Copper Link
Frames
George Posner’s “frames” can be used to make sense of the problems my colleagues and I face because we all have different opinions and uses of our current curriculum, and values we bring implementing the curriculum. We all have the end goal in mind when teaching the curriculum, to obtain student mastery or show growth. How we go about doing this differs by teachers, grade level, and time.
The article pointed out that there first had to be a sound classroom management system before diving in to the curriculum. I agree 100%. For the first month of school our teachers are constantly reviewing procedures and making routines. I always start off a little strict then eventually become more relaxed once my students have the procedure down When you’re constantly redirecting behavior problems, it takes away from the content and input the other students are receiving.
However it’s hard for people to be on the same page when there is an abundance of educational issues. In our staff meetings we are constantly addressing academic achievement, assessments, character education, discipline, technology, multicultural education, multiple intelligences and our special education population. There are times when we discuss these issues for 3 hours because some people need to change their views to be on the same page as everyone else. It would be nice for our school to break into pods more often and discuss different learning strategies and assessments that we find helpful.
At our charter school we do have a curriculum coordinator. However, since I’ve been there (6 years) we have not any updated material. This year the math standards changed and I had to supplement and find other ways to teach the material because Saxon math didn’t cover a lot of the new content. Currently I am pushing a new reading program. We use Open Court and it’s outdated. I would like to see more plays, poems, news articles, and higher vocabulary, and non-fiction in a reading program. We are well I am, constantly having to supplement our given curriculum to meet the state standards. Every year I find or learn something new to implement. I can’t say that’s true for all the teachers I work with. Because of time and resources they teach the same thing the same way. That’s just too boring for me. If I’m not interested in a subject, I learned the wrong way by still teaching the subject, but never saw the enthusiasm for learning. Big oops!!
Frames
