Week Two: The Curriculum and its Historical Roots
I found this article to be quite relatable in my own schooling experience. Throughout my schooling, we inevitably had programs that were always planned. The teachers were to follow a set curriculum and then teach it to us. There was no real option of what they wanted to teach. I completed my schooling in Alberta, which is a much different schooling program than here in Saskatchewan. For example, every three years, grades 3, 6, 9 and then 12 had governmental exams. Our finals during these years were given to us by the government and therefore, our teachers were very strict with the teachings and mainly only delivered the content in one way. If we found it difficult and we were not understanding, often we would have to skip a recess or stay in for lunch to go over the topic with our teacher as she did not want to hold back the rest of the class. Come grade 12, we had diplomas which are also governmental exams which were worth 50% of our mark. It is clear through these years I may have had experience the Tyler rationale.
The major limitations of the Tyler rationale is it expects a lot from the students, there is only one delivery system and it is not very open ended. The students are expected to do a lot and be able to learn simply from the teacher. It makes it hard to understand everything when the teacher is only delivering their lesson in one way. Therefore, its next to impossible for every student in the class to understand each lesson. Moreover, it does not allow for open ended questions. It is a set curriculum and a planned program that does not allow for much movement in this sense. I personally think it is important to have open ended problems and questions so then it becomes clear how the students are doing with the lessons. All in all, these are the major limitations.
Finally, some potential benefits could be that it allows students to attain goals. The students inevitably have to work very hard and they can strive for goals. They can rely on their classmates to help them out if they are not understanding, as hopefully some of the classmates would understand. Finally, its a very repetitive program as the outcomes and guidelines are repeated throughout other lesson expectations. By this being so repetitive, it allows the students to go back if they are struggling with something and look at that lesson. It also helps the teachers be able to plan more effectively as they could connect some lessons together. Therefore, there are a few benefits and possibilities that I found within this reading.
