Every teacher has his/her own opinion with regard to the district’s curriculum. I was recently speaking with a teacher at the school in which I am currently observing and I was surprised when she mentioned that very few teachers want to get involved with developing new curriculum. She mentioned that a number of her colleagues complain about certain aspects of the existing curriculum, but they choose not to volunteer their knowledge or expertise when the time comes to revise the curriculum. Are you familiar with this approach to curriculum structure on the part of professionals? Is this something that you see and hear in your school? If so, why do you think this is? What can districts do to encourage more teachers to get involved in developing a new curriculum?
The Curriculum effort is something that everyone has to go through at our district. What I say is that similar to what you experience, there are several teachers that are not on board with curriculum mapping. They do not want to participate in the process and do not want to change what they do, how they do it, or when they do it. I believe people are reluctant to change. Our process was successful because it came from the top and was done in a collaborative manner....and there was food.
ReplyDeleteTeamwork amongst teachers may be an issue as to why they do not want to get involved in developing a new curriculum. Shared responsibilities and not being on the same page as their colleagues may be some reasons. School boards, administrators, and departmental supervisors expect unrealizsitic goals without taking into account of the limited resources, insufficient time constraints, and monetary compensation.
ReplyDeleteMy district during school hours allows teachers time during PLC meetings where each teacher would rewrite their unit in their topic area. They would then meet with other subject area teachers to review and revise each others’s units. Teachers are compensated and they receive professional development hours that can be used towards their (APR) Annual Performance Review.