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Reflect on Dewey's (1938)

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As I was reading the text, I recalled all the different types of schools that I have worked in over the years. From traditional to completely progressive. And I was disillusioned from all for as (Dewey, 2000) saw decades ago, each was encased in a dogmatic mould of its own. I have gone through ‘traditional education’ to ‘free progress education’ to ‘international education’ and also ‘spiritual education’! Each defined itself as a reaction to others. I am astounded by the clarity of thought in John Dewey’s words and that fact that he saw this happening decades before. His thought is still prevalent. My understanding of educative and mis-educative is that educative would be a way of educating that has a long-term perspective. Education here would be a space to learn skills and attitudes that stand the test of time. Mis-educative would be where the focus is immediate, such as an exam. I’d like to illustrate through my milieu: Maths education in India. In teaching of Mathematics, in ...
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Reinventing and Reuniting School Program Structures.

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  Jacobs, H.H. (2010). New School Versions: Reinventing and Reuniting School Program Structures.  Curriculum 21: Essential Education For A Changing World.     This could be one of the most radical pieces of work that I have ever read! When I read it, I felt as if all our reform work has been just readjustment of a prison cell, and nothing more. And then comes the lady who breaks open the cell itself! “New school designs, and even the reformation of existing school programs, need to do more than stay out of the box—they need to dump the box entirely.” (Jacobs, p.21)   As per (Jacobs, p.2), there are 4 key structures that are set up for creating a school and these are: “ Schedule (long term and short term; Grouping patterns of learners (institutional and instructional); Grouping patterns of professionals (multiple affiliations) and Space (both physical and virtual)”.   A school functions best when it takes these as 4 parts of a whole, interdependen...
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Many teachers resist being taught to use technology.

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  If we say that school is a learning community, then teachers are learners too. For the teachers also the space to differentiate (Teachings in education, 2017) their own learning is required. Teachers, being implementers of curriculum require an autonomy to decide for themselves strategies that they can utilize in the best manner to teach their students. Granted that there ought to be some pressure to grow out of comfort zones, however to insist that everyone uses technology in the same way is to insult the space of autonomy, for teachers are human beings and not computers running on a software. As (Prensky, 2008) says, “ The teacher’s role should not be a technological one, but an intellectual one – to provide the students with context, quality assurance, and individualized help. (Of course, those teachers who love technology are free to learn and use it.)” In that the teacher may or may not use technology, depending on the situation. The teacher’s real role would be to devel...
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Society is always moving in multi-dimensions.

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  I am new to curriculum discussions at theoretical levels. My main grasp of curriculum has been through reflection over my own work as a teacher of long time. I have also been an avid observer of the way education has changed over the 20 plus years that I have spent in the field. This written assignment is based on my experiential wisdom.   Society is always moving in multi-dimensions. On one end are layers that are still the same decades after decades. On the other end are layers already in the newer dimensions. Education has similar layers. So I would say, we are neither in a straight line nor in circles, but we follow a spiral growth. ( Chadkirk, B, 2012 ).     A 'the new curriculum theory' ( Pinar, 1978, pp.2) is constantly in the process of emerging in some part of humanity, while there are those who still hold on the older versions. Then there are many hybrid versions too, in between. I don’t think that there is a black or white answer to this question. ...
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Why is this topic the way it is?

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I always had questions in my mind when I started teaching in 1993 about Maths education. I always asked,  Why is this topic the way it is?  What is the purpose of maths?  How do I teach this topic?  How do I reach out to everyone?   I was very suffocated in the traditional national curricula which never answered these questions. I later moved to a Free Progress, non-examination, set up. However, the ordeal of getting all answers on my own was too much. The structures were dissolved but since nothing replaced them except an expectation of relationships, it was as difficult as the traditional schools. It is when I came to the International Baccalaureate (Iborganization, n.d.) school and worked in creating the middle school curriculum that was independent to the school, that things fell into place.   We created a curriculum that was an amalgamation of the best practices in education. And I found the true base for education, to learn the best practices as a...
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3 questions in curriculum

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      (Eisner, 2001) poses many questions in this piece.  Some questions are answered but often, he leaves them unanswered.  For this assignment, I have taken three pieces and given a brief answer to them. I have made an attempt to take the three questions from three different areas of a school. My first question is from interaction between the syllabus and world outside the school. My second question is from developing values of selflessness in the students. My final question involves the place of teacher education in a school.   What connections are students helped to make between what they study in class and the world outside of school? (Eisner, E. 2001)   “Project-based learning (PBL) is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge.” ( Project-Based Learning, n.d.) As the definition indicates, PBL involves a ‘real-world’ problem yet is a ‘classroom appr...
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