Summary+03580

__Curriculum and Stephen Jaddock__  What I will share in my paper is the path I have traveled in my understanding of curriculum and myself, a description of where I am now on that path, and where I see myself journeying in the near future with respect to my new understanding of curriculum.  When I enrolled in this course, I was an experienced teacher (eleven years) including four years experience in school administration. My comfort and understanding of a variety of subject specific curricula is fairly good, with some experience on division-wide curriculum implementation committees and also with experience in having staff implement school wide initiatives. My understanding of curriculum, however, was influenced by my own limiting definition of what it was. That definition could be taken as curriculum meaning a course of study in a particular subject area. When reading the very first chapter in the book by Connelly and Clandinin, their new and much wider definition of curriculum was immediately challenging and liberating for me. In thier words, curriculum is experienced in specific situations, which occur every minute of every day and extend, not only during school hours but also to every hour of every day. Also, it is not limited to a set of specific outcomes and suggested learning activities, which are prescribed in curriculum documents! It is so much more when the definition offered by Connelly and Clandinin is used. Thus, curriculum interacts on the surface of the shared experiences of the teacher and all students present in the classroom. This is a powerful concept, which forms the basis of the textbook used in this course. Through the activities and exercises provided in this course, I was able to appreciate and explore more deeply the usefulness of this new concept of curriculum and its implication for all stakeholders in education.  Especially challenging was the reflection on what I was currently doing in my educational setting and how my new knowledge could impact on this practice. The reading entitled ‘The Fourth Wall’ was enlightening as many of the struggles of past students were elaborated on and a thorough examination of the course topics was made. The textbook itself was written in such a way that I couldn’t help but put the material to a form of ‘self-reflection’ whether eventually publicized in my journals or simply kept to myself for future use and/or reference. These self-reflections allowed me to see the value of what I was learning and I was able to relate it directly to my current educational situation. I am currently a teacher/principal in a K-6 Ukrainian bilingual elementary school in Manitoba. I found the narratives in the textbook extremely helpful in giving concrete examples of what was meant by curriculum as defined by the authors. Some of the more theoretical aspects were difficult to understand, but when coupled with the examples, they were easier to grasp. In fact, early on in the course I expressed frustration at being somewhat confused by the new material being presented. The narratives were also very touching. Many were dramatic but they were all real. They represented snapshots of what happens in schools and in the field of education and I was able to see myself in many of them. What I took from them was the knowledge that we can respond in many ways as our personal practical knowledge (PPK) is situational and certain aspects of ourselves may be revealed at any given time depending on the circumstances.  The assignment, which allowed us to be practical with the curriculum commonplaces, was very valuable. I was able to use a ‘real’ situation from my educational setting and was amazed at how well the commonplace questions could elicit my own perspective on a curricular situation and that my perspective was not always shared with others in my immediate educational setting. I hope to use this analysis in the future when undertaking any curricular or program change as it provides insight for all aspects of a program implementation. It was also very valuable to realize that when perspectives are shared, they not only reflect insight from one’s position or relationship to a school or educational institution, but also, it is their own personal practical knowledge that influences their responses to the commonplaces questions. From this, I then can make informed decisions on how to communicate and make necessary changes in order to ensure that as many stakeholders are on board for a specific program or course of study that the school is undertaking. This is invaluable!  Try as I might, the thought and meditation for me always came back to personal practical knowledge and the idea of the involved person and that none of us are value-free. In every circumstance we are exuding a part of our past self, which projects into the future but acts in the present. This has allowed me to be more sensitive to staff from different backgrounds, experiences, and gender. It has also allowed me to be more sensitive to my students who are all unique. I intend to continue this sensitivity into all areas of my teaching interactions from now on. My own PPK influences are ones in which reflective learning is a major factor. In doing my curriculum orientation profile I was able to glean more information about my own perspective on curriculum. From that, I found that my major orientation was that of self-actualization, followed by cognitive processes and curriculum as technology. Social reconstruction and academic rationalism received the lowest numbers respectively on my analysis. Upon looking at the results, I was satisfied that it reflected how I currently feel about education. This all ties into the idea of PPK and my relations with all stakeholders in the educational setting. The textbook was indeed a celebration of ‘each and every one of us who teaches’ (Introduction, p. xv). The personal narratives were all so very valuable and gave an insight into what other educators go through in figuring what curriculum is essentially all about. We all have a meaningful way in which we interpret our surroundings and we bring that uniqueness to bear upon all of our teaching and learning processes. Also, the area of PPK is not only relevant to teachers and instructional staff, we must remember that our students come to school each day with their own unique set of experiences. My reflections have involved student readiness to engage in learning activities on a daily basis. We can’t assume fluidity in this on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis in our schools. This is because on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, student experiences are so varied that it would be absurd to assume it not to change. However, we tend to concentrate on the extreme and some of the questions that I will take with me to deal with in the next few months and into the next school year involve the following: There are many more questions, which can be added to this list, and this will allow me to be a more effective educator by bringing them to a conscious level.  Curriculum and myself, Stephen Jaddock, are interconnected so as to be unable to separate the one from the other. In fact, when we try to separate it out, we uncover a superficiality in our schools that is a disservice to our students. The way I am expected to teach and the subject matter end up having little or no relevance to me as an individual instructor or to my students. As I consider the twelve journal entries that I have written for this course, I can evidence my own growth and probing into the area of curriculum. I have profited much from the journey. My life is my curriculum and it is shared with all whom I come in contact with. It is fluid and ever changing. It is evidenced in routine and in seeming chaos. It is seen in the classroom and in my relations with all other educational stakeholders no matter where that may occur. Curriculum happens 24/7. It has not always been an easy path to lead me to this conclusion, but this is where I am now on the journey. My teaching can now be more effective with a heightened awareness of the uniqueness of personhood. The myriad of experiences and situations, which have formed the complex me, are not the same ones that have formed every other complex human being in this world. Not everyone shares our favourite or our least liked subjects; not everyone shares our study habits whether they are good or bad. (We could add an infinite number of experiences and skills to this list.) Knowing this, we can interact with our students and others with greater significance and effectiveness as we tailor instruction and information to their uniqueness, and this is what I intend to do in the future.  This new definition of curriculum, which I have learned in this course, and now consider to be my own definition, has both answered many questions that I have had about education and also caused me to ask my own questions. These questions are important in continuing to develop my understanding of curriculum and current issues in education. Issues such as bullying, charter schools, outcomes education, virtues and morality education, school discipline, school financing, and virtually any other education related issue, is relevant to this new perspective of curriculum. It has created a renewed passion for my chosen profession and underscores for me the importance and relevance of our work as educators in our society.  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Throughout this course I have found that I have not ceased to reflect on what was being presented to me whether it be through the textbook, class assignments, journaling, and student/professor interactions. I believe this to be a necessary action in order to glean the most from the experience of this course. It was a very valuable exercise to synthesize this in this final paper to show what excellent learnings have occurred. I can say unequivocally that I will never be the same individual now that I have experienced this course. For this I am thankful. Thank you Robin for guiding me in this journey.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How do we as teachers deal with students on a daily basis who have experienced recent traumatic events in their lives and they are in our classes?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How do we incorporate student uniqueness into school assignments?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">What is the role of other school professionals with respect to any given student when contemplating their individual PPK on a daily basis in our schools?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How do we involve/educate parents in all of the above situations?
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How does one bring these issues and thoughts to the fore with other colleagues and stakeholders that have not taken this curriculum course?