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Reflective Journal

Vanessa Iori Department of Child Studies, Concordia University EDUC 260: Historical and Current Curriculum Models for Early Childhood and Elementary Education Professor: Mitchell Mclarnon November 19th, 2021

Journal #10: Addressing Issues brought up in Chapter 10 in ECE

Part of what we discussed about chapter 10 revolved around the delicate nature of addressing the issues found in this week’s reading in a way that is developmentally appropriate for children. During the ensuing class discussion, people spoke about how they would implement this in their practice, and I thought a lot of solid ideas came up. For instance, people brought up role playing, teaching children how to use “I” statements, giving them scenarios and incorporating play into it. Reflecting on the question myself, I’ve thought a lot about how I could bring up serious topics in a way that is not only appropriate for kids but in a way they’d understand it themselves. Drama/Theatre play was one of the first things that came to mind, giving the children the opportunity to act out different skits and then reverse the roles. For instance, chapter 10 spoke a lot about feminist theory and gender roles and how that comes into play in the classroom, so in order to address that, we could do some imagination play. For example, have the children act as though they are heroes going to rescue the princess, and then reverse the roles so that the second time the children act out the skit, they are rescuing a prince. To show that both boys and girls can find themselves in trouble, and that both boys and girls have the potential to help others. This is a small example, but for younger kids, I think it’d be a good foundation to start introducing these kinds of topics.

Following the dissection of the issues presented in chapter 10, we opened up the class discussion to why there is so much emphasis placed on educators being neutral. Despite the fact that our education system isn’t neutral, and knowledge itself isn’t neutral, why must teachers be neutral? The answer, when presented, was obvious in hindsight. Educators must shelve anything resembling an opinion, so as not to disrupt the colonial-based system and “rock the boat”. This line of thinking is probably everything I dislike about our system put into words, because educators should be allowed to maintain their opinions on topics even as they teach them. Educators should be allowed to address issues and state which side of it they are on, as long as they are not enforcing their opinions upon the students, who does it harm? The system which desires all children think a certain way? In my opinion, while this wasn’t strictly spoken about in chapter 10, forcing educators to remain neutral is an issue in the field of ECE.

In my opinion there’s a lot to be learned from this particular reading out of all of our other ones, especially pertaining to the abovementioned issues that we as educators should be careful to watch out for and be mindful of. Another one of the questions that came up towards the end of our class discussion was what we inferred from the readings that we could apply to our own practice, and I know for certain that these readings have helped me glean a lot about many aspects of ECE that I wasn’t aware of before. For instance, exploring all of the different pedagogical approaches that we could use and thinking about how to put my own spin on it for my own practice was very informative. Moreover, it was helpful to see the not-so-effective pedagogical approaches that have been documented and reflecting upon where their flaws and limitations are and how to improve and incorporate the strengths of approaches into your own work. This reading, and analyzing and discussing all of our previous readings as well, helped me develop a more critical eye. I’ve gotten better at “reading and reacting”, not just taking what I’ve read at surface level but discussing issues that I noticed or even strengths that a chapter or approach did particularly well. This’ll help me in my future practice because I’ll have an easier time critically evaluating the programs and pedagogical approaches that I use. Additionally, being able to recognize the weaknesses in something (an activity, a program) and exploring different avenues to address those issues is what leads to self-improvement, and I think that’s important. It’s important to me, because a big unspoken part of being an early childhood educator is being an advocate for improvement within the education system, in order to consistently provide the children we work with the best.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Reflective Journal

Journal #9: Reconceptualism in Curriculum

In our most recent class, we dedicated a large portion of class time to discussing the various feminist epistemologies in chapter 10 of the textbook. The part of the chapter that I found the most interesting was at the very beginning where it touched upon the lack of inclusivity in the curriculum. As I have a background working with children with special needs and it expressed a similar idea to what I’ve expressed in my other journals. Reconceptualist theory speaks to learning from and with children, which I explored about in my journal where I spoke about “School of Rock” and Deleuze’s “Do it with me” teaching method. Additionally, I think reconceptualist theory has a lot of the right ideas about inclusiveness in practice, such as no child being left behind or slipping through the cracks. By this I mean that children with exceptionalities, who are considered not “neurotypical” or whose developmental trajectory is different than what the pre-existing developmental theoretical frameworks dictate is the “typical” trajectory, have a voice within the classroom and their learning is not considered second to the learning of their “neurotypical” peers.

It’s not something we really explored in detail in this class, but it’s always bothered me how the traditional curriculum does not and has never made any accommodations for people with disabilities. Throughout all of the chapters we’ve read I’ve kept an eye out for any mention of children with special needs and how we as educators might advocate for them and their rights too, or how to promote their learning, but it is only within this chapter, I think, that I’ve seen it actually being talked about, even if it was only briefly. It’s not difficult to see why, as I’d argue that children with special needs are still seen as exceptionalities within the classroom even today, and the curriculum focuses on the class as a whole. My dislike of how the current curriculum has a tendency to disregard the needs of children with disabilities is probably why it was so refreshing to read and learn about the different reconceptualist contributions to the field of ECE, some of the reconceptualist theories proposed seem far more inclusive than the current curriculum.

Poststructuralism is the theory that I found the most interesting, probably because it is the one that aligns the most with my personal ideologies about what the curriculum should be moving towards. I agree that viewing a child’s life as a collective of experiences and identities rather than one sole approach to childhood helps to deconstruct the “one mold fits all” approach that the current education system pushes on children to promote conformity. Moreover, this gives children more room to explore who they are as a person and validates their individual experiences and the impact they have on their lives. I think there are a lot of ways that poststructuralist theory can be introduced into the classroom and curriculum, and that maybe the way to do it would be to ease into it, start by slowly incorporating elements of it and then see if it is effective. As educators, it is our job to ensure we’re providing the best quality learning we can, and we can only ensure that by continuously working to improve things.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Reflective Journal

Journal #6: The Right of the Child

Children’s rights has always been something that I’ve been incredibly passionate about, which is probably why this chapter resonated with me so strongly and inspired a lot of thought and reflection. For instance, I never really considered the prospect of having children make a list of their rights, such as was described in chapter eight. It invoked in me a lot of thought about the place that children’s rights have in education and about the various ways that we, as educators, can teach children their rights or make them more aware of their rights in an age appropriate way.

We also spoke about the positive outcomes that could come from teaching children about their rights, not only just for the child but for the childcare setting at large. Chapter 8 touched upon how schools that integrate children’s rights in their curriculum for the year promotes a sense of connectedness and shared responsibility between the kids. Moreover, another important aspect that I think needs to be considered more is involving children more into discussions such as these, because I agree that children should have more of a role when it comes to matters that impact them. We can discuss children’s rights, and I’m not discounting how important it is for us as educators to be having these discussions, but educators are only one side of the discussion. Inviting children into participating into the discussion about their own rights, while taking into account where they are at developmentally and initiating this discussion in an age-appropriate manner, is something that I’d argue would give them an advantage in the rest of their lives. They’d know how to start advocating for themselves from a younger age, they would be able to identify if an adult in their life (educator or other) was treating them in a way that infringed upon their rights, among many other advantages.

Furthermore, some of the ways in which we could teach children their rights, while incorporating it into the curriculum in a developmentally-appropriate way, were brought up during our class discussion, and many of them were incredibly creative in nature. For instance, someone spoke about having done a project with children where they made posters of themselves and within each poster they’d written one of their rights. This is an activity that I think is super beneficial and that I like a lot, as it puts a lot of the power in the children’s hands. They get to make the posters however they want, they have to think and reflect about what their rights are and then choose one that is significant to them. It’s great for raising the children’s own awareness, as well as the rest of the school as the posters were displayed somewhere everyone could see them. Thinking about ways to tweak and use this activity with my own children that I work with right now at my current childcare job, I’ve realized that as educators there’s only so much we can do, but a large part of our job when it comes to children’s rights should be educating, encouraging, and enabling them. We can raise children’s awareness of their rights, we can push for it to be taught in the curriculum, we can teach it in a way that is fun and engaging for the kids, but at the end of the day, the most valuable thing we can do in all this is promote personal responsibility and give kids the power to be their own best advocates.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Journal #7: Ideas Shared during Journal Presentations

During our journal presentations, there were many innovative and interesting ideas and topics brought up, it was nice to be able to listen to all of them and then discuss them afterward in an informal-type way. It gave me the opportunity to process and reflect about what I thought of the ideas presented and it allowed me to hear the opinions of the other members in my presentation group. The first topic presented was about the lack of childcare available to parents who work atypical hours, which honestly is not a subject that I’ve dedicated a lot of time and thought towards because of all of the other different elements and aspects of childcare we’ve touched upon during class discussions and in the textbook. My group member who spoke about this topic was directly affected by this issue and so she was passionate when speaking about it. She spoke about how the lack of childcare available to parents who work irregular hours contributes to the cycle of poverty and parents having to make sacrifices, such as sacrificing their passions and leisure/social time. The discussion our group had afterward more or less was in agreement with everything said, and I’m of the opinion that parents should not have to put their children’s needs above their own to such an extent. That’s always been something I believe in strongly, parents should be willing and ready to sacrifice for their children, but they shouldn’t have to. There should be more services in place so that parents who work these irregular hours can still maintain a healthy social life and have some free time to take care of themselves.

Other topics that my fellow group members presented are similar to what I’ve discussed in my past journals, such as critiques about the nature kindergarten in chapter 14 and their own thoughts and reflections pertaining to what we explored on children’s rights. Most of the ideas shared during the presentations about both of these topics I’ve already given my thoughts on in my previous journals, such as my own critiques on the implementation of the nature kindergarten and how I think teaching children’s rights should be a subject that educators are responsible for making part of the existing curriculum.

Another topic that was unique from what we’ve discussed in class and was different from what my group members had presented thus far was about the necessity of bringing love into our work as educators. My group group member went on to say how if we are not passionate about our way and fail to bring that into our programs, classroom activities and interactions then it will show, and the children we work with will struggle more for it. It’s something so simple that I never really spent a lot of time reflecting on it, because I thought it was obvious that the more love we put into our work, the better quality work we are providing. In the field of ECE this is especially true as we are working with children and their families, which requires so much patience and consideration and energy. If you don’t bring love into that, then you won’t like what you’re doing and you’ll be putting the children and their families at more of a disadvantage than if they were working with an educator who did bring love into their work. Simple ways that we spoke about in my presentation group about how we can bring love into what we’re doing is by switching things up within the classroom, presenting subjects in fun ways, bringing in personal stories, bringing in original self-made activities that way it is more enjoyable for the educator and the children, among many other things. All this to say, we brain-stormed a lot of ways in which we ourselves, as future ECE workers, would bring our love into our work.

Overall, I found these presentations super beneficial, it was more engaging and personal the way we did them sitting in a circle, and the presentation topics were all things that I found relevant to the field of ECE and that I wanted to learn more about. This gave me the opportunity to do that, as well as share ideas of my own and hear my group member’s thoughts and opinions on my ideas. The entire process inspired a lot of introspection and reflection, in addition to giving me a lot of ideas that I could use for my reflective essay.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Reflective Journal

Journal #8: The Way We Teach Children

In my last journal I spoke about the different ideas listening to the members in my group’s presentations gave, how they made me reflect on different matters that I really hadn’t considered before and some things that I wanted to include in my future practice. Amongst all the talk of raising children’s awareness about their rights and bolstering their connection to nature and increasing and all of the other subjects we deem important to children to learn, I’ve realized we never speak about the importance of allowing children to learn themselves. By this, I mean that there is always so much focus on helping children flourish and reach their future potential and beginning to give them the tools they will need in the future, that we often forget about how to meet the children where they are in the present. Developmental milestones are important, but all children develop differently and on different trajectories, as educators I think it is our job to meet the children where they are developmentally and help them grow and learn at their pace in the way that they learn best (visual learners, children who learn better through play, etc.)

Additionally, through my experiences working in schools and daycares, as well as through hearing some of the experiences of my peers during class discussions, I’ve learned that there is an emphasis placed on treating children like adults, but only when it comes to disciplining them like adults so that they learn that there are consequences for their actions. I find it interesting, that children are only treated like adults when they are getting punished, however, when it comes to speaking with children there is a very clear power imbalance between the child and educator and children are seldom afforded the respect in conversations that adults get. We’ve touched upon power dynamics before in our class, the way education is structured around around it, such as in classrooms where the teacher is naturally standing in the front, at a higher level than the students who are sitting. Once again, like I mentioned in my previous journal, this is why ensuring children know their rights young is so important.

Also, while there are many important things that I do think we as educators should introduce to children when they are young, I also think it’s equally important to remember that children are young. They are young, and the education system requires them to sit still at a desk for the majority of their day. They are young, and there is so much emphasis placed on their development and growth that we forget the most important thing is the journey. We as educators can’t just care about getting children from point A to point B and about supplying them with the skills capitalism deems necessary. Children need time to process what they learn, hopping from subject-to-subject doesn’t give them enough time to master it or process how they feel about it. Moreover, personally, I think it’s something not talked about enough that children are forced to adapt and fit the mold our system is trying to squeeze them into at such a young age. Children should be allowed to be children, and yet we start asking them as young as primary school what they want to be in life. In my opinion, and after hearing the similar opinions of my group members after I brought this up in my presentation, above all else, in our practice as educators we need to balance preparing children for the future and letting them enjoy their present.

Children are supposed to learn as they grow, and as educators, it’s our job to help them, not grow them. What I mean by that is that I’ve thought about the liminal space between learning and growing a lot, and how educators seem to treat them as the same thing while not really being conscious of everything in between. A child is responsible for their own growth, we as educators are responsible for helping them grow by teaching them, but I think that should be as far as our role extends. I’ve also thought about this in the context of the current curriculum and the implications this kind of thinking would have in practice, and how it is not conducive to how society dictates children “should” be taught. It’s clear to me that before we can change how we teach kids, we have to first change how we see them. They are not their developmental level, they are not less deserving of the same respect afforded adults, and they are not their future potential or careers. They are individuals, and they are growing, and our job as educators has never been to control that.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Journal #5: Environmental Education in ECE

This week’s reading prompted more critical analysis and disagreement towards the content of the chapter than I think I’ve experienced with any of the other textbook chapters. My main issue with chapter 14, as well as one of the issues that we brought up during our class discussion, is that the nature kindergarten does not feel like a real classroom. The author was visibly biased in her writing, pulling out a series of different examples from the nature kindergarten that highlighted all of the program’s strong points but none of it’s possible flaws or limitations. Other points brought up during the class discussion that also resonated with me were that the author was describing a nature kindergarten that was most likely taking place on unseated First Nations territory. Similarly, we’ve have past class talks about how land-based education originates from Indigenous pedagogy, and while in the chapter the author states that she is thankful for the feedback from several members of the Indigenous community, there is not an abundance of Indigenous authors cited in the chapter nor does the author talk about in detail whether Indigenous educators work at the nature kindergarten in order to ensure the program is as authentic as possible.

One thing that I found that the chapter did well was allowing the students of the nature kindergarten to explore and learn from the natural environment without educator intervention, l like the idea of environmental education and think that incorporating elements of nature schooling into our lessons and activities as educators could benefit the students. However, the author also does not really explain what methods they use to teach the students. How do the children learn to empathize with all of the animals and insects around them, for instance, like the ants in the ant hill they found in the chapter? This, to me, as well as other people in the class who brought up the same point or voiced agreement, does not sound like something actual young children would take into consideration while they are playing and exploring their environment.

Reflecting on the content of this chapter made me think of the potential benefits and implications of incorporating environmental education into my own practice as an educator. Further discussion we had in class gave me ideas that I would want to try with my future students, for example, creating a small garden in their school. A natural setting provides a lot of opportunities that students do not get in a classroom, and while I would have to be mindful of how I would be doing it in order to make sure it’s effective and of what the obstacles would be, it is still something that I want to attempt introducing wherever I end up working in the field of ECE. I think there’s a lot to be learned from the planet, and another part of the class discussion today was dedicated to talking about “where we grow from”. After reflecting on the question, I’d say that we grow from our homes, our relationships with the people and systems in our lives, but also from our relationship with the planet itself. Nurturing children’s relationships with the planet early on, even just starting by having them plant seeds or do Earth Day activities, is something that I think should be utilized more in ECE programs.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Journal #4: “Learn it Together” Pedagogy

While discussing the movie “School of Rock” it was fascinating to think about it through an analytical lens, taking a look at the different pedagogical techniques Jack Black’s character used with his students throughout the film. Interesting points were brought up, one that I found myself the most intrigued by was a statement by Deleuze which talked about the differences between learning from teachers who teach using the “do as I do” method rather than engage with their students and use the “let’s do together” method. It’s a teaching method that’s not often used, and the more I consider it, the more it is easy to see why. Very few teachers are comfortable being that honest or infallible with their students. The “Do it with me” teaching method leaves room for teachers to make mistakes in front of their students, which might lead their students to realizing that educators are, in fact, human, and apparently that is considered a negative thing.

In the film “School of Rock” Jack Black’s character is not presented as infallible at all, even within his position as a teacher. It’s a novel concept, I think, but educators can speak to their students like they are on the same level without the air of authority and superiority that so often separates them. It is visible by the end of the film that Jack Black’s character respects his students, and the different creative pedagogical strategies he utilizes throughout the film really illustrates to me how different he is from other educators who do not engage in some creative pedagogical means to teach their students.

This got me thinking about a larger issue once our class discussion was over, which was what the barriers were for educators who wanted to take a more “Dewey Finn” approach to using creative means and out of the box thinking to teacher their students? The traditional curriculum certainly might seem like it has no room for anything other than standardized teaching practices, but in my opinion, I think it is necessary to begin pushing the envelope somewhat in regards to these things. By pushing the envelope, I mean bringing different types of pedagogical teaching methods into the classroom, try out of the box strategies, see which work best with what types of learners your students are.

Moreover, while reflecting upon the film and all of the ensuing class discussions, I’ve realized there are numerous things that should be normalized pertaining to the student-teacher dynamic. Normalizing teachers making mistakes, for one, is something I think is important. Normalizing the “learn it with me” approach to pedagogy as well, I think, would also be super beneficial, especially with younger students who might be visual learners. Furthermore, this could remove teachers from the “pedestal of authority” that prohibits students from forging connections with them. In my opinion it’s definitely something to consider and to keep in mind as I acquire more knowledge and practical experience, because I think I might like to implement it in whatever childcare setting I end up working at in the future.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Journal #3: The Nature of Giving

During our outdoor class, while all of the activities we did were absolutely intriguing and interesting, the way we ended the class was probably one of the things that I retained the most. The story that we read “The Giving Tree” is a kid’s story with an incredibly mature underlying theme. Firstly, before I even get into processing the takeaways that I liked from the story, I just need to make a note of how enjoyable it was being read to. Storytelling is something that we’re taught is typically aimed at children but there’s something transcendent about being read to. Maybe it’s the magic of passing something directly from one person to another, maybe it’s the connection that forms there; all I know is that I very much enjoyed it.

The story follows the relationship of a boy and a tree that is planted in his backyard, I think it says something about our society that the boy starts off innocent and unselfish and just grows more and more hungry for material things as he grows older. Does growing up surrounded by the society we’re in just turn all of us like that? It’s a scary thought, because seeing the way boy and the tree’s friendship went from one consisting of mutual love and respect to one that was visibly more one-sided was a revelation. We all start caring more and more about material things as we get older, and we tend to abuse other people’s kindness and happiness, the same way with the boy and the tree.

Moreover, another striking thing about the story was the way the theme of “humans taking advantage of the land” lined up so perfectly with the boy and the tree. We aren’t too kind to nature the same way we aren’t kind to others, it’s a pattern with people. The line from the story that hit me hardest was near the end, that small admittance that “the tree was happy, but not really”. The tree gave up so much for the boy and got very little in return. My brain started drawing parallels between the relationship with the boy and the tree in the story and our relationship with the land. The way we tear down trees and abuse the land’s resources and everything to do with urbanization. My brain also draws parallels between the way the boy treats the tree, stealing all of it’s resources for himself to satisfy his own needs and giving little in return, and the way the Canadian government treats the Indigenous people.

“The Giving Tree” definitely fits into what we’ve been learning about the history of the curriculum and some of the darker parts of our own history. It’s also a story that now that I’ve re-discovered it, I definitely think would be a good thing to incorporate when working with younger children, as the meaning behind it is something young children could also grasp.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Journal #2: The Way Education Failed Indigenous Children

An in-class activity we did where were were broken up into groups and had to do research on different historic events involving the Canadian government and Indigenous people reaffirmed a lot of ugly truths and brought up a lot of fascinating and also tragic information. The timeline that we talked about, from when the settles from Europe first came and colonized this land and forced the Indigenous people who already lived there to give up their territory, until now, unveiled a lot of horrible things from our history that we’re not even taught in school. They teach us about the fur trade, and the parliament, building roots in Canada but we’re never taught about the people we had to uproot to be here. I couldn’t help but feel cheated, why weren’t we taught that? It goes a long way towards improving cultural competence and sensitivity if we know the dark parts of our history too, it goes a long way to encouraging empathy and understanding and lighting the sparks of reconciliation much faster than the formal apology past prime minister Harper gave. In my opinion, there’s no apology that could ever be enough, and I am in no way, shape or form the authority of what will kickstart true reconciliation, if anything ever will. Teaching Indigenous children their own proper history might be a good place to start.

My thoughts and feelings about this are two-layered, while the government has been saying that it has been making efforts towards reconciliation, especially with the orange shirt day that has passed, it’s also obvious that they could be doing so much more. Indigenous children aren’t even taught their own history. It was Thanksgiving on Monday, and it’s a hard realization to swallow that Thanksgiving has negative connotations for Indigenous people whereas it has positive connotations for us. Indigenous children should be taught their history, through the perspective of someone who understands the significance of it.

It’s obvious why history classes don’t focus on the Canadian government’s past cruelty and failings, still with everything that’s happened and the intergenerational trauma at play, Indigenous children more than deserve the right to learn their history from a teacher who is Indigenous themselves or has at least had cultural sensitivity training and has been trained in the Indigenous way of teaching. These thoughts have been following me since we did the in-class activity and truly I believe this is one of the only ways to truly start making up for the way education and history has failed Indigenous youth. It’s definitely something that I want to become more knowledgeable about myself.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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Journal #1: Education as an Extension of Capitalism

The very first chapter that was assigned as reading, “Early Childhood Education and Indigenous Ways of Knowing” (Weenie, 2019, p. 1-11) covered the topic of Indigenous learning and teaching methods and the way they clashed with the regular curriculum. It caught my attention for several reasons, the author spoke about how she felt having to teach a curriculum that didn’t take into account her students’ lives or lived experiences (Weenie, 2019, p.3) and that got me thinking about who’s experiences the curriculum is founded on? What does the curriculum take into account, if anything? Success, of course, but success is a concept and has nothing to do with the students trying to achieve it. Indigenous teaching is land-based, their perspective on child development is much different than the clinical lens of Western perspectives. This could also mean that the Indigenous’ perspective of success is different to our own too. If we take what the broadly accepted definition of academic success is by Western standards and boil it down, what do we have left? My guess would be the foundations of capitalism.

An in-class discussion about the reading brought up different mentions of the link between standardized testing and education and capitalism, I found it interesting to hear all of the different theories and perspectives on why our current education system enables capitalism. In my opinion it is that education is based on memorization and standardized testing, which is flawed and completely roots out individualism. It is a learning technique, but it is a technique that forces everyone remember information the same way, regurgitate that information the same way and learn the same way. Thinking along these lines, it’s obvious individualism has no place here, that our different cultural experiences, histories, and anything that slightly differs from the norm is unincluded. Why is this such a big deal? Precisely because our society should thrive on our differences, differences in culture, history, traditions, education, etc. This is what makes us a unique and diverse society, but capitalism has no room for diversity or else it ceases to function. Therefore upon further reflection, the conclusion is obvious; education can’t be diverse either, it has to be uniform.

Education, the way it is now, is about conformity. A clear path to success, check all the boxes along your way, cross go and collect 200$. This starts as young as early childhood years, teaching our kids and students to sit quietly, read books, learn sitting down. It only worsens as children get older and learning through play and exploration is more and more edged out. How are children taught what success is? They go to school and learn it. How do they learn it in school? Is it the “one size fits all” life path that we teach them? Do well in school, figure out what you want to do, get a good job. Where is the room for play? Exploration? Learning through our senses and experiences as all young children are wont to do? Suddenly everything is about productivity, grow up quickly and become a working member of society, make money, become like everyone else.

How fascinating that the education system that’s supposed to turn us into the best versions of ourselves has become a system focused on making us productive and useful and all alike one another, not a shred of culture or individuality or identity among us.

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historyofcurriculum · 4 years ago

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The Harmony of Holistic Learning

The fixed traditional education curriculum, despite it’s many cognitive benefits, is rigid in its teachings. There are numerous alternative approaches that, when implemented correctly, have many distinctive benefits and compliment the teachings of the pre-existing traditional curricular well. Among those approaches is holistic education. The holistic curricular does not subscribe to the “one size fits all” mindset for learning and takes into account students’ individual needs. As educators, implementing aspects of this type of curriculum in an effective way is something that could greatly benefit us.

Holistic Education at its Roots

There have been numerous academic journals that have measured the efficiency of Holistic education in comparison to the already pre-existing curriculum. An academic journal published within the National Forum of Multicultural Issues Journal brings forth the idea that “The traditional one-size-fits-all cognitive educational model was not designed to meet the needs of students—male and female—who have developed affective proficiencies due to environmental factors associated with historical oppression, suppression and repression” (Glenn, 2009, p. 2). This is one of the areas in which holistic education supersedes traditional education. As educators it is part of our duty to concern ourselves with all of the aspects that affect the children we are working with, holistic teaching factors in the particular needs of children who have been emotionally impacted by generational trauma due to any multitude of traumatic events. Implementing this such aspect of a holistic curriculum, taking into account the emotional needs of every individual students, would benefit the way they learned. Emotional development, like every other area of development, should be as much of a priority as children’s cognitive development. The following video, “iTeach - Holistic Development” beautifully encapsulates many of the strengths of implementing holistic education.

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Children learn through experiences, linking experiences with meaning opens up an entirely new and equally beneficial method of learning. The video depicts learning different competencies through having the students engage in activities that help them develop that competency. This has an advantage over stationary learning at a desk, soaking in information and stimuli through active engagement rather than the passivity of the traditional curriculum’s method of learning. Moreover, the traditional curriculum dismisses the way individual experiences can affect learning meanwhile a properly introduced holistic curriculum would take that into consideration. The traditional curriculum has become hyper-focused on assessment, standardized testing, and boiling how much children have learned through numbers and figures and how much information they can remember (Emerson, n.d., p. 1). There are elements that the traditional curriculum does well meanwhile there are other elements that a well-implemented holistic curriculum does well. Similarly, there are also holistic approaches that have been implemented that were lacking. As educators, in order to assess how to best implement aspects of an effective holistic curricular that compliments and works well with the pre-existing traditional curricular, we must look at the strengths.

Modern-Day Holistic Approaches

A data-based academic journal by Zahedi and Ebrahimi (2013) examines the effectiveness of the different curriculars through the study of elementary school students’ enthusiasm for learning while looking at the different curriculum approaches. Zahedi and Ebrahimi (2013) articulate that the ultimate goal of education should not be “providing a comprehensive image with all the details of one’s future but is taking into account a holistic growing of his personality, the way of offering proper material, helping the students to prepare themselves for life challenges...” (Zahedi & Ebrahimi, 2013, p. 332). This end-goal lines up with the competencies of holistic teaching. There are some educational establishments that follow this ideology and implement this kind of teaching method, for example; Montessori schools and daycares. Chapter five of Early Years Education and Care in Canada provides many insights on how we as educators can presently and effectively implement holistic education practices with the children we work with. By using the “follow the child” technique, by letting them discover the uses of different materials on their own, through exploratory play and sensory materials/activities (Jagger, 2019. p.68). Other holistic-based techniques we can use outside of daycares with older elementary school children are building a rapport with them, incorporating attentive communication skills, devoting teaching time to processing what is occuring in their personal lives as well as academic lives. A Ted Talk given by Jay Veal looks at the strengths of holistic tutoring and how we as educators can “provide children with a listening ear” and “be a mentor to them” as well as an educator (Veal, 2019). The strengths of a holistic curricular align with the core strengths of being a good educator.

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Outcomes of Effective Holistic Teaching

According to Hedges & Cooper (2014) one of the outcomes of effectively incorporating the theories of holistic education is children “building identities and trajectories as capable learners”. Another academic journal describes the outcomes of the holistic approach as “giving children a voice” which leads to self-empowerment and improves emotional and spiritual well-being (Watson, 2006). At it’s core, our aim as educators when balancing an effective holistic approach with the traditional one, is to ensure we give the children we work with the best possible materials, support and foundation to become the best possible versions of themselves they can be, while taking into account their individual needs, backgrounds, and life experiences. It is easy to see the importance of incorporating components of holistic education into the traditional curriculum and employing different techniques to ensure that it’s as effective as possible.

References

Emerson, B. (n.d.). A Look at the Current Educational System: Introducing a Holistic Curriculum. Antioch University. (pp.1-19). https://www.antioch.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/A-Look-at-the-Current-Educational-System-Introducing-a-Holistic-Curriculum.pdf

Glenn, C. E. (2009). The holistic curriculum: Addressing the fundamental needs of the whole child in a diverse and global society. National Forum of Multicultural Issues Journal (Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 1 10). http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Glenn,%20Clement%20E.%20Fundamental%20Needs%20of%20the%20Whole%20Child.pdf

Hedges, H., & Cooper, M. (2014). Engaging with holistic curriculum outcomes: deconstructing ‘working theories.’ International Journal of Early Years Education, 22(4), 395–408. https://doi-org.lib-ezproxy.concordia.ca/10.1080/09669760.2014.968531

Jagger, S. (2019). Chapter 5: Holistic Education: Teaching and Learning, Planning and Reflecting with the Whole Child in Mind. Early Years education and care in Canada (pp. 61-81). Canadian Scholars Press.

MOE Singapore. (2016/11/22). iTeach - Holistic Development. [Video]. YouTube. URL:https://youtu.be/xXK8ViZ8_9U

TEDX Talks.(2019/07/08). Mindset Shift: Traditional Education to Holistic Tutoring. [Video]. YouTube.URL: https://youtu.be/asvKTJndrr0

Watson, J. (2006). Every Child Matters and children’s spiritual rights: does the new holistic approach to children’s care address children’s spiritual well‐being? International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, (Vol. 11 No. 2, 251–263). https://doi-org.lib-ezproxy.concordia.ca/10.1080/13644360600797255

Zahedi, O. and Ebrahimi, T, (2013). A Comparison of the Amount Effectiveness of Holistic vs. Traditional Teaching on Enthusiasm and Educational Progress of Elementary Students. Journal of Educational and Management Studies (Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 331-336). https://jems.science-line.com/attachments/article/20/JEMS,%20C,%2039%20J.%20Educ.%20Manage.%20Stud.,%203(4)331-336.pdf

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