Postcards of the Mind

Due: May 10, 2012 (Class 2)

Readings: 


1. "Forward and Introduction" from Creating Curriculum by Short and Burke
2. "Curriculum as Conversation" by Manning
3. "My Pedagogic Creed" by John Dewey

"Because reading is an active process and readers ask different questions of text based upon their purpose for reading and their prior experience, each reader will engage with different issues and ideas in a text.  This [activity] is intended to have the reader focus on specific issues that linger in their minds as a result of reading the text."  (Manning 2010)

Jot Notes

1. "Forward and Introduction" from Creating Curriculum by Short and Burke

• it is important that teachers help students make connections through the curriculum
• key source of curriculum is that we know about "learning as a social process"
• social collectives: beliefs, ideas, and ways of thinking that we bring into literacy
• see the teacher as learner and recognize that all the resources we need to change are already available
• change in classrooms come from within, not without
• only when learners support each other from the inside can powerful curricular changes be made
• a sense of curriculum was at the heart of our lives as educators, researchers, and learners
• how can teachers teach curriculum so that it is a shared process between them and the students
• curriculum involves us as teachers putting into action our own set of belief

2. "Curriculum as Conversation" by Manning

• real curriculum is what goes on in the mind of the student
• choose to use curriculum as a text or as a conversation
• education and curriculum are constituted through discourse
• three problems cited : a decline in test scores, indiscipline in the schools, and progressive teachers
• curriculum and the expectation levels is in bad shape without the influence of National curriculum levels
• curriculum as conversation means that meaning is maintained through the mind of the learner
• everything is developed through the flow of conversation
• conversation  acknowledges the social nature of knowledge and builds off what we know about the role of language in learning
• learning is neither cumulative nor linear
• making sense of new experiences and making connections through what we already know

3. "My Pedagogic Creed" by John Dewey

• learning  comes from the stimulation of child's abilities through the social situations that he/she may find  themselves in
• child's own instincts and powers provide a starting point for all education
• an individual who is to be educated is a social individual and that society is an organic union of individuals
• education is a social process
• education is a process of living and not a preparation for future living
• social life should incorporate activities to child and reproduce them so that child gradually learns meaning of them
• home is in the form of social life where child receives moral training and becomes nurtured
• moral education: school as a mode of social life
• "social life gives the unconscious unity and the background of all his efforts and of all his attainments"

POSTCARDS OF THE MIND

"Forward and Introduction" from Creating Curriculum by Short and Burke

Issue: Shared Process

Paraphrase: Students and teacher’s need to work together through negotiation

In my words: I agree with this issue, it is important to have a common ground with students and teachers in the implementation of curriculum in the classroom.  The curriculum guide is not run simply by the administrators, they are just part of the writing, not the process.

“Curriculum as Conversation” by Manning

Issue: Curriculum goes beyond a guide

Paraphrase: “learning involved social, personal, and cultural construction”

In my words: learning is developed mainly through social interaction and personal construction depending on the type of learner.  Much of our knowledge arrives from conversations that we have with educators and peers.  It is drawn mainly from our own personal experiences.  This is a part of the hidden curriculum that teachers should be promoting in classrooms.

“My Pedagogic Creed” by John Dewey

Issue: Students become unmotivated with no relation

Paraphrase: students are unable to make connections and learn material that teachers teach directly from curriculum guides

In my words:  It is important for us as teachers to draw on other resources such as the curriculum guides and find different ways to relate to your students.  Without taking the time to get to know your students, they will have less motivation and not feel like an important part of the class.  Personalizing your lessons can help make your teaching more authentic and knowledgeable for your audience.