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.

Supporting Children’s Learning and Development

Supporting Children’s Learning and Development Unit 4: Supporting Children’s Learning and Development Identify each of three prime areas and four specific areas of learning. Every child is a unique child; Children learn to be forceful and independent through positive relationships; Children discover and develop well in enabling environments; and Children develop and discover in different methods and at different rates. Planning ‘Practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of progress of every child in their care, have to use this data to plan a challenging and pleasant experience for every child in all of the areas of discovering and development. Focus ‘Practitioners working alongside the youngest children are anticipated to focus powerfully on the three prime areas, which are the basis for successful discovering in the supplementary four specific areas. The three prime areas imitate the key skills and capacities of all children demand to develop and discover effectively, and come to be prepared for school. It is anticipated that the balance will shift towards an extra equal focus on all areas of discovering as children produce in assurance and skill inside the three prime areas. Home language ‘Providers have to acquire reasonable steps to offer opportunities for children to develop and use their residence speech in play and learning, supporting their speech progress at home. Providers have to additionally safeguard that children have adequate opportunities to discover and attain a good average in English language throughout the EYFS, safeguarding children are prepared to benefit from the opportunities obtainable to them when they begin Year 1.’ Play ‘Each area of learning and progress have to be implemented through planned, purposeful play and throughout a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity†¦.Children discover by managing their own play, and by taking part in play that is accompanied by adults. There is an ongoing judgement to be made by practitioners concerning the balance between activities managed by children, and activities managed or guided by adults. Practitioners must respond to every child’s emerging needs and interests, accompanying their progress through warm, positive interaction. As children produce, and as their progress permits, it is anticipated that the balance will softly shift towards more activities managed by adults, to aid children prepare for more formal learning, prepared for Year 1. Key characteristics In arranging and accompanying children’s activities, practitioners have to imitate on the different methods that children discover and imitate these in their practice. Three characteristics of competent teaching and discovering are: †¢ Playing and discovering †¢ Active learning †¢ Creating and thinking critically. Key person Each child has to be allocated to a key person. Explain how planning can be devised to promote the individual needs of children. Some children could truly dislike the sense of various material be sensitive to this, softly encourage play but take them at their own pace and level of comfort. Have soaked wipes near so that they can be utilized at any time. converse to parents concerning the benefits of messy play and enthuse its use at home. Permit plenty of periods for these activities. Possessing the activity before lunch will locale pressure on the child and adult during clean up. Connect in ideal that it is OK to become your labour dirty. Individual containers for the material can be of benefit to a child that needs support with boundaries, as a larger container i.e. water tray or sand box can enthuse a withdrawn child to interact through others. Use aged adult sized t-shirts or shirts for youthful children to wear during activities. Roll up sleeves and put on waterproof bibs for babies. Possessing a spare set of clothes is always a good back up. Attempt to position the activity near to where the children can wash their hands. At clean up period, enthuse children to aid have individual fabrics, clearly described storage areas, cleaning line for paintings, dustpan and brush near sand. Planning programmes can additionally create a sense of protection for the children. Planning includes long term – looking at the vision for the service – and short or medium term programme planning – looking at the day to day and weekly running of the service. Planning as a team supports the team in working together and the conception of a sense of ownership. Arranging requires setting aside period on a weekly basis after everyone can attend. It permits workers period to debate observations on the needs and interests of individual children and the group and next how to plan for these. This additionally helps individual staff members to recognise what their role is every single date, thus ensuring a smoother running service. It is vital to study your strategies and their implementation to notify upcoming planning. We can advance the progress of thinking and reasoning in young children by providing two curriculum components – arranging and reflection. Both are thoughtful activities that support children to consider what they are doing and what they are learning. They additionally advance a broad range of other academic, social and artistic skills. Involve children in arranging and enthuse them to recognise their goals and consider the options for achieving them. For example, they could consider what they will do, whereas they will do it, what materials they will use, who they will do it alongside, how long it will take and whether they will require help. Involve children in reflection and encourage them to go beyond just revealing what they’ve done. This helps them become aware of what they learned in the procedure, what was interesting, how they feel concerning it and what they can do to bu ild on the experience. When children plan, carry out, and study their own discovering activities, their behaviour is more purposeful and they present larger on speech and supplementary intellectual measures. Describe how the practitioner can support children’s learning and development in each area of learning. When preparing environments for children, it is important to consider their age and stage of development. We also need to ensure that the experiences and play opportunities offered cover the areas of development outlined in the EYFS. We also need to consider whether the environment meets the needs of individual children. Children develop at different rates. Some children need more challenging activities while others may need a different type of activity or different resources. Observing individual children to see how the engage with the environment will help us to plan appropriately. The practitioner should always make sure that the environment around the child is safe if not this could but the child in hazard, and also should make sure the environment meet each child individual needs. The practitioners should guide the children of being individual and do their own activity. As well as working together with parents and carers practitioners need to recognise that this should be taking place with multi- agencies working together too. Setting should be pointing parents in the directions of other agencies which could be of benefit to them. Multi agency working is different services, agencies, professionals and practitioners who work together to provide services for children and parents. These services are sometimes integrated together to offer a more effective care for young children. Children in the early years may have a wide range of needs and working together with other professionals can have a positive impact on the child’s health, development and learning. Professionals that work together with children and their families can share lots of information. They can agree which ways they may assess and plan for a particular child. Both children and the parents can be involved in any planning this will help the child to reach his full potential. It is also important that confidentiality is maintained at all times. By sharing information and all professionals concerned working together the outcome for the child can only be positive. The arrangement of the environment plays a key role in guiding the behaviour of young children. A poorly arranged physical setting actually sends messages which may trigger behaviour such as aggressive play, running, or superficial interactions with toys and materials. Altering the physical space and layout of the room can eliminate such challenging behaviours. Observe children closely to determine what messages the physical environment is sending. If it appears that the space suggests undesirable behaviours to children like running indoorsbe willing to modify the arrangement of equipment and furnishings to send a different message.

The Cuban Revolution and the Triumph of Women in Cuba Essay examples --

Fidel Castro and the M-26-7 successfully seized power of Cuba’s government in 1959, after years of fighting. The M-26-7’s nationalist movement was able to knock the corrupt leader, Fulgencio Batista, out of power, and in 1961 Castro deemed the revolution to be officially of a Marxist nature. Throughout his 40-year stay as president, Castro has not allowed his revolution to stall, but rather he has allowed it to progress and adapt as he has seen fit. In relation with Castro’s revolution in Cuba has been another revolution, that of the Cuban women. Castro himself described the changes in women’s public and private lives as "a revolution within a revolution". In a true system of equality, as in the one Castro holds as his ideal, equality reaches all people across all lines whether they are lines of race, class, or gender. Throughout Castro’s campaign, starting in 1953 with the failed Moncada attack, Castro has used historic referenciality to appeal to the Cuban population. Castro’s most often mentioned historical figure is no other than the national hero, Josà © Martà ­. While Martà ­Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s view on women is suspect to debate, his opinion on equality is very clear. Martà ­ once said, "Respect for the freedom and ideas of others, of even the most wretched being, is my fanaticism. When I die, or if I am killed, it will be because of that." The crux of this prophetic quote was borrowed by Castro on a broader level when he attained power and based his entire social structure on equality. Women in pre-revolutionary Cuba Gender differences were enormous in Cuba before the Cuban revolution. The prototypical woman of the old republic according to a leading journalist of the revolution, Mirta Rodrà ­guez Calderà ³n, was Yina the prostitute. A poor wo... ...reignty against the colonizers who exterminated the auctoctonous population, of the interventionists who sought to take up our Island, of the dictators and governments in power under the disgraceful servitude of transnational mandates impoverishing the country. Resolute and brave women patriots engaged in every necessary period of the war for national liberation. When the people took power, women identified the starting revolution, as their own Revolution, which immediately established education and medical care services free for all without distinction, the land and urban reforms, measures of greatly popular benefits made it clear what the revolution intended to do, and therefore they embraced at once, participating intensively in all construction and defense works of the new society that opened its doors with all the rights and opportunities they never had before.

Rudyard Kiplings Kim Essay -- Rudyard Kipling Kim Book Report Essays

Rudyard Kipling's Kim Kim gives a vivid picture of the complexities in India under British rule. It shows the life of the bazaar mystics, of the natives, of the British military. There is a great deal of action and movement, for Kipling's vast canvas painted in full detail. The dialogue in the novel makes use of Indian phrases translated by the author, they give the flavor of native speech in India. They are also touches of the native behavior and shrewdness. Setting: The time the novel took place was around the late nineteenth century. The story takes place in a hot and dry location of British India. Most of the scenes either take place in the wilderness or the streets of India. Plot: Kim grew up on the streets of Lahore. His Irish mother had died when he was born. His father, a former colorsergeant of an Irish regiment called the Mavericks, died eventually from doing drugs and having too much to drink, and left his son in care of a half-caste woman. So young Kimball O'hara became Kim, and under the hot Indian sun his skin grew so dark that one good not tell that he was of the Caucasian race. One day a Tibetan lama, in search of the Holy River of the Arrow that would wash away all sin, came to Lahore. Struck by all possibility for an exciting adventure, Kim attached himself to the lama as his chela. His adventures began almost at once. That night, at the edge of Lahore, Mahubub Ali, a horse trader, gave Kim a cryptic message to deliver to a British author in Umballa. What Kim did not know was that Mahbub was a member of the British Secret Service. He delivered the message as directed, and then lay in the grass and watched and listened until he learned that his message meant that eight thousand men would go to war. Out on the big road the lama and Kim encountered many people of all sorts. Conversation was easy. One group in particular interested Kim, an old lady traveling in a family bullcock cart attended by a retinue of eight men. Kim and the Lama attached themselves to her party. Towards the evening they saw a group of soldiers making camp. It was the Maverick regiment. Kim, whose horoscope said that his life would be changed at the sign of a red bull in a field of green, was fascinated by the regimental flag, which was just that red bull against a background of bright green. Caught by a chaplain, the Revere... ...nally distinguishes himself as a member of the British Secret Service. 2. A Tibetan Lama- Becomes Kim's instructor and whose ambition is to find the holy River of the Arrow which would wash away all sin. After Kim's education is complete he accompanies the lama on his wanderings, though he is really a member of the secret service. In the end he finds the river he is looking or, it ends up being a brook attached to an old woman's house. 3. Mahbub Ali- A horse trader who is really a member of the secret service. He is largely responsible for Kim's becoming a member of the British secret service. 4. Colonel Creighton- The director of the British Secret Service, who permits Kim to resume the dress of a street boy and do secret service work. 5. Hurre Chunder Mookerjee- A babu, and also a member of the Secret Service. He is Kim's confederate in securing some valuable documents brought into by spies for the Russians. Personal Evaluation and Conclusion: I personally liked the novel "Kim". The reason I liked the novel is because I love adventure stories. The story line of "Kim" was very exciting and kept me in suspense.

Paper as a Metaphor in A Streetcar Named Desire -- Tennessee Williams,

"[M]ortgages, foreclosures, directions, letters, poems, telegrams, newspapers, appraisals, songs, even moons (Kolin 1)." What do these all have to do with each other? Paper and A Streetcar Named Desire. Philip C. Kolin points out this metaphor in his article " 'It's only a paper moon': The Paper Ontology' in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.'" Kolin has found that Williams has used paper as a metaphor to describe Blanche's and Stanley's faults and desires. Kolin finds this to be a common thread in Williams' work but mainly focuses on Streetcar. Williams himself finds paper to be an interesting creation: "In Williams' own words, paper, when properly inscribed, can be sacred, yet when it is subjected to corrupt or untruthful imprints it is profane" (2). It's true paper seems to play a very important role in this play. One of the first things Stanley does is throw a "red-stained swatch of butcher paper" (3), at Stella. After reading or viewing this play, a bloodstained paper and Stanley definitely seem to intertwine with each other. Kolin argues Stanley uses paper ...

1492-1750 Global Transformation

The time period of 1492 to 1750 was a time of global transformation as well as continuity in the social and economical aspects. Regions such as Africa, Western Europe, and the Americas changed because of the many affects the Colombian Trade. Different imports and exports that each region had drastically changed much of the economic and social aspects of the time. These regions followed a path of continuity in many things and because of the ever-expanding communication going on, social structures were produced and flawed. 492 marked the beginning of the Colombian Exchange, unifying the Eastern and Western hemispheres across the Atlantic, socially and economically. Europe and the Americas exchanged crops, food, technologies and diseases. The Americas suffered the most from the diseases given to them, like typhus and small pox, which created a population loss. The exchange of livestock had brought the horse to the Americas, which transformed the lifestyle of the nomadic Plains Indians.A t this time trans-Saharan slave trade was already in existence and soon after the Western Hemisphere had their share of African slaves, this is known as the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Because European diseases had killed off many Native Americans, African slaves were sought out. Slaves fueled the Americas’ economy and they soon entered the global economy. At this point Europe and the Americas had started taking away Africans from their homes and forcing them into slavery.This mostly occurred in the Americas because of the need for labor. The need for labor came from the huge decrease of population because of the Spanish conquistadors and the diseases brought over by the Colombian Exchange. Plantation slaves in North America blended their culture with that of the Western Hemisphere. In the Americas, social hierarchy was taking place because of the miscegenation of races. Towards the end of this period, the powerful economy of Europe was growing rapidly and a middle class had started to form.Because of these new global contacts, Western Europe remained unchanged socially but this wasn’t clearly the same for Africa. Even though it seems there was a surplus of slaves in the Americas and Europe, there was a continuous high demand for slaves in Africa. Socially, Africa was ruined and many societies began to fight for their share of slaves in hopes of having powerful economies like that of Western Europe.Interaction between Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas resulted in change and continuity during 1492 to 1750. At the beginning, Columbus had united the New and Old worlds that created interconnectedness that to this day hasn’t been broken. The slave trade brought many social changes in all three of these regions as well as destroyed or powered their economies. The continuous contact between these regions changed what was known to them in previous years and periods of time.

How Archduke Franz Ferdinand was Assasinated

Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, has been assassinated along with his wife, at the age of 65, while he was invited to travel to Bosnia in order to observe military manoeuvres and open the state museum in Sarajevo. Although he was aware of the many dangers of such an act, the Bosnians desperate fervour for independence and the many terrorist organizations intent upon destroying our government; his love of the low-class wife blinded him. He was permitted to be seen in public with his beloved wife only while acting as â€Å"Military inspector† which was what brought him to set out on these types of trips. The Serbian Military Intelligence was most intent upon this assassination, due to their highly arrogant and crafty ambitions: to take over Bosnia which we have rightfully acquired. It was, therefore, not a surprise when we received first-hand reports proving it was the Serbian Intelligence who were directly responsible for backing the particular group of terrorists who committed these acts. However this did not detract from Franz Ferdinand's foolish actions, which as you will see were in sharp contrast to our honourable and wise King's decisions, when he visited Bosnia: First of all King Franz Joseph had policemen around the streets to protect him, whereas Franz Ferdinand had less than 120 policemen to protect him. King Joseph kept his itinerary top secret, far from the view of suspicious organizations, whereas Franz Ferdinand had his whole itinerary published in the media. On top of that he chose to ride in the â€Å"Grif & Stift† roofless, with his feathery hat sticking out of the vehicle. After brief inspections of the military barracks, the archduke's first stop was the Town Hall via Sarajevo's main road, the Appel Quay. Unknown to the distracted police forces, six young men were lined up across the Appel Quay with Weapons supplied to them from the Serbian Intelligence. Although 5 out of 6 of the assassins did not respond when the procession passed them, Nedeljko Cabrinovic did. He hurled a hand grenade at the archduke†¦ ut he had hit it faster than was required. Moreover it bounced off the back of the vehicle the Archduke was riding in and it blew up on the car behind the archduke's. After realising the situation, the driver accelerated, thus causing Princip to miss his first chance of assassination, and the procession reached the town hall. Here the Archduke cancelled the remainder of his program and advised his officials to utilise a different route to the one already advertised. Unfortunately he forgot to inform the chauffeurs, which would cost him his life. Gavrillo Princip, already dying from Tuberculosis and determined to die as a martyr, was thrown into deep confusion after his group had failed their assassination. He was on his way home when he spotted the vehicle†¦ He stepped forwards, fired two shots at the Archduke and waited. The first shot struck the archduke in his neck, cutting off his jugular vein, rendering his bullet proof covering useless while the second shot hit the duchess in her abdomen. The archduke's last words were, â€Å"Sophie dear! Sophie dear! Don't die! Stay alive for our children! â€Å". It was thus that his love for his low-class wife bought his death†¦