Curriculum as Conversation

First, let me just say I love this book, and I've made it my personal goal to one day meet Mr. Applebee and tell him so. (Randy, maybe you can make that happen!:) I've been caught in a swamp of reading lately, which has been kind of numbing, but while reading this book, I felt lightbulbs continuously going off. The first most notable realization was transforming my view of science. I never really liked science in school and wasn't very good at it. Plus, I somewhat attributed the educational standards movement to people wanting to make teaching into a rigid science and ignoring its artistic aspects. But, Applebee's discussion of Thomas Kuhn and how leading scientists "interpret old observations in new ways, and reconfigure what is considered relevant, interesting, or anomalous," really made me see science in a new way, as well as its connection to education (15).

I also was extremely intrigued with the idea of "knowledge-in-action." I've always been interested in classroom discourse and how it lends itself to the exploration of the world/society and self-discovery, but it seems that most of our assessments don't take this into consideration. (The AP test's multiple-choice section is based entirely on knowledge-out-of-context.) So, the question remains, how do we move towards more authentic assessment? I thought of maybe having an exit-interview, replacing TAKS, and allowing kids to formulate and defend their responses. This might encourage conversations in our classes rather than test practice. Any other ideas?

I also found his look into the English curriculum enlightening. While many teachers do hold on to the Canon since this is what they were taught, I also think many departments are moving towards including more recent, multicultural titles on their book lists. Doing so, from my experience, lends itself more to knowledge-in-action and conversations where students can discuss their conclusions and make their own arguments, exploring what they think and why they think that way. Last year, I ordered a ton of copies of Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun by Geoffrey Canada, and we had amazing discussions about violence in our country. Kids who said they hated reading were actually reading at home so that they would be able to participate in our class conversations. This was after TAKS though, so just think what we could do if we didn't have the test looming over our head!

I wish we thought more about curriculum in our schools; it seems that many times in our current system we let the assessment placed on us guide our teaching practices. I think we could benefit from looking at it the other way around. What assessment will help us ensure kids who are graduating can make sense of their world? One of my favorite Applebee quotes is, "Any conception of education that strips these tools of their contexts, or focuses on their past rather than their present relevance and future potential, will be debilitating for the individual and for society as well." That said, there are still teachers who don't subscribe to this concept. I really loved what Harrison did in his classroom (44-49), having kids enter into a conversation about the Canon, where it came from, and the cultural conflicts involved. That sounds much more interesting than memorizing interpretations about symbolism.

More to come...