Announcements+&+Updates

Course announcements and updates will be posted here. Please check this page at least 3 times per week.
= 6/11 Final check-in! = =media type="file" key="Final check-in.mp3" width="240" height="20"=

= = = 6/10 Curriculum Project update -- Nobody contacted me with questions about the final assignment, the Curriculum Project, so rather than posting a Q&A I've amended the requirements a bit (with the goal of making things a bit more manageable) and posted them here. Changes are noted below in red. Also, let's change the due date to Sunday, June 20th. Let me know if you have any additional questions. =

Part 1 will be a descriptive paper that outlines the curriculum “problem,” or challenge, that you are trying to solve. For those of you who are practicing teachers, this should be a real-life, practical challenge from your own classroom: A piece of your curriculum that you would like to re-work, re-think, add, or transform. For those of you who are not classroom teachers, it can be a hypothetical curricular challenge in a K-12 setting. This portion of the project should be ** 1-2 pages **, typed and double-spaced.

Part 2 will be a plan for a 1-2 week curricular unit **[You are welcome to do a two-week plan, but one week is fine -- you won't receive "more" creidt for doing 2 weeks rather than one. I'm looking for thoughtfulness, not quantity.]**, either in a single subject area or an interdisciplinary unit. Using what you’ve learned about the “backward design” planning process, you will create a unit (5-10 lessons) centered on an organizing curricular theme of your choice.

You **will not** be writing full-blown lesson plans for this unit. Instead, the unit plan will be based on the “backward design” principles and will include: 1) A 1-paragraph rationale for why the unit has relevancy for your students 2) The essential question(s) the unit explores 3) The desired results of the unit: the key understandings students will have as a result of experiencing this series of lessons. What will students know, understand, or be able to do //as a result// of the unit? These will not be taken from state standards documents (though you should certainly take them into account), but will be your own goals for the unit, tailored specifically for your students. 4) A written plan for assessing the unit. What evidence will you use to determine whether students have achieved your desired results? Will there be a culminating project? How can you assess their learning in authentic ways that demonstrate what they have learned? 5) A day-by-day overview of the unit’s learning experiences with **one** paragraph (or bullet-pointed) descriptions of each lesson. Descriptions should include a learning objective, a brief description of the content of the lesson, methods/activities you will use, and what students will be asked to do. 6) A list of books, poems, videos, or any other resources you will incorporate. Also, a list of any resources you used to help plan the unit.

= 6/2 ** Q&A: Curriculum Scholar/Issue Paper (or creative project) **= = = Here are some questions I’ve been asked individually about the Curriculum Scholar/Issue Paper that I thought might be beneficial for the group:


 * Q: Do I have to address all the questions listed on the assignment description?**

A: No. Use those as a guide, but not a checklist. There may be other, more interesting, questions that occur to you as you do your research. However, since this is a curriculum course, your paper should definitely focus at least in part on the scholar’s views on curriculum.


 * Q: How many sources do I have to use?**

A: I’m always hesitant about answering questions like this. It’s a 5-6 page paper, so I’m not expecting pages of references. However, I do expect you to triangulate your information by learning from a variety of sources. Internet sources are OK, but please don’t cite Wikipedia – find some legitimate academic references. Also, if you’re writing about a scholar, you need at least 3 primary sources – the person’s own work, not the work of others discussing his/her work. These could be books, chapters, or articles. If you’re doing a current issue, then you’ll probably be relying mostly on web-based texts. Again, just be sure to use a variety and to use reputable sources.


 * Q: What do you mean by the question, “From what theoretical perspective do you believe this scholar is coming?”**

There are many different ways to categorize theoretical perspectives of curriculum scholars, but for the purposes of this paper feel free to use Schubert’s four curriculum orientations that we read about in week 2 (social behaviorist, experientialist, etc.)


 * Q: What are you grading us on?**

I hate grades. Have I said that yet? And if you don’t really care that much about grades, either, I’ll be happy to just give you comments and feedback without a grade. However, if you want a number attached, I will base it on: Solid research and understanding of the “big ideas; clear, well organized writing (and if it’s snappy and interesting, even better); Synthesis and analysis of ideas rather than simple regurgitation – in other words, I want to hear you in the piece, not just Sonia Nieto (or whoever); and freedom of errors in grammar, spelling, etc. If you’re doing the creative option then obviously it’s a whole different ball game, and the assessment will be even more holistic and interpretive as a result.

If you have other questions, post them in the discussion area of the “Questions about the class” page.

5/27 Week #2 mid-week check-in is below. Click to play:
media type="file" key="Wk 2 midweek check-in.mp3" width="240" height="20" **5/24 - New "Option C" for Curriculum Scholar/Issue paper** I've been thinking more about how I practice what I preach -- or don't, as the case may be. As a teacher and teacher educator, I advocate for students being able to express or show their learning in a multitude of ways -- not only with quizzes or tests, but through visual art, poetry, drama or theater pieces, videos, fictionalized dialogues with real people, comics or graphic novels, and on and on. And in the classroom, as a 7th and 8th grade teacher, I was pretty good at practicing this. But now as a college professor I find myself falling back on the stand-bys: papers, papers, and more papers (at least there are no tests!).

But how can we read about all these theorists who are suggesting that we rethink the way we do curriculum, that we throw off the chains of schooling-as-usual, and yet at the same time remain wedded to the old model? We can't. At least if we want to have any integrity, we can't. So....

==== The new "Option C" for the Curriculum Scholar/Issue paper (Options A an B are explained on the "Assignments" page) is  to //creatively// expresses some of the big ideas, lingering questions, and/or critical understandings you are taking away from this course. The possibilities are wide open -- i.e., a video, a series of poems, a Powerpoint with images/text/narration, a song, an imagined conversation with John Dewey or Maxine Greene or Angela Valenzuela (or any other person we've read), a script, a visual art display, a short story, a debate (I guess you'd argue both sides), and so on. This could either be something you could send to me electronically or, if not, something I could pick up (I will be coming to campus sometime near the end of the course). If the project is strictly interpretive (a painting, video, series of photographs, a song) then you would also need to include a 2-page "explanation", connecting it to what you've taken away from the class. ====

====Let me know if this option interests you. To give you an example, here is a rap song I created for a curriculum class in my doctoral program at UIC. I'm no Lupe Fiasco, but I gave it my best shot. This was done in 2000, and it's a bit goofy but you should recognize some of the names I drop throughout. (Extra credit if you find my error.) ====

media type="file" key="Curriculum Thing rap.mp3" width="240" height="20"

= =

**5/23** - Week 2 assignment page is up. Click here or on the "Week 2 stuff" link in the left column. Also, remember that Response Paper #1 is due by midnight tomorrow, 5/24.
= **5/20** -- The Week 1, Part B discussion questions have been posted (at least some of them) on the "Discussion" portion of the "Week 1 stuff" page. Remember that for part B each week you can join any discussion you choose -- there are no assigned groups. =

**5/18 - Plagiarism reminder - Important!** Quoted from the course overview/syllabus:

"Please read this carefully. All of your work in this class should be your own. Plagiarism from any source--books, websites, other students’ work, your own previous work, etc.--will not be tolerated//.// //Per university policy, any assignment that is plagiarized will automatically receive a failing grade, and more serious disciplinary action could follow.// Using exact words from another published source without quotation marks //is plagiarism//. Taking ideas from another source without acknowledging that source //is plagiarism//. Thinly paraphrasing sections of someone else’s work (especially without attribution) //is plagiarism//. If you have any questions about further defining plagiarism and the university’s policy on it, please ask me."

Understand that //this applies to all work that you do in this class//: papers, wiki assignments, discussion posts -- everything. Your work/ideas should be your own. Connecting to the work/ideas of others is fine (and actually welcomed -- that's part of academic writing), but it must be cited properly and, if you use the words of others, they must be in quotation marks. Let me know if you have any questions about this.


 * 5/17 - Names and photos** - Since it's almost impossible to create a user name using your first name on Wikispaces (they've already been taken by other users), many of us have user names that aren't really that helpful as identifiers. So let's make a practice of "signing" any posts on the discussion board or elsewhere on the wiki with our first names. I think that will help us all keep better track of who's who. Also, I'll repeat my request for everybody to add a photo to your profile on the wiki so it will show up whenever you post. (To do so, go to "My account" at the very top of the page, and then add a photo to your profile.)

Thanks, Greg