Curriculum 21 - Chapter 4

At two or three points in chapter 4 of Curriculum 21 by Heidi Hayes Jacobs she used the phrase "The whole is the sum of the parts" in reference to school structure and form.  It may be the fact that I am an optimist, but I believe that she should have rephrased this to "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."  In any organization the individual pieces may function well separately, but is only when they work well together that you can achieve something greater.

This is why interdisciplinary studies is important in school.  When the English, Social Studies, Science, and Math departments (and possibly other departments, too) team up for the students to work on a single project the students really win because they are experiencing what research in the working world is really like.  For example, Scientists doing research (Science) gather data and analyze it (Math), they use historical information to help them make new discoveries (Social Studies), and write reports and publications to share their discoveries (English).

Summer Break

Summer Break for me, working at Penobscot Job Corps, is different than in public school.  We only get about two weeks instead of 2-3 months.  This year, my wife and I are taking a trip down to southern Florida to visit her father for the first week.  I'm very excited about that.

After coming back, I'll be in the classroom.  Summer break each year allows me to recharge myself and gives me a chance to update and revise my lesson plans and the Micro-curriculum that I use in my classroom.  I'm very glad that break is coming up, because I've been meaning to update some of my lessons and try to improve student interactivity in the classroom.

My Experiences with Curriculum Development

My experience is much more involved in lesson planning than in Curriculum Development.  I work at Penobscot Job Corps Center and what I teach is determined by a document called the Training Achievement Record which is essentially a checklist of what our vocational students need to learn in order to graduate from our program.

I currently work with Welding students to prepare them with the basics before fully entering their vocation.What I teach is determined by the TAR and then I plan the lessons.  In my class I teach Basic Construction Safety and Applied Mathematics Skills.  With some of my more advanced students, I am able to teach them more Advanced Math topics such as the Pythagorean Theorem and basic Trigonometry.

In the past, I worked with Medical students and at one point, I created a curriculum of Applied Math and English skills so that all of the students learned some skills that would be valuable when they go out into the working world.

I would like to someday be involved in curriculum development at higher level, but in my current position, curriculum and content is dictated at the Federal level.