Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id fBE1IT021024; Thu, 13 Dec 2001 20:18:29 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 20:18:29 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.0.20011213170505.009ffde0@mail.aracnet.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Sylvan Rainwater <sylvan@cccchs.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:519] RE: What is curriculum? X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Status: O Content-Length: 2399 Lines: 47 At 07:39 PM 12/13/2001 -0500, BRmidwest@aol.com wrote: ><SNIP> > >However, I STILL believe.... > >1) There is no such thing as "a" family literacy curriculum. <SNIP> Absolutely right! Thank you so much for this post. As one of the people working on the Oregon ESL Family Literacy curriculum guide last year, I find that I still don't use all of it in my classroom, and may never do so. We understood that it wouldn't be something that someone could read and then simply plug in to their own setting, but we hoped it would serve as a resource, spark ideas, and elicit ideas from many other teachers as well. I learned a great deal from working on developing the curriculum guide. We were clear about the limitations of it -- it's for ESL populations, it's adult education, though there are overlaps with parenting education and PACT time as well, and it's not complete, nor can it be. But it's a very good start, and we hope it has useful elements for everyone. It's clear to me that there is no substitute for listening to the students. Yes, you have to have a broad outline of what you need to cover, and ideas based on past experience. But you also need to be sensitive to the needs of the students at any time, and these change constantly. In addition, staffing differences and constraints are realities that we all deal with, not to mention the structure of the program, the funding levels, size of program, space constraints, and other huge variables. One thing I've discovered is that I sometimes suffer from an overabundance of resources, that I have to wade through in order to find something I can use. Often it seems to work best simply to walk in with a vague outline of an idea, and get the students to dig for the materials -- cutting out pictures from magazines, or finding text in the newspaper, for example. I use a few curricula, but not consistently. They are just too limiting. So I've been at a loss to answer this question. I think a set curriculum is good for a beginning teacher, and for those who like a lot of structure. But for most teachers who have been doing it for a while, there really can't be a set curriculum that works for all students. ------------------------------ Sylvan Rainwater . sylvan@cccchs.org Adult Education Teacher and Family Literacy Program Manager Clackamas County Children's Commission . Oregon City, OR USA
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