Posts tagged youth
Curriculum Theory
Jan 8th
I have been working on writing a curriculum for the sand box and teaching programs I plan on running. As I have never written a curriculum before I have been on a steep learning curve! I have been reading ‘Curriculum theory and practice’, and have found it really useful. The author presents four options as to what it a curriculum could be and leaves it somewhat up to the reader to decide the most appropriate meaning.
From reading this I find that I most identify with the ideas of curriculum put forward by Lawrence Stenhouse:
‘A curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice’ – Lawrence Stenhouse (1975)
One of the key ideas that Stenhouse puts forth is that individuals are not merely present in the process but that they should have a voice in the way that the process is implemented. This is important because the process is only a guide that is being worked out. It will not necessarily be perfect or the right thing for all the participants, therefore they must be able to provide feedback on how things are run so as to provide them with the most value – after all they are the reason for even having the curriculum in the first place!
Classic methods of teaching often fail people because they do not work well with the way that they learn. I know this because the way I was taught had little alignment with the way that I learn, I therefore had little desire to apply myself and subsequently dropped out. I was lucky that my desire to succeed and accomplish things drove me to learn skills on my own time and in my own way. I am hoping that my experience with this, and the understanding of how I learn, will enable me to effectively pass that knowledge onto others. My goal is that they will catch a passion for learning that inspires them to pursue knowledge their own way, on their own terms.
Which brings me back to the last part of the quote from Stenhouse:
‘... and capable of effective translation into practice’.
This is the key – translating the theory into practice. I have a lot of work to do to figure out how to do this and it is what I will be working through over the next few years.
Finding youth to work with
Dec 27th
One of the things people keep asking me is where am I going to find people to train.
I expect that getting this business started is going to take some time because it is very much about relationships and in my experience there are no short-cuts – it just takes time. So here is my game plan. I want to form relationships with existing organisations and people that know of people who could benefit from my help. This involves school, the police, youth workers, churches etc. Of course they are not just going to refer people to me directly with no track record of helping so I am going to have to build some trust. To do this I will have to get involved with an existing organisation working with youth. Maybe to do some mentoring or just general dogs body helping out.
It may not be exactly what I envisaged from the start but I am beginning to see that transforming a vision into reality involves making some consesions and doing things a little differently along the way.
