Curriculum and Literacy: Technological Connections

As part of our first assignment in Curriculum, I was tasked with creating a visual representation of my curriculum orientation, and how that orientation will influence the way I teach in the future. As I researched further into the different types of curriculum orientations, I came to the conclusion that I identify most closely with humanism, or the belief that learning should be student centered so students can be self-motivated to reach their own potential. Likewise, in Literacy, I was tasked with defining literacy in the digital age, and how the ever changing technological environment will shape how I incorporate literacy skills in my english content area. The links to these assignments can be found below: 

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PJIm6xHasdqsADZGCLrgkJRjrzYIfh-2lt71ASpxpgA/edit?usp=sharing
• https://spark.adobe.com/page/1fdIoNbPMJoHA/

The mission statement pillars that most closely correlate with the tasks defined above are:

1. "Our graduates are creative and integrative educators"
2. "Our graduates are collaborative and knowledgeable instructional leaders"

• Taken from: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QCkkwaJQohb3T4KYMRUp42gf5BbY3exx_EubgiRRfS8/edit

Both of the assignments listed above challenged my ability to be a creative and integrative educator. For curriculum, I spent a good deal of time researching the ways in which humanism can benefit a classroom environment. These investigations were supported by my understanding of educational theorists such as Abraham Maslow and Arthur Wright Combs. In Literacy, I investigated practices and skills that are necessary to support my students in an increasingly digital world. In both cases, I took away important skills to help me be a more creative and integrative educator in the future.

By receiving and sharing ideas with my fellow classmates during the presentation part of these assignments, I was able to experience what it was like to both participate and lead in a learning community. I was able to take away more knowledge in the ways I can incorporate skillful use of technology in the future, and I learned how to be flexible in the ways I design assignments.

As I briefly mentioned in the above paragraphs, both of these assignments share a common goal, and that is to challenge us, as educators, to become self reflective and better able to connect interdisciplinary ideas/skills into our educational practices. By knowing what orientations we most align with, we are equipped with the ability to reflect on these personal beliefs and then translate those to educational practices that will benefit students in the current technological age. Another commonality between the assignments was the challenge to use the digital literacy skills that we learned about in our own research as we prepared to present these projects. 

In terms of technology, I decided to use Slidebean for curriculum, and Adobe Spark Page for literacy. I wanted to practice navigating both of them. Overall, I really enjoyed using both of them, but I have to say that I found Adobe Spark Page just a little bit easier to use, mostly because some features that I would have liked to incorporate in Slidebean were unavailable unless you pay. However, both were well suited for the task and got the job done without a problem. If I could do it again in the future, I would try adding audio, because I thought it was a really neat feature that some of my other classmates used. In terms of content, most of my beliefs were confirmed, but there were plenty of new things that I learned as well, especially regarding digital literacy practices. In the future, I hope to incorporate the lesson ideas written in my linked presentation, and I also hope to remind myself to reflect on my humanist beliefs when I feel myself straying as I continue on the path to becoming a secondary educator.