Fluent Essays

Develop a concise statement of your beliefs about curriculum, teaching and learning that you might use as an evolving guide in your career in education that includes a selective reference section with key references that you relate to in connection with your personal beliefs (e.g., can be select references from this course and throughout your MS program).Philosophy of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning You will develop an approximately 3 page (plus selected reference list) single spaced 12point font concise statement of your beliefs about curriculum, teaching and learning that you might use as an evolving guide in your career in education. Include a reference section with key references that you relate to in connection with your personal beliefs (e.g., can be select references from this course and throughout program).. The following is an important pedagogical purpose for the development of a philosophy of curriculum, teaching and learning: “Teaching is about making some kind of dent in the world so that the world is different than it was before you practiced your craft. Knowing clearly what kind of dent you want to make in the world means that you must continually ask yourself the most fundamental evaluative questions of all–What effect am I having on students and on their learning?” (Stephen Brookfield, The Skillful Teacher, 1990, pp. 18-19) What are major components of a philosophy of curriculum, teaching, and learning to be included? The literature on philosophies of curriculum, teaching and learning suggests several components for educators to include in their philosophy statements. Your paper should include the following components adapted from Nancy Chism’s (1998) article, “Developing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement.” Your philosophy statement may be in essay form. You do not have to break it up by the components below; however, you should address all components in your final statement. Write from a first person perspective and incorporate your own creative style. 1. Conceptualization of learning: Ask yourself questions such as “How do I think learning occurs?” “What do I mean by learning?” and “What happens in a learning situation?” Think of your answers to these questions based on your personal experiences and making connections to ideas of learning discussed in the literature by citing authors were appropriate. You might use a metaphor to explain your beliefs about learning or you might choose to use a more direct approach to conceptualize learning (i.e., describe how you think learning occurs and what you think occurs during a learning episode, based on personal observations, experience, and on current literature on teaching and learning). 2. Conceptualization of teaching: Ask yourself questions such as “What do I mean by teaching?” “How do I facilitate the learning process?” “How do I challenge students intellectually?” “How do I meet students’ needs and support students academically?” Again a metaphor or a direct description with respect to motivating and facilitating learning might be used. Discuss how your personal experiences as a student or teacher and your reading of the education literature (e.g., curriculum, teaching, and learning literature) support your conceptualization of teachCHAPTER 1 Philosophy as a Basis for Curriculum Decisions ALLAN C. ORNSTEIN FOCUSING QUESTIONS . . d implementation of curriculum? hil h uide the orgaruzation an 1. How does p osop y g 1 d that shape a persons philosophy of 2. What are the sources of know e ge curriculum? d that shape your philosophical view of 1 What are the sources of know e ge3. curriculum? · diff . d ends of education er. ? 4. How do the auns, means, an_ . at must be determined before we can What is the major philosop~cal is~ue th 5. define a philosophy of curncul~- hil hies that have influenced curriculum What are the four major educational p osop .6. in the United States? 7. What is your philosophy of curriculum? P d still do have an impact on schools and hilosophic issues always h~ve had ~ hools are changing fundamental~y and society. Contemporary society ~d its :cThere is a special urgency that dictate~ rapidly, much more so th~ m e ~a:oie of schools, and calls for a philosophy o continuous appraisal and reappraisal of th directionless in the whats and hows of education. Without philosophy, educators a~ing to achieve. In short, our philo~~phy organizing and implementing what we ar~ t determines, our educational decisions, of education influences, and to a large ex en choices, and alternatives. PHILOSOPHY AND CURRICULUM . 1· ts with a framework for . 11 curriculum specia is , h Philosophy provides educators, espect i{e1 s them answer questions about what t e organizing schools and classrooms. t f 1 how students learn, and what methods schools purpose is, what subjects are: va;~ with a framework for broad issues and and materials to use. Philosophy provi es e CHAPTER ONE Philosophy as a Basis for Curriculum Decisions 3 tasks, such as determining the goals of edu­ and activities, and dealing with verbal traps cation, subject content and its organization, (what we see versus what is read). Curricu­ the process of teaching and learning, and, in lum theorists, they point out, often fail to rec­ general, what experiences and activities to ognize both how important philosophy is to stress in schools and classrooms. It also pro­ developing curriculum and how it influences vides educators with a basis for making such aspects of curriculum. decisions as what workbooks, textbooks, or other cognitive and noncognitive activities to Philosophy and the Curriculum Sp utilize and how to utilize them, what and how much homework to assign, how to test The philosophy of curriculum sp students and how to use the test results, and reflects their life experiences, comma what courses or subject matter to emphasize. social and economic background, ed The importance of philosophy in deter­ and general beliefs about people. f._•• .....u­ mining curriculum decisions is expressed viduals philosophy evolves and continues well by the classic statement of Thomas to evolve as long as there is personal growth, Hopkins (1941): Philosophy h; topic, Needs . F should be for a grade schema r try again. It :knowledge the great ideas take rre is required. ections on each :h paper or the to write about >m them. In an . In any course, , work they did neer from the , Public Broad­ ething without Uy-youre just re failures and t as they work ork and brain­ share our pro­ revisions, and There is a time Solution to Obstacle 8 I Thought Differentiated Instruction W-as for Elementary Schools I write this as I sit on a plane going from Chicago to Detroit. There are 119 other people on this plane. We are all going from Chicago to Detroit. The gentleman on my left is reading todays newspaper. I am working on this book. The man across the aisle is snoring in his reclined seat. The gentleman next to him is punching things into his palm digital organizer. Behind me is a young woman listening to her personal CD player while her mother types on a laptop computer. We are all going from Chicago to Detroit. We all started in Chicago, are riding in the same plane, and will disembark in Detroit, but we all make the journey in our own style-a most adult thing to do. There are guide­ lines, of course, rules about when we can get up, when the _electronic devices need to be turned off. Occasionally our work is interrupted by announcements, but in the end, we all arrive in Detroit. Differentiation: allowing individuals to travel together to the same destination but with their own styles and by accommodating individual needs whenever possible. Sometimes you cant stand up. Sometimes you must power down your computer. Sometimes the crew needs everyones attention up front. The restrictions are tolerated easily because we know that we are given freedom, when possible, to get our individual needs met. What if the airlines did not subscribe to differentiation? What if it was all attendant directed? 59 , 60 Differentiating the High Schoof Classroom I need everyone to now get out their computers and power them up. But I didnt bring a computer, says 14B. Share with someone who came prepared is the reply. I have no need to work on a computer. I want to listen to my music, chimes22D. Well, were not having music time right now. Its computer time. I need to use the restroom, shouts llA. If you have a restroom pass, you can use it after computer time. 36A! Are you sleeping? Wake up! Were not sleeping our way to Detroit. But Im tired, moans 36A. Well, I guess you should have gone to bed earlier last night. May I read the book I brought with me now as Im not interested in computer work? asks the one in 17C. Absolutely not. You can read your book on the next leg, from Detroit to Memphis. Right now were doing our computers. If I have any more interruptions, well be staying on board for an extra five minutes after we get to the gate. Sounds funny, doesnt it? Thats because we are imagining a scene in w20 Chapter 2 the kinds of pictures on the bulletin ofboards, the racial (COmlpCJsitiiorn the school staff, and the fairness with which studeruts fro>m different racial, cultural, and ethnic groups are disciplined and susspemded. ]Multi­ cultural education reforms the total school environment so t:halt thte hid­ den curriculum sends the message that cultural and ethmic: diiversity is valued and celebrated. 8. The counseling program. In an effective multicultural :sch1ooll,counse­ lors help students from diverse cultural, racial, and et:hnlic grolllpS to make effective career choices and to take the courses needed Ito pursue those career choices (Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki, & Alexandeir, 1995; Sue, 1995). Multiculturally oriented counselors also help smdents to reach beyond their grasp, to dream, and to actualize their dreams. Multicultural educators make the assumption that if the preceding eight variables within the school environment are reformed and restruc­ tured and the dimensions of multicultural education are implemented, students from diverse ethnic, cultural, and language groups and of both genders will attain higher levels of academic achievement and the inter­ group attitudes and beliefs of students from all groups will become more democratic. B().,{\ ·3, ( ) l.s) 9 9 9 ) YI o d/4U-, 0 ·1 +o /)/) l,v\.+,C f dA,tULJ,-~htrfX{ o/1 J ~ .Go~~:\ fY\ 6a·A~ A\ljn Lo,1, 1 A 1 id-r 3 CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION It is important to distinguish between curriculum infusion and curricu­ lum transformation. When the curriculum is infused with ethnic and gender content without curriculum transformation, the students view the experiences of ethnic groups and of women from the perspectives and conceptual frameworks of the traditional Western canon. Conse­ quently, groups such as Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos are added to the curriculum, put their experiences are viewed from the perspective of mainstream historians and social scientists. When curric­ ulum infusion occurs without transformation, women are added to the curriculum but are viewed from the perspectives of mainstream males. Concepts such as The Westward Movement, The European Discovery of America, 11 and Men and Their Families Went West remain intact. When curriculum transformation occurs, students and teachers make paradigm shifts and view the American and world experience from the perspectives of different racial, ethnic, cultural, and gender groups. Columbuss arrival in the Americas is no longer viewed as a discovery but as a cultural contact or encounterthat had very different consequences for the Tainos (Arawaks), Europeans, and Africans (Golden et al., 1991; Rouse, 1992; Stannard, 1992). In a transformed curriculum, the experi­ ences of women in the West are not viewed as an appendage to the expe­ rience of men but through womens eyes (Armitage, 1987; Limerick, 1987). This chapter discusses the confusion over go