The best and worst curriculums
The best and worst curriculums by noreply@blogger.com (Joe Bower) from http://www.joebower.org/2012/05/best-and-worst-curriculums.html http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png
"If we do want schools and standards, do we want franchises or farmers markets?
"Do we want schools that all prepare and deliver the same “teaching” and “learning” the same way to each and every child (episodic teacher improv aside), or do we want schools that admit local teachers who offer kids more idiosyncratic, homemade teaching and learning?
"We can see franchise schools all around us – including both traditional, public schools and corporate charter schools. They run like franchise restaurants with clear hierarchies and expectations of behaviors – including learning behaviors. Those who don’t comply are punished by exclusion from spaces of compliance.
"We can sometimes catch glimpses of farmers market schools – schools at which both teachers and students have the autonomy to engage in a more meaningful economy of negotiation about teaching and learning. At these schools, even when standards are present, the curriculum, instruction, and assessment are developed and shared locally according to local interests, needs, and skills."
http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/franchises-farmers-markets-schools/
I really like Chad's analogy. Franchises dominate learning in many ways. In my school, they manifest themselves in learning resources. Provincial assessments have the same impact on teachers. Centrally developed common assessments presented to classroom teachers also constrain the classroom teacher's ability to differentiate and adapt for the unique needs and interests of our young people. I don't like being maneuvered into a passive aggressive retaliation to standardization.
"Student voice is difficult to hear in a traditional classroom where the teacher provides direct instruction and curriculum that is either provided for the teacher, adapted by the teacher, or designed by the teacher. Student choice means students choose how they learn something and, possibly, what they learn.
"Giving students voice and choice motivates them so they are engaged in learning and want to explore the topics in your classroom!
"In a traditional classroom, in order to meet the Common Core Reading Literature standard for Key Ideas and Details, third graders may read or listen to the same text and are usually asked to respond the same way as everyone else in the class.
ELA-RL.3.1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
"In a personalized learning environment, each third grader and the teacher knows how the learner learns best and the ways that work best for them to demonstrate their learning. In this environment, the teacher might still present a story, but offers multiple ways to read, listen, and respond. The classroom would be set up with multiple stations to provide students with choices for how to learn and demonstrate understanding of a concept. For example: laptop computers with productivity tools 2-3 tables grouped for collaborative work teacher area with places for students to sit individual space for private journaling standing or pacing area (high desks without chairs)
http://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/2012/articles/Creative_Personalized...
I always get excited to read about improving the learning spaces our students use. Read the whole article and reflect on your own space.
"Students are all on their own timeline and we're finally starting to realize that we need to figure out what that timeline is in order to apply an optimized and purposeful learning experience. We need to meet them where they're at and help them learn forward. This is the differentiation process. It accounts for a student's particular learning styles, interests, strengths and weaknesses and adjusts for them to optimize learning. However, once we've done such a good job creating an appropriate and fair learning context for individual kids, we often ruin the process by not making a reciprocal effort to create an appropriate and fair assessment context for individual kids.
http://www.seangrainger.com/2012/04/differentiated-assessment.html#!/2012/04/....html
I share Granger's position. If young people learn in different ways then the assessment of that learning cannot be uniform. All of us have students who do not demonstrate their learning well through the scheduled, time-sensitive common assessments (hopefully) developed to meet the needs of an average student.
