"Curriculum embraces every planned aspect of a school's educational program"
Many may be asking, what exactly does a curriculum consist of? A curriculum consists of specific classes as well as guidance, advisory, activities of all sorts, and provided services designed to reach the goal of providing a well rounded education to students. When thinking about middle school curriculum, it is important to understand guiding principles that help us tune in to the characteristics and needs of these young adolescents. A middle school embraces a curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory. The curriculum should be relevant and allow students to pursue answers to questions that they have themselves and should be help them connect to the world around them. It should also be challenging and address issues that diverse and important to study in depth. It should build on prior knowledge and continue to challenge the students to reach a higher level of thinking. The curriculum should be integrative or connective. It must encourage students to understand the connections around them and the totality of their experiences. The curriculum should also be exploratory. Discovery and choice are embedded within different subject areas and encourages students to explore.
The team believes that in order for students to connect and have deeper meaning of academics, subjects should be planned and taught based on a curriculum that supports exploration, is relevant and challenging to them, and is integrated across different subjects. Most middle schools are centered around particular subject areas such as math, language arts, science, and social studies. As a team, we believe in connecting subjects to help students to see bridges and commonalities among different subject areas. Connecting curriculum can bring the content alive to students and help them to understand how what is being taught in class applies to their real life.
The team believes that in order for students to connect and have deeper meaning of academics, subjects should be planned and taught based on a curriculum that supports exploration, is relevant and challenging to them, and is integrated across different subjects. Most middle schools are centered around particular subject areas such as math, language arts, science, and social studies. As a team, we believe in connecting subjects to help students to see bridges and commonalities among different subject areas. Connecting curriculum can bring the content alive to students and help them to understand how what is being taught in class applies to their real life.
How do teams approach working together in different subject areas?
One approach teachers use to share their curriculum for their subject areas provides a way for teachers to choose a theme around harmonizing content and skills. Teams decide on a theme and what each subject teacher can contribute. Themes include activism, justice, self awareness, symbolism, among many others. Sometimes teachers use a map to plan instruction, but a thematic web is sometimes used as well. A thematic web consists of a theme in the middle and subject areas for the web. The subjects remain different and students begin to see connections through the theme.
Another approach to curriculum planning involves more strategy. Themes are abstract rather than subject based. The themes are more generalized in order to explore more within the theme. When teachers work together to explore a concept being taught in a more widespread way, subject area lines become more blurred as students are making more connections.
Powell, S. (2011). Introduction to Middle School (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.