Curriculum Overviews
Fast fundamentals of curricula I have studied
The Creative Curriculum
The Whole Child
Differenciating teacing for each student by merging academic skills and social-emotional skills through strategic play interactions. The whole-child approach instills positive associations of learning in the students and is proven to produce long-term postive academic and emotional outcomes.
Responsive Relationships
Research has shown that responsive relationships between the students and the teachers cultivate empathy and equitable thinking in young minds. As a teacher, responsive relationships can look like decorating your classroom with student work, dedicating quality time to each student, and always welcoming joy into learning.
Investigative Learning
Investigative learning is paramount to The Creative Curriculum teaching philisophy. The research provided by Teaching Strategies finds that curating dynamic interest areas and teaching content knowledge through exploritory units is the best way to promote autonomy and intrinsic motivation in young minds
Philosophy of Creative Curriculum
The main goal of The Creative Curriculum is to promote positive child outcomes through comprehensive, high-quality, engaging preschool programs. Teaching Strategies LLC develops researched based curriculum and 38 objectives for development and kindergarten readiness of preschool students. These objectives are outlined in a colored-coded progress chart so that educators and families can see how to scaffold student development and learning.
At its core, The Creative Curriculum is a teaching philosophy that asks educators to meet students where they are and to "bring imagination to life without sacrificing academic rigor". This method of teaching thrives off of individualizing teacher-student relationships and maximizing learning opportunities through play. Especially in a preschool context, play is an entry point to realizing self-regulation, strategic problem-solving, and memory development in young minds. Beyond foundational social-emotional development, The Creative Curriculum also promotes mathematical awareness by curating interest areas and maximizing the innate analytical curiosity in children.
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Teaching Strategies Inc. “Research Foundation: Mathematics .” Teaching Strategies, 2010, https://teachingstrategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/TS-CC-Research-Foundation-Math_11-2013.pdf.
Reggio Emilia
A Hundred Languages of Children
Founder Loris Malaguzzi believed that the best way to support learning and development in children is to not "separate the head from the body", but to expand learning in childhood experiences and curiosities that our students bring to our classrooms. The Reggio Emilia approach is also canonically referred to as "the hundred languages" as this tennant is integral to this philosophy.
The Importance of Place
Reggio Emilia recognizes the classroom environment as "the third teacher", second to the formal educator and children's' parents. Aesthetics, transparency, active learning, flexibility, collaboration, reciprocity, bringing the outdoors in, and positive relationships to the space are the keys to facilitating an educative classroom environment.
Emergent Curriculum
As to not "subtract the ninety-nine", Reggio classrooms use student interests, family communication, and observation notes on student growth as the basis for building lessons, units, and class curricula. Classroom teachers work together, comparing notes, observations, and student work to create dynamic lesson plans centering the hundred languages of the students.
Philosophy of Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is a teaching philosophy that places the student as the protagonist in their own learning. Using the metaphor of the hundred languages of children, Reggio seeks to expand the innate potential for learning in every student. Reggio does not place hierarchical values on funds of knowledge but rather respects the multidimensionality of intelligence and honors the ways children construct meaning.
Reggio believes that children learn through participation in rich educational settings, and educators should create opportunities for the documentation of student learning. Participating in a didactic learning environment allows children to learn about themselves, others, and content requirements through exploration. Documentation -- like art projects and student records-- makes the learning process visible and tangible for students and families.
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Gandini, Lella, et al., editors. The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach - Advanced Reflections. Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1998.