My Curriculum Philosophy

My curriculum philosophy comes from a variety of my experiences in general education, some dealing directly with students, and others from looking at curricula development at the institutional level. While reflecting on my experiences and looking at the theoretical terms and ideologies I came to realize that each of my experiences presents a different perspective on the best applications for various curriculum theories. In looking at the four basic ideologies I found that I have employed and experienced a mixture of the social efficiency ideology, the academic ideology, and the learner centred ideology. As a volunteer for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ottawa I worked in the homework clubs, helping students, most of whose parents spoke very little …show more content…
In my current job designing lessons for students who visit historic sites, I find that the nature of the work requires me to take an approach that mixes the academic ideology with the learner centred. As our lessons focus on the concrete historical “canon” of the site, and the visits themselves are very knowledge based there is a degree to which the heritage interpreters must act as transmitters of facts and stories to the students, similarly to how a teacher might impart grammatical rules to his or her students in a more “traditional” language …show more content…
I see myself as more of a learning guide and moderator. The learning guide, one who facilitates independent learning, while providing the structural supports needed to embark on independent learning activities. The learning moderator, an educator who is able to evaluate student progress and reflect on possible improvements to my curricula in order to better respond to the needs of my students. One of the evaluation techniques I am keen to try is the “mini-conference” which I saw employed in a high school FLS class. During these “mini-conferences” the teacher had students sit with her outside of the classroom and present their unit projects. In this informal dialogue students expressed what they had learned, and what they thought they needed to work on. Contrary to a typical class presentation, the students seemed far more relaxed and spoke candidly about their struggles, as they were not being judged by their peers. I found this type of needs assessment not only important in the way that it allowed the teacher a direct line of communication to evaluate a student’s learning, but also as a measure to build trust and a sense of genuine caring with her students. Perhaps the creation of this bond was her