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Showing posts from April, 2020

Cycle 4: Controversial Issues in Curriculum?

Should the curriculum address controversial issues?  I think the curriculum should certainly address controversial issues. Controversial issues should not be part of the “null curriculum” that Eisner describes. This will give children the ability to critically think and reason about opposing viewpoints. However, I think this should be done in a way that honors and respects all viewpoints without putting a heavy bias on one over the other. I also think, particularly in elementary schools, parents should have a strong voice as to what their children are exposed to if certain curriculum opposes the values they are trying to instill in their children. As this topic pertains to gay rights, I am heartbroken over the injustices people who identify as LGBTQ have gone through. Growing up I had several friends who identified as LGBTQ and who were bullied in some ways by it. Further, in college, I knew people who identified as LGBTQ who felt especially isolated and unseen at a Ch...

Preparation for Concluding Post

The reading focused on how educator’s can reflect on their own teaching and learning in the mode of reflection through story telling. Moreover, the reading emphasizes how educators do this not only through their work teaching at a job but also through the lives they live – how can an educator’s own life point to curriculum making? The quote that stood out to me the most was on page 7: “I do not believe that people need to be told what to do. They can be advised or guided but not told. We can all think for ourselves. In the same way that we are born with the capacities to walk and talk as part of our genetic inheritance, we are born with the capacity to think, to make choices, and to reflect critically on our actions.” I chose the above quote because this describes one aspect of what I try to do as a teacher: encouraging students to think and act for themselves, not be dependent on me as a teacher or other adults in their lives. I want them to take ownership over their own learni...