I started a blog post on the Technology in Lutheran Schools Ning social network about curriculum, but quickly back tracked to here instead.
I am a bit torn when it comes to curriculum. At NECC this year they unveiled the newly refreshed NET-S standards and encouraged us all to take them back to our school and put them to great use. The only problem is, our K-4 staff wants something a little more specific. They really want GLE's (Grade Level Equivalencies). There is a part of me that is scared of getting that specific. Why? Maybe it's the amount of work involved in putting together a "detailed" scope and sequence? Maybe it's the ever changing amount of software at our disposal that we use as tools? Or maybe I really believe that kids are naturally intuitive and will pick up anything they put their hands on? I don' t know, but this is my struggle right now.
We currently have a "Scope and Sequence" for K-8 and it identifies at what grade level students will learn to format text in Word and when we'll teach them how to use Inspiration and even when they should learn how to do a Webquest! (I wonder if our pencil and pen curriculum is as detailed :-)
I want very much to give our staff a copy of the refreshed standards and say, "Here you go...now you have the freedom to address each these in your classroom!" "But Rob, how do I know my students can do Standard 6b, if I don't know what productivity software they know or don't know how to use?" Valid Question--Does that mean we need a more specific curriculum guide of "This is what a 3rd grader needs to know by they time they leave my class"?
I want to work as broadly as possible (Standards :-) but I definitely understand the comfort ability of specific objectives.
I know the answer is somewhere in the middle. Does this issue have something to do with a teachers comfort level with using the computer and its many tools? Hhmmmmm.
Any thoughts??
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Technology in the Lutheran Classroom is a discussion for technology facilitators in Lutheran Schools. What do Lutheran Schools look like the 21st Century?
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1 comment:
Rob,
I think it's important to list specifics in a curriculum's scope-and-sequence. Why? Here's an example:
I work with our K-8's 4/5 grade. I find some kids come to me and can't do certain "basic" things that I think they should be able to do by 3rd grade. When I send them on to 6th grade, my teaching partner assumes they can do certain other things. If not, she wonders 'why?'.
A specific scope-and-sequence would help us. We wouldn't assume things; we'd look at the scope-and-sequence to see what should happen when.
Of course, in the real world we still would need to have face-to-face conversations in case we didn't accomplish all that our neat, scope-and-sequence chart says we were supposed to accomplish. We still need to tell each other what REALLY happened.
Unless you're the ONLY teacher working with kids who use technology tools, I think a written, detailed plan is critical.
Paul
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