Common sense, according to Kumashiro, is the knowledge that everyone should know. People behave and act in accordance with common sense throughout their lives. Kumashiro explains throughout the reading that an individual’s common sense can be different depending on many things. Some examples are where the individuals live or what school they go to. One example of different common sense between individuals is what is considered to be a good cook. People from different cultures or locations may have different ideas about what makes a good cook. Kumashiro claimed that because he employed American cooking techniques, people in Nepal believed less of her as a cook since he used other things besides rice, lentils, and vegetables. People need some time to adjust to common sense because you have to comprehend what it means to others and the reasons why their way of life is set up the way it is.
It is important to pay attention to common sense due to it being a way individuals go about their everyday life. Common sense within schools may differ depending on the type of common sense the teachers and students bring to the school. If someone is not paying attention to the common sense by which they are surrounded they may be accused of doing something wrong way, inaccurately, or even getting into dangerous situations. Kumashiro experienced this when he began teaching at the Nepal school. Kumashiro taught her way of teaching was correct due to her own common sense but others within the school accused her of incorrectly teaching or being a bad teacher. If you pay attention to common sense, you will be able to understand how others live their lives and why they live them in that certain way. Kumashiro being an outsider looking into Nepal’s common sense he could either; adapt to their ways of life or teach her own common sense or way of life to the Nepal community. If he adapted to it, it would be very important to pay attention to Nepal’s common sense.
According to my understanding of common-sense curriculum is a guideline that teachers follow to know what to teach the students. A curriculum outlines what to teach when, at what ages, and in what order, and how to teach it effectively enough for kids to learn the lesson’s main points. A curriculum is something that all teachers follow due to it being fixed expectations that the government has set into place. I believe the curriculum is a great way to keep all students’ progress consistent due to many students being taught by different teachers in different classrooms at different schools. Some things that are new to me are the hidden curriculum or curriculum as a place. In my common-sense curriculum has always been a guide used by teachers. Coming into this course I actually had no understanding of what pedagogy was or even meant. It is a totally new concept to me. I learned from our first lecture that pedagogy is how all teachers have different approaches to teaching. Even though I didn’t know the correct terminology for pedagogy, I grasped and knew what it was from the definition and what we learned in the first lecture.