Kaitlyn Laprise

7/25/16
Curriculum Journal 3
My journal today reflects on two questions: one that you posed to us on
Friday in class, and one that I still have about how I will apply this to my teaching
once Im back in a classroom. First, since I am not currently teaching, my next
opportunity to design curriculum in this way will be during my first year teaching at
a new school. My question is, how can I create a successful curriculum based on
Understanding By Design for my first year in a new job when Ill know very little
about the students previous experiences? Of course, Ill try to find out as much as I
can from the previous director, but I wont really know enough about the students to
plan a curriculum at an appropriate level until Ive been with them for several
months. Is it possible to plan curriculum like this while youre in the middle of it? Im
sure its better than having no curriculum or goals, but how effective can it really be
if the essential understandings and assessments have to continually change as I
learn more about the students? I think, ultimately, it will mean that when I am
planning the curriculum before the year starts, Ill have to work in even more
options than I might normally include so that I am able to adjust it to their level as I
learn more without completely disrupting the overarching goals.
The question that you asked us in class to think about in journaling was,
Why do this differently? For me, this began in Psych class with learning more
about how people learn best, but was really solidified for me when I read an article
that Dr. Isbell suggested to me for my P and P work. The article was a study done at
IC about the Campus Band where they interviewed all of the students involved and

asked them questions like what their high school band experiences were like and
why they chose to be in the Campus Band at IC. What hit me hardest in this article
was how many of the students said that they chose to be in the Campus Band
because they felt it was their only way to continue to play their instruments. Their
music education was really more of a band educationso much so that their
future participation in music was completely dependent upon the existence of a
large ensemble. What if they had ended up at another school where it didnt exist?
Furthermore, what will happen when they graduate from IC? I thought back to my
students. Of course, I wanted them to be involved with music through their whole
lives, but if Im being honest, my goals for them were much more immediate than
that. For my elementary and middle school students, it was about making sure they
continued into middle school and high school; for my high school students, it was
about making sure they continued to play in college. As far as I was concerned,
these IC students had succeeded in what I had hoped for my high school students,
but they felt they wouldnt have been able to do so if the campus band didnt exist.
Even more sad was the realization that a lot of the colleges my high school students
went to dont have large enough music programs to support them in this way. I was
working to get my students excited enough about music to continue to play after
high school, but didnt actually give them the tools to do it if the opportunity wasnt
handed to them. Without even knowing it, I had failed them in what I felt was my
most important goal for their future. For me, this is why I need to do things
differently. Its not enough for me to let them just enjoy music in high school and
hope that they can continue in college; if I want them to be able to continue to be
involved with music through their whole lives, then my curriculum design, content
decisions, and philosophy need to reflect that.