Intellectual Challenge of Curriculum By Anthony Galardi

Low Expectations = Low Achievement It’s been proven that teachers often base their expectations of students on “race and class background” (Sleeter 127). Black and Latino students are commonly seen as less teachable than White and Asian students. This disparity in low expectations, results in boring instruction, and in return lower achievement for Black and Latino students.

Low Expectations = Boring Instruction Students respond to well to “an intellectually rich curriculum that is not structure around test preparation” (Sleeter 127). Students of color often are subjected to curriculum based around test preparation. Test preparation is boring and is not applicable to real-life issues. Students tune out boring instruction and fail to learn even the basic skills.

High Expectations = Higher Achievement When students are challenged, they are more likely “to rise to the occasion” (Sleeter 129). Teachers need to take into account the challenges students face and accept “that those challenges do not prevent learning and that a strong education will serve students” (Sleeter 128). Our idea of high expectations is often measured up to that of “European [American] students’ normative performance” (Sleeter 128), which is still too low of a standard. We must aim “higher than closing the gap” (Sleeter 128).

Higher Expectations = Higher Order Thinking Higher order thinking is essential for all citizens of our society, not just students that go to college. Higher order thinking often results in higher- skilled jobs that pay more. The challenges that upper level classes provide are more likely to breed success in for all students.

How to Effectively Challenge All Students Intensive writing instruction Quick and consistent feedback Authentic instruction that is tailored to the individual student Integrating technology into curriculum Provide students with opportunities to be creative and independent When teaching toward standards, don’t over-stretch yourself. Make a decision about what standards to focus on and what standards to skip (Sleeter 132).

Examples of Challenging Curriculum – Juanita (2 nd Grade Teacher) Juanita expected more from her students than what was expected of them by the state standards. Juanita focused her instruction primarily on publishing books. Curriculum was rooted in using technology to create books on a variety of topics/genres. Juanita provided students with explicit instructions on how to use computers until they were prepared to work independently. Juanita empowered students by allowing them to teach each other, while she worked with students who needed one-on-one instruction.

Enabling Strategies Strategies that are used to help support students to think more complexly about certain topics or ideas. Scaffolding is when you provide the student with just enough support and then gradually give them more responsibility and freedom. Scaffolding is very effective when used to support students who are “writing on intellectually challenging topics” (Sleeter 141). There are four stages of scaffolding for writing.

Scaffolding Stage 1 – support students to build knowledge of the topic. Stage 2 – teacher talks about and models the writing process for the students. Stage 3 – teacher and student write about the topic together and discuss students writing. Stage 4 – student writes about specific topic independently.

Love What You Do In order to fully challenge your students you must be passionate about what you are teaching. Before you begin a unit, make sure that you have fully examined and challenged yourself on the same topic. Expect great things from your students and challenge them. The higher the branch, the higher they will reach. Have fun and be authentic!