Reading Heidi Hayes Jacobs' new book, "Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World" has been interesting so far. One thing that struck me while reading was the idea that curriculum has pretty much looked the same for the past hundred years. We all have them, the dreaded three ring binder chock full of papers with the dictated curriculum typed on them in the order you are recommended to teach them in. No one likes them, the teachers hate storing them, the curriculum coordinator hates typing them, and the secretaries hate copying and collating them. WHY then, do we still maintain this antiquated form or curriculum planning and reporting?
In Jacobs' book, she talks about curriculum mapping, something that can be done online through a computer in a more user friendly way. It takes up no space, it is more friendly to use, and people can revise it at the drop of a hat without having to create a new document and distribute it to everyone. I like also how an online curriculum map would be visible to a lot of people and there could be more opportunity for collaboration.
So, long story short, I hope that in the near future out dreaded curriculum binders will become a thing of the past and we will be seeing them hit the shelves of antique shops. I'll give anyone interested a really good deal on one if you're in the market. It's been hardly used, but I at least keep it dusted :)
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It is so funny you mention that this week in your blog because I am trying out the first digitized curriculum map for the science department this week. I am going to start by posting our curriculum map on google docs and then having each dept. member note what they teach in the matrix so we can look at it all together and adjust it online together. I am so excited to put this into action.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on this antiquated system. In just my 3 years of teaching I have been handed multiple curriculum binders with their various improvements to them along with being asked to lug my curriculum binder(s) to certain meetings to delete, add, or exchange papers within them. Like you mention, wouldn't it just be easier to put it on the computer in a way that is more flexible, more user-friendly, more 21st century?
ReplyDeleteAnd a better metaphor for learning and curriculum than the "3-ring binder on the shelf" system which said, "Here is the curriculum. FINISHED!"
ReplyDeleteCurriculum is never finished...as we all know. It is quite literally always a work in progress...especially in this day and age when new content is being produced at an astonishing rate.
I remember my first teaching job in NY, walking in the first day and being handed an enormous 30-ring binder with the English curriculum. While it may have been someone's idea of what the curriculum was supposed to have been at some point...it was never the curriculum that I actually taught...or even close to what students learned.