Philosophy of Curriculum Curriculum should mirror the life and times of its students. This means that curriculum must reach out and involve the students to become active, critical thinkers. Curriculum should embrace the basics plus involve new realms of science, math, and reading. Curriculum should also be a mixing pot of knowledge. Curriculum is extremely important therefore it must be concise and organized. The purpose must be clear and must focus most importantly on the student.
Generally, it seems that developing curriculum and involving all students is important and interdisciplinary lessons are important and should be implemented. As I reread the texts and ask other middle school teachers these same questions, however I have generally found we all have mixed feelings.
Many teachers say this is a concept ?whose time has come? (Alexander, 1991). Student-centered curriculum is the wave of the future and slowly but surely is the way of the future.
Phila. Teachers on Capitol Steps, Wash., D.C., 5/1...
Betonwerksteinskulptur "Lehrer-Student" von Reinha...
Teachers 2: Back to SchoolTeachers are discovering that education (as one teacher put it) ?should be progressive? (Schlote, 2000). Often times though, veteran teachers are not progressive or ready to ?teach out of the box? or they teach the same thing year after year. These veteran teachers often follow the same scope and sequence that we new teachers followed as students.
Many school districts, including mine, have spent years rewriting the curriculum. It remains to be seen whether these curricula are going to go into practice or is this just more ? lip service? to meet the state requirements? In theory, student-centered curriculum is a wonderful idea. In Student Oriented Curriculum we discussed this, but in the book, the team of teachers had four teachers for about sixty kids. These teachers also had all the time they needed to implement this curriculum. Unfortunately, most districts are still stuck on doing as much...