Philosophy & Curriculum

In the “Designing Technology Rich Curricula” Class that I am taking online through the University of Florida, we are studying curriculum development and the various factors that can influence this process. The first step of my discovery was to gain some insight into my own character and personality so that I can have a better understanding of how “who I am” relates to what I teach and why I teach it the way I do.

I have taken some of these assessments before, I thought I had probably changed quite a bit from when I first took the assessments – a lot has changed since my undergrad studies! But, surprisingly, I’m pretty much the same person I always have been. It was an interesting journey of self-discovery. One of those things that makes you go hmmmm… Just in case you’re interested in finding out for yourself, here are links to the assessments I took.

Cognitive Styles Inventory (Myers-Briggs)

Learning Styles Inventory

Multiple Intelligences Checklist

Risk-taking Test

Temperament Sorter

Another part of my assignment was to find out which educational philosophy I subscribe the most to…I found out that my educational philosophy is somewhat progressive, though I could find elements of several philosophies that I agree with and tend to emulate in my teaching. I think that my interest in using technology in education embraces the concept of change and requires me to teach children problem solving techniques and skills that will help them to react appropriately to innovative concepts and learning opportunities. Technology has changed the way we do a lot of things. Some of the things that used to be taught in school, things that were seen as foundations in education might be on the track to becoming obsolete. I won’t go into detail about exactly what I think those areas are, I don’t want to go public with incriminating evidence! But, I do feel strongly that some areas of education are changing, whether we like it or not. The answer is to embrace the technology that is changing it, the kids we are teaching won’t have a choice, so we shouldn’t always teach as though we do.

Skilled teachers explore many different ways to convey meaning to their students, so that they can successfully demonstrate an understanding of the subject being taught. In order to design instruction that teaches to standards, I think that teachers must have a strong understanding of the content of their subject matter. This is where curriculum comes in. Curriculum is a collection of activities and resources that are used to teach content that is directed by standards and objectives.

Teachers are the least self-centered people that can be found. We realize that “it’s not about us!” It’s about those we teach. We have to become all things to all learners so that we might teach some – it’s possible you have heard this concept presented somewhere before! If you know a little bit about my life outside of teaching, you’ll recognize where it came from!