Before reading: How do you think curricula is developed?
I think that a curriculum is written in the mindset of what a teacher and student should be able to cover in full every year, without excuse. And if you aren’t able to do this, than the students will be behind he next year because that was the precursor to the next course. I also believe that while teachers may have some input in the writing of the curriculum the main influences are both the government and the officials who haven’t necessarily been in a classroom for a while, or at all. And this can make it difficult for teachers to achieve somewhat unachievable standards.
After reading:
- How are school curricula developed and implemented? Members of the cabinet will offer ideas of things that should be added to the curriculum and the ideas will discussed. Schools or school districts may be able to have a say in their curriculum (pg. 16). Test scores will also be used as an influence of how the curriculum is written, so if a large amount of students score lower on multiplication, then the new curriculum will show this,
- What new information/perspectives does this reading provide about the development and implementation of school curriculum? That test scores will be taken into consideration then implemented in the revised curriculum.
- Is there anything that surprises you or maybe that concerns you? I never realized how much influence the government really had on the way that curriculum is created. It concerns me about the test scores being used to revise the curriculum, this means that the students who struggled won’t be in the that grade. and so they are not benefitting from the revisions.
Leeza Currin 