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1. The Formal or Explicit Curriculum Your textbook lists nine subject areas that comprise the formal curriculum. Links to the professional organizations that support teachers in these fields are listed below. Choose the organization that most closely reflects your teaching interests, then answer the questions which follow. For the subject area you chose, how does this organization's Web site reflect the Tension Points and Trends discussed in your text? What other issues are teachers in this area confronting today? As an educator in this subject area, how could you use this Web site to support your teaching and professional development? Finally, take a quick look at the other Web sites listed above. What kinds of resources are offered by all of these sites? Identify any resources that you think are especially unique and beneficial to teachers. 2. The Curriculum Time Machine The two Web sites listed below provide a wealth of online resources related to the history of education. Use these sites as reference sources for completing this exercise. Your textbook presents eight "time capsules" to give you a historical perspective on the U.S. educational curriculum. Each time capsule presents a broad snapshot of the curriculum trends during each period. For this exercise, we want you to focus on a particular area of the American curriculum and trace its development over time. For example, how has the religious aspect of the curriculum changed from era to era? Other topics you might research include the evolution of education for women, arts education, or vocational instruction. You may choose any topic -- just make sure you zero in on a specific aspect of the curriculum rather than the curriculum in general. 3. New Directions for the Curriculum Click here to visit the Promoting Achievement in School through Sport (PASS) Web site. In what ways does this program reflect the move toward an integrated curriculum? Use specific examples from the PASS web site to illustrate your answer. How are grade levels and ages integrated? What further enhancements might you suggest? What further groupings of subjects make sense to you? Do you like the idea of distinct subject areas, or does crossing these barriers have some appeal to you? Does your preference offer you an insight into your own teaching style? 4. Censorship and the Curriculum The following Web sites contain extensive resources related to censorship and, in particular, banned books. Use these sites to answer the questions below. While the First Amendment is intended to protect our freedom of expression, where should we, as educators, draw the line when it comes to the books and other materials we allow into our schools? For example, what if an honor-roll student in your AP history class wants to do a report on "Pornography and American Society"? Would you forbid it? If so, why? If not, would you limit his or her access to certain books, periodicals, or Web sites? Would the maturity or achievement level of the student have anything to do with your decision -- i.e., what if he or she was only an "average" student in a lower-level social studies class? What if the requested topic was abortion or the white supremacist movement? What aspects of your educational environment e.g., administrators, parents, local politics would be likely to influence your decision? 5. The Textbook Shapes the Curriculum Statewide textbook adoptions have been criticized because of the so-called Texas and California Effect. When these populous states buy textbooks for students in their schools, the result is enormous income for the selected publishing companies. Critics charge that this gives these large states unfair influence over textbook development. Read the following online articles, then answer the questions below.
Based on these articles, summarize the main points of controversy regarding statewide textbook adoption. What are your personal views on this issue? How would you feel about teaching in a state where the "acceptable" textbooks are selected for you? If you intend to teach in a specific subject area e.g., math, social studies, English, what textbook selection issues would you expect to face if you worked in a textbook adoption state? For further research on this topic, you may want to check out the National Association of State Textbook Administrators. 6. Is the United States Going Test Crazy? Click here to visit the Web site for the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). Spend some time reading one of their current reports on testing. Find three critical points that are intriguing and generate a new summary item for Chapter 8. 7. The Teacher as Curriculum Developer The Internet can be a powerful tool for curriculum development. To see this in action, check out the Education World Curriculum Center . How are teachers using the Internet and the Web in particular to support their curriculum development efforts? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet for curriculum development? As the Internet continues to grow, what do you think its impact on the curriculum will be? Does this trend give an unfair advantage to "wealthy" schools where teachers and students have greater access to computers and the Internet? 8. Computers in the Classroom: Virtual Fields Trips and Global Education To get a better sense for what a virtual field trip actually entails, take some time to peruse the following Web sites. GOALS: Global Online Adventure Learning Site In what ways do these sites reflect "global education" as defined in your textbook? Use specific examples from these sites to illustrate William Kniep's four domains of global inquiry. Which subject areas and grade levels seem best suited to virtual field trips and the global inquiry approach? Can you think of any drawbacks to this combination of technology and global education? |