The readings and lecture made me think about the provocation "Should we teach students or subjects".
The Australian Curriculum in Mathematics has a clear focus on content. For example, one objective for year 7 is "Calculate volumes of rectangular prisms".
When thinking about unit planning or lesson planning, it is necessary to consider the pedagogy that supports the content-based objective. As students learn in different ways, the curriculum planning must cover content but must also look at ways to make the content engaging and accessible to as many of the students as possible. I think this is especially true in mathematics.
My take on the provocation is that, in mathematics, we should teach the subject to students.
I am interested in how much direction or structure that a school provides in the way of curriculum planning for a new teacher. Coming in to teach year 7 maths, will I be given the Australian curriculum and a blank sheet of paper, or will I be given unit plans and asked to developed lesson plans within unit plans? This topic was discussed in our tutorial and our tutor Rebecca stated that it will vary from school to school.
I found the broader discussion of pedagogy and culture in Yates heavy going.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Educational Foundations - Posting 1
I will discuss the scenario of Wayne who is teaching at an inner-city school. Although Wayne is spending a lot of time on content, he is noticing that the class has developed into two groups: the first is motivated but results focussed, the second is not engaged.
Theme 1: Two Groups of Students.
There may be various reasons for the two groups of students.
Inner-city areas that have experienced a return of professionals ("gentrification") may have two demographic school groups: professional families, often with two working parents, with high expectations of the children, and non-professional families that do not value education as highly. Connell (1982) argues that when school and parents connect, then students do well. Wayne may be seeing motivated students that are the result of the school and their professional parents connecting, while the unmotivated students are the result of a lack of connection between school and parents.
Demographics may not be the only reason for the two groups of students. The unengaged group of students may be the result of the extension of compulsory schooling in Australia and the raising of the school leaving age. The unengaged students are simply not interested in the schooling and curriculum on offer. Proponents of curricular justice (for example, Connell 1992) would suggest that as education is a right, then social justice is required to make the curriculum appropriate to the marginalized students.
Finally, due to the increasing emphasis on the economic role of education, Wayne may be seeing one group of students who see some economic value in good results (but necessarily deep learning) and the other group do not see any economic incentive to perform in his classes.
Theme 2: Teaching Content
Wayne's reaction to the motivated group pushing him intellectually has been to concentrate on content. This is consistent with the view of the teacher as a scholar, a view held from Confucius and early Greece. Shulman has demonstrated the need for pedagogy in education; content is only one aspect of a teacher's professional knowledge.
The work of Dewey suggests that learning by inquiry, the constructivist approach of building knowledge, not just absorbing it, would both engage the unengaged students and encourage the motivated students to strive for deeper learning. The students are not just empty vessels waiting to be filled (Locke) but need to be first understood and then motivated.
Wayne may be concentrating on content due to his personal fears of being exposed as not the "all-knowing" teacher. He may also be concentrating on content in response to the pressure to cover all content in the curriculum. This approach of transmission pedagogy (Neilsen 1989) may then be influencing his students - promoting results-oriented learning or turning students away from learning. The ideas of critical thinking may encourage the motivated students to be less results focussed.
The provocation "Should we teach students or subjects?" asks the question about the balance between student learning and content teaching. Also the provocation "What will students want and need from me?" touches on the issues of students needing motivation and engagement, not just content.
Theme 3: Professional Reflection
Wayne is starting to reflect on his classroom experiences. Reflection is a key aspect of the idea of teaching as a profession in the provocation "Is teaching a profession or a trade?". Moore discusses the reflective practitioner.
It may be that Wayne is a fairly new teacher who is moving from graduate teacher to the accomplished teacher. As he matures and gains confidence in himself as a teacher (confidence in content and classroom management) he may be asking questions on the learning outcomes of his classroom. Such reflections are necessary for Wayne to continue to develop his teacher identity.
Theme 1: Two Groups of Students.
There may be various reasons for the two groups of students.
Inner-city areas that have experienced a return of professionals ("gentrification") may have two demographic school groups: professional families, often with two working parents, with high expectations of the children, and non-professional families that do not value education as highly. Connell (1982) argues that when school and parents connect, then students do well. Wayne may be seeing motivated students that are the result of the school and their professional parents connecting, while the unmotivated students are the result of a lack of connection between school and parents.
Demographics may not be the only reason for the two groups of students. The unengaged group of students may be the result of the extension of compulsory schooling in Australia and the raising of the school leaving age. The unengaged students are simply not interested in the schooling and curriculum on offer. Proponents of curricular justice (for example, Connell 1992) would suggest that as education is a right, then social justice is required to make the curriculum appropriate to the marginalized students.
Finally, due to the increasing emphasis on the economic role of education, Wayne may be seeing one group of students who see some economic value in good results (but necessarily deep learning) and the other group do not see any economic incentive to perform in his classes.
Theme 2: Teaching Content
Wayne's reaction to the motivated group pushing him intellectually has been to concentrate on content. This is consistent with the view of the teacher as a scholar, a view held from Confucius and early Greece. Shulman has demonstrated the need for pedagogy in education; content is only one aspect of a teacher's professional knowledge.
The work of Dewey suggests that learning by inquiry, the constructivist approach of building knowledge, not just absorbing it, would both engage the unengaged students and encourage the motivated students to strive for deeper learning. The students are not just empty vessels waiting to be filled (Locke) but need to be first understood and then motivated.
Wayne may be concentrating on content due to his personal fears of being exposed as not the "all-knowing" teacher. He may also be concentrating on content in response to the pressure to cover all content in the curriculum. This approach of transmission pedagogy (Neilsen 1989) may then be influencing his students - promoting results-oriented learning or turning students away from learning. The ideas of critical thinking may encourage the motivated students to be less results focussed.
The provocation "Should we teach students or subjects?" asks the question about the balance between student learning and content teaching. Also the provocation "What will students want and need from me?" touches on the issues of students needing motivation and engagement, not just content.
Theme 3: Professional Reflection
Wayne is starting to reflect on his classroom experiences. Reflection is a key aspect of the idea of teaching as a profession in the provocation "Is teaching a profession or a trade?". Moore discusses the reflective practitioner.
It may be that Wayne is a fairly new teacher who is moving from graduate teacher to the accomplished teacher. As he matures and gains confidence in himself as a teacher (confidence in content and classroom management) he may be asking questions on the learning outcomes of his classroom. Such reflections are necessary for Wayne to continue to develop his teacher identity.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
STS 1 - Module B Curriculum
Module A explored 'What is curriculum?'.
Wikipedia provides the following definition of curriculum: "a curriculum is the set of courses, course work, and content offered at a school or university". This is consistent with my initial notion of a curriculum.
This definition is extended by Schmidt et al to include the "sequences of learning opportunities in formal schooling". It is noted that the sequences of learning opportunities are not visible; the tangible artefacts consist of entities such as documents, textbooks and lessons plans.
The article by Egan considers some of the broader issues in curriculum studies. It is argued that curriculum studies is not simply studying the content of curricula, but must consider all educational aspects. Although curriculum is the what, it is necessary to understand the how as well. He believes that western cultures are struggling with the design of content due to a loss of nerve.
I am planning to teach mathematics. It appears to me that mathematics does not suffer the problems of many other disciplines that struggle to understand their core content or meaning. For example, there is no post-modernist angst among mathematicians. I would suggest this is a reason why Mathematics was arguably the least controversial curriculum developed as part of the Australian National Curriculum. This is not to say that there are differences of opinion about what material and in what order the content should be in the curriculum, but these differences are not as political and emotional as discussions of history content when considering issues of western colonization (for example).
The discussion of curriculum has made me consider the provocation "Am I ready to teach". I realise that I have to have a detailed knowledge of the National Curriculum in mathematics before I teach. From the tutorial, it was clearly shown why teaching material for a year 7 class must be designed so that it does not rely on or use, concepts that may confuse or intimidate students.
Wikipedia provides the following definition of curriculum: "a curriculum is the set of courses, course work, and content offered at a school or university". This is consistent with my initial notion of a curriculum.
This definition is extended by Schmidt et al to include the "sequences of learning opportunities in formal schooling". It is noted that the sequences of learning opportunities are not visible; the tangible artefacts consist of entities such as documents, textbooks and lessons plans.
The article by Egan considers some of the broader issues in curriculum studies. It is argued that curriculum studies is not simply studying the content of curricula, but must consider all educational aspects. Although curriculum is the what, it is necessary to understand the how as well. He believes that western cultures are struggling with the design of content due to a loss of nerve.
I am planning to teach mathematics. It appears to me that mathematics does not suffer the problems of many other disciplines that struggle to understand their core content or meaning. For example, there is no post-modernist angst among mathematicians. I would suggest this is a reason why Mathematics was arguably the least controversial curriculum developed as part of the Australian National Curriculum. This is not to say that there are differences of opinion about what material and in what order the content should be in the curriculum, but these differences are not as political and emotional as discussions of history content when considering issues of western colonization (for example).
The discussion of curriculum has made me consider the provocation "Am I ready to teach". I realise that I have to have a detailed knowledge of the National Curriculum in mathematics before I teach. From the tutorial, it was clearly shown why teaching material for a year 7 class must be designed so that it does not rely on or use, concepts that may confuse or intimidate students.
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