Welcome to EDC 533 and a little bit about me

Welcome to EDC 533 —Dynamics of the Curriculum. I love teaching this class and I love  studying the issues, concepts, and skills of curriculum development, planning, and implementation with teachers at all levels. As I write this, most of you are looking hopefully to the end of the school year in another week to 10 days. When all you want is a quiet place to sit down with no one asking you questions, you are about to embark on a (another?) graduate course! Amazing...and welcome aboard. It is my job to make this class well worth your while and I take that responsibility very seriously.

If you want to know a little about me, skip down to last year's June 2013 post. Here is a short update for this year...

Late last August I found that a good friend and colleague would be undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments during the school year. I volunteered to be her full-time substitute for as long as she needed me and that turned out to be from the beginning of school in September to early February. What a ride it was! I was the third teacher on a two-teacher team working with 42 eighth graders in an integrated curriculum. I even tried to teach math! After 29 years I was back as a full-time middle school teacher. A terrific experience for me and I hope for the students as well. If you are interested in reading a short piece on my 8th grade teaching experience this year, click here. Of course, the best part is that my friend is doing very well and has been back in her classroom since February.

A major change at home this year was that my wife, Connie, and I became first-time grandparents to granddaughter Castine, who is now five and one half months old. Of course we are having a ball watching her grow and develop.

Finally, along with my tech-director son and two good friends/colleagues, I have started an entrepreneurial venture called BoomerTECH Adventures. We will offer four-day retreats for baby boomers who want to travel to Maine and learn something about technology while they are here. Since March I have been very busy building a website, learning about using social media, planning the curriculum, and marketing our retreats. Interesting and fun work!

Ed picking blueberries for his morning cereal

Will I Know It When I See It?

 I spent a terrific day yesterday at the Kieve-Wavus Educator's Conference on Damariscotta Lake (ME) with some bright, thoughtful, and committed people. A sunny day in a gorgeous setting that fed our bodies and souls, with folks who have some of the same interests I have in progressive education.

Conference participants are spending several days devoted to "better understanding the culture, experience, design, and practice of student-driven education."


As you have already inferred, we were not there to talk about aligning the Common Core State Standards to curricula already written. Instead, we spent much time studying curriculum integration, experiential education, project-based and problem-based learning, and many other forms of curriculum design that start with the needs and interests of students...not teachers.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate on day two so like any (former) professor I'm using this blog to do two things—get in another two cents worth on this exciting approach to learning AND also give my EDC 533 students (graduate class in curriculum) another take on curriculum design possibilities.

Here are three issues that are critical to this kind of work:

1. Part of the problem with talking about this type of learning is that there are so many different terms (see paragraph three above). We also talk about democratic classrooms, negotiated curriculum, hands-on learning, expeditionary learning, and on and on and on. When asked, many teachers indicate that they do this kind of work—here are still more terms— interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, crossdisciplinary, integrated, or integrative. The important point is that while some casual and infrequent stabs at interdisciplinary connections might be considered a good start on the way to a fuller student-driven experience, too often the interdisciplinary unit on turtles or chocolate BECOMES the curriculum event for the term or year.  We need to aim higher for truly authentic, integrative experiences where students are involved in studying real problems, connecting with experts around the globe, and making connections across disciplines.

2. Curriculum integration involves significant student involvement (as we did yesterday with the focusing questions). Themes eventually arise out of these world and self questions that become the focus for the entire class, with significant opportunities, of course, for individual study and reflection. In addition to student involvement in setting the questions, the traditional disciplines are critical. Because of the pervasiveness of the separate subject approach (do we learn in any other aspect of our lives by studying only isolated bits and pieces as we do in schools?) a common critique of curriculum integration is that the disciplines are devalued. Not true. Knowledge plays a key role in any integrative study, albeit in a very different form. In fact, the depth and breadth of study in various disciplines is most often greater than the study of school "subjects".

3. Hmmm...the technology piece. Interesting discussion about this yesterday. Ok, here's the thing. I love technology for what it can do for me. Access to the Interwebs (as Thomas says!) allows me to rig my sailboat every year, fix my refrigerator's icemaker, and it will soon teach me to learn to play the Djembe (I hope). Honestly, I don't see how we can learn in 2013 without every student having the tools of learning and to me that includes a device with Internet access. And this is definitely not about teaching kids to learn to use spreadsheets and MS WORD. It is most definitely about access to information and as we learned yesterday afternoon, knowing how to collect and use data. All of this has to be balanced with learning about the natural world and for heaven's sake knowing when to leave the devices home and turned off!

This final comment falls into the structures of schools that promote or inhibit learning. If I were still teaching middle or high school, our classroom would contain some standing desks, several exercise bikes, a treadmill or two, several banks of carrels, and some comfortable seating as well.  And I would have large blocks of uninterrupted time for learning, in room working lunches, breaks when we need them...And yes, I am very serious about this.

My new Kieve-Wavus friends...please feel free to comment here with any EDC 533 students as well.

A Clash of Cultures—What to Compare?

Chisuma School near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Last week you were immersed in studying the educational system of a country somewhere in the world. I've started reading/viewing/listening to your reports and enjoy learning about these very different views of education. Sometimes we forget the our system in the U.S. is not the one that everyone uses.

On our recent trip to Africa we visited the Chisuma School, a small, rural school just outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is a tourist area with visitors from around the globe there to see one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

We arrived in the afternoon to find 75 of the school's elementary students outside waiting to greet us. Various grade level groups welcomed us with poems, songs, and performances. All of the students  walk to school, some several miles each way. Parents pay $10/term for each student and even at that modest cost, many students need help with the tuition.

This elementary school has a special and very dedicated group of high school students who live too far from the local high school to attend that school...so they attend this school closer to their homes. In one room at least 55 students were crowded together in a hot, stuffy room with few textbooks available. The teacher wrote the lessons on the chalkboard. But still, these students are committed to their studies and realize that education is their pathway to a better life.

Education in Zimbabwe has suffered terribly as has the entire country during the economic crisis of the last 15 years. Once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa, with one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, the country now has an 80% unemployment rate.

While in 1980 an average of six dollars was allocated per pupil, in 2009 this amount had dropped to $.70 per pupil. As a result, the pupil-textbook ratio in urban schools has dropped to one textbook for every 10 pupils while in rural schools there is only one textbook available for every 40 pupils. The deterioration of the education system and the political tensions in the country have also caused an exodus of teachers.

The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA)  estimates that in the past decade more than 45,000 teachers have left the country. A recent estimate indicated that 35% of the teacher posts in primary education and 33% in secondary education were vacant. 

We have so much and they have so little.

What I did on my summer vacation

Hwange National Park

July 7, 2013. Monday morning, 3 am Eastern time. 

Sunrise on the horizon three hours out from our JFK destination. This 16 hour flight began at 9 pm in Johannesburg, South Africa last night  and we'll arrive in NYC at 6:15 am, wait several hours for our daughter and son-in-law to arrive from their flight through London, jump in the car and drive 8 hours to Orono.  A relaxing day or two!

Our first four days in Zimbabwe were on safari in Hwange National Park in the northwest part of the country. Two hours into the bush by an open air Land Rover at no more than 30 miles an hour. Absolutely incredible. We saw hundreds of elephants, giraffe, buffalo, birds of all types, warthogs, ostrich, kudu, Impala, baboons, crocodile, zebra...and yes, several lions. Our last morning in camp we woke up to a lioness not more than 50 yards from our lodge. Because elephants were everywhere we could hear them at night rubbing up against our buildings, eating the vegetation, and trumpeting frequently. In the dry season they come right down to the small swimming pool to drink and actually empty it every night.

The last half of our holiday was spent moving around a bit more. We stayed in Victoria Falls to see the falls (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world). It makes Niagara Falls look like the Kenduskeag Stream. We drove into neighboring Botswana to overnight and take a great cruise on the Chobe River where we saw many hippos and two groups of elephants swim across the river; a spectacular sight with the baby elephants being towed by their mamas. We stayed away from the crocodiles!

The last day we spent in Johannesburg and Soweto touring and visiting two museums including the Apartheid Museum, a sobering and astonishing experience. I had no idea how great a role education played in this critical period of history. The curriculum that the Afrikans imposed on the native population caused the protests that led to eventually overthrowing apartheid. The power of the curriculum.

Many, many highlights, but the absolute best part of this experience was the fact that our group of ten was our family—our four adult children and their spouses. What a great opportunity to spend that much time with each other and share these amazing experiences.

And not insignificantly, thanks to all of you students in EDC 533 who were patient with my absence. My ability to stay connected while in Africa was about what I expected, not much access. A bit of email, but connecting to Moodle didn't happen. I promise to get caught up in the next couple of days.

Now, back to EDC 533 and the excellent work you all are doing.

 Welcome to EDC 533...summer 2013!

A little bit about me...

I have had three fantastic years since my "retirement" in August 2010 from a 25-year career as professor of middle level education at the University of Maine.  We prefer the term "refocus" in our house.

This year I continued my work with schools on digital citizenship. With colleagues, produced an online, multi-part series on Digital Footprint and Web Presence for middle and high school students (and their parents and teachers); currently developing a six-hour, online, professional development course for educational leaders on parent/community partnerships. My other area of interest is Student Technology Teams. I assisted Warsaw Middle School this year as they started their own student technology team thanks to a grant from Maine Community Foundation. Presented at several conferences on both digital citizenship and student technology teams. Just completed an article about starting student technology teams.

Before UMaine, I taught high school English and middle school language arts in Rochester, NY and Greeley, CO for 12 years. Began my career as a high school teacher but really found my niche with middle school. (My wife says my affinity for middle school occurred because my own development was arrested about 7th grade. Hmmm...I thought that was a compliment!) I loved teaching middle school...the hardest job I ever had and the most rewarding in many ways! But those of you in the classroom already know that.

Connie (my wife) is the founder and director of Operation Breaking Stereotypes, a non-profit that brings together students from Maine and NYC high schools to learn about each others' worlds. We have four adult "children"...one high school English/musical theater teacher in Maine, a high school technology integrator in Minnesota, an urban planner in Boston, and a historic preservationist in NYC.

I run, swim, play tennis, ski, sail...and spend July and August at camp...enjoying Maine.

What does it mean to be a learner and a teacher in the 21st century?

 Two thought provoking articles from both sides of the desk.  

What do you think of these portrayals of students and teachers?

"Snapshot of a modern learner" by Mike Fisher
http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/06/29/snapshot-modern-learner/


"What is a 21st-century teacher?" by Josh Stumpenhorst
http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/06/22/what-21st-century-teacher/

Some not-so-random curriculum questions

What do you think about some of these questions, all generated from your comments and discussion thus far in blogs and forums?

1. What does it mean to involve our students in curriculum development? How much should they be involved?

2. Is the concept of scope and sequence in curriculum a valid concept in 2011. Or does technology make scope and sequence outdated?

3. Why are subjects the primary organizing framework for curriculum at the K-12 level? Who decided that the subjects we teach are the ones our students should know?

4. Why does the K-12 curriculum give so little attention to the issues that our students are interested in?

5.  If you had to describe the elementary, middle level, or high school curriculum—what you see as the essential learnings at that level— what would you say?

6. What are two other ways to organize the curriculum other than the traditional separate subjects? What does each look like?

7. HH Jacobs does think of teachers as the drivers of curriculum improvement. Should teachers be the movers and shakers of curriculum?

8. If we asked our students to suggest what they would like to learn, what would they say...at different levels?

Thanks for all of these great questions. I look forward to answering them with you!