Developmental Appropriateness

Developmental Appropriateness

Recognizing a student’s preceding life experience and knowledge contributes to new learnings in the class and helps teachers to build motivation and interest during the introductory lesson. As the curriculum experts, we know that students come to class with plenty of knowledge to share and an overabundance of experience that add to their academic environment. Students are not empty vessels that need to be filled or rather there should be a positive trade-off of experiences and knowledge that promotes growth amongst the entire student in the classroom. Regardless of the objective value of the mathematics curriculum, if the students do not realize how valuable it is, they may not be motivated enough to use up effort. However, if the students see clearly how the curriculum connects to their interest, goals, and concerns, they will be more than willing to value the new curriculum and thus feels motivated to invest their effort and time in it. The critical question that arises that need to be asked when implementing a new curriculum; is what exactly can a new mathematics curriculum stirs interest and motivation to students. When searching answers for this question, we as curriculum implementers need to examine how the curriculum will improve the teaching strategies in the classroom. Look back at the old curriculum; one might see why low-achieving students are jaded in their mathematics classes. Many have had repeated experience to the same fundamental mathematical content for many years in courses by names such as “general math”, “remedial math” or “mathematics application”. The old system has always put emphasize on lower-level computational skills and rote memorization, as opposed to the skills and content as recommended by the Evaluation Standards and NCTM Curriculum. This new curriculum will promote a shift from repetitious drills to a rather open problem solving situation that will enhance promotion of greater conceptual understanding through the testing and making of hypothesis and the communication of maths ideas. Reforms in the content coverage are just one of the many means that this new curriculum advocates for to make mathematics more essentially interesting for students. Current research in the USA also devastatingly supports greater applications of technology in the maths class and the incorporation of mathematics with other subjects. These measures undertaken by this new curriculum will ensure motivation to students and assist them realize and see vital linkages between mathematics and the real world. Integrating technology into 7th grade mathematics curriculum not only enhance the students interest in mathematics but also prepares them for 21st century jobs where technology has become an important feature in real life.

People basically believe that a person is either motivated or not. However, in reality, motivation can change those people that seems to be motivated in everything they undertake have just been successful whenever they try to understand the secrets motivating themselves in a range of tasks and settings. Students who are motivated will make choices that will in the long run help them achieve their preferred outcome. This new maths curriculum will enhance students with proper motivation that will ensure that they maintain they efforts long enough to complete the task. It will allow the students to think deeply about maths course material and engage in more complicated processing so as to truly learn. The nature settings of the students make them know mathematics even before even joining a classroom. This curriculum will use this default knowledge about mathematics as a motivator and means of supporting students in learning and understanding new mathematical concepts. Additionally, this curriculum advocates for Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) which emphasize the autonomy and responsibility of students to take control of their own learning. This is necessary as it will ensure that every student is his or her agent in establishing learning tactics and goals and each student’s perceptions of self and task will influence the quality of learning that ensued. Enthusiasm about the subject content can be contagious and powerful. Even if the students were not initially interested on the subjects, by clearly demonstrating their own enthusiasm, teachers can upgrade students’ curiosity and motivates them to find out what excite them most about the subject (Mathematics). Generally, this curriculum will engage both the students and the instructors so that more motivation towards learning mathematics can be increased.

Professional Development

Many advisory groups and educators give emphasis to high standards as an integral factor in achieving quality education for all students. Due to this fact, schools and district are focusing on developing a high-quality curriculum that is standard based. A very significant starting point for the effort of achieving standard based curriculum is a careful thought through curriculum framework that focus on goals and standards for which the society is willing be part of and to be held responsible. Development of a standard based curriculum need dynamic changes in the on how schools are run and the way teachers teach. Therefore, great care has to be taken to develop capacity for all teachers and to give enough implementation time, evaluation and monitoring of the curriculum. It is of proper knowledge that the curriculum-development process should also advocate for provision for opportunities for reflection and revision. This will ensure that the curriculum undergoes proper updates that will lead to regular improvement. The drive for standards has directed change efforts at all educational levels and has resulted into positive results. In the USA, the standard-based movement is on solid footing and is surely changing the whole perception in regards to teaching and learning in the country. According to the American Federation of Teachers (1999), nearly 3-4 teachers who have managed to work with standard for at least six years are of the agreement that the program has had positive impact on their schools. The first step of incorporating standards into curriculum is to develop a curriculum framework. This can be developed at the state, national or district level. In our case, the curriculum was developed at the district level. Our mandate was therefore to analyze the district standard levels that are available and thereby help in developing a common understanding of the components to be included in the curriculum. To ensure that students achieve content standards, this curriculum will ensure that guidelines for teacher knowledge and understanding are incorporated. These guidelines will provide learning experiences for students, instructional techniques, and specifications about teacher’s content knowledge, recommended activities and recommendations for instructional material. However, much care are taken to ensure that these techniques are viewed as suggested because they may limit teacher’s responsibilities and rights to make educational decisions based on daily needs for the students.