Miguel Guhlin Another Think Coming Challenge Claims, Uncover Reality

by mguhlin

3 Tips to Avoiding Curriculitis

EdTech

You know, old folks are always talking about eating prunes, watching what they eat, and their last bowel movement (BM). What’s up with that? Maybe, we need to adopt that attitude in K-12 education?

One of my Dad’s favorite gross-me-out stories was explaining what the heck his Doctor meant when he shared about “diverticulitis.” For years, I thought this was just a tall tale yarn he’d spun up to make me eat my vegetables until I found out that, indeed, this was a valid medical condition. He explained it in this way (and I’ve “sanitized” it a bit for those faint of bowel):

“You get diverticulitis when food gets stuck in little pockets on the way out. The food and bacteria build up gas in those pockets and can cause some real bad toots.”

Anyways, for some strange reason, my brain made a connection between old curriculum and approaches that have gotten stuck in many a K-12 education system. Instead of diverticulitis, it’s curriculitis. Stay tuned for 3 tips on how to avoid curriculitis.

This morning, I sent this note out to my colleagues on TEC-SIG in Texas:

This is a brainstorming post. A few colleagues have suggested to me that the best approach for teaching technology literacy is through a content area (uh, duh, right? ) but the primary obstacle to this is Curriculum & Instruction departments caught up in test-prep and high stakes accountability (“curriculitis”). I’m sure you know what I’m referring to.
;->

Ok, so my question is, are any of you teaching technology literacy (TA:TEKS) through Social Studies? Are you blending in the TA:TEKS deliberately (you know, checking off the list what you’re addressing with kids) or using tech when you think appropriate?

Here’s what I’m proposing for development and would love to have ANYTHING you have on this idea, even if it’s why a similar move failed/succeeded in your district or situation. Some of these ideas may fall through but I’m just throwing them out there for discussion.

  1. I want to integrate technology into social studies course so that every 8th grader will take the course, and also be prepared for TA:TEKS Technology Literacy Assessment now mandated by 8th grade.
  2. I have to do this with minimal technology in the classroom since we’re hardware-poor.
  3. I want an online course—in Moodle, of course—that every social studies teacher can use with their students.
  4. Online assessments in the virtual course proposed would be used to satisfy NCLB Technology Literacy Assessment.

Ideas? Copies of failed or successful proposals/stories to upper administration? Please share.

Oh, and if you’re wondering how to avoid curriculitis, it’s pretty straightforward:

You may be able to prevent curriculitis if you:

  1. Imbibe lots of RSS content,

  2. Google research regularly, and

  3. Consume a high research diet. A high-research diet includes blogs, open access journals, and action research.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure