“Chop one red onion finely....

”: teachers as ‘curriculum makers’

Last week, I was making a shepherd’s pie, following a recipe in a

cookbook. I came to the instruction “Chop one red onion finely”,
and went to the fridge. There was no red onion, so I picked up my
car keys and went to get fish and chips instead...

Of course, I didn’t...

I changed the recipe from the one in the cookbook. I used – get this
– a shallot instead, and I chopped it coarsely...

I also substituted balsamic vinegar for Worcestershire sauce, a

bouillon cube for Oxo, red Leicester for Cheddar cheese and some
passata for tomato puree...

Guess what, it still turned out to be a shepherd’s pie... and quite a

tasty one...

OK, so what has this got to do with your PGCE placement ?

Well... in your first few weeks of your placement you will, if you’re
lucky be handed some schemes of work which will vary
tremendously in the level of detail, mapping of PLTS, timings,
resource lists, assessment outcomes, literacy mapping,
differentiation opportunities, and a long list of other things. This
may well be tied closely to a particular textbook as the key
resource to be handed out and opened to a particular page. (I hope
this doesn’t happen too often when you get to your school...)

This is the ‘recipe’ that you may be asked to follow...

I would say that, at the earliest opportunity you should “vary the
recipe” to suit your tastes. If the students are happily discussing the
results of their group work, don’t call a halt just because the lesson
plan says you should... go with the flow... vary the tasks.

Discuss your reasons for doing this with your mentor, and reflect on
the results...

No apologies for using the diagram below, which is geographical in

context, but can of course be used in any subject. It is what we call
“living geography” or “curriculum making”.

Curriculum making is defined as:

“the creation of interesting, engaging and challenging educational

experiences which draw upon teacher knowledge and skills, the
experiences of students and the valuable subject resource that is
geography.”

The missing ingredient in the lesson plans that you have been given
may well be the student experiences. These can feed into the
lesson planning if they are allowed too. Also think about the
opportunities that have been provided for students to think
geographically. One thing that we have seen time and time again
when reading through submissions for our Quality Mark, is that
exciting lessons lead to a dramatic reduction in negative classroom
behaviours.

As you gain confidence, you might try going a little further away
from the recipe. You might also discover that the original recipe
was the best, and your slight changes didn’t actually improve the
end result. Some recipes are ‘classic’ after all...

At the end of the lesson, the students will have hopefully

progressed a little further in their development as geographers and
can begin to articulate this.

A final helpful aspect of using my analogy...

As I was cooking the pie, I tasted it, and I thought it was quite
good... The true test came, of course, when the people I was
making it for tasted it. You might have what you think is the best
lesson ever, but it needs to be tested with some consumers with
‘discerning’ tastes. Think about this as being your ‘formative
assessment’.

A final pie-related metaphor... if all you had to eat was shepherd’s

pie every day, you’d get a bit fed up of it. Don’t overuse any
particular technique, resource or pedagogical approach. The phrase
‘death by worksheet’ is just as likely to have been replaced with
‘death by mystery/YouTube clip/IWB drag and drop’ etc.
So whether your teaching style is a bit Heston Blumenthal
(experimental, wacky, creative ??), Delia Smith (insert appropriate
metaphors here) or Jamie Oliver (ditto) have fun, keep tasting as
you go, and remember that you don’t have to buy the most
expensive ingredients to end up with a tasty meal.

Bon appétit !

References
http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/curriculum-making/introduction/ - Curriculum making

http://geography.org.uk/projects/makinggeographyhappen/ - some recipes to follow

http://livinggeography.blogspot.com – the author’s main blog...

http://geography.org.uk/Journals/Journals.asp?articleID=719 – an article for ‘Geography’ written by

the author on food as a context for learning....

Alan Parkinson

Secondary Curriculum Development Leader

Geographical Association

http://www.geography.org.uk