Entry 3: Conceptualizing Curriculum {Joseph (2000), Anyon, KIPP}

 

• How did you conceptualize curriculum as a K-12 student? as an undergrad? as a teacher? in your current role? How is your conceptualization of curriculum changes as a result of the readings and discussions in this course?
• I think I have conceptualized curriculum differently across my years in education. The context or environment including location as well as the teacher played a huge role in how and what I was taught. I first began to conceptualize curriculum in my masters program, which led to me conceptualizing curriculum in my daily work. Now, I am digging deeper into the ideologies, theories, ideas and concept of other which leaders to deeper learning as suggested by Joseph. I am not scared to ask prompting question. It could be my age though.LOL. 

• How would you describe our current curricular ideals in schools - specifically, what are the explicit curricula? the implicit or "hidden" curricula? the null curricula?
• I think currently curriculum ideals in school vary. There is no one size fits all "current curriculum". Based on educational leaders and locations across the state varying perspectives of curriculum are the '"north star". As a large district leader I see the explicit curriculum being controlled by government, district leaders, curriculum specialists and even school principals. The Hidden curriculum really varies depending on the teacher and the school program. Many schools teach outside of what the state or district require. Null curriculum is very much the decision of the school leader and teachers in the school.  
• In thinking of Schwab's Five Bodies of Experiences (as cited in Joseph), it is not far-reaching to say that curriculum specialists usually focus on the first four, and most heavily on the subject matter. How do you see learners, school + classroom, and teachers focused on in schools today? In what ways is this focus through a lense of what you now know to be curriculum theory - if at all - or is it the focus in the "lacking sense" that Pamela  Bolotin Joseph describes at the beginning of the chapter? Discuss your thinking.
  
• I agree to some point that most curriculum specialist focus on the first four. However, I must argue that not all curriculum specialists do so. As a curriculum specialist myself I have grown very much in my experiences of curriculum development. It is evident in my most recent curriculum...a summer learning program for Elementary Science for 3rd - 5th graders as part of the RTA program. I worked to make the curriculum as culturally relevant  as possible embedded with SEL, SEPs and other such pedagogical strategies to support both the teacher and the students. I think that curriculum theory does need to be investigated, questioned and considered, It is only through learning about curriculum that we really learn about curriculum 
• Using the Framework for Curriculum as Culture, how would you describe the culture of the curriculum in your classroom/school/district? What differences do you see between your culture and those of other schools, districts, or states?
  
•  I honestly feel that there are multiple Cultures of Curriculum at the classroom, school, and district. Depending on the depth of knowledge that the educator has about curriculum, instructional practices, pedagogy, experiences, autonomy all play a part in Curriculum Culture. As noted above, I am continuously learning and seeing to get better so that my curriculum can be used as a means to model pedagogy for teachers and engage students in research based, culturally responsive universal designs for learning. 
• How to the nine tendencies of critical thought or emancipatory theorizing resonate with you? Where is there tension for you? Comfort? Confusion? Clarity? 
• For the most part I am comfortable with grappling about conceptualizing curriculum and believe that as Curriculum Specialists it is the right thing to do. If we say "Okay" that's it in terms of our beliefs and going along with one thought over the other we are conforming to a commonplace consistent with what we have learned about the Scholar Academic Ideology. I would think that we should grow, learn, and question curriculum theories continuously. M 

Conceptualizing Curriculum (Joseph, 2000)

• Joseph brings up interesting ideas to consider about  in curriculum studies. She proposes that there has not been enough deliberate discourse around the patterns and purposes of education and educational curriculum. Many teachers go with the flow of what they are given curriculum wise and don't bother to ask questions. One reason is because others in higher potions in education or in politics are choosing curriculum for schools, districts, and states.
• She poses that teachers are merely becoming semi-skilled professionals where technical skills trump teachers making their own decisions. This mirrors The Three Trait Approach to Leadership as discussed in the Northouse's Leadership Theory studies. 
• She also poses that others who think their "knowledge is of most worth" are the ones that problem solve and decide on curriculums.  This goes back to questions I have learned to grapple with and ask based on my learning from Dr. Marshall...Who's knowledge is of most worth? Are we training teachers to be semi-skilled professionals?
• Studying patterns in curriculum can help us see how decisions from the past and even today can help us to understand curriculum and begin to discuss and question the patterns more. 
• Hidden (Implicit) Curriculum, explicit curriculum, and Numm curriculum is discussed by Joseph based on Eisner's findings in 1985.
• Explicit Curriculum: How the school/district/state presents itself to the public in terms of guides/courses/lessons
• Hidden/Implicit Curriculum: when curriculum is taught that is not announced, or curriculum that is intentionally taught, has hidden histories/perspectives, or hidden messages taught within curriculum that teachers are unaware of 
• Null Curriculum: Curriculum that is excluded or not considered, what a teacher may choose to leave out 
• Cuban (1993) poses a multiple curricula framework
• Official : Found in guides/focused on standards and testing
• Taught: What teachers choose to teach based on their own opinions and experiences
• Learned: What teachers planned or did not plan for students learn. 
• Tested: what standards/skills are testing representing only a part of learning
• Cuban believes that if we really care about educational reform then we should care and consider these multiple categories of curriculum and ask: What is curriculum?
• Viewing curriculum as a phenomenon with multiple layers helps us to understand it as text and helps us "hear" and recognize the languages of "text". I love this metaphor!
• Pinar (1995) depicts curriculum as different discourses: (social, racial, gender, radical, historical, etc. and uses the term "curriculum worker" for a teacher. He shares that appreciation for curriculum can be like an art or even an artistic representation. 
• Schwab (1973) provided the framework of curriculum common places discussing the five bodies of experiences: Subject Matter (Similar to Scholar Academic Camp), Knowledge of Learners (Learner Centered), Milieus (or one's social environment), Knowledge about Teachers (biases, politics, moods, personalities), and the Curriculum Making process (Curriculum Specialists have the "big picture"
• Schwab believed that curriculum planning is opposite to the lived curriculum. I agree with this as I am a curriculum specialists but I never really get to see the curriculum lived except when a teacher shares or posts about it on Twitter. 
• Connelly and Clandinin view curriculum planning as fluent often stemming from a teachers sense of self. I agree. Teachers have the agency to plan their own curriculum based on the needs of their students. 
• Teachers as fellow learners rather than the transmitter of knowledge is discussed which aligns to learner centered and constructivist classrooms.
• Bruner (1996) brought about the idea of folk pedagogies...we accept curriculum based on what we believe to be true.
• Frameworks help use to grapple with and analyze what is common place and what is not. 
• Byer and Apple (1998) Curriculum as Complex Questions...curriculum inquiry...we are encouraged to ask questions to understand. They proposed eight categories for questioning curriculum: Epistemological, Political, Economic, Ideologic (camps), Aesthetic (Learner Centered), Ethnical (Social Reconstruction), Historical (Academic Scholar). I notices that some of these aligned with the Curriculum Ideology camps we have been discussing in call. These questions not only prompt us to ask questions about curriculum but to determine if it is moral? WOW!
• The article goes on to share several conflicting conceptions in which to consider curriculum. 
• Kneller (1971) Five Categories of Educational Philosophy
• Goodlad (1979/1994) Twelve/Four Goals for Education
• Eisner and Vallance (1974) Five curriculum orientations or goals
• Vallance proposed we take a look at form and content of curriculum (personal success, personal commitment)
• Six Cultures of Curriculum are lenses help us to question, consider beliefs, and assumptions of curriculum: 
• Training for Work and Survival
• Connecting to the Canon
• Developing Self and Spirit
• Constructing Understanding
• Deliberating Democracy
• Confronting the Dominant Order
• The chapter prompts us to grapple with the questions: What is the purpose of curriculum? Why one curriculum over another?

Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work (Jean Anyon Chp.7)

• The article goes into detail about the experiences students receive in education and the instruction that teachers deliver based on social class communities. 
• Research was completed in five fifth grade classrooms across social class which mostly included data gathered via observation and interviews from 9/1978-6/1979. 
• Social Class is defined as one's relationships in regards to the way they relate to the process of the production of goods, services, and cultures. 
• Ownership Relations
• Relationships between People
• Relationships Between People and their work
• Sample of Schools Included based on income, occupations, and other social characteristics:
• Working Class Schools : follow rules, learning is procedural, teachers do not explain why, no use of textbook, use of worksheets, copying from the board, answers are right or wrong, no extra practice, the room belonged to the teacher, teacher control, routine
• Middle Class Schools :  work on getting the right answer, some choice/decision making, neat sentences/dates/facts, some cognitive processes used, grammar needed for life, use of textbook, textbook as fact, lacked creative processes, find info and write about it/little excitement
• Affluent Professional Schools : creativity, independence, expression, applications, various products for learning, SRA, calculators, use of data, students have autonomy, projects, current events, 
• Executive Elite Schools: discovering analytical intelligence, reasoning, problem solving, conceptualizing, decision making, disagreeing, independent research, only some creative projects, discussion of social issues and current events, metacognition, complex sentences/grammar, responsible for own work, sometimes students were disrespectful
• Students and teachers in the schools had diverse experiences 
• Social Class and Setting makes a difference in the educations that students receive. 
• Working Class: about work to profit others/denies human capacities for creativity and planning
• Middle class: about relationships and bureaucracy, lack of critical thinking, knowledge
• Affluent Class: opportunities, expressions, creativity, 
• Executive Elite: Understanding systems, infusion of vocabulary and knowledge, analytical skills, problem solving skills
• Hidden Curriculums are in schools and emphasize different skills leading to different social classes and places in society. Exploring such research is important to study when considering curriculum and its purpose. 

KIPP Houston Primary School Big List

This is a list of expectations set by the school. Basically, like a handbook. However, almost every action is tightly controlled by the school. Teachers have some autonomy but structure and control is very important. Students are like robots following many rules and procedures. I was able to make several connections to my own experiences as a teacher. I saw some teacher autonomy within the "Big List" but it seems like teachers are being treated as semi-skilled technicians. This list reminds me of the "Working Class" Social Class schools as shared in the Anyon article and of the Training for Work and Survival Curriculum Culture, as well as, the Scholar Academic Ideology camp. 

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