I’ve been lucky (or unlucky… depending on your view of curriculum work) to have had the chance to work on some curriculum and program development while living in Thailand. Although grossly under qualified I was given the responsibility of revising and editing the schools Manitoba Based English, Math, and Science curriculum. This experience forced me to investigate and familiarize myself with many of the Manitoba curriculum documents. That experience helped me learn and solidify some basic theoretical knowledge regarding curriculum and I decided to return to Canada and begin a more formal study in curriculum. However, since beginning my formal studies it seems that every course and class discussion leaves me less and less able to formally define curriculum. The more I learn what curriculum is, has been, and could be, the more I struggle with a definition….funny how that works!
I look forward to discussing these issues with you all this semester!
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I agree - it's getting harder and harder to define "curriculum" with every bit of new information! I remember our first class in our previous course, when we had to answer the question, "What is curriculum?" on a piece of paper. I thought, easy peasy! But, after taking a whole course on "what is curriculum", my mind was practically blank when asked the same question on Tuesday! It's become such a big term with so many implications! I looked it up in the dictionary, just for fun, and the "definition" seems to be very COURSE based - it's all about what COURSES an institution offers - whereas we're discussing it on a deeper lever.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious how your experience working in a foreign country influenced your perception of the Manitoba curriculum. How relevant is the Manitoba curriculum to Thai society? Are there notable changes or slight differences in wording based on the fact that it is being used in Thailand? Do you have a different perception of the Manitoba curriculum now that you're teaching here?
ReplyDeleteIn Thailand the school only taught Math, Science, English, Computers, and Physed in the English language. A few chapters of the English that dealt with Canadian topics were substituted out but the rest fit quite nice. Adjustments were made for the "level" of English expectations as all students there were EAL. Perhaps the curriculum that was the biggest challenge to implement was the new Math ideas. Thailand, like most of Asia, relies heavily on drill and practice math techniques. Challenging students to "think about math" was a HUGE challenge.
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