Curriculum Philosophy Presentation Connections

The “curriculum philosophy” presentation assignment for ED 361 had us investigate and report out on a few outlooks of curriculum that we found particularly aligned with the ways we want to implement curriculum in our future classrooms.

This assignment relates heavily to the second pillar of the Saint Michael’s College Education Department Mission Statement which states that, “our graduates are reflective and contemplative practitioners”. The main connection comes from the statement that SMC graduates “draw from a solid theoretical base to guide their instruction and leadership decisions”, as this is the exact content that the curriculum philosophy project investigated. We looked into widely accepted theories of curriculum, and critically analyzed which ones we felt could be the most effective for student learning in our future classrooms. The curriculum of a classroom has an enormous effect on each students learning experience, and thus it is important that we make the decisions surrounding it based off of informed and reflective decisions. The process of aligning ourselves with philosophies of curriculum is the first step to being a “reflective and contemplative practitioner”. Allowing what we research to guide our in-class decisions ensure that we keep individual student learning as our focus.

 In terms of technology, I used Slidebean for my presentation because of how simple it seemed to create an aesthetically pleasing presentation. With many presentation platforms, the end product never quite comes out as great as the template, but Slidebean seemed extremely user friendly, and offered an experience to familiarize myself with another form of technology. I would say it was well suited to the task because I was able to navigate it into the final product. It is a platform that I would also recommend to students, if it were free. Unfortunately, I could not really justify purchasing a subscription when there are so many other similar, free, was to create equally good presentations. However, were I to have my own classroom, and consistently be making presentations of a variety of sorts, I would consider buying a Slidebean membership because of the particularly easy access to gif’s , which I think can engage students in ways that normal PowerPoint slides maybe can not. 

In terms of the content of the assignment, I found it extremely beneficial to, at the beginning, look around at more than just the theories I aligned closely with. To see that there were embark on creating my first unit. 

 If I were to do this project again, I think I would reconsider the amount of content I put on my slides. My presentation style tends to lean heavily on what I say, rather than what I have put on my slides. While this may be how I feel most comfortable giving presentations, having to submit the visual presentation without the experience of the presentation itself shed light on the fact that from a student perspective, this style might not be the most conducive to student learning. For example, on my slide talking about Piaget, I used an analogy comparing assimilation and accommodation to balloons. Assimilation is comparable to blowing up a big balloon, because you are simple adding to your existing conceptions of something. Accommodation was related to making a balloon animal, as it can completely shift your existing schema. This analogy was not really laid out in my physical presentation, which may have left out some students who may find it easier to follow along with more content-heavy slides. This assignment has made me re-evaluate my presentation style as I begin to transfer from student, to a teacher in the future.  

Looking forward, my plan for ongoing learning in this area is to keep an open mind about different philosophies of curriculum that may be more beneficial for certain tasks, but to also delve deeper into the specific theories and practices of those that  I will most likely emulate in my classroom, such as existentialism and constructivism. 

Here is a link to the SMC Mission Statement and my Curriculum Philosophy Presentation

Presentation

Mission Statement