Curriculum Theory and Practice
ECS Blog Post #2
The reading for this week’s class provides a view on what curriculum is and how our idea and understanding of it has changed over the years. In the reading, Tyler Ralph provides a list of questions that creates an overview of the rationality and simplicity of what a curriculum could be. The list includes four questions that read:
- “What educational purpose should the school seek to attain?”
- “What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?”
- How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?”
- “How can we determine whether these purposes are being attached?” (Smith, 2000)
Looking back at my experiences in school, I found that in my earlier years of schooling, teachers followed a curriculum, but tried to make it as interactive as possible in order to make sure that we never got distracted and had fun while learning. In the later years of my schooling, I believe that my teachers mainly followed the curriculum fully, but made sure that we had many group discussions, so that we would have opportunities to ask as many questions as possible.
The major limitations listed in the Tyler rationale are existent because the questions show that the lessons being taught following this guideline are restrictive to allowing students to use their creativity. In other words, the lesson is completely managed by the teacher. Students are not able to use their creative senses and learn from their own perspective. “They are told what they must learn and how they will do it” (Smith 200). Every child is different and will have a preferred way of learning, so it is important that a teacher listens to their students and observes what method of teaching will be the most beneficial to their students learning.
The potential benefits of that can be found in the Tyler Rationale is that there is a clear goal that should be met, and a focused plan that could be followed. Organization is a very important factor when it comes to teaching. If the teacher feels unorganized, the students will feel unorganized, but id the teacher feels confident and organized, the students will feel organized and prepared for each class. From my experience in school, there were times when a teacher would act flustered and confused. My friends and I could feel the teachers stress, and therefore we would feel uncomfortable while in class. However the outline showed in Tyler’s Rationale is a perfect example of creating an organized plan for a class at an age level.
