Well, I wanted to write a blog post, so I made the mistake of asking my students what it should be about. I don't think I've ever seen such faces - there was an underlying incomprehension about what the hell I was asking them for, true, but on top of that there were a myriad of shades of incomprehension about why I would want a blog in the first place.
Sometimes I wonder that too.
But today, I have some very specific things to reflect on. Like the report I have to write about how the Science Department is going in implementing the new NZ Curriculum into our schemes. Perhaps it would be more proper - and accurate, in our case - to say that we are re-writing our schemes in light of the directives of the new curriculum.
There are many parts I like about the curriculum. I like that it explicitly states that a positive sense of identity is a key learning outcome. I like that it expects students to learn how to be international citizens and informed decision makers. I love how it values diversity and social justice.
The challenge now is how to implement all of this into a comprehensive scheme of work that leads into the highly content-driven NCEA environment, where students must absorb and regurgitate knowledge. But it's a challenge I am excited by.
One thing that annoys me is to hear teachers say "but we already do this!".
Well, sorry, no. Mostly, you don't. You drive content. Sticking a new front end onto your existing schemes is not implementing the new curriculum. That's why we're thinking big and making big changes.
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