Are You in a State of 'Curriculum Anarchy'?
“I like dramatic language,” said Tim Westerberg at one point during his session, “Distinguishing Between Learning Goals and Activities: Exploring the Critical Difference,” and he wasn’t lying. For two hours Westerberg kept the audience engaged and laughing while exploring serious education issues. He was the teacher you always liked, and the audience was his class. He had them brainstorming together and forcing them to think about the issues plaguing their own classrooms.
Westerberg discussed the necessity for educators to develop learning goals for their students, but he also warned that educators are inclined to forget to personalize the goals for each student. Each unique student must understand the learning goals, such as learn how to revise writing, and learning activities, such as writing a paper, to be successful in school, he said. Students should be able to personalize what they learn and relate it to life, and educators should allow them choices in how they learn. Applying these concepts, he said, will lead to successful learners.
After asking the audience to discuss among themselves the effectiveness of how they set up their objectives, Westerberg brought up the topic of curriculum anarchy. He described it as one teacher in a school teaching and grading on his own scale while another educator teaches the same class doing the complete opposite and working on a different scale, which can hurt students' grades.
He gave the example of a social studies class that was a graduation requirement for all students. None of the teachers agreed on the curriculum, so the students were being taught different things and learning on different levels.
“You’re trying to tell me that there are things in this course that are so important that kids can’t graduate without learning, but you can’t agree what it is about?” Westerberg asked the teachers about the course. Shortly afterward, the teachers went to the school administration and had the course changed to an elective.
Another example of curriculum anarchy is computer scheduling, where a computer randomly generates a schedule and picks teachers for students. He described how one student can get a 91 in advanced algebra honors and received a “B” in the class, while another can also get a 91 but receive an “A” because he had a different teacher. The audience agreed with Westerberg that this was hypocritical and that effective teachers need to meet on a regular basis to determine what the learning goals are and what it looks like when a student gets it right.
“Unless teachers talk about that on a regular basis, you can forget about a common grading scale,” Westerberg said before making the crowd laugh again. “You’re going to have curriculum anarchy, and you have to report that to Washington.”
I am in a state of "anarchy" in terms of HOW I am addressing the content in my classroom - and if anything, I go beyond the state standards - which are MINIMUMS. Also, I do think teachers should have freedom to select sequencing of topics and how much time is needed to address issues. Students are not carbon-copies and, as you state, objectives should be personalized. This is what the state standards do NOT do - they assume all students can learn the same material, using the same methods/activities, in the same amount of time. This is where I am an anarchist. As a professional, I should be able to use my judgement for my individual students and classes - that freedom is being drastically removed from classrooms and teachers.....
Posted by: Jennifer Lynne | July 01, 2009 at 06:56 PM