What, in your estimation, is the definition of the
term “educational goals?” Do this week’s
readings convince you that educational goals are necessary? And finally, who should assume the responsibility for
determining the educational goals in each of the schools throughout our nation:
the federal government, the state boards of education, the members of the local
boards of education, a representative community group, the principals of each of the schools within a
school district (as a group), or the faculty of each school? Why would you
choose that particular constituency?
Educational philosophy is one component that helps shape the curriculum at the national, state, and even local level. Standards and benchmarks should be used to guide teachers on what students should know and be able to do, but should not dictate how the material is taught, etc.. In fact, the reform of national standards has been created as a result of changing educational philosophies. There has been a paradigm shift in education from a more teacher-centered approach to a more student-centered approach, which is why I believe educational goals are critical in shaping the curriculum. We need a guide to help us determine what to teach. However, it is the educational philosophy of the school and teacher that could make or break the effectiveness and efficiency of the learning process for our students. I personally believe in a more progressive approach to instruction. So although the standards and benchmarks outlined in the curriculum are important, it is the mission of each school and the educational philosophy of the teacher that will dictate how students learn the material outlined in the curriculum.
ReplyDeleteBecause each person has a different educational philosophy, representatives from all of the organizations and groups listed in the prompt should be involved. According to the text, educational philosophies are constantly changing as we learn more about our students and as the tools to learning change. Therefore, I believe it is important for us to understand the viewpoints of others and come to a consensus before establishing a nationawide educational philosophy; and, in turn, a nationwide curriculum.
Educational goals are necessary for the development of a curriculum that will provide the most comprehensive education possible for our students. A clear vision of what our students need to learn needs to be articulated in order to effectively design and plan the curriculum and ultimately assess its effectiveness.
ReplyDeleteThroughout history, educational goals seem to have attempted to cover all bases, from aspects of citizenship and individual student needs to academic/scholarly concerns. These goals, however, have been reflective of societal concerns and philosophies; what a society ultimately expects of its members.
I agree with our text (Ornstein) that “the primary task for which public schools were established is to enlarge students’ vision and experience by helping them learn to draw upon the resources of scholarship, thus overcoming the limitations of direct experience and the narrow confines of a local environment. “ The main goal of education should be to teach our students “how to think.” It seems simplistic to say that students need to know how to think, however, the desired outcome in any educational goal is that the student does not merely “parrot” back information that they have memorized and stored, but that they can synthesize information and apply it accordingly.
The responsibility of achieving all of the basic goals of education should be a shared one. A school should contribute to goals that pertain to citizenship, values and behaviors; however the primary goal of the school is to focus on scholarly endeavors and to help develop and foster the process of thinking and learning. All stakeholders in a school district should have some contribution to developing educational goals, however, the academic areas should be left to the educators who are trained in their fields.
Maureen,
DeleteI agree that all stakeholders in a school district should have some contribution in the development of educational goals. However, have you ever considered how this can be done so that "Educators" and not legislators have the largest amount of input concerning academic goals? Remenber, NCLB is Legislation's respone to improving education.
Catherine,
ReplyDeleteWow! Great question, and the subject of perennial debate, because it is not an easy one to answer. On the one hand, we hear constantly about the USA not being able to compete with other nations - which might tempt one to decide a national curriculum is the solution. I think this would lead to a strong tendency to take a "traditional" approach that would likely be very content-based. Among the problems with that kind of approach are the research that argues against the "top down" instruction that tends to accompany it - where teachers are the holders and distributors of a kind of rarified knowledge. Most ominously, I think it has the potential to block innovation and thinking "out of the box" by defining a set of truths or true knowledge or what is the best knowledge.
Having said that, regardless of who crafts the curriculum, someone's value judgements will come into play about what must be included in it. Tomlinson and McTighe talk about deciding what are the most important points for students to grasp, electing to exclude "nice to know but not necessary" knowledge and skills for students who just aren't ready. But who decides what is important and what isn't?
I see curriculum development a multi-layered task that must involve many different decision makers at different levels. For instance, the Common Core standards that have been developed for math and English have been embraced by 46 (48?) states now. I've worked a lot with the English standards. I am a curriculum chair in our district, which means I have worked in conjunction with others on developing and reviewing curriculum. I also served on a county level curriculum consortium to develop a middle school LA curriculum with several districts that feed into the same regional high school.
My experience was this - the core standards were developed at the national (consortium of states) level; NJ adapted them AND the 21st Century Life standards, developed by a separate group of states. So at the county level, we looked closely at the standards and worked to translate them into units with enduring understandings, essential questions - and suggest resources. The next step was to work with my grade level partner to take those 8th grade unit infrastructures and create the actual units as they will be implemented in our district.
One of the most interesting ideas to me was Brandt and Tyler's (Chapt 2, Ornstein) idea about soliciting public input. We do have our curriculum approved by the BOE, but publishing drafts and asking for feedback is a whole different ballgame. I thought in some ways it could be a nightmare scenario with people in the community fighting for their own agendas - but then I thought about how it might really enrich a curriculum and bring fresh ideas and perspectives. It sounds intriguing, but I'm not sure I'd want to manage that effort.
Overall, I think that there need to be many ideas considered and voices heard when we develop curriculum. Those of us who worked on the county consortium last year requested an opportunity to reconvene this year because we all learned so much from each other. It was a time-consuming but stimulating experience to collaborate with others who were coming from different systems. Together we were all smarter than any one of us was alone.
Educational goals are very important for both the teacher and students. They give a
Deleteframework from where the curriculum is and what needs to be learned by the students
and taught by the teacher. It is important to have a starting and ending point. Educational goals reflect three important things: nature of knowledge,society, and learners. The curriculum is also, the foundation for learning.It helps and allows teachers to use planning, quizzes, tests, and benchmarks to increase their students learning through evaluation. According to Ornstein in chapter two The Tri County Development Project has broken the goals up into four different areas. I firmly believe that educational goals are very important to have and use. Today's world also, plays a big factor in educational goals for different countries. For example in The United States we stress for the children to have uniqueness, individuality,competition, creativity, and freedom to choose government offices. Russia teaches their students to teach loyalty to the state and subordination of one's individuality to the welfare of the collective. The difference in curriculum of study for the two countries is that The United States gets to take more electives and Russia takes more of the required classes. Which, I feel has a great deal of how the students learn and will be prepared for the real world. Curriculum and it is components are very important for the students to succeed at.
The teachers, principals, government, and board of education should be involved in establishing goals. I feel that it is very important to have people from different backgrounds to give input. Because, today's education is different from years ago. Teaching philosophy has surely changed throughout the years. I feel that it is important to use this method because, it is important to get different opinions fro other people. I like the idea of collaborating with one another. It is important before a curriculum is established fully and used throughout the nation by all teachers.
During our first day with faculty, we went through a series of presentations, including the new content standards. The impression I got through our discussions today is that there is a conflict between 21st century learning skills and the content standards. I guess it depends on how you look at it...
Delete1.) You can use the curriculum as a guideline to teach the content, but teaching is an art, not a science. Therefore, you can use certain progressive techniques to ensure students develop 21st century learning skills.
2.) Because we are teaching content subjects and not technology (MS Office Apps), etc., it may indicate that there is a conflict between 21st century skills and the curriculum.
I happen to think the former is true. Students need to learn key concepts and skills in each subject to develop a solid foundation to learn more advanced topics and skills. However, we, as teachers, can make a strong effort to use collaborative learning, project-based instruction, technology, etc. to teach this content and simultaneously help students learn the skills they need post-secondary education.
Kanchan,
DeleteI agree with you! Teaching is an art and when we attempt to turn it into something else, we end up with "cookie cutter" teaching that usually only attempts to meet a specific testing goal. We are not, then, fostering the students ability to think. Good post!
I agree teaching is an art! Metaphorically speaking teaching is closest to sculpting or painting, in that we possess the unique ability to shape and mold the minds of students which can cause them to view the world from numerous perspectives. We have the ability to change lives, empower and inspire through education.
DeleteNo other profession has this privilege! No other profession has this responsibility. Teachers are charged with the cultivation of our nation's most precious and valuable commodity...I think it's time we all begin to view the students we teach as such!
“Educational Goals” are best defined as the ultimate student outcomes upon completion of high school provided that you subscribe to the Understanding by Design Model. The common core standards have seriously looked at the ultimate goal of American education which is college and or career readiness and created a framework that makes those goals definable and far less vague than they were in the days of old. Traditionally, educators created academic goals starting with kindergarten and began working towards high school goals or the “ultimate goal” respectively. This method of planning has created and facilitated unclear end goals and fostered a level of uncertainty with regard to ultimate student outcomes. We cannot expect student to achieve goals that have not been clearly defined. I think the Common Core Standards have effectively addressed what our students should know and be able to do at the end of their high school careers. For this I am grateful!
ReplyDeleteBefore the common core standards we simply wanted to produce “well-rounded” students. This did and still does sound good in theory. However, there has never been a clearly defined criterion or a set of achievable goals with regard to one being and or becoming a well-rounded student. The entire notion of one being well-rounded is totally subjective and contains numerous socio-economic contingencies which make such impossible. Consider the following questions. What can a well-rounded do? What does a well-rounded student know? What enduring understandings does a well-rounded student possess?
The common core has attempted to address the “pink elephant” in the academic room. What is the ultimate goal of American education and how do we achieve that goal?
Rachel: Well said! Well-rounded does indeed sound good in theory. When I hear the term well rounded I can’t help but think “Jack of all trades, Master of none”. I feel that the best that can be expected with this approach is exposure and not true mastery. Perhaps this is what the common core standards are trying to address..?..
ReplyDeleteI believe that educational goals are very important and that we need them. Without them we are asking students to achieve an undefined goal. I agree with so much of what has already been posted here.
Maureen brought up a great point mentioning point “the limitations of direct experience and the narrow confines of a local environment. “
An analogy if you will… Tommy wants to learn to paint but he’s never seen anything outside of his own confines. His mother paints, but only the wheat fields that flourish where they live; and this is the extent of what he knows of painting. He has never been exposed to da Vinci, Rembrandt, Monet or Van Gogh. Should he be expected to be able to develop mastery techniques on his own, with no exposure, essentially inventing them?
You need the view points, knowledge set and mastery skills of others to specialize or be “complete” in anything. Ignoring that would be to live in the dark, ignorant. This applies to curriculum writing, educational goals and pretty much life in general. And perhaps the contributions of educators are the best resource for academic areas, but I would hate to ignore a good idea because it didn’t come from the “right” entity.. government, BOE, parental resource, etc.. I would still like to think that any good idea would at least be heard… I say the more the better, I don’t think any one entity has the absolute right answer.