Who Truly The Best Formula Of Curriculum?

John Dewey is considered to have been a pedagogical progressivist, meaning he focused on education reform by first reforming the way that the teaching was actually done. In the past education focused on teaching children facts, mostly by learning with repetition. This was a problem because it taught children information but not how to use that mindfulness with critical thinking in real-world situations. These problems led John Dewey to write a series of articles that described his views on teaching and how it should be improved upon, this is called “My Pedagogic Creed”. Dewey wanted to equally incorporate a psychological, the abilities and interest of the student, and sociological, the needs and commitments of the society, aspect into teaching. He believed that children were born with blank slates and throughout their lives they would receive guidance “unconsciously” and be molded into adults (Dewey, 1). So the introduction of these aspects would help the molded children into better citizens and that would help drive the social economy into prosperity and overall a better democratic society.

He lectures Mr. Hundert and states that his job is to only teach him facts out of a textbook, not to influence him as the person he is.

The Curriculum for Excellence, introduced in 2014, aims to transform education in Scotland for ages 3-18. It intends to progress the standards of education and learning in the country by moving away from more traditional methods of teaching. This strategy, developed by the Scottish Government, recognises that learning is a lifelong process, beginning at birth, and therefore it is important to employ methods which prepare children from a young age for a life of work. In order to do so, the curriculum is based on seven key principles which are designed to provide young people with the knowledge and skills for life in the 21st century. This knowledge and skill is learnt through experiences and opportunities which are carefully planned for each age group, encouraging space for learning out with the standard school subject boundaries. The programme has four main outcomes prompting children to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. Once an individual has completed the education programme, reflections of the curriculum’s purpose can be assessed in the child or young person to see if they have met the proposed outcomes and therefore determining the overall success.

Students are expected to become well educated, self-thinking, and creative citizens. When teachers are expected to teach to a state guided curriculum students are limited to the standards and content of knowledge. Students are all given the same multiple choice test, on the same day, at the same time. Students are not given a chance to show their depth of knowledge.

Brady and Kennedy (2010) define the term curriculum as ‘the means by which young people and adults gain the essential knowledge, skills and attributes they need to be productive and informed citizens in a democratic society.’ However the term has many varied definitions, it can be described as being the subject matter, the overall plan for teaching or the outcome of what is taught (Wiles, 2005). Marsh and Willis (cited in Marsh, 2009, p. 3) break curriculum down into three individual areas of ‘planned curriculum’, the objectives and aims, ‘enacted curriculum’, how the objectives are

In spite of her intermittent run-ins with higher-ups, Iserbyt did manage to promote and advance in her career as an educator. It was here where her belief that a conspiracy was afoot and, in her mind, confirmed her understanding of the true agenda in American education. Iserbyt says that she observed many disturbing trends in her tenure as a school board administrator, certainly not the least of which was the continual and gradual reduction in the instruction of basic skills. Especially in the area of mathematics and reading, Iserbyt states

This involves, teacher proofing, which minimizes a teacher’s amount of sovereignty. So, teachers have less say in what they will teach in their classroom, and is causing some controversy. Next, the article compares teachers that have a curriculum to those having no curriculum. Teachers that have a curriculum to follow should have the ability to make adjustments in lessons, while being given materials and new ideas. Having no curriculum to follow is more difficult to create, but has it’s advantages because the teacher has compete

Wiggins & McTighe (2005) said it best “teachers are designers” and we need the right to craft our curriculum and learning experiences to meet specified purposes (Pg. 13. Ch. 1). We are all teaching different students, in different cities, in different states; all of whom that have individual strengths and weaknesses, come from various homes, a multitude of diversified backgrounds, who speak different languages and all of whom who have experienced their lives in different manners. I have been teaching for well over 11 years, and I have never once modified my teaching to meet the needs of a curriculum, I always have and will continue to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of my students.

The aim of Social Studies is the promotion of civic competence the knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions required of students to be active and engaged participants in public life. Proverbs 19:2 (ESV) states," Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way."For example it is essential for there to be commonalities across the grade levels so that there is a scaffolding of concepts to build from one grade level to the next.

In this article “Controlling the Work of Teachers” by Michael W. Apple. Apple believes, that teachers are doing more work because of the curriculum and that is not fair. The curriculum is designed by people who are paid and not educators. So, the creators of the curriculum has no idea of what it is like, to be a teacher. Making the designer of the curriculum be someone who has a true interest in education, would help improve the learning environment. Those being in control of the curriculum, that have no interest in education is a form of control, that many may not notice but, some view it as heading towards professionalism.

When studying what curriculum would be most beneficial for our students we have to ponder these two questions. What makes a good curriculum? What makes an effective teacher? I have learned thus far that these two questions are difficult to answer because teaching and education go through a revolutionary process. They are ever changing. The instruction and content that is relevant today may not hold up to the standards that are in place ten years from now. With that said, I have learned about theorists that were innovative thinkers and viewed education as something different than the norm of their times. I have decided to address the similarities and differences between Maria Montessori and John Dewey because I feel that some of what

Curriculum is hardly new in fact it dates way back to ancient Greece and the famous Aristotle’s (384BC- 322BC) who was a Greek philosopher. A student of Plato came up with the categorisation of knowledge, which I will be discussing later on in the commentary. So curriculum has been around for years, but the way we understand

In order to teach successfully teachers must learn about first learn about their students. Teachers must assess the student’s capabilities and interests. Some students are visual learners, while others learn from hands on activities, or verbal communication. Not all students can learn through memorization, rather they learn through interest and relation to the topic. “To realize what an experience, or empirical situation, means, we have to call to mind the sort of situation that presents itself outside of school" (Democracy and Education). The curriculum should encompass material that is most useful for a student to learn. It seems that in the majority of schools, students are not given the flexibility to guide their own learning, but rather follow rigid instructions that destroy the student’s imagination.

Curriculum is a term often highlighted during discourse about education and most commonly understood as a policy with overt leaning outcomes for teachers to apply and achieve. Ornstein and Hunkins (1998), as cited by Selvaraj (2010), defined curriculum based on two lenses; micro and macro, which identify the term as both policy towards certain goals and what students experience with consideration for relevant theories and principles central to its development and implementation. However, Wilson (n.d.) argued that curriculum is not restricted to certain individuals, subjects and environments, since teaching and learning can also occur beyond the scope of official curriculum (Ebert & Culyer, as cited in Marsh, Clarke & Pittaway, 2014). I believe this interpretation is the closest to the true nature of curriculum, or education, as there are more complex layers to curriculum than just a written guideline. For example, not one curriculum is similar to another because it is subjected to influences from continuum number of factors, such as politics and economy. Hence, it is wise to conclude that curriculum could not be defined based on a singular perspective due to its dependability on context.

According to Blaise and Nuttall (2011), to understand curriculum, we must first understand what is meant by the term curriculum. Within curriculum there are five key concepts, they are the intended curriculum The Intended curriculum is the curriculum that the teachers want the children to experience in order to develop particular knowledge, skills, and attitudes. (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 82). The enacted curriculum is what teachers want students to experience. important reason why the intended curriculum is enacted differently from teacher to teacher, from classroom to classroom, is that a key part of a teachers work is to interpret the official curriculum, taking into account a wide range of variables that are specific to their classroom and school setting.