Trends And Issues In Curriculum And Instructions Education Essay

Trends And Issues In Curriculum And Instructions Education Essay The Jamaican Early Childhood Curriculum was recently crafted. The curriculum is built on the principle that children learn best when content from various disciplines along with skills from the developmental domains are in line with the childrens holistic view and experience of the world. The curriculum therefore considers learning through play, sequenced learning, individual learning, the practitioners multiple roles, and inclusion of all learners and the domains of development, the learning environment, proper assessment, the role of parents and the role of community (Davies, 2008). While the curriculum addresses various objectives that need to be met in fostering Early Childhood learning and outlines the requisite instructions, there are challenges to the implementation of the curriculum. Broadly speaking, these factors are usually internal and external. These factors reduce the effectiveness of the curriculum and weaken the chance of effective learning at the Early Childhood Level. The factors drive a mismatch between the situation that the curriculum was designed to target and the reality. This difference causes the actual learning outcome to deviate from the intended learning outcome. The curriculum is based on an assumption that the student is operating at a particular level, the students parent and environmental background offer a certain level of support, and the teacher operates at a certain level. It is fair to believe that this is normally the case. However, curriculum implementation breaks down whenever these assumptions do not hold. In my view, the internal factors may be best represented by teachers, students, school infrastructure and resources. Teachers are given the primary responsibility to implement the curriculum. A teachers creativity, capabilities and qualification enables him/her to transfer the content of the curriculum in a meaningful way that will connect with the diverse groups of learners. According to Jalongo and Isenberg (2012) a teachers knowledge of the children and the content of the curriculum will enable him/her to possess the ability to provide for the childrens strengths and weakness. The capable teacher will be able to facilitate the childs interest and to develop the knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions they will need to become productive members of the society. Jalongo and Isenberg (2012) posit that the teacher strategies and plan for learning is the thread that weaves the curriculum. They refer to this as the what of teaching, and the how of teaching. Its therefore, imperative that teachers plan for the students learning in order to cater for the diverse learning styles in their classroom. The methodologies that the teacher employs should fit the students ability to gain knowledge and develop the necessary skills. Also, the teacher should be competent and acquire keen insights on the capabilities that children possess in order to cater for holistic development. If this is not achieved, then the implementation of the curriculum would have failed. A key ingredient for the successful implementation of any curriculum is a keen understanding of the learner. Jalongo and Isenberg (2012) posit that a curriculum should focus on what a child knows and can do and what a child should know and can do. Hence the content of the curriculum should take into account the needs, interest, age and stage of development and the social and cultural context of the child. The child as the learner possesses the ultimate success of the curriculum. This takes into account the abilities, skills, background knowledge and exposure /experience that the child acquires before entering the learning environment. According to Puckett and Diffily (2004) being aware of the differences in childrens development, strengths and challenges will allow curriculum planners and teachers to plan effectively in order to meet each childs developmental needs. Jalongo and Isenberg (2012) stated that a curriculum should consider the following; Child development and learning, Chi ld needs, abilities and interest as well as their socio cultural context in which they live. I strongly believe that these factors will enable the teachers to perform effectively within the teaching and learning environment. The school infrastructure and resources play a vital role in the delivery of the schools curriculum. It is my observation that the size of the student population relative to the size and quality of the physical accommodation of a school impacts the quality of curriculum implementation. According to Krogh and Morehouse (2008) the environment outside the classroom should be rich with potential and becomes a valuable multiuse arena. They also indicate that the physical environment plays an integral and vital part in supporting practices that encourage high levels of child initiated engagement and exploration. It is my view that the environment plays a key role in stimulating the cognitive processes required for effective curriculum implementation. I believe that the infrastructure of a school attracts a particular socio economic class from within the community. As a result, this will determine the quality of students and teachers who are enrolled in and employed to the school. It also establishes the quality of curriculum implementation that will occur. This will drive the resources that these schools are provided with. Greater resources mean that the school is able to properly finance the required staffing and infrastructure improvements that facilitate the learning process. My school is located in the rural area of St. Andrew and its serves children from low socio economic backgrounds. Therefore, the implementation of the curriculum faces barriers as the students are unable to relate to the information, the teachers have limited educational training and the resources are limited to meet the needs of the students. This poses a challenge for the curriculum to be fully implemented and for the required learning outcomes to be obtained. In my view, external factors usually include parents, home and community. I believe that these factors are crucial to the implementation of the curriculum. Parental involvement is a key determinant to successful academic achievement. This sets the foundation of the learning attitude that children carry to the learning environment. Support from parents increases the academic achievement in later years. Burke (2010) postulates that a child whose parents are passionately active and involved in their education at an early has a distinct advantage when compared to his/her peers. I believe that the involvement of parents facilitates the childs willingness to appreciate the importance of a solid education. This involvement can break or build the implementation of any curriculum. In my opinion, parents are generally unaware of the powerful effect that they have on what and how the content of a curriculum is designed and implemented. I believe that parents are an essential part of resource bu ilding. Strong parent teacher associations (PTAs) and effective parental involvement in school administration goes a far way in strengthening fund raising activities and in acquiring external support in building the school infrastructure. I strongly believe that parents are the first line of support for all children. They are the primary source of socialization and set the foundation for formal learning to take place. The home is the initial environment for optimal nurturing and it ideally creates a sense of belonging. In integrating parental role in curriculum implementation, a one-size fits all approach cannot be taken. We have to take into consideration the socio economic status of these parents as well as their educational background. The background of these parents, especially in rural environs, allows for limitation on the input they can offer to the implementation of the curriculum. Hence, little or no involvement occurs and the inability to hold teachers accountable for poor curriculum implementation becomes a major issue. Burke (2010) states that when parents are involved in the educational process of their children, they will be able to include or add additional information and insight from their own persona l experiences to teachers in order to support their childs learning and development. Community is seen as the secondary source of socialization. When we examine a community, we need to take into account the structure, culture and socio economic factors that shape the community. Couchenour and Chrisman (2011) stated that when the cultural background of the community does not match the cultural and educational context of a school then the academic achievement will be affected. This, I believe, is crucial in the implementation of the curriculum. In my opinion, the cultural background of the students and the parents may prevent a school from attaining a targeted culture. The interrelatedness of the school and the community greatly impacts the achievement of the objectives of the curriculum. Rural communities are largely comprised of farmers and unemployed individuals who sparingly acquire secondary education. Urie Brofenbrenners bioecological theory explains that understanding a childs development requires us to view the child in his socio culture context that includes f amily setting, community and the wider society (as cited in Couchenour and Chrisman, 2011). It is my view that the community plays a vital role in shaping the culture of the school. Depending on the socio economic, culture, structure and educational factors the implementation of the curriculum will be extensively affected. In conclusion, many factors affect  curriculum  implementation. It is my view that internal factors such as teachers, students, school infrastructure and resources and external factors such as parents, home and community are vital factors that may pose positive and negative effects on the implementation of the curriculum. At the early childhood level, the content and objectives of the curriculum should be centred on the childs needs and interest. How we address their needs and interest is dependent on the instructional objectives carried out by the teacher, the availability of resources and the learning environment of the school. It is my view, therefore, that a curriculum customization is needed at the Early Childhood level in order to cater for the different internal and external factors indicated above. A customized blueprint will produce effective, critical and holistic thinkers within our community and wider society.

Go Ask Alice :: essays research papers

Go Ask Alice This book is actually a real diary, written by a 15 year old American girl who is tossed into the world of drugs. The girl has the "perfect" life but is forced to change from a child to an adult virtually overnight. She develops a crass attitude, and becomes paranoid, all because of her newly found lust for drugs. It didn't just happen overnight. She started to take sleeping pills and tranquilizers to fall asleep but friends slipped her LSD and from then on she was hooked. She felt insecure and alone, so when the "popular group" invited her to join them she leapt at the chance. She fits right in by being introduced to drugs such as Speed and torpedos. She starts to experiment with more use of drugs and pre-marital sex. She starts pushing drugs at school for her new boyfriend Ritchie which will give her a rep she won't be able to shake off father on down the road. It turns out though, that Ritchie is gay as she soon finds out, she was used and feels terrible so†¦.. Feeling her life is depressing, with her parents harping at her about her looks and grades, and her peers ignoring her at her new school, she runs away with a girl a year older than herself, Chris. They go to the city of San Francisco to escape it all. They live in a one bedroom dirty apartment, saving their money until they can open up their own little boutique. They find jobs with wonderful bosses who invite them out. One is a wonderful old man with a large family who accepts them as their own. The other boss is a very wealthy woman who loves to throw parties and lets the girls crash at her place. They think everything is wonderful until one evening they are sitting with her and her boyfriend and they try heroin and then speed and then are brutally raped. They are disgusted with this lifestyle so they head out to start a boutique for themselves. After a while with the boutique the two are over with it and decide to head home, she calls her mother and is picked up the next evening at the airport by her families warm embrace. Christmas time has come and she is happy as can be. No more drugs, happy to be with her family and ready to get rid of her old life and on with the new.

One Shot Society Essay

As the great Colin Powell said, â€Å"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work learning from failure. † People’s success in life is determined by their sacrifice and hard work while young. We can go back in time and arrange every error we commit, meaning that we only have one opportunity in life. My essay will talk about the differences between Hondurans and South Koreans in terms of effort, opportunities, demands and expectations. Countries such as South Korea take very seriously the academic part of life in order to succeed in every aspect of it. Since early people grow with this way of life in which giving every inch of effort counts. Parents lead their children with strict habits of studying instead of doing other activities. Society demands youth to get well prepared for life and they have to respond by demonstrating it in their academic life. The results of studying and being dedicated shows when preparing for college. For example, admissions test for college is a day where society paralyzes, because this is crucial, this is the only shot they got to start with the right foot and have a decent life for probably the next 60 years. If people are not enough dedicated, they will have more difficulties in life. Koreans are usually hard working by nature; they don’t need to be told what to do, they work for it and at the end everything pays. On the other hand we have Honduras, a poor country where society has low demands on individuals; A country where goods are not fairly distributed. Not everyone in the country has opportunities to succeed, if people do not have money, even if they have the desire of giving everything in academics, opportunities do not present. Public education is very poor. Only the social class that can pay has a fair higher education. Academics is not something primary and society’s demand are not so harsh on young people. Even if youth doesn’t have a fine education after high school they can probably find a way out and earn money and because of this reasons not every student gives all their effort. Opportunities present to the ones who know wealthy people and government figures. The majority of Hondurans are not hard working people and society doesn’t give that much opportunities. These two countries are very different in almost every aspect but have similarities on a few. South Korea is a rich powerful country where every kid has to be very dedicated to their studies in order to succeed, young people usually study until 4 and then go with tutors, and meanwhile few Honduran kids are dedicated because of the poor society demands. Schools end about 2 or 3, then do a couple of homework and that’s it. 00% of South Korean parents want their children to get to college, while not every Honduran parent sees college as a mandatory thing to do. The level of work in South Korea surpasses Honduran one and the results show in the evolution as a society and as a country. The little similarity between these two countries is that not so much work opportunities are presented for people who study, making it hard for some people to succeed. In conclusion people should take advantage of that one shot life gives us even if we are in different countries.  To make a difference and overcome difficulties people have to be hard workers to demonstrate society our capacities and accomplish our life goal, which I think for the most is having a wealthy life. Rich countries such as South Korea evolve because of their work, even if this means doing sacrifices and passing through lots of stress. At the end results will show and society will grow. â€Å"Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today†.

Comparison Between Rich And Poor, Power, Violence, And...

Sukripa Ranjit’s comparison of the inequality between rich and poor, power, Violence, and terrorism, seen in the film The Hunger Games. The film industry ranks among the most profitable industries the world over. Every year new films are rolled out to quench the thirsts of an ever-widening fan base. Through the consistent production of movies, followers of this genre of entertainment keep up with the latest developments in the film industry (Collins, 2012). Apart from entertainment, movies help in relaying important messages to the wider masses. The Hunger Games (Dir. Ross) provide an ostensibly fictional plot along with great entertainment and enjoyment to the viewer. It happens that some of the themes reflected in this film represent†¦show more content†¦It is also observed that most residents in the district are not able to hunt meaning that the little owned by the Katniss family is more than the other districts in the district. Additionally, even the most basic needs such as food are luxuries. Katniss also observes that the family of Peeta which owns a bakery and is, therefore, one of the households that are better off in District II cannot afford most of the baked food and they mostly eat the decayed leftovers. On the other hand, when Katniss reaches in the capitol, she is surprised by the extravagant feasts as well as the sumptuously prepared meals. The food is abundant and rich and for the first moment, Katniss attempts hot chocolate. This movie shows the how rich and poor live their life. In this movie, it focused on discrimination between the life of rich and poor. The life of poor people looks painful and miserable. They had to struggle every single meal and sustainable living area. According to United Nations World Food Programme (WEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 12.8 million people are suffering from starvation in Southern Africa (Volen, 315). 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