Curriculum for each group of kids is unique!

Curriculum

Curriculum for each group of kids is unique as it is based on a unique philosophical foundation. The foundation is a mix of what the teacher thinks and what the school expects to achieve. These can be classified under perennialism, essentialism, existentialism, progressivism, reconstructionism, and post modernism (Ornstein, 2011). But these are labels and hence for me, a practical teacher, what is more important is not just the ways of philosophy but how they impact the curriculum in day-to-day work (Belbase, 2011). This is where we align completely. For there is so much from a classroom that comes into the philosophy, always defining and redefining it. These elements are learning goals, contents, materials, methods and assessment, which is one of the most important components of the practice of curriculum work.

My Classroom Curriculum

In this paper, I examine the curriculum practiced in my class with the framework of Belbase's article (Belbase, 2011). Then I reflect and analyse about use of assessment to guide curricular decisions in my school, an IB school in urban India.

My school is in urban India, located in a zone where most of the kids come from business families. They wish to go to the USA or the UK for further studies and hence the IB school is nothing but a conduit in that direction for them. As IBO gives a certificate option to the kids and the business class represented by the school can afford full fee of colleges in the USA and the UK, the impact on assessment is huge. The kids do not take assessment very seriously for they know that they can ‘buy’ a seat in any university of their choice. Perhaps not the ivy leagues but the second best.

As assessment is not something that is a pressure, it has led to two developments in my personality. One is to become as creative a teacher and assessor as possible to engage the kids and the other is to build an attitude of acceptance for the kids for building an empathic relationship. I accept the vulnerable situation that I find myself in (Brown, 2020). In that sense I am a progressivist teacher (Belbase, 2011).

As I teach IBDP, the knowledge is divided into streams such as math, physics, art etc and I am the provider for knowledge for math. The textbooks are recommended by the school and I am expected to teach what is in it for the parents have paid for them. I am expected to deliver the information and then assess it using a summative (Huba and Freed, 2000). In this sense the school expects me to perennialism and essentialism (Belbase, 2011), for the focus is on textbooks as a source and not being mindful of the students’ cognitive growth. The teacher is the knower and provider of information and the students learn.

As a silent rebel, I am progressivist among essentialists and thus define my classroom as a space with progressive work, however camouflaged by textbooks.

Assessment in my School

We need assessments to understand how functional a curriculum is in helping the students to progress (Mikre, 2011). Our school has two terms, each term has four formative and one summative. However, we are allowed to take any number of formative and use the average for each of the four formatives. For example, I can conduct 3 pen and paper tests and take the best for a formative or their average. This is where I bring my creativity for I have space to take decisions based on what the students need to learn and the best way to impart the learning and assess it (Richard and Douglas, 1996). As I conduct several formatives or continuous assessment with a variety of assessment tools such as (a) individual work, (b) collaborative project, (c) inquiry-based tasks or (d) role plays in class, I feel the satisfaction knowing that each child has got a chance to showcase his or her talents. Each formative also guides me to impact of the taught curriculum and the loop is complete.

Conclusion

One can say that the kind of curriculum practiced in a classroom can depend on the type of philosophy given by the school, but a teacher’s creativity can step in by using the space given by the school for bringing diversity and inclusion in the class. This would help teachers to integrate assessment with instruction as two sides of the same coin and lead to authentic engagement with the students.

References

• Belbase, S. (2011, October 8). Philosophical foundations for curriculum decision, a reflective analysis. Univeristy of Wyoming, pp 1-20. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED524740.pdf
• Brown, B. (2020). Transcript of "The power of vulnerability". TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability.
• Huba, M. and Freed, J. (2000). Comparison of teacher-centered and learner-centeredparadigms. http://www.archive.jfn.ac.lk/OBESCL/MOHE/SCL-articles/Academicarticles/20.Teacher-centered-vs-learner-centered-paradigms.pdf
• Mikre, F. (2011). Review article: The roles of assessment in curriculum practice and enhancement of learning. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e057/cc32d7be13cdaee8d1ae93de2a568ad8e699pdf
• Ornstein, A. C. (2011). Philosophy as a basis for curriculum decisions. In A. C. Ornstein, E.F. Pajak, & S.B. Ornstein (Eds.), Contemporary issues in curriculum (5th ed.) (pp. 2-9). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
• Richard, D. and Douglas, H. (1996). The locus of curriculum decision making. http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/jcs/jcs_1986winter_kimpston.pdf.