Curriculum Guide

DONNA FAULKNER
EDEL 588
SPRING 2014

What principles of
learning shall guide your
work with students and
adults?

1. The purpose of schooling is not

only about test scores.

According to John Goodlad, the purpose of schooling

goes beyond providing academic knowledge and
skills. Schooling should also prepare the individual for
productive work and economic responsibility, instill
social and civic responsibility, and develop the
personal talents and interests of the individual. In my
work, I need to make sure the curriculum, to the best
of my ability, addresses all of these purposes.

2. The curriculum is more than

just the subject matter.

Students learn from everything in school. I need to

consider everything the student experiences in the
school day inside and outside the classroom to
determine what is being taught implicitly and what is
not being taught. We may unintentionally
communicate messages/ideas contrary to the values
and goals of the school.

3. Education and democracy

are vitally linked.

In order to preserve democracy, we need to ensure

individuals are educated to fulfill their civic
responsibilities and have the critical thinking skills
necessary to make informed decisions. As curricula
and educational trends come and go, we should ask
what knowledge is of most worth?

4. Words have different meanings

to different people.

Do not make assumptions, but seek clarity and mutual

understanding of words and ideas.

5. Children and adults are

innately
to learn.
motivated
The standard grammar
of schooling often treats
students as unwilling participants who must be
coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened with
punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort.
This is contrary to the research on what motivates
human beings. We must ensure we create the
conditions that promote natural curiosity and desire to
learn. Students are motivated, when curiosity and
questioning is encouraged, when content is made
relevant to their lives, and when there is a climate of
safety for making mistakes.

6. All students can learn if the

conditions of learning are
present.

Conditions that foster productive learning include

engaging students by making the learning interactive,
social, and relevant to the lives of the students.
Educators need to recognize and respect individual
interests and abilities and provide choice,
encouragement, feedback, and support. They need to
create a climate where students feel safe in taking
risks and making mistakes.

7. Not all learning is productive.

Productive learning engenders and reinforces the

desire to learn more. As an educator, I need to create
conditions that foster productive learning. This
includes considering and connecting to students preexisting knowledge, creating contexts for learning with
understanding, and building in metacognitive
opportunities for considering and explaining ones
ideas

8. Focus on conditions for productive

learning rather than on best
practices.

One could argue that creating conditions for

productive learning is the best practice. However, the
term best practices usually refers to teaching
techniques. Unless the conditions of learning are not
favorable, students may not engage in productive
learning, even when best practices are used.

9. Learning should be bidirectional

Educators needs to constantly seek to learn about

others learning. Because learning is a process within
an interpersonal context influenced by many factors,
educators need to strive to understand the funds of
knowledge students bring, how they best learn, what
their interests are and what motivates in order to
create contexts for learning with understanding.
Teachers need to adapt their teaching methods to the
needs of the learners. Furthermore, educators need to
verify exactly what learning has occurred and exactly
what the understanding is.

10. Less frontal teaching, more

student-centered learning

Students learn more when they are actively engaged.

Instruction that is relevant to students real world,
interactive, and integrated into other subject areas
including the arts creates excitement for learning.
Instruction that is inquiry-based, provides choice, and
honors individual interests and abilities is more
engaging and relevant to students than a
standardized curriculum. Students are more motivated
to learn and become architects of their own learning.
Giving students some control over their learning helps
to develop lifelong learners.

11. A responsible assessment

system
includes multiple measures
over
Neither a single snapshot at one point in time note a
one-size
assessment
for a diverse group of students,
a period
of time
can accurately measure the full scope of student
learning.

12. Formative assessment, including

student self-assessment,
supports
learning.
In-action, or formative assessment is necessary to
correct misunderstanding and guide instruction.

Through self-assessment, learners become more selfaware, so they can take a more active role in
managing their learning.

13. Beware of quick fixes;

change takes time.

Slow, steady progress is more like to produce lasting

change than quick solutions. Incremental steps in
creating conditions for productive learning and better
use of time will result in more improvement than
grand-scale measures.

14. Administrators need to create

conditions for productive
learning for teachers.

Teachers need to feel safe in trying new things. They

need encouragement and support. Professional
developments needs to be relevant and geared to
their interests/needs.

15. Life, for everyone in a school, is

determined by ideas and values

Educators need to constantly re-examine their beliefs

and values. We need to evaluate what we are doing
and why we are doing it. We need to challenge our
practices so the comfort of ritual does not hinder
progress. Our stance should be one of inquiry
constantly seeing certainty and always distrusting it.