JAdams Teaches
  • Home
  • Courses
    • Science Courses >
      • Science 10
      • Physics 11
      • Earth Science 11
      • Chemistry 11
      • Chemistry 12
      • Anatomy & Physiology 12
    • Math Courses >
      • Workplace 10
      • Workplace 11
      • Workplace 12
      • Foundations 11
      • Foundations 12
      • Pre-Calc 10
      • Pre-Calc 11
      • Pre-Calc 12
    • Visual Arts 10, 11, 12
    • ICT resources
  • Scholarships
  • Ms. Adams Blog
  • Calendar
  • About
  • Contact

September 24th, 2016

9/24/2016

0 Comments

 
​In Tyler’s outline on obtaining objectives from subject specialists he mentioned that subject specialists have been criticized for being “too technical”.  Tyler proposed that this is largely because when they were designing curriculum objectives they were asking the wrong question: “What should be the elementary instruction for students who are later to carry on much more advanced work in the field?”  I often find myself questioning aspects of the curriculum, for example prior to the new BC curriculum changes, grade 9 math students were expected to learn circle geometry.  As a teacher, I could not explain to my students why they needed to learn circle geometry, other than they would need it in order to understand more complex math concepts in future math courses.  Since grade 9 math is a required course that every student is to take, I feel that the curricular objectives should be focusing on providing students with strong foundational math skills that are relevant to everyday living.  Tyler said that the question subject specialists should be asking when designing curricular objectives is “What can your subject contribute to the education of young people who are not going to be specialists in your field; what can your subject contribute to the layman, the garden variety of citizen?”  I agree that approaching subject specific objectives from this perspective would produce curricular objectives that are better suited for student needs. 
I enjoyed reading the first chapter of Tyler’s book, I found it thought provoking and intriguing to think about how and where curricular objectives are produced.  I was quite surprised to learn from the Halvorson reading that it was Tyler’s book that lead to the No Child Left Behind revolution.  On the topic of subject specialists forming curricular objectives Halvorson says that Tyler’s message was “conflicted in approach [that] On the one hand, Tyler acknowledges the importance of scholarship in forming objectives, and on the other hand, he subordinates the uniqueness of disciplinary knowledge to broad functions of inferred generalizations, such as critical thinking and creative skill.”  I struggle to see Halvorson’s perception of this statement as a ‘conflict’ in approach, as when I read it I understood that Tyler was providing the curriculum designer with multiple perspectives to showcase the point that there are numerous sources to consider when deciding curricular objectives.
On the topic of designing curriculum objectives I propose the question shift to not only thinking about what the objectives are but who decides them.  Should teachers have more autonomy in designing curricular objectives?
Halvorson, M. (2011). Revealing the technological irresponsibility in curriculum design. Curriculum Inquiry, 41(1), 34-47. doi:10.1111/j.1467-873X.2010.00523

Tyler, R. W, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (Flinders & Thornton)

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am Ms. Jennifer Adams, I am a high school teacher in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

    Archives

    December 2019
    May 2019
    October 2017
    September 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    October 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    March 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Biology
    Cells
    English
    Experiment
    High School
    Human Anatomy
    Life Science
    Osmosis
    Poetry
    Science
    Spoken Word Poetry
    Teaching

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.