Curriculum

During the presentations this weekend, I think we all realized that the teacher is anintegral part of curriculum.  So, now I think about the teacher as curriculum and how we teach.  Teaching is a definite process for me.  I am still learning new things and I’ve been at this for over ten years.  Each June there is a final product which is within the students’ report cards and there is a feeling of closure – to me, a product is an end, it is closure to something.  Within this process and product, however, there is praxis.  Teachers are to curriculum as students are to learning.  As we teach students the curriculum, personal needs are addressed.  The process of learning in an effort to attain a product, is achieved through an understanding and respect for the student.  So, in a nutshell, process, product and process can be addressed through lenses of curriculum and the teacher.

This website provides teachers with ideas to teach students about patterns. 

http://www.mathman.biz/html/patterns.html

Teacher’s Lab – this website provides ideas about patterning and it impresses upon me the importance of patterning not only in math but in using and manipulating language as well.

http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/math/patterns/

http://www.warwick.ac.uk/staff/David.Tall/pdfs/dot1995b-pme-plenary.pdf

This article explains the process that students follow to learn math concepts and it helps me to realize that math is a developmental process that each child works through at their own pace within the confines of age and phases.  This follows the philosophy behind the phases developed within the diagnostic maps in Frist Steps in Math. 

I have spent a lot of time thinking about curriculum in terms of product, process or praxis and how this affects my students as well as how I teach and how my students learn.  Tonight I have been reflecting on my own learning experience.  I have learned a lot; I learned how to use Voice Thread, I learned to manage a blog, I learned to think deeper about math and I have thought about how I teach math to my students.  I am aware that I have much left to learn.  I tried to put a video on this blog without success but I will keep trying because I have learned that I am capable of working with this technology, maybe just at a slower rate than others!  All of these experiences were learned through a process.  On Saturday I will present my diagnostic map to my colleagues which will be the product of this class.  In terms of praxis, I have been given the freedom to investigate, research and learn about subject areas which are of interest and importance to me. 

http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/1143

Donna Desroches sent me this very cool video from Open Thinking and Digital Pedagogy  about 21st century thinking.  I shall now refer to myself as a learning architect because I think that’s a cooler title than teacher!

http://www.stm.fi/Resource.phx/publishing/store/2005/01/cd1106216815326/passthru.pdf

This brochure explains early childhood education and care in Finland.  I found it to be quite interesting.  Day Cares are available.  Parents have the choice as to whether they will send their child to municipal day cares, private day cares or provide care themselves.  Parents are paid for a child care leave for 43 weeks after the child is born.  Parents can receive a child care allowance if they choose to stay home.  If they choose to work, they could choose a private home where they would also receive an allowance (and parents would probably pay the remainder) and I understand that parents pay a percentage of their wage for municipal child care but it seems to me that this type of day care sounds like a preschool when they expect the care providers to have at least a secondary degree in social welfare or health care and one in three staff must have a post-secondary degree in Education or Social Sciences or Master of Education. 

I was looking through the Finland Math Curriculum and I noticed something very interesting.  In grades one and two, students are introduced to multiplication and division which is a concept that is not introduced until grade three in Saskatchewan.  Not only are students introduced to multiplication and division in grades one and two, but they are required to understand these concepts and how to apply them to everyday situations.  They also expect these young students to understand numbers with decimals.  I find this a huge stretch from what our curriculum outlines and what we expect, as well as what our students are capable of understanding at such a young age. 

The strands, which they refer to as the Core Contents include Numbers and Calculations, Geometry, Measurement, Data Processing and Statistics as well as Algebra! 

We had a discussion yesterday in class about Finland, a country which ranks high on the PISA scale and the World Economic Forum.  We often look to other countries which are doing well and we make comparisons.  One comparison we made yesterday was when children start school.  A comment was made that we start students too early in Canada.  Yes, we have preschools which are private and now also funded by the government.  My children started a private preschool when they were 3 years old and they spent one day a week with kids their own age playing, socializing, crafting, and interacting with adults and other kids their age.  My intention was not to create Baby Einsteins (by the way we have one video which was a gift and has never been watched!).  Students in Finland do not start grade one until they are seven years old and the year before they attend preschool – could this not also be called Kindergarten?  I agree that some kids are not ready to start school at a prescribed age and often times the children who struggle the most are those with late birthdays.  I agree that kids have to play but for some kids, playing unsupervised in inappropriate environments is not the answer either – keep Pre-K!  The following is a link for a map of the educational system in Finland:

http://www.edu.fi/english/SubPage.asp?path=500,4699

I’ll have to keep digging to find out if there are privately finded preschools in Finland.

Students have used these fish everyday for the past 59 days of school.  Students count by ones and we also skip count.  Students count the small fish to discover multiples.  Students are becoming more proficient when counting by twos, fives and tens but when skip counting by other numbers, I use the hundreds chart.  I point to the multiples for students to recognize and read. Students are encouraged to discover the patterns in skip counting – math is a combination of patterns.