· Why do we need to consider curriculum?
If there is no goal, there is no future. Curriculum is the goal of what the students need to achieve; curriculum is the goal of what teachers look up to when they give students education. Two year ago, I was a brand new Chinese teacher. I carry two responsibilities: designing Chinese curriculum and teaching Chinese. I don’t know what to teach since we don’t have curriculum and I am the one who has no experience needs to design it. I just like a boat on the see missing directions and there is no light house on the shore. Compare to my students now to the students two years ago, they are learning much better because I have a curriculum to follow now.
· What model of curriculum do you feel best fits your current role? What model are you most attracted to? What would be your preference?
As a foreign language teacher, curriculums that focus on communication would be the best fit. Able to communicate in Chinese is the main goal of Chinese learning. We learn culture in order to better understanding others; we learn how to compare cultures to better understanding others… To help students develop deep thinking habit and problem solving skills, to form an ability of reproduce from what they have learned.
· Wiggins talks about the need for a “modern” curriculum- what could this look like? Do you buy that we need a new approach to curriculum? Why or why?
A “modern” curriculum is where students continue their questioning, to awaken, not to stock the mind. I think that is so obviously right. There is a saying in China: “don’t only feed the poor, teach them skills to get out of poor”. Educators need to not feed students with information but teach students the skills to solve problems and to be able to reproduce newer information.
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I definitly agree that we need curriculum to follow. The curriculum we follow needs to go deeper not broader. We need to find a way to have students master curriculum, not revisit the shallow waters year after year without ever really knowing why or where they are headed with it. Curriculum is the driving force of education, yet the one that can drive us to insanity if we are not careful.
ReplyDeleteNice boating analogy here- both about needing a destination with our curriculum and about making sure it is deep enough. There have been some good posts out there from the foreign language teachers (La Profe and Carmen's off the top of my head). There have also been some posts about curriculum in other countries (Carmen's) - I would be interested to hear what you have to contribute about curriculum in China. Also I think you have a unique perspective in the class as someone who had to make up a curriculum (which other language teachers have mentioned). I suppose this is both a luxury as you get to be in the drivers seat so to speak and a curse- not knowing what to teach. Did these articles help you at all??
ReplyDeleteIn China, students have to pass the entrance examinations in order to be enrolled into colleges. So, since students's future is on the exams. Our curriculums are just for that purpose. Everything in the curriculums are focus on the content of the exams. Students are stuffed with huge amount information. As I can remember, I don't remember and not using most of the knowledge I have learned in the school after I passed the exams.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with your comments about Communication and Culture being most important. I also appreciate your insight about education in China. I sometimes feel that education lacks a sense of urgency in the US. Maybe this is why students are so indifferent to testing.
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