1. Educational success
1.1. Evaluation (tests)
1.1.1. Parent expectations include that evaluation is based mainly on test scores. Educational success and academic achievement are therefore more or less interchangeable terms in the expectations of parents. Adaptations to curriculum involve "teaching to the test" opposed to a more holistic approach towards curriculum delivery and evaluation. This affects the teachers in that I am required to teach curriculum that is supportive of these expectations.
1.2. interpersonal skills
1.2.1. A more holistic approach to curriculum development, and my place within it. This form includes a focus on informal curriculum such as emotional development, social development and responsibility.
2. Content
2.1. Praxis
2.1.1. lessons
2.1.1.1. How the lesson content is delivered is based on my personality and my interaction with my students, who respond to me in a different way from another teacher. I like to facilitate my lessons, and so I ask a lot of questions to have a more participative class. This also allows for students to introduce related topics for discussion, and gives other students an opportunity to share what they know about content not necessarily in the lesson plan itself.
2.1.2. assignments
2.1.2.1. Most of the assignments are currently homework completion of workbooks based on the expectation from parents to provide this for our students. When possible, we try to introduce projects that involve some creative outlet, but based on the system our administration uses we have no way to use these as a form of evaluation.
2.2. Process
2.2.1. lesson plans
2.2.1.1. the content we are meant to cover is planned out in a lesson plan. This ensures that the goals communicated through our grade and from administration are met, and that we have a plan for how to reach these goals in each lesson.
2.2.2. textbooks
2.2.2.1. The overall content that we use as our curriculum. We currently use common core textbooks and these form many of the goals we are to reach through our lesson plans.
2.2.3. workbooks
2.2.3.1. These consist of exercises in either reading comprehension, research or definitions that help the student review the content learned in the day, and familiarize themselves with new vocabulary.
3. Pedagogy
3.1. Teachers meetings
3.1.1. The curriculum I deliver is based on a collective decision within my grade three team, our primary team, and our school as a whole. Each has its own set of goals that are to be achieved and how we are to provide curriculum to our students, along with the delivery. This is a collaborative approach tocurriculum where we make many decisions as a unit.
3.2. course training
3.2.1. As many teachers come from different places and have different backgrounds, many of us have undergone different forms of educational training that affects how we deliver curriculum to our students. This background differentiation has an impact on the values we teach and the methodology we use in order to support our students in educational success.
4. Culture
4.1. Collectivist vs individualistic clashes
4.1.1. The expectations of students, parents and administration come from a collectivist approach, compared to me as a westerner who has a much more individualistic approach to curriculum. In this way, various obstacles such as cheating, a focus solely on academic achievement and testing grades can clash against my perceived notions of education and I must ensure that the curriculum I deliver balances these.
4.2. values
4.2.1. The values of the teachers, and the values of the administration show through in curriculum delivery. These can impact how the subject material is learned, and what is valued by the students.
4.3. acceptance
4.3.1. My adaptation to this new culture that is of course different from my own, and maintaining an appreciation for the culture I am living in, and what curriculum, expectations and values I teach and enforce in my classroom.
4.4. Heartset, Mindset, Skillset
4.4.1. Curriculum I provide should help my students to develop their Heartset, Mindset and Skillset through a series of exposure to each. Learning empathy in a way they perhaps have not learned to process it in the past, or an acceptance of other people and their cultures or perspectives is important for the development of my students' social, emotional and cognitive abilities.
5. School Community
5.1. Teachers
5.1.1. methodology sharing
5.1.1.1. Teachers come from diverse backgrounds, both within China, and from different countries that hold slightly different value systems. Many of us have different methodologies based on our different teaching backgrounds and training, so our ability to cohesively share alternative methodologies helps us to deliver a well-rounded curriculum in our classrooms.
5.2. Students
5.2.1. development
5.2.1.1. Cognitive
5.2.1.1.1. The cognitive development of my students is inclusive of a more holistic interpretation of educational success and includes problem-solving skills.
5.2.1.2. Emotional
5.2.1.2.1. Learning to interact with other students and teachers in a constructive way, and understanding the causes of their emotions. Furthermore, learning empathy to relate to their classmates.
5.2.1.3. academic
5.2.1.3.1. Achievement in academics, such as learning class content, review with my students, interactive lessons and evaluations.
5.3. Administration
5.3.1. Ethos and mission
5.3.1.1. The Ethos and Mission of our school affects curriculum in the way that it expresses our communal values, and how we live them in a professional setting. This environment provides the support and guidelines in which I deliver curriculum and the effect it has on content and procedures.
5.4. parents
5.4.1. expectations
5.4.1.1. Parent expectations have formed our administration's expectations. Primarily this reflects a student's academic achievement over behaviour. Therefore, the curriculum we are required to deliver has a large focus on tests.