Designing the Classroom Curriculum Designing the Classroom Curriculum | Page 44

Designing the Classroom Curriculum
The Learning Management-based design methodology is the core idea that guides our comments about
teaching in the remainder of the book. It diametrically opposes the idea of the proliferation of ‘personal’
teaching pedagogies based on individual preference, characteristic of traditional teaching practices. This is
not meant as a slight on teachers, but a comment about the profession at all levels. Consider this example:
Miss White spends endless hours preparing interesting activities for her Year One class to do. Her classroom is a joy to
behold with children’s art and language work displayed on the walls, on-going science and SOSE projects occupying
corners and ceiling space. Children’s days are spent preparing and creating displays and working in groups. It is, to all
intents and purposes, a children’s paradise. Parents are impressed with displays, colour and the obvious commitment to
the children’s environment.
We are of course supportive of such classrooms at one level. However, we are bound to challenge the
effectiveness of ‘activity’ oriented teaching because:
“As educators, we would need to be sure that the students were enjoying worthwhile learning, that
various activities and topics were rank ordered according to their importance, and that students were
achieving intended outcomes. We would want to be sure that students had some advance organisers
and knew what was expected of them while they participated in the activities. Moreover we would
want to know that the children were engaged in the same curriculum as most others in the system and
how well they achieved the curriculum outcomes; not just that they had. We would also want to know
about the kinds of understanding they were developing and the kinds of personal capacities they were
creating as a result of being in the classroom. In short, interesting classroom ‘activities’ are necessary,
but they are not sufficient if the expectation is that most children will reach the requirements
of the mandated syllabi and be prepared for an emergent society. The job of ‘teaching’ at all
levels is more complex and demanding than making up diverse activities, irrespective of how long
those activities may take the teacher to prepare and administer” (Smith and Lynch, 2006, p. 54,
emphasis added).
The teacher is responsible for ensuring that each student achieves the designated learning
outcomes. The emphasis here is on the student rather than on the teacher and his or her attributes. The
teacher’s orientation is primarily focussed on points (i)-(v) noted earlier: content, teaching strategies,
achievable performance standards and the personal and social capacities that students develop for later life.
While the specifications for achieving learning outcomes in all students cannot be applied in a mechanistic
manner, the existing research evidence indicates what teaching strategies have a high probability of achieving
successful learning outcomes (Smith and Lynch, 2006, 2010).
Learning Management ‘Design’, in both its procedural and creative phases, is then a process in which the
various elements are arranged and orchestrated. While teachers may be familiar with a process of ‘situational
analysis’, the Learning Management Design Process (LMDP) builds on that process, by entailing a quite
specific technical knowledge, sequential steps and process guidance and a clear set of goals on the part of
the teacher. Putting a design together for a particular set of students and in settings that are framed with
constraints such as time and resources requires high levels of organisational knowledge and skill. It involves
detailed knowledge and analysis of what has gone before, what comes next and how this particular segment
links the two and why.
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