The backward design for curriculum is based upon three different steps in which the first deals with identifying learners goals, the second is to determine the evidence for how these goals will be accomplished and the third plans the activities that will help the students to acquire the knowledge for the task (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 58). This curriculum design basis therefore has three or four (including the pre-step) stages in which curriculum must go through while being designed. Each stage has its own set of complex steps that must be followed in order to maximize the curriculum that the students are being taught.
I found that chapter 3 of the Professor’s text and the lecture this past week were very informative to actual and practical teaching methods. Up until now, most of my education classes have focused on the idea of theory. While learning about theory it is extremely evident that there is a large gap between theory and practice. However, I feel that this past week has shown that learning more about curriculum practices enables us to put the knowledge of the theory of curriculum design to practice in the real teaching world. Furthermore, I also enjoyed looking at the high school curriculum books. I was given a grade 9/10 world studies book that included geography, history and civics and my first teachable happens to be history! So examining the grade 10 history curriculum and expectations for the material that the students will learn, was really interesting. The last time I was presented this material was when I was in grade 10 history, so being exposed to the curriculum side of the lessons and the construction of themes and big questions for how history is taught is definitely eye opening. Being exposed to the curriculum made me very excited and was a reminder that I am in a field that I love! It was great to finally see practice and theory aligning themselves.
Chapter 3 of the Professor’s text also highlighted all of the steps that it takings in planning an engaging and dynamic curriculum to suit the students needs. I guess a common misconception when you’re a student is that teachers have the easy job. I remember sitting in a high school classroom just bombarded with school work thinking to myself, “oh things will be so much easier when I’m a teacher, all you have to do is teach and grade”. BOY, was I wrong. A teacher quoted in Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment says "This is the most exhausting work I've ever done, but also the most exciting and rewarding!" (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 123Ten Common Myths About Teaching). The intricate process of planning curriculum seems time consuming and ever changing. One could say I definitely have a stronger appreciation for my high school teachers and everything that they did for us.
I also think that the “Know Do Be” model is a fantastic model to get students critically thinking about the topics that they’re learning. When you get to university, professors expect the students to become critical learners, and now by fourth year we are well on our way to understanding not only our chosen majors in a critical way, but also observing the world through a critical lens as well. Upon entering university this notion of critical thinking appeared new to me, never having been addressed this notion in highschool. The Know Do Be method suggests otherwise. First a student must know the content, do the skills required, and possess the learner’s traits (be) that are required to fulfill curriculum requirements. Therefore, the do in particular pushes for not only 21st century skills, but also the awareness of what they are doing and how the curriculum relates to the bigger world. Therefore, the roots of critically thinking are established in high school as a result of the KDB model.
Below is a link that outlines 10 misconceptions about teaching and is an interesting read !
Drake, S. M., Kolohon, M., & Reid, J. L. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st-Century Learner. Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press.
