So...What Exactly Should Curriculum Planning Look Like - for 2017/18? (Part 02)

Whoops!8 So, as I was saying – ELT has been using this ridiculous, ‘best practice’ model for curriculum-developing and syllabus-making for over 40 years (teachers have also incorporated it into their lesson-planning)!

Why not?8 Well, it ain’t that hard to work out:

Academic Literacy is a total bi’ach to plan for!8

OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

IMPLEMENTATION …and gave use us 3 disarmingly-simple questions to help us get it right! 8 The first of these drew attention to the fact that learner outcomes (not teacher inputs) are here to stay – and, if we are to have a hope in hell of expanding and improving student learning and success, we have to begin with the end in mind or recognise that curriculum-developing needs to begin where it ends – with the learning of individual students.

That’s the essence of the job, guys – always has been!8 The second phase has frequently raised a few eyebrows – because we, so often, just tag on assessment at the end of the learning process. We forget that, for students, assessment IS the curriculum!

“Hocam, that was a great lesson! I loved the way you combined the 21st century skills of critical thinking and collaboration with a truly communicative, task-based activity based on a meaningful information gap…and the way you supported us with just-in-time instruction and helped with all that emergent vocabulary and lexis - you are a great teacher...I love you”! How many times have you heard this one?

“Hocam – will this be on the test...or what”?

You get the point…8 The fact is that if a teacher really knows and understands the nature of the assessment processes and tools that students need to engage with (and these are more than simplistic, high-stakes, multiple-choice tests) they can create lessons that promote more of a learning-driven culture…where learners welcome the type of formative feedback that helps them grow and succeed. 8

Surely, I do not have to sell this any harder...it just makes so much sense!8 OK, I may have simplified things a wee bit - but just jump back to Part 01 and tell me this is not an improvement...that this approach can't help us deal with the challenge identified by Rogers...over 35 years ago!