Saturday, September 8, 2012

Puerto Rico's New Curricular Maps for Education (Mapas Curriculares)

This trimester I’m taking 5 college courses; yes, I know crazy right? In one of those courses, Teaching Strategies, we study the various ways we can structure our teaching methods effectively.

About a month ago, our professor informed us that the public school’s educational curriculum for the whole of Puerto Rico is being re-structured; effective this past August. Teachers all over Puerto Rico are being given workshops on how the new curriculum works and the materials they need to learn it and begin implementing it, etc. My professor also informed us that she had managed to, along with another professor, bring the workshop to our university for one day so that us –future teachers– can begin getting to know the new structure.

So what is the new curriculum about?

Basically is a form of escalated learning based on skills. Let me explain and take my major as an example. I’m currently doing a Bachelors of Arts Degree in the Teaching of English as a Second (more like foreign) Language at the High School level; or TESL (TEFL) for short.

As far as I could understand from the presentation, in the old model you were given a set of skills that you had to cover, but which skill you started with was completely your prerogative. For example, two 10th grade English teachers from two different schools had to teach their students how to do essays, do group work, and public speech. One chooses to start with essays, and then move to public speech, then group work. While the other could choose to start with group work, then move to public speech, and finally essays. If there were students that were taking longer to learn the skills the teachers could extend a particular skill segment indefinitely. If the school year ended and the students didn’t learn the required skills they were next-year-teacher’s problem to deal with.

Now, with the new curriculum, the teachers are given what I call a “paint by numbers” approach to skill-learning concept. Teachers still have a set of skills to teach their students, but now they (we) will have a strict calendar to stick to. The list of skills has been scheduled throughout the academic year in a very uniformed manner; all the teacher has to do is follow the schedule strictly and he/she should be great.

Now, this model is escalated because it depends solely on previous knowledge. A kindergarten teacher must cover the entire set of skills for her year in order for his/her students to succeed learning the teachings in first grade. As such, second grade students must have learned the skills from the two previous years in order to continue with minor hitches. Each set of skills for each grade is built on the assumption that students successfully completed and learned the skill sets from previous years all the way through high school senior year.

The Pros
  1. The teacher has more flexibility when creating classes. Why? Because we have to teach skills, not content. Taking it back to my previous example, if I have to teach students how to write essays I could do it by assigning novels for them to analyze, or a movie, or a play, or give them a topic. I can use whatever technique I believe will help the students accomplish the skill. 
  2. If (and this is a big if) the model is used correctly by all teachers throughout all the academic levels and the knowledge is learned expected, the students can actually get the most out of the education system. 
  3. It’s supposed to make teachers lives easier, since teachers no longer need to create activities out of thin air to give a class. Although you are not forced to use them, the curriculum has suggested activities for each skill. 
The Cons
  1. The curriculum is (as far as I know) being implemented throughout all the schools all over Puerto Rico this year. 
  2. Teacher are still receiving training and from the atmosphere at the workshop, not all of them are fully understanding the model or even convinced it’s what the system needs. 
  3. The model is being implemented throughout all academic levels at the same time. 
My thoughts

I think I understand the mechanics of this new model. Personally I like the concept of skill based learning for its flexibility. I also like structure, I might not always have it, but I like the fact that the skills are organized (I’m hoping) in a way that students can get the best out of school. However, I am concern that it is being implemented in all academic levels at the same time while not all teachers are prepared or even willing to undertake the change.

What I’m concern about is for those students that do not have the previous knowledge to cope with the change. What would happen to 11th grade students that are seriously behind in certain subjects and have no way to acclimate to the new order? Will they be able to adapt and actually excel in this new model? Or will they fail and feel so frustrated about not doing well at school that they end up dropping out?

I wish they would have started with only the very formative levels in a progressive way. Implement this curriculum in K-3rd Grade first by ensuring that all the teachers for those grades learn to use this model and then the kids. While this kids take one, two, three, and some (kindergartners) even four years to immerse in this new style, take that time to move on to the next set of grades (4th to 6th). Rinse and repeat until all academic grades are up to part. It’s a longer process that will not show immediate results, true, but it can also be a sounder process, one that doesn’t risk breaking the morale of students countrywide.

That is just my humble opinion.

For more information VISIT THIS LINK which lists a few places to learn more about Curricular Maps and how to get your hands on them.

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post. I'm currently researching the curriculum standards of the PRDE, and this was very helpful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for stopping by and I'm glad to help. That's why I posted about them, to help people understand it better. Let me know how your research goes and best of luck!

      Delete
  2. This article gives the light in which we can observe the reality. Private Tutor Winter Park I like this kind of blog. Thanks for sharing informative information with us

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