While reading through the other interesting resources for this week, I found the idea of having too much stuff in the curriculum to be very eye opening. Marion Brady brought up a good point in that the areas of study which are needed for a healthy development of the mind (music, art, physical movement) are "ignored or assigned inferior roles". Marion then continued on to mention that humans need creativity, yet because you can not evaluate creativity in a standardized test, many curriculums do not support or encourage the creative mind. Supporting music, art, physical education, and other areas allow students to opportunity to be creative and we as teachers can challenge their creativity. We need creative minds in our society to assist in creating solutions to some of our global problems. So why are we not promoting creative minds in our classroom? Too much emphasis and pressure with testing? Big publishing companies that push their textbooks? Parents not seeing the importance of promoting creative minds?
In The Here and Now as Curriculum article also had some really strong points about what is in our curriculum. I found this statement to be very powerful: "We are more comfortable with our textbooks than with the reality the textbooks are supposed to explain; are more at home in our classrooms than in the world outside." I found this statement to be almost sad, but very true. Its almost as though textbooks have become a security blanket for schools and teachers. We just don't want to let go. Instead of using them as a guide or resource, they have taken over our classrooms and become THE resource. We use them page by page, chapter by chapter, and are pressured to cover the entire book in a school year. There is no time for anything else. We are unable to fully cover all of the material and are rather skimming the surface. Another powerful statement "Our thinking is so structured by the disciplines that we can hardly imagine alternatives to their use." I remember a class I took in my undergrad that didn't require a textbook. It was my science methods course. I honestly think that was my first class which had no textbook. Instead our instructor told us if we felt the need for a book, we could buy his book on teaching science. But he wanted to teach us how to teach science in a hands on a approach instead of a textbook approach. It was great, it made us aware of various resources to use, and allowed us to interact in experiments and eventually give experiments and labs.
So what is the solution? I think first we need to start thinking of the curriculum without the textbook. We need to make sure our schools and parents are supportive of that, and help them better understand why. I remember parents getting mad and frustrated if I wasn't having their students bring their science textbook home to read or complete assignments in it. I think we also need to encourage creative thinking and exploring for students. We need to let go of our security blanket and stop skimming the surface.
I found the comment of the author of the middle web article to be equally as sad, but completely true. Is it a lie to say that although we "open-minded" educators use the book as simply a guide, we are still depending on it too much? What about the world outside? The article also says that it is by these very books that we are studying "real life" and the world, but are the students actually learning about all of human existence by a textbook? Books are limited, because they are in ink. Information, technology, science, and a world of ideas are changing - all the time! Should we continue to educate students only as far as what the "elders" know, and not attempt to inspire the youth to explore and let their knowledge and understanding expand beyond what has already been discovered?
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is too much emphasis and concentration on testing results. Students should be encouraged to be more creative. But, as I just ranted about in my blog, there is too much concern about budgeting- it is the main factor in many of the decisions that need to be made by administrators.
ReplyDeleteTo comment on your idea that we should have curriculum without textbooks: It doesn't always work. A teacher in the school I worked in last year did this, and it was a horrible experience to say the least. Students were required to create their own textbooks, using NO resources, and little guidance from the teacher.
If, perhaps, a textbook were to be used as a guideline and a main resource for their learning, ti would be fine, as long as they were encouraged to use outside resources in creating their own textbooks.
We do rely on textbooks too much, I will agree with you there. But I think that if students are taught how to use them properly, they could be the resource they are intended to be.
Liz - your comment reminds me of what one of my colleagues was describing in her social studies classroom. She keeps many of the sample texts that she receives from publishers and asks the students to compare and contrast - how was the topic covered in this text? What was left out, and what was added? I wonder if textbooks can be used, but students can be shown how to use them with a critical eye, on a metacognitive level: What questions did this reading open up for you? What else do you want to know? Where can you find that information? Why do you think the book's editors decided that this question was a good one to ask you at the end of this chapter?
ReplyDelete"One of the least effective ways to teach is among the most commonly used." This quote is from page 73 in Promoting Harmony. The topic was reading fro ma text book and answering questions. While this is an effective tool to use sometimes throughout a subject, it should be coupled with more interactive activities to help the students understand what they have just read.
ReplyDeleteI agree. We need to be using the textbook as a guideline and not as a read and respond all the time tool.