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Implications of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Running head: IMPLICATIONS OF CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT
Influential Educators, Classroom Organization and Structure, and Summer Program Case Studies and Their Implications of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Danielle Quigley
The College of William & Mary
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is first to explore the theories and practices of six influential educators: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Horace Mann, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, John Dewey, Jane Addams, and Harold Rugg. Second, this paper discusses empirical research on ability grouping and its affects and how forms of grouping related to the various theories. Lastly, this paper studies field experiences in three ability groups and settings, Williams and Mary Summer Enrichment Program, Williamsburg-James City County Summer School Program, and Henrico County Public Schools ESL Summer Academy. Theorists, empirical research, and field observations regarding ability grouping are essential features of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
Influential Educators, Classroom Organization and Structure, and Summer Program Case Studies and Their Implications of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Many factors must be considered when studying curriculum, instruction, and assessment. It is important for teachers to understand the history of education and who has shaped education into what it is today. Integrating theory from important educators is essential to creating a teaching identity and understanding curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Horace Mann, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, John Dewey, Jane Addams, and Harold Rugg are theorists who have had a tremendous impact modern education. By knowing and understanding their theories, teachers can integrate them into their own classroom. Empirical research is also important for teachers to incorporate into their classrooms. By reviewing research own issues such as ability grouping and its effects on student achievement and self-concept, teachers will have a better understanding of how to organize their classroom, but instructionally and physically. Empirical research will keep teachers up-to-date on current issues in education and allow them to incorporate practices into the classroom. Studies of the field experiences allow us incorporate all of these aspects, theory and research. Taking all of these issues together, teachers can create their own teaching identity and who they want their classroom to run.
Influential Educators: Their Impact on K-6 Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment and
Theoretical Influence on Emerging Teaching Identity
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an Enlightenment philosopher who began thinking about education and nature in a novel way. One of his most famous works, Emile, was a novel about the development of a young boy in the hands of nature; however, it was also an educational piece in that it expressed Rousseau’s ideas of nature and how children should develop. Rousseau believed that studying children was essential before trying to manage or teach them in a school setting (Compayre, 1977). Ultimately, Rousseau initiated studies on children which fell under a relatively new discipline, “psychology of the child” (p. 11). Many wondered why Rousseau was so interested in studying children and their rights and freedoms. Rousseau had five children of his own that he left and some believe he became interested in studying children because he felt guilty and wanted a way to make up for it (1977).
Rousseau wanted education to be child-centered and said that it was “‘wrong, always to speak to children of their duties, never of their rights’” (Compayre, 1977, p. 24). In Emile, he explained the development of a young boy who grew up in nature to express his beliefs and ideas on education and child development. Emile was raised with no moral authority and no discipline; therefore, there are also no rewards or punishments other than those that are the natural results of his actions (1977). However, critics wonder how this freedom is natural considering most children are brought up by their parents. One of his beliefs about educators is that the best educator is one that acts the least. In addition, the educator should only remove barriers that would deter nature or should create opportunities in favor of nature (1977). In this “natural education,” Rousseau does not want Emile to know of good or evil, for it is not beneficial for children (p. 26). The child should follow his own judgments and impulses and not feel restricted due to anyone else but himself (1977).
Rousseau’s Emile entails many paradoxes of educational beliefs and ideas. For example, throughout his life, Rousseau was divided “between the doctrine of individualism and that of socialism, between State sovereignty and man’s liberty” (Compayre, 1977, p. 35). Although he believed children should not be hindered by parents or masters, he also criticized parents who handed their children over to teachers, “‘as though a tutor could replace a father’” (p. 37). Rousseau also had separate beliefs on how boys and girls should be educated. Women, particularly in his writings Sophie, should be educated to conform to roles of serving their husband and becoming a good wife for he said “‘the mother is the true nurse, the father is the true teacher’” (p. 38).
Rousseau broke up Emile’s development into three stages. The first stage lasted until age twelve where the central focus is “‘physical life and sense of exercise: nothing for either intelligence or heart’” (Compayre, 1977, p. 40). The second stage is short and goes from ages twelve to fifteen. This is the intellectual stage which is a short period of study where the child is taught the basics of useful knowledge. Lastly, the third stage began at age fifteen and did not end at a certain age; this stage is where sentiment and duty evolve (1977).
Rousseau’s sense of natural education portrayed in Emile seems to be extreme and detrimental for a child to develop. However, Compayre explains what Rousseau is trying to convey; for “we should not seek to be noble savages in the literal sense, with no language, no social ties, and an underdeveloped faculty of reason. Rather, Rousseau says, someone who has been properly educated will be engaged in society, but relate to his or her fellow citizens in a natural way” (1977, p. 101). By viewing Rousseau’s ideas in this sense, it is easy to see the impact he has had on education. His teachings have received more “theoretical appreciation than practical application” (p. 103). Rousseau instigated the idea that children are no longer obscure, thoughtless, and emotionless people; rather, children are living creatures just like adults who have intelligence and physical abilities. Rousseau is responsible for creating enthusiasm and interest in studying education and children (1977). Rousseau’s work also relates to several contemporary issues in education. Rousseau saw that education should be personalized and child-centered and students’ curriculums should be based on the levels they are capable of performing. In today’s schools, Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are the equivalent of what he was aiming for. Rousseau also saw that education should be different for girls and boys; however, today this is looked down upon and gender equity is a main focus.
Horace Mann
Horace Mann was an advocate of common schools and was also considered one of the founding fathers of modern education. He focused on all elements of public schools from the teachers to the students to the buildings. Mann viewed education as a “broad functional process” that served the purpose of exploring the relations of “‘body, intellect, spirit’” with man (Nietz, 1937, p. 743). He wanted education to cultivate as many functions and relationships as possible; particularly, he encouraged health education and physical development. Additionally, Mann stated that “‘education must prepare our citizens to become municipal officers, intelligent jurors, honest witnesses, legislators, or competent judges of legislation,—in fine, to fill all the manifold relations of life’” (1937, p. 743). In other words, Mann wanted education to be practical and useful in real life.
Another educational belief of Mann was the importance of the teacher. He saw teaching as “‘the most difficult of all arts, and the profoundest of all sciences’” (Nietz, 1937, p. 743). He did not consider teaching just another form of employment; rather, there was a learned art that had to be acquired in order to be a successful teacher. It was the teachers’ responsibility to encourage leadership and to ensure the success of every student. Just as Pestalozzi believed which is discussed next, in order for the students to be successful, the teacher must instill interest in the student for every subject. With that interest, the students’ success and knowledge will follow (1937). Mann was the first to place emphasis on the role of the teacher and suggest that teachers must be taught how to teach.
Mann also suggested that curriculums be created for different age groups, or groups that have common abilities. Lessons should be adapted to the age, mental capacities, and interests of the students (Nietz, 1937). Also of importance to Mann was that he wanted to ensure that students had the ability to think for themselves, not just recite information. This starts with students exploring and understanding the experiences and materials around them. Then, it is gradually connected with other experiences, lessons, and subjects. Most education at this time period consisted of teachers telling information to students and then students recalling and reciting it back. Mann, on the other hand, encouraged another method of teaching; this method “‘exhibits, explains, illustrates, exemplifies, and educes, and then submits the whole to the learner’s intelligence, to be received or discarded’” (p. 745).
Mann has had a tremendous impact on modern education. Neitz (1937) states that “Mann was one hundred years ahead of his time” (p. 751). Mann captures the true meaning of what education is. Teachers must teach material in a way that students can make connections to real life which leads to the interest and success of students. Students must learn to think for themselves by being able to explain and demonstrate knowledge, not just recite and recall facts. In order to accomplish all this, we must realize the importance of teachers by educating them how to teach (1937). Many of Mann’s beliefs can be seen in contemporary issues of education. Like Rousseau, he thought education should be child-centered and personalized. For example, IEPs are an instrument that attempts to personalize education and ensure that all of a student’s needs are filled. Mann also realized the importance of health and physical education. An issue in today’s schools is that there is not enough health education or, on the other hand, there is no room for health education because of standardized tests. Mann also thought all students should have the same opportunities in all aspects of the classroom. Again, equal opportunity education is a primary focus in schools today.
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a proponent for making children the center of education. He considered the current education of his time, memorizing and reciting facts, as maltreatment of students (Heafford, 1967). He criticized the whole school system, both the methods and the contents, of becoming restricted by routine, “to the point where teaching had degenerated into cramming and where school subjects had become no more than a particular selection of facts to be learnt by heart” (p. 40). Teaching and education had become very set in its ways; there was no consideration for the child’s learning interests or capacities and there was no room for originality and imagination. Pestalozzi yearned for a new education, an education where students were able to reach their potentials mentally, physically, and spiritually (1967).
Pestalozzi’s beliefs and principles for a new education were called Pestalozzi’s “Method” (Heafford, 1967). He recognized that he received much of his knowledge about education from Rousseau, who was “the man who had been the ‘turning point between the old and new worlds of education’” (p. 43). Pestalozzi, like Rousseau, saw that education must correspond with nature. Genetics has a major impact on mental, physical, and personal characteristics; moreover, if those characteristics are ignored in the first several years of life, the child’s characteristics are repressed in that environment. When it comes to teaching, knowledge should begin at the very basics then gradually build up to more complex ideas. Facts and experiences must be grouped in the right order and way to prevent gaps in the progression of knowledge. Therefore, teachers must be in tune with their students in order to know their learning capabilities (1967). Pestalozzi believed that by making sure the material was not over a student’s head and that teachers were in touch with their students, education became more child-centered. Pestalozzi considered close observation as the ideal method in education. Additionally, he believed that interest would be the best indicator of success; a student will only be interested in the material if they understand it (1967).
Pestalozzi saw three basic aspects of education: intellectual, moral, and practical/physical. Within the intellectual characteristic, educators should not be concerned with the content of education; rather, concentrate on how the content is presented to students (Heafford, 1967). Pestalozzi did not believe subjects should become isolated; rather, they should be made interdisciplinary so they all connect. The moral characteristic of education combined the intellectual aspect of education with the practical. The material should go from basic to more complex; however, without making the knowledge practical, students will lose sight of why the information is important. Lastly, the practical/physical characteristic of education is to bring the body in touch with the mind. Pestalozzi said that “the aim of gymnastic exercises ‘is to bring back the body of the child into the full unit and harmony with his intellect and heart which originally existed’” (Heafford, 1967, p. 66). A lack of physical fitness leads to ailments and old age; therefore, limiting the ability to earn a living.