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Sample Deconstruction Project

The following is an example of a well-done deconstruction project submitted by a student in the Fundamentals of Curriculum Development class. The following points need to be considered:

  1. Your project response will be different from this one. No two are exactly alike because each curriculum selected to be deconstructed will different.
  2. As a sample, this submission has strength in four important areas.
  3. It follows the outline given for the project in a clear, well organized manner.
  4. The application of concepts, principles, and ideas from class are used succinctly and appropriately.
  5. It is well written in terms of grammar and syntax.
  6. It is very cohesive in terms of what flows in the reconstruction from the thoughtful deconstruction.
  7. Make certain you use the cover sheet provided on the class materials web site.
  8. Make certain you follow my guidelines for graduate student writing provided on the class web site.
  9. If you have any questions or uncertainties about the assignment, please voice them in class.

RH

Identifying and Explicating the Curriculum Construct

Curriculum Construct

My two week fifth grade unit plan is centered on the experiences of African Americans under the institution of slavery. The primary purpose of this curriculum is for my students to understand the sacrifice of personal freedom made by millions of African slaves for the economic and political gains desired by European slave traders. The activities in this two week unit are designed to intellectually empower the students by guiding them to think critically about the mistreatment of African-American slaves. Through a variety of experience and interest based activities, students will be empowered to examine what is acceptable or intolerable within a particular society regarding human rights. In this unit, students will analyze slavery from the perspective of all those involved in the slave trade, including African kings, European slave traders, and southern plantation owners. Students will examine the moral issues of slavery from each of these perspectives and the values that motivated such treatment, such as the desire for personal wealth. While examining the experiences of slaves on each leg of the trade, students will gain a deeper understanding of the complex moral issues that surround slavery.

Epistemological Assumptions

Terminal Knowledge:

Terminal knowledge found in the original unit plan would include tasks such as requiring students to memorize exact dates, names of African villages, and specific names of African kings. This information is composed of factoids and details that offer no opportunity for connections to be made and ultimately deskills students. Students become easily bored with this terminal knowledge, and solely memorizing facts is meaningless and irrelevant to the student. Terminal knowledge stifles thinking and provides students no opportunity to make connections to the real word or to think critically about slavery. Passively reading, taking notes, and memorizing facts about slavery from a textbook allow no opportunity for students to experience the knowledge first hand and use it to understand our world today. Terminal knowledge contributes to covering material and teaching to the test, which is ultimately deskilling. The reconstruction of this unit plan will seek to eliminate terminal knowledge.

Expeditious Knowledge:

Expeditious knowledge found in the original curriculum plan includes seat work that keeps studentsoccupied, but fails to creatively engage them. Examples of expeditious knowledge would include students independently reading a non-fiction article on the slave trade and answering related comprehension questions at their desks. This type of knowledge allows students no opportunity to interact with their peers in cooperative learning, or to connect the curriculum to their everyday lives. Other examples of this form of knowledge in the original curriculum plan would include worksheets containing multiple choice, matching, and true-false questions. The reconstruction of this unit plan will seek to eliminate expeditious knowledge.

Instrumental Knowledge:

Instrumental knowledge is the most powerful knowledge in an empowering curriculum. The original curriculum plan had few examples of instrumental knowledge, which would be detrimental to student learning. However, the reconstruction of the unit will include multiple activities that will translate into usable knowledge to the student. For example, students will use an interest-based think-tac-toe matrix that will grant them decision latitude and constructive freedom to select three experience-based activities in which they will apply the knowledge gained from the curriculum. Other experienced-based activities, such as a role play, will allow students to employ the concepts of slavery and personal freedom. Instrumental knowledge will be gained through a variety of interest-based activities, guiding students to experience first hand the many hardships African-Americans endured under slavery for the economic and political gains of Europeans. The interest based activities part of this empowering curriculum will seek to guide students to determine what is acceptable or intolerable in regards to human rights in any given society.

Types of Curriculum

Null Curriculum

Null curriculum is that which we do not teach, sending the message to students that it is insignificant to their educational experience. An example of null curriculum in this unit plan would include glorifying bold and brave European explorers and colonizers. It is true that white, powerful, slave traders brought wealth and economic success to southern plantation owners. They are credited with converting the poor “savage” African slaves to Christianity. They felt they were called by God to convert Africans to this desired religion and change the slaves’ birth names to acceptable English ones. Omitted from the curriculum is the fact that Africans had a unique religion and culture that was sacred to them before European colonization. By its absence, the curriculum may be sending the message to my students that African culture and religion pre-European colonization was unappreciated and insignificant.

Hidden Curriculum:

Students will learn several things in this unit that is not intended by the teacher. Slave traders exchanged guns for slaves, forcing most rival African villages to trade their people for the advanced weaponry. The curriculum may indirectly be sending the message that violence is an acceptable way to reach a desired goal, and that a society with limited defense mechanisms can be no match for a more powerful one. Through the hidden curriculum students will identify the values that motivated slavery, such as money. Another aspect of the hidden curriculum would be that limiting one’s education is a way to keep a race underprivileged and ignorant to the unequal treatment they are enduring. Southern plantation owners passionately used this tactic, as well as powerful politically leaders in our society today. It is hoped this will indirectly lead students to critically question the authority of the politically powerful and wealthy upper class. Other parts of the hidden curriculum include students engaging in dialogue and discourse through activities such as role plays and slave song analysis. Cooperative group skills, such as interdependence, social interaction, and group processing are also part of the hidden curriculum. Letter writing and first person point of view writing included in the final assessment are also part of this curriculum.

Overt curriculum:

It is hoped that the written and open plan for the reconstructed curriculum will motivate students to employ several concepts through experience and interest based activities to achieve a deeper understanding of the following:

  • European motives for enslaving Africans (economic and political gains)
  • The multiple perspectives that slavery can be viewed from (slave traders, plantation owners, African kings, African slaves).
  • Thedreadful experiences of slaves on all three legs of the slave trade
  • What is acceptable or not in terms of human treatment in any given society
  • Synthesizing information learned through creative first person point of view writing while working cooperatively with peers

Identifying and Illuminating Counterstructures within the Construct

Parts of the curriculum may affect different groups in different ways.

Race/ethnicity: African-American students may be able to more personally connect with the curriculum than non-African students. Some African-American students’ families may have traced theirancestors’ history back to slavery. Consideration should be given as to which students may need more background knowledge on the subject to more personally connect with the curriculum.

Class: Students living in poverty may not have the background information or a thorough understanding of the language used in the unit. Poor students may not possess general knowledge referenced throughout the unit, such as the location of Africa orthe states that comprise the South in the United States. Special consideration will be given to these students with limited background knowledge to provide them the opportunity to build this knowledge throughout the unit.

Gender: Research shows that male students are more frequently called upon by teachers in class. Special consideration will be taken so that all students of both genders will be called upon equally.

Students with special considerations: Title students who may not have proficient reading skills may be disadvantaged by the curriculum plan. Literature supplements used in the unit may not be equivalent to their reading level. Providing reading passages on tape, allowing for partner reading, and orally giving directions and assessments will be used when and if needed.

Hegemony/Ideology:

Hegemony is the process by which we acquire ideology, which is fictional knowledge we use to understand our world. The original curriculum plan contains messages that support an ideology that is detrimental and damaging to a democratic society. It may fuel the ideology that it is acceptable for poor African-Americans to be mistreated by a wealthy, white upper class. The message is that whites are superior to blacks, as their labor and bondage were used for personal wealth and economic gain. Acquiring this belief may contribute to the spread of prejudices that exist in our society today.

Another implication is that that the poor can be overtaken and ruled by a wealthy, more powerful upper class. This would contribute to the ideology that by limiting education, the wealthy are able to keep the lower class ignorant and passive. I do not want students to acquire these false ideologies, for that would not encourage democratic citizenship. The reconstructed curriculum would ultimately work to dissolve this ideology, for in a democracy nobody should be disadvantaged or discriminated against regardless of race, ethnicity, or wealth. The purpose of schools is to foster within students sound democratic ideals, and an empowering curriculum must embody this.

Reconstructing the Curriculum

Benchmarks and standards used in the curriculum plan:

Social Studies, Grade 5:

Benchmarks

People in Societies B:

Explain the reasons people from various cultural groups came to North America and the consequences of their interactions with each other.

Grade Level Indicator

People in Societies 3:

Describe the experiences of African-Americans under the institution of slavery.

Language Arts, Grade 5:

Benchmarks

Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies, and Self Monitoring Strategies Standard

C: Make meaning through asking and responding to a variety of questions related to text.

Writing Process Standard

A: Generate writing topics and establish a purpose appropriate for the audience.

Writing Applications Standard

B: Write responses to literature that extend beyond the summary and support judgments through references to the text.

C: Produce letters that address audience needs, stated purpose and context in a clear and efficient manner.

Communications: Oral and Visual Standard

F: Give presentations using a variety of delivery methods, visual materials and technology.

Original Curriculum / Reconstructed Curriculum
Days 1, 2, 3
Objectives: As a class, students will read parts of chapter 7 (Slavery) over the course of the next three days and complete corresponding notes in their student notebooks.
Activities: The chapter sections will be read aloud to students over the course of three days. As the chapter is being read aloud in a whole-class format, students will answer questions and take notes regarding important information in a student notebook that was assigned to each student at the beginning of the year.
Assessment: Students will be graded on accuracy and correctness of notes from chapter 7 in student notebook. / Days 1, 2, 3
Conceptual Objective: Students will use the concepts of slavery and personal freedom to participate in an interactive role play of scenes that might have been experienced by slaves in West Africa, along the Middle Passage, or in America.
Activities: The class will be divided into three cooperative groups: West Africa, Middle Passage, and America. Each group will create an interactive dramatization (role play) that will recreate a scene that may have taken place in each groups’ assigned sections. Roles assigned to individual students in the group include:
Historian: He or she will lead the group to build background information about their section of slavery through the non-fiction trade books, supplemental literature, and illustrations supplied to the group. He or she may also lead the group in reading the assigned section of the textbook if necessary.
Director: He or she will be responsible for ensuring the dramatization includes all the required elements and that all group members are equally involved. He or she may also choose to involve members of the audience in the role play.
Set Designer: He or she will organize and gather costumes, props, and scenery needed in the dramatization. He or she will ensure the dramatization is as realistic as possible.
Host: He or she will lead the group as it rehearses its dramatization. He or she will ensure that group members are incorporating key vocabulary terms from group’s assigned section into the role play.
Assessment: An observation checklist will be used to assess student preparation and performance in the interactive role play. Teacher observation while circulating among the groups will be the primary source of determining whether or not the students have met the learning objective. Students will receive points based on the following:
*Student fulfilling assigned group role to the best of his or her ability
*Cooperation and interaction within group
*Overall effort in role play and incorporating key vocabulary terms into presentation
*Role-plays scenario with feeling and expression
Day 4 and 5
Objectives: Students will read a non-fiction article depicting life in slavery and answer accompany comprehension questions in complete sentences.
Activities: Students will independently read a non-fiction article that depicts the lives of slaves in America during the 1700s. Students will complete questions in multiple choice, true-false, and extended response format.
Assessment: Students will be graded on accuracy and completeness of answers. / Day 4 and 5
Conceptual Objective: Acting as a slave spiritual song writer, students will apply the concept of passive resistance to write and compose an original spiritual that depicts life in slavery.
Activities: Students will listen to two slave songs on CD sung by slaves as a form of passive resistance, “Hoe Emma Hoe,” and “Follow the Drinking Gourd.” The class will discuss feelings slaves had while singing these songs, why they sang them, and how it represented a form of passive resistance. They will analyze lyrics and determine their meanings with a partner, then discuss in whole-class format. On day 5, students will compose an original slave song with a partner that expresses feelings about being a slave and a longing for freedom. Students may put their song to music if they choose. They may perform or orally present the song to the class.
Assessment: A scoring guide will be used that will measure the following criteria in the slave spiritual:
*The extent to which the slave song expressed the speakers’ feelings about being a slave and desire for freedom.
* The song is set to music and sung for the class OR spoken orally.
*Cooperation and interaction with peer while writing the slave song.
Days 6, 7
Objectives: Using a map of the United States, students will trace the journey a slave may have taken on the Underground Railroad and list three facts learned about the railroad on their map.
Activities: After listening to a trade book read aloud on the Underground Railroad, students will be given a map and asked to trace a possible route that a runaway slave may have taken on the Underground Railroad. They will label states, rivers, and safe houses encountered on that journey. Students will include three facts about the underground railroad learned from the read-aloud.
Assessment: Students will be given points for labeling the escape route, states, rivers, possible safe houses, and three facts listed about the Underground Railroad. / Days 6, 7
Objectives: Acting as an ex-slave living in Canada, students will employ the concept of active resistance to create a slave pamphlet for supportive abolitionists and literate slaves describing life in slavery, the escape, and the path to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
Activities: Students will listen to a fictional picture book read aloud outlining one girl’s journey to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Students will then examine assorted examples of pamphlets written by African-American slaves, including historic anti-slavery pamphlets. An example is the “Life of James Mars, a Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut.” Discuss with students that in the early and mid 1800s, abolitionists encouraged slaves to publish narratives to rally anti-slavery supporters. In the learning activity on day 7, students will imagine they are a slave who has reached freedom in Canada via the Underground Railroad. They will write a brief pamphlet describing their life in slavery, how they planned the escape, and their experiences on the road to freedom. The pamphlet will be written in first person as if the student is the ex-slave. The pamphlet will be organized into three bold headings, Life in Slavery, My Escape, and The Path to Freedom. Students will incorporate concepts learned through the role play and slave song composure in this pamphlet. Students will include a title for the pamphlet and a colorful and appealing cover.
Assessment: Please see attached scoring guide on page 17.
Days 8, 9, 10
Objectives: The students, acting as a slave in Africa, on the Middle Passage, or in America, will write a first person point of view poem to bring their slave to life through multiple senses.
Activities: Students will write a first person point of view poem acting as either a slave in Africa, on the Middle Passage, or in America. Students will place themselves in the context of the slave and write a poem from his or her perspective. They will write lines that depict what the slave experienced on his or her part of the slave trade. Student will be given a starter that they may use to begin each line of the poem. Assessment: A rubric will be used to assess the poem. / Days 8, 9, 10
Conceptual Objective: Students will employ the concept of personal freedom to complete 3 activities from the attached matrix that will allow them to experience first hand a life in bondage as a final assessment to the unit.
Activities: Working in groups of two, students will choose 3 activities to complete from the think-tac-toe matrix in any acceptable tic-tac-toe pattern. Working with a partner, each student will complete one activity independently, and the final activity they will complete together. Please see attached think-tac-toe activity on page 15-16.
Assessment: The assessment is the three think-tac-toe activities completed by the students. Teacher discretion will be used to determine the extent to which the activity produced meets the learning goals and conceptual objectives.The teacher will take into consideration student performance during the other unit activities and note any improvements. Students will be graded on the extent to which they show an understanding of the material in the unit.

Curriculum Deconstruction-Reconstruction Summary