CURRICULUM AND SOCIETY: RETHINKING THE LINK

CURRICULUM AND SOCIETY: RETHINKING THE LINK by Alicia de Alba

The article discussed the need to rethink the link between curriculum and society. What crisis in society constitutes a change in curriculum? The author discusses the significance of social traits and contours providing a “contextual space for the constitution of specific social and curricular subjects.” While I was reading this article one word came to mind “Dewey.” How could we forget Dewey? Dewey was the leader in progressive education beliefs. He wrote about how “education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.” He believed we needed to prepare students to live in our society. The progressives saw schools as avenues to help students contribute to society.

I began to think about how education has changed because of changes taking place in our society since I began school over a half of a century ago. (Boy does that make me sound and feel ancient). Subjects taught in the 50’s in high school: home economics, sewing, cooking, and secretarial skills for girls; auto body shop, the trades, vocational training for boys . During the 50’s the majority of girls became wives, mothers and homemakers after graduating high school; boys became husbands, fathers and blue collar workers upon graduation. Society dictated the curriculum of schools by educating students to become active members of society. Tracking students based on their intelligence (college track or non-college) began in the 50’s and continued into the early 60’s where curriculum reform took place again. The 1960’s took on societies liberal beliefs. Schools had open classrooms, new math and volunteering for credit and learn what you want. Real world curriculum integration mirrored society. In the 80’s with a “Nation At Risk” being published, educators saw students fall behind other nations in education. Reform takes place again in education and returns to the basics: reading and math. In the 90’s Technology made the world much smaller, family dynamics are ever changing; schools are culturally integrated rather than segregated. Curriculum in school cannot keep up with our fast changing society.

With the push of technology in our curriculum at our school, I see curriculum outdated before it is even put into use. To use the idiom: “A day late and a dollar short” is how I view the curriculum in our school. The focus is still on math and reading because of the influence of the state testing. An interesting yet insignificant conversation in our team meeting took place the other day: Why teach students cursive? Technology dictates texting and typing. Cursive is a dying art. The only cursive a student will need is to know how to sign their name. Why is that still in the curriculum when in is not needed in today’s society? A very simple example of curriculum changing because of the needs in society.

Curriculum Integration

Curriculum Integration
Author: J.A. Gibbons

Reflection of the Article: I don’t know what they do in Australia, but I think I have an idea on how we do things in the United States. We speak plain English. I’m not a rocket scientist, but when you have to read and re-read the same paragraph several times to make any meaning of it, it is time to walk away from the article and revisit it at another time. This is exactly what I did. I would return to the article and highlight some more each day. Finally, I waded my way through the plethora of jargon. After reading the article I came away with more questions: I began to think about thinking. The first line of the article “to integrate…is to unify parts so that the result is more that the sum of these parts” really hit home. By integrating curricular subjects you will end up with more than what you started with in one subject.

When I taught 6th grade, many years ago, I had a self contained classroom and taught all of the subjects. I remember the first time the students actually incorporated what they had learned in an English writing class in a Social Studies assignment. Was I teaching curriculum integration and didn’t know it? The educational buzz word at the time was “Whole Language Instruction.”

Gibbons discussed the connection between curriculum integration and curriculum reform. I began incorporating Social Studies lessons with my Language Arts lessons. We read novels that enhanced what we were reading about in Social Studies. The students test scores went up in both areas. Was I teaching Social Studies or Language Arts? Which one of the subjects was being modified in some way? Which of the subjects was the enquiry set? Which one of the subjects was my main objective? What outcome was I looking for? Based on our class definition of integration, I felt that Social Studies and Language Arts were seamless. Each of the subjects enhanced my teaching and my students learning. According to Beane, (2001) “Curriculum Integration is a teaching approach that enables students and teachers to identify and research problems and issues without regard for subject-area boundaries.” Imagine teaching thematically.

Can all subjects in a curriculum be integrated? The examples in Gibbons article were physics with mathematics and history paired with sociology. Which of the subjects did the instructor integrate? Which one was the primary subject? What was the ultimate outcome the instructor was looking for? Did the math enhance the physics or was it the other way around. These examples put me on the path to begin to think about curriculum integration in my own classroom. Since I now teach one subject are there ways I could change my curriculum to make it more multidimensional?

Introduction

Hey,

I work for Homer Community School District 33C which is in Homer Glen, Illinois. I currently work in our Junior High (7th and 8th grade) building which houses approximately 800 students.

Working for our school district since 1990 has given me the opportunity to teach all subjects in 6th, 5th and 4th grades; Kindergarten through 3rd Computers/Technology; 5th and 6th grade Art classes. I’ve finally found a home in 8th grade Social Studies which I’ve taught for the past 4 years.

At the junior high, my 8th grade Social Studies class ranges in size from 30 to 32 students. I currently teach 6 classes a day plus one advisory class. The other teachers on my team say I have a laid back teaching style. I don’t believe in lectures of more that 10 minutes. I try to include different learning styles and reading strategies to meet the diverse needs of my students in all of my lessons. My goal for my students is for them to be able to learn ways to achieve and become successful. The content of what I am teaching is secondary. I have very high expectations for my students. I truly believe your attitude reflects your altitude in life.

Our district brought Apple Computers into our district in the early 1990's. After several years the district moved to PC's. The district evolved from a one computer classroom to tech labs and finally to mobile tech labs on carts that are moved throughout the building. Email, Shareware, Networks and online grading systems are currently in use.

I use my laptop for attendance and grades, emailing and research. I also have the TV/DVD/VHS, housed in my classroom for our team. My most prized possessions in my room are a projector and my laptop tablet. I can go anywhere in the world and show it to my students without leaving our school. Without my projector and my laptop I would be lost. I use these technologies for the majority of my presentations. We visit United Streaming at least three times a week to give a visual of what we are studying about in history. Seeing the filmstrip or on the big screen can really set the tone in class. I use this to demonstrate how-to projects such as web quests and scavenger hunts about material we’ve studied. Students also use this technology for their presentations in class. I think students learn more from searching for material rather than me telling. Learning by doing and problem solving is important in my classroom. Technology is their future.

Technology Integration is seamlessly incorporating multimedia and other innovative tools to enhance the teaching and learning of subject matter. Does my teaching follow the definition of technology integration we discussed in class? Multimedia in my classroom is being used constantly. It is not something special to the students because it is becoming common place and interwoven in my lessons. It is part of their daily learning environment. Could I use technology more? The answer would be yes. In my perfect classroom I would have computers up and ready at our finger tips.