Teachers have many responsibilities in a classroom. They have to meet the individual learning needs of their students, provide a safe and effective learning environment, keep the classroom organized and efficient, and on top of that, of course, is actually teaching the required curriculum material.
This year has been my first year learning about curriculum, how it works and what it consists of, but I did have some preconceived ideas of what that might entail. I will not go into detail on the particulars of these ideas, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised to discover the "Know, Be, Do" framework (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014). I had assumed that curriculum frameworks would only describe the kind of material to be taught to the students. Instead, I was happy to see that the curriculum framework was structured so that students would not only memorize the information, but that they would take it in in such a way that it would have an impact on who they are as people (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014).
The goal of education should not just be to have students memorize facts but to have them become responsible and capable citizens in society and to actually be able to use the information we've taught them. Therefore this framework takes a very progressive view of education and I like what it means for the future. As is described by Drake, Reid, and Kolohon (2014), this kind of curriculum framework is built around a new form of pedagogy in which deep learning is the ultimate goal.
I do have some concerns however as to what this means for teachers. There are some excellent teachers out there who very much know their craft, but there are those that may not be up to the task of teaching material in such a way that students can "be"a certain kind of person. This may be due to a lack of experience or a lack of confidence in their own abilities in what is, admittedly, a daunting task. It is therefore very important in teacher education, to introduce the idea of deep learning early enough that future teachers can start preparing themselves mentally to teach this way. What we may see however, is that the students who have been taught by teachers who use this framework will be able to teach it better themselves should they decide to become teachers in the future. Either way, this framework is an excellent idea, and it will be very interesting to see what direction education takes in the future, especially as we seem to be moving towards more meaningful teaching, a concept that I personally would be very excited to explore more deeply.
Sources
Drake, S. M., & Burns, R.C. (2004). Meeting standards through integrated curriculum.
Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford.
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014) Interweaving curriculum and classroom
assessment: Engaging the 21st-century learner. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford.
Hi Jane,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I absolutely love the creativity and puns you were able to use and I love that you incorporated Dr. Seuss into your title to make it more “kid-friendly”. It makes it very fun to read and would even more fun for one of your students to read.
I can obviously relate to you in having that first time experience learning about curriculum as a whole this year. I think it would have been so much more beneficial to have learned more about curriculum documents in our first few years of university to allow for us to dive into its complexities in our upper years.
My only critique for you is that I would have loved to have some more visuals and videos to make your blog more exciting! Your writing was interesting and it would have been nice to have some videos or links that allowed your readers to connect it to the outside world.
Until next time,
Karley
Dear Jane,
ReplyDeleteI love the title you created for this blog post! Very interesting and clever way to draw readers into your blog. It shows that you are very creative with your use of words, is a great trait as a future educator.
During your discussion of curricular goals, I could easily relate because I too have had very limited constructive experience with curriculum development. I think the picture you included was a great visual to explain the ‘Know, Do, Be’ framework for individuals who do not previously know. Although the concurrent education has embedded ‘education’ classes throughout our years, this is the first time we are specifically looking at the framework behind the curriculum. I agree that we should have been exposed to these documents earlier in our university career, but your blog is a great way to introduce learners into a positive outlook on this unknowing situation.
You discussed that many excellent teachers that still do not grasp the “be” criteria in this KDB framework. This disables their ability to have certain experiences and confidence in their own abilities. I wish you had expressed your ideas on how we as students, or as future educators, would be able to assist these teachers in altering their teaching instructions to accommodate for these changes in the curriculum. Furthermore, how can we teach students the KDB framework in its entirety if all their previous teaching experiences are from teachers who lack this framework? Something that leaves us wondering…
Great work! -Danielle
Jane,
ReplyDeleteI would like to start by saying that your play on words was enticing and really drew me in as a reader! I can truly relate to your excitement revolving the KDB framework, as I find it very useful in theory, for students to connect their knowledge, skills, and attitudes/values, and become contributing members of society. However, your blog left me wondering many things, such as how can this KDB framework be more explicitly taught throughout the educational system and how can it be more explicitly demonstrated in the curriculum documents we looked at? It also makes me think of what are the consequences of putting too much or not enough emphasis on one of the Know, Do, and Be’s? Who gets to decide how much emphasis is put on citizenship or knowledge or skills, or rather, how do we create a balance among them all? Just some things to think about.
I did really enjoy your point about how the educational system is moving towards more meaningful teaching, because I do truly believe that education needs to be meaningful and cannot simply be a;; memorization and facts.
I would just like to mention that although your writing and the content was awesome, I would have enjoyed more visuals to break up it up a bit! Overall, good work on your first blog, you are off to a great start!
Candice