Finding the Be: Curiosity & Creativity in the Class

Last week in an Integrating Curriculum and Assessment class at Brock we spent a lot of time working with various curriculums from both inside and outside of Canada. It was our job to look for examples of important things Know, Do, Be in the curriculum of our choice. Our class collaboratively found that many of the learning expectations overlapped and were found in almost all curricula regardless of grade or subject using a Google document on the projector.

Retrieved from: http://mathhombre.blogspot.ca/2013/02/creative-learning-week-1.html

I would like to focus your attention to the 

‘BE’; the most important values, attitudes, or behaviours students are expected to demonstrate 

(Drake, Reud & Holohon, 2014, p. 43) because I find it the most interesting and difficult to grasp in the context of curriculum.

Next we dug a little deeper – each group in the class did a vertical scan and cluster of the expectations that were given to us. Our group focused on writing in the English curriculum from grades one through 12 and was asked to type both overall and specific expectations on a Google document once again. At first the activity seemed daunting, as there were 12 grades to cover. However, by selecting a leader and working as a team we got through the activity fairly quickly and were able to understand various goals and purpose of the task as we did so. We realized how playing a role in a group was inherent in getting things done – we were being the BE, and demonstrating the learning skill of collaboration.

 

Retrieved from: http://misalondon.ca/assessment-evaluation/learning-skills/ 

We also came to the realization that all general objectives or outcomes of language were the exact same across all grades, and many specific outcomes were similar and became increasingly complex. At the beginning of the activity, we did not know why we were simply retyping the curriculum, demonstrating the implicitly of finding the BE in learning. Our TA asked us the question of how many teachers know this? Our group came to the conclusion of not many. Although the curriculum serves as a guideline for teachers, it is still a very important foundation of creating lessons and assessments. It is equally important to understand how and for what reason: I say to give teachers the freedom to be creative by allowing their students to be creative. We know that by asking questions we can spark curiosity in others, but how do we objectively measure the creativity that stems from this curiosity? Society wants to see numbers and proof, however this idea is just as meaningless as reciting information from the curriculum to students. Practitioners must create and utilize activities to create an environment for students where they can explore their learning skills and subjectively evaluate them through observation. They can begin to be articulated through language through the Growing Success Document that is used as a resource in our Education 4P19 class. I urge you to look to "The Creative Process" on page 16 and "Learning Skills Observation Checklist" on page 11.

Retrieved from: https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growSuccess.pdf

BE curious, BE creative, and BE education.

Until next time,

Ms. Kee

References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21^st Century Learner. Don Mills, ON:Oxford University Press.