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"I can't help but feel that, to achieve education-al equality, districts are willing to allow what couldbe hundreds of students to fall through the cracksrather than give them the time and personal atten-tion they need to succeed."

-Julie Summers

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"As educators, our responsibility is to stay up on bestpractices and how students learn. If our curriculum todayteaches the same information, through the same means,we are ignoring the fact that our children learn differentlythan their parents, and so on . This perspective on cur-riculum may be sufficient in the upper grades, but my 4thgraders need more of an opportunity to go deeper andnot just sit and be the receivers of transmitted knowledgeyear after year. I think that kids need the opportunity forexploration."--Jenn Fox

"I feel strongly that current government policiesand standards that are set on a chronological timelineare not in the best interests of our students. We needto remember that everyone is different and cannotconform to a simple table of expected goals. Studentswork at different paces, have different abilities, andrelate to varying topics based on their own interests. Ifwe want children to grow up to be responsible citizensthat make conscientious decisions in our society, weneed to emphasize mastery and not simple coverage ofimportant topics."-Sarah Davis

"In my own personal experiences in my classroom,my personality greatly influences my curriculum. If Iamnot excited about what I am going to teach, I will tend toskip over a particular lesson or use it only if I have time.On the other hand, if I am excited about a lesson, Icanbarely wait until Iget to teach it."-Tyra Bowling

"Teachers always will have to use creativity and theirown ideas to supplement curriculum and text because theneeds of our students are always changing."

-Mary Wessling

"Being able to bring real-life situations into theclassroom is one aspect that students love about myclasses. Sometimes we will stop working so that Ican tell them a personal story that applies to whatwe are working on in class. The students also get tosee me not just as a math nerd, but as someone thathad to struggle with math myself in high school an dovercome difficulties to achieve my level of educa-tion. I guess the bottom line is to keep it real for thestudents."--Greg Beherns

"While the students genuinely enjoyed workingon computers, I also sensed that they wanted morepersonalized instruction than that of simply com-pleting computer work out of a textbook. So I be -gan to integrate the computer work into concepts,ideas, and projects that related more to real-worldexperiences and items that we could discuss inclass. We spent time together organizing an end-of-the-year banquet, which required a comprehensivePowerPoint presentation, printed invitations andprograms, awards and certificates, and a revolvingbudget that included fund-raisers to help supportthe project. I found the end result to be truly grati-fying; the students sincerely enjoyed the work andgenerally had a sense of pride that they were ableto apply the skills they had learned in class to real-world experiences outside the classroom."

-Drew McKnight

"I constantly have to change teaching strate-gies to find a way that works for the students.Sometimes I let a student that ha s a good grasp ona specific concept teach for the day, just to breakthings up. My statistics and programming classdefinitely reflects an experiential perspective. Thestudents work on many projects to make sense ofthe information put forth in the text; they learn bydoing. In my college prep geometry class, I take aconstructivist approach. The students come up withtheir own definitions for terms and learn to applythe concepts by working in groups, discussing, an dcomparing different approaches to problems. I ob-serve and only step in when I see that they are reallyin trouble."-Greg Beherns

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"1received a lot of positive feedback (from teach-ers, administrators, and parents) about the art pro-gram I was carrying out. However, it did not evenoccur to me until about halfway through the yearthat I had failed to get feedback from the people thatmattered most-my students! One child, Sammy, hadexpressed interest in rockets, planets, and all aspects ofouter space. Another student, Jessica, talked about theballet all the time. How could I throw in a project aboutspace or ballet when we were studying Aboriginal caveart? Why had I not built into my curriculum time forfree drawing or allowed my students to come up withideas on their own? I never stopped to ask, 'How canI make it better?' I was sticking strictly to my originalplan and had not left any flexibility to account fo r mystudents' interests and needs."-Sarah Davis

"N o test can be determined to be fair fo r allstudents. Curriculum must be adapted to take intoaccount students' cultural and ethnic backgrounds.Students from different socioeconomic and culturalbackgrounds learn best when teachers use strategiesthat are in harmony with those backgrounds. Thestandardized tests are not written from a multiculturalperspective. Lewis Meriam (in Posner 2004, 208), asfar back as 1928, wrote concerning Native AmericanIndians, 'The curriculum must not be uniform andstandardized. Th e textbooks must not be prescribed.Th e teacher must be free to gather material from thelife of Indians about her, so that the little children mayproceed from the known to the unknowns and not beplunged at once into a world where all is unknownand unfamiliar.' In essence, the community leaders,business people, and politicians in the state legislaturesneed to let the students, parents, and teachers decidewhat is best for our students."--Barrett Swope

"The authors of Best Practice Zemelman et al. 1998)suggested that principals work for disapproval of basalreaders an d align standardized testing programs with theholistic approach to reading. This is an excellent argu-ment, considering the comprehension expected on ourcurrent state achievement tests. However, the difficulty inthis approach isfor the students who don't read at gradelevel an d are required to take their grade-level achieve-ment test. Ifno child is to be left behind, then teachersshould be given the authority to choose curriculum thatwill help bridge the gap for these students."

-Mary Wessling

"The accountability issues for teachers have such astranglehold on education that we cannot stop. There isno time. We have to be at standard number 15 by Febru-ary, an d the 'remedial' kids are not going to slow the restof us down."-Lucinda Roberts

"This focus on standards and accountability hasspilled over to students as well. The upper-level stu-dents in my school are so focused on the percentageand grade earned that they are failing to learn. Yet,students who can play by the rules of school exceland earn high grades and top honors. Students whoare unable to conform end up falling behind, andsometimes are tracked into remedial or vocationalprograms."

-Lucinda Roberts

"No Child Left Behind set forth some excellent, al-beit impractical, principles and then provided very littlefunding for school districts to implement these drasticchanges. Almost weekly, our superintendent sends usupdates on the governor's budget cuts and how theywill affect us. These state and federal officials always aresaying things like 'do more with less' when in realitythey are asking us to 'do more with nothing!"'

-Shane Estep

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"An intense push for standards-based education includes environments and create a positive relationship between differ-an increased focus on standardized testing. We are becoming ent cultures."-Jonathan Hamiltonboxed inby these issues, unable to see or look for curriculumbeyond the given parameters. We are so focused on coveringall of the standards and teaching so that students can passtests that it seems as ifnothing else matters. Because of this, Isay that we are failing students."--LucindaRoberts

"Personally, Ido not believe that schools can effectivelycreate and implement a multicultural curriculum, especiallyif the teaching staff does not show or resemble that curricu-lum. Of course, many schools try the generic route by havingteachers illuminate key points of instruction with contentreflecting diversity. I believe that if schools really want toeffectively adapt and transform their mainstream curriculumto a more reflective multicultural one, then they need tohire more diverse individuals who come from many differentbackgrounds (races, cultures, languages, and religious affilia-tions)."--Jonathan Hamilton

"M y school is very homogeneous. It isdifficult for meto teach my students about other cultures simply from aphotograph, textbook, or video. While students are gettingexposure to people other than themselves, the experience isno t real for them because this type of learning is so discon-nected.", SarahDavis

"The issues of minorities and the achievement ga p intoday's public schools have gotten worse. Avariety of curricula"should be used to attempt to shorten or eliminate the achieve-ment ga p between whites and minorities, especially African-American males. If he educational system does not make asignificant attempt to solve this problem, more minorities willbe led into drugs, gangs, violence, prison, and ultimately totheir death. I believe that structuring a curriculum to alleviatethis catastrophic problem will lead to more productive school

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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: Teachers Critique the Curriculum: Frame Factors at Play

SOURCE: Kappa Delta Pi Record 43 no2 Wint 2007

PAGE(S): 82-7

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