I believe that curriculum and instruction needs to be fully inclusive, personalized and must make a student feel connected to their world around them. In a previous placement as a special education teaching assistant at a non-public school serving students with disabilities, I witnessed great individualized instruction. While there was great individualized instruction, some students seemed to to be in a bit of a restricted environment, and not the least restrictive setting. While I value a united front and standards based instruction, I believe that creating life-long learners that are willing to identify and use the resources around them to persevere through adverse and challenging circumstances is, and should be a priority.
There are many aspects that can be discussed and identified when addressing curriculum and instruction. Some of them include: standards based instruction and / or competencey based model. Instructional strategies can be identified and include: blended learning, gradual release of responsibility, collaborative teaching and learning and even explicit direct instruction. Curriculum can be community based or very individualistic. It can be content specific, or cross-content collaborative.
While there are many areas to be discussed, I would like to identify personalized instruction that allows students to feel connected and accepted to THEIR world around them.
I am choosing this area as a focus because in the workforce, college world and career world, there are NOT different settings for different individuals. There are different paths, career and jobs, however we all interact with many levels of learners and learning styles on a daily basis. In education there is a need for more personalized instruction and more importantly for measuring competency. I value all learners, and who am I or we to say that a person who easily earns an A, over an individual who works extremely diligently to earn a B (or otherwise) is an better. At this point in education we need to be honest better grades…...well, mean BETTER. We need to identify and create a culture and climate that is willing to learn and teach one another, rather than one up each other.
There are many aspects that can be discussed and identified when addressing curriculum and instruction. Some of them include: standards based instruction and / or competencey based model. Instructional strategies can be identified and include: blended learning, gradual release of responsibility, collaborative teaching and learning and even explicit direct instruction. Curriculum can be community based or very individualistic. It can be content specific, or cross-content collaborative.
While there are many areas to be discussed, I would like to identify personalized instruction that allows students to feel connected and accepted to THEIR world around them.
I am choosing this area as a focus because in the workforce, college world and career world, there are NOT different settings for different individuals. There are different paths, career and jobs, however we all interact with many levels of learners and learning styles on a daily basis. In education there is a need for more personalized instruction and more importantly for measuring competency. I value all learners, and who am I or we to say that a person who easily earns an A, over an individual who works extremely diligently to earn a B (or otherwise) is an better. At this point in education we need to be honest better grades…...well, mean BETTER. We need to identify and create a culture and climate that is willing to learn and teach one another, rather than one up each other.