OK, so we've been chatting about some of the numbers. In some cases you are all falling asleep, in others, you are all fired up. Our task now is to turn our attention to thinking like a teacher researcher.
The Anderson preface talks about the importance of being a teacher researcher given today's political context.
So, being a teacher researcher, how would you use these numbers to pose relevant questions about curriculum? Why are they important? How would you answer them?
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11 comments:
Caleb Rhodes and Melissa Gant
We felt that one way to use the numbers is to break the information up into sections (i.e. funding, test scores, teacher population, etc.) and use those facts to help guide your curriculum development.
We also felt that another way to use the numbers was to take one of the sections and find out as much information about our own school districts as possible before writing curriculum.
The numbers are important because they can help to give you a snapshot of your community (as long as you can find information about your school district) and help to give you direction.
When we access the breakdown of our own school district, the findings will help to guide our curriculum development.
We feel that it is very important focus primarily on the district that we teach in and not on these national numbers.
For example: In an urban PE setting, more fitness activities would be tought to address the obesity crisis in today's youth. Other tradition PE activities really aren't appropriate because of spacial and equipment issues.
by Glenn Houthuysen & Karen Brzezinski
Populations are diverse across the country- you have to know the WHO of your classroom. We must diversify our curriculum so that it takes into account the different ethnicities, learning abilities, learning styles, etc. in our classroom. If learning is relevant for the students, they are more apt to learn and take an interest in your content area. Our goal is create students that are “life long learners” whom will function, apply, and lead in our society without their #2 pencils.
Constantly asking oneself, “Who are my students”, acknowledging the changes, the data, the challenges will make a more informed educator. Looking at the relevant data and percentiles of our classes is a great starting point for altering your lessons and curriculum accordingly. Based on the “numbers”, you might need new strategies, methods, or professional development to address the needs of your students.
When posing relevant questions about how these numbers are related to curriculum we think that the curriculum has not kept up with the changing poulations. Does the current curriculum reflect the culture of the students? These questions help us to better understand the students needs in regards to their culture, language, socio-economic background, etc. to be considered when designing a curriculum. Answers to the questions need to come from the teachers in the classroom and individual districts not from the top down.
Joe, Glen, Noreen
Based on the increasing number of ELL students, how does the current curriculum in our district meet the needs of these students to ensure academic success? How can we build into the curriculum methods of differentiation to meet the ELL students’ needs?
These questions are important because we need to meet the specialized needs of these students to ensure that their educational needs are met so that they may continue on in a fruitful educational career and/or future life endeavors and livelihood. Furthermore, we as educators and future administrators need to know what these needs are and not only build it into the curriculum but make sure that our staff is properly trained in meeting these needs and implementing the differentiated instruction for these students.
Other than the current ELL program, there aren’t any measures in the current curriculum that addresses these students’ needs and ability levels. Research should be evaluated regarding the requirements that have to be met in order for these students to succeed as well as hands on tools that can be given to the teachers which in turn can be implemented in the classroom. The teacher will obviously need to receive the appropriate professional development so that they may become comfortable and successful teaching these students. Lastly, the curriculum will need to be updated to mandate the differentiated instruction so that it will become an automatic part of the learning experience.
Does the curriculum depend upon your population? How do national numbers reflect the realities in our district? How can we use the information to adapt curriculum to be suit our students? How can we use this information to meet the needs of our growing special needs population?
These questions acknowledge the fact that curriculum does not exist in a vacuum. There is no standard framework or national curriculum to follow. This gives us the latitude to explore the needs of our own local students.
Each question would take a multitude of research and development to respond to adequately. The demographics need to become a part of our thinking about teaching practice.
Tom, Kevin, Alexis
The numbers would be used to dictate, or give you a better clue into how you can use the demographics of the state or district to develop a curriculum that would impact the students in a positive way.
As a district, you would use the numbers to pose relevant questions such as, does the current curriculum reflect the data?
If the curriculum of a particular district is not aligned with the demographics of the district, then the effectiveness of the teachers, the ability of the students to learn, and the overall education process will suffer.
We would answer the questions we have posed by looking at the numbers, the curriculum, test scores, and any other relevant data that would help to see if the curriculum is aligned with the numbers.
The Primer identifies our classroom populations as including a larger number of students who are children with disabilites, ELL learners, children of immigrants, and children living with socio-economic stressors. That being the case, how effectively are we diversifying our methods of instruction to meet their needs? This is important because the research shows that there is nothing standard about our learning communites and we cannot teach as though one size fits all. This question could be answered by doing an action research project in which teachers address different modalities in curriculum planning and implementation.
Jamie, Doree, & Sandra
The questions that the educational statistics pose are:
1) How can our curriculum meet the needs of ELL and special needs students?
2) How does the geographic, socioeconomic and backgrounds of the students affect the way we implement the guidelines?
3) How does the student mobility between districts affect their success rate?
These questions are relevant to the success of the students, our primary goal.
The answer lies mainly in creating a document that is dynamic, not static. Adjusting the curriculum to the needs of the students, and not the students to the curriculum, is a better practice.
Following these practices would better serve the ever changing student demographics.
Group 6 - Princ. Curriculum and Teaching
I had left a long comment yesterday in class and I saw it published, now when I go to look for it it is not here. What happened?
I'm not sure why it isn't here. I know I sometimes forget to hist publish after I preview. Maybe that is what happened? I'm not sure whether you can track your own comments. If you can, you might be able to find it that way.
hmmmm... I will have to look into this.
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