Progressivism

As a future educator, knowing which theoretical frameworks and philosophies align best with my beliefs is crucial to designing a curriculum. In my two classes, Literacy and Curriculum in Middle/Secondary schools, I researched the curriculum orientation that I most identified with and presented it through Slidebean, a presentation platform. As technology advances, so does the definition of literacy and my understanding has evolved over the course of these two classes as I created a video on Adobe Spark Page to highlight my understanding of literacy and how it pertains to my future English classroom.

Although these classes are separate, the interdisciplinary nature of the content creates opportunities for crossover reinforcing the main points of each course. Throughout these two projects, the critical thinking required to be a passionate and curious scholar was emphasized. The project for Curriculum entailed researching a philosophy that inspires us. Prior to researching, we filled out a survey that exposed which orientations aligned most with our thinking. I personally had four different orientations with the same score of 23 out of a possible 25 points. This made it difficult to complete the project because I had to research all four to narrow down the scope. I eventually narrowed my curriculum orientation down to include Progressivism coupled with elements of Constructivism. The guiding principles of both philosophies are the emphasis on the student. A student-centered curriculum ensures active engagement leading to deeper understanding. By shifting my definition of literacy to include al media rather than traditional text, I will be able to create a student-centered curriculum. The use of technology throughout these two presentations emphasizes the importance of an inclusive understanding of literacy to design a progressive curriculum.

Throughout this process, the Saint Michael's College (SMC) Education Department mission statement has been the basis of this assignment. The two pillars describing SMC students as passionate and curious, and creative and integrative seemed to align perfectly with this project. Using research to design appropriate and engaging activities for the class is imperative to being an educator. These presentations allowed us to research a philosophy while gaining a better understanding of literacy and how it pertains to teaching in a digital age. The pillar about being creative and integrative scholars highlights how incorporating emerging technologies and interdisciplinary teaching methods will support student growth as they learn to take responsibility for their learning. Using new websites like Slidebean and Adobe forced us to interact with platforms that our students will likely use in the future. By using these we took responsibility for our learning in order to become proficient in new media that contributes to our digital literacy skills.

For my presentation in Curriculum, I used a website called Slidebean. This website is similar to PowerPoint or Google Slides in the sense that it is possible to combine text with visuals, but adding gifs and animations is also possible through Slidebean. I personally enjoyed this website and used it for a presentation in another class. The only negative side to using Slidebean is the inability to share the presentation without paying for the full membership. When we began using Slidebean, we signed up to have a 14-day free trial. During the trial, we had access to Slidebean's basic features, but anything more advanced like audio capabilities could only be accessed through payment.

Per the requirements of both presentations, we had to use a different app/website for each presentation. I chose to use Adobe Spark Page for my literacy presentation but instead of creating a slideshow, I decided to make a video. I found this experience interesting and definitely fun as I still chose pictures for my backgrounds and added text to my slides, but I got to record myself saying what I would present in class. This feature allowed me to carefully plan out what I wanted to say, and I could re-record the slides as many times as I wanted. Another unique feature of this website is the timing feature. For each slide, you can designate how long you want the slide to be shown. This made it much easier when I was recording because I could extend each slide by one or two seconds to allow a buffer period in between slides. I will definitely use this website in my future classroom.

In terms of the content, primarily in the Literacy presentation, my long-standing perceptions were challenged on the definition of literacy. Originally, I thought that literacy was the ability to read and write traditional text. As we began our discussion of literacy and all it encompasses, my definition has changed. I now believe that literacy is the ability to understand and communicate through a variety of media. This includes photos, videos, audio, traditional text, body language, maps, and many other aspects of our daily lives that require analysis. In order to further develop an understanding of literacy, including visual literacy and digital literacy, I will implement various media in my classroom. Incorporating photos and video clips to supplement traditional text will greatly enhance students' understanding and help create connections.