(Term IV: Curriculum Design)
The assignment for Term IV is to create an integrated, inquiry-oriented curriculum plan in preparation for your two weeks of full-responsibility student teaching. By “integrated” we mean that it involves multiple subject areas. By “inquiry oriented” we mean that your curriculum should ask students to be active investigators rather than passive recipients of knowledge. While we do not believe that plans that incorporate integration and a student-inquiry approach are the only valid designs for teaching, we do ask that you “try on” these approaches this semester. We ask this because
our experience has shown us that:
a) these approaches have tremendous value
b) they are often not nurtured in U.S. schools--urban public schools in particular
c) elements of more teacher-centered or didactic instruction may be integrated within a wider frame of inquiry.
While we require that you integrate at least two content areas (math, literacy, social studies, science),we caution against making strained connections for the sake of integration. Some of your teaching may stand-alone. To paraphrase John Dewey (1902, p. 91), the challenge is not so much to create connections between areas but to choose a subject to investigate where the content areas are already connected (e.g., a trolley line, night, or family).
our experience has shown us that:
a) these approaches have tremendous value
b) they are often not nurtured in U.S. schools--urban public schools in particular
c) elements of more teacher-centered or didactic instruction may be integrated within a wider frame of inquiry.
While we require that you integrate at least two content areas (math, literacy, social studies, science),we caution against making strained connections for the sake of integration. Some of your teaching may stand-alone. To paraphrase John Dewey (1902, p. 91), the challenge is not so much to create connections between areas but to choose a subject to investigate where the content areas are already connected (e.g., a trolley line, night, or family).