Common Sense

ECS 203  BLOG POST #1 

I highly enjoyed reading Kumashiro’s chapter on common sense, as I believe it raised several great points including the problem of common sense. Kumashiro addresses that common sense is seen as traditional ways of viewing things and how we should always view things. After his experience in Nepal, Kumashiro begins to see problems with common sense, as it creates an unhealthy relationship between him and his students. Eventually, Kumashiro highlights that especially in teaching, common sense is not how a curriculum should be taught, but how the curriculum should be improved. 

It is so important to pay attention to common sense because there are so many different ways of learning and teaching. Everyone is different, so everyone has a different way of approaching things. Most people will stick to that one approach because it is what they are comfortable with, but that is when the problem of common sense comes in. Every approach will enhance ways of teaching and learning differently creating a variety of options. Each way of teaching will allow students to gain a new perspective on what they are learning. Furthermore, they will be able to use that method in their day to day lives.

Throughout my years of schooling I have always thought of a curriculum as “something the teachers use to assist educating their students”. Now, after reading Kumashiro’s chapter, I understand that it is more than that. Teacher’s can build off a curriculum to accomplish so many possibilities of teaching in order for their students to get the schooling that they deserve. A teacher’s pedagogy may depend on what they are teaching and who they are teaching to. However, it is important to understand that we must continually examine what we are expected to teach and ask ourselves how the best way to teach it is. It is also crucial that we learn from other people and gain new knowledge and understandings, because everyone has something special to offer.