The Language Arts and Math curriculum is being revised at KAS this year, according to superintendent Mr. Clinton. I recently sat down with Mr. Clinton and he had this to say about a curriculum.
Sometimes people have different definitions for the word curriculum. “A curriculum can sometimes be a plan or a guide for the school of what is going to happen that day in school or a guide of what is going to happen in class," he said. "Or a curriculum can be a document or a book of rules."
According to Mr. Clinton, before he came, the curriculum was never reviewed or updated that much, and that is why he helped make a cycle that would enable him and the teachers to revise two subjects every four years for the whole school. Mr. Clinton’s job related to the curriculum is to make sure it gets done, reviewed, and updated.
Mr. Clinton says he is comfortable with our curriculum because it is up to date with the recent studies and ways of teachings. When it comes to our curriculum, the teachers and Mr. Clinton refer to different types of schools' curricula and a book called Content Knowledge containing standards of what a curriculum should have to see if our curriculum measures up to it.
Mr. Clinton says “teachers may look calm, and appear to be having fun in class. Outside class, it is a different story. Teachers are constantly worrying about the curriculum they’re making and weather or not it measures up to what they’re curriculum should be like.”
Mr. Clinton showed me a website that is like an "atlas" for teachers of KAS which has all of the information of what the teachers will be teaching in class. The website will soon be open to students and teachers of KAS. Normal school days of KAS are sometimes cut off by two hours so all teachers can meet and discuss the curriculum. Many parents complain about these days because they see no point in it. “The curriculum,” explains Mr. Clinton “is not just something that teachers can make up at 10pm just before they go to bed. I don’t think parents or students fully realize how much effort and time is put into making a curriculum.
So I asked Ms. Connelly, math and geometry teacher for all of high school, about the curriculum, and she confirmed that the curriculum was being revised. “I think that it is important that we’re constantly evaluating how we teach math and how the students perceive mathematics, and I also think it is exciting to be part of a group that makes those decisions.
According to the high school teacher, herself along with middle school teacher Leah Fox, all elementary teachers, science teachers, and people from outside of math will be helping through this process. “I hope there will be a lot of improvement from renewing the math curriculum, and I also hope we will build on our strong points, and improve on our weak points," she added.
I asked a parent about what they thought and knew about KAS’s curriculum. The parent said, “A curriculum is a combination of American and International rules, education, development, and policies. And I think KAS has all of those are in KAS’s curriculum.
I also went around school campus, to ask some students a few questions. Kwincy, an elementary student, said he had never heard the word curriculum in his life.m Two high schoolers, Wisam Gangari and Ajay Manuel, both had very similar opinions. They both said they thought the curriculum was something that made up the school’s rules. They both said it affected them because they were students at the school. They also both thought it was a good curriculum because it gave them a lot freedom in the school.