Teaching Environment and Curriculum
Introduction and Definition of the Policy Thread:
There are many views as to who should be in charge of what students learn in the classroom. Many think that school boards and parents should be designing curriculum; others think that both state and federal governments should delegate education curriculum and there are others who think that teachers should have input in the education to which they will be teaching. Here are the many different ways that curriculum arrives in the classroom.
Curriculum is the theory and practice of subject and lesson that materialize into what school and learning are.
The New England Primer
Curriculum Theory and Practice
The word curriculum originates from chariot tracks of Greece. In Latin curriculum was a racing chariot. The connection between curriculum then and curriculum now is that curriculum is something that is planned and guided. Chariot races were also planned and guided. People create a curriculum in order to organize how to achieve their goal, whether it is winning a chariot race or teaching students how to read and write. Curriculum can be further analyzed by looking at it in four different categories: syllabus, process, product, and praxis. Looking at curriculum through a syllabus shows how knowledge can be transmitted. Most teachers who create a syllabus are more apt to teaching from the book and not venturing out to help their students learn in different ways. Curriculum as a product can deal with standardized testing. Teachers create a curriculum that will create a product from their students; that is to say standardized tests scores will reflect the curriculum set for the students by the educators. Looking at curriculum as a process shows how teachers will try to get students to interact with other students. “Curriculum is what actually happens in the classroom and what people do to prepare and evaluate.” Curriculum as a praxis makes sure that the curriculum is actually enforced rather than just thought of. It is like creating a commitment to the curriculum so things actually get achieved in the classroom. The diagram below creates a visual image of the information discusses above.
Why was curriculum theory and practice originally used by educators?
Teachers originally took to the idea of creating a curriculum in order for them to think more in depth about what they want their students to learn and to be prepared for class the next day. It helps create a thought process in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom, and not only with teachers. When a student is aware of what the curriculum is they can better prepare for what they need to learn.
However, some educators today believe that curriculum when used in the classroom diminishes from the learning experience. It creates a boundary for what the students can learn and does not allow the lectures to flow into what the students actually want to know. It is instead a set guideline that the school itself wants the students to know. The problem is the person coming up with the curriculum is not actually in each classroom seeing how each class is moving along. Some classes need to take more time with a topic than others, or some may be quicker and are ideally able to discuss other things in a more in depth manner. However, having a set curriculum often times do not allow this to happen because things have to be done by a certain time. There is hardly any freedom to create even a community and comfortable environment within the classroom.
Individual Policy Threads
Electives In Schools
Sex Education
Teacher Unions
Class Readings
Gauging Growth: How to Judge No Child Left Behind?
Resources:
Fraser, James W. The School in the United States: A Documentary History. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2001.
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