Unintentional Curriculum Crossovers Series – Part I

As a formerly certified K-12 Emotional Disturbance teacher, I was required to take a little bit of every subject taught in the schools. This makes sense as in that role or in the role of a substitute teacher, you help your students no matter the topic. Also, I’m no slouch when it comes to a variety of topics anyways. So what does all that garner me? It helps to give me a different view on the curriculum.

For my readers who are non-US based, our grade levels of 7th through 12th grade are taught by teachers who have received a degree in their chosen subject. Those teachers collaborate with other teachers in their department (English, Math, Science, etc) for ideas, lesson plans and general garnishing of knowledge. All this is well and good but it lends itself to an educational error. Over specializing and closed minded thinking.

As my late argumentative English professor said, degrees progress on a straight line – B.S., M.S., then Piled Higher & Deeper. Getting wrapped up in a topic does permit mastery but often closes a person’s mind to consider other issues as it isn’t their field.

Why is that a problem when it can be a blessing? Well, education isn’t about the adults with degrees. It is about the students.

Students in 7th-12th grade and in college go from class to class covering all the full scope of topics depending on their class schedule. It is only logical to conclude they take the concepts of one class into another. So what happens when one teacher, district / state/ federal curriculum director, or textbook author inserts their values and beliefs into the curriculum as opposed to keeping to the known facts? It does not just impact the one subject they are focusing on. It can hurt the students in all of the subjects.

I’ll give you an example from my life. When I was in tenth grade, the very first unit in English was identical to the one in History. It was taught on the same days, close to the same course material, and even had the unit exam on the same day. So as a student, I thought I would show off the depth and breadth of my knowledge of the unit and used the information I got from one teacher to augment my answers on the other’s exams. The result was less than desired. Each teacher marked the information I got from the other wrong.

In my mind, I could no longer trust what either teacher taught. So I zoned out and went through the motions to get the grade. To this day, I can’t tell you what was taught in those classes as I didn’t care after the first test.

Is it important to make certain the total curriculum is in harmony? You better believe it is.

-MatureKid