Curriculum and Teaching

Here are 4 ways to consider curriculum:  what is your personality type and where does it fit in these theories?

1. Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted.
2. Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students - product.
3. Curriculum as process.

4. Curriculum as praxis.

It is helpful to consider these ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice in the light of Aristotle's influential categorization of knowledge into three disciplines: the theoretical, the productive and the practical.

Here we can see some clear links - the body of knowledge to be transmitted in the first is that classically valued as 'the canon'; the process and praxis models come close to practical deliberation; and the technical concerns of the outcome or product model mirror elements of Aristotle's characterization of the productive.
    - Curriculum Theory and Practice

We are all at the same starting gate.  Find your true strengths. 
It has been a pleasure reading all of your deep and thoughtful postings. 
I finish with the words of Dr. Seuss:

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.  It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.” 

Cheers,
Helen

"Curriculum expectations and the role of teachers"

The curriculum is created to develop students’ knowledge, understanding, and skills that it’s needed for adult life and employment. Now, in this curriculum, teacher and students have some responsibilities. Teacher is not anymore a giver, or a transmitter who deliver information; on the other hand, the students are not the receiver of this information. The teacher is a facilitator who helps and guides students to improve knowledge and skills that students are expected to develop. This teachers’ facilitative role is demonstrated through the creation of lesson plans and syllabi within the framework of the curriculum. In other word, the teachers’ responsibilities are to teach and to create, enrich, develop and implement learning materials to meet students’ needs. Once the needs and interests of students are satisfied, they (students) will be more engaged with the content of the lessons through doing and thinking rather than listening and seeing. Certainly, this way, teachers can pretend they have played their fundamental role in achieving expected standards.

curriculum expectations, mastery of learning and the role of teachers in achieving expected standards

The development of a curriculum involves more than simply deciding the academics of student learning. I agree with Natasha and Katrina that social, cultural, and environmental influences must be taken into consideration in the development and implementation of a curriculum. As important as the development of a curriculum is however, I believe that curriculum expectations are most strongly affected by the implementation of curriculum, because it is my belief that in life the most important thing is not what we are given, but what we do with what we are given. The ways that we teach a curriculum will change depending on the students we have in our class. The lessons that work for one group of students will not necessarily work for another and it is important to be aware of the social, cultural, and environmental factors that affect students' lives and attitudes as well as their personality types and learning styles. By understanding these different factors we can determine and meet curriculum expectations by tailoring lessonplans to the student and not the curriculum.

I do not believe that mastery of learning exists. Learning is a lifelong process and a constantly evolving skill. we can never be masters at it because with every new piece of information we discover or skill we develop we open doors to new frontiers of further learning. It isn't possible to know everything there is to know about a subject , and it is constantly necessary to update our knowledge through examinations of new research and studies. We also gain insight through personal experience and thus we do not stop being "learners" just because we become teachers.

The teacher plays a large role in the achievement of expected standards, but this role is similar to their role in meeting curriculum expectations. It is the teachers responsibility to use flexibility and creativity to use their knowledge of social, cultural, and environmental influences as well as personality types, internal motivations for behaviour (particularly misbehaviour), and learning styles to formulate lesson plans that support students of diverse needs. By utilizing this knowledge to adjust the instruction of subjects to suit each student you are supporting and deepening the learning process and therefore its outcomes. By supporting and deepening a student's learning experience you will also support and deepen their achievement of expected standards.

Final Entry

As we discussed in our reading facilitations last week, cirriculum expectations can be very difficult for teachers to achieve. Often the main focus is on reaching these standards and there is not time for self development beyond academic standards. Even learning skills such as self regulated learning are important for children to grasp for further academic studies and organizational life skills. It is the teachers job to guide students through their learning and show them as well as teach them what they need to learn. Providing students with Blooms taxonomy shows them the process that they must go through in order to learn concepts. Students often underestimate the process of learning and showing them how to learn and giving them the opportunity to control it themselves is invaluble.

Teachers need to go through self discover to find their own style of teaching. It is interesting that in the Coolaborative vs cooperative article is defines both as different ideas. When i was working on my wildcard project that focused on cooperative learning I assumed that the terms were interchangable. I like how this article calls coolaborative learning a teaching philosophy. It really is, how you set the tone in the classroom and how you have children working together is a teachers way of teaching and that is their idea or philosophy of teaching.

My portfolio focuses on how I have developed through this course. I am learning to reflect on my work and it is allowing me to grow as a future teacher. Through this process I have learned that staying true to yourself by bring your passion to the classroom fosters creativity and excitment among students. I feel that a teaching philosophy is born out of your passions and through reflective practive you can continue to grow and scupt your philosphy.

It is hard to deal with failed expectations of self and of others. In setting expectations there is also the risk of failure. No one likes to fail. The fact of the matter is, as upcoming teachers, we are all going to be subject to failed expectations. But, failure to meet expectations is also an opportunity to embrace change and growth in learning. Failure to meet expected standards and curriculum expectations provides teachers with the opportunity to examine, differentiate, modify, revise, analyze, formulate and access themselves, their teaching practices, their students, the curriculum, etc. I now reluctantly realize that this is best done through written narrative of our journeys. Change comes about from imaginatively and critically thinking about who we are as teachers. In reviewing Bloom’s taxonomy, I am reminded that as teachers we need to scaffold students’ (and our own) creative and critical thinking. Creative thinking generates ideas that are unique and imaginative. Critical thinking is about making decisions, analyzing and breaking down something methodically into its component parts by distinguishing and differentiating through one’s own thought process. Combining the two will empower students (and teachers) to unlock their potential.

On my own journey in attempting to become an expert teacher, I will be able to analyse and synthesise my teaching methods and the curriculum, but sadly ...or maybe quite possibly thankfully... I realize that this is going to take some time to master. I set many high expectations and standards for my personal achievements. I am grudgingly realizing through this course and the multiple things that we need to keep in mind when teaching (ie: personality traits, learning styles, fair methods of assessment, continual reflection...) that I will not be an expert straight out of the gate. In fact, I know that I will likely not reach mastery until I am preparing to retire. Accepting this fact is both painful and liberating for me, as I desperately want to achieve greatness but knowing that I won’t get their immediately relieves some pressure. It frees me to explore and make mistakes. To set expectations and positively learn from failures in expectations.

I also have high-expectations of my children to set personal goals of educational attainment for themselves, and to strive to reach those goals. I would imagine as a teacher I will also have high-expectations for my students’ learning, as well. So, how do my own personal views of the curriculum affect these expectations? And will my biases regarding student attainment affect how I interpret the curriculum? I would hope as a new teacher that I would be able to recognize these biases and not alter curriculum just to achieve the desired outcome. Although, as a rookie teacher, I have to wonder if I will be apt to giving students too much guidance and not enough room for self-discovery?

"Awareness is the greatest agent for change." — Eckhart Tolle

Curriculum & Mastery of Learning

In regards to curriculum expectations, I definitely agree with Natasha in that there are various factors like social, cultural, and environmental aspects that must be taken into consideration when the curriculum is being implemented. Within the outlined curriculum, teachers have the flexibility to teach the students in their class in a way that will meet the students’ needs as diverse learners. As teachers, our job is to help students achieve mastery of knowledge and skills. Through the following video on drive and motivation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc), we come to understand that it is not the rewards that will help students succeed, but rather the mastery that we help them achieve. As the video discusses, we all have an “urge to get better at stuff” because when we do, it is satisfying. In order to help students achieve mastery, I believe it is best if teachers practice methods of teaching that are consistent with the findings on how we learn.

We Learn…

10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we both see and hear
70% of what is discussed with others
80% of what we experience personally
95% of what we teach to someone else

curriculum expectations/mastery of learning/teachers expected standards

curriculum expectations:

I think the creation of curriculum needs more thought into the implementation process of it. Many factors need to be understood so that an effective curriculum can be established to meet the needs of the students:

-social

-cultural

-environmental

Being aware of the gaps that are visible within the education system and learning more about how to fill them in is the most effective way to get started. This can help move towards a future were education can accommodation all students.

Mastery of learning:

I don't think once you graduate from university and PDP, the teachers learning stops. Being continually involved in the growth of the education system, that is continually evolving to fit the needs of society, is the most important job a teacher should engage in. Weather it be updating and maintaining skills, or learning all new ones, the teachers role outside of the classroom, is a necessity to ensure the school system and their instruction can elude the best possible outcome from their students.

Teachers expected standards:

While reading Mamchur, B&S, and the other articles related to this course I have found myself thinking, "wow this is really overwhelming, how can I possibly keep up. I do not know If I have what it takes to reach every student individually." However, I have come to realize as long as the teacher is actively aware of all the components involved in the classroom(personality types, diffrent behavior strategies, social and cultural aspects...ect.) they will be equipped to form some solutions to issues that arise. Second, as I already mentioned, it is very important that what the teacher learned is in constant practice or is being upgraded and expanded. Their knowledge is the best tool they can use in the classroom, never stop learning and you will never be unamazed at what you can produce.

Narrative in Teaching and Learning- Teacher as a Researcher

At the first time when I looked at the word ‘Narrative’, I had no idea what it exactly indicates and was also confused what narrative inquiry is in reading assigned article by Gabriella Minnes Brandes and Lynn Fels. So I searched on the internet and found the meaning of ‘narrative inquiry’. Wikipedia says that narrative inquiry is an approach to understanding or researching the way people make meaning of their lives as narratives. Narrative Inquiry is not same with storytelling in that the word narrative implies an audience and a narrator. Narrative inquirers’ interest is not what happened so much as what meaning did people make of what happened. I think narrative inquiry is important for teacher to understand how his/her students think about activities in class and how much students acquired from those activities. Teacher can get new insights from them and improve their teaching method and learning tools by doing narrative research. Therefore, they need to listen seriously to their stories of experiences as learners.
In doing narrative research, it should be cared to listen to not only students but also parents, other less powerful people like First Nation parents and co-workers (the principal, other teacher, the school nurse, cooks, school cleaners and caretakers) according to Reetta Niemi, Hannu L.T. Heikkinen & Lasse Kannas (2010). It is because each of them would have had a different point of view of the methods and pedagogy used in class. Teacher should not miss their voice! Teacher can connect with their parents through emails, telephone conversations and letters and etc. I think it is important for teacher to support the sense of community between the school and students’ homes.

Teaching Standards and Blooms Taxonomy

The article on Bloom’s taxonomy and the overview of questioning strategies was a succinct examination of the six levels of competence that as educators we need to assess for in our development of curricular learning activities (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation). I found it fascinating that the list came from a UBC student counselling service because I had not really given thought to them being a student resource before. In education courses we have explored Bloom’s taxonomy as it relates to curriculum development and organization of subject unit plans. However, in retrospect I can see how it would be a powerful learning tool for students specifically intermediate students who are engaged in abstract thinking and making connections among different subjects. Giving the students the taxonomy table is similar to a grading rubric as it gives them access to the necessary criteria to take responsibility for their own learning. I can see that as educators we need to ensure that all six competencies are included in our lessons and that our assessment practices include information gathered in all areas as well.

I couldn’t stop thinking as I read table how most of the course has concerned itself with the synthesis competence stage. We have been engaged primarily in the act of integration of classroom management theory within the experience of our personal and educational constructs. As we have read the articles and participated in classroom discussions we have made personal sense and connections to the material. Recognizing our learning styles has given us an insight into our strengths as an educator and illuminated opportunities of growth. The orientation of instructional intelligence or reflective practice that we have incorporated this semester is illustrative of Bloom’s stage of evaluative competence. Our task has been to assess our own performance, justify our decisions, and seek to extend our teaching effectiveness through creating a classroom where instructional strategies, and management techniques coalesce into a vibrant and student centered learning environment.


I think that the ability to interweave curriculum, with instructional skills, in a framework that is powerful for student learning is the goal of all teachers. The ongoing challenge is to articulate who I am as a teacher and to embrace that as I move from theory to practice. Teaching standards demand a high level of organization, proactive management and critical assessment of students and of our own teaching effectiveness. The lens of evaluation is a two way instrument: trained outwardly towards our students and inwardly in self-reflection of our own teaching effectiveness. Both are equally important if we are to become the educators we envision.

Narrative in Teaching & Learning - Belated Post

My apologies on being late with this posting; I misread DC’s requirements for the previous week.  As Lisa points out in her post, narrative is the essence of reflection.  Our personal experiences are deeply meaningful to us, and we need to provide opportunities for our students to become engaged in activities that make sense to them.  My Curriculum Educ 471 offered that enriching opportunity; we are asked to prepare two projects that held personal special meaning and support that with an educational rationale.

The first project was a geographical place that held meaning for us, and how we could integrate that place throughout our chosen grade curriculum, and the second project was an area that we felt should be included in the curriculum and why.  All of the presentations were extraordinary (and practical) because of the meaning we attached to them and highlighted the passion of the presenter. 

In my on-line Language Arts course, there was an assignment to create a found poem from a piece of text that deeply resonated with us.  We all had the opportunity to read each other’s moving and very creative poems.  The rationale behind the individual chosen texts was also interesting, often because we could connect with that text if we were familiar with it. 

Sagar offered up a good reading facilitation last week and had an interesting outside source...one area we discussed was how curriculum design could be affected by personality types.  Would a SJ type be more rigid and content driven vs. a NF type?

Inquiry into sane education

A definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

Herein we find the key to inquiry's necessity. (And this is the last time I'll make a sentence rhyme.) Any teacher who has the integrity and self-awareness to admit areas of limitation and incompleteness must admit room for growth, and growth will require change. How then will the growing teacher decide what changes need to be made? I much prefer the language of 'inquiry' to 'research' but however we name it this process of intentional exploration and analysis for the sake of discovery must be a part of any reflective teacher's practice.

The sort of questions we ask will shape the answers we are willing to accept, and so I believe self-awareness and openness to exploring our own weaknesses will establish the most fertile ground from which our questions may grow. If we are afraid of losing control or authority within our classroom then we may not be willing to ask whether our students could manage an hour a day of self-directed learning. If we are rigidly stuck in the ubiquitous assumption that letter grades are an inevitable part of the education system, then we may not be willing to explore possible alternatives.

Real inquiry will take us places we may not wish to go; growing to accept this natural discomfort and the uncertainty that comes with stepping foot onto new territory will become a part of the inquiring teacher's learning curve. The teacher as inquirer is one who willingly enters a collegial relationship with students, learning along with those she is privileged to teach. Of course the process of inquiry will ever-broaden the teacher's ken and domain of expertise, yet this does not predict an end to inquiry. While a teacher will grow in knowledge and wisdom, neither of these is a finite category and so the developing teacher will always be able to walk alongside her students in the act of inquiry. Teachers may share their wealth of knowledge and from this, new questions will arise and students will contribute their own ration of light and vantage point from which unexpected alleyways of inquiry will become visible.

The process of inquiry therefore requires not only integrity, humility, and a certain emotional fortitude and courage from the teacher, but also assumes that learning is a collaborative process that happens within a community of learners which extends to include the teacher as well. This is how I hope to practice inquiry within my own classroom one day.
-Mark

Our evaluations point their fingers back at us

I am grateful for our class reading in which Mamchur exposes the following six ‘evaluation traps’: 1. MEASURING WHAT’S EASIEST TO MEASURE, 2. UNDERSETIMATING THE LEARNING EMBEDDED IN EVALUATION, 3. REDUCTION, 4. UNEXAMINED POWER, 5. INEFFECTIVE FEEDBACK, 6. IGNORING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.

When I reflect on my own experience somewhat painfully moving through the public education system, I would say that my education suffered most from traps (1) and (6). To a certain extent these are flip sides of the same coin. A lack of awareness or care for different ways in which students learn, may legitimize teachers’ tendency to evaluate only that which is easily measured. This always lead to frustration for me as I was a rather eccentric and perhaps even volatile learner! I have always been a person of deeply passionate curiosity, yet tragically undisciplined when bored. I am not proud of my inability to muster discipline to study that which holds no interest for me, but I have come to accept that unless and until I can find an ‘entry point’ for my curiosity then I will fail to produce any work worthy of appreciation. I wish with a great nostalgic longing that my elementary teachers had allowed me to explore the many subjects that I so loved: reptiles and amphibians and their habitats, and anything out of doors; how to survive in the wilderness; creating physical sculptures and buildings out of unwanted scrap materials; etc. I was an energetic, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist-environmental learner. How could my various inquisitive projects have been be evaluated? Well give me a chance to tell you what I’ve learned and I would offer it with exuberant dedication. No, I could not create a classically beautifuL poster, but I could build you something strangely symbolic of my project out of cardboard and scribe explanatory text over its rough surface. I had sadly been given such an inadequate and boring introduction to poetry that I hated English for it (an ‘education’ that utterly destroyed interest in poetry until I reached university and a refreshing professor with real light in her eyes unveiled the true beauty of poetic wordsmithing). However if a teacher who loved language had taught me poetry, I would have joyfully played with the language to create and speak aloud my learning progress.

Instead of any of this I received meaningless grades from an evaluator I didn’t trust or honour anyway. I teetered on the edge of failure in most classes until grade ten, when I started earning highest grades simply to smugly prove my intelligence to a doubtful teacher (this is a pathetic external motivation to ‘succeed’ academically, but it’s as much as I could muster in the education system that forced me through itself like so much digested fodder). I did not feel any room was made for my learning style in school. I don’t feel I yet know a solution, except frankly that more time and energy, more care must be dedicated to really knowing each student and honouring his humanity and natural joy in learning. For this classes should be smaller, interests should be encouraged and classic disciplines taught *through* them, and there should be an educational teaching team for every classroom. If the school system doesn’t allow teachers the time and energy to do this, well that shows where our societal values fail our students.

I will be a part of that system and hope to change what I can from within, but ultimately I expect I will fail some students along the way, just as I was failed by many teachers.
All I can do is struggle to really meet the students in my care where they are at, to honour their strengths and nurture their natural desire to learn, no matter how bruised and wounded this desire may be. I will explore with them how they might grow as learners and will listen to their questions and interests as sincerely as I am able. I will tell them how things look from my vantage point and hope to listen to their acceptance or rejection of my evaluations. I will try to explain what I think might be helpful, and will offer as much aid as they will receive. I hope to explore evaluation criteria together with my students, and leave room for accomplishments I could not have anticipated. So much of this cannot be outlined before entering the unique relationship with each student. I have my personal story and it shapes the sort of evaluator I will be. Always evaluating my own practices and looking for the strengths in my students should set the trajectory of my assessment practices.

-Mark Northey

Ubuntu

Vygotsky recognized the essential role social context plays in the developing cognition of young learners. Learning is not an isolated test-tube event, but an integrated process of internalizing the understanding received and accepted by competent others with whom one is in dialogue and relationship. The progress of a young learning mind therefor depends on the vitality of this invested social body; once a student is cognitively prepared to progress he will be able to benefit from experienced and caring others who will nurture further learning.

I am deeply appreciative of Vygotsky’s wisdom to recognize the essential social and relational context in which learning takes place. It reminds me actually of literary theorist and anthropologist René Girard’s rather recent intellectual ‘discovery’ of mimesis: the imitative nature of human desire. (Really this has been understood by prayerful mystics for thousands of years; however for something as deeply true about human nature to penetrate the defensive hubris generated by modern academia and reach recognition and acceptance, well it really is a striking discovery in such self-absorbed modern intellectual circles.)

Similar to Vygotsky, Girard has uncovered the social underpinnings of human desire by astutely observing commonalities among the world’s greatest literature in how conflict is generated: in contrast to simplistic modern adages that attribute all violent conflict to differences and not ‘getting along’, Girard demonstrates that a certain most dangerous species of violence is not born of difference but precisely resides in proximity, similarity, and getting along famously. Only with someone close to ourselves and alike to us, do we come to share competing desire for one and the same thing. From this mimetic desire, rivalry is born and violent conflict may erupt if the object of this shared desire cannot itself be shared. (In great literature then, Girard recognizes that it is often a romantic partner who comes between two characters very much alike, since this special object of desire can never be shared by two rivals).

Only in a triumphantly individualistic culture can it come as great surprise that everything from human desire to intellectual development is highly dependent upon and shaped by our social context and relationships. As educators we should accept even greater responsibility to reach each learner where she is at, with the knowledge that her learning is dependent on caring intervention and nurturing collaboration with those around her. Yet there is a foolish irony if teachers are expected to appreciate multiple learning styles while simultaneously assuming no specific teaching style particular to themselves and their own distinct personalities. While educators must do their very best to teach students in various diverse ways sensitive to the differences among them, we also need to admit our own strengths and preferences endemic to our personality and expressed in our own teaching style. For me this has meant a tendency toward bodily-kinesthetic and naturalistic-environmental instruction. I am deeply inclined in these directions myself and feel some legitimacy to emphasize these learning styles given that they are typically terribly neglected by teachers, to the learning atrophy and boredom of many students and I would suggest especially young boys.

My interest and even passion to teach out of doors and in a multi-sensory, bodily-kinesthetic way, will make me more suited to some students and less to others. It is my responsibility as an educator to recognize this bias in my teaching style and be ever-vigilant in my efforts to reach those students not as easily engaged by my typical instruction emphasis. Nevertheless I believe that teachers teach who we are, and our genuine enthusiasm counts for a great deal that may be ‘lost’ due to our natural limitations being specific persons with specific personalities. My own pedagogical vision will entail certain challenges, but these create some of the beauty that collaborative learning and a diverse, communal classroom can have. I don’t want to be everything to everyone, and I know I cannot be. But I can always strive to be my best for each student in my care; to see her as she really is and to offer what strength I have to nurture her love of learning along the path of discovery.

UBUNTU: A person is only a person through other persons.

-Mark Northey

[NOTE: I was away at camp during this blog post]

Narrative in Teaching and Learning- Teacher as a Researcher

Before reading the article, I never thought of a teacher as a researcher; however, a teacher is a researcher. Narrative in teaching can be a teacher who is able to explore his/her teaching, his/her classroom, so that they can improve their teaching, comes out with more new ideas, and then apply all of them into the classroom teaching; or, teaching students the real experiences from ourselves or others; therefore, makes the class more informatively, interesting and unforgettable.

One of my education professors used to record the lectures; therefore, after the class, the professor can review the whole class. Because sometimes when you teach, in your dimension, you as a teacher and students are all objects you can observe; therefore, you are easily ignore a lot of familiar elements that effect your teaching quality. However, if you see the lecture record after the class, teacher becomes an audience; view the interaction between teachers (which is him/herself) and students in the classroom. Using different point of view to observe students’ performance, reflect ourselves teaching really makes our teaching different.

Teacher Researcher

When I think of narritive researcher I think of trial and error through reflective practice. After reading the article on Education Insights, I think teachers become researchers when they are reflecting on their classroom and trying new ways of teaching and applying ideas. I was first introduced to reflection in this class and I thought it was something that teachers did after each lesson that they taught and asked themselves, how well did the children learn the concepts? Is there a different way that I could have taught this idea? After reading this weeks article I realized that it goes beyond an individual lesson, it is also important to look at the big picture, even as big as the whole cirriculum and how we think of it. Teachers who dive beyond the ordinary with be able to reach their students.

When I think of doing research I think of sitting in front of a computer screen for hours reading academic articles till your eyes go cross. My idea of research is that of a student or academic, but teachers doing research can involove looking for more sources, yet what it really involves is the re-searching of the same ideas and finding new ways to teach concepts to students.

Teachers as Researchers

I also along with many others in the class have not thought of teachers as researchers. But after reading Gabriella Minnes Brandes and Lynn Fels’ article, I recognize that teachers as researchers have been the ones that tend to put in the extra time and effort to get to know their students better and are the ones that are often reflecting from their practices; for example, taking into consideration Mamchur’s personality types, learning styles, Gardner’s multiple intelligences, etc. to understand and help design/alter curriculum and make changes/adaptations to maximize student’s potential to learn and succeed in the classroom. In turn, these teachers have better relationships with the students and the environment created within the classroom becomes a place where students’ learning is benefitted.

Being a teacher requires a lot of dedication and time and it is clear to be now that teachers who reflect on their own practices are considered to be researchers. Reflecting on one’s practices can be very beneficial, seeing how to better what works and improving on what doesn’t work for the next time can make the lesson more beneficial and effective as it can prevent time from being wasted in class.

Narrative in teaching and Learning and Teacher / researcher

Narration is part of our daily life. “It is everywhere, and is fundamental to human understanding, communication and social interaction.” Narrative means “ a spoken or written account of connected events” (Oxford Dictionary). In recent years, narrative research has gained more importance in social sciences. For example, it is an important branch in history and is widely used as a source of historical events. Usage of narrative in teaching and research can bring new methods and ways of seeing oneself and society.

For teachers in order to find newer approaches in teaching and curriculum research is essential. “Curriculum became imagined not as a fixed entity but as currere, the Latin word meaning to run with, to run on a course, thereby forefronting action and becoming an integral component of action.” I believe for educators in order to enrich their perception of teaching, research should be an integral part of their activity. In conducting research narrative can play a fine role, since it is unique for everyone, it is partially imaginative, it is creative, and it can encourage students directly or indirectly to view the things from different angles. Also, for a teacher / researcher will crate a valuable opportunity to examine the effects of narrative in students.

Re-imagining Curriculum is a very interesting article which examines various approaches in research. I specially liked the part that talks about the practice of giving students the opportunity to choose their own curricular activities and most interestingly the result wasn’t a chaos in the classroom.

“Narrative in Teaching and Learning”

As narrative deals with human lives or human like experiences, it can be conceived as an authentic educational tool that makes contents “believable”, “rememberable”, and “entertaining”. By using narrative in learning, educators make information less forgettable and favor the exploration of the deeper meaning of the content. Narrative involves students in the action, and engages, this way, their intention. Certainly, the learner involvement deeply depends on the power of narrative. It can give students new knowledge, and broader perspectives because they aim the territory of human experiences, and open way to personal growth and change. But, it’s necessary to add that inserting narrative into teaching and learning is an art. Educators should know how to give learners the right and sufficient space to interact with the content: as Leitch(1986) said, “to tell too much, to provide the answers to all questions spoken and anticipated, is to render the active engagement of the learner unnecessary. To tell too little is to leave the learner with insufficient guidance or support in constructing her or his own meaning and relationship with the content”.

Narrative in Teaching and Learning

I never thought of teachers as researchers, but now I understand that teachers are like researchers. Teachers use various resources, other teachers' experiences and especially their own experiences to help them with their research. Many times teachers try new strategies and explore new ways, but sometimes it doesn't turn out the way they want it to. But that's ok because they just need to continue trying and looking for new strategies. Teachers are always researching to help better their teachings/lessons. They have to keep finding new activities for their lessons and ways to improve their lessons. Also, when researching, teachers need to always keep their students in mind. Teachers have to find ways/methods to help better their students learning. Different students have different needs and teachers must attend to their needs by looking for new options for them. But for teachers to attend to students needs, they need to know what their needs are and students will be able to open up if teachers create environments where students feel comfortable and safe and create relationships that are caring and supportive. Teachers can research how to create safe and comfortable environments and help students thrive in these environments.

So I feel that teachers are always researching whether it be to better themselves, their teachings or to help find strategies to help their students better their learning and attend to their needs. There is no harm in improving lessons or finding new strategies or even trying out new methods. If experiences fail, then they just learn from that experience and move onto another strategy.

Narrative in Teaching and Learning- Teacher as a Researcher

Before reading the article, I never thought of a teacher as a researcher; however, looking closely at the role of a teacher reveals one as a researcher. When teachers are observing their students and finding ways to help each individual, teachers are researching into their students in how much they are capable of and what skills they need to work on. Teachers are looking for ways to make learning easy for students, and make adjustments in lessons if required; thus, this would also be considered researching as teachers are using books and thinking about ways to develop their lessons. As Gabriella Minnes and Lynn Fels says, “For us, researching as meaning making became a project of interruption, of intervention, of pause and reflection, of re-searching new ways of engagement” (2006); I believe same goes for teachers, who are always searching for ways to make their lessons engaging and meaningful for students. I agree with Krystal that “researching should be a constant act that a teacher does” (Krystal Ng, July 27, 2011); as teachers constantly research and reflect on the various activities, students would feel more motivated to learn, without feeling vulnerable about school. I feel that as a potential teacher, I would be always researching to find ways to become a better teacher, and figure out how to help my students learn better. Also, interacting with other staff and parents, and reading books are also a way of researching, where we search for alternatives to how lessons, activities, etc. are being delivered; thus, improving in the profession of teaching.