Post 2: Curriculum & Interpretation

 Going on my fifth year of teaching, I sit back and ponder all the teachers I have worked with, how they teach, what they teach, why they teach. I have come to realize that not all teach for the same reasons (no judgment); it just never occurred to me that I may be teaching because I love working with kids and want to impact them in some sort of way.

I have always loved the sports movies where the players overcome adversity like Miracle, Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, We are Marshall to name a few. I find these to be very inspiring and whenever I watch them over again for the tenth time, I get re-inspired. 

Curriculum & assessment can be inspiring, it can also be daunting. I can see how easily influenced teachers can be. I never realized how much control the government has over teachers until probably my third year of teaching. 

I always new there was a curriculum. I have to say I am a big fan of BC's current curriculum, I cannot imagine having to teach to the old. However, a professor commented on one of my posts and stated "What the curriculum designers, governments want and what teachers do can often be in conflict". I think back and reflect how is that so?

This past year, I have been fortunate enough to work with really open to conversation colleagues. I do not consider myself an academic teacher. My heart is teaching physical education and special education. I have been a special education teacher my whole career so far, and have had the opportunity to support students in classrooms, which has allowed me to be in lots of teachers classes. Where I have observed so many different styles of teaching.

This is where I come back to what my professor said and I suppose I agree, that yes, what teachers do can often be in conflict. But has anyone wondered why?

Governments and curriculum designers are the ones who mandate what we teach. When was the last time they were in a classroom? How do they decide what is important? What district, city or town did they come from? 

Ultimately, I believe the curriculum is designed based on what society needs and wants (the government), the designers bring in the conceptions (past philosophers) to try and design the curriculum with the governments outcomes in mind.

Teachers are left with a whole lot that they legally have to do, but yes, it is up to the parents on how they roll-out the curriculum based on the needs of the students. Secondly, when I read something I may interpret it differently than someone else. Curriculum is in a reader-format only. Which, in my opinion leaves it to personal interpretation again. 

Essentially, curriculum and assessment have always been evolving and will over time. There is such a difference between elementary and high school curriculum. High schools are subject based. I will never forget what my cousin who is a teacher told me she said: "Daniella, Elementary teachers teach because they love teaching, High School teachers love their subject area". Hang on: before you jump on me, I know she was not referring to ALL teachers, but in our context of conversation this made a lot of sense. I reflect on this conversation a lot and when wearing my special ed hat and advocating for a student in the High School setting, I still have this pop into my mind so that it can help me advocate for my student.

Curriculum is such an interesting topic, I don't know that we will ever be on the same page with governments and curriculum designers. What I do know, is that I love seeing what other teachers do, and bring in little pieces from here and there to my classroom.