Earlier this year, I posted a reflection of my first year of my doctorate program (read it here). I’ve decided to make it a series where I look back at the previous quarter’s learning experiences and the lessons that I’ve learned through them.
Thoughts on Curriculum
Both classes I took this year had a main objective of taking a critical look at curriculum. Whether it was looking at curriculum that is designed for students in all types of classrooms or professional trainings, these course took a long, hard look on their developments. In accomplishing this goal, several questions where asked. Who is designing the curriculum? For whom is it designed? What is the objective behind the curriculum? What power structures does it reinforce? Is anyone excluded from this curriculum and why? By asking these questions, it opened many doors for us as a group to truly look at the curriculum structures and how they influence our education systems.
These courses really shifted my perspective on what a curriculum is and what it could be. Instead of seeing curriculum as merely the materials that are presented to learners, whether they be K-12 students, higher education students, or professional learners, I now see curriculum as the skills, attitudes, and values that are intended to be transmitted to each of these learner groups. This shift has caused me to consider curriculum more along the lines of how does it shape a student’s being and character rather than simply their ability to score highly on assessments. I’m very excited about how this shift can impact my practice both in the classroom and in any career path that I take going forward.
An Impactful Project
This quarter contained what was probably the most impactful project that I have done in my learning career. This project was the voices of the stakeholders project about which I have previously written (You can read it here). I go into more detail in my previous post, but I do think that there is ample space for reflection on my findings. This project was impactful for me because it allowed me to see how many different people who have many different connections to the education system view its workings. One of the things that shocked me was how similar some of the stakeholders I interviewed answered the questions, even though they held very different roles within the education process. I was expecting to get a wide range of answers and the narrow focus that my participants had has really caused me to question many things about the purpose of school and what it could be in supporting learners.
Challenging Quarter
While I enjoyed my classes, I do feel as though I made a mistake in taking the two curriculum courses simultaneously. Often times, what I was reading and discussing in each class seemed to blend together into the other one which made it more difficult for me to keep track of assignments and responsibilities at times. The syllabi were even more invaluable to me than their usual support and I found myself checking them frequently to ensure that I was on the right track with my assignments and expectations.
Where this difficulty manifested most prominently however was in completing my final assignments for each course. This difficult was not in completing the assignments in a timely fashion, but instead it was in generating separate ideas for each assignment. Without going into too much unnecessary detail, I was able to come up with an idea that I was very proud of for my first final assignment, but I had difficulty when coming up with an idea for the second without feeling as though I was rehashing my previous thoughts. While I believe that I was able to generate a solid second assignment, I believe that if I had taken each of these classes in separate quarters, then I would have been able to generate a much more thought out idea.
Going forward
Even though it always feels good to get to the end of a term, this quarter is especially exciting for me because I was able to complete the review board processes and move a step closer to my dissertation. While there is still a long way for me to go, I feel as though the end is coming into sight. I’m very excited about the possibilities that may be open for me after I am completed with my program and I believe that the knowledge I gained in this quarter will end up opening many doors for me down the road. Where this road will take me, I do not know yet, but I am excited to travel down it!
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