Experience with Curriculum Thus Far

My experience with curriculum development thus far has been equivalent to a love-hate relationship. I love curricula, and enjoy the development and design process. When it is science-related, I truly feel that my creativity and enthusiasm are sparked by the process, and I relish the collaboration with my colleagues and the brainstorming process. Figuring out how to interest and engage students, deciding how to address difficult topics, and finding ways to tie the content to reality are always somewhat fun for me.

However, with that said, I do feel frustration when it comes to curriculum development and design. This has evolved over the years as new standards are constantly changed and updated, and so the work always has to be re-done. At first, when I held my initial teaching position at a high school in Georgia, I will admit to putting a great deal of effort and attention into aligning my teaching with the "Quality Core Curriculum" as outlined to me. All my content, activities, and assessments were linked directly to a standard, and I paid very careful attention to this. Things that I wanted to teach, I couldn't, because they were not part of the required curriculum. Things that I had no preparation to teach, however, had to be included. This was challenging for me, but I readily complied. I even made an incredibly huge matrix linking all activities in a spreadsheet to the different standards, to prove linkages existed for each lesson. This was an incredible dedication of both time and effort, and I felt that I was preparing myself for a much easier road in the future.

Then, the curriculum was re-written. Then I moved to Maine. Then the Learning Results were re-written. Then the National Standards were stressed. Then we got new textbooks. Then the Core Curriculum began to come up. SATs. Science Augmentation. The list goes on and on. It has been disheartening to say the least to constantly be re-doing the work instead of refining and perfecting. Adding in staff turnover, administrator turnover, and district focusing goals, it has been very frustrating to work on curriculum as I have gained teaching experience. While in many ways I have grown professionally (classroom management, professional development experiences, community connections, pursuance of a Master's Degree, leadership positions and committee membership) as far as curriculum development goes it always seems to feel like the first time - revision for newly developed standards.

I think in teaching, we constantly have to be on guard against the feeling that this, too, shall change. I believe it is this way with curriculum design. While it may be difficult to retain as much enthusiasm as I initially had, I need to remember that each time, it is as important to ensure that my lessons are tied to standards.

The other frustration I have is that I have no control over the writing of these curricular standards. From my point of view, some strangers have been locked in a meeting and have decided what is important for me to teach. I would love to have some control over the content that is offered, and it seems that I know what my students need more than these mystery people! For example, I know at my school there is a GREAT need for sex education. We have students each year having babies, and an incredible lack of knowledge about human anatomy and reproductive physiology. While it is part of the health curriculum, I cannot see why it isn't more stressed in the Biological Sciences! If I controlled the world, (ha ha) or at least my own curriculum, I would include a great deal more anatomy and physiology, and health concerns, and less of the biochemistry of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. It seems as if the people writing curriculum standards are out of touch with the general student population. From this point, I could spring-board into many directions (all students college-ready? high stakes testing? NCLB?) but I will restrain myself as I think I have already explored some tangents to the central question.

Besides writing curriculum I have been on a number of committees involved with curricular development and design. I was part of the CIA (Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment) Team that served as a liaison between the departments and the district curriculum coordinator. This was a fulfilling role as I was very much "in-the-know" but in the end I am not sure what we really accomplished. I have participated in numerous textbook selection committees, and have even designed new courses, like the AP Environmental Science program now offered at our high school.

I love designing lessons. I like investigating content and trying to find unique, insightful, creative ways to offer it. I enjoy traditional projects as well as novel approaches. I understand the need for some organization to ensure that all students get a basic level of education. However, I find the oversight and bureaucracy of the process frustrating, the high-stakes testing inappropriate for many students and an inadequate measure of teacher effectiveness, and the constant change tiresome. I am still an optimist though, and look forward to moving into administration to try to provide teachers with some clarity and focus in this regard, and perhaps even influence leadership in the community to promote positive changes in our school programming.