Connections Between Curriculum and Literacy

My junior year has just begun at Saint Michaels College, which means I am enrolled in more in depth courses to continue my journey as an education student. The courses I am taking this semester, Literacy and Curriculum in Middle and High School Classrooms, have been challenging, but engaging. We have started to learn about the concept of literacy in the classroom and how I can apply my curriculum orientation in the classroom. In order to understand the vast information between literacy and my curriculum orientation, I created two performance assessments which are linked below. The assessments explain my knowledge of literacy and my curriculum orientation, as well as how they will effect my classroom in the future. 

---> Literacy Performance Assessment and my Curriculum Performance Assessment <---

While researching information that relates back to literacy and my curriculum orientation, I noticed many similarities between both topics that will be useful for my future classroom. According to my curriculum orientation, I am a progressivist. I am an advocate for social reform and I believe the classroom should be ever-changing, always adapting to what our students need in order to better their education and lives. I am able to see how my ideas as a progressivist have often come together with my ideas for implementing literacy into my classroom. An example of this is using digital literacy in the classroom. Being able to be technologically advanced is a progressive way of focusing on students in 2018, rather than focusing on how students may have learned in the past.

In order to be a progressivist, I believe it is important to keep up with technological advancements in the classroom. For my presentations above, I used two new softwares, one being Adobe Spark Page and the other being Slidebean. Before using each, I researched which would be best for each presentation. Both websites were a fascinating new way of creating a powerpoint, making the presentation fun and engaging. I was able to insert links, videos, images, and even gifs with ease, making the presentations appealing and engaging. If I had to change one thing about either of these websites, it would be to make all features free for teachers and students to use. Slidebean, unfortunately, is only free for a certain amount of time. I hope to make the material that I use in class available for all of my students in order to enhance their learning effectively. 

The concept of curriculum orientation was introduced to me last semester, but I never knew which curriculum applied to me. I was able to confirm my orientation after completing the two assessments on Slidebean and Adobe Spark Page. These assessments allowed me to understand why I do certain things when referencing education or how I apply certain theorists to my lesson plans and blogs. As I continue my research on literacy and curriculum this semester, I hope to gather a better personal definition of literacy to apply to my classroom. I also hope to be openminded to other curriculum orientations so my classroom is diverse and inclusive for all learners.

By completing these assessments, I was able to recognize connections to the SMC Education Department Mission Statement. Following the concepts introduced in our mission statement, I realized I have become passionate and curious of the importance of literacy and the use of curriculum orientation throughout my educational experience. I was also able to research deeply about different definitions and forms of literacy. Lastly, I was able to look into the concept of progressivism, which allowed me to understand some of the most promising practices that will support my future students. I hope that with my knowledge on both of these topics, I am able to inspire my students to engage in critical thinking and be curious about the way I implement forms of literacy through my own.