Cycle Three: Should Curriculum Address Controversial Issues?

Should curriculum address controversial issues?

As we have found in the first two cycles of this course, the questions posed to us which appear to be simple and straight forward do not have simple answers. 

To answer this question, first, one might have to broaden his/her scope of curriculum beyond what is taught explicitly within the framework of a given subject area.  While we may address controversial issues directly within a course of study, I would imagine that I would be hard pressed to find a teacher today who has not had to help a child with some type of conflict resolution.  Certainly, the way we deal with these situations sends direct and indirect messages to our students.  Second, while I do believe that schools need to address controversial issues, I also believe that when determining which issues should be addressed and the depth to which the issues are addressed must be tempered by consideration of a few important factors.

The first consideration is the needs of the community.  There are many issues which deserve our attention, but it is simply not feasible for schools/teachers to attempt to address all of them, at least not to a level which would provide for anything more than surface discussion/mention.  Therefore, I feel that the issues which should be given the most focus in our schools are those which are most important to the members of the school community.  Please do not misinterpret this statement to mean that I believe students should not have to look outside of their personal worlds’ to take notice of, understand, and take appropriate action regarding the issues facing the world.  However, I think that we will be most effective in creating positive change if we put the bulk of our emphasis on the topics with which our students have immediate connection.  Doing this would mean each school would be responsible for determining and understanding the needs of the families which they serve.  It would also mean that different schools within a district may have to individualize aspect of their curriculum, and perhaps change it from year to year, based on those needs. 

The second consideration is the age and/or the experiences of the learners.  While some very difficult topics may need to be addressed at all age levels, it is my feeling that the manner in which they are addressed can be adjusted.  For example, the two issues featured in our readings this week might look different depending on the age-level of the students.  Presentations and discussions may need to be further adjusted based on the students’ experience with and/or exposure to the topic.  The topics of prejudices against homosexuality and HIV/AIDS which were the center our readings are certainly issues worthy our time and attention.  However, because they are tied to the topic of human sexuality it may be necessary to temper the information shared and discussed based on the learners. Most elementary teachers, especially those in the early elementary years K-2/3 aren’t completely comfortable addressing sexuality with their students.  This is the case mostly because we don’t know to what degree those topics have been addressed or discussed at home.  However, if students come to me with honest questions or concerns, I don’t want to ignore their sincere quest for understanding.  I do want to preserve the innocence of childhood, but I do not want to turn a blind eye to the questions and concerns of the students in my class.  This is where things get sticky. 

I found it interesting that most of the readings from this week did not really address a major factor in how comfortable a teacher is with addressing controversial topics within the classroom.  While some of the readings did make some mention, there was not a lot of discussion surrounding how teacher fear of parental reaction impacts how controversial issues are addressed in schools.  At one point, Silin mentions the, “shadow of the school-family struggle” to explain the real reason for a parent’s concern surrounding HIV education.  I think struggle is still very prevalent in our schools today.  On the one hand, some parents are more than happy to have schools support the teaching of morality.  However, from one family to the next, what is deemed appropriate is different.  What one family would want us to avoid another would like us to expound upon.  Often, fear of being persecuted for doing or saying the wrong thing makes us hesitant to say anything at all.  As was noted in several places during this cycle, even this silence can send a message of acceptance or condemnation to a student. 

 Tackling Controversial Issues in my School

During this cycle, the topic to which I connected the most was the issue of bullying.  Bullying is a “hot-button” issue in my district.  It is an issue over which the parents have expressed concern and the district has taken notice.  Early in September, each school had a special assembly for students, a separate professional development session for teachers, and an additional parent informational meeting all on the subject of bullying preventions and interventions.  We were taught how to determine true bullying from other inappropriate behaviors.  We were shown how to intercede when we are witness to or are told about instances of bullying or conflict.  We looked at the roles of victims and victimizers but also at the roles of bystanders.   (Follow these links to learn more about identifying bullying and prevention and intervention.  What is bullying?  What is not? Training Notes: Stopbullying.gov )

It was very in-depth and enlightening, and for a while, I think the kids were really in tuned to looking out for one another.  However, as time has gone by, the kids have forgotten much of what they have learned.  Yes, this is due in part to me.  I should have done more to make what was explored in September part of our everyday language.  I put the posters up and for weeks at morning meeting we referred to them or other ways of making the school a better place for all.  Yet now, though we have done other things to promote good character, they have forgotten a good deal of the strategies they learned a few short months ago.  I wonder what message I sent them by not continuing to emphasize the importance of the learning in that avenue.  After this cycle, I am going to make a concerted effort to touch back upon what has been learned to better support my students when they are facing a difficult situation be it as a victim or a witness. 

In addition, I am also about to begin a project with my students which I hope will address some difficult topics and also help to build good character skills.  Essentially, I am tapping into service learning a bit for this.  (What is service learning? ) With this project, the students will begin by completing a survey to determine which children’s health issues are most important.  The survey will be sent home as tool for discussion with parents, the idea being that the students and parents will have a real conversation about what issues are important to their families. Beginning the conversation at home will also allow for some misconceptions on the issue to be cleared and in-depth questions to be developed.  The hope is that it will also help create relevance and interest.  When each student has completed the survey/discussion, they will choose an issue to research.   Since they are free to select any topic which falls under the umbrella of kid’s health, it is possible that one or more students may select a controversial or difficult topic.  Some students may focus on childhood diabetes or the need for healthy school lunches, but others may want to learn more about bullying or autism.

 In addition to any questions they have, they search for answers to questions like who is affected by the issue, how it impacts those people and the students themselves, which organizations are connected to the topic, and what are some ways that people can get involved or make a difference.  They will then take what they have learned to create a PSA on the iPad which can be shared with others in the community to encourage them to get involved.  It is my hope that this project will help students understand that they are part of the world around them and that they can make a positive difference.

Additional resources:

Bullying info for educators   http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-you-can-do/educators/index.html

Richard Paul http://www.richardpaul.com/blog/

Anti-bullying songs http://bullyingpreventionnow.com/anti-bullying-songs/

Cycle Two: What Should Schools Teach? How Should Schools Be Held Accountable?

What Should Schools Teach?

Compromise verses extremism…Our readings from this cycle brought this battle to the forefront of my mind. 

So often in education, there are extreme pendulum swings where one philosophy is pushed aside and another revered.  This for example, is exemplified in phonics vs. whole language debate which has pervaded reading instruction for decades. (More on this topic is available at the following links: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr029.shtml  and http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/Reading_Wars.html )  It seems when it comes to educating our children there are often very passionate views and, unfortunately in my opinion, the two sides to the arguments often fail to see the value in the perspective of the other side. They fail to see that education is place of compromise.

I believe that in answering the question of “What Should Schools Teach?” one must consider many levels of compromise.  In our readings from this cycle, I found myself very much in agreement with Hirsh’s thoughts from chapter five of his text.  In this chapter, Hirsh argues for a compromise between the traditionalist and the formalist.  Hirsh states that this compromise can be made by offering a curriculum that is both extensive and intensive.  In other words, we need to find a balance between breadth and depth.   Though in my professional experience, this balance is not easy to come by, it is still a very worthwhile goal for the classroom teacher to pursue. 

In last cycle’s post I stated, that I felt that the purpose of a curriculum should not be to “fill an empty vessel” with knowledge to regurgitate.  While I am not going back on this statement, I feel it needs to be further explained.

I do not believe that the goal ultimate goal of any educator is for his/her students to simply be able to “parrot” back facts and content of a lesson.  By that I mean that, my goal for my third graders is not for them to be able to recite definitions of key vocabulary or rattle of lists of dates or key players in historical events.  That is not to say I don’t want them to know those things, but rather I hope that they are able to use that knowledge to continue to make meaning in other areas.  So as Hirsh would suggest, I want them to acquire an extensive knowledge so that they can use it to develop a more intensive understanding.  For example, in order for my students to become stronger readers, they have to go past simple decoding skills and be able to construct meaning from what they have read.  Again as Hirsh noted, in order to do this students have to be able to make connections and tap into schema.  The larger the knowledge base they have, the more connections they will be able to make, and the more meaning they will be able to construct from more complicated texts.  In connection to this, a student who has an extensive knowledge base is able to delve deeper into a topic within a content area. 

However, I do not believe that a compromise between an extensive and intensive curriculum is enough to answer the question of what schools should teach.  This compromise only addresses the question of what is the appropriate content of curriculum.  Again, as I argued in my posting last cycle, I believe the purpose of curriculum is more than imparting content.  I believe the purpose of content should also be to provide students with opportunities to develop skills that will help them to be successful in their futures beyond the classroom. Therefore, it is my opinion that they ultimate compromise in education is one between the proponents of content driven educational philosophy and proponents of critical thinking.  This same compromise was noted by Hirsh at the end of the assigned chapter.  My view is that this compromise can be made by using instructional methods to teach the content which infuses 21^st Century Teaching and Learning skills.  I think that students can gain a vast body of knowledge by engaging in activities which ask them to use problem solving skills, collaboration, and creativity.  I think they can go beyond receivers of knowledge to become creators and contributors of it as well. 

It is this belief that has me very curious about the use of gaming in schools as was presented by the New York Times Article from Sara Corbett, Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom.  However this article was not the first place I read about the activities of and philosophies behind Quest 2 Learn.  I first encountered this trail-blazing institution while reading the book, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work and Learn, by Cathy Davidson. 

In her discussions of the school, Davidson advocates the use of gaming in the classroom to promote learning and critical thinking skills.  Essentially, Davidson would have us believe that, through the use of gaming activities, not only will students acquire the content knowledge, but they will me more motivated to do so.  Further, the students will have internalized the learning more deeply.  I personally, am a bit on the fence regarding the use of gaming.  I even had apprehensions when reading about it in the Davidson text.  Although I do believe that gaming and related activities can provide opportunities for students to develop the critical thinking skills I truly believe all students need, I am not sure that it is the only way in which to do this.  I am also not certain that all students will connect to gaming as vehicle for learning or that all students will be able to transfer the skills required in gaming situations into real world applications. 

That being said, Now You See It was an extremely thought provoking read!  Although I did not agree with all of Davidson’s ideas about the current state of education and its future, the book definitely pushed me to do a good deal of self-reflection.  I highly recommend it to any teacher.  If you would like a taste of the Davison’s musing on education, you might be interested in this video.  The video is about an hour long but will provide you with a very good preview of the ideas in her book. 

                                                                                                                                                      

How Should Schools Be Held Accountable?

Although, as I noted, I am not I am in agreement with Davidson’s every idea, I am of like mind regarding her views of one of the most common forms of assessment prevailing in American schools, the standardized, multiple-choice test.   

In her book, Davidson calls for a reexamination of current educational philosophy especially that connected to the use of and emphasis placed on standardized testing.  She argues that this form of assessment is outdated having been created for the changing needs of education in the early 20^th century.

In the chapter, How We Measure, Davidson reveals the origins of the standardized test as created by Frederick J. Kelly.  Kelly, she explains, developed the testing as way to alleviate both the subjectivity of teacher grading and the time teachers took to score student work.  It seemed so unlikely to me that what has become the “end all and be all” of student assessment and teacher evaluation has such simple beginnings.  It made me wonder, if that was the original intention of such assessments, how then did standardized testing become elevated to the level of high-stakes testing in American education? 

I do believe that there is a need for schools to be held accountable.  However, traditional multiple-choice, standardized assessments do not always offer a true picture of a student’s understandings and do not show the efforts or effectiveness of a teacher so as to be used a measure in teacher evaluations.  While they do allow for assessment data to be created in a timely manner, I often question the value of the data.  This is because these types of tests often measure a student’s ability to take a test not his/her ability to apply the learning s/he has attained.  I feel that performance-based assessments are more reliable for ascertaining as students’ level of learning and understanding.  Unfortunately, these types of assessments can lead to subjective teacher grading and can take up too much time for the data they provide to be useful for guiding instruction as Kelly feared.  It is quite a quandary. 

A solution just might be in adaptive testing such as the ones currently being used in my district (NWEA) and the one that will soon be adopted by the state of Michigan (Smarter Balanced) to replace our current state assessment, the MEAP.  In this type of computerized assessment, the test adjusts based on a student’s answers.  As the student answers questions correctly, the questions that follow become more difficult.  As they answer incorrectly, the questions adjust again to meet their level. 

Having used the NWEA assessment for the past two years, I have found it to be very valuable.  To begin, the data is available immediately after the students complete the test.  Additionally, the reports created instantly by the NWEA site not only show student s’ goals for future assessments and their progress toward achieving those goals, it also provides goals for every child within each strand of the content area which a teacher can use to inform individual, small-group, and whole-group instruction.  Since the test is adaptive, it is a more accurate measure of a student’s capabilities.  I also feel that it is a more reliable way to measure teacher effectiveness that its predecessor because it measures growth.  In other words, when using the data to measure a teacher’s effectiveness, the evaluator can see if a teacher’s students are making progress toward personal learning goals rather than just meeting or falling below a standard.  The upcoming Smarter Balanced Assessment will provide similar benefits; however, it will have the added bonus of including performance based tasks.  Adding an element of application level thinking, will raise the quality of the assessment data generated by this form of standardized testing.

Additional resources on the subject of gaming/technology in schools

http://fatetech.org/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/zora-ball_n_2586140.html (This article highlights the work of 1^st grader, Zora Ball, who developed a mobile gaming app