Culture and Curriculum a Dramatic Context - Assignment Example

Running Head: TITLE OF WORK Title Name Name of instructor Subject Institution Date Literature has the ability to make readers experience new situations through their minds, explore different philosophies and, above all enable them develop respect and empathy to others. Books written by various authors have their plots rotating more on the social injustices happening all over the world. When students read these literatures, they tend to develop empathy towards others. Authors Anton Chekhov was a physician and spent most of his time ministering the sick. He had the experience of meeting people of different social backgrounds all over his period hence, had the understanding of the sufferings they had to endure everyday in their lives. He therefore, authored many stories that analytically criticized the actions in the areas which were more so aggravating the conditions of his patients and, also were seen as the causes of the diseases attacking them. Most acknowledged of his writing, is the story about the `Penal colony of Sakhalin’ an area he was well accustomed to following frequent journeys (Antony, 2009). Sympathy for the exiles on the island, most of which he considered to be the results of the poor social conditions in Russia which motivated him much. In the text, Sakhalin is a place of unbearable suffering to the people. He criticizes that we have let without even concern or care people to rot in prisons, destroying them carelessly, thoughtlessly and barbarously (Mustapha, 2007). He says that the population drove people across the borders infecting them with diseases such as syphilis, depraved them and allowed the multiplication of criminals. He attacks the population for keeping silence without showing any concern. In the text, he also talks about the poor treatment of the women of Sakhalin were they are not considered to be humans. For the purpose of learning these questions can be used. 1. Are women equal to men? 2. Should immigrants be treated differently from the natives? 3. Is it right for the rich to mistreat the poor? The idea that development is always behind learning plays a significant role in education where the process of helping school going children to bridge the gap between childhood to adolescence. The successful transition between the stages requires establishment of proper educational environment that awakens the social, intellectual and the academic needs of these children. In a class where there a number of neglected children without parents, there are a number of intervention measures which must be inculcated into the curriculum to enable the children learn smoothly, without considering themselves as less important or social misfits which significantly affects their grades in school as well as growing up to be irresponsible parents. As teachers, these children have special needs which must be carefully dealt with without hurting the children’s emotions. The society and community around these children must come into action to try and help these kids even though the process might prove to be expensive with the community all coming together and amassing their wealth these children can be helped to transit smoothly from childhood to adulthood (Cragg, 2004). The intervention measures which can be utilized to help the children are as follows. Family In the classroom, we have different students with different challenges, in my program am going to focus on neglected children in search for education .The intervention measures are diverse but first we can place the children on foster mothers. We all know that, the family is the first unit children are introduced to and tend to learn from. By placing the children on foster parents who have been certified by the law to meet the necessary requirements ,the children will have a sense of belonging and due to the encouragement coming from them, they post good grades hence help them grasp what the teachers are teaching. Foster parents if at all are in good faith can provide home coaching which helps the children catch up with others and, they can also hire private tutors to teach their kids. To place a kid on foster parent is not expensive at all because, it is the foster parents who have to pay but, the procedures laid down by the law must be followed to avoid the possibility of placing kids on bad parents who are not able to provide the necessary care or result into child trafficking.The kids once placed on foster parents, their performance will be tracked and if it happens that it is deteriorating, then the kid need to be called and asked whether he or she might be facing any problems and if it occurs that the parents are not providing the care necessary for a parent, then the license must be revoked immediately. Religion Neglected children have no parents at all. For example, those found abandoned on road sides hence as they grow up they tend to hate themselves and therefore are always thinking that they are less equal than others, as in intervention measure to try help them in learning, these children can be introduced to religion and teach them the ways of God. By doing this we will try to introduce hope to the children (Courtney, 1977). The role of church to the developing child who at this time is in school, is seen as the source of moral and ethical values and by these virtues such as love, empathy, tolerance and persistence are inculcated to the child. The religion will try to make the child see neglect of children as a bad thing hence will grow up to become better parents. Also, since these children always have a low self esteem, they tend not to fear the law because; they think they are failures in life. Religion will changes this and they see themselves as important people to the society equal to others and by boosting their self esteem, them they start to perform well in school. Introducing these kids to religion might require some resources since there is likelihood of construction of a church or chaplain in the school with priest who will teach the kids on the ways of God .similarly, the school can have to purchase a van to be used to transport the children to churches. In developing the education curriculum, religious studies lessons need to be introduced to help these children. Community As an intervention measure to try helping the neglect children in my class, I intend to introduce the community to the wellbeing of the children. The communities will provide the kids with access to other similar kids with the same problems hence this will act as emotional support. The communities are also known to provide child care, parent employment and other program all geared to providing encouragement and motivation to among families and children. The communities can provide several needs for the positive development of the neglected children hence boosting their performance in school. Involving the community to the children development has several advantages in that it provides the kids with a personal relationship with caring adults who impart the necessary sense of love hence boosting the self esteem of the kids and also the adults understand any problems being faced by the kids. The community can also provide a safe place for the child to live in hence try to solve this problem being faced by several neglected children as being evidenced in different parts in the world and Africa. The community through establishment of vocational centers can also provide the necessary skills which might be of great use to the kids after graduating from high school. The adults in the community can also be encouraged to volunteer their resources and time in other ways towards the development of the children; I will plead these adults to participate in one to one tutoring where they will help the kids in various subjects such as, math and science. The adults will also be encouraged to form small group instructions, participate in grading of papers, career counseling a noble course to try help the children in dealing with sexuality problems or identity crisis. The community can also help in coaching the children in different subjects and also in sports and also in fund raising to try put up the necessary structures and purchase of property which will be useful to the neglected children. In development of the curriculum for the school, the community will be highly consulted and any other organizations which are interested in helping the school will also be consulted. These organizations can be companies ready to offer career talks or internships to the students. All these need to be remembered in developing the curriculum and time allocated to such organizations in the school calendar. Society A Childs society is significantly responsible for equipping the child with necessary resources for the positive development of the child. The societal values, legislations and financial resources provided by the society provide the context in which the families should function. The society should be compelled to start recognizing the plights of these children hence set up the features which can help the children. The society need to be advised to encourage students to learn in school without prejudice on subjects. Technology as has been seen to bring advancements in education has also its dis-benefits and, most children have a problem in balancing education and hobbies. This would them to spend too much time on the internet surfing pornographic material which would be detrimental to their education. This calls for the society need to rise up and speak in one voice all which should be on the advantage of the neglected children. In the development of the curriculum, the society should be encouraged to train students to be more positive on education particularly hard subjects like math and also a positive consideration on the neglected children and not consider them as burde3n to it. It should encourage people to consider others as equal even those without parents. Culture School going children are greatly affected by the culture they are exposed to through the communication of beliefs their parents receive. The culture influences beliefs concerning religion, school, and family life. The culture is passed to future generations through the parents. The culture of a community can greatly influence the performance of disadvantaged children who happen to be born to neglectful parents because sometimes the cultures can encourage consideration of such children as outcasts hence affecting their self esteem. Cultural beliefs have immense potential of affecting all Bronfenbrenner’s systems since these beliefs are deeply held to become the basis of child’s self. In my intervention measure, I intend to try educating the communities against cultures which negatively affect the neglected children and grow those which are positive. In curriculum development the positive cultures will be taught in school and the negative ones told to students so that they can do away with them. The school The school managed is obliged to develop student friendly aspects. These children with special needs need to be recognized and treated with special care and while teachers are giving examples, they must be careful not to offend these children hence leading to truancy or the students running away from school. The school must also follow up the children conduct to avoid other children from bullying these children or speaking unkindly to these children. The schools can motivate these children by offering private tutoring to them or counseling them. The school can also appoint these children to various positions hence helping these children. The school must provide the extra time needed to counsel these children as well as the others to instill respect and empathy to these kids. Basic needs There are several characters of the body that affect the overall development of the child. One is the health of the body. These children must be provided with basic needs to ensure there is good development in the children’s body and brain. As a teacher the basic needs lacking to these children must be made available. These basic needs vary from food since these children have no parents hence might go without food for sometime which affects their performance in school (Edwards, 1992). The school can introduce feeding program to these children hence alleviating this problem. Clothing must also be provided to these children to ensure that they feel equal to others and hence boost their self worth. Medical care is also very essential since this affects their psychological and physiological wellbeing. Medical care is very important to these neglected children and the school can try in providing medical covers to these children. Lessons on personal health also should be provided to ensure that these children are able to take care of themselves since the parents are gone. These lessons need to be included in the school curriculum. Curriculum To improve the performance of math in the school which has a vast number of neglected children as a teacher, there are various intervention measures which I intend to apply through curriculum, the teaching methods, assessment and student support. In the development of the curriculum, it will be allied to the standards and reinforce the concepts taught by spiraling meaning looping back to ensure that the concepts earlier learnt by the students are remembered. These children due to the challenges they face everyday tend to forget very fast and therefore the concepts earlier learnt must be revisited to ensure that the children understand them better. On top of aligning the curriculum with the standards, use of technology for both assessment and learning is important in teaching math to the children. Use of technology brings about a better understanding of the subject to these children as they can see simulation of various math concepts in different electronic accessories. In use of technology as opposed to the traditional will utilize the incorporation of math facts on flash computer software in use of technology for better understanding of math the school can include the robot creation where the children will be asked create robots all of which is geared towards a better understanding of shapes, space and measurement. In aligning the curriculum to fit the local and state standards will ensure that the math leant is not of lower quality as expected and hence the children will be equal to others going to other schools. Teaching Another method which will be used to improve the performance of math in the school is by having super teaching techniques in teaching the subject, it will be necessary to have a qualified and dedicated staff that through their experience will instill better knowledge and understanding in the subject (Seifert, 1999). These teachers since they have vast experience will be able to use skills and hence ensure that all the needs of different students with different needs or challenges are met and the students understand what the teacher teaches. High expectations are also important in teaching math, this will compel the teachers to work an extra mile to reach the expectations since falling below the set expectations will force the teacher to go back to the drawing table and check why he or she failed. The teachers can also use multiple techniques in teaching the subject which as many teachers agree are the writing and manipulative techniques. Support of ongoing professional development also helps in teaching the math subject. Ongoing teachers’ partnership allows for sharing strategies that work. The teachers and administrators of schools can disaggregate data to establish the areas that require improvement. Support classes can also be used in teaching the subject. These support classes are used to help the students who may have difficulties in understanding to understand it more. These support classes have shown to help struggling children. Teachers can also engage in voluntary Saturday teaching to help the students who might have problems and also help the teachers finish the teaching syllabus within the stipulated time. Speaking of professional development, teachers can be provided with funds to enable them attend workshops and also facilitate additional math program which are geared towards curriculum enhancement. Professional waiver days should also be provided to teachers to allow them attend the workshops. This is done by dismiss the students to allow for professional development. During this time standardized test scores are analyzed to establish overall student requirements and also ensure the curriculum is aligned accordingly. Student support I would implement the student support the teachers, so that can have the students in groups according to skill levels and adjusting the groups as it might be needed all intended to maximize learning..The poor performing receive earliest intervention; tutoring and extra help for students who need remediation are offered the opportunities while the best performers of the subject are given opportunities to press forward their skills through added opportunities and amplified point values for success. TITLE OF THE BOOK CHOSEN IS: Reducing Behavior Problems in the Elementary School Classroom This book is all about guidelines that are aimed at helping the teachers in a classroom and, the elementary school instructors as well as educators and even the administrators to establish and implement preventions and interventions that promote the behavior of students in a positive way. The book consists of effective recommendations that are relevant and useful in strategizing in solving problems especially, those related to behaviors of elementary class students. The book consists of a guide which presents appropriate instructions together with quality evidence to support them. Such as how to identify particular behavioral problems and the conditions that encourage and strengthen them, a way of making the class room to be a place of solving or correcting behavior problems, ways of empowering students to obtain new skills and improve on their behavior positively and in a positive environment of the class room, enhance the relationship between students and professional colleagues as well as family for support and guidance and to be able to make assessment on whether strategies that are widely in school should be adopted and implemented as well in order to eradicate negative interactions and encourage positive interactions. A lot of focus and emphasis is in this book is directed towards making the academic achievements of the student better by upgrading it. It also addresses strategies as well as interventions that are .designed to give instructions in curriculum. The book is written in order to play a major role in assisting students who fail to learn or perform well because of psychological problems and issues that interfere with their full engagement in activities resulting from instructions. The book contains a manual or guidance of the tools that are very useful as well as effective in properly managing class rooms. Addressing issues in classroom A classroom is perceived as a place where students from all walks of life and background gather together to become educated and therefore eliminate ignorance, in other words, they gather so as to solve problems as well as issues to do with ignorance of ignorance, but there are other issues which emanate as well in classroom as well. A classroom is, therefore, one of the ideal places when it comes to solving such problems and issues (Ryan, 1995). As teacher the classroom comes in handy in solving most of these problems this is because a lot of interventions that are effectively focused within the classroom with the aim of reducing cases of problems resulting from their improper behavior, changes or do away with factors that encourage them. These factors that encourage improper behavior often come up as a result of things like academic expectations, strengths and weaknesses of the student, skills, preferences and the classroom setting do not all match or agree with each other. As a teacher in order to address and reduce incidences of occurrence of improper or unacceptable behavior, the following measures would be useful. That is strengthening and putting a lot of emphasis on accepted and required behavior in the classroom, rescheduling the environment that is within the classroom in order to be able to address and meet the needs of the students and personally developing a system that serves to reward and promote improvements and better performance of student engagement on behavior. Putting into action and strengthening of properly and clearly stated rules in a classroom is a requirement when it comes to proper and expected behavior of the student both a classroom setting as well as other settings in school which include playing fields, dining halls and even the dormitories (Labahn, 1995) . As far as addressing issues to do with behaviors is concerned the best strategies to use are managing the classroom in a preventive manner and emphasizing particularly on teachers to be attentive to particular variables in the environment that evoke behaviors causing problems and also to aim strategies with instructions while differentiating them to encourage the engagement of students and therefore reduce cases of problems in student behaviors. As a teacher, it is very important to be actively involved in everything to do with all that leads to the reduction in behavior problems. This is a sure way of putting into action strategies in management of classroom does the following; coming up with a conducive teaching environment that is positive by elaborating rules and routines and strengthening them, properly strengthening the required and accepted behavior amongst students both individually as well as collectively, put into use instructions and principles that integrate the availability of materials that are new through practicing as well as through modeling, avail as many different activities and materials as possible according to the extent of difficulty and the level of the student ability in class and to, promote and embrace cooperative peer education as a strategy achieved through instruction. About three trials which are controlled and picked at random and one study objective should clearly demonstrate that teachers who elaborately point out objectives of student behaviors and make their students to work in groups and embrace teamwork in order to uphold required and accepted Other than issues arising in classroom and are to do with behavioral problems, there are still some other issues which cause problems and arise and they arise in classroom as well. For that reason therefore a teacher in a classroom would employ several problem solving strategies as a way of addressing such issues that come up. One of them is coming together and sharing in learning while assisting one another. This is a good way of addressing problems as well as issues resulting from cultural difference or background differences. It is a kind of learning that is instructional and involves the use of groups of pupils or students, usually smaller in number, but they work as a group in order to gain and develop from one another. In designing cooperative learning, the teacher is expected to assist in making students, to have discussion and arguments that are aimed at learning and also benefiting from one another’s knowledge and skills. This goes a long way in narrowing and filling the existing gaps between their understandings. As a teacher it is equally important for one to employ different available cooperative learning techniques; however, all the techniques contain certain features I which they share. These features form the content that is required to make sure that when students get themselves involved in working in groups, they do that in a manner that is cooperative: To begin with, members belonging to a particular group must be able to acknowledge the fact that they form part of the team and that all of them have a common objective; secondly, members of a particular group must be able to recognize that the problems as well as issues that they are expected to they are going to solve, are problems concerning the group the effects of success or failure is shared by everyone belonging in the group. Another strategy is involving the attitude which refers to the concept of the mind that presents both favorable and unfavorable fillings towards something. It consists of three components which are cognitive, behavioral as well as affective. The cognitive part consists of beliefs that concern the attributes of the object of the attitude. The affective part involves the feelings held towards an object and it assessed using psychological indices. And lastly the behavioral is concerned with the manner people direct their actions towards the object (Neimiec, Sikorski, &Waberg, 1999). This is assessed through performance with behaviors that are directly observed. It is very important, as a teacher within the classroom environment to focus on the attitudes of the students as a way of solving problems and issues that arise in the classroom. The other strategy is motivating achievement. Motivation refers to a construct in theory that is used to give an explanation concerning the starting point, intensity, direction, persistence, as well as quality of behavior, more so behavior that is goal directed. In contrary, a goal is supposed to be a lot more specific in nature and to be used to give an explanation concerning the quality and direction of action patterns in given situations. Strategies, goals and motives sometimes can be difficult to can be difficult to differentiate especially in cases require learning that is intentional and that contains cognitive content. This is due to the fact ideal types of motivation that are used to learn the optimal strategies are more likely to happen concurrently. In the classroom situation, the issues to do with student motivation are in most cases used give an explanation of the extent of attention and effort in a variety of pursuits. The actual achievement of individual behavior does not depend only on their motivation to make achievements but on expectation for achievement as well as being afraid of failure. Studies have shown that the male achievements are higher than female achievements (Neimiec et al., 1993). As at teacher it therefore imperative to examine the results of strategies aimed at solving problems on achievement of attitude of the students and also to highlight the effects of gender issues on such parameters Geralal is that female students and male students are significantly different in physics lectures: males perform better in physics than their male counterparts. However, when it comes to languages and social behaviors female students outdo their male colleagues. This is due to differing notions that both male and females hold concerning different subjects that they study. Just addressing these issues is not enough. It is necessary for a good teacher, who is interested in solving and addressing these issues once and for all by influencing each level as he or she moves out. This can be made possible when the teacher decides to reach out to issues outside the classroom environment by empowering students in a classroom through teaching and assisting them learn strategies that enhance problem solving skills. There are two strategies that are useful in overcoming the challenges that exist in problem solving. These are teacher- centered methods as well as methodology otherwise known as pedagogical strategies. This allows the teacher to assist in alleviating barriers in problem solving that are related to psychology, emotions as well as cognitive barriers in solving problems related to cognitive barriers. For instance, a teacher in classroom could, on day one of studies in class bring about an open discussion that is aimed at encouraging and boosting the self esteem of the students by making them to peak out their fears as well as their concerns about it. This is an approach that a teacher employs in order to establish a conducive and comfortable environment for learning and, also for addressing issues that may come up in a classroom setup that may influencing the lives of the students in one way or the other. This strategy strengthens the rapport between students and their teacher through continued open dialogue. It also provides the students with an opportunity to contribute and be actively involved in coming up with different ideas that help in solving problems in a classroom setup. Finally, it is important for the teacher to engage the widening circles if issues and problems in a class room. This is in order to develop better and increasingly effective individuals in problem solving. References Courtney, R. (1977). Culture and Curriculum a Dramatic Context. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Education. Cragg, L. (2004). Culture and Religion. Hong Kong: Macau Ricci Institute, 2004. Doroshevich, M., and Andrew, G. Russia's Penal Colony in the Far East: a Translation of Vlas Doroshevich's "Sakhalin" London: Anthem, 2009. Print. Labahn, J. (1995). Education and parental involvement in secondary schools: Problems, solutions, and effects. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Mustapha, N. (2007). Society and Culture. Kingston, Jamaica [u.a.: Randle. Niemiec, R., Sikorski, M., & Walberg, H. (1999). Designing school volunteer programs. NASSP Bulletin, 83, 114-116. Ryan, A. (1995). The Family-school Connection: Theory, Research, and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Seifert, K. (1999). Constructing a psychology of teaching and learning. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. . Read More