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Thomas NacIsaac
Simon Fiasei 0niveisity
EB0C 471 C1uu
Cuiiiculum Bevelopment: Theoiy anu Piactice
August 4, 2u1S










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The puipose of this final papei is to look at each level of the couise (aims,
philosophies, teaching anu iefoim) with uiffeient stoiies fiom my teaching
expeiiences. As a teachei with 18 yeais expeiience in seconuaiy euucation I am
constantly tiying to impiove my teaching. This couise has been anothei jouiney in
my euucation anu it has alloweu me to impiove my unueistanuing of euucation anu
the many facets that it entails. When I began this couise I thought that I neeueu a
iefieshei in cuiiiculum anu to look at cuiiiculum not as PL0's but as a philosophy, a
methous, anu as a couise of iefoim. This couise has taught me that cuiiiculum has
many paits anu is not simply the content I teach in class. I have also come to the
iealization that the ielationships I have with my stuuents' affects how I piesent
cuiiiculum because I want the stuuents to be successful fai moie than I want the
cuiiiculum to be completeu.

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When we uiscusseu the aims of cuiiiculum in this couise, the iuea that we aie tiying
to cieate cuiiiculum foi the economy anu to piouuce woikeis was the point that
stoou out foi me. In Biitish Columbia we have ieally gone towaius teaching
stuuents so they aie piepaieu foi the economy anu they aie contiibutois to the
woikfoice. This is uefinitely a shoitsighteu appioach anu the usual knee jeik
iesponse goveinments have to change euucation anu the cuiiiculum. The aim of the
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cuiiiculum has always been questioneu by the stuuents with the fiequent question,
"When will I evei neeu to know this." This question has been askeu foi as long as
euucation has been aiounu. Stuuents want to leain what they aie inteiesteu in but
they uon't see that the content is not the most impoitant attiibute but it is the
piocess of leaining to unueistanu new concepts that we aie ieally teaching. I hau a
stuuent a numbei of yeais ago that answeieu questions on a Biochemistiy test with
a "who caies" anu "I uon't caie". When we went ovei the test as a class to point out
the concepts that weie misseu I askeu him a question about soccei anu what he eats
befoie a game. I askeu him why he eats that foou anu he answeieu me with a veiy
intelligent iesponse. I tolu him that the stuff he uoesn't neeu to leain anu will nevei
use, he alieauy knows anu he uoes use it. Bis pioblem was context anu not content.
I tiy to make the content that we aie coveiing ielevant to the class anu to theii own
expeiiences. 0nce I biing spoits, music, ait, etc. into the conveisation they stop
looking at as "Biology: The Subject" anu stait seeing it as "Biology: the useful
infoimation". While concentiating on cuiiiculum foi this couise it has occuiieu to
me that most changes to oui cuiiiculum lack a point oi aim. This lack of aim is veiy
fiustiating to myself, anu many teacheis, because we see constant changes but with
veiy little backgiounu on why the uecision was maue. If cuiiiculum was moie
focuseu anu uiiect in what the "ieal woilu outcomes" weie then that change woulu
be accepteu with moie enthusiasm.



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I woulu have to say that the philosophy that I follow woulu be that of a Piogiessive
anu Constiuctivist view. I believe that we must tiy to meet the neeus of the stuuent
anu not just get thiough the cuiiiculum. Cuiiiculai changes that aie Piogiessive uo
not scaie me but insteau excite me anu stimulate me to piesent this new content
with new methous anu technology. The pioblem is that most cuiiiculai changes aie
conseivative anu aie sometimes ieissues of changes that weie iemoveu yeais ago
cieating an almost ciiculai oi iecycleu cuiiiculum. 0ne of the most common
questions that I get at the beginning of the couise is "What is the answei to this
question." It woulu be easy to give them the answei anu move on but I uo not
believe in that, I believe in guiuing them to the answei. The fiist thing I always tell
them is "What uo you think the answei is. Anu then I ask "Why." By asking that
question anu then asking WBY makes the stuuents think anu feel confiuence anu
piiue in theii ability to give the answei. Now theie have been many stuuents that
uo not enjoy this but they begin to see the methou to my mauness. This past yeai
my giaue 12 Biology class was woiking on a ieview foi an upcoming test. I
encouiage the stuuents to woik togethei in "stuuy gioups" to help anu teach each
othei. This is not peifect anu some stuuents copy but enu up uoing pooily on the
test because they ieally uo not unueistanu what is being askeu. 0n one of these
ieview uays, a stuuent who I taught in giaue 1u,11, anu 12 was in a gioup. As I was
walking aiounu anu helping the class theii gioup was aiguing about an answei anu I
heaiu hei asking the otheis pointeu questions to guiue them to hei answei as an
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explanation of the coiiect answei. It was a moment of piiue foi me as a teachei to
see my teaching methous being useu by my stuuents anu I was feeling pietty goou
about myself. I haun't hau time to bask in the glow of what I just witnesseu when
one stuuent saiu to the giil, "You sounu like NacIsaac!" to which she ieplieu, "0h no,
I uo uon't I." Anu we aie back to ieality in a flash. I think that any teachei begins
theii caieei with a stuuent fiist philosophy. But some teacheis lose theii way
uuiing theii caieei because they get boggeu uown with cuiiiculum anu testing. I
founu it veiy inteiesting to have uiscussions in my gioup with "new" teacheis. Theii
views aie veiy new, optimistic, anu without piejiuuce of how the system woiks.
These uiscussions gave me a ieneweu outlook anu ieauing theii views maue me
iealize that theie aie a lot of positive things in euucation anu I neeu to concentiate
on the positive aspects anu push the negative aspects asiue.

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Teaching the cuiiiculum that we aie given is oui job as teacheis. Bow we piesent
that cuiiiculum is what makes each teachei unique anu gives us some autonomy. I
have taught Science 1u Bonouis classes foi the past few yeais anu ieally enjoyeu the
stuuents. This past yeai I taught a iegulai Science 1u class. I ueciueu that I woulu
uo an expeiiment with this class. I ueciueu to teach these stuuents the same way,
with the same expectations, as the Bonouis class that I taught. Ny iuea was that I
woulu not just go thiough the cuiiiculum anu teach to the exam, but insteau tiy to
iaise the bai anu see if these stuuents can iise to the occasion. So I taught the class
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with the same notes, activities, piojects, anu expeiiments that I hau uone with my
Bonouis class. When the class staiteu I tolu the stuuents that I was uoing this anu
that I believeu they coulu all uo this. The stuuents hau ieactions fiom exciteu to
uefeateu but I continueu on with my iuea. As the couise auvanceu I uiu have to
aujust a few of my appioaches because some of the stuuents uiu lack pievious
knowleuge of a concept. That being saiu, we uiu complete all the quizzes,
assignments, anu tests that my Bonouis stuuents completeu. I woulu like to say it
was an oveiwhelming success but I uiu have thiee out of thiity stuuents fail the
couise but two of them passeu the exam, which they weie veiy piouu of. The othei
positive was that thiee of the stuuents have gone on to take Chemistiy 11 Bonouis
because they founu out that they ieally weie goou at the subject anu they enjoyeu it
as well. Sometimes we neeu to get the stuuents out of theii comfoit zone anu push
them to impiove, even when they uon't think they can oi they uon't want to. It is
oui job as teacheis to get the most of the stuuents anu to encouiage them to go out
of theii own comfoit zone anu see what they can accomplish if they put in the effoit.

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Cuiiiculum iefoim is one of those topics that ieally uiscouiages me because it is
nevei seems to be ieally about the stuuents anu it is uone with no obvious aim oi
futuie goal. The goveinment is always tiying to change the cuiiiculum to show they
aie seiious about changes to euucation. The pioblem is that these changes aie
impulsive anu election uiiven with no iuea of wheie these changes aie going oi if
theie is a biggei plan. The iefoim that has angeieu me the most was the movement
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of Piovincial exams away fiom giaue 12 anu to giaue 1u. The iuea of the Piovincial
was to evaluate how much the stuuent has leaineu in seconuaiy school but now
stuuents aie wiiting a majoi exam within five months of seconuaiy euucation. The
Science 1u cuiiiculum itself is a joke with Biology, Chemistiy, Physics, anu eaith
Science sections. Nost stuuents uo not enjoy all of these types of sciences anu theie
aie few teacheis that aie expeits in all aieas, I founu Eaith Science to be the haiuest
foi me to teach but it is much bettei aftei 4 oi S times thiough it. These exams aie
not faii to the stuuents anu uo not show what leaining anu knowleuge they have
accumulateu. In the past I taught a Science 1u Bonouis class anu I spent a lot of
time teaching them how to stuuy anu piepaie foi exams. 0ne yeai I hau an
exceptional gioup that weie uiiven anu eagei to leain. While we weie piepaiing foi
the exam (yes we aie teaching to the test) I went on a iant about how I felt these
giaue 1u exams weie pioviuing a uisseivice to the stuuents because it was putting
piessuie on them too eaily without allowing them to giow anu finu out what they
tiuly enjoy. I also mentioneu that they aie being evaluateu befoie they have hau the
ability anu time to matuie as stuuents. I tolu them of a stuuent I hau in giaue 1u
that got 6S%, then in Bio 11 they got 7S% anu by Biology 12 hau a 9S% anu they
weie accepteu into 0BC with an Entiance Scholaiship. I tiuly believe that this type
of stuuent may have not been as successful because they woulu have ueciueu that
they weie a "C" stuuent aftei giaue 1u anu not tiieu to impiove ovei the next two
yeais. This stuuent impioveu eveiy yeai anu founu theii way but touay the
stuuents feel that they aie uone aftei giaue 1u because they only have a Socials 11
exam anu English 12 exam. While we weie ieviewing uuiing exam week, a giil in
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my class piesenteu me with 28 letteis wiitten by each stuuent to the Ninistiy of
Euucation outlining theii conceins with thiee Piovincial exams in giaue 1u. I was
flooieu that they took this upon themselves anu immensely impiesseu by theii
oiganization anu passion. They uiu ieceive a lovely foim lettei fiom the ministiy.
This is the peifect example of the ministiy saying one thing (stuuents fiist) anu
uoing anothei (keeping theii agenua). This couise uiu show me that theie aie goou
iueas in cuiiiculum iefoim anu that is uoes not always have to be negative. The
uiscussions alloweu me to see that I was jaueu when it came to iefoim because I
only lookeu at the iefoim of cuiiiculum in teims of PL0's anu not in teims of
cuiiiculum as a whole.


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The most impoitant aspects of teaching foi me aie the philosophy of teaching anu
the actual teaching. I have hau a numbei of veiy goou stuuents in my caieei anu a
few that went on to be veiy successful in univeisity anu meuical school. Buiing my
caieei I have always tiieu to push the stuuents in my class to uo theii best anu be
piouu of theii success. This has iesulteu in stuuents telling me they uiun't think
they coulu uo well in Biology but they completeu the couise uoing well anu being
piouu of theii success. The one stoiy that stanus out to me that pioves that my
teaching philosophy, anu how I piesent the cuiiiculum in my class, is woiking
involves a stuuent nameu Colton. Colton was a veiy smait, uiiven, anu aiiogant
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stuuent that was in my Biology 11 anu Biology 12 classes. In Biology 11 Colton anu I
butteu heaus on a numbei of occasions because he hau to be iight anu if he was
wiong he wanteu to know why (oi how) it happeneu. Colton woulu have his notes
out anu say heie is the answei. I woulu tell him that those weie my notes anu he
neeueu to take that infoimation anu cieate his own answei. Be was not open to
constiuctive ciiticism anu always acteu as if I was the ieason he uiu not get the
1uu%. When he showeu up in my Biology 12 class we hau a talk aftei class the fiist
uay to set the iecoiu stiaight. I tolu Colton that I uiu not want him to tiy foi 1uu%
on eveiy test but insteau I wanteu him to unueistanu anu compiehenu the content
anu use his own woius when answeiing questions. I tolu him to ask as many
questions as he wanteu but no moie memoiizing the notes. Colton agieeu to tiy it
anu change the way he stuuieu foi tests. Colton was a uiffeient stuuent in giaue 12
then in giaue 11. Be uiu exceptionally well in my class (98%) anu was oui schools
uovenoi-ueneial Awaiu winnei as the top giaue 12 stuuent. Aftei giauuation,
Colton came to visit me eveiy Chiistmas to talk about school anu classes at
univeisity. Be was accepteu into meuical school aftei his thiiu yeai of univeisity, a
veiy impiessive feat. Now the stoiy seems to be pointless but this is wheie I
leaineu that my methous anu philosophies weie woiking. Aftei Colton was
accepteu into meuical school I ieceiveu an email fiom him telling me that he was
accepteu anu to thank me foi teaching him, he also attacheu a lettei he hau to wiite
foi his application. I ieau that lettei with teais in my eyes because it was a lettei
about how much I influenceu him anu maue him a bettei stuuent anu a moie
confiuent stuuent. Theie aie times when, as a teachei, that you wonuei if what you
1u
uo anu believe in is woiking. Colton was a stuuent that I woulu not have thought
was affecteu that much by my teaching. I keep that lettei anu ieau once in awhile,
usually aftei a tough class, to ieminu myself that what I am uoing is woiking anu I
neeu to keep tiying to help anothei Colton.

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Aftei completing this couise I have iealizeu that I believe stiongly in how teacheis
teach cuiiiculum, that stuuents neeu to at the fiont of any cuiiiculum change, anu
that cieating caiing ielationships is necessaiy pait of touay's cuiiiculum. Aftei
being in a classioom foi so long I ieally uiu not expect to leain as much as I uiu. I
figuieu that I knew eveiything anu that theie was little I coulu leain. I was
completely wiong. This couise uiu make me question what I thought I knew. I think
the best example of this was towaius the enu of the couise when I watcheu the TEB
talk with Samai Khan about the Khan Acauemy. I loveu the iuea of piesenting the
cuiiiculum to the stuuents at home anu allowing them to move thiough it at theii
own pace. The iuea of flipping the way a class iuns anu having homewoik in school
anu the lesson at home was totally minu blowing. I thought he was nuts but the
moie I watcheu anu the moie I lookeu into the Khan Acauemy the moie sense it
began to make. Aftei watching the viueo anu seaiching the Acauemy site I founu
myself wiiting up new lesson plans that coulu incoipoiate his lessons that I covei in
Biology 12 anu tiying to figuie out how I coulu flip my class anu implement his
iueas. I love when I finu something new that inteiests me anu makes me exciteu
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about teaching. I love teaching anu I am always looking foi new ways anu methous
anu this iuea has ieally spaikeu my inteiest. Ny goal is to continue to puisue bettei
teaching piactices but nevei foiget that the stuuents neeus aie fiist in any
cuiiiculum I teach.