{"id":227,"date":"2018-11-26T12:04:02","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T17:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/professionalwebsite\/?page_id=227"},"modified":"2018-11-26T16:24:37","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T21:24:37","slug":"curriculum-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/professionalwebsite\/curriculum-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Curriculum Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Often, prospective student teachers will ask me for a word or two of advice before their first days behind \u201cthe big desk.\u201d I liken these conversations to the last-minute advice of a coach before her players head onto the field, for not unlike the field of competition, the classroom and the school system are replete with challenges one can only anticipate to a certain extent. For the majority of my teaching career, my words of advice to future teachers were drawn entirely from my experience. My most frequently given pieces of advice: \u201cTeach with passion and compassion\u201d and \u201cNever begin a lesson plan asking, \u2018What am I going to say?\u2019 Always begin a lesson plan asking, \u2018What do they need to be able to do?\u2019\u201d Now that my Old Dominion University (ODU) studies have guided me more formally into the discourse community of my field, I have begun to discover the theories in which my advice is grounded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alignment with Scholars and Theories\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>In my most frequently given piece of advice, I recognize now that I am aligning myself with Dewey (1938) and Applebee (1996). I believe that students in my class should encounter experiences, experiences that I have crafted and scaffolded in such a way as to engender deep, lasting knowledge. To use Applebee\u2019s term, I strive for students to come to my classroom expecting to participate in \u201cknowledge-in-action.\u201d This is a striving which I intend to be continual. As the work of The New London Group (1996) set forth, I agree that there is no \u201csingular, canonical English that could or should be taught anymore,\u201d and I continue to increase both my knowledge of multiliteracies and the incorporation of such into my praxis. I make a connection here between Applebee and The New London Group in that the knowledge-in-action students need to practice will change continually as types and meanings of literacies likewise change.<\/p>\n

Critical Race Theory (Yosso 2002) is another theory with which I not only align myself but hope to further explore as my ODU journey continues. As both a parent and teacher of non-white students, I am struck daily by the many levels and mechanisms of exclusion present in classrooms and school systems. In saying this, I do not strive to accuse teachers and administrations of intentional discrimination, but I do hope to, in the course of my career, participate in the work of revealing institutionalized discrimination.<\/p>\n

Lastly, my \u201cpassion and compassion\u201d advice, which I acknowledge may not be unique to me, though I know not the original source, I now recognize as an alignment with Noddings (1998). I will further address such alignment in my \u201cMethods\u201d section; I intend for this piece of advice, however, to emphasize to prospective teachers that real learning cannot take place in the absence of real caring.<\/p>\n

Purposes<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>A few weeks prior to my first day of licensed K-12 teaching, I reported to my department chair as instructed in order to receive my \u201cassigned curriculum.\u201d I remain uncertain as to what I expected to receive, but certainly my expectations were other than she handed me: a typed list of seven \u201cclassics.\u201d \u201cHere, teach these,\u201d was essentially the message. I knew right away that impartation of content level knowledge of these works could not and would not be the anchoring purposes of my courses, but what those purposes are, I continue to explore and work to articulate.<\/p>\n

To begin, I knew from my first day in the classroom that one purpose in any class I taught would be to communicate that lack of skill and\/or success with Standard Written English (SWE) does not equate to lack of academic potential or lack of intelligence. Though I modify the methods by which I communicate and reinforce this idea, I always take the time to explicitly state my belief that there is no one correct English, no one correct way to write. Here I align myself with Kei Matsuda (2006) and Canagarajah (2006); I affirm that linguistic homogeneity is a myth and the multiple Englishes deserve equal footing in not only in K-12 classrooms, but also in the academy.<\/p>\n

The other purpose of my courses, ever in my mind as I design classroom experiences, is to increase students\u2019 written and spoken word power. I am convicted on a personal and professional level that word power and social power are directly related. For nine years, I taught according to a K-12 model termed, in my region, \u201cclass-within-a-class.\u201d According to this model, as it was presented to me by administrators, up to one-third of the students in each of my classes would have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). By teaching these diverse courses, I saw firsthand, often in heartbreaking ways, the connectedness between word power and life power. Thus, I became then and remain determined to increase my students\u2019 command of language.<\/p>\n

Methods\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>My methods boil down to providing students with as many in-depth, significant opportunities as possible to practice the skill I hope for them to learn. My students learn to write by writing and speak by speaking, and I provide qualitative feedback on all they produce. The basis for this feedback springs from students\u2019 respective progress toward personalized writing goals which students and I, initially, come up with together. This is one way in which I respond to Noddings\u2019s call for caring; taking the time to individualize instruction as I do is a method of caring. I guide each student in subsequent revisions of these goals. During this past fall term, I chose to focus my studies on methods most supportive of basic writers. The findings of Rodby and Fox (2000) matched my classroom experience: \u201cOne learns to participate in a particular writing practice by being engaged in that practice\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am additionally beginning to shift my courses from a traditional \u201cwriting for college\u201d approach to the \u201cwriting about writing\u201d approach as outlined by Downs and Wardle (2007). Not only have I come to believe this a more effective method by which to equip students with word power, but also I believe this a way to invite students into conversations about how varieties of English function effectively in various contexts and genres. The writing-about-writing approach is thus that which is most supportive of open discussions about the connection between language and power. By continually constructing, reflecting on, and reconstructing activities that invite students to explore this connection, I work in the vein of Freire\u2019s \u201cliberating education\u201d (1970), seeking to create problem-solving experiences as opposed to banking model lectures.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>With each successive class I teach, project I design, and theory I read, my ideas about curriculum shift, sometimes subtly, sometimes seismically. This is a truth of my pedagogical journey with which I have made peace, for though clinging to familiar content and praxis might feel comfortable in a world of ever-changing knowledge, continual learning, reflection, and adjustment are the approaches by which teachers best serve students.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Applebee, A. N. (1996). Curriculum as Conversation: Transforming Traditions of Teaching and <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Learning<\/em>. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n

Canagarajah, A. S. (2006). The Place of World Englishes in Composition: Pluralization<\/p>\n

Continued. College Composition And Communication<\/em>, 57<\/em>(4), 586-619.<\/p>\n

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education.<\/em> New York, NY: Kappa Delta Pi.<\/p>\n

Downs, D., & Wardle, E. (2007). Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions:<\/p>\n

(Re)Envisioning \u201cFirst-Year Composition\u201d as \u201cIntroduction to Writing Studies\u201d. College <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Composition & Communication<\/em>, 58<\/em>(4), 552-584.<\/p>\n

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed<\/em>. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.<\/p>\n

Matsuda, P. K. (2006). The Myth of Linguistic Homogeneity in U.S. College Composition.<\/p>\n

College English<\/em>, 68<\/em>(6), 637-651.<\/p>\n

Noddings, N. (1988). An Ethic of Caring and Its Implications for Instructional Arrangements.<\/p>\n

American Journal Of Education<\/em>, 96<\/em>(2), 215-230.<\/p>\n

The New London Group. (1996) A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures.<\/p>\n

Harvard Educational Review, 66(1)<\/em>, 60-89.<\/p>\n

Yosso, T. J. (2002). Toward a Critical Race Curriculum. Equity & Excellence In Education<\/em>,<\/p>\n

35<\/em>(2), 93.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Often, prospective student teachers will ask me for a word or two of advice before their first days behind \u201cthe big desk.\u201d I liken these conversations to the last-minute advice of a coach before her players head onto the field, for not unlike the field of competition, the classroom and the school system… <\/p>\n

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