Bio
My name is Yordany Paneca. I am 24 years old and I was born and raised in Cuba. As any young person, I have many goals in my live. However, the most important for me would be possibility of becoming a History teacher. However, it was not like that since the first beginning. I would say that I became a teacher by the twist of fate. Euphony
When in Cuba, at the age of 14 I wanted to be a lawyer. However, in that time Cuba was having a deficit on elementary teachers so the Cuban government somewhat blackmailed many students like me in that case so in case that if we would like to study a different career, we would have to spend one year of intensive studies to be an elementary teacher and then to serve for 8 years and at the same time study the career of you decision. Without other options, I got into that educational modification of the Cuban government. When that year passed, I was obligated to serve as a teacher for a period of 8 years Nonetheless; they gave me the opportunity that during that period of time I could enroll into law school.
Consequently, I started teaching at the age of 16 and I was assigned a class of 50 students. However, even though this might seem contradictory, I began enjoying what I was doing. I became involved with that profession and out of the sudden, teaching was something pleasant.
Moreover, in the year 2004 I could escape from Cuba and come to America. After many jobs, I found a small institution where I can use my knowledge and short experience to teach math to middle school students. However, to star in the public sector, I have to do my studies again and to certify myself here in my new country. Furthermore, this time I am sure of what I really want. I want to be an educator; and this is something that my parents and friends do not understand. Why decide being a teacher over being a lawyer. As known, education is not a well paid career and on top of this brings a lot of responsibilities since we are working with kids.
Nevertheless, it is all decided. I am going to continue with I started 6 years ago. I love the interaction with students and even though this profession is tough, I feel good with myself when I put a little grain into those kids education. In addition, sometimes believe it or not, is the other way around. I get to learn from them also. Consequently, perhaps this is my purpose of existence, to teach not only academic matters but also values and virtues to make my students men of good. Maybe according to my standards, but yet men of good. This is what I want to do my whole life.
Reflection 1
After reading the article provided by Prof McNair I realized that curriculum extents its concepts beyond its etymological meaning. Behind its Greek origins of the chariots destined to race we find this word representing academic planning directed by school in order to crop learning on ours students. Moreover it is necessary to stress that this term curriculum always refers to schooling (even thought it could be implemented outside the school), and that learning will always be premeditated and directed.
Like in many facets in life, every field of study is divided into two components that are theory and practice. These two components need to be complemented successfully if we intend to achieve the desired results. Curriculum is not the exception of this rule. Therefore, this article has the purpose of showing different approaches of curriculum theory and practice.
To start, the first approach refers to curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted. The article mentions how some educators engage in the comparison of curriculum with syllabus and how they put boundaries to their planning in terms of content or knowledge they would like to pass on. Nonetheless, this approach is only about using the most efficient means and procedures in order to deliver these knowledge and content to the scholars.
To continue, the other approach is known as curriculum as a product. This approach centers its attention in doing something different than just using instruction as a mechanical practice. They manifest the importance of adding to the curriculum objectives that will allow students to have real life experiences on different activities, skills, aptitudes, and customs that will prepare them for their future.
In addition, Curriculum as a process is about the dependency of three crucial elements that need to be together in order to accomplished the final objective. Those 3 elements are teachers, students, and knowledge. Curriculum as a process is simply the interaction among these. It is when the teacher does his or her planning. When the educator delivers it to the students. When the teachers and the students talk, think, or act. When the lesson is evaluated and of course, when they can see the results of the work done.
Finally, the last approach is curriculum as praxis. This approach is basically similar to curriculum as a process. The difference is that praxis drags judgment, meaning, and principles to the core of the procedure and as a consequence of this those actions are not only ideas. They are executed.
Reflection2
The progressive movement surged and had its time towards the end of the 19th and beginnings of the 20th century. This movement consisted in the association of many American intellectuals and reformers who were looking for answers about educational, financial, and political inquiries that emerged as a result of the sudden changes provoked by the Industrial Revolution.
In addition, this progressive movement had its repercussion on the American Education. Before the progressive movement the school system was just worried about teaching scholars reading, writing, and math. That’s all they needed to survive and live in America. Moreover, they were more concern about discipline and to have compliant and obedient students rather than having critical individuals. Also, they were more interested in keeping an identical and homogeneous culture than to accept diversity. Nonetheless, with the progressive movement new ideas and theories were brought to the table. The Progressive Education advocated for the recognition of diversity. The American nation is integrated by immigrant from all parts of the world their culture and way of thinking must be respected. Secondly, it was time to make a paradigm shift and engage our students in critical thinking curriculum so they can be the ones who build a better America.
Therefore, this is why this Progressive movement is so important for the social studies curriculum. As we know social studies is a combination of topics like History, Geography, Civics, and Economics. Today in our schools social studies is as important as reading, writing, and math is. It is crucial for our scholars to have reading skills, to know how to write and express themselves correctly, and to calculate and work with numbers efficiently. Moreover, these skills are not enough for the fast and accelerated world we are living today. It is useful to know about economics to realize where we are financially. It is relevant to know history in order to distinguish where we come from and how we have gotten so far. It is crucial to know civics in order to know how to behave appropriately in our society and be responsible citizens.
Conclusively, I think my opinion here is clearly stated. The progressive movement has been a significant factor for the American Education improvement. It is true that we have to get better in many things. Nevertheless, it has been a big step from the way we were educating to the way we educate now. I also can not conclude this reflection without highlighting the figure of John Dewey who played an important role to achieve these results.
Reflection3
Identify the progressives on the table found on the link "Progressives and their Contemporaries." Who on the table is not a member of the Progressive Education movement?
| Members of the progressive education movement | non members |
| John Dewey Relevant figure of the progressive education movement Pragmatism | Augustus Comte French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism |
| George S. Counts Wrote The Principles of Education | George Herbert Mead was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist |
| Jane Addams Gave herself to education by settling a house to instruct the poor academically and industrially. | Thorsten Veblen Norwegian-American sociologist and economist |
| Harold G. Rugg Created a social studies textbook who was later repressed by the school system due to the constant pressure of powerful groups | Emma Goldman Anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches |
| Marietta Johnson Devoted teacher who wanted to teach studenst to love learning | William James Member and leader of the pragmatic movement |
| William H. Kilpatrick Developed The Project method | Charles Sanders Peirce One of pragmatisms movement |
| Colonel Francis Parker father of progressive education | W.E.B. Dubois Racial activist |
| Ella Flagg Young Fought to turn schools into a democratic community | |
| Booker T. Washington Created the industrial schools | |
| Ralph W. Tyler Significant contribution to curriculum design and evaluation | |
| paulo freire emphasis on dialogue and progressive practice | |
| Mortimer Adler Curriculum changes on reading, discussion, and analysis of the Classics and an integrated philosophical approach to the study of the separate academic disciplines | |
| John I. Goodlad Promotor of non graded schools | |
Reflection4
Important Personalities In The History Of American Curriculum
| | Key Components or contribution to education Reforms in higher education turned college into a modern university created a 3 year program for law school Added written test and lab work to all subject matters in med school and made possible clinical teachings at several hospitals in Boston. Creator of the Elective System. The implications for learning “Every particular mind has its own specific organization” Williams believed that in order to develop the students’ abilities and to expand their usefulness in the society, it was necessary to provide them with a rich study program that could expose to them their capabilities as well as their likes. Implication for teaching Traveled to Europe to acquire ideas and strategies from their educational system. He claimed a place for science,
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| Charles William Eliot 1834-1926 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education . “ father of progressive education” . placed the child in the middle of the education process .interconnected the curriculum for the students in order to improve its significance. .Theory of attention. The implications for learning Replacement of non-natural and synthetic methods for the instruction of reading, math, and writing by natural and logical ones. Exploit the activeness and curiosity of scholars to the maximum point. Promotion of self activity to enhance moral and rational growth. Promotion of language experiences and writing methodologies in which children would write about topic of interest. Implication for teaching Importance of a scientific teaching technique to turn schools into democratic communities where the students’ souls and minds could expand .Theory of attention
.Teachers must increase and accomplish student’s interest. .The Quincy method .Teachers must inculcate on scholars the custom of attention for a better education. | |||
| Col. Francis W. Parker 1837-1902 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education .Founder of pragmatic movement -the meaning and truth of an idea is a function of its practical outcome -Logic Theory of cosmic evolution Theory of casual laws | |||
| Charles Sanders Peirce 1839-1914 | | |||
| | . Key Components or contribution to education .Member and leader of the pragmatic movement - the meaning and truth of an idea is a function of its practical outcome .Considered the most influential of all American philosophers .Radical empiricist -denies that what is rational is real The Principles of Psychology - Consciousness functions as a path to organize thoughts. | |||
| William James 1842-1910 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Also known as the "father of adolescence" .Educational psychology -is the study of the efficiency of educational intervention -students’ development and learning Implication for learning .Curriculum according students with different futures .Instruction for girls addressing marriage and motherhood topics. .Boys’ development through constantly monitoring of the body, team sports, etc. .Education that addresses fidelity and patriotism. Implication for teaching Play as a reward and to create disciplined boys ready to obey. Stated that reasoning with children is useless Remarked that children need to be taught to fear God Stated that children needs to be toughed with authoritarian methods and even corporeal punishments. | |||
| G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924) | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Fought to administrate a progressive education in schools. Fought to turn schools into a democratic community. Implementation of a democratic management style. Implications for learning Isolation in school system. -educational philosophy to enhance students learning -its components are empirical learning, social liberty, and democratic schools Implication for teaching Most of her work as superintend was to improve teacher’s lives and work conditions. Added more significant curriculum subjects Maintained a “democratic efficiency” during her term. Created a system of teacher councils with the purpose of engage them in a “decision-making-progress” Raised teachers’ salaries | |||
| Ella Flagg Young 1845-1918 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education approval of segregation disagreement with black militancy race leader brilliant ideas and actions to help blacks importance of industrial curriculum Implications for learning Different implication since he was more a man of actions than an intellectual. However, he recognized that to be educated will help to improve people live. Importance of an industrial education. Wanted schools to be an enjoyable place. Implication for teaching Black should not be embarrassed of using their hands but to find respect and pride on creating something. Built industrial training schools Courses for Farmers, engineers, carpenters, sewing women,etc | |||
| Booker T. Washington 1856- | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Sociologist Economist | |||
| Thorsten Veblen 1857-1929 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Relevant figure of the progressive education movement .Pragmatism - the meaning and truth of an idea is a function of its practical outcome Implications for learning Education connected to social action in democracy Promotion of discovery and growth of the mind of the students Advocator of the development of free personalities and gave the school the responsibility of ensuring this. Students engaging in decision making in regards of what has to do with their learning. Motivation must be related to the student’s prior experiences and knowledge. Learning must be inherently motivated Implication for teaching Importance of instructing students how to be problem solvers Focusing in judgment more than in knowledge. Importance of instructing students how to cooperate among them. Importance of the rights and autonomy of teachers. Teachers are responsible for knowing how to deduce students strengths and weaknesses during their developmental process. | |||
| John Dewey 1859-1952 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Gave herself to education by settling a house to instruct the poor academically and industrially. “People of any race, gender, or socioeconomics have the right to develop their individual talents and interests. Implications for learning Use of diversity to enhance learning Relevance of learning by doing Implications for teaching. Child center education Several programs to aid individuals to improve their lifestyle. Several programs with emphasis on the immigrant population “Participatory action research” | |||
| Jane Addams 1860-1935 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Another founder of pragmatism theory of the emergence of mind and self -how “mind and self arises out of the social process” Communication is crucial to the society. Theory of perspectives -Perception -Reflection Implications on learning Children begging their acquaintance of knowledge and understanding through play Implication of teaching The use of body language and gestures. | |||
| George Herbert Mead 1863-1931 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education .Philosophy of progressive education. .importance on teaching the students to love to learn. .Organic School -education and growth as the same term Implications on learning .Students “need to be active on their learning” .Learning is a result of activity .Learning by doing . learning through experiences Implication of teaching .No exams .No homework .Teacher must provide students with an environment free of pressure . Teacher must inculcate students self-discipline Teacher must teach students to develop sincerity | |||
| Marietta Johnson 1864-1938 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Racial activist Civil right activist Against social integration proposed by Booker Washington Implication on learning Black reconstructionist to show how the blacks play an important role in America’s history promoted a radical restructuring of United States society | |||
| WEB Dubois 1868-1963 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Anarchist Rebel Feminists Supporter of causes like: - the use of violence to promote change -opposition to the draft Implications on learning Wrote essays about different topics like: -Freedom of speech -militarism -capitalism -free love Implication of teaching Was one of the founder of the Ferrer Modern School in New York | |||
| Emma Goldman 1869-1940 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education The Project method -means by which students acquire responsibility and autonomy -means by which students engage in democratic and social behaviors Implications on learning Implementation of activities that are interesting to the students Freedom of actions Implication of teaching Analyzing the activities related to discrete academic subjects and the use of that analysis to set up particular teaching objectives. | |||
| William Heard Kilpatrick 1871-1965 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Another founder of pragmatisms Spokesperson of Progressive Education Clarified the educational meaning of democracy as a way of life. | |||
| Boyd H. Bode 1873-1953 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Essentialism Implications of Learning Students must learn the typical subjects in a methodical and strictly manner. Implication on teaching Immature students have the right to a kind, knowledgeable, and wise teacher | |||
| William C. Bagley 1874 -1946 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Opened a school for black students Implication on learning Opened a library for the public access. Especially for black Americans | |||
| Mary McCleod Bethune 1875-1955 | | |||
| Key Components or contribution to education Seven rule for curriculum construction Activity analysis approach Audiovisual technology Implications of Learning The use of movies to influence student learning | |||
| Werrett Wallace Charters 1875- 1952 | | |||
| Key Components or contribution to education importance of historical time and context inability to predetermine future lives and roles of students necessity for schools to develop individuals’ intelligence instead of training them for work Implications of Learning Elimination of waste Implication on teaching Offer experiences related to activities demanded of people by the society | |||
| John Franklin Bobbitt 1876- | | |||
| Key Components or contribution to education pioneer of adult education first feminine professor of adult education Implication on teaching Education about sexual matters Offered program that were revolutionaries for that time Promotion of responsible sexual behavior Offered program that assure the continuation of studies for women | |||
| Jessie A . Charters 1880-??? | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Influence in the social studies curriculum Supported liberalism Implication on teaching racial understanding democracy social justice Created a social studies textbook who was later repressed by the school system due to the constant pressure of powerful groups | |||
| Harold Goddard Rugg 1883-1957 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education The Principles of Education -Philosophical, psychological, and methodological overview of American Education child-centered movement in progressive education Implication on teaching Teachers to lead society instead rather following it. Teachers should be interested not only in academic but also in politic, art, economic, and ethics matters. | |||
| George S. Counts 1889-1974 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Contributed to the theoretical and pedagogical foundations of concept development Contributed to the critical thinking approach in the social studies curriculum. Implications of Learning learning should be modeled after active models resultant from contemporary physics Implication on teaching Help to establish the education for student of different population | |||
| Hilda Taba 1902-1967 | | |||
| | Key Components or contribution to education Curriculum changes on reading, discussion, and analysis of the Classics and an integrated philosophical approach to the study of the separate academic disciplines |
| Mortimer Adler 1902-2001 | |
| | Key Components or contribution to education Significant contribution to curriculum design and evaluation Implications of Learning Develop relevant changes in the scholars’ pattern of behavior Implication on teaching teach the students how to memorize and how to understand and use the material |
| Ralph W. Tyler 1902-1994 | |
| | Key Components or contribution to education Non graded Schools Implication on learning curriculum is centered on constant and sequential learning learning stresses that all skills learned are base components of more composites skills to be learned in the future Implication on teaching Alternative system of activities to respond to these non grade options. take into account students’ individualities |
| John GoodladI. 1920 - | |
| | Key Components or contribution to education emphasis on dialogue progressive practice important theoretical contributions that have had a significant impact on the development of educational practice Implication on teaching Teaching using dialogue in order to assure cooperation between teachers and students consciousness that is understood to have the power to transform reality educators need to transform transfers of information into a 'real act of knowing |
| Paulo Freire 1921-1997 | |
Reflection5
Curriculum establishes what kind of education our scholars are going to get. For almost 70 years four groups of interests have being disputing about what type of curriculum would be the most appropriate to fulfill our students’ needs. Herbert M. Kliebard has written a few things about this matter and he also gave a name to those four groups of interest. He name them Humanists, Developmentalists, Social Efficiency Educators, and Social Meliorists.
To start, we have to say that humanistic education is a very polemic term since I might mean different things to different individuals. Nonetheless, in essence humanistic educators try to have a curriculum that bases instruction in different skills. Skills that will allow student to interact and live in the modern world we live today (reading, writing, math, critical thinking, decision making, computer, etc).Moreover, as the name says it, the humanist educational approach calls for a curriculum where many values and aptitude are inculcated (consideration, self respect and respect for others, etc) and where human issues are addressed (Human development, love, improving our lives, etc).
In addition, developmentalist make emphasis on “the development of children’s emotional and behavioral qualities” In other words, they proposed to use these characteristics as a starting point and base of the curriculum. Nevertheless, this theory has been strongly criticized from the point of view that this prevent teachers from “asserting themselves with” the students.
Furthermore, social efficiency educators based their allegation on the importance of having a curriculum that could exploit the “social utility” of every human being in our society. Moreover, they also believe that our social order can be controlled if we use education as an instrument for this purpose. Also, they say that every student should be scientifically assessed in order for them to be instructed according their foreseen role in our civilization.
Finally, social meriolist main concern is having education as a powerful weapon to enhance and produce positive changes in our society. They plan to do this by using the power of every scholar’s intellect as well as their capabilities of enhancing their intelligence throughout a proper education. The critics that attack this theory manifest that the objectives of the social meriolists are hard to measure. Also, critics say that social meriolists would need a lot of time to visualize those objectives.
Reflection6
Before we jump to the opinion of Humphrey and Shoemaker we need to know what curriculum integration is. CI is a philosophy of teaching where we teach a particular topic using material or content from other subject areas. We do not teach any subject area in isolation. For instance, if in science we are studying temperature, we could use math when we ask to calculate from Celsius to Fahrenheit. We use geography when we ask how the temperature in different places is. We use social studies if we ask who Celsius and Fahrenheit were. We use language arts if we use a poem related to temperature. Nevertheless, curriculum integration is a philosophy that would be more effective if all the teachers of a school agree to collaborate on its use. For example, let’s say that the school staff makes a meeting to decide who is going to be the guide teacher of the week. That teacher of the week (social studies) will assign the unit of American Government. Therefore, the remainder of the instructor should implement in their classes issues or elements that are related to American Government. This way the student will be digesting elements about American government all week long. By the end of the week they will be masters about that topic. The following week another teacher will assign a different topic and the tale will repeat again.
From the point of view of Humphreys curriculum integration is just the broader study of several subjects interconnected to exploit a specific content. He believes that there is a connection among the different areas in today’s curriculum like communication arts, mathematics, humanities, art, social studies, music, and natural science. He finds the importance of curriculum integration in the fact that through this activity, all the acquired knowledge and the abilities developed are employed not only in one but in multiple areas of study.
Shoemaker also gives his opinion about curriculum integration. He agrees and he is actually thankful for this practice because according to him, sometimes education touches content in a general manner and some sub categories of the content are left behind. With the philosophy of curriculum integration those subcategories are addressed and brought together to fixate them on the students’ knowledge. He also values that by bringing all those components together we are bringing meaning to all those areas of study. This makes teaching and learning a reflection of the real world.
Reflection7
Kathy Lake mentions in one of her articles some facts from Benjamin. She refers to the first fact as global interdependence. According to Collin Powel, we are currently living in a global age and in order to survive it will be necessary for the youth to have more knowledge about other people, idioms, and culture. In the future, our new generations will be exposed to the constant challenges of the global societies. Therefore, if they are to be facing those challenges, they need to understand them in the first place. The philosophy of curriculum integration plays an important role in this aspect. The integration of subjects helps to the spread that global consciousness on our students.
Secondly, the second fact refers to the increase in pace and complexity of the twenty-first century. If we take a look from to the beginnings of our history to the 21 century, America has exponentially grown in terms of our economy, politics, and society. Now we are not running on horses or writing telegrams. We have luxurious automobiles, internet, and high technology for everything. Moreover, this progress requires a higher level of thinking on behalf of the new generations. Our students’ development should be proportional to the human progress we have experienced through these centuries. The philosophy of Curriculum integration tries to put a little grain of sand to achieve this premise.
In addition, the third trend refers to the expanding body of knowledge. All of what I previously said refers to the idea of expanding knowledge. We will still be Neanderthals if we would have not expanded our knowledge. This is a main concern of not only American but of all the education system in the entire world. Now, this is also the purpose of curriculum integration because if we are extracting content of every subject area to teach a particular subject, we are trying to expand the knowledge of our student by loading them with all the information they can store on their systems.
Finally, the last fact refers to the necessity of our worker to posses the abilities to draw info from different areas and solve problems that contain interconnected components. As I was saying before, with the progress we have today the workforce needs to be more qualified than ever. Nevertheless, I ask myself a simple question. Is not that what curriculum integration is about? Are not the teachers extracting material from every subject to incorporate it to a specific one? There goes the answer; curriculum integration is modeling with its philosophy that trend that Benjamin states. We are exposing and training the student to have that performance in the future.
Reflection8
The learner relevancy is the most important aspect for the curriculum designer since they design the curriculum according to the students’ needs. Curriculum is the course of studies that our students need to satisfy in order to achieve higher levels in their education. Therefore, the curriculum designer needs to integrate in the curriculum all the components that we want our scholars to master. This is crucial to the learners because through a proper designed curriculum our students will prepared to contend globally with students from other countries.
To continue, this learner relevancy covers aspects like the instruction of different abilities like problem solving, communication, innovation, critical thinking, and collaboration, among others. Moreover, it will provide the scholars with favorable circumstances to acquire and transmit knowledge and learning. Besides, this learner relevancy is the one that will make the designer think about how to get to the students by incorporating elements of the scholars’ background, culture, values, and experiences. Also, it will oscillate in the combination of general and explicit content. Moreover, it will aggregate activities to address the complexity of knowledge and its use in different situation.
In addition, those teachers who have the task of curriculum designing should take into account all these aspects. They need to add element that assure the strengthening of the appropriate skills for our student and the application of these to real life situations. Learner relevancy must dictate the designer to think about what things the scholars need to learn and what they must be capable of doing. Also, it must influence the designer to think in terms of how well those skills in the curriculum were fixated on the students, and how well they will use those skills in real world situations and experiences.
Curriculum integration would be a utopia without a proper curriculum designing. Once the bases of a good curriculum have been established, educators can take the task to integrate it. Anyway, one way or the other we cannot forget that the roots of curriculum integration are fed by the learner needs.
Reflection9
There are three models of curriculum integration that Franzie Loepp describes in her article. Those models are the interdisciplinary, the problem based, and the theme based model. The interdisciplinary method consists on the idea of dividing the subjects into blocks. Several teachers work with a certain amount of students instructing them an integrated curriculum. In other words, we are talking about an x amount of students going through four different subjects a day for a period of four days. In addition, in this model teachers have one hour for planning time and one to do self learning. Consequently, they will have the chance of employing their block time working however they want as long as it is productive. This model has good and bad sides. The good side of this is that those teachers have a limited amount of students (this result on better student-teacher interaction) and some time to work cooperatively with other teachers. On the other hand, the bad side of this is that if administration is not monitoring the activities well, some teachers might not make proper use of class time and therefore this philosophy will certainly be a failure. Also, the greatest problem here would be the fact that in this model teachers need to build their own curriculum. This is an activity that requires a lot of work and a lot of time and for that reason, educators can only use this integrated curriculum for short period of the school year.
The other model is known as problem based model. This model uses technology as the main tool for the implementation of the integrated curriculum; which is a good idea since we live in this modern and technological world. To explain myself better, this model selects a technological issue of our society and then students try to find plausible solutions through the different subjects like math, social studies, science, etc. This model is usually enjoyed by the scholars since it is really challenging, relevant, and motivating when it comes to look for solutions to those real life issues.
Finally, the third model is called the theme based education. To describe this method Franzie Loepp uses the example of a math, science, and technology curriculum for middle school. The program contains a full curriculum for every subject and is prepared to be instructed by three teachers who will be lecturing two hours daily throughout the whole school year.
Reflection10
This question might lead us to millions of assumption of what is happening with the integration of language arts. This is a topic that had been researched by experts and still brings some doubts. Therefore, I do not think that my words are the answer to this issue. I will offer my humble opinion of why only a few teachers engage on language arts curriculum integration. There might be a few reasons. First, we could say teachers sometimes might agree with a philosophy and maybe like it, but they are just lazy when it comes to apply it. It could be that some educators the might understand the theory of curriculum integration. However, they might struggle or just do not know how to put it into practice.
Moreover, one of the possible reasons this might be happening is that the school has not set or trained to establish a proper curriculum integration environment. For example, as I have explained before, the teachers and administrators should scheduled meetings to determine how the curriculum integration will be administered in the school. They should assign one leader teacher for the week to use his or her specialty to be the subject to integrate all that week. In other words, if the leader teacher is the math teacher; he or she will communicate the others what topic he or she will be working on so the rest integrate the selected topic on the different subjects they impart. Moreover, if they would apply this strategy, when the language art teacher gets his or her week, the remainder of the educators will be integrating elements of language arts in their classes.
Nevertheless, I do not understand why language arts is the less integrated in today’s classes. If you think of it, language an art is the easiest subject to integrate in today’s curriculum. There are many things teachers could do like for example; Ask students to write a reflection, paragraph, or essay. Ask the students to write a short poem. Ask the students to talk about any writer or poet. Have the students mention any figure of literature and those sorts of things. You name it. The truth is that millions of element related to language arts can be brought in every subject of the curriculum; especially social studies, music, science and technology classes.
Reflection11
I had already heard that hypothesis that stated that if the human offspring is isolated from human communication they would start speaking the God –given language. However, I do not believe in that theory at all. Those children who had lived their early years with access to language have not developed any language at all. Therefore, I do not believe in that theory at all.
Nonetheless, I do believe that the human offspring with a certain capability for language that no other creature is has it. Like Noam Chomsky says, deep inside we have like a device for language inside us that just needs to be triggered. Moreover, the humans have also the physical characteristic for language. For example, our mouth is small compared to other animals. This allows us to open and close our mouth quickly. Our tongue is stronger and thicker in order to shape several sounds in our oral cavity. Our teeth are upright and not slanting and outwards like other animals. This helps us in making sounds like v and f. Our lips have very complex muscles that as a result of their development and flexibility we can make certain sounds like p and b. Besides, our larynx is placed in a different location than those larynxes of other animals. Moreover, another reason that they born with a capacity for language is that fact children who are born completely deaf, and therefore they cannot develop speech, they still learn the use of sign language very early.
Now, if we are talking about the ability of children to learn a second language we have to mention a few things. First, the theory of the gift god gave the children is obsolete. Second, we need to know that that the ability in learning second language acquisition is different according the age. Individual who learn one or more than one language within the first 3 years of their life will learn it in what we call sequential mode. Those who learn it after the age of three they learn it in what we call simultaneously way. Now for children is easier since they use some have some abilities in a natural way that they do not need a long time to learn it. They use techniques such as bridging(They connect English words to things they know in their native language)and chunking(they apply phrases they know in English in normal conversations).
Reflection12
There has been a big controversy between the phonics and language reading methods. For years supporters of these philosophies have debated to demonstrate which one is a better approach in order to reduce illiteracy in America.
Furthermore, when we refer to phonic reading instruction we are talking about teaching the students to read by showing them the association between sounds and the spelling of the same. On the other hand, when we talk about language instruction we refer to teaching students to read by focusing on meaning and tactic instruction. They teach to read by creating knowledge of language using syntactic, pragmatic, graphophonics, and semantic elements.
Now, both approaches have strong points to defend themselves and weak points that the rival will critique. Whole language approach is the most used in America. Their supporters express that when infants speak they use complete words without being concerned about the sounds that form those same words. Therefore, they do not see the logic on teaching scholars the components of sound when they could just learn to read entire words. They also manifest that the repetition that phonics uses is uninteresting and that students must learn words by reading them while educators read them aloud.
On the other hand, the supporters of the phonic approach manifest that the fact that students learn how to read by identifying familiar words would not be as productive as they might think. Everything will work just fine while they read familiar word but what will happen when they are to read unfamiliar words? That is the reason of the use of the phonic approach. Words are broken down into sounds to be later reconstructed to complete words. Moreover, although supporters of the language approach manifest that repetition is boring, the truth is that all students learn to read at an age where they see repetition as a very interesting and fun activity. I would say that the phonic approach is the most appropriate one; but hat would be because I was instructed using that method. People who were instructed using the whole language method might same the same thing. However, where I come from we use the phonic strategy and honestly, our generations do not have problems with reading and writing.
Finally, these approaches are completely different from emergent literacy and reading readiness. Emergent literacy refers to those skills that will eventually be useful for children for writing and reading. Children will go getting these skills along the way. It will commence when they are babies and listen to sounds, songs, and finger plays made by their parents. As visible, it is different from the other concepts.
Reflection13
Before I explain the concept of a balanced approached to reading and literacy instruction, it is important to mention some prior information related to the origin of this term. There are two philosophies that have fought for many years to express their point in regards to how reading should be taught to children. One of those philosophies is known as Whole language instruction. This concept refers to the idea that children get an easy and repetitive text that they should already know in order for them to comprehend and understand it. Students do not have to read the text precisely. They might even change a few words as long as they keep the meaning of the story and the children understand its essence. Moreover, the whole point of Whole Language Instruction is to inculcate sympathy and love for reading while keeping it as simple and natural as possible.
In addition, the other philosophy is called the Phonic express the idea of teaching reading by addressing reading accuracy. Children need to read precisely how it appears on the text. To assure this, children are taught the all the rules of relationship of sounds and their spelling. Moreover, teachers provide students with activities where they can applied all those rules they learned. In other words, the purpose of this approach is to hammer those phonic rules and make children use them with every word they work with.
Now, the debate among these two philosophies seems endless. Some systems apply the Whole Language Instruction while others utilize the Phonic method. However, still today we have some deficiencies in reading skills. For that reason and to put an end to this war, some teachers decided to stand in the middle proposing a balanced approach to reading instruction. This philosophy proposes an efficient and combined use of both whole language instruction and phonic approaches. In addition, researchers of this new practice express that children need instruction in both phonemic awareness in order to create consciousness for sounds, and in cueing tactics in order to decode texts and understand the content. Furthermore, there are theorists that assure that reading instruction might be like Emotional intelligence. They manifest that there are some students that learn better with the Whole Language instruction approach while others benefit more from the Phonic one.
Reflection14
The NCSS’s position paper reflects the importance of social studies in our curriculum. They mention how times are changing and how with these changes the school system must experience some reforms too. This paper places social studies as the responsible for inculcating civic aptitudes to our students through disciplines like social science, humanities, history, geography, natural science, etc. In sum, the point social studies is to keep our scholars informed. Moreover, it has also the responsibility of providing them with the capabilities of applying critical thinking to be able to judge and reason for themselves in such a way that those decisions will reflect their quality as good citizens.
Now, the NCSS’s paper also gives some accountability to teachers. They need to address on their lessons and on their classrooms democratic beliefs that will forge good citizens. For that reason, when we look back to teachers like Jay Bennish we feel disappointment and rage at the same time because teachers like him opaque the work and efforts of the majority of educators.
Nevertheless, it seems that Bennish is somehow charismatic among his students. Despite the fact that one of his scholars delivered the tape to the radio, most of his students supported him. Now, I do not agree with what Mr Bennish was saying. Moreover, it is not about a freedom of speech issue. He has the right of expressing his beliefs openly and without any fear. Nonetheless, he is not a mechanic, or an engineer. He is an educator, and within this profession we have to be extremely careful with what we say. I do consider that what Mr Bennish was doing (intentionally or not) has only one name; indoctrination. You must not inculcate on students ideas that go against our system. Especially if it is a Social Studies teacher whose job is to build good citizens out of students. Mr Bennish is doing the opposite thing . Furtheremore, some of the facts he used are not even accurate. What can Jay Bennish know about Marxism ?Trust me , he knows only theory. I was born and I lived in a communist country built by Marxist ideas for 19 years so believe me when I say Jay Benish has no idea of what he is talking. He should be thankful that he lives in this great nation and he got his job back. If that would have happened in the country where I come from, he would have disappeared instantly.
I strongly believe that History should be at the center of the elementary social studies curriculum. Is not that subjects like geography, sociology, humanities, or political science are less important. The problem is that the new American generations do not have enough knowledge about their history. Moreover, some theorists have been looking for the causes to this situation to find a solution to this problem. Through their researches they accused this issue to some factors like the lack of courses requirement, the necessity of better trained teachers, and the inappropriate use of the textbook to instruct social studies. In addition, the also state that in most of the United States of America there is no social studies curriculum for the grades K through 3. Our schools commence teaching a combination of social studies with social science in 4th grade. (There is an exemption in the state of California where they teach history through all the grades of elementary school).
In addition, there is another research that based its allegations on Piaget’s developmental theory. This research states that elementary students don’t have the capacity of thinking properly when it comes to history. They mean that elementary children are not ready yet to deal with extended time frames, theoretical concepts, and far-reaching generalities that form the social studies subject. Nonetheless, they do not say that elementary scholars cannot learn history. It is their intention to tell teachers to be conscious about elementary students’ limitations when they are learning social studies.
Nevertheless, there are other theorists who tried to find alternative methods to work with these limitations of elementary students. Kieran Egan proposes that teaching with the textbook is not enough to create historical comprehension. He recommends more use of narrative in order to motivate students to learn social studies.
For all these reasons we have to place history at the center of the Social studies curriculum. It is important for our scholars and future generations to know about their inheritance. They need to have knowledge of the heroes of our past and understand their position in time. Furthermore, History will be important for them to distinguish their own connection with this subject and to comprehend that their actions will write the history of our future.
reflection 16
Jerome Bruner was a psychologist and one of the most important exponents of the Cognitive Revolution. Bruner did special contributions to in the area of education. He expressed the importance of seeing schooling from a different perspective. School is not only to teach subjects and test them. It is also to inculcate believes, values, and attitudes that will benefit our society. He also sees school as a reflection of how one visualizes culture and its intentions.
Moreover, Jerome Bruner worked in many projects to benefit education. In 1940, Bruner put his efforts in methods based on the use of incentives, needs, and anticipations to influence perception. Right after this, he started looking at the function of techniques to develop human cognition. Years later, Bruner and other specialists like Howard Gardner participated in the creation and execution of MACOS in order to provide an all-inclusive program for behavioral science. In 1960, he created the Cognitive Growth Theory. This theory expresses that academic aptitudes develop in periods of changes on how the brain is employed. It is said that this theory inspired others like Lev Vygostky to criticized the deficiency of social science curriculum. Furthermore, it is in his article “The Process of education” where he persuades the way of thinking and the direction of many educators and students throughout the United States of America. He describes students as individuals capable of engaging in solving problems material and ready to deal with hard subjects.
Jerome Bruner manifested that teaching someone is not expecting that person to be a human encyclopedia. Is to guide and show them the path so they contribute and incorporate themselves to the process that allows the development of knowledge. He also says that knowledge is a procedure and not a final result.
As visible, many of Jerome Ideas and theories can be applied and might influenced social studies. He wants the student to think critically, not mechanically. He implied the importance of increasing the teachings of social sciences. He mentioned the necessity of seeing school with different eyes in order to hammer down on our students the proper values to be good citizens. I believe this gentleman have influence social studies in a great deal.
reflection 17
Before going into how could I approach lesson planning and unit, I will have to explain in what unit planning is about. It is said that there is not a right or wrong way when it comes to unit planning as long as we take into account an open curriculum lead and grasp all the phases of the planning procedures. In unit planning we choose the activities, we examine them, and we transform them if necessary. When planning these units, it is important for teachers to consider some elements like students’ interests, aptitudes, needs, and culture. Moreover, it is necessary to assign a topic and a rationale to the unit as well as the selection of suitable goals.
On the other hand, lesson planning is the teacher specific description of how the lesson is going to be instructed. It needs to be created on a daily basis. In other words, we need a lesson plan for every class that is going to be imparted. Now, our school system has many types of lesson plans that respond to different purposes. We have behaviorists, constructivists, inquiries, telecolaboratives, transpersonal lesson plans, etc.
Now, there are millions of activities that address problem based and inquiry learning. For instance, one of my favorite strategies is Jigsaw. This strategy can be easily used in a social studies class. It might encourage problem based learning and many other things like cooperation and reduction of racial clash. Also, I could use anchor activities. These techniques will respond to problem based learning needs. This is a procedure where scholars can work independently and might work on those activities throughout a whole unit. Moreover, we just might have a unit where we will use constructivist lesson plans. We all know that in constructivist lesson plans the teacher just facilitates the material and the students build their own knowledge. This is probably the best approach to problem based learning. Now, if we want to use an inquiry learning approach, we could just have inquiries lesson plans were the students can collect information, use common sense, and critical thinking to achieve the expected results.
In addition, we can use activities that comply with these prerequisites in our units and in our lesson plans. It might depend on different aspects like subject area or the objectives. It is crucial for educators to employ these approaches. They are part of the learning process and they are very important for the proper cognitive development of our scholars.
reflection 18
Well, the truth is that working towards the completion of a unit plan is a lot of work. First, you have to think of the topic you are going to use. Remember that is not going to be only one lesson. The minimum is three lesson plans and if Prf Mcnair gets too strict, which is something completely normal, we will end up doing 4 lesson plans. For that reason, I had to think what topic to use. In the unit 1 I was not sure what subject to pick. We know that within social studies we can find history, geography, civics, economy, you name it. At the end I thought that geography was the way to go. The other problem was to decide what geographical content to use that would appropriately fit the level of third grade students. Finally, I chose the topics of the five regions of the United States, the states of the west region, and the states of the southeastern regions. Moreover, don’t ever think it was a piece of cake. Prf Macnair had put some conditions for those three lesson plans. For the first one we needed to use a Pre-reading Strategy. For the second lesson we needed to use a Study skill strategy. For the last one we were to use a computer enhance lesson. With those new rules I had to deal in order to construct my unit. I ended up using the technique of the prior knowledge for my first lesson, the technique of index cards for my second lesson, and a power point and some educative website for my third lesson. Moreover, I took long hours glued to my bed working in my laptop to develop that unit. I do not even know what grade I got yet, but the truth is that I put a lot of brains and efforts into that unit. Nonetheless, it is when you do things and work when you can visualize your improvement. The first lesson was a total mission for me. The second one cause a little less trouble but still stressed me up. Now, the third one was easier for me. Anyway, I will have to get use to the situation because at the end I will have to construct millions of unit in this career whether I like it or not.
reflection 19
Well, in this class I had the opportunity to work with two types of lesson plans that are the behaviorist and the constructivist. Both approaches are great to deliver instruction to our students. I have to admit that my preference goes with the behaviorist lesson plan. Nevertheless, I also confess that sometimes the level and the characteristics of the lesson demands the use of a constructivist approach.
In the behaviorist lesson plan the teacher transmits information to his students. He does all the work for the student to learn the material covered. Now, years ago, a great educator named Madeline Hunter designed a behaviorist model that was quickly adapted by teachers throughout America. Hunter’s model embraces 8 basic steps. The first step is the objective. Here the teacher states the idea of the lesson. The second step is the anticipatory set. Here the teacher does a brief activity in order to motivate the students to learn the new material. The third step is the input. Here is where the teacher mentions everything he will do on the lesson. Then we have the modeling part. In this section the teacher needs to show how the final product of his lesson should look like. The fifth step is the guide practice where the teacher guides the student throughout the process of the activity to be learned. The sixth step is the checking for understanding. As the name implies, here is when the teacher makes sure that the students understood the material assigned. The seventh step is call independent practice. Here is when the students work without any help on what is being studied. Finally, the closure is the last step of this model. Here the teacher will conclude the lesson checking what the students got out of it.
On the other hand, in the constructivist approach the teacher is only the facilitator of the material. He only poses a problem for the students and they take over and build their own knowledge on the material assigned. This model is formed by 6 steps. These are Situation; where the teacher poses the problem. Secondly, grouping is when the teacher divides the class into teams. The third is called bridge. This is when the teacher construct a bridge between what the student already know and what the students will learn. The fourth is questions and it is when the teacher poses all the questions that are going to be asked on the lesson. Exhibit is the fifth step and it is where the student will exhibit the work they did. The final one is called reflections and it is where the students reflect on what they just learned.
These were the two type of lesson plan I worked on this class. I feel more comfortable with the behaviorist approach but I will definitely use both when I become a teacher.
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