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Running head: A LEARNING SOLUTION PROPOSAL

A Learning Solution Proposal

A LEARNING SOLUTION PROPOSAL A Learning Solution Proposal Various situations evolving in the school and classroom environment are often related to teachers and students efforts, intensions and actions aimed at achieving academic success and avoiding school dropout. Therefore, one of the basic instructional problems a teacher needs to address is to ensure efficient academic progress of students by means of implementing an adequate curriculum, instruction, evaluation and other teaching and learning technologies and policies. Curriculum design and development have been key issues in discussing the teaching and learning process for decades. Major principles and requirements to the school curriculum formulated by R.W. Tyler (1969) are as relevant today as they were decades before, when the book was published for the first time. They include defining clearly and precisely educational purposes sought by schools, selecting learning experiences that will be useful in attaining intended objectives, organizing learning experiences for achieving efficient instruction, evaluating academic progress and learning experiences, and designing curriculum by school and college staff. Today, when both our world and school environment are becoming ever more dynamic, diverse, multicultural and controversial, these concepts remain relevant and are developed both theoretically and practically, for different real settings. Designing an efficient curriculum starts with determining the subject area and constructing the core curriculum that meets basic learning needs of students and serves as the foundation for further steps in developing differentiated and individualized approaches to learning and teaching. The target of the core curriculum is in not to let children fall off the cliffs, that is to provide for their academic progress in the best possible way by addressing their similar features depending on age and other cognitive and behavioral characteristics and

A LEARNING SOLUTION PROPOSAL avoiding the need of dividing the class into too many small target groups for instructing in the

core academic areas (Begeny, Schulte & Johnson, 2012, p.12). A comprehensive analysis of subskills that should be developed by the core curriculum is also a prerequisite for making the curriculum a powerful tool of enhancing students academic progress. Teachers and educators cannot afford to have trivial and fluffy curriculum [that] remains trivial and fluffy even after differentiation (Tomlinson & Allan, 2000, p. 12). Recent steps aimed at improving educational standards in general and methods of testing in particular, although they have given rise to heated discussions, provide the basis for a more integrative understanding of the role of the curriculum and its interconnection with other teaching activities. This is the way to improve both the curriculum, in terms of its content, structure and methods of implementation, and evaluation procedures that need to be integrated in the curriculum rather than function as a separate target inviting justified criticism because of excessive training to make students learn specific test formats or the resulting limitation of knowledge and skill areas that could be useful for students in the future. The curriculum is a component of the teaching and learning process closely associated with certain other basic aspects, primarily evaluating the academic progress and students proficiency, developing students motivation, which is the instrumental for sustaining any learning activities, and individualized or differentiated approach to teaching. Individualization and differentiation in teaching is the imperative of our time, with multicultural and bilingual or multilingual environment modifying and transforming peoples daily lives and mentality. Therefore, as prominent educationalists point out, it is time to embrace the idea of differentiated or academically responsive classrooms (Tomlinson & Allan, 2000, p. v). Differentiated instruction enables to personalize teaching and accept the fact that seeing differences and

A LEARNING SOLUTION PROPOSAL individual traits of students is as important as acknowledging their similarities in acquiring

knowledge and skills that are used as the basis for designing standard procedures of teaching and instructions. It also requires not to situate the institution, the curriculum, and ourselves in an overly deterministic way (Apple, 2004, p. 3). Only by implementing two basic principles teachers can guarantee that students in the future will become productive individuals. The first of these is aimed at creating a well-designed curriculum meeting the requirements of the actual teaching environment and students common characteristics; the other is based on the assumption that every student is a personality with his or her unique learning skills, abilities and motivation that should be provided for by the curriculum. The commitment of scholars in education and teachers to new and more critical social perspectives can modify the educational process giving it more vitality to (Apple, 2004, p. viii). Therefore, the particular features of teaching culturally different or exceptional students should be also reflected in the curriculum. This step serves as a powerful instrument for enhancing students motivation for learning. School and college curricula need to be culturally responsive to assist students in gaining better control over their academic progress and help them interact with the social environment. The curriculum that takes into account such aspects will not only help to develop the students identity but will be also beneficial for the social environment the student lives in. Copeland & Knapp (2006) provide a good example of how culturally-based approach can be practiced in the class and school setting by introducing inter-subject communications into the curriculum design for students who are non-native speakers of English. Bringing a rich base of knowledge to [the] curriculum design that addresses a wide range of topics (Copeland & Knapp, 2006, p. 11), with students contributing their own strengths and

A LEARNING SOLUTION PROPOSAL

interests, is a feasible method of making the curriculum an instrument of improving the academic progress and fighting school dropout.

A LEARNING SOLUTION PROPOSAL References Apple, M.W. Ideology and Curriculum. (Third edition). (2004). New York: Routledge. Begeny, C.J., Schulte, A.C., & Johnson, K. (2012). Enhancing instructional problem solving. New York: The Guilford Press.

Copeland, M. A., & Knapp, M. S. (2006). Connecting leadership with learning: A framework for reflection, planning, and action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Tomlinson, C.A., & Allan S.D. (2000). Leadership for Differentiating Schools & Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Tyler, R.W. (1969). Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. Chicago: The University Of Chicago Press.

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