Curriculum Who? and What?

When it comes to school curriculum who has the final say on what is taught in the school system? The State Superintendent along with school board and school offices set the standards and applies them. Then they form committees to help decide what the core curriculum should be for the state schools. Do teachers have a say in the process? The teacher gets to teach the curriculum according to the subjects that are being covered.

Let's clarify what curriculum and instruction are. Curriculum is what you teach, your arrangement of curriculum and planned educational experiences. We discussed the four types of curriculum, but here is better clarification on the types of curriculum. Explicit curriculum is the content, the objectives, and lesson plan. These are the things that are directly taught. This is used more in Junior and High Schools. Here in the state of Utah we have a website that helps with lesson planning for explicit content, it called Utah Education Network (UEN.org). An example of Explicit curriculum would be Math and Language Arts. Next we have Implicit "hidden" curriculum. These are the attitudes and values students take from school. The types of learning children gain without formal instruction in a particular area. Teacher's actions influence the Implicit curriculum, for example by the posters they hang in their classrooms, or they may spend more time on particular topic. Then there is Null curriculum this is where things are left out of Explicit curriculum, and they often include controversial subjects like Evolution. Finally, there is Extracurricular, which is the activities outside of the classroom, such as clubs, sports, etc. Studies have shown that low-ability and at risk students are less likely to participate in extracurricular activities.

Now instruction is how you teach and deciding what practices are best. Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching young people. The art is the design of teaching and the creativity behind teaching. It can allow for wiggle room. The science of teaching is based off of practices that are effective tools that help students learn. These are the strategies that have been proven and always used in college and method courses of teaching.

School Curriculum

When it comes to school curriculum we as teachers need to decide what is valuable for our students to grasp. The components of school curriculum are explicit, integrated, implicit, null and extracurricular. Explicit curriculum is the formal material usually found in textbooks, curriculum guides, and standards. Integrated are the concepts and skills from various disciplines that are combined and related. This type of curriculum is very popular in Elementary Schools. Then we have implicit curriculum which is the way a teacher presents content. It can be in hidden messages, and often implied rather than voiced. Null curriculum is where teachers decide what is most important to cover in a short amount of time. Finally, there is extracurricular, which is the learning experience from the student's formal studies.

The things that have an influence on curriculum are textbooks, standards and accountability, the Federal Government, and the teachers philosophies and professionalism. The idea of "What gets tested gets taught" is the norm in most schools today. Textbooks are used as outline for most classes, but the majority of textbooks cover more than twice of what is going to be taught. The Federal government plays role of making sure that curriculum is accessible to all. This can be seen in the NO Child Left Behind Act, IDEA and National Defense Education Act. Philosophy and Teacher Professionalism reflects our learning goals as teachers, and what do we want our students to learn from this subject. Each philosophy will vary from grade to grade, and subject to subject.

There have been many controversies over school curriculum in the 21st century. There have been the controversies over essentialism verses progressivism, how math should be taught, intelligent design, and censoring. A big topic of debate is sex education in the school system. Sex education is very important whether it is being taught in the home or at school. We as educators need to provide our students with the no how when it comes to protection, pregnancy, and prevention. In ideal world I would love to see parents talking with their children about sex, but the truth of the matter is it just does not always happen. Schools need to be well equipped when it comes to Sex Education.

The classroom we must teach core curriculum but make it applicable to the real world. We need to teach pathways and not just memorization. We need to teach our students as Seth Godin puts, "To care enough to be not afraid of being criticized  for their ideas".  Teachers need to do the same and not be afraid of teaching in an untraditional way. When we take a little of the old mixed in with the new we can create amazing pathways of learning!

Multiplication and Organization

Multiplication and Organization go hand in hand. Today's presentation was on how school's are organized. Before the 1800s teacher's taught all subject to every age group they were in a one room school house. Today teacher's teach one specific grade, and the upper level grades the teacher's have an area expertise. Elementary educations included the reorganization of the alphabet, cursive, multiplication, and understanding mass and inertia. It was fun to have a timed test on multiplication it took me back to the fifth, and literally I visited some fifth graders today who had to complete the same test as we did. In middle school there is focus on organization. This is the key component for success. In elementary school students had more supervision from the teachers. When it comes to middle school they are more on their own. They must learn to manage their time, organize for classes with binders and planners. Teachers need to be time oriented as well and use interactive strategies when they teach. In middle school the student should have mastered studying and time management preparing them for high school. The comprehensive high school is where the basic classes are taught and each class is around fifty minutes long. The other alternative is block scheduling where classes are 100 minutes long. There are different college courses that are offered such as Advanced Placement and honor classes. There are also virtual schools that are offered online, distance education and career tech schools. The organization within the classroom and from the school will allow all students to succeed.

Today I saw first hand how and organized school and classroom can help students thrive. I visited Nick Baker's fifth grade classroom. First, Nick is a master when it comes to letting his students know his expectations, and they follow very well. The students were learning about the constitution of the United States. They were highlighting the important facts, then filling in blanks in their workbooks. All students were engaged and having fun. Then it was time for Math, multiplication timed test. The students excelled. They repeated back their answers by not moving their teeth or plugging their ears. The experience was great and I learned a lot about the writing process for fifth graders, and how to prepare them for written exams.

Today!

Today, my group and I gave our group presentation on School Law. It was so much better being up in the hot seat than being a spectator. There is a definite rush that comes from being in front of entire class. You can see excitement, boredom and no expressions at all, but these help gauge how effectively you are doing you job. For the most part my group and keep the audience pretty engaged. They probably thought I was a little crazy, but I don't mind because I got their attention and their brains ticking. I can't wait till I get the opportunity to teach for real, and look out into the audience of my students. Peace out!

School Law

School Law can be seen as the protection for the teacher and the student. It is like an umbrella that covers both parties. There are two amendments from the constitution that are the central focus when it comes to School Law. The first and the fourth amendments both are dealing with the freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Teacher’s roles are to be professionals. They have the rights and responsibilities when it comes to dealing with child abuse, how they handle their private lives, their job as a teacher, copyright laws, and their own liability. When the students are under a teacher’s care, they are in place of the parents or what is called in loco parentis.  Teachers are to remain neutral when it comes to religion. Prayer in schools is prohibited by the law, but students have the right to pray as long as it does not affect those around them. There can be religious groups that use the school building for clubs, etc. Religious curriculum may be used as long as it for historical purposes. Student’s rights are just as important as the teachers. Students have the freedom speech. There is permissible search and seizure, where school officials may search student lockers if they have probable cause. They have the right to privacy of their records. In some states corporal punishment still exists, and this still can be a very tricky matter. The issue of AIDS is not as strong as it was in the 1980s, but today there cannot be the discrimination of someone with an illness or disability.

            I believe the majority of educators don’t know about the laws that exist to protect them and their students. What if part of the Educational Degree it was required that the future educator had to take a class to cover this core curriculum of School Law? The knowledge that is gained could save many people a lot of time, frustration and heart ache. The teachers who decide to engage in sexual activity with their under age students might think twice about proceeding with that following action!