.”  What a breath of fresh air!

Should the curriculum address controversial issues?

Over the past eight years of my teaching experience, I have attended numerous trainings and professional development meetings that intended to encourage teachers to confront, acknowledge, and overcome many types of bias, in attempts to urge teachers to better able meet the needs of their diverse learners.  Every one of these bias in education trainings explained that teachers as well as potential teachers may work with children/families with differences in areas such as gender, sex, race, ethnic and/or cultural background, socio-economic status, disabilities, academic levels, and special needs, concentrated on providing teachers with the opportunity to distinguish anti-bias views based on these differences, and prepared teachers to effectively educate learners with anti-bias curriculums.  However, I feel that these trainings and professional development meetings overlooked an extremely crucial aspect of an anti-bias curriculum.  What about “teaching children to respect all people and to accept them for who they are regardless of” sexual orientation?  Even though some may think that this isn’t quite an issue in the school system, it is an issue with not only students, but also teachers.

As a teacher, mainly of early elementary students, I have witnessed students being bullied based on their own sexual orientation.  The terms “gay” and “fag” seem to be the bullies’ choice words  that I here most often at school.  As a young student, I remember saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me” to my childhood bullies.   But as an adult, I have realized how untrue this statement can be when it comes to name calling.  This type of harassment is detrimental on so many levels, especially to young Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender students.  According to evidence and statistics from the Department of Health, young GLBT individuals are greatly effected, in terms of mental health, lifestyle, and victimization, by the social outcasting due to their sexual orientation.

Mental health

In comparison with their heterosexual counterparts, young LGB people are:

•                    four times more likely to suffer major depression;

•                    three times more likely to be assessed with generalized anxiety disorder.

Young gay and bisexual men are:

•                    seven times more likely to have attempted suicide;

•                    three times more likely to have suicidal intent.

Healthy lifestyles

In comparison with heterosexual young women, lesbian and bisexual girls are:

•                    almost 10 times more likely to smoke at least weekly;

•                    twice as likely to have consumed alcohol in the past month.

Young gay and bisexual men:

•                    may be more likely to use recreational drugs.

Violence and victimization

• LGB young people are at increased risk of verbal and physical abuse.

In addition to bullies harassing students based on their sexual orientation, the bullies also harass students based on their parents’ sexual orientation.  According to research, “The children raised by gay and lesbian parents experienced unusually high levels of extreme social ostracism and overt hostility from other children and parents, which probably accounted for the former's lower levels of interaction and social integration with peers.”  Within the last couple of years, I have worked with students with families that consist or two mothers.  (I haven’t had any students with two fathers, yet.)  Again, I do realize that this topic may be a controversial issue to some people, but it is reality and becoming more and more prevalent in schools.  By overlooking, ignoring, and disregarding the reality that differences in sexual orientation exist, we are sending a message to the future generations. Eisner wrote, “schools teach much more and much less than they intend to teach.  Although what is taught is explicit and public, a great deal is not.”  Even though overlooking, ignoring, and disregarding the reality that differences in sexual orientation exist may not be a purposeful intention, it still leaves a message with our students.  Should teachers simply stand by the sidelines while sexual orientation based harassment consume our schools just because it is a controversial issue?  Personally, I have quite a simple response: no!  “The more you know, the more you grow.”  Is there a better place than in school to receive a bias-free, fact-based education?

This issue just isn’t about the bullies and the students being bullied.  This leads me to ask, what are the school systems doing to prevent this type of harassment?  According to Eric Eckholm, “Many educators and right advocates say that official prohibition and taunts are most effective when combined with frank discussions, from kindergarten on, about diverse families and sexuality.”  Yet, the antis-bias curriculums that I have been exposed to neglect to cover this topic. Personally, I feel that incorporating an anti-bias curriculum, which includes all types of bias including bias of sexual orientation, teaches an important life skill, respect even if this topic is controversial!

What Should the Content of Curriculum Be?

After reading The Child and the Curriculum by John Dewey, E.D. Hirsch’s work entitled Cultural Literacy and the Schools, and Sara Corbett’s Learning by Playing:  Video Games in the Classroom, I have concluded that the answer to “What Should the Content of Curriculum Be?” is not simple, unattainable, or hopeless.  Instead the answer is complicated, debatable, and uniquely diverse.  Yet, easily stated in my own personal opinion, the content of the curriculum should be based on the notion of child development and balance.

During my time not only considering curriculum content within my own thoughts and opinions, but also discussing content of curriculum with colleagues, one statement seemed to continuously reappear in the conversations.  In The Child and the Curriculum, John Dewey wrote, “To learn the lesson is more interesting than to take a scolding, be held up to general ridicule, stay after school, receive degradingly low marks, or fail to be promoted.”  What does this say about this educational torture, in which we call curriculum that we are inflicting on our students?  I know that referring to curriculum as torture may be a bit harsh, but when I think about the absences of children’s voices, child development, and balance regarding curriculum, I am almost sickened.  Why do large educational corporations, such as Pearson, and educational policy makers get to decide the curriculum that we teach to our students? Where are the students’ voices?  Do teachers even have a say about the curriculum that needs to be taught the children that they instruct for seven hours a day, five days a week? 

Currently, in the state of Arizona, the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th, and 6^th graders are “preparing” for the state’s standardize assessment, AIMS.  This means that the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade teachers are using their teacher manuals, based on state standards of course, to “teach” our students.  This is serious stuff.  Standardized tests are important - but at whose expense?  Students are joining after school clubs to further assist them with academic support only to go home to parents that continue this inappropriateness by having their children complete worksheet after worksheet of released AIMS questions.  I agree with John Dewey – we have taught our students that learning a “lesson is more interesting than to take a scolding, be held up to general ridicule, stay after school, receive degradingly low marks, or fail to be promoted.”  This is not curriculum. It is not even interesting.  John Dewey believes in “the case of the child.”  Does our educational system?  Here is my answer, simply stated: nope!  According to E.D. Hirsch, “We have too readily blamed short-comings in American education on social changes (the disorientation of the American family or the impact of television) or incompetent teachers or structural flaws in our school systems.  But the chief blame should fall on faulty theories promulgated in our schools of education and accepted by educational policymakers,” usually the ones that have never stepped foot into the classroom. 

To be honest, I am full of personal opinions, thoughts, complaints, recommendations, and some more complaints regarding our educational system, specifically the content of the curriculum that we implement in our classrooms.  However, I am the first to admit that I do not have a solution to the educational flaws within our schools.   Even though I don’t have a solution, I am not discouraged by this frustration.  Instead, I continue to educate myself, in hopes that one day, I will make a difference.  That is the reason that I became a teacher in the first place!  While reading the articles Cultural Literacy and the Schools and Learning by Playing:  Video Games in the Classroom, I am beginning to believe that the content of curriculum should be developmentally appropriate for our ever-changing students while providing a sense of balance between educational learning experiences related to everyday life and “traditional” content.  E.D. Hirsch states, “One can think of the school curriculum as consisting of two complementary parts, which might be called the extensive curriculum and the intensive curriculum.”  Is this the beginning steps to free our students from educational torture?  He continues with writing, “The conception of a two-part curriculum avoids the idea that all children should study identical materials.”  Why should our extremely diverse students all receive an identical curriculum?  We all know that students are individuals that come to into our classrooms with diverse life experiences, socio-economic statues, prior knowledge, learning styles, etc. yet they all receive an identical curriculum.  Sara Corbett wrote, “What if teachers gave up the vestiges of educational past, threw away the worksheets, burned the canon and reconfigured the foundation upon which a century of learning has been built?”  What if the content of curriculum was developmentally appropriate for our ever-changing students while providing a sense of balance between educational learning experiences related to everyday life and “traditional” content? Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  When is the insanity in education going to end?

What is curriculum? What is its Purpose?

At a recent Curriculum Coaches’ meeting I was asked, “Why do teachers tend to associate the word curriculum with a teacher manual?”  After spending the last several years on the other side on the interview table, asking potential teachers about the ways in which they teach curriculum to elementary aged students, I continue to be amazed that the words curriculum and teacher manual are used interchangeably!  I have noticed this not only with prospective teacher candidates, but also with my fellow colleagues who have been in this profession for years.  Personally, I feel the term curriculum entails an extensive and limitless quantity of ideas, which may be difficult to define within a simple dictionary definition.  It is a much more complicated and complex notion.  Is the root of the confusion amongst teachers?  How did it come to be that “curriculum” is often found in teacher guide?

As an early elementary teacher, I quickly learned that “curriculum” could not always be found in teaching guides or manuals.  My teacher edition of Saxon Math doesn’t tell me how to teach a child that refuses to participate in my math lesson, except for his occasional inappropriate outbursts.  I am almost positive that the teacher manual for Harcourt Brace doesn’t address what to do with children that tease other children for their limited reading abilities.  Even though social skills in a school setting may not be a mandated “curriculum” from the state, it is an especially real concept that is taught during school hours.  Additionally, according to the Common Core Standards, which 45 out of the 50 states have adopted, instruct teachers on which English Language Arts and Mathematical Standards to teach students according to grade level, yet it seems to be missing a plethora of “curriculum” concepts, besides academics, that undoubtedly need to be addressed between the school hours of eight and three! 

Where are the standards for self-help abilities, social skills, or even proper conversational skills?  As a first grade teacher, I am mandated to teach seven year olds to “compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories,” yet they can’t put their own pants on the correct way let alone politely ask for help.  Are we limiting “curriculum” to strictly academic concepts?  Is it unimportant to wear your pants the correct way?  According to research, “The extent to which children and adolescents possess good social skills can influence their academic performance, behavior, social and family relationships, and involvement in extracurricular activities.”  If this statement is true, why are we only focusing on academic-based curriculum found in a teacher manual?

This brings me to Donovan!  What is important for Donovan and other students with severe disabilities to learn in an educational setting?  According to Donovan’s mother, Michelle Ford, her son should “spend more time working on his practical challenges, like his self-abusive habit of hitting himself in the face…”  As an educator, I tend to agree with Donovan’s mother.  Donovan needs to learn skills that will assist him with his own self-improvement and growth.  Time spent on working towards minimizing self-abuse will meet this goal.  How about teaching coin identification? Should her son’s teachers even be required to teach him how to identify coins when it is known that he will never use this skill?   Identifying coins just may be a waste of time in this situation.  Just as important as identifying an individualized “curriculum,” the school and Donovan’s mother need to work together in order to best meet the student’s needs.  Personally, I believe that this applies to most students.  “It takes a village to raise a child” and even more so to educate a child based on specific needs.

Noddings wrote, “To provide an equal quality of education for all of our children does not require identical education for all.”  In the case of Donovan, I found this to be obviously accurate.  However, this statement led me to consider the curriculum for my typical developing students.  As a society, we should realize that one size does not fit all, yet teaching is almost a one size fits all concept.  Hmm? Is “liberal education an inappropriate ideal for general education…?”  Should students receive an education that meets their specific needs, capabilities, and interests?  I once read On Being a Teacher by Jonathan Kozol.  It encouraged me not only to open my mind to issues that I haven’t spent much time considering, but also to rethink my own personal judgments of our education system that I have acquired over the years.  Specifically, Kozol’s chapter entitled “Secret Records,” surely sparked my interest.  Initially, I thought that Kozol seemed a bit paranoid about the danger of students’ cumulative files.  He writes, “It grants a great deal too much power to a small number of people to affect the present lives and future hopes of far too many” (44).  But after reading this section, I begin to think about the documentary, Waiting for Superman. Both On Being a Teacher and Waiting for Superman addressed the issue of students’ cumulative files and how the files are used to track students and determine their educational futures.  I am not sure if I have been naïve or ignorant about this subject because I teach at the lower elementary level, but this book definitely opened my eyes and questioned our education system.  Should we rethink the “curriculum” within our school systems?  My answer is absolutely! There are numerous deficiencies with the curriculum that we utilize in this country.  However, I will be the first to admit . . . I do not have a solution!

Introduction

Professional Life

Currently, I am a first grade teacher and curriculum coach at a small charter school located in Gilbert, Arizona.  Because I work with young children, I spend my days reminding kids to use the bathroom before they have an accident, wiping snot off my sleeve, listening to my name being called about a million and a half times per day, and applying band aids to so called boo-boos!  I also spend my days teaching young children to comprehend the basic foundation of the English language, to understand the relationship between mathematical concepts and the real world, and to interact with other children and adults in a socially acceptable manner.  I love my occupation!!!

For the past eight years, I have taught mainly in early elementary classrooms including preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.  I have worked with a diverse population of students, including students that are considered at-risk, students that are learning English as a second language, gifted students, and students with special needs.  Additionally, I privately tutor students, ranging from preschool age to high school age, in the subject areas of reading and math.

Academic Expertise

As long as I can remember, I knew that I would be a lifelong learner.  I have not only an extreme passion for learning, but also a tremendous desire to educate.  As a graduate student, I plan to fulfill my academic needs by receiving a Master of Arts in Teaching and Curriculum with a focus in reading and special education from Michigan State University.  I believe that this specific degree will assist me with reaching my personal career goals.  Recently, I have discovered my aspiration to educate teachers.  After I was given the opportunity to lead several professional development trainings with a focus on reading, to model effective reading and writing strategies to early elementary teachers, and to instruct mainstreamed classroom teachers on meeting the needs of special education students, I have realized the positive influence that I am able to contribute to other teachers.  Even though I absolutely love teaching children, I have found that I may have a greater impact with children if I educate teachers, especially in the areas of reading and special education.  Therefore, I have decided that I want to transfer into a curriculum coach position from an early elementary teacher.  After much consideration, I know that a Master of Arts in Teaching and Curriculum degree will provide me with the necessary educational tools in order to reach my future career goals.

Personal Interests

Most recently, after spending my entire life in St. Clair Shores, Michigan I decided to try moving across the country to Scottsdale, Arizona!  It has been an amazing year!  I have discovered new enjoyments including climbing mountains, exploring caverns, and swimming in natural creeks.  I love to travel and was able to cross off visiting the Grand Canyon and Sedona from my “Bucket List.”   I now enjoy hanging out at the pool and reading books.  Even though moving across the country had its challenges, I have discovered many new activities that I enjoy!