Many teachers share frustration that they can’t always meet the needs of their students because they have to follow a curriculum. On the other end of the spectrum, I hear the frustration from others that they don’t have the time, resources, or experience to create their own curriculum. Both of these are different ends of the curriculum conundrum and are the reality that teachers deal with every day.

I had the opportunity to visit 3 classes in a row that were using the same curriculum and although the experiences for the students (and the teachers) were vastly different. These 3 classrooms highlighted that even with the same curriculum there are simple tweaks that teachers can leverage to create activities and the experiences to meet the better meet the needs of the students they serve. 

Here is an overview of the 3 classes:

Classroom 1: Compliance

I walked into a quiet room with kids sitting in groups four desks while each student had their own lab instructions and worksheet on their desk. The teacher cold-called students (calling on kids randomly) which is sometimes used as an “engagement” strategy to read the questions aloud. When students were called on they read with heads down in a monotone voice and the teacher repeated the instructions. One student was directed to take liquid A and add to Liquid C and compare the reaction to the worksheet.  Once they assessed the reaction they called it out for the rest of the class to document on the worksheet. The teachers guided the students step by step through the process. 

While they might have covered the curriculum and check off the standards, the one size fits all lesson likely failed to take students to a deeper level where they had a chance to make meaning and represent what they knew in meaningful and authentic ways. The one size fits all model has left far too many behind and even many who have successfully navigated school remain ill-prepared for the world we live in.

Classroom 2: Engagement 

In the second classroom a few students were joking around with the teacher as we entered and she was conducting a whole group discussion. She was asking for volunteers to read parts of the instructions and each group conducted a different part of the experiment and shared their findings. 

They were engaged and there was good energy in the classroom but the class did a lot of the work together. They all completed the worksheets but the likelihood that students could do this activity or synthesize the information on their own to make meaning was not evident.

Classroom 3: Empowerment

In the 3rd class, students were working in pairs and they each had the lab instructions. They had to read the directions, set up the experiment, and answer and problem that required them to analyze the results of their findings. Each group had a different mixture and therefore their findings would vary and they would have to defend them. Some groups struggled and had to do it a few times, reread the directions and figure out why and how the reactions happened. To be honest, I struggled too but eventually figured it out as I worked with a group through the process. 

If we want learners to be motivated to develop skills and knowledge, we need to provide opportunities that allow them to engage in authentic tasks that foster autonomy, invite the pursuit of mastery, and intrigue them with sense of purpose. 

It’s How You Teach, Not Just What You Teach

As I reflected on these three classes, I realized that each of the classes fit along with the continuum from compliance, engagement, and empowerment and the amount of agency that learners had in the learning process, content and their own growth in the process.

Curriculum is often organized in a linear path that promotes a one size fits all approach to success.  When teachers are expected to follow directives or implement programs without taking the context and unique individuals in their room into consideration, it often creates frustration because our students our unique and don’t always do or say what the curriculum expects. They often need more time to process, build knowledge or context to figure things out.

The curriculum should be a foundation to build from, but the students and their needs should drive the lesson, unit or project. If not, the focus on compliance and covering content, rather than learning further drives the cover, cram, assess and reteach mentality.

Additionally, if you are expecting teachers to ensure “fidelity to the curriculum” rather than focusing on learners and the learning goals, this prevents educators, who know the students from the autonomy to do something else, something different to meet the needs of their students when they don’t feel they have the authority to make those changes. 

There are still reasons for compliance and engagement in school but as George Couros reminds us in his new book with Katie Novak, Innovate Inside the Box:

Engagement is more about what you can do for your students. Empowerment is about helping students figure out what they can do for themselves. 

Moving from Compliance to Empowerment

If you are looking for simple shifts that can move your lessons from compliance to empowerment, here are a few examples. 

If you want all students to understand the main idea instead of using a basal reader or worksheet from the curriculum, ask students to read a book of their own, a picture book (at any grade), or an article they pick online and identify the main idea. If you goal is to assess the skill, let them have voice and choice in the process. 

In math, instead of teaching 1 way to solve a problem and practicing 40 times let students try different strategies of their own (even if they don’t end up working), share their strategies and thinking with one another and determine the best way to solve the problem. 

If you are working on argumentative writing, give students choice in the topic or problems they care about and have them create a video, website, blog or essay to convey their ideas and construct their argument rather than a 5 paragraph essay. 

If you are analyzing an event in history, instead of telling students what happened or reading it from a textbook, provide a variety of articles or primary sources or ask them to do some research and find out what different perspectives exist, share what they learned and discuss implications on today’s world.

A teacher once told me that  “there is nothing worse than teaching something in the pacing guide when you know that there is a better way to teach it.” I would argue that there is something worse, not doing it.  If you know that there is a better way to meet the needs of learners, you owe it to them (and yourself) to try it.